Bye Wranglers :(

This will be my last post on Ms. Rogers' Wranglers. I have enjoyed seeing all of you this week. You are all grown up, 5th graders now. Leading the school, changing classes, doing Safety Patrol...I feel like the proudest "mom" in the world!

I miss you all terribly, and wish I could move up to 5th grade with you. :) However, I have a new group of fantastic kids, and I am about to begin their 4th grade blog. You can find us at http://www.missrogers09.blogspot.com.

Congratulations and Good Luck this year!! Much Love,
Miss Rogers

Back to School!

Can you believe our summer is nearly over? I can't. This summer has been a wonderful time to relax, read, travel, and play. The weather was H-O-T, probably the hottest summer we've had recently. I don't know about you, but I am ready for school to start, cool weather to come to Texas, and football season to begin! Hook 'em Horns!!!

Here are some recent pictures from my summer. I hope to see all of you in 2 weeks. Don't forget to say "Hi" on your way to the 5th grade hall. (And a hug would be nice too.) :)

Miss Rogers, in New York City seeing "Mary Poppins" musical on Broadway

Courtney and Lauren

Miss Rogers & Mrs. McDaniel in Central Park in New York City

Miss Rogers with niece Lauren, and little Belle (my sister's dog)

Ms. Rogers' New Apartment

Here are some pictures from my new place. I moved in about 3 weeks ago. It is in Dallas, but not a far drive from school...I think it will take about 20 minutes to get there.

Also, here are some pictures from 4th of July. Did anyone do anything fun? Mrs. McDaniel and I went to the lake. Oh...and I almost forgot. Can you believe that Mrs. McDaniel and I went to Hawaiian Falls?!! We have some stories to share, for sure!

Questions???

Just like Allen requested, here is the post where you can ask me questions. Just comment here and I will respond with a comment. Now go out and have some fun in the sun! Just remember your sunscreen and your water. Talk to you soon!

Last Week of 4th Grade

Mrs. McDaniel and Miss Rogers
Cheering for the 5th graders on the last day.

5th grade - off to Bowie!

Diana and Marissa

Leanna

Mayra and Diana

Kabra and Leyah

Alyali, Benny, Rodrigo, Airek, and Allen

Flor - won 2nd place out of all the 4th grade bare books!

Young authors!

Silly picture on Read Aloud Day

Three-legged race - Flor and Crystal

Leanna and Diana

Rodrigo and Airek

Christian and Alyali

Leyah and Kabra - 1st place winners!

Buddy Reading with 1st Graders

On Friday, May 22 we shared our Bare Books with the 1st graders in Mrs. Loucks class. We had a great time hearing the 1st graders read their books to us....those are some smart little cookies!

Safety Patrol Training has Begun!

To prepare for 5th grade, selected 4th graders have begun training for Safety Patrol.

Congratulations to those nominated for safety patrol:

Allen

Flor

Marissa

Leanna

Crystal

**Diana and Kabra were also nominated, but decided not to participate.

Thanks to you for keeping us safe in the morning and afternoons. You are doing a great job!

Al Capone Does My Shirts Research Project

Students in Ms. Rogers' class are wrapping up their research projects, using Microsoft PowerPoint to showcase topics from our class novel, Al Capone Does My Shirts. Our topics include the infamous Al Capone, Machine Gun Kelly, Alcatraz, Famous Prisoners at Alcatraz, Other Famous U.S. Jails, and Autism (since our character Natalie suffered from this disease).

We will present our PowerPoints the last week of school. They are looking fabulous - full of fun facts, pictures, and sounds!

We Did It!

This week we learned that ALL OF US...that's 100% of us...passed the WRITING TAKS TEST!!! We are so proud of ourselves, and excited that all our hard worked paid off.

Way to go Wranglers!

Al Capone Does My Shirts

Today we started our new class novel, Al Capone Does My Shirts, by Gennifer Choldenko.

To introduce the book, our class explored http://www.alcatrazhistory.com/, and viewed photos from Ms. Rogers' trip to San Francisco and Alcatraz. In addition, we listened to Elvis Presley's "Jailhouse Rock" and visualized what life in a jail would be like, drawing our ideas. Finally, we also measured out a jail cell from Alcatraz. This 9 by 5 feet box resides at the front of our room. Better do your reading...you don't want to end up on the cell block!

Part II:

Monday 5/11 - Ch 21-22

Tuesday 5/12 - Ch 23-24

Wednesday 5/13 - Ch 25-28

Thursday 5/14 - Ch 29-32

Part III:

Monday 5/18 - Ch 33-35

Tuesday 5/19 - Ch 36-37

Wednesday 5/20 - Ch 38

Thursday 5/21 - Ch 39-40

Friday 5/22 - Author's Note

What's New in Room 145?

TAKS Test: On Tuesday and Wednesday, we took the Math and Reading TAKS Tests. They were long and tiring, but we all did our best and used our strategies!!!

Pre-TAKS pep rally. All the K-2 kids and teachers cheered "Beat the TAKS" as we went to the gym for the pep rally.

The Nimitz High School "Vikas" danced for us.

So did Jasmine, and our very own Britain Dance Team.


The 4th grade teachers taught everyone the Cupid Shuffle - patterns, counting...music and dancing is math!

Principal's Challenge Math: Every morning we did 1-minute multiplication drills against the principals. On Fridays, we did4-minute drills of multiplication and division. EVERYONE got better as the weeks went on, and are receiving prizes from Mrs. Bingham, our principal. Free dress coupons, homework coupons, and jeans day coupons - Woo hoo!!!!

Birthdays!
On April 20, Rodrigo turned the big 1-0!
This week we also celebrated Alyali and Kabra's birthdays (on TAKS days) :(
Happy Birthday to you all!!

Moving on....
Congratulations to Jasmine and Diego for passing the G.T. (Gifted and Talented) test. They will be leaving our class on Monday morning, May 4, to join the 4th grade G.T. class. We will miss them so much, but we are proud of them and their new challenge!

PCT - also known as A Paradise Called Texas

Mina was a brave pioneer girl from Germany. In the mid 1800's, she traveled via ship to TEXAS! She met Indians, her mother sadly died from pneumonia, and her and her father finally settled in New Braunfels and then Fredericksburg. If you love Texas History and stories with drama, Indians, and bravery, you will love A Paradise Called Texas, by Janice Jordan Shefelman.

SNAILS...they're slimy, they're sluggy, they're stinky, but we love them anyway!

For the past month, Ms. Rogers' Wranglers (students) have been housing 11 land snails in our classroom/zoo. Here is one interesting, yet weird, story about Jasmine's snail, Gary.

It was Wednesday, April 29. Jasmine was looking at the snails and noticed a brown circle under the counter. She thought, "It must be a bug." However, after closer observation (like a scientist), Jasmine realized it was Gary!! "Look everyone, Gary's escaped!" She nearly fainted when she realized he escaped. But deep down, like a mom, she was proud of her little Gary. She quickly retrieved him and put him back in his room, a.k.a his plastic container, which he shares with his brothers and sisters: Charlie, Benny Jr., Susie, Rodrigo, Snaily, and the rest are nameless.

BARE Book Mania!

The kids in Ms. Rogers' class are writing and illustrating their own unique books, a.k.a. their Bare Books! Here are brief summaries of a few of our books:

Title: Summer Olympic Dreams
Author: Flor
Summary: A Yale graduate gives a speech to the graduating class about winning her Olympic medal in soccer and "following your dreams"!

Title: Bunnies Take Over the World
Author: Marissa
Summary: Bunnies take over the town after a magic trick goes wild on a popular T.V. magic show.

Title: The Rainbow Bridge
Author: Leanna
Summary: The author beautifully describes the short life of her chihuahua, and ends with a popular poem about losing your pets.

We Miss You Valerie!

Valerie, it is just not the same without you here! We hardly ever laugh anymore. :( Benny has to take over as our resident comedian (a.k.a. class clown). We miss you dearly. Please let us know how you like your new school!

Seedlings, Crayfish, and Land Snails - Oh my!

In our "Structures of Life" Science Unit, Wranglers have turned Room 145 into a zoo. We began by observing various seeds and watching their embryos grow, their seed coats fall off, and seedlings appear. Next, our crayfish (or crawfish, crawdads, etc.) arrived and scared everyone.....well, mainly just Ms. Rogers. We witnessed a murder the first night, but since then all 15 have remained alive and thriving. Many thanks to Flor and Kabra for taking them home over the weekend! Below are some pictures of Rogers Zoo. Land Snails arrived today...more pics to come.

Author Study

Our favorite author over the past few weeks has been Eve Bunting. Born in Ireland, Eve Bunting now resides in America and has written over 100 books for children.

This week we read Train to Somewhere, which tells the story of New York City orphans who were taken West to find homes from the 1850's to the 1920's. While the characters in Train to Somewhere are fictional, the Orphan Train was very real. Students are now researching the real Orphan Train and its riders.

Click here to learn more! Orphan Train Depot

Question #4: What was your favorite Eve Bunting story we read?

Please give a summary of the story, and what connections you made. (Text to Text, Text to Self, or Text to World)

Can you read this

Dear Students I am so proud of all your accomplishments so far this year We are getting extremely close to the Writing TAKS test and I know you will all do well You have all the strategies and tools to ROCK THIS TEST However some of you are forgetting one important part to your writing especially when you submit posts to the blog Any idea what in the world I could be talking about

Was this hard to read? Why?

Full Hearts

Happy Birthday Leanna!

She loves to travel the globe, especially to Paris and back with her travel buddy Jasmine. Be sure to wish Leanna a Happy 10th Birthday!

Celebrate African American History Month!

During the Civil War, was Texas part of the Union or the Confederate States?

What was the Underground Railroad?

Who was Harriet Tubman, and does she escape?

Write a Secret Letter...

Learn all these things here:

The Underground Railroad - Escape from Slavery

We'll Miss You, Brianna!

We wish you all the best at your new school, Brianna!

Question #3
Please tell me your favorite memory of Brianna, or something you will miss about her.

Literacy Workstations in Action

Marissa and Mayra discussing why they should wear protective gear when playing sports - the topic of their Time for Kids article.

Rodrigo and Allen completing their study on the early colonists of Texas.

Jasmine, Kabra, and Diana updating our Word Wall with Science, Math, and Spelling words.

Boys' Club: Christian, Alyali, and Benny working on the blog.

Little "Sheila" Silversteins: Leyah, Brianna, and Leanna creating poetry with word magnets, then copying their original poems in their Poetry Journals.