Hi,
Our cereal box biographies are due tomorrow. The websites that we used in class are on our webpage under the reading/writing links section. There is also a website that helps with making bibliographies called citation maker.
The project can be typed but doesn't have to be typed. Neatly handwritten is completely fine.
Three sources should have been used to find information. If you need to find a library book that your child used, you can find the bibliographical information can be found on I-Bistro which is the online catalog for our library. Look on the library webpage.
Because the each person in class researched one of four people, we will be breaking into small groups and sharing projects. We will rotate groups at least two times. We will try to start tomorrow but due to early release and a reading benchmark, we may not get many done.
Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Thanks,
Pam Bartholomew
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Happy Texas Independence Day!!!!!
Hi,
Happy Texas Independence Day! Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!
In Social Studies we are learning about The Republic of Texas and Statehood. We will be having a test on this material on Friday, March 11. Look for papers about these topics coming home to use to study. I will send a study guide home this Friday.
We have been researching at school for our cereal box biography projects. Many of the students are taking great notes looking in books, at websites that I bookmarked, and even using some info. from Brainpop.com. We will continue researching in school on Thursday and Friday. They need to have information from at least three sources. Most of the students will finish their research at school and many have already begun working on their timelines, summaries, etc... for their finished cereal box project. After Friday, we will not be using school time to work on this project. They are due on Wed. March 9. Each student will be presenting their project to the class.
We are beginning to work on our individual published books. The children are creating anthologies using their writing from this year. They will be sent to the publisher and created into hard bound books. Thursday folders will have order forms if you would like to order extra copies of your child's book. The pages that he/she makes in school will be bound into a FREE book for you but you are welcome to order extra copies as well. Please return the form, signed whether you want to purchase a copy or not. Remember each child will receive one FREE copy.
Dates to remember:
Saturday, March 5-Explore UT in Austin-http://www.utexas.edu/features/2011/02/28/explore_ut2011/
Wednesday, March 9-Cereal Box Biographies are due-Early Release Day
Friday, March 11-Hoe Down for k-2, Cookout at lunch time (not eating outdoors), SS test on The Republic of Texas and Statehood, Beginning of Spring Break
Friday, March 25-Pen Pals coming to Forest Creek to glaze our bowls for the Empty Bowl Project
Saturday, April 2-Empty Bowl Project
Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
Happy Texas Independence Day! Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!
In Social Studies we are learning about The Republic of Texas and Statehood. We will be having a test on this material on Friday, March 11. Look for papers about these topics coming home to use to study. I will send a study guide home this Friday.
We have been researching at school for our cereal box biography projects. Many of the students are taking great notes looking in books, at websites that I bookmarked, and even using some info. from Brainpop.com. We will continue researching in school on Thursday and Friday. They need to have information from at least three sources. Most of the students will finish their research at school and many have already begun working on their timelines, summaries, etc... for their finished cereal box project. After Friday, we will not be using school time to work on this project. They are due on Wed. March 9. Each student will be presenting their project to the class.
We are beginning to work on our individual published books. The children are creating anthologies using their writing from this year. They will be sent to the publisher and created into hard bound books. Thursday folders will have order forms if you would like to order extra copies of your child's book. The pages that he/she makes in school will be bound into a FREE book for you but you are welcome to order extra copies as well. Please return the form, signed whether you want to purchase a copy or not. Remember each child will receive one FREE copy.
Dates to remember:
Saturday, March 5-Explore UT in Austin-http://www.utexas.edu/features/2011/02/28/explore_ut2011/
Wednesday, March 9-Cereal Box Biographies are due-Early Release Day
Friday, March 11-Hoe Down for k-2, Cookout at lunch time (not eating outdoors), SS test on The Republic of Texas and Statehood, Beginning of Spring Break
Friday, March 25-Pen Pals coming to Forest Creek to glaze our bowls for the Empty Bowl Project
Saturday, April 2-Empty Bowl Project
Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Reminder-TAKS Writing Test on Tuesday Yeah!!!!
As you know, TAKS writing in on Tuesday, March 1 for 4th graders. Your children are ready to show off their great writing skills and strategies.
Thank you for encouraging your child to do his/her best, take their time, take breaks as needed, and work hard.
Be sure to have your child get a good night's sleep on Monday evening and a healthy breakfast on Tuesday morning. Send a healthy snack or two to keep them going throughtout the day. I will provide some trail mix (cheerios, goldfish crackers, raisins, pretzels, M&M's) in small bags. Would someone like to donate small bottles of water? Let me know ASAP.
Remember that NO VISITORS will be allowed on campus on Tuesday and no one is allowed to drop off lunch for their child that day. Thank you for helping us with test security.
Most of let your child know how proud you are of their progress in writing this year. They all write with great details, good sequencing, strong words, and thoughtful reflections! I am certainly proud of all of their hard work!
Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
Thank you for encouraging your child to do his/her best, take their time, take breaks as needed, and work hard.
Be sure to have your child get a good night's sleep on Monday evening and a healthy breakfast on Tuesday morning. Send a healthy snack or two to keep them going throughtout the day. I will provide some trail mix (cheerios, goldfish crackers, raisins, pretzels, M&M's) in small bags. Would someone like to donate small bottles of water? Let me know ASAP.
Remember that NO VISITORS will be allowed on campus on Tuesday and no one is allowed to drop off lunch for their child that day. Thank you for helping us with test security.
Most of let your child know how proud you are of their progress in writing this year. They all write with great details, good sequencing, strong words, and thoughtful reflections! I am certainly proud of all of their hard work!
Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Newsletter-February 21, 2011
Hi,
We had a wonderful time at writing camp! The kids worked so hard on their writing and did a great job. Thank you to everyone who donated time and/or items to help make our camp a success. The students loved receiving camp mail from you and thought our classroom looked awesome.
Each morning we started our day with camp songs with the entire fourth grade in the cafeteria. We had a guest reader on Tuesday. (Ask your child about Oraha Mae) Mrs. Lunkin and Mrs. Lehnick both talked to us about writing as well.
On Tuesday we did prewriting to gather our ideas, made a plan, and drafted a composition about a time when we were brave. We watched some Brainpop and Barry Lane videos about writing strategies and read some books with great writing to use as mentor texts. We also did a science demonstration with stream tables in the science lab with Mrs. Harper's class. We learned more about weathering, erosion, and deposition.
On Wednesday, we did prewriting to gather our ideas, made a plan, and drafted a composition about a time when we had an adventure. We wrote and practiced strategies like Show, not Tell, Explode the Moment, Use Strong Words, Use Thoughtshots and Feelings to engage the reader, etc... We also watched a movie about erosion and landforms.
Then on Thursday we read over both of our drafts and chose one of them to publish. We continued to revise and used our toolbox of writing strategies to be sure we were using our strategies and tools in our drafts. I conferenced with most of the children everyday (at least once a day) and we talked about all the wonderful things in their writing drafts and ideas for improvement. We also began editing for correct capitalization, punctuation, usage, and spelling. Some students began their final copies and/or created a cover for their story while they were waiting for a conference. Mrs. Brandt's kindergarten class came to visit our camp and brought us bat notes. They let us read our drafts for them and asked us questions about our writing.
Then on Friday, we continued to revise and edit our drafts, work on our final copies, and on our covers. We had a wonderful assembly about Africa and then came back and wrote some more. We had a visit from our first grade reading buddies in Mrs. Garcia's class. They also wrote us notes and we read our writing to them. After specials we were ready for our Writing Camp Celebration! Thank you all of the parents and grandparents who were able to attend. We all sat around our campfire while many of the children shared their creative, detailed, focused writing and everyone, at least, told us about their topic. We ended camp with some smores! I am so proud of the children and their hard work. They wrote some of their best pieces this week. They wrote with focus so they stayed on topic. They added thoughts, feelings, and details that helped the reader connect with the writer and feel like he/she was there. They made sure to tell the setting (when and where the story was taking place) and added some reflection at the end. (what did I learn from this experience, what did I notice or realize, what will I always remember) I was very impressed with the way they pulled together all of the strategies that we have been practicing this year and I am excited for them to be able to show off all their hard work on the Writing TAKS on Tuesday, March 1.
This week we will be continuing to practice writing skills and strategies. We will begin researching as a class on topics dealing with Civil Rights and Discrimination. We will be learning about 3D solids in math and weathering, erosion, and deposition in science. There will be a science study guide coming home tomorrow and a test on Thursday. We also will be having the ICAN students from University of Texas coming in to work with us tomorrow.
Dates to Remember:
Return TAKS writing form ASAP
ICAN activity=Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Writing Club afterschool=Thursday, February 24, 2011=2:45-4:00pm (Pick up at back car rider line)
FCE Service Club meeting=Monday, February 28= 2:45-4:00 pm
Writing TAKS for fourth graders=Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Cook-out for lunch and Hoe Down for K-2=Friday, March 11, 2011 (12:05-12:35 lunch)
Spring Break=March 14-18, 2011
Pen Pals to Forest Creek on Friday, March 25 to glaze our bowls
Let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Thank you for sharing your child with me.
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
We had a wonderful time at writing camp! The kids worked so hard on their writing and did a great job. Thank you to everyone who donated time and/or items to help make our camp a success. The students loved receiving camp mail from you and thought our classroom looked awesome.
Each morning we started our day with camp songs with the entire fourth grade in the cafeteria. We had a guest reader on Tuesday. (Ask your child about Oraha Mae) Mrs. Lunkin and Mrs. Lehnick both talked to us about writing as well.
On Tuesday we did prewriting to gather our ideas, made a plan, and drafted a composition about a time when we were brave. We watched some Brainpop and Barry Lane videos about writing strategies and read some books with great writing to use as mentor texts. We also did a science demonstration with stream tables in the science lab with Mrs. Harper's class. We learned more about weathering, erosion, and deposition.
On Wednesday, we did prewriting to gather our ideas, made a plan, and drafted a composition about a time when we had an adventure. We wrote and practiced strategies like Show, not Tell, Explode the Moment, Use Strong Words, Use Thoughtshots and Feelings to engage the reader, etc... We also watched a movie about erosion and landforms.
Then on Thursday we read over both of our drafts and chose one of them to publish. We continued to revise and used our toolbox of writing strategies to be sure we were using our strategies and tools in our drafts. I conferenced with most of the children everyday (at least once a day) and we talked about all the wonderful things in their writing drafts and ideas for improvement. We also began editing for correct capitalization, punctuation, usage, and spelling. Some students began their final copies and/or created a cover for their story while they were waiting for a conference. Mrs. Brandt's kindergarten class came to visit our camp and brought us bat notes. They let us read our drafts for them and asked us questions about our writing.
Then on Friday, we continued to revise and edit our drafts, work on our final copies, and on our covers. We had a wonderful assembly about Africa and then came back and wrote some more. We had a visit from our first grade reading buddies in Mrs. Garcia's class. They also wrote us notes and we read our writing to them. After specials we were ready for our Writing Camp Celebration! Thank you all of the parents and grandparents who were able to attend. We all sat around our campfire while many of the children shared their creative, detailed, focused writing and everyone, at least, told us about their topic. We ended camp with some smores! I am so proud of the children and their hard work. They wrote some of their best pieces this week. They wrote with focus so they stayed on topic. They added thoughts, feelings, and details that helped the reader connect with the writer and feel like he/she was there. They made sure to tell the setting (when and where the story was taking place) and added some reflection at the end. (what did I learn from this experience, what did I notice or realize, what will I always remember) I was very impressed with the way they pulled together all of the strategies that we have been practicing this year and I am excited for them to be able to show off all their hard work on the Writing TAKS on Tuesday, March 1.
This week we will be continuing to practice writing skills and strategies. We will begin researching as a class on topics dealing with Civil Rights and Discrimination. We will be learning about 3D solids in math and weathering, erosion, and deposition in science. There will be a science study guide coming home tomorrow and a test on Thursday. We also will be having the ICAN students from University of Texas coming in to work with us tomorrow.
Dates to Remember:
Return TAKS writing form ASAP
ICAN activity=Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Writing Club afterschool=Thursday, February 24, 2011=2:45-4:00pm (Pick up at back car rider line)
FCE Service Club meeting=Monday, February 28= 2:45-4:00 pm
Writing TAKS for fourth graders=Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Cook-out for lunch and Hoe Down for K-2=Friday, March 11, 2011 (12:05-12:35 lunch)
Spring Break=March 14-18, 2011
Pen Pals to Forest Creek on Friday, March 25 to glaze our bowls
Let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Thank you for sharing your child with me.
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
Monday, February 14, 2011
Happy Valentine's Day!
Happy Valentine's Day!
Thank you, Mrs. Scoggins, for planning a wonderful party. Thank you to all parents who helped or donated items. The kids seem to really enjoy passing out and reading the valentines, eating ice cream and candy, and making those cool lava lamps. It was very fun!
Camp Write Along!
Our room is ready for camp! We have trees, a camp fire and room for sleeping bags. We will have one small tent tomorrow. Children are welcome to bring their sleeping bags and a pillow. They are welcome to leave the sleeping bags here until Friday. We will be writing around the campfire and taking turns sitting in the tent to write. We will be doing a little science and math but mostly writing throughout the day. We will have black (Bartholomew Bats) bandanas to wear and the children are welcome to wear camping sort of clothing.
Feel free to send in camp letters for your child and I will deliver them after lunch each day. You can handwrite them, email them, whatever. You can send them for the entire week and I will give out some each day. Whatever works best for you.
I am very excited and know that it is going to be a great week. We will be reviewing all of the writing strategies that we have learned this year. We will be using mentor texts (books with great writing for us to model) and sharing ideas. We will be working on two rough drafts (one tomorrow and one on Wednesday) then choosing one draft to revise, edit, and publish. Don't forget to attend our Camp Celebration on Friday at 2:00 and read their writing!
Thank you again for a fun Valentine's Day and I am looking forward to a creative and exciting week of writing!
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
Thank you, Mrs. Scoggins, for planning a wonderful party. Thank you to all parents who helped or donated items. The kids seem to really enjoy passing out and reading the valentines, eating ice cream and candy, and making those cool lava lamps. It was very fun!
Camp Write Along!
Our room is ready for camp! We have trees, a camp fire and room for sleeping bags. We will have one small tent tomorrow. Children are welcome to bring their sleeping bags and a pillow. They are welcome to leave the sleeping bags here until Friday. We will be writing around the campfire and taking turns sitting in the tent to write. We will be doing a little science and math but mostly writing throughout the day. We will have black (Bartholomew Bats) bandanas to wear and the children are welcome to wear camping sort of clothing.
Feel free to send in camp letters for your child and I will deliver them after lunch each day. You can handwrite them, email them, whatever. You can send them for the entire week and I will give out some each day. Whatever works best for you.
I am very excited and know that it is going to be a great week. We will be reviewing all of the writing strategies that we have learned this year. We will be using mentor texts (books with great writing for us to model) and sharing ideas. We will be working on two rough drafts (one tomorrow and one on Wednesday) then choosing one draft to revise, edit, and publish. Don't forget to attend our Camp Celebration on Friday at 2:00 and read their writing!
Thank you again for a fun Valentine's Day and I am looking forward to a creative and exciting week of writing!
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Newsletter-February 3
Hi,
Today was a short but very productive day! We worked on a difficult math problem which included comparing and ordering fractions and adding them. They used their fraction strips but it was still challenging and they did very well. They also took a released writing TAKS test. This included four passages to read and make corrections in spelling, grammar, usage, punctuation, capitalization, etc...This released test is longer than our benchmarks. Our benchmarks usually only have two passages to correct. We will be using the data from this assessment and from the recent benchmark to plan small group and whole group lessons.
The class worked so hard and was so calm and well behaved (maybe we should sleep late everyday!) that we are not having math or writing homework tonight. They are still required to read for their 100 minutes per week and write their reflection.
Happy Chinese New Year! We were so honored to have Mr. Lam (Theresa's dad) come to our classroom and teach us about Chinese New Year. We learned a lot of interesting information and were very excited to receive red envelopes and red Chinese candy. Thank you again, Mr. Lam, for sharing your knowledge and your time with us.
Tomorrow evening is our Math and Science Night. Look for more information about rescheduling if the weather becomes bad. If all goes well, we will be having fun with math and science activities from 5-8. Come find me in Mrs. Arnold's art room to read and act out a math story together!
Reading: We read a picture book called Crow Call by Lois Lowry, award winning author, and then read some autobiographical information about her. It was easy to see some similarities between events in her life and events in her book. We also read a bunch of Patricia Polacco books and will be reading her autobiography tomorrow and looking for similarities and differences. Next week we will be reading some persuasive text and working on some research.
Writing: We have finished revising our personal narratives and most of the class edited their stories and made final copies. We then started generating ideas for our next piece. We read a wonderful book called The Hickory Chair. We noted interesting, descriptive language and strong word choice. We also discussed how the author used a chair and the experiences with the chair to write her story.
We read a short story called Buffalo. Buffalo is what the author and his siblings called his father's big bathrobe. The experiences described and reflection centered around this object.
Next we made lists of objects that are important to us. We made a kernal story about their item and why it was important or significant to them. A kernal story is like a flow chart for their story. In the first box, they write where they are and when. The next book contains the first event that happened. It continues with a box for each event in the story and then the most important part of the story. Last box contains what they thought, what they learned, and what they will remember about this story and why.
We also read a short story called Your Name in Gold. We discussed the significance of the gold pin and how the characters changed in the story. We described ourselves and characters and how we changed in our story. We added more details to our first drafts. We will continue revising and editing these stories next week and publish them by next Friday.
Math: We are working hard to understand decimals, fractions, and how they relate to each other. We have used decimal squares, grids, and number lines to help us understand these concepts. We will be finishing up with this and moving on to geometry next week.
Science: Many of the children's science projects were quite impressive. Thank you for helping your children at home. We enjoyed the presentations and will be beginning learning about weathering and erosion tomorrow.
Look for progress reports and pen pal permission slips in Thursday Folders today. Please sign and return as soon as possible.
Dates to remember:
Feb. 3- Community Meeting with the Superintendent from 5:30-7:30 Canceled due to inclement weather
Feb. 4- National Heart Day-wear red
Science and Math Night- 5-8
Feb. 7, 8, 9- Book Fair in the Library
Feb. 7-Wear your favorite college shirt every Monday!
Feb. 10-Writing Club in art room 2:45-4:00
Feb. 11-Youth Art Month T-Shirt order forms due
Feb. 14-Pen Pal trip to The Court 9:15-11:15
Valentine Party-1:50-2:40
Service Club Meeting 2:45-4:00 in Mrs. Arnold's art room
Set up for Writing Camp in our classroom after 2:45
Feb. 15-Feb. 18=4th Grade Writing Camp!!!!!!!
March 1-Writing TAKS test for fourth graders
Stay warm tonight and tomorrow. Watch the weather reports.
Let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Thank you for sharing your children with me.
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
Today was a short but very productive day! We worked on a difficult math problem which included comparing and ordering fractions and adding them. They used their fraction strips but it was still challenging and they did very well. They also took a released writing TAKS test. This included four passages to read and make corrections in spelling, grammar, usage, punctuation, capitalization, etc...This released test is longer than our benchmarks. Our benchmarks usually only have two passages to correct. We will be using the data from this assessment and from the recent benchmark to plan small group and whole group lessons.
The class worked so hard and was so calm and well behaved (maybe we should sleep late everyday!) that we are not having math or writing homework tonight. They are still required to read for their 100 minutes per week and write their reflection.
Happy Chinese New Year! We were so honored to have Mr. Lam (Theresa's dad) come to our classroom and teach us about Chinese New Year. We learned a lot of interesting information and were very excited to receive red envelopes and red Chinese candy. Thank you again, Mr. Lam, for sharing your knowledge and your time with us.
Tomorrow evening is our Math and Science Night. Look for more information about rescheduling if the weather becomes bad. If all goes well, we will be having fun with math and science activities from 5-8. Come find me in Mrs. Arnold's art room to read and act out a math story together!
Reading: We read a picture book called Crow Call by Lois Lowry, award winning author, and then read some autobiographical information about her. It was easy to see some similarities between events in her life and events in her book. We also read a bunch of Patricia Polacco books and will be reading her autobiography tomorrow and looking for similarities and differences. Next week we will be reading some persuasive text and working on some research.
Writing: We have finished revising our personal narratives and most of the class edited their stories and made final copies. We then started generating ideas for our next piece. We read a wonderful book called The Hickory Chair. We noted interesting, descriptive language and strong word choice. We also discussed how the author used a chair and the experiences with the chair to write her story.
We read a short story called Buffalo. Buffalo is what the author and his siblings called his father's big bathrobe. The experiences described and reflection centered around this object.
Next we made lists of objects that are important to us. We made a kernal story about their item and why it was important or significant to them. A kernal story is like a flow chart for their story. In the first box, they write where they are and when. The next book contains the first event that happened. It continues with a box for each event in the story and then the most important part of the story. Last box contains what they thought, what they learned, and what they will remember about this story and why.
We also read a short story called Your Name in Gold. We discussed the significance of the gold pin and how the characters changed in the story. We described ourselves and characters and how we changed in our story. We added more details to our first drafts. We will continue revising and editing these stories next week and publish them by next Friday.
Math: We are working hard to understand decimals, fractions, and how they relate to each other. We have used decimal squares, grids, and number lines to help us understand these concepts. We will be finishing up with this and moving on to geometry next week.
Science: Many of the children's science projects were quite impressive. Thank you for helping your children at home. We enjoyed the presentations and will be beginning learning about weathering and erosion tomorrow.
Look for progress reports and pen pal permission slips in Thursday Folders today. Please sign and return as soon as possible.
Dates to remember:
Feb. 3- Community Meeting with the Superintendent from 5:30-7:30 Canceled due to inclement weather
Feb. 4- National Heart Day-wear red
Science and Math Night- 5-8
Feb. 7, 8, 9- Book Fair in the Library
Feb. 7-Wear your favorite college shirt every Monday!
Feb. 10-Writing Club in art room 2:45-4:00
Feb. 11-Youth Art Month T-Shirt order forms due
Feb. 14-Pen Pal trip to The Court 9:15-11:15
Valentine Party-1:50-2:40
Service Club Meeting 2:45-4:00 in Mrs. Arnold's art room
Set up for Writing Camp in our classroom after 2:45
Feb. 15-Feb. 18=4th Grade Writing Camp!!!!!!!
March 1-Writing TAKS test for fourth graders
Stay warm tonight and tomorrow. Watch the weather reports.
Let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Thank you for sharing your children with me.
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Newsletter-January 31
Hi,
It is hard to believe that February is here already! This year is moving quickly.
On Friday, we had a wonderful visit with our pen pals. Mrs. Arnold invited us to work with her on the district's Empty Bowl Project. An art teacher in the district received a service learning grant to make ceramic bowls, then sell them with food inside donated from local restaurants and use the money to help the Round Rock Serving Center. A customer pays $10 for the soup or food and the handmade bowl and then keeps the bowl. The Empty Bowl Event will be happening in early April and I will let you know about the details when they are finalized. The children and our pen pals had a fantastic time using clay to create these beautiful bowls. Every child and pen pal made a bowl and all of the bowls are magnificent! The bowls will dry for about two weeks then Mrs. Arnold will fire them in her kiln. Everyone will glaze their bowls during our pen pal visit to FCE in March. We will be traveling to The Court to see our pen pals again on the morning of Valentine's Day. It will surely be a LOVE-ly trip. :)
Reading-Many of us started some independent research projects this week. Each child will come up with a topic and some questions that they want answered about that topic. We will be finding books in the library as well as using RRISD approved kid-friendly search engines to gather information. We will be learning about bibliographies and plagerism as well. The information learned by the student will be compiled into a project. The child will choose the type of project. These independent research projects will be ongoing. Some students may do several throughout the year. Others may do only one or two. The children will work at their own pace.
We also began reading biographies in small groups. We tried a technique that I read about in an article in The New York Times about "retrieval testing".
Here is the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/21/science/21memory.html
The article talked about a study during which groups of college students were asked to read a scientific passage then were divided into 4 groups-1 group just read the article once for 5 minutes, 1 group studied the article in four consecutive five minute sessions. A third group read the article and looked back to the article to make a concept map of information learned. The last group read the article then wrote in essay format everything they could remember about the article (retrieval testing). They then reread the article and again engaged in retrieval testing. All of the students were given a test two weeks later and the retrieval testing group out performed the others.
We are in the process of trying this with some of our groups in class. They read a few pages of their biography then wrote as much as they could remember from the pages read. Then reread the pages and added to their first essay. We will continue trying this strategy for the rest of these books then the students will take a short test on their book. Two weeks later we will be take the test again and see if we remember. It will be interesting to see what we discover in two weeks! If it seems effective, we may try this strategy more often!
Writing: Most of us finished up our personal narratives and are beginning to gather entries and ideas for our next piece.
Math: We will be finishing up decimals and fractions (although we will keep coming back to these concepts all year.) At the end of this week/beginning of next week we will begin geometry.
Science: This week we learned about renewable and nonrenewable resources. We also began our science project presentations. They will continue this week.
Science Night, Math Night, and Book Fair-Friday, February 4 at FCE-Come and join the fun. See all the creative science projects as well.
Dates to Remember:
Monday, January 31-Service Club Meeting Rm 512 2:45-4:00
Thursday, February 3-Community Meeting with RRISD Superintendent-Waterloo Icehouse- 5:30-7:30
Friday, February 4-Wear Red today to support heart health. Science Night, Math Night and Book Fair 5pm-8pm
Monday, February 7, 8, 9- Book Fair in the library: 7:30am-4 pm
Monday, February 14-Visit with Pen Pals 9:45-11:15 am, Valentine's Day Party-1:55-2:40pm, Set up for Writing Camp-2:45-?
Thursday, February 10-Writing Club 2:45-4:00 (Come write with us!)
Tuesday, February 15-18-Writing Camp! Yeah!!!!!!!
Tuesday, March 1-Writing TAKS test for 4th graders
Thank you for all that you do at home to support your child. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
It is hard to believe that February is here already! This year is moving quickly.
On Friday, we had a wonderful visit with our pen pals. Mrs. Arnold invited us to work with her on the district's Empty Bowl Project. An art teacher in the district received a service learning grant to make ceramic bowls, then sell them with food inside donated from local restaurants and use the money to help the Round Rock Serving Center. A customer pays $10 for the soup or food and the handmade bowl and then keeps the bowl. The Empty Bowl Event will be happening in early April and I will let you know about the details when they are finalized. The children and our pen pals had a fantastic time using clay to create these beautiful bowls. Every child and pen pal made a bowl and all of the bowls are magnificent! The bowls will dry for about two weeks then Mrs. Arnold will fire them in her kiln. Everyone will glaze their bowls during our pen pal visit to FCE in March. We will be traveling to The Court to see our pen pals again on the morning of Valentine's Day. It will surely be a LOVE-ly trip. :)
Reading-Many of us started some independent research projects this week. Each child will come up with a topic and some questions that they want answered about that topic. We will be finding books in the library as well as using RRISD approved kid-friendly search engines to gather information. We will be learning about bibliographies and plagerism as well. The information learned by the student will be compiled into a project. The child will choose the type of project. These independent research projects will be ongoing. Some students may do several throughout the year. Others may do only one or two. The children will work at their own pace.
We also began reading biographies in small groups. We tried a technique that I read about in an article in The New York Times about "retrieval testing".
Here is the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/21/science/21memory.html
The article talked about a study during which groups of college students were asked to read a scientific passage then were divided into 4 groups-1 group just read the article once for 5 minutes, 1 group studied the article in four consecutive five minute sessions. A third group read the article and looked back to the article to make a concept map of information learned. The last group read the article then wrote in essay format everything they could remember about the article (retrieval testing). They then reread the article and again engaged in retrieval testing. All of the students were given a test two weeks later and the retrieval testing group out performed the others.
We are in the process of trying this with some of our groups in class. They read a few pages of their biography then wrote as much as they could remember from the pages read. Then reread the pages and added to their first essay. We will continue trying this strategy for the rest of these books then the students will take a short test on their book. Two weeks later we will be take the test again and see if we remember. It will be interesting to see what we discover in two weeks! If it seems effective, we may try this strategy more often!
Writing: Most of us finished up our personal narratives and are beginning to gather entries and ideas for our next piece.
Math: We will be finishing up decimals and fractions (although we will keep coming back to these concepts all year.) At the end of this week/beginning of next week we will begin geometry.
Science: This week we learned about renewable and nonrenewable resources. We also began our science project presentations. They will continue this week.
Science Night, Math Night, and Book Fair-Friday, February 4 at FCE-Come and join the fun. See all the creative science projects as well.
Dates to Remember:
Monday, January 31-Service Club Meeting Rm 512 2:45-4:00
Thursday, February 3-Community Meeting with RRISD Superintendent-Waterloo Icehouse- 5:30-7:30
Friday, February 4-Wear Red today to support heart health. Science Night, Math Night and Book Fair 5pm-8pm
Monday, February 7, 8, 9- Book Fair in the library: 7:30am-4 pm
Monday, February 14-Visit with Pen Pals 9:45-11:15 am, Valentine's Day Party-1:55-2:40pm, Set up for Writing Camp-2:45-?
Thursday, February 10-Writing Club 2:45-4:00 (Come write with us!)
Tuesday, February 15-18-Writing Camp! Yeah!!!!!!!
Tuesday, March 1-Writing TAKS test for 4th graders
Thank you for all that you do at home to support your child. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
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