Week of January 8th

Hello everyone! We hope that you and your family had an enjoyable Winter Break. We are back in full swing at TCE. 

We have a few updates to share with you all. Thank you for taking the time to read our blog!

Things Happening at TCE:

• Skate Night is Wednesday, January 10th from 6:00-8:00 PM. All TCE Families are invited to attend! 

New Resources at TCE: 

We have recently acquired a few new digital resources for our learners to use in class. We are really excited about these resources, some of which are because of PTO's generosity. 

Spelling City Premium Accounts

Each learner has an individual account. The learners can login at school or at home, and once they are logged in, they can play various games to practice the spelling words. In addition, when they take the weekly pretest on Mondays, we are able to see the results digitally. It will be a great tool for our spelling instruction! 

Raz Kids

If you have a learner in K-2, you might already be familiar with this resource. Now each learner in 3rd-5th grade will have an individual account on Raz Kids as well. Learners will have access to leveled texts and reading activities. We will be exploring this resource in class over the next few weeks.

Flocabulary
Learners will have access to Flocabulary through their teachers' accounts. Flocabulary is a great resource for learning new information through music, and it something we will use in all subject areas. 

Curriculum Tidbits:

Math:

In math, we are continuing our unit over fractions to learn about how to identify and create equivalent fractions, compare fractions with different numerators and denominators, and solve addition and subtraction problems involving fractions with the same denominator.

Science:

In science, the learners will continue to investigate the 3 types of Earth’s resources: Renewable, Non Renewable, and Inexhaustible . The learners will also investigate the human impact on these different resources.

Language Arts:

In writing, we will be continuing to work on completing the writing process using the Six Traits of writing. Recently, we have been writing about an item from our home we would give to a family that is less fortunate. Later this week, we will begin writing about what kind of pet we would like to have and why we would choose that pet. We will take our mid-year writing assessment at the end of the month. 

Social Studies:

In social studies, students will begin learning about the Texas Revolution.


We really appreciate you taking a few minutes to read our blog post. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to your son or daughter's homeroom teacher. 

Typing Resources

A couple of our fourth grade parents and families have asked us about typing resources for our learners. We recently stumbled upon a new resource that might be helpful for those of you that want your learners to have some extra practice at home.

The website is called Kidz Type, and the learners can work through different levels to learn and practice home row typing skills.

In the past, we've also suggested www.sense-lang.org/typing/ and www.powertyping.com/ for typing practice.

We hope these resources will be helpful for you and your family.

Town Center Digital Resources

We are so lucky to have an abundance of digital resources for our learners to use both at school and at home. Some of these resources are paid for subscriptions. We thought it might be helpful to share the links to these resources with you in case you and your learner might want to access them from home.

Each learner has a "Password Helper" resource sheet in their take home folders. On this resource sheet, you can find the learners username and password for every website they access at school. If your learner has misplaced this resource sheet, please contact your learner's teacher to get another copy.

Mackin Via
Mackin Via is a resource through which the learners can access all of our databases. When they login to Mackin Via, learners will have access to all linked databases, including but not limited to: BrainPOP, World Book Online, Culture Grams, and Britannica. The username and password to Mackin Via is their normal username and password.

Our wonderful librarian, Mrs. Montgomery, created this how to video for our educators and leaners. While it's intended for educators and learners, it could be helpful for anyone wanting to use Mackin Via.

Discovery Education - coppellisd.discoveryeducation.com
Discovery Education is our science textbook. There are videos, articles, and interactive activities for the learners to experience. The username and password for Discovery Education is the learners' normal username and password.

No Red Ink - noredink.com
No Red Ink is a website that provides learners with interactive lessons and quizzes based on their individual interests. We use No Red Ink in class for assessments and as an extension activity for learners.

If you have any questions regarding any of these resources, please do not hesitate to email and ask. We are more than happy to help!