Hi,
This week is Freedom Week and September 17 is Constitution Day so we celebrated by singing the Preamble (Schoolhouse Rock) and reciting part of the Declaration of Independence. We also compared the Pledge of Allegiance to the Pledge to the Texas Flag and made a venn diagram to show similarities and differences. Brainpop is a fun way to learn new things and we used it to learn about the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.
Read about our week:
Reading-We talked about recommending books that we love to others and trying out books that friends recommend. We also worked on leaving tracks of our thinking during a fiction book called Dear Al and discussed ways that the characters changed and possible themes of the story. We worked in small groups on summarizing, asking questions, and character descriptions. We brainstormed words with a -ly suffix and a -ish suffix and tried using them in sentences. We have been reading a lot at school. Be sure your child is reading a lot at home and talk to him/her about what he/she read.
Writing-We gathered more small moment entries and then chose one to take through revisions and editing and then possibly to publishing. We drafted leads and discovered that putting a few leads together seems to work best. (action, setting, dialogue leads) Ask your child about his or her draft and ask him/her to retell the story to you like a storyteller. You don't want a summary of the story, but you want to feel like you are part of the story because of the descriptions and details used.
Math-Arrays and multiplication strategies with problem solving has been our focus. We will continue working with multiplication and division. We will work on computational fluency as well as multi-step problems. Thanks for practicing facts at home and working on strategies.
Social Studies-We did Freedom Week activities and we took a virtual bus trip through Texas. We stopped in each region and looked at photos and took notes. We will write about our favorite regions and then will be working on a group project. Each group will create a poster-sized map of Texas with important things highlighter. Be sure and come and see them.
Science-We will be learning about classifying matter next week.
Dates to Remember:
Education Go Get It Week
Monday- Wear College Shirt
Tuesday-Hats off to College! Wear a hat.
Wednesday-Slip into College! Wear slippers
Thursday-Dress for Success! Wear an outfit that represents your future profession
Friday-I Promise to Graduate! Wear FCE, green, or purple pockets.
Thursday, September 27-PEN PAL VISIT!!!!!! You are welcome to join us! Library 9:30-10:45ish.
Thursday, September 27-Service Club Meeting from 2:45-3:45 for 4th and 5th graders. Meet in my room and email or call with concerns.
Keep reading and let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
Friday, September 21, 2012
Friday, September 14, 2012
Great Week! Early Release on Wed. Sept. 19 at 12:45, Cool Jazz Concert Friday PM
Hi,
We had another busy but wonderful week. It was quite emotional due to our discussions of the events of September 11, 2001 as well as the unity and hope felt after the tragedies. We also finished reading Stone Fox which has an unexpected and sad ending. Because the children were so engaged and in tune with the main character as I read, many of them began crying. We then talked about how well the author wrote so that we all felt as if we were right there in the story experiencing the entire thing firsthand. Ask your child about the book and how we are all striving to encourage an emotional response from the readers of our writing. We also want to get lost in our books when we read independently like we did with Stone Fox.
Here is a look at our week:
Reading-We read many articles from Scholastic about 9/11. We read and discussed a book about a Fireboat that helped control the fires when the water pipes were unable to be accessed and part of a biography of Fire Chief Peter Ganci. We then wrote Thank You cards for police officers and fire fighters. Senior Officer Schmidt, Sergeant Bazzle (Kyra's Dad!) and Detective Tines from the Austin Police Department made an appearance on broadcast on Friday. They came to accept the Thank You cards written by the students at our school. We also read a book about being accepting and not judgmental called Elmer the Dog then used sentences from the book to practice complete and incomplete sentences and capitals and punctuation. Writing about characters and character changes was a focus this week. Next week we will be working in small groups for reading.
Writing-We are collecting entries for our first personal narratives. So far we have written small moment stories about some special people, favorite places, and memorable things. We will continue collecting entries, choose one to publish, then will begin revising and editing.
Math-Mastering place value has been successful for most of us. We are now working on multiplication and division strategies. We will be using arrays, drawings, objects, and computational strategies to help us master the concept of multiplication and division and then will use that knowledge in real-life problem solving.
Science-Famous scientists was our focus for the week. We researched and discussed the contributions of Marie Curie, Sir Isaac Newton, Nicolas Copernicus, and Carl Linneaus. We also talked about the possibilities for science careers.
Social Studies-Next week is Celebrate Freedom Week and Monday is Constitution Day. We will be learning about the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. We will also be going on a virtual bus trip of Texas while we learn about the regions of our state.
Be sure that your child is reading everyday, writing often, and practicing math facts each day. Go to the math links on our class web site as well as links the site of other FCE teachers for some practice ideas.
Have a great weekend! Thank you for sharing your child with me!
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
Friday, September 7, 2012
Another Great Week!
Hi,
We had another great week! Last week we earned the Spirit Stick because we had the most children wearing green, purple or FCE shirts. The kids have had a great time carrying it with us whenever we left the classroom. :)
Thank you to all the parents who were able to make it last night for Back to School Night. The power point that Mrs. Lehnick shared should be linked to the FCE website and I attached the Fourth Grade power point to this email. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Thank you also for your amazing letters about your child. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading them and learned a lot about your children. I feel like we have been together as a group for a long time and am VERY happy with the way they help each other and the amount of risk taking that is taking place so far. They all seem to feel comfortable and safe with each other and are excited about sharing their work and their ideas even if they may have made a mistake or if others don't agree with them. A trusted classroom environment is very conducive to learning and growing. I am so excited that we are well on our way to being that type of place for all of our class.
If you were here last night, you heard about an exciting research study. Texas I-CAN is a active learning project created by The University of Texas at Austin. All of our fourth graders will be playing active games to practice math skills. Your consent is needed so that your child can wear an accelerometer (step counter) for two weeks this year. One week in November and one in May. With your consent, the researchers will access your child's FitnessGram score, a few academic scores, and take part in some classroom observations. All the student information will be kept confidential, names removed, and will never be shared with anyone outside of the project staff. This project was created by my husband, who is a professor at UT and head of the Department of Kinesiology and Health Education. If you have any concerns or questions, let me know. All students who return the consent form (checked yes or no) will receive a very cool I-CAN pencil! If you didn't get a form on Thursday night, one will be sent home on Monday.
Our class will be interacting with pen pals from The Court Retirement Facility. I have worked with The Court and their residents for 6 years. Our class will write letters introducing themselves on Monday and Tuesday. I will take them to the residents and we will match residents with fourth graders. Depending on the number of residents who will take part in our pen pal program this year, some of the children will share a pen pal with another child and other children will have a pen pal to him/herself. We will practice our writing skills by writing letters to our new friends about once or twice a month and our pen pals will come here to visit us at school each month beginning in Sept. You are welcome to come to take part in our visits. The children will be interviewing their pen pals about their childhoods and their life. Then making a class book about our pen pals later in the year. They will play games together, make bowls in art together for the Empty Bowl project, play PE games, and other fun activities. I find this program beneficial to all those involved. The children learn so much about the past as well as ways to be accepting and caring for others. The residents tell me often how important our visits are to them and how happy they are to be with the children. Some children today were asking if they could make pictures over the weekend for their pen pal or begin writing their letter. That would be wonderful and they are always welcome to make extra letters, drawings, origami, or whatever for our wonderful friends. I will let you know details of the first visit soon.
Here's what we did this week:
Reading-We are working on building our stamina and engagement during independent reading. We don't want to read books like curmudgeons but we want to read them as if they were as precious as gold. (ask your child about curmudgeons!) We are reading Stone Fox aloud and discussing elements of realistic fiction as well as character changes, plot, imagery, etc... We are also writing responses about the events and dilemmas in the story. Be sure that your child is in school on time. We are also reading The Ranger's Apprentice and begin each morning at about 7:35. This is a challenging and exciting book that we are reading and discussing as well.
Writing-Important poems were taken through the writing process this week. They brainstormed, made rough drafts, revised in an individual conference with me, edited with me also, then rewrote for publication. We worked hard on including similes, metaphors, and strong descriptions in these poems. Many of us practiced using a thesaurus and found very interesting words. We will be working on gathering ideas for personal narratives next week as well as writing letters to our pen pals.
Math-Place value, numeration, and problem solving has been our focus so far this year. We will be doing lots of multi-step problems throughout the year. Next week we will be using estimation to plan a Dream Vacation. We will also be working on multiplication concepts and strategies.
Social Studies-We began talking a bit about the regions of Texas through the use of our Texas photos. We will be learning more about Texas regions in the next few weeks.
Science-Safety and tools has been our focus. We will finish up our exploration of match box cars using the tools (measuring the distance traveled on a ramp, measuring the car and using a triple beam balance to determine mass, using a hand lens to see details, etc...) We will then be researching four famous scientists and talking about science careers.
Dates to remember:
Tuesday, September 11-Day of Remembrance and Service-We will be talking about the events of September 11. We will be writing and responding to some age-appropriate nonfiction articles and books.
Tuesday, September 11-PTA meeting and Watch DOGS kickoff
Friday, September 14-Kona Ice after school
Wednesday, September 19-Early Release Day
Thanks for sharing your child with me. Have a great weekend. Encourage your child to read and practice math facts. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
We had another great week! Last week we earned the Spirit Stick because we had the most children wearing green, purple or FCE shirts. The kids have had a great time carrying it with us whenever we left the classroom. :)
Thank you to all the parents who were able to make it last night for Back to School Night. The power point that Mrs. Lehnick shared should be linked to the FCE website and I attached the Fourth Grade power point to this email. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Thank you also for your amazing letters about your child. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading them and learned a lot about your children. I feel like we have been together as a group for a long time and am VERY happy with the way they help each other and the amount of risk taking that is taking place so far. They all seem to feel comfortable and safe with each other and are excited about sharing their work and their ideas even if they may have made a mistake or if others don't agree with them. A trusted classroom environment is very conducive to learning and growing. I am so excited that we are well on our way to being that type of place for all of our class.
If you were here last night, you heard about an exciting research study. Texas I-CAN is a active learning project created by The University of Texas at Austin. All of our fourth graders will be playing active games to practice math skills. Your consent is needed so that your child can wear an accelerometer (step counter) for two weeks this year. One week in November and one in May. With your consent, the researchers will access your child's FitnessGram score, a few academic scores, and take part in some classroom observations. All the student information will be kept confidential, names removed, and will never be shared with anyone outside of the project staff. This project was created by my husband, who is a professor at UT and head of the Department of Kinesiology and Health Education. If you have any concerns or questions, let me know. All students who return the consent form (checked yes or no) will receive a very cool I-CAN pencil! If you didn't get a form on Thursday night, one will be sent home on Monday.
Our class will be interacting with pen pals from The Court Retirement Facility. I have worked with The Court and their residents for 6 years. Our class will write letters introducing themselves on Monday and Tuesday. I will take them to the residents and we will match residents with fourth graders. Depending on the number of residents who will take part in our pen pal program this year, some of the children will share a pen pal with another child and other children will have a pen pal to him/herself. We will practice our writing skills by writing letters to our new friends about once or twice a month and our pen pals will come here to visit us at school each month beginning in Sept. You are welcome to come to take part in our visits. The children will be interviewing their pen pals about their childhoods and their life. Then making a class book about our pen pals later in the year. They will play games together, make bowls in art together for the Empty Bowl project, play PE games, and other fun activities. I find this program beneficial to all those involved. The children learn so much about the past as well as ways to be accepting and caring for others. The residents tell me often how important our visits are to them and how happy they are to be with the children. Some children today were asking if they could make pictures over the weekend for their pen pal or begin writing their letter. That would be wonderful and they are always welcome to make extra letters, drawings, origami, or whatever for our wonderful friends. I will let you know details of the first visit soon.
Here's what we did this week:
Reading-We are working on building our stamina and engagement during independent reading. We don't want to read books like curmudgeons but we want to read them as if they were as precious as gold. (ask your child about curmudgeons!) We are reading Stone Fox aloud and discussing elements of realistic fiction as well as character changes, plot, imagery, etc... We are also writing responses about the events and dilemmas in the story. Be sure that your child is in school on time. We are also reading The Ranger's Apprentice and begin each morning at about 7:35. This is a challenging and exciting book that we are reading and discussing as well.
Writing-Important poems were taken through the writing process this week. They brainstormed, made rough drafts, revised in an individual conference with me, edited with me also, then rewrote for publication. We worked hard on including similes, metaphors, and strong descriptions in these poems. Many of us practiced using a thesaurus and found very interesting words. We will be working on gathering ideas for personal narratives next week as well as writing letters to our pen pals.
Math-Place value, numeration, and problem solving has been our focus so far this year. We will be doing lots of multi-step problems throughout the year. Next week we will be using estimation to plan a Dream Vacation. We will also be working on multiplication concepts and strategies.
Social Studies-We began talking a bit about the regions of Texas through the use of our Texas photos. We will be learning more about Texas regions in the next few weeks.
Science-Safety and tools has been our focus. We will finish up our exploration of match box cars using the tools (measuring the distance traveled on a ramp, measuring the car and using a triple beam balance to determine mass, using a hand lens to see details, etc...) We will then be researching four famous scientists and talking about science careers.
Dates to remember:
Tuesday, September 11-Day of Remembrance and Service-We will be talking about the events of September 11. We will be writing and responding to some age-appropriate nonfiction articles and books.
Tuesday, September 11-PTA meeting and Watch DOGS kickoff
Friday, September 14-Kona Ice after school
Wednesday, September 19-Early Release Day
Thanks for sharing your child with me. Have a great weekend. Encourage your child to read and practice math facts. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
Friday, August 31, 2012
Back to School NIght on Thurs. Sept. 6 at 6 pm, Decorated Writer's Notebook due on Tuesday
Hi,
We had a marvelous first week of school. We practiced routines and expectations but began some great learning as well.
Reading-We are working on reading longer and stronger. That means spending more time accurately reading books at our reading level that interest us. I have been so impressed with the amount of time we have been able to read and stay focused this week. We have increased our time each day. On Monday we read for 10 minutes, discussed what we read, and then read for 10 more minutes. Today we read for 43 minutes! While the children read, I am doing individual reading assessments and will soon be working with small groups or having individual reading conferences.
Writing-Vocabulary is a big focus in each subject area. We learned the word persevere and then applied it to a reflection writing entry about a Wilma Rudolph quote. "The potential for greatness lives within each of us." The children wrote about times that they worked hard to reach their potential and had to persevere during that process. We will continue to work on revising these entries. We also started an acrostic poem that describes us. We learned about similes, metaphors, and exploding the moment. We will be applying these writing techniques to Important Poems that we write about ourselves that we will begin writing on Tuesday.
Math-Our class is full of mathematicians! We solved a challenging math problem and had tons of unique and effective strategies for the same problem. Logic problems are fun for us to solve and we enjoyed solving one about children trying out for sports teams. Most of us are very good at computing addition and subtraction facts. We had fun working with large numbers this week also. Thank you for helping with the Large Number Facts homework. We learned many random and interesting facts. (ex. Taylor Swift's salary, prices of many mansions and sports cars, the number of micro-organisms in our intestines, volume of salvia produced in a person's lifetime, the weight of the largest Rice Krispy treat, and many more!) We used base ten materials to represent numbers up to the thousands. To try to visualize larger numbers, we used butcher paper and cut out 10 thousand cubes which made a 10,000 long strip, then put 10 of the 10,000 strips together to show 100,000 squares. Next we put ten 100,000 squares together to show 1,000,000! We taped our display in the hallway across from the counselor's office. Come and see it! Next week we will continue to work with ordering and problem solving using large numbers.
Social Studies-The Texas photos brought in by the class are wonderful. We each shared our photos and found the locations on the map. Then wrote about our photo. They are displayed outside our classroom.
Science-We started working on some science safety things today. We will be continuing learning about science safety and tools next week.
Please return papers from the big envelope ASAP. Thanks!
If you have a minute, please go to the counselor's page on our website and fill out a survey. http://teacherweb.com/TX/ForestCreekElementary/Leitch/apt1.aspx
Thank you for the wonderful letters describing your child. It is so great to read them and learn more about how we can work together to challenge your child and help him/her grow this year.
Reminders:
Tuesday, Sept. 4-Decorated Writer's Notebooks due
Thursday, Sept. 6 - Back to School Night at 6:00pm
Friday, Sept. 7-Spirit Day-Wear green, purple, or FCE shirt
Monday, Sept. 10-College Day-Wear a shirt from your favorite college
Tuesday, Sept. 11-PTA meeting, Watchdogs kick-off
Friday, Sept. 28- Book Orders due
Have a safe and fun long weekend! Your child should read and record, decorate his/her writer's notebook, and practice math facts.
Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
We had a marvelous first week of school. We practiced routines and expectations but began some great learning as well.
Reading-We are working on reading longer and stronger. That means spending more time accurately reading books at our reading level that interest us. I have been so impressed with the amount of time we have been able to read and stay focused this week. We have increased our time each day. On Monday we read for 10 minutes, discussed what we read, and then read for 10 more minutes. Today we read for 43 minutes! While the children read, I am doing individual reading assessments and will soon be working with small groups or having individual reading conferences.
Writing-Vocabulary is a big focus in each subject area. We learned the word persevere and then applied it to a reflection writing entry about a Wilma Rudolph quote. "The potential for greatness lives within each of us." The children wrote about times that they worked hard to reach their potential and had to persevere during that process. We will continue to work on revising these entries. We also started an acrostic poem that describes us. We learned about similes, metaphors, and exploding the moment. We will be applying these writing techniques to Important Poems that we write about ourselves that we will begin writing on Tuesday.
Math-Our class is full of mathematicians! We solved a challenging math problem and had tons of unique and effective strategies for the same problem. Logic problems are fun for us to solve and we enjoyed solving one about children trying out for sports teams. Most of us are very good at computing addition and subtraction facts. We had fun working with large numbers this week also. Thank you for helping with the Large Number Facts homework. We learned many random and interesting facts. (ex. Taylor Swift's salary, prices of many mansions and sports cars, the number of micro-organisms in our intestines, volume of salvia produced in a person's lifetime, the weight of the largest Rice Krispy treat, and many more!) We used base ten materials to represent numbers up to the thousands. To try to visualize larger numbers, we used butcher paper and cut out 10 thousand cubes which made a 10,000 long strip, then put 10 of the 10,000 strips together to show 100,000 squares. Next we put ten 100,000 squares together to show 1,000,000! We taped our display in the hallway across from the counselor's office. Come and see it! Next week we will continue to work with ordering and problem solving using large numbers.
Social Studies-The Texas photos brought in by the class are wonderful. We each shared our photos and found the locations on the map. Then wrote about our photo. They are displayed outside our classroom.
Science-We started working on some science safety things today. We will be continuing learning about science safety and tools next week.
Please return papers from the big envelope ASAP. Thanks!
If you have a minute, please go to the counselor's page on our website and fill out a survey. http://teacherweb.com/TX/ForestCreekElementary/Leitch/apt1.aspx
Thank you for the wonderful letters describing your child. It is so great to read them and learn more about how we can work together to challenge your child and help him/her grow this year.
Reminders:
Tuesday, Sept. 4-Decorated Writer's Notebooks due
Thursday, Sept. 6 - Back to School Night at 6:00pm
Friday, Sept. 7-Spirit Day-Wear green, purple, or FCE shirt
Monday, Sept. 10-College Day-Wear a shirt from your favorite college
Tuesday, Sept. 11-PTA meeting, Watchdogs kick-off
Friday, Sept. 28- Book Orders due
Have a safe and fun long weekend! Your child should read and record, decorate his/her writer's notebook, and practice math facts.
Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
Monday, August 27, 2012
Great First Day of 4th Grade!
Hi,
Pam Bartholomew
4th Grade Teacher
We had a wonderful first day! We started off with a read-aloud of an easy book called The Okay Book which
helped us to realize that we are all different and like various things
and that is ok. We thought about things that we are good at doing and
things that we still need to work on and shared some of those things
with each other. A big theme in our class is to be respectful,
accepting, and helpful to others. We did a great job acting in that way
today.
I love to read and I would like the kids to have a
passion for reading after this year. (Some of them already have
developed that passion!) We will be reading A LOT in school and they
are all expected to read even more at home. They will be able to choose
most of the books that they read (especially at home) and should be
reading books at their level. I do want them to work toward reading
more chapter books and completing them. We are going to be very
diligent about recording our reading at home and at school on our
reading logs in our purple folders.
You may have noticed the jumbo plastic bag in your
child's back pack. This bag will come back and forth from home to
school each day. Your child will carry the purple folder with the
reading log and any homework inside, his/her agenda, and at least two
books (at their reading level) in the jumbo bag. Soon he/she will also
have his/her reading response journal and a reading response will be
part of their reading at home. Each child needs to complete at least 3
reading responses each week.That book will probably come home tomorrow.
Thank you for helping your child to be responsible about their at home
reading and their other homework and be sure that the jumbo bag is in
the back pack each day.
Homework: Read at least 20 minutes and record on
reading log. Return any completed forms from big envelope and Texas
photo as well as jumbo bag tomorrow.
Math was
very exciting today. We worked on a challenging problem and there were
tons of unique and effective strategies used by the children! It was
thrilling to have them share about their thinking and especially
exciting when their first strategy was incorrect and they had to make
adjustments to answer correctly. Problem: In a field were some cows
and chickens. There were 11 heads and 30 feet. How many cows and
chickens were there? Ask your child to share their strategy or one that
he/she heard from a friend.
Tomorrow will be another great day! We had art today and will have PE tomorrow.
Thanks for sharing your children with me. I am so thrilled for a fantastic school year!
Sincerely,
4th Grade Teacher
Monday, August 13, 2012
Welcome to Fourth Grade 2012-2013!
Hello!
I am so excited for our new school year and I have been busy unpacking and getting our classroom organized. I am looking forward to meeting all of our new Bartholomew Bats and beginning an exciting year of learning.
Go to this link and fill out the student information form. All of the information will be used only by me for classroom purposes. Thank you!
Student Information Form
Come and see our room and drop off school supplies on Friday, August 25, 2012 at 4:00 pm if your last name begins with the letters A-L or at 4:45 if your last name begins with the letters M-Z. The Kona Ice Truck will also be at school that evening.
Fourth grade is an amazing grade. You will be learning about Texas History, becoming creative problem solvers, improving and refining your writing skills, participating in many science experiments, and becoming avid readers. You will work hard every day, listen carefully, share your thoughts, discover big ideas, and help others daily. Our community of learners will be strong and ready for lots of challenges. I am looking forward to getting started.
Here is your first assignment!!!!!! We will be learning about the regions of Texas. You need to bring a photo of yourself taken somewhere in Texas to school on Friday, August 25. It can be a photo from El Paso, Dallas, Houston, Corpus Christi, San Antonio, or even Round Rock or Austin. A picture from anywhere in Texas (or even from your backyard) will be great. It can be a paper copy and it can include other people as well. On Friday evening, I will give you a note card and you will write a few sentences to tell where you are, what you are doing, and what it was like there. Use details in your writing. We will be using all of our photos and the captions we write for our photos on a bulletin board in the hallway outside our classroom. It will be interesting to see and learn about places in our state.
I know that all of you read a lot this summer so be sure to come to class on Monday, August 27, ready to share some of your favorite books. I can't wait to hear about your favorite titles and your interests.
Feel free to comment to the post and tell your thoughts about fourth grade, your summer, or our new school year. You can also email me with any questions or concerns.
See you on Friday, August, 25!
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
pam_bartholomew@roundrockisd.org
Friday, May 25, 2012
Thank you for a wonderful year!
Hi,
Thank you for a wonderful school year! I have enjoyed your children a great deal this year. We have had many new adventures and have helped each other grow. I am excited to have more time with my family but I will definitely miss your children.
Thanks for a great party! Mrs. Geyer did a fantastic job this year as our room mom. Thank you to her. Thank you also for all of you who helped by being here and/or by sending in supplies as well as helping your child at home with school work. It takes a village and your children made good progress this year because we all worked together. Thank you so much!
I attached a book list with some sites that have suggested readings for your child this summer. Keep working on math facts, problem solving, writing, and reading this summer!
Thanks again and have a safe and happy summer.
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
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