Hi, Sept. 27, 2014
We had another great week! Education Go Get It week was fun! We enjoyed wearing our favorite college hats and shirts, dressing up in clothes for our future jobs, and talking about colleges and careers.
In social studies, we began researching our PBL or Project Based Learning activities. Our driving question is: How can we teach others about the regions of Texas? The children chose projects that they would like to do and regions that they would like to research and teach to others. We began using textbooks and a computer site to gather information about our region while working with other students who are studying the same region. This week we will share our information and each child will decide whether he or she needs to continue researching. The children will give each other feedback and work together to be sure that there is enough information for each region in their group. Then we will begin planning our projects. We will share our plans and give feedback to help each group improve their projects. As you can see, the PBL projects involve a lot of working together cooperatively in groups and offering and accepting feedback, as well as researching the regions of Texas. I am excited to see the children learning from each other. These projects incorporate many different skills such as reading, writing, social studies, and cooperating as a member of a team. All these skills are needed for children to be successful in their future in school and beyond.
In writing, we published our personal narratives! We worked hard to plan, draft, revise, and edit these small moment stories from our lives. We will share these stories with each other on Tuesday and then will begin working on some writing for the Reflections program based on the theme-The World would be a better place if… The children can choose to write a poem, fantasy, realistic fiction, personal narrative, expository, or song about this topic. We will go through the writing process of planning, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. The students will decide if they want to enter their literary work in the PTA Reflections Program. We will then work on expository writing. In expository writing, we will explain and give reasons to support a central idea.
In reading, we worked on finding cause and effect relationships in our books and determining a possible theme for the book with examples and support from the text. We modeled using our read aloud, How to Steal a Dog, we then practiced using individual books. We are continuing to write detailed summaries of our reading and responses that include lots of our deep thinking. Thank you for encouraging your child to read at home each day and to work hard on their summaries and responses. We will begin reading expository text and working on skills to improve comprehension skills. Be sure that your child is studying the vocabulary words each week. This week’s words are a literary terms. They can be a little tricky, so be sure to go on Quizlet.com to study and use the cards that your child made to practice. We will have a test on Friday on the meanings of the words.
In spelling, we worked on some common homophones. We will continue to address the correct spelling and use of homophones (like their, there, they’re) all year. Next week we will work on the spelling of words with double consonants like address and success. Be sure that your child is practicing his/her individual spelling lists and reviewing words previously used on spelling tests because these words may appear in dictation sentences. Thank you for your continued support at home.
Writing Club begins this week on Thursday, October 2 from 2:45-3:45. Come and join us in the library as we free write and share our writing with others. This week we will celebrate National Comic Book Day and talk about graphic novels. The kids can experiment with this form of writing or write in any format they choose. They may choose to work on writing for the Reflections Program during writing club as well and respond to the topic: The world would be a better place if… Anyone in grades 2nd-5th can be part of writing club. We will meet every other Thursday in the library. Come and join the writing fun!
Service Club met last Thursday and will meet again on Thursday, October 9 from 2:45-3:45. We are organizing a toy drive to bring awareness to OMS, a childhood disease that affects a family from our school. We will donate toys to give to the patients at Dell’s Children’s Hospital. Please send in NEW toys and put them in the box by the office. Come to Service Club and help us help others!
Dates to remember:
Monday, Sept. 29-Reading log due, Tutorials after school 2:45-3:45
Tuesday, Sept. 30-Tutorials after school 2:45-3:45, Computer Lab open 2:45-3:45
Wednesday, Oct. 1-Summary and Response due
Thursday, Oct. 2-Writing Club after school 2:45-3:45 in the library, Computer lab open 2:45-3:45
Friday, Oct. 3-Summary and Response Due, Spelling Test, Vocabulary test
Have a wonderful weekend! Let me know if you have any questions or concerns!
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
Sunday, September 28, 2014
Friday, September 12, 2014
Newsletter-Jazz Concert Today, Pen Pal Visit on Tuesday, Reading Logs due Monday, Summary and Responses due Wednesday and Friday, Spelling test on Friday
Hi, September 12, 2014
We had a fun afternoon enjoying some cool jazz music from the Austin Jazz Workshop. Ask your child about it!
Our student teacher, Mrs. Allison, began teaching some of our social studies lessons. She is doing an amazing job and has been a wonderful addition to our classroom. She will gradually continue taking over the planning and teaching of the lessons.
Our pen pals will come to school on Tuesday! You are welcome to come and enjoy our visit with us. They will be here about 9:00 and stay until about 10:30. We wrote letters this week introducing ourselves. During the visit, we will interview our pen pals about their childhoods and play games together. The children are excited and can’t wait to meet their pen pals! Join us for the fun!
Friday is Spirit Day! We are all encouraged to wear Forest Creek shirts or shirts that are green or purple.
On Friday, we will begin meeting with our reading buddies in Mrs. Garcia’s class. We will read with them every other week. This helps us practice fluent reading and encourages the fourth graders to be role models for the younger kids.
Read about our week:
In reading, we read some realistic fiction books and wrote about the story elements. We took a reading assessment on a passage from the book, Piper Reed: Navy Brat, and will be reviewing the multiple- choice questions on Monday. We continued to read our choice novels independently. Please help your child to keep his/her choice novel inside the backpack when it is not being read. This way it is always available when there is some time to read.
I started assessing reading levels individually this week and will continue for the next few weeks.
Thank you for signing reading logs, encouraging your child to read daily, and complete books. A summary and response of the reading is due on Wednesdays and Fridays each week.
In writing, we continued collecting entries for personal narratives. We noticed that quality personal narratives are small moment stories, which have an interesting lead, a sequence of events, and lots of great details. They zoom in on the most important part and tell why the event was important or what was learned because of the experience. We will continue writing about our experiences next week and chose an entry to revise, edit, and publish.
We also had fun writing creatively about a Chris Van Allsburg illustration from the book, The Chronicles of Harris Burdick. We then read a story by Tabitha King (Stephen King’s wife) about the same illustration. It was interesting the totally different stories that came from the same illustration. We will write about another illustration from this book next week.
Spelling lists began this week and we had our first spelling test today. Each week, your child will receive a list of words. Five of the words are the same for the class and they include words from our TEKS such as homophones, irregular plurals, Latin/Greek roots, etc… The other five words are individual to each child based on words misspelled in their writing/reading responses and tricky word patterns determined by a Words Their Way assessment. The words will be glued into your child’s agenda each week and a test is on Friday. During that test, the children will also be asked to write a few sentences from dictation. These sentences will be graded for spelling and capitalization/punctuation.
In social studies, we completed our posters of Texas landmarks. They are hanging in the hallway and the children did a great job describing their landmarks, finding quotes about them, and telling why that landmark is important to Texas. They also made beautiful illustrations. We began our study of the regions of Texas by going on a virtual bus trip through the Mountains and Basins Region, the Coastal Plains Region, and the Central Plains Region. We will visit the Great Plains Region on Monday and continue to study maps and the geography of Texas.
Thank you for sharing your child with me. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Have a wonderful weekend!
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
We had a fun afternoon enjoying some cool jazz music from the Austin Jazz Workshop. Ask your child about it!
Our student teacher, Mrs. Allison, began teaching some of our social studies lessons. She is doing an amazing job and has been a wonderful addition to our classroom. She will gradually continue taking over the planning and teaching of the lessons.
Our pen pals will come to school on Tuesday! You are welcome to come and enjoy our visit with us. They will be here about 9:00 and stay until about 10:30. We wrote letters this week introducing ourselves. During the visit, we will interview our pen pals about their childhoods and play games together. The children are excited and can’t wait to meet their pen pals! Join us for the fun!
Friday is Spirit Day! We are all encouraged to wear Forest Creek shirts or shirts that are green or purple.
On Friday, we will begin meeting with our reading buddies in Mrs. Garcia’s class. We will read with them every other week. This helps us practice fluent reading and encourages the fourth graders to be role models for the younger kids.
Read about our week:
In reading, we read some realistic fiction books and wrote about the story elements. We took a reading assessment on a passage from the book, Piper Reed: Navy Brat, and will be reviewing the multiple- choice questions on Monday. We continued to read our choice novels independently. Please help your child to keep his/her choice novel inside the backpack when it is not being read. This way it is always available when there is some time to read.
I started assessing reading levels individually this week and will continue for the next few weeks.
Thank you for signing reading logs, encouraging your child to read daily, and complete books. A summary and response of the reading is due on Wednesdays and Fridays each week.
In writing, we continued collecting entries for personal narratives. We noticed that quality personal narratives are small moment stories, which have an interesting lead, a sequence of events, and lots of great details. They zoom in on the most important part and tell why the event was important or what was learned because of the experience. We will continue writing about our experiences next week and chose an entry to revise, edit, and publish.
We also had fun writing creatively about a Chris Van Allsburg illustration from the book, The Chronicles of Harris Burdick. We then read a story by Tabitha King (Stephen King’s wife) about the same illustration. It was interesting the totally different stories that came from the same illustration. We will write about another illustration from this book next week.
Spelling lists began this week and we had our first spelling test today. Each week, your child will receive a list of words. Five of the words are the same for the class and they include words from our TEKS such as homophones, irregular plurals, Latin/Greek roots, etc… The other five words are individual to each child based on words misspelled in their writing/reading responses and tricky word patterns determined by a Words Their Way assessment. The words will be glued into your child’s agenda each week and a test is on Friday. During that test, the children will also be asked to write a few sentences from dictation. These sentences will be graded for spelling and capitalization/punctuation.
In social studies, we completed our posters of Texas landmarks. They are hanging in the hallway and the children did a great job describing their landmarks, finding quotes about them, and telling why that landmark is important to Texas. They also made beautiful illustrations. We began our study of the regions of Texas by going on a virtual bus trip through the Mountains and Basins Region, the Coastal Plains Region, and the Central Plains Region. We will visit the Great Plains Region on Monday and continue to study maps and the geography of Texas.
Thank you for sharing your child with me. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Have a wonderful weekend!
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
Friday, September 5, 2014
Newsletter-Tutorials Offered on Tuesdays from 2:45-3:45, Reflections Workshop on Tuesday from 6:15-7:00 in FCE Library, Reading Logs due on Monday
Hi, September 5, 2014
We had a great second week! Your children are doing very well moving between two classes and two teachers and we are definitely enjoying them all.
It was nice to see many of you at Back to School Night on Thursday. Let us know if you have any questions or concerns about homework, expectations, or anything.
We would like to invite our students to come to tutorials on Tuesday afternoons from 2:45-3:45 pm in one of our classrooms. We will be there to offer support as needed, give children time to complete assignments, or homework with some assistance. This is also a great time for re-teaching of tricky concepts and retaking of assessments, if scored below 70%. Miss Fry and I will be in the room together, so that we can both work with your children in any subject necessary. If your child is staying, let us know by email or note. We will walk the children out to the front of the school to be picked up at 3:45. If your child is walking home or riding a bike after tutorials, let us know. Be sure to encourage your child to take advantage of this extra opportunity for time together. We will begin offering tutorials this Tuesday, September 9.
In reading this week, we are continuing to develop routines and procedures for reading workshop. We have a mini-lesson during which we learn a skill or strategy, then we practice that skill or strategy during our independent reading of our choice novel. Your child should be reading the same choice novel to completion. Therefore, that book should be traveling back and forth from home to school and home again each day. It should live in his/her backpack and come out only when it is time to read, then return to the backpack. Thank you for your help with this.
We are reading How to Steal a Dog aloud and discussing elements of the story as well as comprehension strategies as we read. They are taking notes on sticky notes to leave tracks of their thinking as they are listening. They are writing their predictions, questions, connections, thoughts and feelings and using text evidence to support their thinking. They are making inferences using their background knowledge and the text clues. We are having great discussions about the moral dilemma of the main character. Should she steal a dog to try to get money for her family or is stealing something wrong, no matter what? It is wonderful to read their responses and listen to their conversations. Then we practice these skills as we read independently.
In Social Studies, we finished up our map vocabulary posters and will continue to practice reading and interpreting maps. We began learning about some Texas landmarks and making posters to explain them by researching a bit and describing the landmark. Then they are writing about why it is important and finding two quotes from the text (with page numbers) that tell about the landmark. An illustration is then created that represents it. We are practicing using a rubric to create our posters and to revise and edit to be sure that all of the components are evident. Next week, we will finish these posters and begin studying the regions of Texas.
In Writing, we are gathering entries for personal narratives. We planned, sketched, and wrote a rough draft about a time with a special person and a time at a special place. Many children shared their writing so far, and we are off to a great start. We will continue writing personal narrative entries, then will choose one to revise, edit, and publish. We watched a video of Lucy Calkins, who is a famous education researcher, talk to us about honoring our writing and the writing of our classmates by reading and listening as if the writing was precious as gold. Here is the link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WO29k1-RvsA I find it quite inspirational.
Don’t forget to encourage your child to read at least one day over the weekend to include in the reading log. Reading summaries and responses are due on Wednesday and Friday.
On Tuesday evening, there will be a Workshop for Kids about this year’s Reflections Program. I encourage all of the children to attend and have an opportunity to showcase their creative talents. It will be held in the FCE Library from 6:15-7:00 pm. Hope you can come!
Thank you for sharing your child with us. Have a wonderful weekend!
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
We had a great second week! Your children are doing very well moving between two classes and two teachers and we are definitely enjoying them all.
It was nice to see many of you at Back to School Night on Thursday. Let us know if you have any questions or concerns about homework, expectations, or anything.
We would like to invite our students to come to tutorials on Tuesday afternoons from 2:45-3:45 pm in one of our classrooms. We will be there to offer support as needed, give children time to complete assignments, or homework with some assistance. This is also a great time for re-teaching of tricky concepts and retaking of assessments, if scored below 70%. Miss Fry and I will be in the room together, so that we can both work with your children in any subject necessary. If your child is staying, let us know by email or note. We will walk the children out to the front of the school to be picked up at 3:45. If your child is walking home or riding a bike after tutorials, let us know. Be sure to encourage your child to take advantage of this extra opportunity for time together. We will begin offering tutorials this Tuesday, September 9.
In reading this week, we are continuing to develop routines and procedures for reading workshop. We have a mini-lesson during which we learn a skill or strategy, then we practice that skill or strategy during our independent reading of our choice novel. Your child should be reading the same choice novel to completion. Therefore, that book should be traveling back and forth from home to school and home again each day. It should live in his/her backpack and come out only when it is time to read, then return to the backpack. Thank you for your help with this.
We are reading How to Steal a Dog aloud and discussing elements of the story as well as comprehension strategies as we read. They are taking notes on sticky notes to leave tracks of their thinking as they are listening. They are writing their predictions, questions, connections, thoughts and feelings and using text evidence to support their thinking. They are making inferences using their background knowledge and the text clues. We are having great discussions about the moral dilemma of the main character. Should she steal a dog to try to get money for her family or is stealing something wrong, no matter what? It is wonderful to read their responses and listen to their conversations. Then we practice these skills as we read independently.
In Social Studies, we finished up our map vocabulary posters and will continue to practice reading and interpreting maps. We began learning about some Texas landmarks and making posters to explain them by researching a bit and describing the landmark. Then they are writing about why it is important and finding two quotes from the text (with page numbers) that tell about the landmark. An illustration is then created that represents it. We are practicing using a rubric to create our posters and to revise and edit to be sure that all of the components are evident. Next week, we will finish these posters and begin studying the regions of Texas.
In Writing, we are gathering entries for personal narratives. We planned, sketched, and wrote a rough draft about a time with a special person and a time at a special place. Many children shared their writing so far, and we are off to a great start. We will continue writing personal narrative entries, then will choose one to revise, edit, and publish. We watched a video of Lucy Calkins, who is a famous education researcher, talk to us about honoring our writing and the writing of our classmates by reading and listening as if the writing was precious as gold. Here is the link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WO29k1-RvsA I find it quite inspirational.
Don’t forget to encourage your child to read at least one day over the weekend to include in the reading log. Reading summaries and responses are due on Wednesday and Friday.
On Tuesday evening, there will be a Workshop for Kids about this year’s Reflections Program. I encourage all of the children to attend and have an opportunity to showcase their creative talents. It will be held in the FCE Library from 6:15-7:00 pm. Hope you can come!
Thank you for sharing your child with us. Have a wonderful weekend!
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
Sunday, August 31, 2014
Newsletter-Reading Log due Tuesday, Decorated Writer's Notebooks due Tuesday
Hello,
Our first week of fourth grade was wonderful! The children adjusted easily to having two teachers and are following expectations, learning a lot and having fun!
We are very excited to welcome Nichole Allison, our student teacher this fall, to our classroom! Ms. Allison is working toward her Masters Degree in Education at Concordia University. We are happy to have her here and are enjoying learning from each other.
Reading Log-On the reading log, there is a spot to record reading for Friday, August 29. This reading can be done today, or sometime over the weekend. Reading logs will be collected on Mondays (Tuesday this week) and will be used for a homework grade. Reading summary and responses are due on Wednesdays and Fridays. New reading logs will be handed out on the first day of the new week.
In reading this week, we made reading goals, discussed just-right books, and shared great reading experiences and not so great reading experiences. Our goal is to have lots of wonderful reading experiences this year. We also read our choice novels and recorded the reading on our school reading logs. We practiced writing summaries and responses using One Green Apple and began a read aloud called How to Steal a Dog. The children wrote very thoughtful responses to the first chapter of our read aloud. We will use the read aloud to model fluency and to discuss reading strategies and elements using a shared experience.
In Writing, we are gathering writing ideas and learning about nouns. We wrote a personal narrative about summer and will be writing more entries for personal narratives to choose one to revise, edit, and publish. The assignment this weekend is to decorate their writer’s notebook. They may cover it with paper or not, they need to use at least 3 photos, stickers, or drawings that represent them. They may decorate the front and/or the back. Their names should be on the cover. These decorations will help them have more story ideas for writing and will help us get to know each other. It will be great to see their creations!
In Social Studies, we are learning about maps and Texas. We are using our textbooks to research some map vocabulary and are creating vocabulary posters with a partner. Next week we will do a little research on Texas landmarks and will make posters to teach others about these landmarks.
I hope to see all of you on Thursday, September 4 for our Back to School Night at 6:00. We will be in our classrooms from 6:00-6:30 then will go to the cafeteria at 6:45.
Have a wonderful long weekend! Be safe and enjoy!
Our first week of fourth grade was wonderful! The children adjusted easily to having two teachers and are following expectations, learning a lot and having fun!
We are very excited to welcome Nichole Allison, our student teacher this fall, to our classroom! Ms. Allison is working toward her Masters Degree in Education at Concordia University. We are happy to have her here and are enjoying learning from each other.
Reading Log-On the reading log, there is a spot to record reading for Friday, August 29. This reading can be done today, or sometime over the weekend. Reading logs will be collected on Mondays (Tuesday this week) and will be used for a homework grade. Reading summary and responses are due on Wednesdays and Fridays. New reading logs will be handed out on the first day of the new week.
In reading this week, we made reading goals, discussed just-right books, and shared great reading experiences and not so great reading experiences. Our goal is to have lots of wonderful reading experiences this year. We also read our choice novels and recorded the reading on our school reading logs. We practiced writing summaries and responses using One Green Apple and began a read aloud called How to Steal a Dog. The children wrote very thoughtful responses to the first chapter of our read aloud. We will use the read aloud to model fluency and to discuss reading strategies and elements using a shared experience.
In Writing, we are gathering writing ideas and learning about nouns. We wrote a personal narrative about summer and will be writing more entries for personal narratives to choose one to revise, edit, and publish. The assignment this weekend is to decorate their writer’s notebook. They may cover it with paper or not, they need to use at least 3 photos, stickers, or drawings that represent them. They may decorate the front and/or the back. Their names should be on the cover. These decorations will help them have more story ideas for writing and will help us get to know each other. It will be great to see their creations!
In Social Studies, we are learning about maps and Texas. We are using our textbooks to research some map vocabulary and are creating vocabulary posters with a partner. Next week we will do a little research on Texas landmarks and will make posters to teach others about these landmarks.
I hope to see all of you on Thursday, September 4 for our Back to School Night at 6:00. We will be in our classrooms from 6:00-6:30 then will go to the cafeteria at 6:45.
Have a wonderful long weekend! Be safe and enjoy!
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Welcome to 4th Grade!
Welcome!
Happy Summer! August, 2014
I hope you are having a wonderful summer filled with fun experiences. Be sure to look for learning opportunities in all that you do.
Be observant, ask questions, be curious, research, solve problems....live your life aware of your surroundings!
Keep a journal about interesting and/or everyday things that you observe. Write about your activities and things that you realize or discover this summer. Write letters or postcards to friends and family. Create poems about your vacation and events of the break.
Read, read, read. Read novels, nonfiction books, poems, magazines, newspapers, comic books, website articles, plays, etc.... Lose yourself in books and read everyday. Research shows that kids need to read a bit everyday just to maintain their reading level. Challenge yourself and read A LOT to increase your reading level and your enjoyment of reading.
Play math games on the computer (Think Through Math, First in Math, Cyberchase, etc...) Practice facts, count money, measure, play strategy games like Mastermind and Rummikub, etc... Keep your math mind active and have fun!
Explore outside, go for hikes, go to museums, look at bugs, and conduct your own experiments. Make mudpies, plant a garden, make your own bubbles, paint outside with water and watch it evaporate. Interact with nature and be curious.
Help others this summer. Assist your parents or siblings. Collect food for the Round Rock Serving Center. Keep a water bottle in your car to give to someone without a home that you see at an intersection. Pick up trash and recycle. Find ways to volunteer in our community. Smile at people and be a good friend.
The 2014-2015 school year will be amazing! I know that you are all excited about fourth grade, but be sure to enjoy the rest of your summer as well. I can't wait to meet my new students and I look forward to the wonderful things we will learn together this year.
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
Happy Summer! August, 2014
I hope you are having a wonderful summer filled with fun experiences. Be sure to look for learning opportunities in all that you do.
Be observant, ask questions, be curious, research, solve problems....live your life aware of your surroundings!
Keep a journal about interesting and/or everyday things that you observe. Write about your activities and things that you realize or discover this summer. Write letters or postcards to friends and family. Create poems about your vacation and events of the break.
Read, read, read. Read novels, nonfiction books, poems, magazines, newspapers, comic books, website articles, plays, etc.... Lose yourself in books and read everyday. Research shows that kids need to read a bit everyday just to maintain their reading level. Challenge yourself and read A LOT to increase your reading level and your enjoyment of reading.
Play math games on the computer (Think Through Math, First in Math, Cyberchase, etc...) Practice facts, count money, measure, play strategy games like Mastermind and Rummikub, etc... Keep your math mind active and have fun!
Explore outside, go for hikes, go to museums, look at bugs, and conduct your own experiments. Make mudpies, plant a garden, make your own bubbles, paint outside with water and watch it evaporate. Interact with nature and be curious.
Help others this summer. Assist your parents or siblings. Collect food for the Round Rock Serving Center. Keep a water bottle in your car to give to someone without a home that you see at an intersection. Pick up trash and recycle. Find ways to volunteer in our community. Smile at people and be a good friend.
The 2014-2015 school year will be amazing! I know that you are all excited about fourth grade, but be sure to enjoy the rest of your summer as well. I can't wait to meet my new students and I look forward to the wonderful things we will learn together this year.
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
Saturday, March 22, 2014
Writing Camp was Wonderful! Author Celebration on Friday, March 28 at 2:00 in our classroom!
Hi,
Writing Camp was so much fun! The children completed a final copy of a personal narrative about a time when someone told them that they did a good job. They have rough drafts completed of expository writing explaining their favorite time of year and why it is their favorite. We sang camp songs, sat around our campfire, watched some videos about writing skills, played some games about writing, practiced some revising and editing, talked with each other and me about our writing, and wrote while in sleeping bags on the floor. We would love to have you come to our classroom for our Author's Celebration on Friday, March 28 at 2:00 pm. Hope to see you there!
Our science assessment on Weather is now going to be on Wednesday, March 26. Study guide is attached.
Pen Pals will come on Tuesday, March 25 from 10:00-11:30. We will play PE games with Coach Walker in the gym then will go to the library to perform our Voices of Texas Reader's Theater and play some games. Children are invited to bring in props or a costume for the reader's theater. It will be very fun and you are invited to come meet our pen pals and play with us!
Carnival is on Friday, March 28! Thank you for donating for our class raffle basket! Thank you also for volunteering to help at the carnival.
Service Club is working with Cedar Ridge High School's Interact Club to collect new and gently used books for the children at River Oaks Elementary School. Please drop off books in the box by the office. Our goal is to collect 100 books and we have 56 so far. Thanks for helping us spread the joy of reading!
This week in reading, we will explore books and articles that deal with World War II. We will practice inferencing, summarizing, using context clues, determining author's purpose, and determining text structure as we learn about events and people from World War II.
In writing, we will evaluate and continue to revise and edit our writing from writing camp. We will also work on writing another expository piece to refine those skills and practice doing revising and editing skills independently. Games and activities to help us practice the test format for revising and editing will also be a focus this week. We hope to see you on Friday at 2:00 pm for our Author's Celebration! It will be awesome and the children are excited to share their writing with you.
Here are some fun websites that your child can use to help with some writing/grammar skills. As always, Think Through Math, First in Math, and I-Station (reading and writing) also have great practice games.
http://www.learninggamesforkids.com/vocabulary-games/homophones-games/homophones-game.html
http://www.learninggamesforkids.com/vocabulary-games/homophones-games/homophone-definitions.html
http://www.learninggamesforkids.com/vocabulary-games/homophones-games/homophones-word-o-rama.html
http://www.learninggamesforkids.com/vocabulary-games/homophones-games/pick-the-homophones.html
http://www.learninggamesforkids.com/vocabulary-games/homophones-games/homophones.html
Pick the correct sentence! Super fun!!!!!!
http://www.savethecomma.com/game/
Have fun practicing grammar and escaping a haunted castle!!!!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/english/spelling_grammar/language_structure/play.shtml
Commas are cool!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/game/en29punc-game-going-to-work-with-commas
Write contractions and beat the clock!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/game/en29punc-game-beat-the-clock-apostrophes
Practice with possessives!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/game/en29punc-game-who-owns-what
Blow away the correct punctuation and capitals!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/game/en29punc-game-blown-away
Shoot at the correct ending punctuation!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/game/en29punc-game-sentence-shooter
Is this a complete sentence? Play and practice!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/game/en30stru-game-spot-the-sentence
These are also on our Bartholomew Bat Cave Blog from our class website. Have fun!
In math, we will be reviewing all of the concepts that we learned this year. We will play games and have activities that help us practice and expand our skills. We will be working hard and doing many multiple step problem solving as well as reviewing vocabulary. Using data from our CBA and other assessments, your child will practice and review ready for the next few weeks based on their individual needs. Your children will be working hard!!!!!
In Social Studies, we will continue to read and learn about the Texas Revolution. We will practice our Voices of Texas Reader's Theater on Monday and perform it on Tuesday for our Pen Pals after our PE games.
In Science, we will continue to learn about the weather and have our assessment on Wednesday. Then we will begin learning about the water cycle.
Thank you for your continued support! Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
Writing Camp was so much fun! The children completed a final copy of a personal narrative about a time when someone told them that they did a good job. They have rough drafts completed of expository writing explaining their favorite time of year and why it is their favorite. We sang camp songs, sat around our campfire, watched some videos about writing skills, played some games about writing, practiced some revising and editing, talked with each other and me about our writing, and wrote while in sleeping bags on the floor. We would love to have you come to our classroom for our Author's Celebration on Friday, March 28 at 2:00 pm. Hope to see you there!
Our science assessment on Weather is now going to be on Wednesday, March 26. Study guide is attached.
Pen Pals will come on Tuesday, March 25 from 10:00-11:30. We will play PE games with Coach Walker in the gym then will go to the library to perform our Voices of Texas Reader's Theater and play some games. Children are invited to bring in props or a costume for the reader's theater. It will be very fun and you are invited to come meet our pen pals and play with us!
Carnival is on Friday, March 28! Thank you for donating for our class raffle basket! Thank you also for volunteering to help at the carnival.
Service Club is working with Cedar Ridge High School's Interact Club to collect new and gently used books for the children at River Oaks Elementary School. Please drop off books in the box by the office. Our goal is to collect 100 books and we have 56 so far. Thanks for helping us spread the joy of reading!
This week in reading, we will explore books and articles that deal with World War II. We will practice inferencing, summarizing, using context clues, determining author's purpose, and determining text structure as we learn about events and people from World War II.
In writing, we will evaluate and continue to revise and edit our writing from writing camp. We will also work on writing another expository piece to refine those skills and practice doing revising and editing skills independently. Games and activities to help us practice the test format for revising and editing will also be a focus this week. We hope to see you on Friday at 2:00 pm for our Author's Celebration! It will be awesome and the children are excited to share their writing with you.
Here are some fun websites that your child can use to help with some writing/grammar skills. As always, Think Through Math, First in Math, and I-Station (reading and writing) also have great practice games.
http://www.learninggamesforkids.com/vocabulary-games/homophones-games/homophones-game.html
http://www.learninggamesforkids.com/vocabulary-games/homophones-games/homophone-definitions.html
http://www.learninggamesforkids.com/vocabulary-games/homophones-games/homophones-word-o-rama.html
http://www.learninggamesforkids.com/vocabulary-games/homophones-games/pick-the-homophones.html
http://www.learninggamesforkids.com/vocabulary-games/homophones-games/homophones.html
Pick the correct sentence! Super fun!!!!!!
http://www.savethecomma.com/game/
Have fun practicing grammar and escaping a haunted castle!!!!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/english/spelling_grammar/language_structure/play.shtml
Commas are cool!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/game/en29punc-game-going-to-work-with-commas
Write contractions and beat the clock!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/game/en29punc-game-beat-the-clock-apostrophes
Practice with possessives!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/game/en29punc-game-who-owns-what
Blow away the correct punctuation and capitals!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/game/en29punc-game-blown-away
Shoot at the correct ending punctuation!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/game/en29punc-game-sentence-shooter
Is this a complete sentence? Play and practice!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/game/en30stru-game-spot-the-sentence
These are also on our Bartholomew Bat Cave Blog from our class website. Have fun!
In math, we will be reviewing all of the concepts that we learned this year. We will play games and have activities that help us practice and expand our skills. We will be working hard and doing many multiple step problem solving as well as reviewing vocabulary. Using data from our CBA and other assessments, your child will practice and review ready for the next few weeks based on their individual needs. Your children will be working hard!!!!!
In Social Studies, we will continue to read and learn about the Texas Revolution. We will practice our Voices of Texas Reader's Theater on Monday and perform it on Tuesday for our Pen Pals after our PE games.
In Science, we will continue to learn about the weather and have our assessment on Wednesday. Then we will begin learning about the water cycle.
Thank you for your continued support! Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
Sunday, March 9, 2014
Busy Week! Writing Camp 3/18-3/21, Read, Write, and do Math over spring break!
Hi,
We had a busy, but great week! Your children showed their ability to be flexible and adjust as needed this week. Because of practice for the Hoe Down, our specials and recess schedule was different. Because of the bad weather and late start on Tuesday, our pen pal visit was rescheduled for March 25. We even saw the maturation video today and still were able to focus on our work. I am proud of them for working hard this week!
Writing Camp is coming up on 3/18! Our classroom will be transformed into a campsite! Your child is encouraged to wear clothes as if they were going camping (not pajamas), bring in a sleeping bag and pillow, and get ready for an awesome week filled with writing activities! I need a few pieces (3 or 4) of firewood, and about 8 rocks to make our campfire. Let me know if you can let us use these items.
Camp Letters: You and your family members are encouraged to write camp letters to your camper. We will have mail call in the afternoon and it is always exciting to get letters from home when you are away at camp! :) You can email me letters or send them in with your child. You can write to them as if they are really away at camp and include camping stories or adventures to model good writing. You can write a letter each day and encourage family members to write as well. Thank you for making this week educational and fun for the kids. It is one of my favorite weeks of the school year!
Reading-We finished our book club books this week! We read Bud, Not Buddy, Walking the Bus-Rider Blues, and Watson’s go to Birmingham. They all were historical fiction and had some connections with the civil rights. Many of the kids decided to borrow one of the books from a different group to read over spring break! As we read these award winners, we wrote summaries and responses then met to discuss and answer each others’ questions. We talked about character changes and historical events that were in the books. They did an amazing job!
Writing-We worked on our pen pal books and will finish them up after spring break. We also worked on revising and editing our work as well as practicing the format of the STAAR test's multiple choice writing. We will do lots of writing practice after spring break during writing camp.
Math- This week we talked a lot about problem solving strategies while going over the curriculum based assessment. We also worked on division and multiplication of larger numbers.
Science- Weather is our focus and we will work more with weather after the break. We will have a test on Weather on Monday, March 24.
Social Studies- March 2 was the anniversary of the signing of the Texas Declaration of Independence and March was the anniversary of the Battle of the Alamo. We read about these events in a historical fiction novel, watched some videos about them and practiced for a reader's theater based on the book, Voices of the Alamo. We will talk more about the revolution in the upcoming weeks. We will act out the reader's theater on Tuesday, March 25. The kids are welcome to dress up for the performance. We will discuss this more after the break.
STAAR testing for writing is coming up on April 1 and 2. Go to the TEA website and you can view released STAAR tests and scored writing samples. Feel free to use this material to review with your child. There is a lot of information that could be helpful to you and your child. If you have any questions about the test, please let me know. Go to http://www.tea.state.tx.us/student.assessment/staar/testquestions/ and http://www.tea.state.tx.us/student.assessment/parents/
Dates to remember:
Monday, March 10-Friday, March 14-Spring Break-Have fun, Be safe, Read!
Monday, March 17-Spring Break Reading Logs due, any homework packets or logs not turned in yet, are due
Monday, March 17-Service Club-2:45-3:45
Tuesday, March 18-Friday, March 21-Writing Camp-Send letters
Wednesday, March 19-Early Release Day 12:45
Monday, March 24-Science test on Weather, Rising Star Writing and Art due
Tuesday, March 25-Pen Pal Visit, Reader's Theater-Voices of Alamo
Thursday, March 27-Writing Club 2:45-3:45
Friday, March 28-Spring Carnival
Tuesday, April 1 and Wednesday, April 2-STAAR Writing Test
Thank you for sharing your child with me. Have a great spring break! Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Pam
We had a busy, but great week! Your children showed their ability to be flexible and adjust as needed this week. Because of practice for the Hoe Down, our specials and recess schedule was different. Because of the bad weather and late start on Tuesday, our pen pal visit was rescheduled for March 25. We even saw the maturation video today and still were able to focus on our work. I am proud of them for working hard this week!
Writing Camp is coming up on 3/18! Our classroom will be transformed into a campsite! Your child is encouraged to wear clothes as if they were going camping (not pajamas), bring in a sleeping bag and pillow, and get ready for an awesome week filled with writing activities! I need a few pieces (3 or 4) of firewood, and about 8 rocks to make our campfire. Let me know if you can let us use these items.
Camp Letters: You and your family members are encouraged to write camp letters to your camper. We will have mail call in the afternoon and it is always exciting to get letters from home when you are away at camp! :) You can email me letters or send them in with your child. You can write to them as if they are really away at camp and include camping stories or adventures to model good writing. You can write a letter each day and encourage family members to write as well. Thank you for making this week educational and fun for the kids. It is one of my favorite weeks of the school year!
Reading-We finished our book club books this week! We read Bud, Not Buddy, Walking the Bus-Rider Blues, and Watson’s go to Birmingham. They all were historical fiction and had some connections with the civil rights. Many of the kids decided to borrow one of the books from a different group to read over spring break! As we read these award winners, we wrote summaries and responses then met to discuss and answer each others’ questions. We talked about character changes and historical events that were in the books. They did an amazing job!
Writing-We worked on our pen pal books and will finish them up after spring break. We also worked on revising and editing our work as well as practicing the format of the STAAR test's multiple choice writing. We will do lots of writing practice after spring break during writing camp.
Math- This week we talked a lot about problem solving strategies while going over the curriculum based assessment. We also worked on division and multiplication of larger numbers.
Science- Weather is our focus and we will work more with weather after the break. We will have a test on Weather on Monday, March 24.
Social Studies- March 2 was the anniversary of the signing of the Texas Declaration of Independence and March was the anniversary of the Battle of the Alamo. We read about these events in a historical fiction novel, watched some videos about them and practiced for a reader's theater based on the book, Voices of the Alamo. We will talk more about the revolution in the upcoming weeks. We will act out the reader's theater on Tuesday, March 25. The kids are welcome to dress up for the performance. We will discuss this more after the break.
STAAR testing for writing is coming up on April 1 and 2. Go to the TEA website and you can view released STAAR tests and scored writing samples. Feel free to use this material to review with your child. There is a lot of information that could be helpful to you and your child. If you have any questions about the test, please let me know. Go to http://www.tea.state.tx.us/student.assessment/staar/testquestions/ and http://www.tea.state.tx.us/student.assessment/parents/
Dates to remember:
Monday, March 10-Friday, March 14-Spring Break-Have fun, Be safe, Read!
Monday, March 17-Spring Break Reading Logs due, any homework packets or logs not turned in yet, are due
Monday, March 17-Service Club-2:45-3:45
Tuesday, March 18-Friday, March 21-Writing Camp-Send letters
Wednesday, March 19-Early Release Day 12:45
Monday, March 24-Science test on Weather, Rising Star Writing and Art due
Tuesday, March 25-Pen Pal Visit, Reader's Theater-Voices of Alamo
Thursday, March 27-Writing Club 2:45-3:45
Friday, March 28-Spring Carnival
Tuesday, April 1 and Wednesday, April 2-STAAR Writing Test
Thank you for sharing your child with me. Have a great spring break! Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Pam
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