Newsletter

Hi, January 25, 2015

We had a busy, but great week! Kate Klise, author, came and led writing workshops with all the fourth graders. She writes books and her sister does the illustrations. She taught us about the clock graphic organizer that she uses to plan her fiction or narrative writing. She also worked for People Magazine and taught us about her template for writing expository. We were able to practice some writing with her and share our writing. It was a wonderful visit and we learned a lot.

Thursday was our FCE Talent Show! We have many talented students at Forest Creek! Congratulations especially to Madi, Isabelle, Sophia, Kyla, and April!

In Reading, we began reading literacy circle books and discussing them in groups. Each group has a calendar with their readings for each day. We are reading award winning books-The Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson, Ghetto Cowboy, The Watsons Go to Birmingham, Bud, Not Buddy, Elijah of Buxton, and Justin and the Best Biscuits in the World. Talk to your child about his/her book. What is the setting of the book? What is the problem? How would they describe the characters and the setting? How are the characters changing in the book? What are his/her predictions? What do they think about the book so far and why? Feel free to read along and engage in your own discussions at home.

In Writing, we are working on personal narratives and reading mentor texts to get ideas for our own writing. We also use sentences from books to practice grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

Vocabulary words this week include words with therm(hot or warm) and aud (to hear) and in spelling, we are learning prefixes dis and pre.

In Social Studies, we are learning about the American and Mexican Revolutions and how they affected Texas. We also learned about the Austin family and how Stephan F. Austin became the Father of Texas and brought the Old Three Hundred or the first 300 families to his colony in Mexican Texas. We will talk more about empressarios and early settlements this week.

Dates to remember:

Monday, January 26-reading logs due, tutorials after school from 2:45-3:45

Tuesday, January 27-tutorials after school from 2:45-3:45

Wednesday, January 28-summary and response due (only if not caught up with lit. circle writing and reading)

Thursday, January 29-Service Club after school from 2:45-3:45, Math and Science Night at 5:00 and Science Fair

Friday, January 30-spelling and vocabulary tests, summary and response due (only if not caught up with lit. circle writing and reading), Marathon Kids Logs due to Coaches

Wednesday, February 4-Early Release at 12:45, Kona Ice will be here

Have an amazing weekend and let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,
Pam