Friday, April 28, 2017

Week of April 24th-April 28th

Can you believe that April is already over?! Thank you to everyone who came out to the TCE Hoedown! We had SO much fun celebrating this great event!! Please read this week's blog post, as we have lots of new information!

What's Happening in the Classroom?

In Reading, the learners are working on review stations for the upcoming Reading STAAR test. You can reinforce these skills at home by having them work on the vocabulary words here and also by reviewing these strategies:

In Math this week, we have been reviewing past concepts such as place value, decimals, and fractions through fun learning experiences such as Quizlet Live! 

In Language Arts, we focused on spelling words with Latin origins and complex sentences. We will not have spelling or mentor sentences for the next two weeks. We will resume with them the week of May 15th!

In Science this week, learners have continued researching crop rotation for the TCE Garden Design Challenge. Learners are excited to begin their new designs for our garden!

What's Happening in 4th Grade?

Field Trip to the Dallas Zoo
Please have your child return their permission slip as soon as possible! Also, if you are a chaperone and have not turned in your $6, please do so as soon as possible! 

Spring Conferences

You should have received a purple handout from your child's homeroom teacher about Spring Conferences. We are offering email, phone, or face to face conferences. Please return the bottom half of the slip to your child's homeroom teacher. If you would a face to face conference you can sign up here:
4A/4B: tinyurl.com/4a4bconferences
4C/4D/4E: tinyurl.com/tceconferences2017

Tutoring

The week of May 1st will be the LAST week of tutoring. Your children have worked very hard this year in tutoring, and we are very proud of them!

What's Happening at TCE?

2017-2018 TCE Registration

Please return the yellow registration form as soon as possible, even if your child will not be attending TCE next year. This is very important for enrollment purposes!

Math and STAAR Reading

Third and fourth grade will be taking the Math STAAR test Monday, May 8th and the Reading STAAR test Tuesday, May 9th. It is very important that your child comes to school on these days. Just like when we took the Writing STAAR, there are no visitors allowed in the building this week. You can drop anything off at the office if you need.  Just some friendly reminders:
  • Please have your child eat a healthy breakfast so they can focus.
  • Your child will be provided with snacks, so they do not need to bring one from home. They may bring a water bottle.
  • Your child will need to bring books with them to read after the test.
  • We will be testing first thing in the morning, so it is essential that your child is on time.
  • There will be no more tutoring this school year starting the week of May 8th.

Friday, April 21, 2017

Week of April 17th-21st



Thank you to everyone who volunteered to chaperone for our field trip! We have enough volunteers now, so we thank you for volunteering!

What's Happening in the Classroom?

In Reading, the learners finished our unit on theme. We looked at how to infer what the theme of a story, song, and short film would be. We will have the STAAR Reading test May 9th. Learners may practice some vocabulary words at https://quizlet.com/_3de2x0 .

In Language Arts, we focused on adjectives for our mentor sentence. We also learned Greek parts for our spelling lists. Learners also wrote imaginative stories about an alternative ending to the Texas Revolution.

In Math this week, we have been continuing our Geometry activities with a new Geometry Challenge. Learners have been finding and creating unique ways to display 2D and 3D shapes and labeling the types of lines and angles on them. Ask your learner to show you our class Schoology Media Album with photos from the class!

In Social Studies, learners finished up our unit on the Texas Revolution. We learned about the victory at San Jacinto and how Santa Anna surrendered when he was captured. 

In Science, we completed our "Flip the Switch" power pathway designs and began researching for the TCE Garden Design Challenge that we will be participating in. The learners will be designing the blueprints and layout for our TCE garden, as well as finding the area and perimeter of different garden beds. 

What's Happening in 4th Grade?

Field Trip

The 4th grade will be taking a field trip to the Dallas Zoo on Thursday, May 18th. Be on the lookout for permission slips for our fabulous field trip! 











Thursday, April 13, 2017

Week of April 10-14th

Even though we have had a short week, it's been a blast! Read below to hear about our awesome field trip that we will be taking and what we have been doing in the classroom this week!

What's Happening in the Classroom?

In Reading, we have been discussing the theme in literature, nonfiction, and poetry. We have distinguished the difference between theme and plot. 

In Language Arts, we focused on dialogue and quotation marks this week. We also focused on the double consonant spelling skill.

In Math this week, we began our journey with geometry with topics such as lines, angles, and how to measure the degrees in an angle. The learners practiced drawing and classifying different types of lines and angles. We also began to use protractors to measure angles. We practiced the essential vocabulary words using a Quizlet. This can also be practiced at home using this link: https://quizlet.com/_3c2fp6

In Social Studies, we have been learning about the Runaway Scrape, and how colonists had to abandon their homes after the fall of the Alamo. Learners created tweets as if they were colonists in the Runaway Scrape, and they wrote from the point of view of a Texas colonist. 

In Science, we continued to design our pathway of electricity from different energy sources. We are using Google Drawings to map out the process that every and electricity go through and the impact that it has on wildlife. 

What's Happening in 4th Grade?

Field Trip

The 4th grade will be taking a field trip to the Dallas Zoo on Thursday, May 18th. Be on the lookout for permission slips for our fabulous field trip! Your homeroom teacher has sent an email about chaperoning. Please respond if you would like to chaperone! 


What's Happening at TCE?

Parent Volunteer Breakfast
We will have our annual breakfast to give our appreciation to our wonderful parent volunteers on Wednesday, April 19th from 7:30-9:00 AM. Feel free to stop by for some yummy treats!

TCE Hoedown 
Our TCE Hoedown will be happening on Friday, April 21st from 5:30-8:00pm.  All pre-ordered items will be delivered prior to the Hoedown. Punch cards will be available for purchase at the Hoedown on Friday April 21.
Volunteers Needed for HoeDown!
and volunteer for a 30 minute shift (or more if you like). 

The PTO is requesting donations for the 2017 Hoedown auction.  If you have item(s) that you would like to donate, please email us at towncenterelementaryauction@gmail.com 

Also, we are excited to use a new app for the silent auction this year! 
Feel free to download the Handbid app now (from your App Store), and our auction will be live Friday, April 14! 



You can also access it on your computer through https://www.handbid.com/auctions/ (once it is live on Apr 14).

Friday, April 7, 2017

Week of April 3rd-7th

Happy April everyone! We can't believe how fast time has flown in 4th grade! 



What's Happening in the Classroom?


In Reading, we have been working on paired passages and deciding on how they are similar and different. We have been viewing different texts, such as fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and persuasive texts. 

In Language Arts, we started up our mentor sentences again. We focused on personification and prepositional phrases. We also started up spelling again. This week we focused on the consonant sounds /j/, /ks/, and /kw/. 

In Social Studies, we have been delving deeper into the Battle of the Alamo. We studied the people, their actions, and the results of the battle. We also were able to perform a reader's theater of the Alamo, where the learners took on the roles of key people in the Alamo. 

In Math, we began our geometry and measurement unit. We started the week looking at relative measurement and deciding what the weight, length, and capacity of objects around the classroom could be. We also looked at measurement conversations and began to use different strategies to convert within units of measurement. At the end of the week, we started to learn the formulas for finding the area and perimeter of squares and rectangles.



In Science, we began researching how flipping a light switch on will effect our environment. We are looking into alternative energy sources, and the positive and negative impacts that they have on our wildlife, atmosphere, and water sources.

Bluebonnet Party Fun!





What's Happening at TCE?

Friday Holiday
Parents, don't forget that we will not have school on Friday, April 14th due to us not having to use our bad weather day! 

TCE Hoedown
Our TCE Hoedown will be happening on Friday, April 21st from 5:30-8:00pm.  Please see the following reminders about t-shirts and punch cards!

The last day to order Family pack and T-shirts is this Wednesday, April 5 
Punch Cards by April 12!



Click below to order: 





 All pre-ordered items will be delivered prior to the Hoedown. Punch cards will be available for purchase at the Hoedown on Friday April 21. 

Volunteers Needed for HoeDown!
and volunteer for a 30 minute shift (or more if you like). 

The PTO is requesting donations for the 2017 Hoedown auction.  If you have item(s) that you would like to donate, please email us at towncenterelementaryauction@gmail.com 

Also, we are excited to use a new app for the silent auction this year! 
Feel free to download the Handbid app now (from your App Store), and our auction will be live Friday, April 14! 



You can also access it on your computer through https://www.handbid.com/auctions/ (once it is live on Apr 14).