October 25, 2013
Hi,
What an exciting day! Learning about writing from Phil Bildner was amazing! He inspired us to put more details in our writing and to work hard to revise, then revise, then revise some more to get our writing to be the best it can be.
The Fire Safety Assembly for the last day of Red Ribbon Week was fun, also! We learned a lot about staying safe, crawling under smoke, and checking our smoke alarms. Congratulations to our essay contest winners! Liam, Jilian, and Matthew all won prizes in our school’s Red Ribbon Week Essay Contest! Yeah!
It was nice to see all of you at conferences. Thank you again for your flexibility.
Read about our week:
Reading: We read Twenty-One Elephants by Phil Bildner and made a story mountain to show the characters, setting, plot, climax, resolution, and theme of the book. New book club books were started and we read about an illness that is killing some bats in our country in our Time for Kids magazine. Next week we will read poetry and learn many poetic terms. We will also continue with our book club reading.
Writing: We took our first writing curriculum based assessment. The children had to practice writing to a personal narrative prompt with a two hour limit. They had to independently plan, draft, revise, edit, and write a final copy. They worked hard. The teachers will use a rubric to score the compositions and we will use the information to plan mini-lessons and make goals to improve writing. Next week we will continue working on writing expository essays and poetry.
Math: Patterns and Algebraic Reasoning has been our focus and the children are doing well looking for patterns and figuring our a rule or equation that supports the pattern. We will continue working with these concepts and will learn about elapsed time, measuring temperature, and bar graphs this week. Practice telling time with an analog clock. This is difficult for many students because there are more digital clocks around then analog, so the children get less practice. Thank you for continuing to work on automaticity of math facts as well.
Science: Our test on Matter was on Thursday. We will review this test on Monday and begin working with forms of energy.
Social Studies: We will continue to learn about the tribes of Texas.
Have a wonderful weekend! Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
Friday, October 25, 2013
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Red Ribbon Week Oct. 21-25, Wear Tie Dye on Monday, Reading/Math Log and Homework Packet due on Monday, Writing Assessment on Wednesday, Science Test on Thursday, Word Study/Spelling test on Friday,Phil Bildner Visit on Friday
Dates to remember:
Monday, October 21-Reading/Math logs due, homework packets due
Monday, October 21-Service Club Meeting from 2:45-3:45
Tuesday, October 22-Picture Day
Wednesday, October 23-Writing Assessment
Thursday, October 24-Science Test
Friday, October 25-Word Study/Spelling test
Friday, October 25-Visit with author, Phil Bildner
Thursday, October 31-Writing Club from 2:45-3:45 in Ms. Arnold's Room
Friday, November 1-Movie Night, The Croods, at 7:30-bring canned food
October 19, 2013
Hi,
We have a new student! We are excited to welcome Madison to our bat cave! She comes to us from Oklahoma and has been a wonderful addition to our classroom!
Thank you for your flexibility with the rescheduling of our conferences. The kids also did well, overall, with two different substitutes. I was very excited to be back with everyone!
Next week is Red Ribbon Week! We have a theme for each day.
Monday-Say Peace Out to Drugs-wear tie dye
Tuesday-I Picture Myself Without Drugs-wear your school picture clothes
Wednesday-Say Yes to a Healthy Heart and Body-wear anything and everything RED
Thursday-Too Cool for Drugs-wear sunglasses
Friday-Sock it to Drugs-wear crazy socks
Also on Friday, we will have a Red Ribbon Week assembly. We will be working on essays for the Red Ribbon Week Essay contest on Monday and Tuesday.
Phil Bildner will be at our school! He is the author of several picture books including The Hallelujah Flight, Twenty-One Elephants, Turkey Bowl, and The Greatest Story Ever Told. He will be conducting a writing workshop with all of our fourth grade classes. He is a very dynamic and interesting speaker and the children will learn a lot from him while having a great time. Order forms for his books will be coming home on Monday. He will sign the books bought as well. You can learn more about Phil Bildner by going to his site: http://philbildner.com
Service Club will be meeting on Monday, October 21, 2013 from 2:45-3:45 in our classroom. We will have a guest speaker come to teach us about a childhood illness called OMS and how we can help with a toy drive to support research.
Writing Assessment on Wednesday. All of the fourth graders will be writing to a prompt provided by our district. The children will be independently drafting, revising, editing, and writing their final composition on lined paper. This is to help prepare them for the STAAR testing that will be done in the spring and help us determine strengths and things to work on to improve their writing. Please be sure that your child is in school on time on Wednesday for testing from about 8:00-10:00.
Read about our week:
Reading-We are reading expository text. We ask questions, make inferences, make predictions, make connections, and summarize. We use evidence from the text to prove our answers and support our thinking. We read about the government shutdown in our Time For Kids magazine this week. We will be reading about smoking, drugs, and alcohol from our health book this week to coordinate with Red Ribbon Week. We will also begin new book club books.
Writing-We learned about truisms and how we can use them to inspire and/or conclude our writing. A truism is a statement that is true or the author believes to be true. Friends are an important part of my life. After a storm, a rainbow appears. Life can be unfair. Winter is the best season. All of these sentences are examples of truisms and we practiced putting truisms into our writing. We will work on essays for Red Ribbon Week, finish up our Reflections writing, and gather more entries for essays this week. We will also practice using were/where correctly and words and learn about words with the following word parts- therm (thermometer, thermal), cent (centimeter, centennial), sci (science, scientist), and meter (millimeter, centimeter, kilometer, meter stick) and continue to use correct capitalization and punctuation in all of our writing in all subjects.
Math-We are continuing looking for patterns and using algebraic reasoning. The class is doing very well looking at a pattern and determining a rule for that pattern. We will be applying these concepts into some challenging word problems this week. As always we will continue to work on addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts.
Science-We are finishing up learning about matter, changes in matter, and mixtures and solutions. We will have a test on Thursday on these concepts. I will send a study guide by email this week end and also suggest encouraging your child to go to Stemscopes to practice the concepts covered. Stemscopes includes websites, games, interactive virtual investigations, vocabulary, and science rock songs. Go to stemscopes from the Forest Creek website. Go to the For Students link on the right side. Then to stemscopes. User name: Bartholomew. Password: bats. Review the activities related to Classifying Matter, Changes from Heat, and Mixtures and Solutions.
Social Studies-We will continue learning about the tribes of Texas this week.
Have a wonderful weekend. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
Monday, October 21-Reading/Math logs due, homework packets due
Monday, October 21-Service Club Meeting from 2:45-3:45
Tuesday, October 22-Picture Day
Wednesday, October 23-Writing Assessment
Thursday, October 24-Science Test
Friday, October 25-Word Study/Spelling test
Friday, October 25-Visit with author, Phil Bildner
Thursday, October 31-Writing Club from 2:45-3:45 in Ms. Arnold's Room
Friday, November 1-Movie Night, The Croods, at 7:30-bring canned food
October 19, 2013
Hi,
We have a new student! We are excited to welcome Madison to our bat cave! She comes to us from Oklahoma and has been a wonderful addition to our classroom!
Thank you for your flexibility with the rescheduling of our conferences. The kids also did well, overall, with two different substitutes. I was very excited to be back with everyone!
Next week is Red Ribbon Week! We have a theme for each day.
Monday-Say Peace Out to Drugs-wear tie dye
Tuesday-I Picture Myself Without Drugs-wear your school picture clothes
Wednesday-Say Yes to a Healthy Heart and Body-wear anything and everything RED
Thursday-Too Cool for Drugs-wear sunglasses
Friday-Sock it to Drugs-wear crazy socks
Also on Friday, we will have a Red Ribbon Week assembly. We will be working on essays for the Red Ribbon Week Essay contest on Monday and Tuesday.
Phil Bildner will be at our school! He is the author of several picture books including The Hallelujah Flight, Twenty-One Elephants, Turkey Bowl, and The Greatest Story Ever Told. He will be conducting a writing workshop with all of our fourth grade classes. He is a very dynamic and interesting speaker and the children will learn a lot from him while having a great time. Order forms for his books will be coming home on Monday. He will sign the books bought as well. You can learn more about Phil Bildner by going to his site: http://philbildner.com
Service Club will be meeting on Monday, October 21, 2013 from 2:45-3:45 in our classroom. We will have a guest speaker come to teach us about a childhood illness called OMS and how we can help with a toy drive to support research.
Writing Assessment on Wednesday. All of the fourth graders will be writing to a prompt provided by our district. The children will be independently drafting, revising, editing, and writing their final composition on lined paper. This is to help prepare them for the STAAR testing that will be done in the spring and help us determine strengths and things to work on to improve their writing. Please be sure that your child is in school on time on Wednesday for testing from about 8:00-10:00.
Read about our week:
Reading-We are reading expository text. We ask questions, make inferences, make predictions, make connections, and summarize. We use evidence from the text to prove our answers and support our thinking. We read about the government shutdown in our Time For Kids magazine this week. We will be reading about smoking, drugs, and alcohol from our health book this week to coordinate with Red Ribbon Week. We will also begin new book club books.
Writing-We learned about truisms and how we can use them to inspire and/or conclude our writing. A truism is a statement that is true or the author believes to be true. Friends are an important part of my life. After a storm, a rainbow appears. Life can be unfair. Winter is the best season. All of these sentences are examples of truisms and we practiced putting truisms into our writing. We will work on essays for Red Ribbon Week, finish up our Reflections writing, and gather more entries for essays this week. We will also practice using were/where correctly and words and learn about words with the following word parts- therm (thermometer, thermal), cent (centimeter, centennial), sci (science, scientist), and meter (millimeter, centimeter, kilometer, meter stick) and continue to use correct capitalization and punctuation in all of our writing in all subjects.
Math-We are continuing looking for patterns and using algebraic reasoning. The class is doing very well looking at a pattern and determining a rule for that pattern. We will be applying these concepts into some challenging word problems this week. As always we will continue to work on addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts.
Science-We are finishing up learning about matter, changes in matter, and mixtures and solutions. We will have a test on Thursday on these concepts. I will send a study guide by email this week end and also suggest encouraging your child to go to Stemscopes to practice the concepts covered. Stemscopes includes websites, games, interactive virtual investigations, vocabulary, and science rock songs. Go to stemscopes from the Forest Creek website. Go to the For Students link on the right side. Then to stemscopes. User name: Bartholomew. Password: bats. Review the activities related to Classifying Matter, Changes from Heat, and Mixtures and Solutions.
Social Studies-We will continue learning about the tribes of Texas this week.
Have a wonderful weekend. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Newsletter-October 13, Read about our week!
Hi,
We had a wonderful visit on Friday with our pen pals. We went to the science lab and examined a gourd in depth. We measured, described, drew, touched, and weighed the gourd using the triple beam balance. We also determined if the gourd would sink or float. Then we interviewed our pen pals about their childhoods and Halloween, played Halloween Bingo, played with playdough, and worked on some tricky Halloween crossword puzzles and word searches. We will be meeting with our pen pals again on December 6 and will have more holiday fun.
Dates to remember:
Monday, October 14-No school for students
Tuesday, October 15-Reading/Math logs due, homework packets due
Tuesday, October 15-Friday, October 18-Book Fair in the library 7:30-4:30-late hours on Friday
Friday, October 18-Movie Night, The Croods, at 7:30-bring canned food
Tuesday, October 22-Picture Day
Friday, October 25-Visit with author, Phil Bildner
Read about our week:
Reading-We finished our book club books! Each child is writing a letter to me telling me all about the book and its story elements as well as the favorite and least favorite parts. They are also creating story mountains to show the story elements. We also read non-fiction or expository text and are writing responses to them which include our connections, questions, predictions, thoughts and feelings about the topic. We will continue with more non-fiction this week.
Writing-We read the poem, Dreams, by Langston Hughes and discussed the metaphors and the deeper meaning that dreams, goals, and hopes for the future help make our lives meaningful and help direct us. Then the children wrote poems, stories, plays, essays, etc… that exemplified the theme, Dream, Believe, Inspire for the Reflections contest. We also used photos of special places to write descriptive paragraphs and help add specific details to our writing.
Math-Patterns and algebraic equations has been our focus this week. We are looking for repeating patterns in rows of shapes and determining a formula or algebraic equation to figure out the 10th, 20th, or 100th repeat in the pattern without drawing the pattern 100 times. It can be tricky but they are getting it! We are also using input/output charts and determining the rule. For example, if the CD cost $4 , how would you figure out the cost of 1,2,5,10, 25, etc… CD’s. Putting the data on an input/output chart helps us to see the patterns and figure out those higher numbers.
Science-We are working with matter and states of matter and also how increasing or decreasing heat changes the state of matter. We are working on writing an essay to explain the information about matter and this week will be working with solutions and mixtures.
Social Studies-The Native Tribes of Texas was our topic of discussion this week. We were in groups and researched a tribe and made a chart showing that information. We determined if the tribe was nomadic or non-nomadic, if they farmed or hunted, the region where they lived, and how that region affected their lives. We shared the charts and will learning more about Native Groups this week.
Thank you for your support and flexibility with the changes to conferences. I appreciate your understanding.
Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
We had a wonderful visit on Friday with our pen pals. We went to the science lab and examined a gourd in depth. We measured, described, drew, touched, and weighed the gourd using the triple beam balance. We also determined if the gourd would sink or float. Then we interviewed our pen pals about their childhoods and Halloween, played Halloween Bingo, played with playdough, and worked on some tricky Halloween crossword puzzles and word searches. We will be meeting with our pen pals again on December 6 and will have more holiday fun.
Dates to remember:
Monday, October 14-No school for students
Tuesday, October 15-Reading/Math logs due, homework packets due
Tuesday, October 15-Friday, October 18-Book Fair in the library 7:30-4:30-late hours on Friday
Friday, October 18-Movie Night, The Croods, at 7:30-bring canned food
Tuesday, October 22-Picture Day
Friday, October 25-Visit with author, Phil Bildner
Read about our week:
Reading-We finished our book club books! Each child is writing a letter to me telling me all about the book and its story elements as well as the favorite and least favorite parts. They are also creating story mountains to show the story elements. We also read non-fiction or expository text and are writing responses to them which include our connections, questions, predictions, thoughts and feelings about the topic. We will continue with more non-fiction this week.
Writing-We read the poem, Dreams, by Langston Hughes and discussed the metaphors and the deeper meaning that dreams, goals, and hopes for the future help make our lives meaningful and help direct us. Then the children wrote poems, stories, plays, essays, etc… that exemplified the theme, Dream, Believe, Inspire for the Reflections contest. We also used photos of special places to write descriptive paragraphs and help add specific details to our writing.
Math-Patterns and algebraic equations has been our focus this week. We are looking for repeating patterns in rows of shapes and determining a formula or algebraic equation to figure out the 10th, 20th, or 100th repeat in the pattern without drawing the pattern 100 times. It can be tricky but they are getting it! We are also using input/output charts and determining the rule. For example, if the CD cost $4 , how would you figure out the cost of 1,2,5,10, 25, etc… CD’s. Putting the data on an input/output chart helps us to see the patterns and figure out those higher numbers.
Science-We are working with matter and states of matter and also how increasing or decreasing heat changes the state of matter. We are working on writing an essay to explain the information about matter and this week will be working with solutions and mixtures.
Social Studies-The Native Tribes of Texas was our topic of discussion this week. We were in groups and researched a tribe and made a chart showing that information. We determined if the tribe was nomadic or non-nomadic, if they farmed or hunted, the region where they lived, and how that region affected their lives. We shared the charts and will learning more about Native Groups this week.
Thank you for your support and flexibility with the changes to conferences. I appreciate your understanding.
Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Great Week!
Hi,
We had a great week!
Reminders: Turn in fundraiser forms. Donate clothing and books. Sign up for conferences, if you haven’t already. Pen Pals will come on Friday, October 11.
Reading: We are working on reading expository text, looking for text features, and writing summaries and responses about what we read. Our responses include connections, predictions, questions, thoughts, feelings, and opinions. We don’t just say that we like or dislike something but give reasons to support our opinions. We are also finishing up our book club books and will begin new books and new groups by the end of next week.
Writing: Gathering entries for personal essays is our focus. One difference between personal narratives and personal essays is that narratives are about small moments and essays are about a big idea. We observed in a 2nd grade PE class and the PreK class at recess. We wrote what we saw and heard with details then tried to stretch our thinking by writing a big idea. This makes me realize… was a common sentence starter for us. We also read Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting which is a realistic fiction story of a boy and his father living in an airport. We discussed homelessness and wrote some things we noticed and our opinions about that. Our Time for Kids newspaper had an article about chimps being retired to a sanctuary after being used to test medicines for humans. Many children felt strongly about this and wrote their thoughts and opinions. We had a severe weather drill this week and some of the kids wrote their observations and big ideas about that drill. We will continue noticing things and stretching our thinking as we gather more entries then will choose one to take through the writing process and write as an essay.
Math: We finished up our review of multiplication and division strategies but will revisit them often throughout the year. We took an assessment on Thursday and finished it on Friday. This assessment will help me focus some small groups for math and begin more reteaching and extension groups as needed. Next week, we will begin looking at patterns and algebraic reasoning. Continue to practice math facts and use Think through Math at home. Most of the kids know many of their facts and all of them can use a strategy to figure out the answer to a fact but we need the kids to be more automatic with their fact recall. This makes working with higher numbers much easier. Talk to your child about their strategies for solving multiplication and division problems.
Science: Changes in matter from heat has been our topic of discussion this week. We visited some websites that simulated melting, boiling, and freezing. We made online diagrams of the effects of increasing and decreasing heat in solids, liquids, and gases. We also did some fun experiments with insulators. We put ice in several bags then wrapped each of the bags with a different insulator like flannel, denim, bubble wrap, paper towels, dishtowels, sponges, and a sock. Then we put the items outside in the sun for about 15 minutes. We determined that the sock was the best insulator. We also put ice and salt in half of a soda can. The outside of the can became freezing cold and a thin layer of ice formed on the outside of the can. We realized that the cold can decreased the heat energy around the can and turned the water vapor back into liquid which then began to freeze because the can was so cold. Next week we will continue talking about matter and also mixtures and solutions.
Social Studies: The characteristics of the regions of Texas were reviewed using the textbook. We will apply the characteristics of the regions to our study of the Native Americans who lived in each region. What resources did the tribe use? How did they adapt to their environment?
Thank you for sharing your child with me and let me know if you have any comments or concerns.
Sincerely,
Pam
We had a great week!
Reminders: Turn in fundraiser forms. Donate clothing and books. Sign up for conferences, if you haven’t already. Pen Pals will come on Friday, October 11.
Reading: We are working on reading expository text, looking for text features, and writing summaries and responses about what we read. Our responses include connections, predictions, questions, thoughts, feelings, and opinions. We don’t just say that we like or dislike something but give reasons to support our opinions. We are also finishing up our book club books and will begin new books and new groups by the end of next week.
Writing: Gathering entries for personal essays is our focus. One difference between personal narratives and personal essays is that narratives are about small moments and essays are about a big idea. We observed in a 2nd grade PE class and the PreK class at recess. We wrote what we saw and heard with details then tried to stretch our thinking by writing a big idea. This makes me realize… was a common sentence starter for us. We also read Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting which is a realistic fiction story of a boy and his father living in an airport. We discussed homelessness and wrote some things we noticed and our opinions about that. Our Time for Kids newspaper had an article about chimps being retired to a sanctuary after being used to test medicines for humans. Many children felt strongly about this and wrote their thoughts and opinions. We had a severe weather drill this week and some of the kids wrote their observations and big ideas about that drill. We will continue noticing things and stretching our thinking as we gather more entries then will choose one to take through the writing process and write as an essay.
Math: We finished up our review of multiplication and division strategies but will revisit them often throughout the year. We took an assessment on Thursday and finished it on Friday. This assessment will help me focus some small groups for math and begin more reteaching and extension groups as needed. Next week, we will begin looking at patterns and algebraic reasoning. Continue to practice math facts and use Think through Math at home. Most of the kids know many of their facts and all of them can use a strategy to figure out the answer to a fact but we need the kids to be more automatic with their fact recall. This makes working with higher numbers much easier. Talk to your child about their strategies for solving multiplication and division problems.
Science: Changes in matter from heat has been our topic of discussion this week. We visited some websites that simulated melting, boiling, and freezing. We made online diagrams of the effects of increasing and decreasing heat in solids, liquids, and gases. We also did some fun experiments with insulators. We put ice in several bags then wrapped each of the bags with a different insulator like flannel, denim, bubble wrap, paper towels, dishtowels, sponges, and a sock. Then we put the items outside in the sun for about 15 minutes. We determined that the sock was the best insulator. We also put ice and salt in half of a soda can. The outside of the can became freezing cold and a thin layer of ice formed on the outside of the can. We realized that the cold can decreased the heat energy around the can and turned the water vapor back into liquid which then began to freeze because the can was so cold. Next week we will continue talking about matter and also mixtures and solutions.
Social Studies: The characteristics of the regions of Texas were reviewed using the textbook. We will apply the characteristics of the regions to our study of the Native Americans who lived in each region. What resources did the tribe use? How did they adapt to their environment?
Thank you for sharing your child with me and let me know if you have any comments or concerns.
Sincerely,
Pam
Friday, September 27, 2013
Newsletter
Dates to Remember:
Reading/Math Logs due on Monday.
Homework packet due on Monday.
Spelling/word study test on Friday.
Thursday, October 3-Math test on Multiplication/Division strategies
Thursday, October 3-Writing Club-Mrs. Arnold's room, 2:45-3:45
Donate clothing, jeans, jackets, and books for Round Rock Serving Center. Boxes are outside the office. Thank you for supporting our FCE Service Club, PTA, and our community.
Hi,
We had our first Pen Pal visit today and it was wonderful! Our pen pals were so happy to be with your children and the kids were respectful, kind, and engaged. It was amazing to see them interviewing, chatting, and playing games together. The pen pals stayed about 20 minutes longer than was planned because they were all working so well together. Our next visit is scheduled for October 11 from 9:30-10:30 in the library. We would love to have you come and see our students in action.
Thank you to all the dads who were able to come to our classroom this morning for our Dad's Day. We had fun creating aluminum foil boats and testing them out to see which design could hold the most pennies. Thanks again and feel free to come and spend time in our classroom at other times as well. We would love to have you.
Read about our week!
Reading-We read an article on Food Allergies in Time For Kids and talked about text features and the organization of non-fiction or expository text. We will continue reading non-fiction this week as well as continue reading, discussing, and responding to our book club books.
Writing- We are gathering entries for personal essays. We compared the characteristics of a personal narrative and a personal essay. We talked about big ideas like friends and watched a video of the unique friendship between Bella the dog and Tarra the elephant at a Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. We will be writing about what we notice and observe and then reflect on what the observation or noticing made us realize, wonder, or think. As always we will be writing with in complete sentences with capital letters at the beginning of our sentences and punctuation at the end. Thank you for keeping your child accountable for these conventions.
Math-In math, we explored multiplication and division strategies. We talked about fact families and the how multiplication and division are related. We played games and solved problems. The children made arrays out of graph paper to represent candy boxes. They made all possible arrays for 24 candies and then wrote a letter to explain which box would be best and why. Math vocabulary has also been a hot topic. Dividend, divisor, quotient, factor, and product are all words that we practice each day. We will reviewing on Monday for our test on Thursday.
Science-The study of matter is our focus. We did an investigation using straws and water. The water had food coloring and different amounts of water and made layers according to the density of the water when put in the straw with a pipette or eye dropper. We also experimented with our reading buddies and made layers using oil, water, and corn syrup. We will continue with matter topics next week.
Social Studies-Texas map posters were made in small groups. The kids traced the shape of Texas and divided it into regions. Then added pom-poms, yarn, and jewels to represent products, resources, rivers, and cities. They made a map key or legend and a compass rose as well. We will soon be talking about the Native Americans in early Texas.
Thank you for your continued support. As always, let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Have a wonderful weekend!
Sincerely,
Pam
Reading/Math Logs due on Monday.
Homework packet due on Monday.
Spelling/word study test on Friday.
Thursday, October 3-Math test on Multiplication/Division strategies
Thursday, October 3-Writing Club-Mrs. Arnold's room, 2:45-3:45
Donate clothing, jeans, jackets, and books for Round Rock Serving Center. Boxes are outside the office. Thank you for supporting our FCE Service Club, PTA, and our community.
Hi,
We had our first Pen Pal visit today and it was wonderful! Our pen pals were so happy to be with your children and the kids were respectful, kind, and engaged. It was amazing to see them interviewing, chatting, and playing games together. The pen pals stayed about 20 minutes longer than was planned because they were all working so well together. Our next visit is scheduled for October 11 from 9:30-10:30 in the library. We would love to have you come and see our students in action.
Thank you to all the dads who were able to come to our classroom this morning for our Dad's Day. We had fun creating aluminum foil boats and testing them out to see which design could hold the most pennies. Thanks again and feel free to come and spend time in our classroom at other times as well. We would love to have you.
Read about our week!
Reading-We read an article on Food Allergies in Time For Kids and talked about text features and the organization of non-fiction or expository text. We will continue reading non-fiction this week as well as continue reading, discussing, and responding to our book club books.
Writing- We are gathering entries for personal essays. We compared the characteristics of a personal narrative and a personal essay. We talked about big ideas like friends and watched a video of the unique friendship between Bella the dog and Tarra the elephant at a Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. We will be writing about what we notice and observe and then reflect on what the observation or noticing made us realize, wonder, or think. As always we will be writing with in complete sentences with capital letters at the beginning of our sentences and punctuation at the end. Thank you for keeping your child accountable for these conventions.
Math-In math, we explored multiplication and division strategies. We talked about fact families and the how multiplication and division are related. We played games and solved problems. The children made arrays out of graph paper to represent candy boxes. They made all possible arrays for 24 candies and then wrote a letter to explain which box would be best and why. Math vocabulary has also been a hot topic. Dividend, divisor, quotient, factor, and product are all words that we practice each day. We will reviewing on Monday for our test on Thursday.
Science-The study of matter is our focus. We did an investigation using straws and water. The water had food coloring and different amounts of water and made layers according to the density of the water when put in the straw with a pipette or eye dropper. We also experimented with our reading buddies and made layers using oil, water, and corn syrup. We will continue with matter topics next week.
Social Studies-Texas map posters were made in small groups. The kids traced the shape of Texas and divided it into regions. Then added pom-poms, yarn, and jewels to represent products, resources, rivers, and cities. They made a map key or legend and a compass rose as well. We will soon be talking about the Native Americans in early Texas.
Thank you for your continued support. As always, let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Have a wonderful weekend!
Sincerely,
Pam
Saturday, September 21, 2013
Hi,
We enjoyed indoor recess today and some rainy weather. We also had a great week!
FCE Service Club meets on Monday, September 23 from 2:45-3:45. All 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders are welcome.
Reading and math logs are due on Monday. Homework packets are also due.
Monday is our library check-out day.
This week is Education Go Get It Week! Wear a college shirt on Monday! Scroll down to read about the rest of the week.
Be sure to return your registration form with a signature and any necessary corrections.
Early Release on Wednesday, September 25 at 12:45
Bring Dads to School Day is on Friday, September 25 from 7:15-8:15 in the classroom then Dads move to the cafeteria for donuts. Research shows that having an involved Dad is a big indicator of student academic success. We look forward to seeing you!
Pen Pals will be here on Friday!-We wrote letters yesterday for our pen pals and introduced ourselves. On Friday, September 27, our pen pals will be at our school in the library from 10:00-10:45. We will be interviewing them and playing games. You are all invited to come and meet these amazing friends from The Court at Round Rock Assisted Living Facility.
Read about our week:
In reading, we read and responded to our book club books and met as a group to discuss questions, predictions, tricky words, characters, and our thoughts about the chapter and the book as a whole. We also read and responded to some non-fiction articles in our weekly Time for Kids publication. We read about the 50 year anniversary of the March on Washington, a newly discovered mammal, and many other interesting articles. Next week we will continue reading and discussing our book club books. We are examining the basic story elements (setting, characters, problem, solution). We will also be looking at non-fiction text and examining different structures that an author uses in expository text. (compare/contrast, problem/solution, sequential, etc…)
In writing, many of the children published their personal narratives! All of the children are doing a great job drafting, conferencing with me, making revisions, and editing their pieces. We will share our narratives and begin gathering entries for our first published essay of the year. We also worked on the spelling and usage of the homophones there, their, they’re, your, and you’re and using correct capitalization and punctuation in all of our writing.
In math, we took an assessment on place value, ordering, estimation, as well as adding and subtracting with regrouping. Most of the children did very well. We are now working on multiplication and division strategies. We played games to practice these strategies and used a multiplication chart to look for patterns. Thank you for working on automaticity of facts with your child at home. Vocabulary is a big part of math and we worked with the words addend, sum, factors, product, multiple, dividend, divisor, quotient, and minuend, subtrahend, and difference. We will continue to work on these and add more math language throughout the year.
In science, we took an assessment on tools and safety and wrote an essay about why scientists need tools. The multiple choice section and the content of the essay was not a problem for most students but many needed to remember to always use correct capitalization, punctuation, and spelling in anything that they write. Thank you for helping your child be accountable for these conventions of writing. Matter is our next topic and we had fun with some investigations this week. We talked about the three states of matter and how energy is either added or subtracted to a substance to change the state of matter. We put blue food coloring in cups of water then added ice cubes to water and used a white paper towel to wipe off the condensation. There were no blue marks on the paper towel so we knew that the water droplets on the outside of the cup didn’t come from the inside blue water and through the plastic but appeared when the cold temperature of the cup changed the water vapor in the air from a gas to a liquid. We also investigated three balloons with mystery substances inside. We measured the mass of the balloons in grams using a triple beam balance, observed them, touched them, smelled them, and predicted which balloons would sink or float. The density of the mystery substances determined whether they would sink or float. Dishwashing liquid had the greatest density and was denser than the water, so it sunk. Air was least dense and was less dense than the water, so it floated. Baby oil bobbed a little bit under the water so its density was in between that of air and dishwashing soap. We will learn more about density in matter this week.
In Social Studies, we learned about freedom, equality, and democracy because this was Celebrate Freedom Week! We learned about the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. We also learned about Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation. We will learn more about maps this week.
Education Go Get It Week!
Round Rock ISD will celebrate Education Go Get It (EGGI) week from September 23-27 as a way of providing students with information about higher education. At Forest Creek, our goal is for every student to make college their choice. We will be celebrating all week with the following activities:
Monday: College Spirit
Wear your favorite college/university t-shirt or jersey
Tuesday: Be All You Can Be – Say College is for me!
Wear Camouflage
Wednesday: Step up to Education
Wear tennis shoes
Thursday: Hats Off to College
Wear your favorite college hat
Friday: Dress for Success
Wear clothes that represents your future profession of choice
Have a wonderful weekend!
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
We enjoyed indoor recess today and some rainy weather. We also had a great week!
FCE Service Club meets on Monday, September 23 from 2:45-3:45. All 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders are welcome.
Reading and math logs are due on Monday. Homework packets are also due.
Monday is our library check-out day.
This week is Education Go Get It Week! Wear a college shirt on Monday! Scroll down to read about the rest of the week.
Be sure to return your registration form with a signature and any necessary corrections.
Early Release on Wednesday, September 25 at 12:45
Bring Dads to School Day is on Friday, September 25 from 7:15-8:15 in the classroom then Dads move to the cafeteria for donuts. Research shows that having an involved Dad is a big indicator of student academic success. We look forward to seeing you!
Pen Pals will be here on Friday!-We wrote letters yesterday for our pen pals and introduced ourselves. On Friday, September 27, our pen pals will be at our school in the library from 10:00-10:45. We will be interviewing them and playing games. You are all invited to come and meet these amazing friends from The Court at Round Rock Assisted Living Facility.
Read about our week:
In reading, we read and responded to our book club books and met as a group to discuss questions, predictions, tricky words, characters, and our thoughts about the chapter and the book as a whole. We also read and responded to some non-fiction articles in our weekly Time for Kids publication. We read about the 50 year anniversary of the March on Washington, a newly discovered mammal, and many other interesting articles. Next week we will continue reading and discussing our book club books. We are examining the basic story elements (setting, characters, problem, solution). We will also be looking at non-fiction text and examining different structures that an author uses in expository text. (compare/contrast, problem/solution, sequential, etc…)
In writing, many of the children published their personal narratives! All of the children are doing a great job drafting, conferencing with me, making revisions, and editing their pieces. We will share our narratives and begin gathering entries for our first published essay of the year. We also worked on the spelling and usage of the homophones there, their, they’re, your, and you’re and using correct capitalization and punctuation in all of our writing.
In math, we took an assessment on place value, ordering, estimation, as well as adding and subtracting with regrouping. Most of the children did very well. We are now working on multiplication and division strategies. We played games to practice these strategies and used a multiplication chart to look for patterns. Thank you for working on automaticity of facts with your child at home. Vocabulary is a big part of math and we worked with the words addend, sum, factors, product, multiple, dividend, divisor, quotient, and minuend, subtrahend, and difference. We will continue to work on these and add more math language throughout the year.
In science, we took an assessment on tools and safety and wrote an essay about why scientists need tools. The multiple choice section and the content of the essay was not a problem for most students but many needed to remember to always use correct capitalization, punctuation, and spelling in anything that they write. Thank you for helping your child be accountable for these conventions of writing. Matter is our next topic and we had fun with some investigations this week. We talked about the three states of matter and how energy is either added or subtracted to a substance to change the state of matter. We put blue food coloring in cups of water then added ice cubes to water and used a white paper towel to wipe off the condensation. There were no blue marks on the paper towel so we knew that the water droplets on the outside of the cup didn’t come from the inside blue water and through the plastic but appeared when the cold temperature of the cup changed the water vapor in the air from a gas to a liquid. We also investigated three balloons with mystery substances inside. We measured the mass of the balloons in grams using a triple beam balance, observed them, touched them, smelled them, and predicted which balloons would sink or float. The density of the mystery substances determined whether they would sink or float. Dishwashing liquid had the greatest density and was denser than the water, so it sunk. Air was least dense and was less dense than the water, so it floated. Baby oil bobbed a little bit under the water so its density was in between that of air and dishwashing soap. We will learn more about density in matter this week.
In Social Studies, we learned about freedom, equality, and democracy because this was Celebrate Freedom Week! We learned about the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. We also learned about Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation. We will learn more about maps this week.
Education Go Get It Week!
Round Rock ISD will celebrate Education Go Get It (EGGI) week from September 23-27 as a way of providing students with information about higher education. At Forest Creek, our goal is for every student to make college their choice. We will be celebrating all week with the following activities:
Monday: College Spirit
Wear your favorite college/university t-shirt or jersey
Tuesday: Be All You Can Be – Say College is for me!
Wear Camouflage
Wednesday: Step up to Education
Wear tennis shoes
Thursday: Hats Off to College
Wear your favorite college hat
Friday: Dress for Success
Wear clothes that represents your future profession of choice
Have a wonderful weekend!
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
Friday, September 13, 2013
Fun Week!
Hi,
We had a great week. The kids worked hard and most of them are putting forth a good amount of effort. Good for them and let’s keep it up! We enjoyed having the Austin Jazz Group here for an assembly this afternoon! Ask your child about his/her favorite part/song/instrument and why they liked that part.
We will have a math test on Monday on place value (up to hundred millions, expanded form, standard form, word form, ordering large numbers, estimation, rounding) as well as addition and subtraction with regrouping. We did a review today in class and your child should have it in the back pack to bring home to study. Subtraction with regrouping is especially hard for many students. They all need to add to check their work every time they subtract large numbers. (points will be deducted on the test) Here is a website that could help with the understanding that the strategy isn’t to randomly cross out digits and replace with a 10 or a 9 but to regroup the number. 1 thousand =10 hundreds, 1 hundred =10 tens, 1 ten =10 ones. When you regroup, you aren’t changing the number, you are rearranging the number in each place. Go to this website: http://enlvm.usu.edu/ma/nav/activity.jsp?sid=nlvm&cid=1_1&lid=155
At this site, your child can practice with virtual base ten blocks.
We will also have a science quiz on safety and tools. Your child will bring home pictures of tools and their uses today as well.
Service Club will begin on Monday, September 23 in our classroom from 2:45-3:45. We will meet every other Monday. Service Club facilitates activities for the school such as writing letters to soldiers, collecting food for families from our school, collecting books for the Round Rock Serving Center, and many other service opportunities. We also go to the Round Rock Serving Center on the first Saturday of each month from 9-10 to volunteer. Come and help us help others! Pick up in front of the school at 3:45. All fourth and fifth graders are welcome!
Writing Club will begin on Thursday, October 3 in Mrs. Arnold’s room from 2:45-3:45. We will meet every other Thursday. In writing club, the second, third, fourth, and fifth graders write and share their work. We have a short mini-lesson or talk about a strategy to try to improve writing, then the kids write! Teachers are there to conference about their writing and we encourage the kids to talk to each other about their work. Then we have a sharing time at the end of the session.
Research Club is led by Mrs. Washburn and is starting on Tuesdays. Applications are outside the computer lab. This group will work on independent research ideas. Email her for more information. Julie_Washburn@roundrockisd.org
Math Pentathlon will begin on Thursday, September 19. Everyone is encouraged to come and have fun with math puzzles and games. Applications are outside the computer lab. Email Julie_Washburn@roundrockisd.org for more info.
Robotics will be starting soon. More information will be coming.
Read about our week!
Reading-In reading this week, we began some book club book groups. Your child is reading Mudshark, Chocolate Fever, or The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. They are reading independently and then answering questions about the chapter. Then we meet as a group to discuss it and talk about it in greater depth. We also read some articles and a book called 14 Cows for America about September 11. I am in the process of individually testing each child to determine their independent and instructional reading levels. We also read and compared a fire poem and an article about wildfires. Next week we will continue with book club books and read some articles from Time for Kids.
Writing-We are drafting personal narratives and will be revising and editing next week for publication by Friday. We read several books to use as mentor texts to model quality writing and talk about the techniques that the author uses. Zooming in on details, strong word choice, telling the story with details, not giving a summary of what happened, expressing thoughts and feelings, describing the setting, and slowing down the most important parts are some of the strategies on which we are working.
Math-Place value games and activities have been fun this week. We discussed opposing viewpoints of Charlie Brown and Lucy and use estimating and mathematics to decide who was correct. We ordered numbers on a large number line on the chalkboard and practiced rounding on the number line also. We even chose a dream vacation and had to use estimation to see how much it would cost. We will have an assessment on Monday and then will begin practicing multiplication and division concepts.
Social Studies-We completed our bus trip through the regions of Texas and are completing activities to go with each region.
Science-We examined shells using tools in the science lab and watched some demonstrations (using the tools) using vinegar, salt, and pennies. We discussed the scientific process as we determined which container cleaned the pennies best. We also watched what happened when mixing baking soda, soap, and vinegar and wrote about our observations. On Monday, we will do explore whether the mass of a matchbox car has an impact on the distance it will travel using a ramp. Then we will take the quick quiz on safety and tools. Next we will learn about matter.
Let me know if you have any concerns or questions. Have a wonderful weekend!
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
We had a great week. The kids worked hard and most of them are putting forth a good amount of effort. Good for them and let’s keep it up! We enjoyed having the Austin Jazz Group here for an assembly this afternoon! Ask your child about his/her favorite part/song/instrument and why they liked that part.
We will have a math test on Monday on place value (up to hundred millions, expanded form, standard form, word form, ordering large numbers, estimation, rounding) as well as addition and subtraction with regrouping. We did a review today in class and your child should have it in the back pack to bring home to study. Subtraction with regrouping is especially hard for many students. They all need to add to check their work every time they subtract large numbers. (points will be deducted on the test) Here is a website that could help with the understanding that the strategy isn’t to randomly cross out digits and replace with a 10 or a 9 but to regroup the number. 1 thousand =10 hundreds, 1 hundred =10 tens, 1 ten =10 ones. When you regroup, you aren’t changing the number, you are rearranging the number in each place. Go to this website: http://enlvm.usu.edu/ma/nav/activity.jsp?sid=nlvm&cid=1_1&lid=155
At this site, your child can practice with virtual base ten blocks.
We will also have a science quiz on safety and tools. Your child will bring home pictures of tools and their uses today as well.
Service Club will begin on Monday, September 23 in our classroom from 2:45-3:45. We will meet every other Monday. Service Club facilitates activities for the school such as writing letters to soldiers, collecting food for families from our school, collecting books for the Round Rock Serving Center, and many other service opportunities. We also go to the Round Rock Serving Center on the first Saturday of each month from 9-10 to volunteer. Come and help us help others! Pick up in front of the school at 3:45. All fourth and fifth graders are welcome!
Writing Club will begin on Thursday, October 3 in Mrs. Arnold’s room from 2:45-3:45. We will meet every other Thursday. In writing club, the second, third, fourth, and fifth graders write and share their work. We have a short mini-lesson or talk about a strategy to try to improve writing, then the kids write! Teachers are there to conference about their writing and we encourage the kids to talk to each other about their work. Then we have a sharing time at the end of the session.
Research Club is led by Mrs. Washburn and is starting on Tuesdays. Applications are outside the computer lab. This group will work on independent research ideas. Email her for more information. Julie_Washburn@roundrockisd.org
Math Pentathlon will begin on Thursday, September 19. Everyone is encouraged to come and have fun with math puzzles and games. Applications are outside the computer lab. Email Julie_Washburn@roundrockisd.org for more info.
Robotics will be starting soon. More information will be coming.
Read about our week!
Reading-In reading this week, we began some book club book groups. Your child is reading Mudshark, Chocolate Fever, or The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. They are reading independently and then answering questions about the chapter. Then we meet as a group to discuss it and talk about it in greater depth. We also read some articles and a book called 14 Cows for America about September 11. I am in the process of individually testing each child to determine their independent and instructional reading levels. We also read and compared a fire poem and an article about wildfires. Next week we will continue with book club books and read some articles from Time for Kids.
Writing-We are drafting personal narratives and will be revising and editing next week for publication by Friday. We read several books to use as mentor texts to model quality writing and talk about the techniques that the author uses. Zooming in on details, strong word choice, telling the story with details, not giving a summary of what happened, expressing thoughts and feelings, describing the setting, and slowing down the most important parts are some of the strategies on which we are working.
Math-Place value games and activities have been fun this week. We discussed opposing viewpoints of Charlie Brown and Lucy and use estimating and mathematics to decide who was correct. We ordered numbers on a large number line on the chalkboard and practiced rounding on the number line also. We even chose a dream vacation and had to use estimation to see how much it would cost. We will have an assessment on Monday and then will begin practicing multiplication and division concepts.
Social Studies-We completed our bus trip through the regions of Texas and are completing activities to go with each region.
Science-We examined shells using tools in the science lab and watched some demonstrations (using the tools) using vinegar, salt, and pennies. We discussed the scientific process as we determined which container cleaned the pennies best. We also watched what happened when mixing baking soda, soap, and vinegar and wrote about our observations. On Monday, we will do explore whether the mass of a matchbox car has an impact on the distance it will travel using a ramp. Then we will take the quick quiz on safety and tools. Next we will learn about matter.
Let me know if you have any concerns or questions. Have a wonderful weekend!
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
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