Hi Families,

This is it--my final blog as a Roberts Elementary teacher.  School is out on Thursday, and it is a full day.  There is no Extended Day this week; all students are dismissed at 3:15.  On Wednesday, please have your child bring a brown bag (or something similar) to school; we will clean out our desks and bring all of the workbooks, folders, and notebooks home.  Only the school box will remain.

I hope you have a wonderful and relaxing summer, enjoy the time with your soon-to-be fifth graders.  Fifth grade will be an exciting time as students officially begin to prepare for middle school and you begin to apply to them.  Treasure the time you have with them, before you know it they will be college bound!

Best wishes to all,

Jonne Wilson

Hi Parents and Happy Mother's Day to all of the Moms!

If you haven't had the opportunity to return the Portfolio Picnic flyer, please do so as soon as possible--it's coming up quickly!  We have finished with the testing (finally!) and will continue to work toward being prepared for 5th grade.  I am reminding the students that we still have one month of school left, no matter how relieved we all are that the testing is over!

Math- Next week students will review factors and multiples, as well as double digit multiplication and the division process. We will also begin looking at prime factorization and composite numbers. Some of this information is review and some of it is to better prepare them as they begin fifth grade.

Reading- This week we begin reader's theater plays with the students. This is a great way for students to learn the format of plays, choose roles, and work hard in a group setting to be ready to perform the play for the class. This is also great practice with communicating and speaking in front of a group. We continue with our book clubs and Daily 5 rotations as well.

Writing- Students will wrap up any poetry work they have left next week. The week after next we will do some lessons on letter writing.

Social Studies- We wrap up chapter 9 this week with the test and then begin chapter 10.

Science-  Students will fill in the summative study guide for their Rock, Rattle, and Roll planner test. They will be given the test as well.

IB focus: Parents, we are moving into our sixth planner next week- How we Express Ourselves - Art 101.

Central Idea- We express our ideas, feelings and beliefs through art and literature.

Lines of Inquiry:

*    Reasons behind expression
*    Different mediums of art
*    The impact of literature on others

Next week we will begin with activities introducing map skills and the locations in Ancient Greece we are studying. We will also spend the week watching videos, exploring websites, reading, and doing activities in regards to Greek daily life, architecture, and pottery. Students will learn about the 3 types of columns used in Ancient Greek architecture, the meanings behind the art on their pottery, and what daily life was like for men and women. Liz Spencer will also be in our rooms next week to help produce their next piece of art work- clay friezes.

Math- Next week students will solve word problems using logic and reasoning. They will also explore how objects look from different angles.

Reading- Next week our focus will be focusing on our book clubs/Daily 5 rotations, our novel read alouds, Weekly Readers, etc. After next week we will begin doing some reader’s theater plays.

Writing- Students are finishing up their poetry anthologies this week. They are looking wonderful! Our grammar focus is prepositions and prepositional phrases.

Science- In science we explore the rock cycle. Students will learn about how rocks are formed as well as learn about and illustrate the rock cycle.

Social Studies- In social studies, we begin chapter 10 about how inventions changed and improved Texas cities in the early 1900’s. We will also read about the oil boom in Texas and how it changed life in Texas.

Parents- a reminder- Stanford testing takes place next Monday through Thursday, May 6-10. It’s very important that your child gets a good night’s rest and is on time to school everyday next week. Friday is the only day available for make-ups. Below you will find a letter about Stanford next week.

May 1, 2013

Dear Parents,

Your child will be taking the Stanford 10 Achievement Test each day next week - Monday, May 6^th through Thursday, May 9^th. The Stanford 10 Achievement Test will be administered in short segments, over the four days, for all students in 1^st through 5^th grade.  Please make every effort to have your child at school on time each morning next week. Once testing has started in a classroom, late students may not enter the room and will miss that subtest. Due to a narrow testing window and the length of the complete test, limited make-up tests will be done on Friday, May 10^th for some students who missed the initial testing. 

The best way to help your child prepare for this test is to help him/her with the following:

·         Getting a good night’s sleep.

·         Eating a healthy breakfast.

·         Being on time to school. Testing starts daily at 8:10 a.m.

·         Maintaining a calm, supportive home environment.

The results from the Stanford 10 Achievement Test will not arrive until school is out for the summer. Thank you for your help and continued support.

Sincerely,

Stephanie Walton

Instructional Coordinator                           

Hi Parents,

There will be an informational meeting for you on Wednesday, May 1, in the Cafeteria about the children as they move to 5th grade.  Look for the flyer in the Tuesday folder, and an email was also sent. Also, there is a need for volunteers for the Carnival this Saturday.  Please check your email for that information as well.

This week we will be doing some extensive Stanford practice and content review.  The reason I spend so much time on this is because the 4^th grade Stanford scores are the ones submitted when you begin applying to middle schools next fall.  They are also one point on the 5 point matrix for GT placement in middle school.  I want your child to do as well as possible so we will review concepts learned throughout the year, learn some specific strategies for the individual tests, and continue to hone our mathematical and reading abilities. As I explained the kids, this is the equivalent of a Stanford Prep course that you would pay a hundred dollars or more for.  To their credit, they understand the importance of our work this week.  I will, of course, change it up and insert activities and video clips so it is not TOO dull. J

We will continue with our Rock, Rattle and Roll planner and learn about the slow changes created by glaciers.

In Social Studies, we will finish chapter 9, which is about The Indian Wars and the growth of the Cattle Industry in Texas.

In writing we will work on creating some different styles of poetry as well as looking at published pieces.

Our next planner, which we will launch in a couple of weeks, will involve the use of IIM, or Independent Investigation Method. This is a child-friendly, research-based step-by-step process, used across the U.S. and internationally in schools, to help children recognize and use the discrete steps for doing quality research, with equally strong products. This will be our 3^rd time using IIM this year.  The first time we did it, I modeled and led the entire class through the process.  The second time, the students used it for their Explorer research paper and I guided them individually as they worked their way through the process.  This last time, the students will be functioning independently. I will give you more information on their topic when we get closer to our last unit of inquiry in a couple of weeks.

Parents, with STAAR math and reading being this week, the blog update will be quite short this week.

Writing- We continue to explore different types of poetry. This week we will look at haikus, cinquains, shape poetry and bio-poems. Students are enjoying the freedom of creativity while they are writing poetry and we are seeing such amazing word choice and beautiful language being used.

Social Studies- We will wrap up chapter 9 this week as we learn about the importance of cattle drives in the development of the cattle industry in Texas. We will also discuss how the railroads in TX were beneficial to businesses and industries in TX and how they changed the towns.

Science- This week we will look at how glaciers shape Earth’s surface and what they leave behind. We will also continue discussing the work of wind and water and their role in erosion. Another topic we will learn about is soil. We will discuss the different types of soil, the different layers of soil on Earth, the importance of soil on Earth, etc.

Reading- We will continue reading our novels, holding book clubs, and reading the Weekly Readers.

Math- We will continue working on word problems and revisiting any concepts that may need work.

Hi Parents,

This is our final week to prepare for STAAR.  The two most common mistakes students are making are:  reading the question carefully and knowing what to answer and not reviewing their work before turning it in.  Many students are forgetting to answer questions, sometimes even skipping whole pages, and therby lowering their scores.  I have stressed all year long the importance of going over their work and making sure they have answered each question the way with the response they feel is the correct choice.  We have spent a lot of time going over test-taking tips and strategies, and now it is up to the student.  Please talk with your child about the importance of double-checking their answer choices and reading each question carefully and in its entirety.  Your assistance is much appreciated!  And now for this week's focus: 

Math- In math we are continuing to work on word problems and using our strategies to solve multi-step problems.  We are going to look at reasonableness this week- is my answer a reasonable one? We check by estimating. We’ll look at patterns and drawing pictures and writing equations. We are also focusing on looking for missing or extra information. STAAR is write around the corner- PLEASE make sure you are still having your child review their multiplication facts. We are seeing some errors in their division and 2 and 3 digit multiplication due to not remembering their facts.

Writing- The students are enjoying writing free verse poetry. Next week we use sensory images to help us write with our senses about specific places. In the coming weeks students will get to write cinquains, haikus, acrostics, limericks, and other types of poems.

Reading- We continue to get ready for STAAR by reviewing reading strategies and preparing them for the stamina they will need on STAAR.

Science- In science we are moving on to mountains- how they are formed, different types of mountains, etc. Students will get some hands on work with play doh to build one type of mountain formation. We are also learning about weathering and erosion and how they affect Earth’s surface. Students will learn about different type of weathering (physical vs. chemical).

Social Studies- We are continuing/finishing last week’s plans about chapter 9 in the textbook.

Spotlight on IB

Central Idea: Earth experiences changes caused by geological forces.

Lines of Inquiry:

·         How rocks and minerals are formed

·         The causes behind Earths’ physical changes

·         How Earth’s physical events impact humans

Questions we asked to launch our inquiry:

How do rocks form in layers?

How do earthquakes effect our future?

What causes earthquakes to happen?

How can volcanoes destroy Earth so much (destroy our roads, etc?)

How does a volcano form?

How do different rock formations form?

Hi Parents,

The STAAR Writing is over and now it is time to prepare for the Math and Reading tests.  The next two weeks will be pretty intense as we focus on strategies and review material.  One key element we will address is to carefully read the question and to know what the question is asking, particularly in math.  The math will have multi-step operations to perform so students must pay attention to what they are being asked to do.  This week's learning is:

Math- In Math next week we will spend Monday reviewing area and perimeter. On Tuesday we will spend time looking at 3D shapes as well as some logic problems. The rest of the week will be centered around solving two and three step word problems. We will be discussing strategies for solving these problems, how to get rid of extra information, etc.

Writing- We will begin a short unit on poetry. Next week students will listen to a variety of free verse (non-rhyming) poems and realize that poetry can be about literally anything. We will practice reading poems with fluency and voice and will begin to write poetry using proper word choice.

Reading- We will review test taking strategies and key words to look for on STAAR as well as take some practice STAAR tests to look at what they may still need work on.

Science- In science we will learn more about how volcanoes erupt and how they cause changes to Earth’s surface. We will also look at earthquakes and Tsunamis and their effect on Earth.

Social Studies- We begin Chapter 9- “The Close of the Century” where we read about how the lives of the Plains Indians changed as Anglo American settlers moved onto the plains and eventually forced them to move to reservations