Hi,
I hope you had a fun holiday with lots of family time. I had a relaxing, yet productive week, but am happy to be back in school with your children. We had a great week!
Scholastic Book Orders
I will submit a Scholastic Book Order for our class on Sunday. The items will be delivered before our holiday break. Have fun doing some holiday shopping! Go to https://clubs2.scholastic.com. Our classroom code is GYTDB.
Passport to Adventure Literacy Night
Forest Creek will be having its annual “Passport to Adventure” Literacy Night on
Thursday, December 11, 2014 from 5-7pm. Mark your calendar to come and enjoy
stories from around the world and fun activities, including a multicultural fair in the gym.
Promise Pizza will be available to purchase for $1 per slice. Round Rock’s Ballet
Folklorico will close the Literacy Night activities with a performance at 6:30pm.
Parents: Can you share something about your family’s country of origin for Literacy
Night? Maybe there is a game from your country, or special clothes, dancing, or type of artwork. If you would like to reserve a table at the multicultural fair to share
this rich culture, please call or email Mrs. Mariah Smith at 464-5359 or
Mariah_Smith@roundrockisd.org. Thanks so much.
Talented and Gifted Referrals
TAG Referral Packets will be available for downloading from the RRISD Gifted and Advanced Academic Services website. Referral forms are due in the Forest Creek office no later than Tuesday, December 9th at 2:45 pm. A TAG referral informational Powerpoint is available on the Forest Creek Parent Resources page. Only hard copies of the referral form will be accepted. Contact our TAG teachers with questions: Julie_Washburn@roundrockisd.org or Katharine_Riedlinger@roundrockisd.org.
Winter Party
Our classroom’s winter party will be on Thursday, December 18th from 9:30-10:30 am. You can RSVP on the Forest Creek Website and your badge will be printed in advance. More information will come soon about donations needed.
Music Class Performance
Students who would like to may share their musical talents in music class on the last days of music for the semester. Anyone may sing a song, accompanied by a CD, MP3 or A capella (unaccompanied). Students who wish to play piano must bring their book or sheet music, even if the song is memorized, and instrumentalists who play anything other than piano should bring their instrument. Our class will perform on Tuesday, December 16.
Curriculum Based Assessments
We had a Reading CBA on Thursday and will be taking a Science CBA on Monday and a Math CBA on Tuesday.
Reading
In reading, we read several expository articles and books about the Titanic. We used them to work on using context clues to determine the meaning of unknown words and to make inferences. We then read a biography of Molly Brown, a Titanic survivor, and compared the genre of biography with the articles and discussed how the background knowledge gained from the articles helped us have a deeper understanding the biography. We also read biographies of Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins and watched video of the first moon landing. We then read a poem about the moon and our background knowledge of the moon landing helped us understand the references in the poem. We will continue to read and respond to some more expository books about the moon next week.
Writing
Personal Narratives have been our focus this week and we are drafting leads and writing drafts. We will work on publishing our personal narratives by the end of next week and beginning writing an expository essay to finish before the winter break.
Social Studies
We researched Native Tribes of Texas and made webs or charts to organize information about each tribe. We discussed the ways each tribe used natural resources to survive and how they bartered or traded with other tribes to meet their needs. We will finish up learning about the tribes and begin learning about explorers in Texas next week.
Spelling
We have been working on words with silent letters. We’ve practiced words with silent k (knock, knowledge), silent b (climb, lamb), silent w (write, wrap), silent b (debt, doubt), silent g (sign, design), and silent g (gnat, gnaw). Next week, we will work on suffixes like ment (government, agreement), less (thoughtless, hopeless), and ful (hopeful, beautiful). Thank you for encouraging your child to study spelling words.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary words this week are homophones, which are words that sound the same but have different spellings and meanings. The words are definitions are on Quizlet.com and the children will make cards on Monday.
Dates to Remember:
Sunday, December 7, 2014-Book Orders Due
Monday, December 8, 2014-Science CBA-Tutorials from 2:45-3:45, Reading Logs Due
Tuesday, December 9, 2014-Math CBA-Tutorials from 2:45-3:45
Wednesday, December 10, 2014-Summary and Response Due
Thursday, December 11, 2014-Senior Choir Tour, Writing Club 2:45-3:45, Passport to Literacy Night 5-7pm
Friday, December 12, 2014-Gingerbread House Making with 1st Grade Reading Buddies, Ridgeview Concert from 9-9:45, Summary and Response Due, Spelling Test and Vocabulary Test
Sunday, December 14, 2014-PTA FCE Day at Barnes and Noble-9am-9pm
Monday, December 15, 2014- Reading Log Due, NO Tutorials today, Special Service Club Meeting
Tuesday, December 16, 2014-Pen Pal Visit from 9:15-10:30 in library, Tutorials from 2:45-3:45pm
Wednesday, December 17, 2014-Summary and Responses Due
Thursday, December 18, 2014-Reading log due for this week, Marking Period Ends-All assignments are due. Holiday Party from 9:30-10:30
Friday, December 19-January 5, 2015-Holiday Break-Reading Challenge at least 200 minutes required
January 6, 2015-Back to School! Holiday Reading Log due. (200 minutes required)
Thank you for sharing your child with me! Let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Have a wonderful weekend!
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
