May

It truly has been an amazing year.  Thank you all for sharing your children with me.  I have enjoyed my first year at Forest Creek!  I will have lots of precious memories of this school year.  The students have grown so much throughout the year and are truly ready to conquer fifth grade.  Remind them to be leaders and not followers.  Continue to encourage them to read 30 minutes or more each night.  Please refer to the fifth grade reading list I included in their report card envelopes for book recommendations. 

Thanks for the encouragement, all the special gifts, and support you have given me this year!  It means more than you can imagine.  Most of all, thank you for allowing me to teach your kids.  I have learned so much from them.  Have a fantastic summer!  

The first day of school is Tuesday, August 23rd.  The school hours will change to 7:40-2:55.

April

Hello Parents,

This month has been packed with action so far!  We are learning about fantasy writing in reading and also reviewing for the STAAR test coming up on May 9 (Math STAAR test is on May 8).  During writing, we are connecting our lessons from reading and encouraging the students to write fantasy stories.  This has given them the opportunity to creatively express themselves in story writing, which is totally different from the expository essays we worked on for so long.  In social studies, the students have just begun their Texas Hero Project presentations.  They have been spectacular so far!  Thanks for helping your children with planning, technology, and research.  I'm excited to see all the other project presentations.  I know they will be great.

As a side note, be on the lookout for a field trip permission slip for the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum.  We will be traveling there in early May.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me.  Thanks for your continued support!

March

Hello parents and students!  We have been working hard and preparing for STAAR.  For the next couple of weeks in reading we will be learning about drama and working on acting out plays.  In writing, we are continuing our work on expository essays.  The students are improving in using the organizational structure of having an introduction, two to three main idea paragraphs including supporting details, and closing with a conclusion.  In social studies, we are beginning a project on Texas heroes.  Each student is responsible for choosing a Texas hero to study and present to the class.  These projects are due April 6.  Spring break is approaching, and it would be a great time for students to continue to read at least 30 minutes each day.  I hope you all have an enjoyable break!  When we return, we will be having writing camp.  This should be a fun and exciting experience for the students as we prepare for the STAAR writing test, which will be given on March 28.  I am looking forward to the next few weeks of learning!

January Post

We're back in the swing of things!  I hope everyone had a wonderful winter break!  Over the past few and next few weeks we will be studying traditional literature in reading.  Traditional literature includes stories such as fairy tales, folk tales, fables, and tall tales.  We have been discussing the themes in these stories and how they can apply to our own lives.  In writing we have been continuing to improve our essay writing and we will be working on writing narratives.  This week we are taking our STAAR Ready test for writing to see how much students have learned and make note of what we need to improve.  In Social Studies we have been learning about the heroes of the Texas Revolution.  One high point of interest for the students has been the Battle at the Alamo.

Thanks for your continued support!  Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments.

Happy Holidays!

I hope you all are staying warm and gearing up for the holiday break!  We have been continuing our work with expository essays in writing and learning about literary nonfiction in reading.  Literary nonfiction is a genre that includes biographies.  Your children have been learning about the lives of important Americans such as Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Walt Disney, and Cesar Chavez, just to name a few.  In social studies we have been learning about the first American colonists to settle in Texas.  We've also been introduced to empresarios such as Stephen F. Austin and Martin de Leon.

Don't forget about our holiday celebration on Thursday, December 15 at 1:00 pm.  Mrs. Dibari, our homeroom parent, has created a Sign Up Genius form for those of you who would like to contribute snacks and craft materials for the celebration.  Thank you to those of you who have already signed up!

This should be an exciting week!  Thanks for all your help and support through this first semester.  We couldn't have made it without you!  Happy Holidays!

Welcome to November!

Hello everyone!  This week we have started studying and writing poetry in language arts!  We have been reading poems from a couple of websites that have great collections of poetry for kids!  Hopefully these poems will inspire our students to become more interested in writing and reading more poetry from various authors.  In social studies we have begun a unit on European explorers.  This week we started with Cabeza de Vaca'a exciting story of how he and his men eventually made it to Texas.  On Friday we will have our next spelling test on homophones.  Spelling homework will also be due on the same day.  If you are interested in taking a look at the poetry websites I've been using for our lessons, check out Poetry 4 Kids and Giggle Poetry!  Thanks for your continued support!

Week 7

This week in language arts we are reading and summarizing informational texts and writing expository essays.  In our first essay this year we are writing about a person who is important and explaining why that person is special.  We have been discussing the importance of organizing our writing by using main ideas and elaborating with supporting details.  For social studies we are continuing a unit on Texas Native Americans.  We have already learned about the Caddo!  Thanks so much for your continued support!