Mrs. Strickland's Class
Writing
March 28-April 1
We had an amazing trip to Austin on Friday! The students were so well behaved and had a fun time learning about our state capital and history.
This week we will be working on writing an expository composition about a famous historical figure from Texas. Also, don't forget that Friday is early release!!
Have a great week!!
March 7-11
Mrs. Gravley and I are really seeing great progress in our small writing groups. We are working diligently to ensure that our kiddos are ready for that STAAR Writing test on March 29th. We are focusing on revising, editing, and expository compositions. Thank you for helping your student with their writing homework. As a working parent, I know that it is difficult to get it all in, but the more they practice these skills, the easier it will become.
Please remember to return Austin t-shirt forms and money as soon as possible. Money is due no later than March 29th. Also, if you are planning on attending don't forget that you will need to complete a background check with the office.
We have reached the time of year when supplies are getting low. We would so appreciate any help replenishing them. Our classroom is in need of
pencils
pencil cap erasers
Kleenex
Expos
Here are some reminders of things coming up...
- March 14-18-Spring Break
- March 21-Spring pictures
- March 21-Camp Grady Spruce meeting for 4th grade parents 6:00
- March 25-Bad Weather Makeup Day/No school
- March 29-4th grade Writing STAAR
- April 1-Austin Field Trip
February 29-March 4
Happy Friday! Next Tuesday evening is Open House. We will have several assignments that your student's have completed out, as well as, benchmarks so that you can see the STAAR questions. Please leave the writing samples and benchmarks at school, all the rest can be taken home.
The students will have the same type of writing homework next week. Please make sure that your child is working on this at home. If there is a problem with them getting it completed at home, please make arrangements with me. I am usually here by 7:15 AM; they can come down to work on it.
We will be focusing the next two weeks on Writing. Writing STAAR will be March 29th. We feel that to get more writing time, we are splitting all students into two classes; an AM class and a PM class. During writing, the students will be focusing on grammar, revise/edit, and composition. They will have math/science rotation the other part of the day. We have 9 good days of instruction and do not want to waste a moment. Students will still come to their homeroom first thing each morning and will leave with their homeroom at the end of the day. We are excited about the switch and all will resume back to normal homerooms after Writing STAAR. Please let us know if you have any questions about this.
This week we took a Math Benchmark and celebrated Texas Independence Day! Today we rotated through Texas stations having fun!!!
We sent home the first Austin field trip information. Please send back the order form for t-shirts; money is due March 23rd. If you plan on going, please let me know. Also, you will need to have a background check if you haven't already.
Please don't forget Reading tutoring in Monday and Math tutoring on Tuesday.
February 22-26
Next week, we will have homework in writing. They will be bringing home 3 Revising and Editing passages and a composition to write. We will be going over how to complete the homework in class on Monday. They should need very little help from you; however, if they need some support, have your student visit with me about coming in before school Wednesday or Thursday.
On Wednesday, we have an important Math Benchmark. Please ensure a good night's rest Tuesday and a great breakfast Wednesday morning.
Have a wonderful weekend!
February 15-19
Next week is an important week for Reading and Writing. On Monday, we will review for a Reading Benchmark on Tuesday. Wednesday, we are reviewing for a Writing Benchmark on Thursday. It is imperative that everyone is at school and focused ready to learn and work hard! We will be rewarding students that use their strategies, prove their answers, and increase their score from the last benchmark. Progress is important, so we will also be meeting with students individually to discuss goals.
Mrs. Gravley and myself will be sending home updated progress reports for you to review.
We will not have Reading or Writing homework next week due to the benchmark tests. They will have math!
Six Flags Reading Logs need to be completed and turned in by Friday, February 26th. No late logs will be accepted. Please turn your class’ logs all together on Friday.
If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to call or email me! Thank you!!
February 8-12
Remember, students do not have school on Monday. Next week, we are going to further develop our understanding of main ideas and supporting details. We are going to introduce homophones by identifying which is the correct homophone to use in a sentence.
On a final note, We finished our fun run on Thursday! What an amazing time we had! We are sending home pledging envelopes. Please collect your student's donations and return them by Wednesday, February 17th.
January 25-29
I wanted to let you know that we went over this week's homework in class today. The students were to read the prompt to find the topic, complete a Pick, List, Choose with no less than 10 details, and finally, write 2 main idea sentences. We have done this process in class with every composition that we have written. The students know how to do it. We will have the same homework next week with different prompts.
A few reminders for the upcoming week:
Boosterthon begins! I'll be communicating with your daily about the progress and what we are learning about. It is a super fun, easy fundraiser that will help us build a track and post video announcement boards for next year! The Fun Run is 2/11- we hope you can join us!
2/2 – Hat day
2/3 – Athlete Day
2/4 – Crazy Sock
2/5 – Neon Day
2/9 – Crazy Hair
2/10 – Red, White and Blue Day
January 19-22
We will also be adding kids to tutoring after school. Writing tutoring is on Mondays until 3:30 PM. If your student brings home a letter inviting them to stay, please check YES or NO and send it back.
Next week, we are working on transitions. We will also be starting a new expository composition about a special person in our life.
We are also bringing writing homework back. The students will be asked to complete a Pick, List, Choose and write 2 Main Idea sentences for 3 different prompts. If you have any questions, never hesitate to email or call me.
Have a great weekend!
January 11-15
Next week: We will continue our learning on adjectives and incorporating them into our writing to add interesting descriptions. We will also review verb tense consistency throughout our writing and adding adverbs to our compositions.
We also have a Writing Benchmark on Thursday. The assessment consists of an expository writing prompt and revision and editing skills. Please make sure that your student is well rested and ready to perform well!
I hope you enjoy your three day weekend! See you Tuesday!!
Here are some important dates to remember...
- January 18-MLK Day/School holiday
- January 26-Reading Night
- February 2-Boosterthon Pep Rally 1:30
- February 2-Good News Club starts
- February 12-End of 4th six weeks/early dismissal at 11:45
January 4-8
In writing, we have studied main verbs, helping verbs, and linking verbs. We extended that learning with regular and irregular verbs through all three verb tenses. The end of this week we added adverbs.
The students also begin writing a new expository composition about New Year's resolutions. It was fun getting to hear what goals they have set for themselves in 2016.
Next week, we will introduce adjectives and transitions to our writing and start another expository composition.
We will also have a guest speaker on Monday morning. His name is David Bedford, and he is from the Science and History Museum in Fort Worth. He will be sharing his knowledge of cattle raisers.
Don't forget Science Fair Projects are due Thursday, January 14th.
As a reminder, please don't hesitate to call or email me if you have any questions or concerns about your student. I am always here to help!
Week of December 7-11
Last week we finished up our poetry books. If you have not sent the publishing form back please do. Even if you are not ordering an additional copy, I still need you to sign and return the form.
This week we are writing a letter to Santa asking for something we want, need and read. I will send these home on Tuesday in case you need ideas for presents. ;)
We have a lot going on next week. Please take note of these following events/reminders:
We are having our Christmas party on Friday, Dec. 18th from 8:30-9:30. We are asking the students to send in $2.00 to help cover the cost of our supplies and tasty treats. Please join us for fun!
Spelling Bee will be Wednesday, December 16th at 9:00am.
Fourth grade performance Thursday at 7:45am and Thursday at 6:00pm. Dress up as pirates!
Christmas School Store
Tuesday Dec. 15 @ lunchtime
We will have Christmas presents available to purchase for $1-$2, Giftwrap included!
We will also have regular school store items & special Christmas stuff for .25-$1.
Science Fair Registration forms were due on Wednesday, December 2, 2015. If you did not sign up and still want to PLEASE do so by the end of this week! ONLINE is best- so please go to the link below and sign up. Just click on the link below or type in the link to register. If you can not access the form please fill out and return the attached form.
Registration Form
Resources available at: http://www.granburyisd.org/Page/15697
Acton Elementary Science Fair – January 14, 2016
GISD District Elementary Science Fair – February 24, 2016
November 30 to December 4
This week we worked through our revising and editing check point to justify our answers. I am wanting the students to think about the questions and answer choices to eliminate the incorrect answers with justification and tell me why the correct answer is right. We also continued to compose poems for our Student Treasures book. The students learned about how to write a good lead for an introduction of an expository composition that makes the reader want to read more.
Next week, we will start to write the final copies of our poems to send to the publisher by Thursday! I will be sending home a form that asks if you would like to purchase more than the one copy that the student will be receiving. If you do, please complete the form and send it back with payment by Thursday. If you do not want to purchase another copy, please check the box at the bottom of the form, sign, and send it back by Thursday.
We will also be planning an expository composition about Christmas decorations, writing a good lead and central idea for an introduction. They will compose their main idea paragraphs and supporting details.
Here are a few dates to remember:
December 10-Return the Student Treasures form
December 16 - School Spelling Bee
December 18 - Christmas party/early release at 11:45
December 21-January 2 - Christmas Break
January 7 - Report Cards/College Shirt Day
November 16-20
This week in Writing we continued to write poems using figurative language for our Student Treasures books. We also worked on writing main ideas and supporting details for our Thankful Expository compositions.
Science Fair papers were sent home yesterday, Thursday. They need to be returned Wednesday, Dec. 2nd if your child is participating.
Spelling Bee Winners:
Gravley- Bailey, Runner Up- Dillon
Strickland- Emily, Runner Up- Trinity
Egdorf- Zach, Runner Up- Dominique
Club 4 Members!!
Tessa Day
Milo Hall-Jacobson
Lucas Hyde
Trenton Davenport
Hello! Week of Nov. 9-13
We have started working on our first Expository Composition about things in our life that we are thankful for having. We will finish these up next week. We have also started writing poetry for our Student Treasures book. This week we learned what a simile and a metaphor are and how to incorporate them into our writing in an acrostic poem about ourselves.
I wanted to also take this opportunity to tell you a little bit about myself. I am originally from Kansas, but have lived in Texas five years. We moved to Granbury in late August. I have taught for 13 years and most of those years have been in fourth grade. I love this age!! If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email me; or if you would like to set up a conference to meet me in person, my conference time is 1:00 PM. Please email me to set up an appointment.
Important Events and Dates
Please Remember!
The classroom Spelling Bee will be in next Thursday , November 19th during class time. Each child will have a chance to participate. Words came home this week. If you need another copy of the words, please let me know and I’ll send another set home. If your child is the classroom winner, they will go on to the campus Spelling Bee. They will get a new set of words to review. The campus Spelling Bee will be December 16th at 9:00. Happy spelling!
Here are some other important reminders
Please make sure your child continues to complete and return their homework. Assignments are sent home on Monday and should be returned on Friday. It is so important to reinforce concepts taught at school, at home. Thanks!
November 18 - Thanksgiving Feast during lunch
November 19 - AES Chick-fil-A Spirit Night 5:00-9:00
November 23-27 - Thanksgiving break
Mrs. April Strickland
Email: april.strickland@granburyisd.org
Website: granburyisd.org
Location: Acton Elementary School, Granbury, TX, United States
Phone: 817-408-4200