Thursday, March 24, 2016

Updates Week 27

Thank you for taking the time to read our blog.  There is a lot of important information in this post. As always, please let us know if you have any questions. 

Thank you to our fourth grade families that were able to come to Open House. We enjoyed seeing you, and we know our learners loved showing off their hard work. 

Important Announcements

Field Trip

  • As you know, we will be going to the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History on May 18th. As a reminder, all field trip permission slips and money are due Friday, April 1st. This includes chaperone money and forms.
  • Please click this link for more information regarding our field trip. Please let us know if you have any questions regarding our trip. 
STAAR Testing

  • Our first round of STAAR testing is quickly approaching. Our fourth graders will take the writing STAAR test on Tuesday, March 29th. 
  • Due to testing security, visitors will not be permitted in the building on STAAR testing days, Tuesday, March 29th and Wednesday, March 30th. (The fourth graders will not be taking STAAR on Wednesday, but the fifth grade will be.)
  • Due to STAAR testing, we will not have tutoring next week (March 28-April 1). 
  • We will take our Math and Reading STAAR tests on May 9th and 10th. 
Safety Reminders
  • As a reminder, students are not permitted in the building before 7:15 am each day. Supervision begins at this time, so when they are in the building prior to 7:15, they are unsupervised. 
  • If your learner has tutoring in the morning, he/she should go straight to his/her educator's classroom. 

Holiday Coupons! 

  • For the holidays, we gave our students a coupon book. Within this coupon book, there is a coupon for a fun experience for each month. We will send reminders as those days get closer, but you may want to go ahead and mark them in your calendar now. The dates are listed in the Upcoming Dates section. 

Upcoming Dates
  • Thursday, March 24 - Spirit Rally
  • Friday, March 25 - NO SCHOOL (Weather Day)
  • Tuesday, March 29 - Writing STAAR Test 
  • March 31st - Holiday Coupon: 30 Minutes of Non-electronic Game Time
  • Friday, April 1 - Field Trip Permission Slip & Money Due
  • Thursday, April 7 - Volunteer Breakfast 
  • Friday, April 15 - TCE Hoedown
  • April 29th - Holiday Coupon: A Picnic Outside for Lunch
  • May 26th - Holiday Coupon: A Movie & Popcorn
Character Education
The citizenship quality for March is Honesty. 

Each week, Town Center focuses on one life principle, or guiding character quality. The life principles for each week are discussed on the morning announcements and will be posted on our agendas. 

What are we learning?
Math & Science

*NEW MATH WEBSITES*
This week the learners were introduced to two new Math websites that they can use at school, as well as at home. The websites are listed below:
Prodigy- prodigygame.com/play
Khan Academy- khanacademy.org

In math, we will be continuing our unit on measurement this week. The learners will be investigating customary and metric units, mass, volume, area, perimeter, time, and money. 

In science, we will be finishing our unit over earth's surfaces. The learners will be exploring different types of soil and soil properties. They will be taking an assessment over earth's surfaces on Thursday, March 24th. 



Language & Literacy

In writing, we are reviewing for our big test next week. The learners will participate in a variety of writing activities including writing essays, brainstorming prompt ideas, and reviewing grammar skills with games and quizzes. 

In reading, we will continue to focus on comparing and contrasting different texts. The learners will compare fiction and nonfiction texts about similar topics. 

Social Studies

In social studies, we are continuing our study of the Texas Revolution. Throughout our study of the various battles in the Revolution, learners will be thinking about the following big questions: 

How does the past shape our present and future? 
Could the Revolution have been avoided? 
_____




Thank you, again, for taking the time to read our blog. We are looking forward to another great week with our fourth graders! 

Friday, March 4, 2016

Fourth Grade Field Trip 2016

Field Trip information went home on Friday, March 4. All field trip permission slips and payments are due Friday, April 1. Chaperone interest forms are due Thursday, March 10.

Updates: Week 26

Thank you for taking the time to read our blog.  There is a lot of important information in this post. As always, please let us know if you have any questions. 

Important Announcements

Field Trip

  • We will be sending information home about our fourth grade field trip this week. Please keep an eye out for upcoming blog posts regarding this trip. 

Open House
Flower/Plant Design Challenge
  • Remember, your child may create any kind of flower/plant using various types of materials, excluding real plants or flowers. 
  • We will have our guest judge voting on this round of design challenges on Friday, March 11th
  • For more information regarding this design challenge, please see Ms. Applegate's Principal Blog. 
Book Fair & Donuts
  • We will have our annual doughnuts with dad/family member on Tuesday, March 8th and Wednesday March 9th.  
  • We are going to go with the letters of the last name again this year.  If your child's last name starts with the letters A-M come on Tuesday and then N-Z please come on Wednesday. 
Lap Tracker - A Message from Coach Yaeger
  • By now all classes have been able to run using our student lap tracker. This system helps keep track of the number of laps the student have run and the amount of miles he or she have covered. 
  • The students are then able to log on to the system themselves and monitor their own progress and where they stand among their grade.  
  • Below is all of the log in information:
  • Website: laptracker.net
  • Username: tce (followed by students FULL ID number)   example : tce12345
  • Password: (students FULL id number) followed by students first and last initial in lower case form. example: 12345ay
Holiday Coupons! 

  • For the holidays, we gave our students a coupon book. Within this coupon book, there is a coupon for a fun experience for each month. We will send reminders as those days get closer, but you may want to go ahead and mark them in your calendar now.
  • March 31st - 30 Minutes of Non-electronic Game Time
  • April 29th - A Picnic Outside for Lunch
  • May 26th - A Movie & Popcorn
Upcoming Dates
  • Thursday, March 10 - Open House
  • Thursday, March 10 - Chaperone Interest Forms Due
  • Friday, March 11 - Shamrock Shuffle (During Specials)
  • March 14-18 Spring Break
  • Thursday, March 24 - Spirit Rally
  • Friday, March 25 - Weather Day 
  • Tuesday, March 29 - Writing STAAR Test 
  • Friday, April 1 - Field Trip Permission Slip & Money Due
Character Education
The citizenship quality for March is Honesty. 

Each week, Town Center focuses on one life principle, or guiding character quality. The life principles for each week are discussed on the morning announcements and will be posted on our agendas. 

What are we learning?
Math & Science

*NEW MATH WEBSITES*
This week the learners were introduced to two new Math websites that they can use at school, as well as at home. The websites are listed below:
Prodigy- prodigygame.com/play
Khan Academy- khanacademy.org

In math, we will be testing over Division on Monday March 7th. We will begin our unit on measurement next week. The learners will be investigating customary and metric units, mass, volume, area, perimeter, time, and money. 

In science, we will be continuing  out unit over earth's surfaces. The learners will be exploring different types of soil and soil properties. They will also be creating their own experiment to test different types of soils.  



Language & Literacy

In writing, we will continue to explore expository writing, taking everything we've learned and putting it together to write incredible essays. The learners have been focusing on elaborating by using examples and clarification statements. This past week, they wrote about a place that is special to them and explained why it is special. Next week they will write about their dream career. We love reading our writers' essays! 

We have also been reviewing our grammar skills! Friday, March 4th is National Grammar Day, and our learners have been working on creating PSAs for our TCE Texans! 

Social Studies

In social studies, we are continuing our study of the Texas Revolution. Throughout our study of the various battles in the Revolution, learners will be thinking about the following big questions: 

How does the past shape our present and future? 
Could the Revolution have been avoided? 
_____




Thank you, again, for taking the time to read our blog. We are looking forward to another great week with our fourth graders!