Mrs. Baker's Newsletter
April 5, 2018
What is going on?
Reading: We will be researching about animal habitats and will be focusing on our reading strategies for our end of the year reading benchmark in April.
Writing: Students will write a persuasive paper that convinces the reader that a certain habitat is the best for a particular animal to thrive.
Spelling and Grammar:
Spelling words this week: brown,change face, hard, might, read, ten, yes
Our grammar lessons will be centered around correcting mistakes in passages based on spelling, punctuation and word choice.
Science: Students will observe, record, and compare how the physical characteristics and behaviors of animals help them meet their basic needs such as fins help fish move and balance in the water.
Math: Students will model, create, and describe division situations in which a set of concrete objects is separated into equivalent sets.
Each student is needing a shoe box to create an animal habitat diorama. If you have any extra shoe boxes. Please send them in to me.
If you have any crafting items that could us help create our diorama- we would love to have some cool supplies to create the ideal habitat for our animals. Thanks for considering.
At the end of the week we will begin making dioramas to go with our new PBL question:How can we as zoologists create a habitat where animals thrive?
After researching their animal,kids will create shoe box habitats for their selected animal. Please send a shoe box by Thursday. Also if you are out and about this weekend (Hobby Lobby etc...) kids will need a few things for their dioramas.
You do not need to purchase anything as they can make everything from construction paper BUT they will want some things I am sure:) Fake plants, stones, etc.
This and that-
Calendar:
April 7 DI State Tournament
April 14 RRISD Celebration of Families-Empty Bowl Festival
April 16 KSTAR Field Trip 2
April 20 SPRING CARNIVAL!!
TAG results
TAG results will go in the mail Monday, April 2. Parents will receive copies of the actual test results, as well. If they have questions about qualifying scores, please send them to the TAG website.
Mark your calendars---carnival is on April 20th! Look for fliers in your child's Thursday folders this week!
Please sign up to help at carnivalhttps://m.signupgenius.com/#!/showSignUp/10C0544ACAF2FA5FC1-sommer1
(Note from Mrs. Varljen: This is such a fabulous family event! It does, however, take MANY volunteers to help that evening. I encourage you to truly make this a community event by signing up to help for just 1 hour. It would be great to have so many volunteers that every parent is able to enjoy some carnival time with their children. It's a challenge! How many will volunteer?? With your awesome support, I am hoping for LOTS! THANKS!)
Empty Bowl Festival Food Drive - April 2nd-12th
Next week the Student Ambassadors will begin collecting food for the Round Rock Serving Center. This food drive is part of the Empty Bowl festival. We will be collecting food and other items through April 12th. Please share with your class and add to your class websites. We are hoping to collect over 1000 items this year!! There will be a collection bin outside the office.
Most Needed Items to Collect:
• Canned vegetables ~ corn and green beans are the most popular
• Canned fruit
• Canned soup
• Top Ramen
• Peanut Butter
• Macaroni ‘n cheese
• Canned meat and tuna
• Pasta ~ spaghetti, macaroni
• Rice and pinto beans
• Cereal
• Toilet paper
• Diapers
Please see all the details on the website.
Empty Bowls Round Rock Food Drive
Thank you so much for your donations!!!! :)
Sommer Student Ambassadors
Campus Walk for American
Our secondary RRISD Student Advisory Board this year is calling out for care and concern surrounding the mental wellness of their peers. Conversations around suicide and stress were the predominant themes. As a result, they have decided to take on as their community service project, the RRISD Campus Walk for American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP). It will be held on Saturday, April 21 at Cedar Ridge High School. Check in and activities will be taking place from 9-10am, the walk will begin at 10am, and we hope to have some options of presentations immediately following.
We have already reached out directly to counselors and Student Council Sponsors at elem., MS, and HS levels. We will be also working with Community Relations to get the word out to the wider community.
Please consider helping us and your Learning Community in 2 ways:
1) Help us get the word out possibly in your email communication with your community. The flyers for each learning community can be found here. The registration links are learning community specific as each group forms a team. The Learning Communities are NOT competing against each other, but against themselves to reach registration levels that will put them at the silver (100 registrations), gold (250 registrations), or platinum levels (400 registrations). ALL in our community are welcome to register and attend.
Cedar Ridge Learning Community Flyer and Reg. Link
McNeil Learning Community Flyer and Reg. Link
Round Rock Learning Community Flyer and Reg. Link
Stony Point Learning Community Flyer and Reg. Link
Westwood Learning Community Flyer and Reg. Link
2) Please join us for the walk. While fundraising is an option, it is just that... an option. Just your presence would be huge to these student leaders and will send a message of solidarity to our community. Again, the registration link can be found in the flyer above. We do have a Central Office team, but we encourage our Area Sups. to register under their Learning Community.