Bartholomew Bats!


Our school is located in Round Rock, Texas which is near Austin. Austin and Round Rock both have huge populations of Mexican Free Tailed Bats that live under our bridges. A colony of bats lives beneath the Ann Richards/Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin and in Round Rock, another colony resides under the Interstate 35 bridge over McNeil Road. Each evening from March to about October, the bats fly out from beneath the bridge and search for insects to eat. The emergence of the bats is a wonder to watch. We are also thankful that all these millions of bats eat the bugs by our homes.

Our class mascot is the Bat to honor the mammals that live so close to us and help us. (also because Bat and Bartholomew both start with the letter B!) The bats in Central Texas live together in a group and help take care of the young. Then they migrate together as a team. Our class will also live together in our classroom, work together as a team, and help each other out. We are the Bartholomew Bats!





Monday, December 7, 2015

Newsletter

Hello Bat Families, 12/6/2015

We had an amazing week!

20 Book Challenge! Don't forget to record your books and times. Challenge yourself to read more. December Monthly Challenge is to read the first book in a series or a Bluebonnet Book! After a book is complete, go to the Google Document on our website and fill in and submit the appropriate form. Some students already have a few filled in and are moving right along on their challenge. Remember the students should read 20 books (at least) by the end of the school year. Monthly challenge is due on Dec. 15 and we will have lunch in the classroom on Dec. 16 for those who met the challenge.

Art Field Trip to Blanton Art Museum on Tuesday, December 1. Our field trip was wonderful. The kids had a great time sketching and learning about art and artists. It was great to hear their interpretations and thoughts about the art. They have amazing ideas and are creative, deep thinkers.

Pen Pal Visit on Tuesday, December 8 from 9:30-11:00. We are so excited to see our pen pals again. On Monday, we will make a craft for them as a holiday present. We will interview them about their culture and their holiday traditions. We will also play games and make snowflakes together. It will be a wonderful visit and you are welcome to meet us in the library to share some fun times with our pen pals.

Volunteer at the Round Rock Serving Center on Saturday, Dec. 12. from 9-10. All are welcome to come and volunteer. Email me if you will be coming so that I can let them know. Bring some gently used books to donate to the bookcase in the waiting area. (The date changed.)

Family Fun Day at Barnes and Noble today. Go shopping and earn money for our school.

Reading- To get ready for Literacy Night on December 10, we will talk about heritage together and write Cultural poems. We will also research China and read Chinese traditional tales to create projects to present at Literacy Night. Be sure to come to Literacy Night on December 10. Each grade level will present a different continent and there will be projects to view and Ballet Folklorico. We will also learn about Libraries of Love in Uganda, Africa. It will be a great night of learning and fun.
If you would like to present items or information about your ancestry, please contact Mariah Smith in the library at mariah_smith@roundrockisd.org.

Hour of Code-We will participate in an Hour of Code on Friday from 10-11. Most of our class is signed up on code.org and some kids have already begun some coding. Go to Code.org to learn more or to have your child work on some coding. They can create an account using their google email (s######@student.roundrockisd.org and their birthdate as their password) and then go to http://studio.code.org/join/BLFOEL to join our class and I can see their progress.

Writing-We are beginning to work on another expository writing piece. We are also working on combining sentences using conjunctions such as for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so or FANBOYS. Don't forget the comma before the conjunctions when combining two complete sentences.

Social Studies-We are continuing to learn about bartering and then begin learning about the explorers in Texas. We are also researching China for Literacy Night on Thursday. Be sure to come and see all the projects and hard work.

Spelling-Last week our list included silent letters (b and w) and this week will include more silent letters. (k and g) The list will include words with silent letters like sign, gnaw, knowledge) Each child will also have individual spelling words.

Vocabulary- We will study words with the affixes dis and mis. (ex.misfortunate, disappear)

Go to Learn2earn to log in reading time (use your paper reading log also) and respond to your reading. You can also earn coins to change your owl avatar.
https://www.learn2earn.org/


Dates to remember:
Monday, December 7-Wear FCE shirts. Service Club 2:45-3:45 in room 512. 4th-5th invited.

Tuesday, December 8-Pen Pal Visit from 9:30-11:00 in the library.

Thursday, Dec. 10-Passport to Literacy-Cultural Night 5-7-Return your paper portrait decorated with the country of your ancestry. Come and learn about other countries and cultures. Come and present our China projects!

Friday, December 11-Homework packet is due, Reading Response Letter is due.
spelling test, vocabulary test-Hour of Code for our class from 10-11 am, wear college shirts, Ridgeview Band, Orchestra, and Choir will perform for our 4th and 5th graders at 1:00.

Saturday, Dec. 12-Volunteer at RR Serving Center from 9-10.

Monday, December 14-Wear FCE shirts. Writing Club after school from 2:45-3:45 in the library for grades 2-5.

Tuesday, December 15-Google Form for Monthly Reading Challenge is due

Wednesday, December 16-Monthly Reading Challenge Lunch Party

Thursday, December 17-Holiday Party at 1:00-More information to come.


I hope you continue to have a wonderful weekend!

Let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Thank you for sharing your child with me.

Sincerely,
Pam
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)