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!





Sunday, March 6, 2016

Newsletter

Hi,

We had a busy and wonderful week. We finished reading Number the Stars, which is an amazing award winning book about a young girl in Denmark helping her Jewish friend escape to Sweden during WWII. Ask your child about it.

We celebrated Texas Independence Day with a Texas-shaped Rice Krispy Treat and the Texas State Song. We also celebrated Dr. Seuss's Birthday with a reading of Bartholomew Cubbins and the 500 Hats.

We had our lunch celebration for those who completed the monthly reading challenge of reading a historical fiction book. We discussed some of our favorite historical fiction books and watched a Dr. Seuss video. The Monthly Challenge for March is an informational book-something with facts, headings, charts, photos, etc.... This type of book is non-fiction and will teach the reader something. It could be arranged in chapters, but may not have chapters. Ask about any books in question. Have fun reading to learn and be sure to read the captions for the pictures, charts, diagrams, etc... Happy Reading!

This week, we will take the STAAR Ready Math test on Tuesday and will act out the Battle of the Alamo on Monday. The battle was on March 6, 1836.


This week in reading-We will read more about Japanese Internment Camps during World War II and will work on summarizing and using context clues to figure out tricky words. Keep reading everyday at home.

In writing- We will continue to draft, conference, revise, edit, and write a final copy for our friendship piece as an expository writing. We will also use a checklist and model revising strategies. We will continue to have some time to free write everyday.

In spelling-We will review plurals. (hero, heroes, shelf, shelves, etc...) We also will work on possessives vs. plurals. These words will need to be in context to be able to determine the correct spelling. (it is the girl's bike. The girls went for a ride.)

Vocabulary- We will science words this week. Practice vocabulary words using quizlet.com.

In social studies-We will continue to learn about the Texas Revolution.

Dates to Remember:

Monday, March 7-Writing Club after school 2:45-3:45, Wear FCE shirts,
Tuesday, March 8-PTA General Meeting 11 am, STAAR Ready Math Test
Friday, March 11-homework packet due, spelling test, vocabulary test, Reading Response Letters due, wear college shirts
Saturday, March 12-Volunteer at Round Rock Serving Center 9-10:30
Monday, March14-March 18-Spring Break
Monday, March 21-Writing Club 2:45-3:45, Wear FCE shirts.
Monday, March 21-March 24-Writing Camp!!!!!! More info. to come.
Friday, March 25-No school-Spring Holiday
Monday, March 28-Wear FCE shirts, Service Club 2:45-3:45
Tuesday, March 29-STAAR Writing test for 4th grade, STAAR Math test for 5th grade

Have a wonderful weekend! Enjoy time with your family! Thank you for sharing your child with me.

Sincerely,
Pam
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