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.