Hi,
We had a wonderful week. Red Ribbon Week was great and we learned a lot about making good choices and staying healthy. We had our photos taken on Tuesday and met the firefighters for an assembly on Friday. We finally said goodbye to our tarantula and hello to a snake. We have a beautiful ball python in our room for two weeks. Her name is Sage. (now we have two Sages) and she seems to be starting to shed. She has been fairly active so far and we will be doing some snake research on Monday. Ask your child about Sage our snake!
Electronics Day will be on Wednesday. The class has earned enough Howler tickets to purchase an Electronics Party. (250 Howlers!) Electronic devices ( MP3 player, DS, Playstation, etc..) are allowed for 30 minutes at the end of the day. All electronics will be kept in backpacks for the rest of the day. I told the kids to really think carefully before deciding to bring in something special that has the potential to be lost or broken. Anyone who doesn't bring in an electronic device can play games (from our school's websites) on the Netbooks. Earbuds must be brought to school if listening to music and only the child with the music will be allowed to listen. All games played have to be rated E for everyone if they are played in the classroom. Any chatting electronically needs to be appropriate and respectful. Electronics Party can be very fun but we need to follow some rules. Let me know if you have any questions.
Purchase one of our Class Books! Orders due by next Friday. We are writing a class poetry book. We brainstormed ideas about fall with our pen pals and began writing poetry with them. Then we wrote more poems individually and we will each create a page in our class book. We will be sending the book off to the publisher on Friday, Nov. 2. You will find an order form in your child's Thursday folder. Please fill out with a yes (with payment) or a no, sign, and return. We will be making individual books in the spring and you will receive a free book in the spring if you return the fall class book form with a yes or no. The poetry book is turning out well and we will be including photos of us with our pen pals in the books also. I am excited about our class book! Thank you for returning your forms.
Read about our week.
Reading-We read non-fiction or expository text this week from our Health textbook to gain information about the effects of drugs, smoking, and alcohol on our bodies. We especially looked at the charts and graphs and interpreting the data in them. We used National Geographic Explorer and focused on text features (photos, diagrams, captions, subtitles, charts, maps, drawings, glossary, table of contents, etc..) and discussed how these text features help us to understand the information in the text. We also read some articles independently and wrote F/Q/R charts (facts, questions, response) Finishing our book club books was also exciting this week. We wrote responses and discussed our books in groups. We also went to our class moodle and discussed our book using a chat with the others in our group. Very exciting!
Writing-Our first benchmark or CBA (Curriculum Based Assessment) was completed on Monday. The children practiced reading a prompt, brainstorming, planning, drafting, revising, editing, and writing a final copy all independently. They wrote personal narratives in the 2 hour time limit. They will be taking the STARR writing test in the spring. The next day we reviewed the format of an essay and the format of a personal narrative. We read a poem called Jellybeans up your Nose which talks about being true to yourself and not doing something bad just because someone cool does it. We compared this to the messages in Red Ribbon Week and wrote about our thoughts, feelings, connections, etc... then wrote "this makes me think that......" or "this makes me realize....." or "I used to think ___________ but now I think ________________". These types of statements help to bring the children to a deeper level of thinking about their concepts which could turn into central ideas for essays. We noticed things in the room and then challenged our thinking with one of the statements, and we watched a video about a dog and an elephant and wrote about it pushing our thinking to find a bigger idea. We continued gathering essay entries and we will be choosing one idea to use in our next essay piece which we will be starting next week.
Math-Learning about patterns, balanced equations, and algebraic equations has been fun and we will continue with these concepts in our problem solving all year. We also a practicing using more math vocabulary and will have an assessment on our vocabulary words on Wednesday, October 31. We also examined graphs and practiced interpreting them and writing our own questions about the graphs. The cold front helped us as we practiced working with temperature. It gave us some extreme temperatures to compare. Elapsed time is another concept that we worked with a little this week and will continue with throughout the year.
Science-We began examining forms of energy-electrical, light, sound, mechanical, and thermal or heat energy. We will continue learning about energy.
Social Studies-Early Texans have been interesting to study. We read an article and completed a venn diagram to compare Early Texans and Texans of Today. Riya made a beautiful model of a Caddo village for extra credit! Thank you for extending extra effort! Next we will be learning about explorers.
Dates to Remember:
Wednesday, October 31-Math Vocabulary test
Thursday, November 1-Writing Club begins in library 2:45-3:45 (pick up in front of school)
Friday, November 2-Class book order forms due. (yes or no)
Saturday, November 3-Service Club trip to Round Rock Serving Center-9-10am
Friday, November 9-Groovy-O-Rama 10:00am fourth grade
Tuesday, November 13-TAG Informational Meeting at 5:15 pm, PTA meeting at 6:30 pm, Reflections Gallery Night at &:00 pm
Have a wonderful week! Be sure to read, write, and practice math!
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Friday, October 12, 2012
Great Week! Pen Pals and Phil Bildner come next week!
Hi,
We had a busy and great week! We had to say goodbye to our friend, the tarantula. We enjoyed observing and learning about him/her.
Thank you for meeting with me during conferences. I enjoyed seeing all of you and discussing your child’s goals. Thank you for all your support and, as always, let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Most of us wore orange on Wednesday to celebrate National Bully-Free Day! We talked about treating others with respect and watched a bullying Brain-pop!
The FCE Service Club is leading a Diaper Drive for the Round Rock Serving Center. When we volunteered at the center in September, we noticed a few clients asking for diapers and that shelf was empty! If you would like to donate diapers (any size) ask your child to drop them off in the box outside of the office. Thank you!
Our pen pals are coming on Tuesday! We are excited to see them and wrote letters to them today. We will be planning some activities for our visit on Monday.
On Monday, we will have our entire fourth grade will have a visit with the author, Phil Bildner! We are so excited about meeting him and learning about writing from him.
Read about our week:
Reading-We read a book called, The Other Side, which is a realistic fiction book. The book was about an African American girl and a white girl who live next door with a fence separating their yards. They watch each other from their respective sides of the fence and finally become friends. They hope that someday that fence will be knocked down. We talked about what that meant, metaphorically, and discussed a bit about civil rights. We did lots of independent reading then practiced leaving tracks of our thinking. We also read some books about matter.
Writing-Most of us finished our final copy of our personal narrative as well as our essays on No Hate Schools. We wrote these essays for a contest sponsored by Austin Family Magazine. We learned the basic format for an essay and that a personal narrative tells a story but an essay teaches something. We wrote about ways that we could make our school a safe place for everyone regardless of their differences. We will continue writing essays using topics of our choice next week.
Math-We had a great time working with patterns and algebra. Input/output charts, repeating patterns, and growing patterns have all been fun! We look for a pattern and then work to discover a formula with an unknown that can be used to work with that pattern. We also continued with multiplication and division within problem solving situations. We will be working more with algebra and patterns next week and beginning work with time and temperature.
Science-Changes in matter experiments have been fun! We put ice and salt in an aluminum can and stirred. It was cool to see the frost form on the outside of the can. We also put blue food coloring and ice in a plastic cup of water. Water droplets formed on the outside of the cup and when we wiped the droplets with a white paper towel the towel wasn’t blue. These two explorations helped us realize that the water and frost did not come through the cup or can but were the result of the cool container cooling the warm air around it and the condensation came from the air, not from the inside out of the container! We also discussed insulation and tested some materials by wrapping ice in Styrofoam, bubble wrap, flannel, sand, and towels. The sand and the flannel was the least effective insulation. The others were all about the same. Reminder: We are having a test on matter on Thursday, October 18. Be sure to go to Stemscopes (FCE site, for students, Stemscopes, username: Bartholomew, password: bats) to study.
Social Studies: We began researching early Texans. Each group will research a tribe and present the information to the class. We will be focusing on the following facts: in which region did they live, what natural resources did they use, what type of food did they eat and how did they get it, what was the appearance of the homes, were the people nomadic (moved in search of food) or non-nomadic (permanent houses).
Each group will be presenting their information to the class soon. If your child would like to do some extra credit work: he/she can create something extra about their tribe (poster, diorama, play, movie, power point, etc….)
Dates to remember:
Monday, October 15-Phil Bildner visit!
Tuesday, October 16-Pen Pal Visit in library, 9:30-11:00
Thursday, October 18-Matter Test, Writing Club begins in library-2:45-3:45
Friday, October 19-Spirit Day!
Saturday, October 20-Service Club Volunteers at Round Rock Serving Center 9-10
Tuesday, October 23-Individual Photo Day
Have a great weekend!
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
We had a busy and great week! We had to say goodbye to our friend, the tarantula. We enjoyed observing and learning about him/her.
Thank you for meeting with me during conferences. I enjoyed seeing all of you and discussing your child’s goals. Thank you for all your support and, as always, let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Most of us wore orange on Wednesday to celebrate National Bully-Free Day! We talked about treating others with respect and watched a bullying Brain-pop!
The FCE Service Club is leading a Diaper Drive for the Round Rock Serving Center. When we volunteered at the center in September, we noticed a few clients asking for diapers and that shelf was empty! If you would like to donate diapers (any size) ask your child to drop them off in the box outside of the office. Thank you!
Our pen pals are coming on Tuesday! We are excited to see them and wrote letters to them today. We will be planning some activities for our visit on Monday.
On Monday, we will have our entire fourth grade will have a visit with the author, Phil Bildner! We are so excited about meeting him and learning about writing from him.
Read about our week:
Reading-We read a book called, The Other Side, which is a realistic fiction book. The book was about an African American girl and a white girl who live next door with a fence separating their yards. They watch each other from their respective sides of the fence and finally become friends. They hope that someday that fence will be knocked down. We talked about what that meant, metaphorically, and discussed a bit about civil rights. We did lots of independent reading then practiced leaving tracks of our thinking. We also read some books about matter.
Writing-Most of us finished our final copy of our personal narrative as well as our essays on No Hate Schools. We wrote these essays for a contest sponsored by Austin Family Magazine. We learned the basic format for an essay and that a personal narrative tells a story but an essay teaches something. We wrote about ways that we could make our school a safe place for everyone regardless of their differences. We will continue writing essays using topics of our choice next week.
Math-We had a great time working with patterns and algebra. Input/output charts, repeating patterns, and growing patterns have all been fun! We look for a pattern and then work to discover a formula with an unknown that can be used to work with that pattern. We also continued with multiplication and division within problem solving situations. We will be working more with algebra and patterns next week and beginning work with time and temperature.
Science-Changes in matter experiments have been fun! We put ice and salt in an aluminum can and stirred. It was cool to see the frost form on the outside of the can. We also put blue food coloring and ice in a plastic cup of water. Water droplets formed on the outside of the cup and when we wiped the droplets with a white paper towel the towel wasn’t blue. These two explorations helped us realize that the water and frost did not come through the cup or can but were the result of the cool container cooling the warm air around it and the condensation came from the air, not from the inside out of the container! We also discussed insulation and tested some materials by wrapping ice in Styrofoam, bubble wrap, flannel, sand, and towels. The sand and the flannel was the least effective insulation. The others were all about the same. Reminder: We are having a test on matter on Thursday, October 18. Be sure to go to Stemscopes (FCE site, for students, Stemscopes, username: Bartholomew, password: bats) to study.
Social Studies: We began researching early Texans. Each group will research a tribe and present the information to the class. We will be focusing on the following facts: in which region did they live, what natural resources did they use, what type of food did they eat and how did they get it, what was the appearance of the homes, were the people nomadic (moved in search of food) or non-nomadic (permanent houses).
Each group will be presenting their information to the class soon. If your child would like to do some extra credit work: he/she can create something extra about their tribe (poster, diorama, play, movie, power point, etc….)
Dates to remember:
Monday, October 15-Phil Bildner visit!
Tuesday, October 16-Pen Pal Visit in library, 9:30-11:00
Thursday, October 18-Matter Test, Writing Club begins in library-2:45-3:45
Friday, October 19-Spirit Day!
Saturday, October 20-Service Club Volunteers at Round Rock Serving Center 9-10
Tuesday, October 23-Individual Photo Day
Have a great weekend!
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Busy and Fun Week! No school for students on Monday. I look forward to meeting with you and your child for conferences on Monday and Wednesday.
Hi,
We had a fun and busy week.
Book Fair will be held in the library from Monday (even though we have conferences and no classes) to Friday. It will be open late on Tuesday evening and Darth Vadar will be there. Bring your change because we are collecting coins for Coats for Kids in the library. Team HOWL, a relay for life team of faculty and staff of FCE, will also be having a bake sale on Tuesday evening. Come and enjoy some treats and buy some books!
Wear college clothing on Mondays and green, purple, or Forest Creek Elementary shirts on Friday.
Wear ORANGE on Wednesday to show unity for Bullying Prevention Month.
Art Fundraiser forms and artwork was in your child's Thursday folders. Your child's artwork can make beautiful gifts and keepsakes. It also can make cute and memorable holiday presents for family members.
Phil Bildner is coming! A former teacher and children's author is coming to our school on Monday, October 15. He has been at our school before and the fourth graders will get to spend an hour with him in a writing workshop. Mr. Bildner is very entertaining and informative. The kids are going to love meeting and working with him. There is an opportunity to pre-order some of his books and he will sign them for you. For every book that you pre-order, your child will get their name in a drawing for lunch with Mr. Bildner on Monday. (lunch from home or school but in the library with ten other kids and the author.) An order form will be coming home on Tuesday and you can check out his website at http://philbildner.com/.
Our tarantula is with us for another week and is beginning to come out from under his log and see us a bit more. We are reading expository or nonfiction text about spiders and also a fiction story about spiders. We will be comparing the two genres with a similar topic on Tuesday.
Our class has a garden box and planted some small vegetable plants on Friday. We will be planting some seeds on Tuesday. Comparing the plants and the seeds will be interesting as well as weeding, watering, and harvesting our vegetables. Thank you to Mrs. McCulloch for helping us.
Read about our week:
Reading-I read a book called Encounter to the class on Friday and didn't show them the illustrations. They had to make inferences and predictions based on the text and their background knowledge. The book is especially interesting because it is about the landing of Christopher Columbus in San Salvador but it is from a native boy's point of view. Ask your child about it.
Writing-Almost everyone finished taking their personal narrative from their draft book and rewriting it on notebook paper. Our next step is to edit. (add paragraphs, correct capitalization, spelling, and punctuation) Then the writing of our final copy will begin! We are planning to finish with these narratives on Tuesday and Wednesday and then will begin writing essays.
Math-We have been doing very well working with multiplication and division concepts and applying them to problem solving situations. We will continue sharing strategies for multiplication and division and will be working with patterns this week. Algebra-here we come!
Science-Matter experiments were fun this week. We classified items as magnetic/non-magnetic, sink/float, solid/liquid/gas, and according to other properties of the student's choice. Using three unidentified substances in film canisters, we measured and recorded their mass using a triple beam balance then shook each container and described what we heard and felt. We measured the volume of the substance by putting 400 ml of water in a beaker, then dropping the container into the beaker and measuring the water level after the water was displaced. We then subtracted the two water levels to determine the approximate volume. We also used water that was red, blue, and green with food coloring and placed drops of the water into a thin graduated cylinder to see which water was the most dense. We had to try different sequences of water colors to determine the order of the density so that we could see layers of liquid. The water had different densities because I added a lot of salt into one of the containers, some salt in the other, and no salt in the third container. We learned that liquid can have different densities.We will be conducting some more explorations with matter and changes in matter this week.
Social Studies-This week we will begin learning about Early Texans. We will think about the landforms, resources, and climate of each region and the tribes that lived there.
Dates to Remember:
Book fair-all week, Tuesday evening late hours
Monday, October 8- Conferences/No school students
Wednesday, October 10-WEAR ORANGE-Anti-bullying
Thursday, October 11-Service Club meeting
Friday, October 12-Art Fundraiser orders due
Monday, October 15-Phil Bildner visits!
Wednesday, October 17-Pen Pals Visit-9:30 in library
Monday, October 22-October 26-Red Ribbon Week
Tuesday, October 23-Individual Picture Day
Wednesday, October 24-Early Release Day-Kona Ice at school
Friday, October 26-Fire Department assembly
Friday, November 9-10:00am Groovy-O-Rama
Have a great weekend! See you at your child's conference!
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
We had a fun and busy week.
Book Fair will be held in the library from Monday (even though we have conferences and no classes) to Friday. It will be open late on Tuesday evening and Darth Vadar will be there. Bring your change because we are collecting coins for Coats for Kids in the library. Team HOWL, a relay for life team of faculty and staff of FCE, will also be having a bake sale on Tuesday evening. Come and enjoy some treats and buy some books!
Wear college clothing on Mondays and green, purple, or Forest Creek Elementary shirts on Friday.
Wear ORANGE on Wednesday to show unity for Bullying Prevention Month.
Art Fundraiser forms and artwork was in your child's Thursday folders. Your child's artwork can make beautiful gifts and keepsakes. It also can make cute and memorable holiday presents for family members.
Phil Bildner is coming! A former teacher and children's author is coming to our school on Monday, October 15. He has been at our school before and the fourth graders will get to spend an hour with him in a writing workshop. Mr. Bildner is very entertaining and informative. The kids are going to love meeting and working with him. There is an opportunity to pre-order some of his books and he will sign them for you. For every book that you pre-order, your child will get their name in a drawing for lunch with Mr. Bildner on Monday. (lunch from home or school but in the library with ten other kids and the author.) An order form will be coming home on Tuesday and you can check out his website at http://philbildner.com/.
Our tarantula is with us for another week and is beginning to come out from under his log and see us a bit more. We are reading expository or nonfiction text about spiders and also a fiction story about spiders. We will be comparing the two genres with a similar topic on Tuesday.
Our class has a garden box and planted some small vegetable plants on Friday. We will be planting some seeds on Tuesday. Comparing the plants and the seeds will be interesting as well as weeding, watering, and harvesting our vegetables. Thank you to Mrs. McCulloch for helping us.
Read about our week:
Reading-I read a book called Encounter to the class on Friday and didn't show them the illustrations. They had to make inferences and predictions based on the text and their background knowledge. The book is especially interesting because it is about the landing of Christopher Columbus in San Salvador but it is from a native boy's point of view. Ask your child about it.
Writing-Almost everyone finished taking their personal narrative from their draft book and rewriting it on notebook paper. Our next step is to edit. (add paragraphs, correct capitalization, spelling, and punctuation) Then the writing of our final copy will begin! We are planning to finish with these narratives on Tuesday and Wednesday and then will begin writing essays.
Math-We have been doing very well working with multiplication and division concepts and applying them to problem solving situations. We will continue sharing strategies for multiplication and division and will be working with patterns this week. Algebra-here we come!
Science-Matter experiments were fun this week. We classified items as magnetic/non-magnetic, sink/float, solid/liquid/gas, and according to other properties of the student's choice. Using three unidentified substances in film canisters, we measured and recorded their mass using a triple beam balance then shook each container and described what we heard and felt. We measured the volume of the substance by putting 400 ml of water in a beaker, then dropping the container into the beaker and measuring the water level after the water was displaced. We then subtracted the two water levels to determine the approximate volume. We also used water that was red, blue, and green with food coloring and placed drops of the water into a thin graduated cylinder to see which water was the most dense. We had to try different sequences of water colors to determine the order of the density so that we could see layers of liquid. The water had different densities because I added a lot of salt into one of the containers, some salt in the other, and no salt in the third container. We learned that liquid can have different densities.We will be conducting some more explorations with matter and changes in matter this week.
Social Studies-This week we will begin learning about Early Texans. We will think about the landforms, resources, and climate of each region and the tribes that lived there.
Dates to Remember:
Book fair-all week, Tuesday evening late hours
Monday, October 8- Conferences/No school students
Wednesday, October 10-WEAR ORANGE-Anti-bullying
Thursday, October 11-Service Club meeting
Friday, October 12-Art Fundraiser orders due
Monday, October 15-Phil Bildner visits!
Wednesday, October 17-Pen Pals Visit-9:30 in library
Monday, October 22-October 26-Red Ribbon Week
Tuesday, October 23-Individual Picture Day
Wednesday, October 24-Early Release Day-Kona Ice at school
Friday, October 26-Fire Department assembly
Friday, November 9-10:00am Groovy-O-Rama
Have a great weekend! See you at your child's conference!
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
Friday, September 28, 2012
Pen Pal Visit was Wonderful! Fundraiser due Monday. Book orders due online today. Sign up for conferences.
Hi,
We had a wonderful visit with our pen pals on Friday. Everyone was excited and it was amazing to see everyone sharing stories and so engaged! Using photos from the playground and foam shapes, the children each made a present for their pen pal. They also each wrote them a card. We interviewed the pen pals using questions generated by the kids. Then the kids shared their Texas maps and played games. Everyone had a fun time. (One of the pen pals kept talking and didn't want to get on the bus!) Thank you to those parents who were able to stop by and interact with the pen pals as well. The pen pals will be coming again on October 17 from 9:30-10:45.
We had fun with our dads this morning. The kids measured a 25 cm by 25 cm square and made aluminum foil boats. Their task was to create a boat that would float and hold as many pennies as possible. We had fun and some frustration making the boats and then testing and revising them as we tried floating them and piling on the pennies. We discussed the models of boats that held the most and the surface area of the boats. We all had a great time.
Education Go Get It Week has been amazing! We colored pennants representing our favorite college, we dressed in college t-shirts and dressed up to represent our future profession. We wrote resumes and talked a lot about the importance of effort in all that they do. Being smart is important, but even the smartest people need to put effort into their learning to succeed.
Our class Moodle page is up and running. The kids can go on line on the Moodle at home and at school to participate in discussions with others in our class, write in a journal, link to websites, etc... Go to our school web site, for students, Moodle, then the log in using their 126/lastname/first initial and their id number (used in the cafeteria etc...) Then click on Bartholomew 4th grade and get started.
We had a great turn out for our first FCE Service Club meeting! We will be meeting at the Round Rock Serving Center tomorrow from 9-10 to volunteer. Everyone is inviting to come and join us! (You don't have to be a service club member.)
Read about our week:
Reading-We used post-it notes to leave tracks of our thinking as we read. On the post-its we wrote our questions (and included answers when possible), predictions, connections, as well as our thoughts and feelings about what we read.
Writing-We are finishing up our personal narratives by adding more details using "show, not tell". We aren't just telling what is happening or how we are feeling, we are showing it using our senses, slowing down the action, and zooming into the details.
We also worked on revising our endings to include the reasons why this event was important or meaningful to us and what we learned from it.
Math-We worked on more multi-step problem solving using multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction. We also worked on strategies to use when subtracting with regrouping especially using larger numbers with several zeros. We also always add to check when subtracting. Keep practicing facts at home as well as finding math in everyday situations.
Social Studies-We worked in groups to make a large map of Texas which shows the regions, major cities and rivers, as well as products and resources and where they are found or produced around our state.
Science-We are beginning our unit on matter this week.
Dates to Remember:
Friday, September 29-Book orders due online
Saturday, September 30-Volunteer at the Round Rock Serving Center
Monday, October 1-Fundraiser money and orders due. Chick Fil A Family Night-Pflugerville
Wednesday, October 3-Walk to School Day
Monday, October 8-No school for students-Parent/Student/Teacher Conferences
Wednesday, October 17-Pen Pals come to FCE
FYI:
Explore UT: Save the Date
Mark your calendar for “Explore UT: The Biggest Open House in Texas!"
When: Saturday, March 2, 2013, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Where: The University of Texas at Austin
Who's invited: Students K-12, teachers, and families. Everyone is welcome
Cost: Free, no sign-up for activities. Lunch is NOT included
Web site: www.utexas.edu/events/exploreut Look for an updated website by mid-December.
Thank you for sharing your child with me. Be sure to read, write,and do math each day. Have a safe and fun weekend!
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
We had a wonderful visit with our pen pals on Friday. Everyone was excited and it was amazing to see everyone sharing stories and so engaged! Using photos from the playground and foam shapes, the children each made a present for their pen pal. They also each wrote them a card. We interviewed the pen pals using questions generated by the kids. Then the kids shared their Texas maps and played games. Everyone had a fun time. (One of the pen pals kept talking and didn't want to get on the bus!) Thank you to those parents who were able to stop by and interact with the pen pals as well. The pen pals will be coming again on October 17 from 9:30-10:45.
We had fun with our dads this morning. The kids measured a 25 cm by 25 cm square and made aluminum foil boats. Their task was to create a boat that would float and hold as many pennies as possible. We had fun and some frustration making the boats and then testing and revising them as we tried floating them and piling on the pennies. We discussed the models of boats that held the most and the surface area of the boats. We all had a great time.
Education Go Get It Week has been amazing! We colored pennants representing our favorite college, we dressed in college t-shirts and dressed up to represent our future profession. We wrote resumes and talked a lot about the importance of effort in all that they do. Being smart is important, but even the smartest people need to put effort into their learning to succeed.
Our class Moodle page is up and running. The kids can go on line on the Moodle at home and at school to participate in discussions with others in our class, write in a journal, link to websites, etc... Go to our school web site, for students, Moodle, then the log in using their 126/lastname/first initial and their id number (used in the cafeteria etc...) Then click on Bartholomew 4th grade and get started.
We had a great turn out for our first FCE Service Club meeting! We will be meeting at the Round Rock Serving Center tomorrow from 9-10 to volunteer. Everyone is inviting to come and join us! (You don't have to be a service club member.)
Read about our week:
Reading-We used post-it notes to leave tracks of our thinking as we read. On the post-its we wrote our questions (and included answers when possible), predictions, connections, as well as our thoughts and feelings about what we read.
Writing-We are finishing up our personal narratives by adding more details using "show, not tell". We aren't just telling what is happening or how we are feeling, we are showing it using our senses, slowing down the action, and zooming into the details.
We also worked on revising our endings to include the reasons why this event was important or meaningful to us and what we learned from it.
Math-We worked on more multi-step problem solving using multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction. We also worked on strategies to use when subtracting with regrouping especially using larger numbers with several zeros. We also always add to check when subtracting. Keep practicing facts at home as well as finding math in everyday situations.
Social Studies-We worked in groups to make a large map of Texas which shows the regions, major cities and rivers, as well as products and resources and where they are found or produced around our state.
Science-We are beginning our unit on matter this week.
Dates to Remember:
Friday, September 29-Book orders due online
Saturday, September 30-Volunteer at the Round Rock Serving Center
Monday, October 1-Fundraiser money and orders due. Chick Fil A Family Night-Pflugerville
Wednesday, October 3-Walk to School Day
Monday, October 8-No school for students-Parent/Student/Teacher Conferences
Wednesday, October 17-Pen Pals come to FCE
FYI:
Explore UT: Save the Date
Mark your calendar for “Explore UT: The Biggest Open House in Texas!"
When: Saturday, March 2, 2013, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Where: The University of Texas at Austin
Who's invited: Students K-12, teachers, and families. Everyone is welcome
Cost: Free, no sign-up for activities. Lunch is NOT included
Web site: www.utexas.edu/events/exploreut Look for an updated website by mid-December.
Thank you for sharing your child with me. Be sure to read, write,and do math each day. Have a safe and fun weekend!
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
Friday, September 21, 2012
Freedom Week was Celebrated this week!
Hi,
This week is Freedom Week and September 17 is Constitution Day so we celebrated by singing the Preamble (Schoolhouse Rock) and reciting part of the Declaration of Independence. We also compared the Pledge of Allegiance to the Pledge to the Texas Flag and made a venn diagram to show similarities and differences. Brainpop is a fun way to learn new things and we used it to learn about the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.
Read about our week:
Reading-We talked about recommending books that we love to others and trying out books that friends recommend. We also worked on leaving tracks of our thinking during a fiction book called Dear Al and discussed ways that the characters changed and possible themes of the story. We worked in small groups on summarizing, asking questions, and character descriptions. We brainstormed words with a -ly suffix and a -ish suffix and tried using them in sentences. We have been reading a lot at school. Be sure your child is reading a lot at home and talk to him/her about what he/she read.
Writing-We gathered more small moment entries and then chose one to take through revisions and editing and then possibly to publishing. We drafted leads and discovered that putting a few leads together seems to work best. (action, setting, dialogue leads) Ask your child about his or her draft and ask him/her to retell the story to you like a storyteller. You don't want a summary of the story, but you want to feel like you are part of the story because of the descriptions and details used.
Math-Arrays and multiplication strategies with problem solving has been our focus. We will continue working with multiplication and division. We will work on computational fluency as well as multi-step problems. Thanks for practicing facts at home and working on strategies.
Social Studies-We did Freedom Week activities and we took a virtual bus trip through Texas. We stopped in each region and looked at photos and took notes. We will write about our favorite regions and then will be working on a group project. Each group will create a poster-sized map of Texas with important things highlighter. Be sure and come and see them.
Science-We will be learning about classifying matter next week.
Dates to Remember:
Education Go Get It Week
Monday- Wear College Shirt
Tuesday-Hats off to College! Wear a hat.
Wednesday-Slip into College! Wear slippers
Thursday-Dress for Success! Wear an outfit that represents your future profession
Friday-I Promise to Graduate! Wear FCE, green, or purple pockets.
Thursday, September 27-PEN PAL VISIT!!!!!! You are welcome to join us! Library 9:30-10:45ish.
Thursday, September 27-Service Club Meeting from 2:45-3:45 for 4th and 5th graders. Meet in my room and email or call with concerns.
Keep reading and let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
This week is Freedom Week and September 17 is Constitution Day so we celebrated by singing the Preamble (Schoolhouse Rock) and reciting part of the Declaration of Independence. We also compared the Pledge of Allegiance to the Pledge to the Texas Flag and made a venn diagram to show similarities and differences. Brainpop is a fun way to learn new things and we used it to learn about the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.
Read about our week:
Reading-We talked about recommending books that we love to others and trying out books that friends recommend. We also worked on leaving tracks of our thinking during a fiction book called Dear Al and discussed ways that the characters changed and possible themes of the story. We worked in small groups on summarizing, asking questions, and character descriptions. We brainstormed words with a -ly suffix and a -ish suffix and tried using them in sentences. We have been reading a lot at school. Be sure your child is reading a lot at home and talk to him/her about what he/she read.
Writing-We gathered more small moment entries and then chose one to take through revisions and editing and then possibly to publishing. We drafted leads and discovered that putting a few leads together seems to work best. (action, setting, dialogue leads) Ask your child about his or her draft and ask him/her to retell the story to you like a storyteller. You don't want a summary of the story, but you want to feel like you are part of the story because of the descriptions and details used.
Math-Arrays and multiplication strategies with problem solving has been our focus. We will continue working with multiplication and division. We will work on computational fluency as well as multi-step problems. Thanks for practicing facts at home and working on strategies.
Social Studies-We did Freedom Week activities and we took a virtual bus trip through Texas. We stopped in each region and looked at photos and took notes. We will write about our favorite regions and then will be working on a group project. Each group will create a poster-sized map of Texas with important things highlighter. Be sure and come and see them.
Science-We will be learning about classifying matter next week.
Dates to Remember:
Education Go Get It Week
Monday- Wear College Shirt
Tuesday-Hats off to College! Wear a hat.
Wednesday-Slip into College! Wear slippers
Thursday-Dress for Success! Wear an outfit that represents your future profession
Friday-I Promise to Graduate! Wear FCE, green, or purple pockets.
Thursday, September 27-PEN PAL VISIT!!!!!! You are welcome to join us! Library 9:30-10:45ish.
Thursday, September 27-Service Club Meeting from 2:45-3:45 for 4th and 5th graders. Meet in my room and email or call with concerns.
Keep reading and let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
Friday, September 14, 2012
Great Week! Early Release on Wed. Sept. 19 at 12:45, Cool Jazz Concert Friday PM
Hi,
We had another busy but wonderful week. It was quite emotional due to our discussions of the events of September 11, 2001 as well as the unity and hope felt after the tragedies. We also finished reading Stone Fox which has an unexpected and sad ending. Because the children were so engaged and in tune with the main character as I read, many of them began crying. We then talked about how well the author wrote so that we all felt as if we were right there in the story experiencing the entire thing firsthand. Ask your child about the book and how we are all striving to encourage an emotional response from the readers of our writing. We also want to get lost in our books when we read independently like we did with Stone Fox.
Here is a look at our week:
Reading-We read many articles from Scholastic about 9/11. We read and discussed a book about a Fireboat that helped control the fires when the water pipes were unable to be accessed and part of a biography of Fire Chief Peter Ganci. We then wrote Thank You cards for police officers and fire fighters. Senior Officer Schmidt, Sergeant Bazzle (Kyra's Dad!) and Detective Tines from the Austin Police Department made an appearance on broadcast on Friday. They came to accept the Thank You cards written by the students at our school. We also read a book about being accepting and not judgmental called Elmer the Dog then used sentences from the book to practice complete and incomplete sentences and capitals and punctuation. Writing about characters and character changes was a focus this week. Next week we will be working in small groups for reading.
Writing-We are collecting entries for our first personal narratives. So far we have written small moment stories about some special people, favorite places, and memorable things. We will continue collecting entries, choose one to publish, then will begin revising and editing.
Math-Mastering place value has been successful for most of us. We are now working on multiplication and division strategies. We will be using arrays, drawings, objects, and computational strategies to help us master the concept of multiplication and division and then will use that knowledge in real-life problem solving.
Science-Famous scientists was our focus for the week. We researched and discussed the contributions of Marie Curie, Sir Isaac Newton, Nicolas Copernicus, and Carl Linneaus. We also talked about the possibilities for science careers.
Social Studies-Next week is Celebrate Freedom Week and Monday is Constitution Day. We will be learning about the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. We will also be going on a virtual bus trip of Texas while we learn about the regions of our state.
Be sure that your child is reading everyday, writing often, and practicing math facts each day. Go to the math links on our class web site as well as links the site of other FCE teachers for some practice ideas.
Have a great weekend! Thank you for sharing your child with me!
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
Friday, September 7, 2012
Another Great Week!
Hi,
We had another great week! Last week we earned the Spirit Stick because we had the most children wearing green, purple or FCE shirts. The kids have had a great time carrying it with us whenever we left the classroom. :)
Thank you to all the parents who were able to make it last night for Back to School Night. The power point that Mrs. Lehnick shared should be linked to the FCE website and I attached the Fourth Grade power point to this email. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Thank you also for your amazing letters about your child. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading them and learned a lot about your children. I feel like we have been together as a group for a long time and am VERY happy with the way they help each other and the amount of risk taking that is taking place so far. They all seem to feel comfortable and safe with each other and are excited about sharing their work and their ideas even if they may have made a mistake or if others don't agree with them. A trusted classroom environment is very conducive to learning and growing. I am so excited that we are well on our way to being that type of place for all of our class.
If you were here last night, you heard about an exciting research study. Texas I-CAN is a active learning project created by The University of Texas at Austin. All of our fourth graders will be playing active games to practice math skills. Your consent is needed so that your child can wear an accelerometer (step counter) for two weeks this year. One week in November and one in May. With your consent, the researchers will access your child's FitnessGram score, a few academic scores, and take part in some classroom observations. All the student information will be kept confidential, names removed, and will never be shared with anyone outside of the project staff. This project was created by my husband, who is a professor at UT and head of the Department of Kinesiology and Health Education. If you have any concerns or questions, let me know. All students who return the consent form (checked yes or no) will receive a very cool I-CAN pencil! If you didn't get a form on Thursday night, one will be sent home on Monday.
Our class will be interacting with pen pals from The Court Retirement Facility. I have worked with The Court and their residents for 6 years. Our class will write letters introducing themselves on Monday and Tuesday. I will take them to the residents and we will match residents with fourth graders. Depending on the number of residents who will take part in our pen pal program this year, some of the children will share a pen pal with another child and other children will have a pen pal to him/herself. We will practice our writing skills by writing letters to our new friends about once or twice a month and our pen pals will come here to visit us at school each month beginning in Sept. You are welcome to come to take part in our visits. The children will be interviewing their pen pals about their childhoods and their life. Then making a class book about our pen pals later in the year. They will play games together, make bowls in art together for the Empty Bowl project, play PE games, and other fun activities. I find this program beneficial to all those involved. The children learn so much about the past as well as ways to be accepting and caring for others. The residents tell me often how important our visits are to them and how happy they are to be with the children. Some children today were asking if they could make pictures over the weekend for their pen pal or begin writing their letter. That would be wonderful and they are always welcome to make extra letters, drawings, origami, or whatever for our wonderful friends. I will let you know details of the first visit soon.
Here's what we did this week:
Reading-We are working on building our stamina and engagement during independent reading. We don't want to read books like curmudgeons but we want to read them as if they were as precious as gold. (ask your child about curmudgeons!) We are reading Stone Fox aloud and discussing elements of realistic fiction as well as character changes, plot, imagery, etc... We are also writing responses about the events and dilemmas in the story. Be sure that your child is in school on time. We are also reading The Ranger's Apprentice and begin each morning at about 7:35. This is a challenging and exciting book that we are reading and discussing as well.
Writing-Important poems were taken through the writing process this week. They brainstormed, made rough drafts, revised in an individual conference with me, edited with me also, then rewrote for publication. We worked hard on including similes, metaphors, and strong descriptions in these poems. Many of us practiced using a thesaurus and found very interesting words. We will be working on gathering ideas for personal narratives next week as well as writing letters to our pen pals.
Math-Place value, numeration, and problem solving has been our focus so far this year. We will be doing lots of multi-step problems throughout the year. Next week we will be using estimation to plan a Dream Vacation. We will also be working on multiplication concepts and strategies.
Social Studies-We began talking a bit about the regions of Texas through the use of our Texas photos. We will be learning more about Texas regions in the next few weeks.
Science-Safety and tools has been our focus. We will finish up our exploration of match box cars using the tools (measuring the distance traveled on a ramp, measuring the car and using a triple beam balance to determine mass, using a hand lens to see details, etc...) We will then be researching four famous scientists and talking about science careers.
Dates to remember:
Tuesday, September 11-Day of Remembrance and Service-We will be talking about the events of September 11. We will be writing and responding to some age-appropriate nonfiction articles and books.
Tuesday, September 11-PTA meeting and Watch DOGS kickoff
Friday, September 14-Kona Ice after school
Wednesday, September 19-Early Release Day
Thanks for sharing your child with me. Have a great weekend. Encourage your child to read and practice math facts. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
We had another great week! Last week we earned the Spirit Stick because we had the most children wearing green, purple or FCE shirts. The kids have had a great time carrying it with us whenever we left the classroom. :)
Thank you to all the parents who were able to make it last night for Back to School Night. The power point that Mrs. Lehnick shared should be linked to the FCE website and I attached the Fourth Grade power point to this email. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Thank you also for your amazing letters about your child. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading them and learned a lot about your children. I feel like we have been together as a group for a long time and am VERY happy with the way they help each other and the amount of risk taking that is taking place so far. They all seem to feel comfortable and safe with each other and are excited about sharing their work and their ideas even if they may have made a mistake or if others don't agree with them. A trusted classroom environment is very conducive to learning and growing. I am so excited that we are well on our way to being that type of place for all of our class.
If you were here last night, you heard about an exciting research study. Texas I-CAN is a active learning project created by The University of Texas at Austin. All of our fourth graders will be playing active games to practice math skills. Your consent is needed so that your child can wear an accelerometer (step counter) for two weeks this year. One week in November and one in May. With your consent, the researchers will access your child's FitnessGram score, a few academic scores, and take part in some classroom observations. All the student information will be kept confidential, names removed, and will never be shared with anyone outside of the project staff. This project was created by my husband, who is a professor at UT and head of the Department of Kinesiology and Health Education. If you have any concerns or questions, let me know. All students who return the consent form (checked yes or no) will receive a very cool I-CAN pencil! If you didn't get a form on Thursday night, one will be sent home on Monday.
Our class will be interacting with pen pals from The Court Retirement Facility. I have worked with The Court and their residents for 6 years. Our class will write letters introducing themselves on Monday and Tuesday. I will take them to the residents and we will match residents with fourth graders. Depending on the number of residents who will take part in our pen pal program this year, some of the children will share a pen pal with another child and other children will have a pen pal to him/herself. We will practice our writing skills by writing letters to our new friends about once or twice a month and our pen pals will come here to visit us at school each month beginning in Sept. You are welcome to come to take part in our visits. The children will be interviewing their pen pals about their childhoods and their life. Then making a class book about our pen pals later in the year. They will play games together, make bowls in art together for the Empty Bowl project, play PE games, and other fun activities. I find this program beneficial to all those involved. The children learn so much about the past as well as ways to be accepting and caring for others. The residents tell me often how important our visits are to them and how happy they are to be with the children. Some children today were asking if they could make pictures over the weekend for their pen pal or begin writing their letter. That would be wonderful and they are always welcome to make extra letters, drawings, origami, or whatever for our wonderful friends. I will let you know details of the first visit soon.
Here's what we did this week:
Reading-We are working on building our stamina and engagement during independent reading. We don't want to read books like curmudgeons but we want to read them as if they were as precious as gold. (ask your child about curmudgeons!) We are reading Stone Fox aloud and discussing elements of realistic fiction as well as character changes, plot, imagery, etc... We are also writing responses about the events and dilemmas in the story. Be sure that your child is in school on time. We are also reading The Ranger's Apprentice and begin each morning at about 7:35. This is a challenging and exciting book that we are reading and discussing as well.
Writing-Important poems were taken through the writing process this week. They brainstormed, made rough drafts, revised in an individual conference with me, edited with me also, then rewrote for publication. We worked hard on including similes, metaphors, and strong descriptions in these poems. Many of us practiced using a thesaurus and found very interesting words. We will be working on gathering ideas for personal narratives next week as well as writing letters to our pen pals.
Math-Place value, numeration, and problem solving has been our focus so far this year. We will be doing lots of multi-step problems throughout the year. Next week we will be using estimation to plan a Dream Vacation. We will also be working on multiplication concepts and strategies.
Social Studies-We began talking a bit about the regions of Texas through the use of our Texas photos. We will be learning more about Texas regions in the next few weeks.
Science-Safety and tools has been our focus. We will finish up our exploration of match box cars using the tools (measuring the distance traveled on a ramp, measuring the car and using a triple beam balance to determine mass, using a hand lens to see details, etc...) We will then be researching four famous scientists and talking about science careers.
Dates to remember:
Tuesday, September 11-Day of Remembrance and Service-We will be talking about the events of September 11. We will be writing and responding to some age-appropriate nonfiction articles and books.
Tuesday, September 11-PTA meeting and Watch DOGS kickoff
Friday, September 14-Kona Ice after school
Wednesday, September 19-Early Release Day
Thanks for sharing your child with me. Have a great weekend. Encourage your child to read and practice math facts. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
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