Hello,
Your children are wonderful and we had a short but very productive week.
Reading-We discussed ways to monitor our comprehension as we read and fix-up strategies when we notice that we aren't quite understanding. We started some book club groups and practiced monitoring our comprehension while we read independently.
We also practiced leaving tracks of our thinking while we read magazine articles about Girls' Education and UNICEF, Saving Tigers, Cherokee Languages, and Testing. We talked in small groups and realized that when we are engaged and talking about our reading we understand and remember more. We read some non-fiction books on Thursday and Friday and noticed text features (photos, charts, captions, index, table of contents, glossary, maps, diagrams, etc...)and discussed their purposes in helping us understand the text. Listening to our inner conversation as we read helped us to notice when we learned something new. The children were so engaged and excited about the non-fiction books that they read. It was exciting to watch them.
Writing-In writing workshop, we have a mini-lesson, we all write while individual students conference with the teacher, and then we share our writing. We practiced ways to come up with ideas for our prewriting. (make a list of ideas, decide which one has lots of details that you can remember, then sketch out the story and begin writing)The class has been doing a wonderful job in our writer's workshop and have written many entries this week. They wrote a personal narrative entry about a special person, place, and item. Then we discussed ways to revise our entries by adding more details, zooming in to tell the most important parts of the story, and using descriptive language (similes, metaphors, sensory words, onomatopeia, alliteration, and lots of strong adjectives and adverbs). I love to read their writing.
Math-Place Value has been our focus. We have examined and worked with numbers up to 999,999,999. We have played games and solved problems finding the digit in a certain place value spot, comparing and ordering larger numbers and added and subtracted using large numbers in context. We enjoy sharing our strategies on the overhead and learning from each other. Our first math assessment was taken today and most of us did very well. We will be working with some computation strategies this week and continue with problem solving.
Science-Our plant/liquid experiment has been going well so far. All of the plants are growing but the plant that is being fed Dr. Pepper is a little bit taller than the others. We have been measuring them and feeding them each day. We have also been recording the data in our science notebooks. We also examined and sorted some shells and learned about different types of shells. A game called "Did you know..." was played to review the safety, science processes, and tools information for our assessment which wee took this afternoon. Next week we will be working on some Social Studies.
On Tuesday, we will be watching a taping of President Obama's address to school children. The live showing is during our lunch. Let me know if you don't want your child to watch the broadcast.
Reminder-Wednesday is an Early Release Day. Students will be released at 12:45.
Thank you for signing your child's reading log. The logs are due on Mondays with at least 100 hours read and a parent signature.
It was nice to see so many grandparents in school today. Come back anytime!
Have a wonderful weekend. Thank you for sharing your child with me. Let me know if you have an questions or concerns.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Friday, September 3, 2010
What a Wonderful Week 2!
Hi,
We had a wonderful week. We worked hard in all of our subject areas and even gained a new student!
Welcome to Jada! She has moved to Texas from Queens, New York. She is a great addition to our classroom and we are so happy that she is with us.
President Obama will be giving a Back to School Address to the school children of the country on Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2010. Last year, President Obama encouraged students to study hard, stay in school and take responsibility for their education. Our class will be watching the address. Any parent who objects to their child viewing the Presidential Address can request that they be excused from the activity by contacting me. More details on this year's Presidential speech will be announced soon. Once the President's speech is available Round Rock ISD will post a link to it on the district's Web site. Let me know what you think.
Reading-We practiced how to talk in small groups about books that we've read. We discussed genres of literature and will strive to independently read from each genre this year. We read a wonderful book together called How Many Days to America? by Eve Bunting. It is a moving story about a family who leaves their home in the Carribean suddenly to immigrate to the United States on a small boat. While we read we noticed our inner conversation and wrote about it in our reading response journals. We thought about the questions, connections, predictions, and feelings as we read and jotted them down in our journal. This is called leaving tracks of our thinking and helps us to be more engaged in our reading and increase our reading comprehension. We will continue doing this type of reading throughout the year.
Writing-We took a piece through the writing process this week. We learned about similes and metaphors then made a list of some of our talents and characteristics. We chose one and then thought about examples or ways to describe how that talent or characteristics pertain to us. We read a book called The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown to give us a template for our "Important Poems". We used our brainstorming ideas and the template to create rough drafts of our important poems. I conferenced one-on-one with each child and we revised the poem together. We added one more thing, adjusted the order or whatever to make the good poem even better. Then we edited the poem by correcting spelling, capitalization, grammar, etc... We then published our poem by writing it in our best handwriting and mounting it on paper with decorations. The poems were very expressive, used sensory details, contained similes and metaphors, and created great images for the reader. Be sure you read and enjoy them in the hallway.
Everyone did a nice job decorating their writer's notebook, also. Thank you for assisting at home.
Math-We have been working on place value and problem solving. We have played many games and experimenting with using different strategies to solve problems. Some of our favorite strategies were Guess and Check, Draw or Use Base Ten Blocks, use number line, draw pictures, use operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division), use symbols to represent place value, and use arrow paths and hundred boards. Wow!!!!! Your children are very creative and are using that creativity to explore with math concepts. We learned about the RUMOR steps for problem solving. This strategy helps kids remember how to approach word problems and get started. R=read the problem closely, U=underline the question, M=method: What is the problem asking us to do? What method or strategy will you use? Circle the important words in the problem. O=Operation: (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division) Show all your work and solve it two ways. R=Reread teh question. Does your answer make sense? We practiced this with some problems and really worked on trying multiple strategies. Thank you for playing games and assisting with math homework as needed.
Science: We are doing demonstrations to explore the scientific process. We observed and wrote about a flour/color tile demo. We measured about 2 inches worth of flour in a container. Then dropped a color tile into the flour from various distances and observed what happened. Ask your kids about this. We also discussed safety in science. We made a class graph using the data that the children gathered at home. (Are you a square?) We wrote about the results of the graph. We also examined and made inferences about magazine advertisements. We will be conducting a class experiment next week. The experiment came up in our read-aloud book, The Year of the Dog. The character had done an experiment in which she had several plants and fed the plants with various liquids to see which one helped the plant grow best. In the book, Ginger Ale was most effective. We will try a few other liquids suggested by the class and see if we can replicate this study. It will also help us realize what a science project contains. The students will be required to complete a science project this year and this will be a model for them.
Watch D.O.G.S.- We love to have Dad volunteers at school. If you would like to be one of our Watch DOGS or want to learn more about the program, come to a meeting on Tuesday, September 7 before the PTA meeting. Pizza will be served so please RSVP to me so that I can let the office know.
Back to School Night Powerpoint-The Fourth grade Back to School Night Powerpoint is now on our class blog. Check it out. Go to our Forest Creek website, our teams, Fourth Grade, Pam Bartholomew. Feel free to become a follower of our site, leave a comment, or encourage your children to leave a comment. We will be doing this in class soon.
Dates to Remember:
Sept. 6 Labor Day Holiday--No School
Sept. 7 Reading Logs due (at least 100 min. and parent signature)
Sept. 7 First Lego League Applications are due
6:00 - 6:30: WatchDOGS Kickoff in the library!
6:30 PTA Meeting in the library
Sept. 9 First Lego League Meeting @ 3:00 in
First Lego League Parent Meeting @ 4:30-5:00
BoyScout Meeting in the Cafeteria @ 6:30 pm
Sept. 10 Grandparents Day
First Spelling test of the year
Sept. 13 Book Orders Due
Sept. 15 Early Release Day @ 12:45 pm
Sept. 27 Service Learning Pen Pal Trip to The Court Retirement Facility-More details to come
Have a relaxing and safe holiday!
Thank you for sharing your children with me. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerly,
Pam Bartholomew
We had a wonderful week. We worked hard in all of our subject areas and even gained a new student!
Welcome to Jada! She has moved to Texas from Queens, New York. She is a great addition to our classroom and we are so happy that she is with us.
President Obama will be giving a Back to School Address to the school children of the country on Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2010. Last year, President Obama encouraged students to study hard, stay in school and take responsibility for their education. Our class will be watching the address. Any parent who objects to their child viewing the Presidential Address can request that they be excused from the activity by contacting me. More details on this year's Presidential speech will be announced soon. Once the President's speech is available Round Rock ISD will post a link to it on the district's Web site. Let me know what you think.
Reading-We practiced how to talk in small groups about books that we've read. We discussed genres of literature and will strive to independently read from each genre this year. We read a wonderful book together called How Many Days to America? by Eve Bunting. It is a moving story about a family who leaves their home in the Carribean suddenly to immigrate to the United States on a small boat. While we read we noticed our inner conversation and wrote about it in our reading response journals. We thought about the questions, connections, predictions, and feelings as we read and jotted them down in our journal. This is called leaving tracks of our thinking and helps us to be more engaged in our reading and increase our reading comprehension. We will continue doing this type of reading throughout the year.
Writing-We took a piece through the writing process this week. We learned about similes and metaphors then made a list of some of our talents and characteristics. We chose one and then thought about examples or ways to describe how that talent or characteristics pertain to us. We read a book called The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown to give us a template for our "Important Poems". We used our brainstorming ideas and the template to create rough drafts of our important poems. I conferenced one-on-one with each child and we revised the poem together. We added one more thing, adjusted the order or whatever to make the good poem even better. Then we edited the poem by correcting spelling, capitalization, grammar, etc... We then published our poem by writing it in our best handwriting and mounting it on paper with decorations. The poems were very expressive, used sensory details, contained similes and metaphors, and created great images for the reader. Be sure you read and enjoy them in the hallway.
Everyone did a nice job decorating their writer's notebook, also. Thank you for assisting at home.
Math-We have been working on place value and problem solving. We have played many games and experimenting with using different strategies to solve problems. Some of our favorite strategies were Guess and Check, Draw or Use Base Ten Blocks, use number line, draw pictures, use operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division), use symbols to represent place value, and use arrow paths and hundred boards. Wow!!!!! Your children are very creative and are using that creativity to explore with math concepts. We learned about the RUMOR steps for problem solving. This strategy helps kids remember how to approach word problems and get started. R=read the problem closely, U=underline the question, M=method: What is the problem asking us to do? What method or strategy will you use? Circle the important words in the problem. O=Operation: (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division) Show all your work and solve it two ways. R=Reread teh question. Does your answer make sense? We practiced this with some problems and really worked on trying multiple strategies. Thank you for playing games and assisting with math homework as needed.
Science: We are doing demonstrations to explore the scientific process. We observed and wrote about a flour/color tile demo. We measured about 2 inches worth of flour in a container. Then dropped a color tile into the flour from various distances and observed what happened. Ask your kids about this. We also discussed safety in science. We made a class graph using the data that the children gathered at home. (Are you a square?) We wrote about the results of the graph. We also examined and made inferences about magazine advertisements. We will be conducting a class experiment next week. The experiment came up in our read-aloud book, The Year of the Dog. The character had done an experiment in which she had several plants and fed the plants with various liquids to see which one helped the plant grow best. In the book, Ginger Ale was most effective. We will try a few other liquids suggested by the class and see if we can replicate this study. It will also help us realize what a science project contains. The students will be required to complete a science project this year and this will be a model for them.
Watch D.O.G.S.- We love to have Dad volunteers at school. If you would like to be one of our Watch DOGS or want to learn more about the program, come to a meeting on Tuesday, September 7 before the PTA meeting. Pizza will be served so please RSVP to me so that I can let the office know.
Back to School Night Powerpoint-The Fourth grade Back to School Night Powerpoint is now on our class blog. Check it out. Go to our Forest Creek website, our teams, Fourth Grade, Pam Bartholomew. Feel free to become a follower of our site, leave a comment, or encourage your children to leave a comment. We will be doing this in class soon.
Dates to Remember:
Sept. 6 Labor Day Holiday--No School
Sept. 7 Reading Logs due (at least 100 min. and parent signature)
Sept. 7 First Lego League Applications are due
6:00 - 6:30: WatchDOGS Kickoff in the library!
6:30 PTA Meeting in the library
Sept. 9 First Lego League Meeting @ 3:00 in
First Lego League Parent Meeting @ 4:30-5:00
BoyScout Meeting in the Cafeteria @ 6:30 pm
Sept. 10 Grandparents Day
First Spelling test of the year
Sept. 13 Book Orders Due
Sept. 15 Early Release Day @ 12:45 pm
Sept. 27 Service Learning Pen Pal Trip to The Court Retirement Facility-More details to come
Have a relaxing and safe holiday!
Thank you for sharing your children with me. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerly,
Pam Bartholomew
Friday, August 27, 2010
First Week of Fourth Grade!
We had a fabulous first week of fourth grade.
Reading: We practiced the components of the Reading Workshop. We practiced writing responses to our independent reading by writing about our predictions, connections, questions, and feelings about the book.
Writing: We practiced the components of the Writing Workshop. We also told stories using our Texas photos and will also be using the photos to write these stories. We learned about our writer’s notebooks and we each have an assignment which is to decorate our writer’s notebooks. The rubric is in their binders at the decorated writer’s notebook is due on Wednesday, September 1. Be sure that your child’s writer’s notebook is in school each day. We talked about living a writer’s life which means we are observant and notice things and then write about what we noticed. We did that at recess and they wrote poetic and wonderful entries!
Math: We are working with place value using our 1,000 books. We will be using them for games for practice as well as for problem solving problems. We will continue with place value next week and use lots of strategies to solve problems.
Science: We learned about some safety symbols and will be talking about the scientific process next week.
Social Studies: We practiced using symbolic representations by creating bioglyphs of ourselves then used the key to try to figure out who was who.
Back to School Night=Thursday, September 2, 2010 from 6:00-6:45pm. We will be meeting in the cafeteria and then going to our classroom for a few minutes. This night is for parents and I look forward to seeing you there.
We went to the library today and checked out some books. Our regular library day will be Mondays. However, we won’t go this Monday since we were just there and next Monday is Labor Day. We will try to go each Monday after that for check out times.
Reading Logs are due on Monday. Each student is expected to read at least 100 minutes.
Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
Have a wonderful weekend! I had a great time getting to know your children. It is going to be an amazing year!
Thanks,
Pam Bartholomew
Reading: We practiced the components of the Reading Workshop. We practiced writing responses to our independent reading by writing about our predictions, connections, questions, and feelings about the book.
Writing: We practiced the components of the Writing Workshop. We also told stories using our Texas photos and will also be using the photos to write these stories. We learned about our writer’s notebooks and we each have an assignment which is to decorate our writer’s notebooks. The rubric is in their binders at the decorated writer’s notebook is due on Wednesday, September 1. Be sure that your child’s writer’s notebook is in school each day. We talked about living a writer’s life which means we are observant and notice things and then write about what we noticed. We did that at recess and they wrote poetic and wonderful entries!
Math: We are working with place value using our 1,000 books. We will be using them for games for practice as well as for problem solving problems. We will continue with place value next week and use lots of strategies to solve problems.
Science: We learned about some safety symbols and will be talking about the scientific process next week.
Social Studies: We practiced using symbolic representations by creating bioglyphs of ourselves then used the key to try to figure out who was who.
Back to School Night=Thursday, September 2, 2010 from 6:00-6:45pm. We will be meeting in the cafeteria and then going to our classroom for a few minutes. This night is for parents and I look forward to seeing you there.
We went to the library today and checked out some books. Our regular library day will be Mondays. However, we won’t go this Monday since we were just there and next Monday is Labor Day. We will try to go each Monday after that for check out times.
Reading Logs are due on Monday. Each student is expected to read at least 100 minutes.
Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
Have a wonderful weekend! I had a great time getting to know your children. It is going to be an amazing year!
Thanks,
Pam Bartholomew
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Wonderful First Day of Fourth Grade!
Hello,
I had a fantastic day with our wonderful class today. The other teachers may get annoyed with me because I was bragging like crazy about our super students. We are a little chatty but everyone quieted down when asked. We all worked hard and showed creativity. We wrote stories about a time when we had "the jitters" after reading a book called, First Day Jitters. We read and recited a wonderful poem by Maya Angelou called I Love the Look of Words. We solved a fun but challenging math problem and shared some very inventive and effective strategies. We also wrote about what we know, love, and want to learn about science. We were busy and had fun.
I am looking forward to even more excited days ahead.
Students and Parents: Feel free to write a comment on our blog. Kids: be sure to only use your first name and write a blog comment with your parent's permission.
Thank you for sharing your children with me! Contact me with any questions or concerns.
I had a fantastic day with our wonderful class today. The other teachers may get annoyed with me because I was bragging like crazy about our super students. We are a little chatty but everyone quieted down when asked. We all worked hard and showed creativity. We wrote stories about a time when we had "the jitters" after reading a book called, First Day Jitters. We read and recited a wonderful poem by Maya Angelou called I Love the Look of Words. We solved a fun but challenging math problem and shared some very inventive and effective strategies. We also wrote about what we know, love, and want to learn about science. We were busy and had fun.
I am looking forward to even more excited days ahead.
Students and Parents: Feel free to write a comment on our blog. Kids: be sure to only use your first name and write a blog comment with your parent's permission.
Thank you for sharing your children with me! Contact me with any questions or concerns.
Monday, August 23, 2010
School Starts Tomorrow! Yeah!!!!!
Here are some things to know for our first day of fourth grade:
*Come to our classroom (room 512) in the morning. We will line up in the hallway on the floor and read quietly until 7:30 am when we will enter our room and begin.
*Bring a healthy snack. We will be eating snack at 10:25 during our recess time. We will go outside with our snacks, eat and walk two laps around the track, then play.
*I would encourage your child to bring a water bottle to class each day. (Preferably a refillable one)Be sure that it has a lid.
*A sweatshirt or light jacket is also recommended for our classroom. Some days our room is hot and others it is pretty chilly. You can leave a jacket on your hook.
*Bring a book to read.
*Bring a photo of you somewhere in Texas.
*Return forms that were in our Beginning of the Year envelope.
*We have PE every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Be sure to wear tennis shoes.
*Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
*Try to get to bed early and be ready for a fabulous day!!!
Thanks and I will see you tomorrow.
*Come to our classroom (room 512) in the morning. We will line up in the hallway on the floor and read quietly until 7:30 am when we will enter our room and begin.
*Bring a healthy snack. We will be eating snack at 10:25 during our recess time. We will go outside with our snacks, eat and walk two laps around the track, then play.
*I would encourage your child to bring a water bottle to class each day. (Preferably a refillable one)Be sure that it has a lid.
*A sweatshirt or light jacket is also recommended for our classroom. Some days our room is hot and others it is pretty chilly. You can leave a jacket on your hook.
*Bring a book to read.
*Bring a photo of you somewhere in Texas.
*Return forms that were in our Beginning of the Year envelope.
*We have PE every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Be sure to wear tennis shoes.
*Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
*Try to get to bed early and be ready for a fabulous day!!!
Thanks and I will see you tomorrow.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Welcome to Fourth Grade!
Friday, August 20, 2010 is our Supply Drop-off/Meet the Teacher Evening! I will have our classroom ready and will be looking forward to seeing our new students. I had a wonderful summer but am very excited to begin our new school year.
Think about any questions that you may have about fourth grade. Explore our blog. Feel free to post a comment and respond to each others comments. We will be using our class blog throughout the year to share ideas and communicate with our parents and each other.
Be sure to take our poll: What is your favorite subject in school?
Don't forget to click on Bandit, our virtual bat pet. He will follow your mouse and he is very cute.
Happy Blogging and I can't wait to see all of you!
Think about any questions that you may have about fourth grade. Explore our blog. Feel free to post a comment and respond to each others comments. We will be using our class blog throughout the year to share ideas and communicate with our parents and each other.
Be sure to take our poll: What is your favorite subject in school?
Don't forget to click on Bandit, our virtual bat pet. He will follow your mouse and he is very cute.
Happy Blogging and I can't wait to see all of you!
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