Holiday Reading Log

Hi,

I hope everyone is enjoying the winter break.  Thank you to Mrs. Alexander and all who helped and donated for our Holiday Party.  We had a wonderful time with lots of food and fun! Thanks to everyone.

Winter Break Reading Log

All students should be excited and motivated to read everyday.  Be sure to talk to your child about what they are reading.  Read together and share your thoughts and analysis about the book.  Talk to them about books and articles that you read and encourage him/her to discuss their reading with you.  Each student needs to read at least 200 minutes over the winter holiday.  We will be out of school for 18 days, so that makes about 11 minutes a day.  (Ideally, they should read about 30 minutes a day). The students that read 200 minutes and bring in a signed reading log (or piece of paper with minutes read and a parent's signature) will get to pick a prize.  However, the prize is not important.  Here are some articles about reading at home. 

 http://www.scilearn.com/sites/default/files/imported/alldocs/rsrch/30388RAExtra10min.pdf , 

http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/28/opinion/patterson-kids-reading/, 

https://phoenixacademyomaha.org/read-for-20-minutes-each-day/, 

http://www.pennykittle.net/uploads/images/PDFs/Reports/why-cant-I-skip-reading.pdf

   

My goal is for the students to read a lot at their level (a little challenging but still able to be done independently), and discuss books and their reading with family and friends.  We will set up Google Classroom on Monday, so the kids can write about their reading online and share their thinking with classmates.  My ultimate goal is for all the students to love to read and to be motivated to read independently.  Thank you for modeling and encouraging reading at home. Thank you for taking time to talk to your child about books and reading and to make reading a focus in your family.  I am so excited to read about their reading and share my own reading as well.  Happy Reading!

Enjoy!  

Sincerely,

Pam

Newsletter

Hi,

I hope you are staying warm and enjoying some family time this weekend.We have a busy, fun week, but will still be working hard and learning a lot.

Gingerbread Houses with 1st Grade Reading Buddies

We will make gingerbread houses (graham crackers on milk cartons) with our first grade buddies on Monday morning.  We love reading with our buddies each week and are looking forward to making houses together.

Mentor Visit

Our mentors from The Court at Round Rock Assisted Living Facility will come on Tuesday from 9:15-10:30.  We will interview them about traditions and their celebrations in December and will play games together.  We learn a lot about the past from our mentors and enjoy spending time with them.

Biography December Monthly Challenge Lunch Treat

On Wednesday we will have lunch in the classroom and have a treat to celebrate those students who read and wrote a notecard about a biography in December.  We will talk about biographies and discuss our books with each other as we eat and enjoy a little treat.  The biography notecards are due on Tuesday.

Holiday Party 

Our holiday party will be on Thursday, Dec. 15 at 1:00 in our classroom.  Thank you to Mrs. Alexander who is organizing our party and all families who donated items or signed up to donate.  Here is the link to sign up.  

https://m.signupgenius.com/#!/showSignUp/60b054ea4a923aa8-holiday/276422

Literacy Night-Passport for Adventure

Thank you to all the families who were able to attend our Literacy Night.  There were amazing projects from each continent and tables with displays from different countries. Our fourth graders did a great job on projects from Asia.  Our Fun Friday play group performed some folk tales from Asian countries and our Fun Friday Japanese Art group created some wonderful drawings and writing.  The reading classes read folktales and/or researched countries in Asia and created slide shows, Prezi presentations, and posters.  These projects help us understand different cultural practices and help us appreciate and celebrate our similarities and differences.  We learned a lot and they did a super job.  

Libraries of Love-Book Drive for Africa

Our Libraries of Love Book Drive is on!  We will collect donations of new or gently used HARD COVER books that will go to Africa for the children. This year, we are helping Libraries of Love build 7 new libraries in the Maasai Country in Kenya.  We are so excited to be part of this project. Our school will have a Walk to Read Event on Friday, Jan. 13 at 1:15 and will collect more books and donations until that day.  Learn more at  https://librariesoflove.org/.  Clean out your bookshelves and donate books for a great cause.  Our goal is for each child to donate one gently used or new hard cover book for Libraries of Love.  Spread the word and help us out. Thank you in advance for your support.

Winter Break Reading Log

All students should be excited and motivated to read everyday.  Be sure to talk to your child about what they are reading.  Read together and share your thoughts and analysis about the book.  Talk to them about books and articles that you read and encourage him/her to discuss their reading with you.  Each student needs to read at least 200 minutes over the winter holiday.  We will be out of school for 18 days, so that makes about 11 minutes a day.  (Ideally, they should read about 30 minutes a day). The students that read 200 minutes and bring in a signed reading log (or piece of paper with minutes read and a parent's signature) will get to pick a prize.  However, the prize is not important.  Here are some articles about reading at home.  http://www.scilearn.com/sites/default/files/imported/alldocs/rsrch/30388RAExtra10min.pdf , http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/28/opinion/patterson-kids-reading/, https://phoenixacademyomaha.org/read-for-20-minutes-each-day/, http://www.pennykittle.net/uploads/images/PDFs/Reports/why-cant-I-skip-reading.pdf

   

My goal is for the students to read a lot at their level (a little challenging but still able to be done independently), and discuss books and their reading with family and friends.  We will set up Google Classroom on Monday, so the kids can write about their reading online and share their thinking with classmates.  My ultimate goal is for all the students to love to read and to be motivated to read independently.  Thank you for modeling and encouraging reading at home.  Thank you for taking time to talk to your child about books and reading and to make reading a focus in your family.  I am so excited to read about their reading and share my own reading as well.  Happy Reading!

Here is a link to the Coyote Call Newsletter from this week.  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Y4kI3Jci1Tg7wO1PzUd2uKaEUwRfr3kkFCscJUmkFh0/edit

Read about our week:

Reading-We are finishing up our study of biography and will take a reading DCA on biography on Wednesday.  Reading Response letters are due on Thursday this week.

Writing-We will continue to write expository pieces this week and work on organization and elaborating.  We are working on our own individual writing goals to improve the effectiveness of our writing.

Spelling-We won't have a spelling test this week, but will continue to review homophones, plurals, possessives, contractions, and words with silent letters.

Grammar-Run on sentences will be a focus this week (and most weeks).  We will work on ways to correct and stop the run on.

Social Studies-We will learn more about missions and analyze the impact (positive and negative) that missions in Texas had on Native Americans and on the settling of Texas. We will also share our Asia projects.

Dates to Remember:

Monday, Dec. 12-College Shirt Day, Gingerbread Houses with Reading Buddies, Service Club 2:50-3:50 pm

Tuesday, Dec. 13-Mentors will visit from 9:15-10:35. Turn in cards for Biography Monthly Challenge

Wednesday, Dec. 14-Monthly Challenge Treat at lunch time-Biography 

Thursday, Dec. 15-Winter Party for fourth grade at 1:00 pm in classrooms, Homework packets due. Reading Response Letters due, NO SPELLING TEST 

Friday, Dec. 16-Winter Break begins-Winter Break Reading Contest!

Tuesday, Jan. 3-Welcome back to school! Be safe, enjoy time with family and friends, and read everyday!  Winter Break Reading Logs (200 minutes, signed by parent) due for grade.

Have a great weekend!  Thank you for sharing your child with me.  Let me know if you have any concerns.

Sincerely,

Pam

Newsletter

Happy Sunday!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and are ready for a busy week.  

Passport to Adventure!

On Thursday, December 8, 2016, we will have our Passport to Adventure-Literacy Night. Each grade level is learning about a different continent and will present their learning to the community on Thursday night.  The fourth graders are working on projects about Asia.  We are researching Asia and its countries as well as analyzing fairy tales from Asian cultures.  Come see our posters, plays, artwork, and computer presentations!

Libraries of Love-Book Drive for Africa

We will kick off our Libraries of Love Book Drive on Thursday with a video about the organization and their accomplishments in Uganda, Africa.  We will collect donations of new or gently used HARD COVER books that will go to Africa for the children.  Trudy Marshall, the founder of Libraries of Love and a former RRISD librarian, will be at our Passport to Adventure-Literacy Night to talk about her project.  Our school will have a Walk to Read Event on Friday, Jan. 13 at 1:15 and will collect books and donations until that day.  Learn more at  https://librariesoflove.org/.  Thank you in advance for your support.

Reading Contest-We had a Thanksgiving Contest as part of our reading challenge and there were some students who read a lot!  That was very impressive!  Those students received some prizes and some already earned a Schlitterbahn ticket!  (The purple Schlitterbahn ticket papers need to be returned in February) However, many children didn't read or didn't record ANY reading from the Thanksgiving Break.  That was very concerning for me because daily reading is necessary to maintain reading level.  Lots of reading is necessary to increase reading level.  Most of our students are good readers, but all of us need to read on a regular basis and challenge ourselves to continue to improve and reach our goals.  We will have another reading contest over winter break and it will NOT be optional.  Your child will receive a grade for their winter break reading log.  Be sure to expect daily reading and model it yourselves.  Talk about books and make it enjoyable and fun for everyone.  Reading is amazing and I can't wait to hear about all the reading adventures from the winter break.  Happy Reading!

40 Book Reading Challenge-Monthly Challenge-Biography-Your child needs to read a biography independently by Tuesday, December 13 to participate in our monthly challenge lunch on Wednesday, December 14.  Be sure that your child has a biography or borrows one from school, so that they can get started.  It is very interesting to learn about someone's life and the challenges that he/she overcame to achieve their goals.  

Holiday Party-We will have our class Holiday Party on Thursday, Dec. 15 at 1:00.  You will receive a sign up genius asking for supplies and volunteers this week. Thank you in advance for your help.

Read about our week:

Reading-We began some book club groups this week and have met to discuss the chapters read.  We read independently, write a short summary and response to keep track of our thinking, then meet with our groups to discuss.  It has been going very well and we will finish these books in December and begin some new book club groups in January.  Family book clubs are also a great activity for your family and a wonderful way to share experiences and check for understanding.  Analyzing characters together makes for rich conversations.  Try it at home!

Writing-We are working on expository writing.  We examined some models from different grade levels and discussed the strengths and next steps from these models. We then reflected and  wrote some of our own strengths and next steps.  Some of us used some sentence stems to help us organize and elaborate.  We will continue to work on expository writing this week.

Spelling-we worked on silent letters b and w and will continue with more silent letters this week.  g as in gnat and sign, k as in know, and t as in listen.

Grammar-we will continue to work on run on sentences.

Social Studies-We researched Asia and watched some videos of Asian Folk Tales.  We are working on projects that will teach others about Asia and are looking forward to sharing these projects on Thursday at Literacy Night-Passport to Adventure.

Dates to Remember:

Monday, Dec. 5-College Shirt Day, Writing Club 2:50-3:50

Tuesday, Dec. 6-FCE Senior Choir Tour

Wednesday, Dec. 7-PTA Family Fun Night at Zaxby's

Thursday, Dec. 8-Passport to Literacy Night at FCE-More info to come

Friday, Dec. 9- Homework packets due, Reading Response Letter due, Spelling test, Turn in Reading Logs as you finish them, FCE Spirit Day! Wear purple and green. Ridgeview Band, Choir, and Orchestra Concert at 1:15 pm

Monday, Dec. 12-College Shirt Day, Service Club 2:50-3:50 pm

Tuesday, Dec. 13-Visit with our Mentors from The Court Retirement Facility-9:15-10:30, Turn in cards for Biography Monthly Challenge

Wednesday, Dec. 14-Monthly Challenge Treat at lunch time-Biography 

Thursday, Dec. 15-Winter Party for fourth grade at 1:00 pm in classrooms, Homework packets due. Reading Response Letters due, NO SPELLING TEST 

Friday, Dec. 16-Winter Break begins-Winter Break Reading Contest!

Tuesday, Jan. 3-Welcome back to school! Winter Break Reading Logs due for grade.

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

Sincerely,

Pam