April 28, 2019

Dear Family,

Permission slips for our 1st grade field trip to the Austin Nature and Science Center came home last week.  Permission slips and $2 payment are due by May 1.  Please sign and return the gold form and the white form (front and back.)  I still need 3 chaperones.Please consider volunteering.

Spring picture proofs came home on Friday.  If you would like to order, they are due back no later than Friday, May 3rd.  If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask.

Next Week…

Math: Personal Financial Literacy: Students will learn about saving, spending, and earning money.

Science: Students will compare and contrast the characteristics of a chicken at the various stages of its life cycle.  An assessment over life cycles will end the week.

Reading: We will continue our unit on literacy media. Students will be creating their own commercials using the different techniques used in media such as sounds, images and movement to persuade others to buy their product.

Writing: In writing, students will be reviewing and revisiting the components of personal narratives. They will be refining their craft and digging deeper into details of a  personal narrative.

Balanced Literacy: In social studies, students will be exploring how technology has changed the way that people work.  In phonics the students will recognize and use consonant letters that represent two or more different sounds as well as take apart a compound word to read two smaller words.

Campus News…

Dear Parents: If your child has medication in the nurse's office, please pick it up on or before the end of the school day on Thursday May 23, 2019. No medication will be sent home with a student and no medication will be left in the nurse’s office over the summer.  If not picked up, it will be disposed of properly.

Thank you,

Michelle Bullock, LVN

Patsy Sommer Elementary Clinic Nurse

Phone:  512-704-0612

Fax:  512-704-0690

Important Dates

• April 29 Mrs. Ashby out
• May 1 Field trip permission slips and $2 payment due
• May 2 Career Day
• May 3 Career Dress Up Day
• May 9 Luncheon for Our Sommer Volunteers
• May 10 All library books must be returned
• May 13-15 Campus Closed to all visitors due to STAAR testing
• May 15 Austin Nature and Science Center field Trip 9:15 AM-2:00 PM
• May 15 Box Tops due
• May 20  Awards Ceremonies: Grades :1, 2,3,4
• May 22 End Of Year Parties-Sponsored by PTA
• May 23  Last Day of School

April 18, 2019

Dear Family,

Permission slips for our 1st grade field trip to the Austin Nature and Science Center came home today.  Permission slips and $2 payment are due by May 1.  Please sign and return the gold forms (front and back.)  At least five chaperones per class are needed.  

Campus News

One of our amazing substitutes on campus has placed a box in the school entrance to collect gently used toys for refugee students. The Muslim holy month of Ramadan is starting soon, and we are hoping to brighten the lives of these children with some Ramadan/Eid gifts. Thank you so much!!

Next Week…

Math: Representing and comparing numbers to 130: The students will  represent numbers written first by using base ten blocks, then expanded form and standard form to represent how numbers are written. The students will need to be able to represent numbers in each of these ways. Ex:  112= expanded form (100+10+2); standard form (112). Students will also review ordering numbers from least to greatest, and greatest to least.

Science: This week, students will observe and record the life cycle of the fish and chicken.

Reading: Students will be introduced to various types of media literacy. They will be able to recognize the purpose of media (inform, entertain or persuade) and different techniques used in media such as sounds, images and movement.

Writing: Students will present their student-selected research to the class. The remainder of the week, students will choose a topic of interest to them and free write while conferring with the teacher working on: a cohesive B/M/E, beginning with a capital letter, ending with appropriate spacing and punctuation and using their best handwriting.

Balanced Literacy: In social studies the students will explore and learn about how technology has changed transportation and recreation.  In phonics students will recognize and use consonant digraphs in both the beginning and end of words.

Important Dates…

• Apr. 18 Dinosaur George presentations
• Apr. 19 No School/holiday
• May 1 Field trip permission slips and $2 payment due
• May 2 Career Day
• May 3 Career Dress Up Day
• May 9 Luncheon for Our Sommer Volunteers
• May 10 All library books must be returned
• May 13-15 Campus Closed to all visitors due to STAAR testing
• May 15 Austin Nature and Science Center field Trip 9:15 AM-2:00 PM
• May 15 Box Tops due
• May 20  Awards Ceremonies: Grades :1, 2,3,4
• May 22 End Of Year Parties-Sponsored by PTA
• May 23  Last Day of School

April 15, 2019

Dear Family,

Thank you to all that came to our Historical Figures Living Museum!  Your kids did an excellent job presenting.  I was so proud of each of them!

Next Week…

Math: Students will review inequality (greater than, less than, equal to...) Students will extend their understanding of inequality as they are introduced to a new type of subtraction problem - comparison subtraction. Comparison subtraction problems answer the questions, “How much greater?” or “How much less?” to quantify the difference between two values.

Science: We will continue observing and recording the life cycle of the frog.  We will also compare and contrast the characteristics of a tadpole and adult frog.

Reading/Writing:  Students will create products to display their learning from their student choice research.

Balanced Literacy: In social studies, students will learn and explore how technology has changed the way we live and in some ways has made things better.  In phonics, students will contrast short and long vowel sounds in words.

Campus News…

Career Day

As part of our college and career readiness standards, we will be having a Career Day for our students to learn about different jobs, occupations, and colleges. Career Day will be held on Thursday, May 2. We are in the process of finding speakers for this day and are asking for your assistance. Career Day becomes an even more exciting experience for our students when members of their own family and community speak to our classes. We are looking for a variety of careers: mechanics, managers, plumbers, electricians, carpenters, doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc. Each speaker will do several presentations that will last approximately 15 minutes, to share information about his/her occupation and hold a question and answer period. Speakers are encouraged to speak to more than 1 grade level. If you can assist us by participating in this activity as a guest speaker or know of someone who could, please fill out the Google Form at the link below or contact Iben Dyke at iben_dyke@roundrockisd.org or (512) 704-0631.

Please fill out this Google Form to sign up.

Important Dates…

• Apr. 19 No School/holiday
• May 2 Career Day
• May 3 Career Dress Up Day
• May 9 Luncheon for Our Sommer Volunteers
• May 10 All library books must be returned
• May 13-15 Campus Closed to all visitors due to STAAR testing
• May 15 Box Tops due
• May 20  Awards Ceremonies: Grades :1, 2,3,4
• May 22 End Of Year Parties-Sponsored by PTA
• May 23  Last Day of School

April 4, 2019

Dear Family,         

Your kids are published authors!  If you ordered a copy of our class poetry book, it was sent home yesterday.

Hope to see all of you at our Historical Figures “Museum” this Friday from 10:45-11:45 AM in my classroom!  Please let me know if you have any questions.  

Volunteers are still needed for the carnival this Friday.  Please volunteer an hour of your time.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b0b49adae23a2fa7-its

Due To STAAR testing on April 9, our lunch time has been changed to 10:37-11:07AM.  Please keep this in mind if you have to drop your child’s lunch off that day.  The campus will be closed to all visitors on the 9th and 10th so please do not plan on eating lunch with your child either day.

Next Week…

Math: Students will review measurement concepts, using non-standard units (cubes, paperclips, etc.) Within measurement, students will apply subtraction concepts. We will also continue with comparing numbers using <, >, =.

Science: Students will start the week by comparing ways that organisms resemble their parents.  Be sure to ask your child if he/she was able to match all of the 1st grade teachers’ adult and baby pictures!  We will end the week by beginning to observe and record the life cycle of the frog.  We even get to observe the life cycle of the frog daily in our classrooms as we watch our class froglets grow and change!

Reading/Writing: Students will be selecting their own research topic of study. Students will be coming up with their own questions about their topic to help guide their research. Then we will start researching our selected topic.

Balanced Literacy: In phonics, students will practice recognizing and using long vowel sounds in words with silent e and changing the ending sound to make and solve new words.  We will also review reading and responding to informational text.

Campus News…

Ambassador Club Food Drive for Empty Bowls!

Round Rock Serving Center needs your help in our school food drive! This food drive is part of the Empty Bowl festival. We will be collecting food and other items through April 10th.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

Career Day

As part of our college and career readiness standards, we will be having a Career Day for our students to learn about different jobs, occupations, and colleges. Career Day will be held on Thursday, May 2. We are in the process of finding speakers for this day and are asking for your assistance. Career Day becomes an even more exciting experience for our students when members of their own family and community speak to our classes. We are looking for a variety of careers: mechanics, managers, plumbers, electricians, carpenters, doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc. Each speaker will do several presentations that will last approximately 15 minutes, to share information about his/her occupation and hold a question and answer period. Speakers are encouraged to speak to more than 1 grade level. If you can assist us by participating in this activity as a guest speaker or know of someone who could, please fill out the Google Form at the link below or contact Iben Dyke at iben_dyke@roundrockisd.org or (512) 704-0631.

Please fill out this Google Form to sign up.

Important Dates…

• Apr. 5 Living Museum Historical Figures PBL presentations 10:45-11:45 AM in classrooms (parents invited)
• Apr. 5 Sommer Carnival 4:30-7:30 PM
• Apr.9-10 Campus CLOSED to all visitors due to STAAR testing
• Apr. 12 k-2 Assembly
• Apr. 12 PTA Movie Night
• April 13  RRISD Celebration of Families, Empty Bowls Festival & Choir Performance
• Apr. 19 No School/holiday
• May 2 Career Day
• May 3 Career Dress Up Day
• May 9 Luncheon for Our Sommer Volunteers
• May 10 All library books must be returned
• May 13-15 Campus Closed to all visitors due to STAAR testing
• May 20  Awards Ceremonies: Grades :1, 2,3,4
• May 22 End Of Year Parties-Sponsored by PTA
• May 23  Last Day of School

March 29, 2019

Dear Family,

All students should have already filled out the  Historical Figures Google Form  with the name of the historical figure they are researching at home.  Completed research question packets, written in “kid friendly” language were due back in class by Thursday, March 28.  We will use these research packets in class to create the script for the projects. (Your child may ask you to send in some large poster board or tri-folds for their visual project that will be completed in class as well.  You are invited to our final presentations on Friday, April 5 10:45-11:45 AM in our classrooms.  Students are expected to dress up as their person that day.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

Report cards and data binders will come home on Thursday.  The common assessments for this marking period are behind the third sheet of paper.  Please review these, but do not remove. The report card itself is for you to keep.  Please sign the gold envelope it came in and return it and the data binder as soon as possible.  Please also keep in mind, that you may still see some 2’s on your child’s report card.  This indicates that your child is meeting expectations with minimal guidance and is progressing as expected as a learner.  A 2 may also be given for a skill that is ongoing and built upon throughout the year.

Our school raised $64,054.40 during the APEX Fun Run!  $1,497.67 was raised by my class.  That means our class has $149.77 to make purchases.  I will update you soon with what we decide to purchase.  Thank you to all that donated and volunteered during this fundraiser.  It is greatly appreciated!

Next Week…

Math:  Students will review graphing data. We will be focusing on subtraction concepts within graph data. Students will also be creating graphs to organize data as an extension.

Science:  This is the last week in which students will investigate how the external characteristics of an animal are related to where it lives, how it moves, and what it eats.  We will determine why birds have beaks in a Mystery Science and design our own “creatures” with external characteristics that help it survive in unusual habitats.  An assessment will be given at the end of the week.

Reading/Writing:  Students will be working on their individual historical figure PBL products and practicing their speeches.  We will end the week with our PBL presentation Friday.

Balanced Literacy: Students will be wrapping up their individual historical figure PBL products.  In phonics, we will be hearing and identifying short and long vowel sounds in words as well as the letters that represent them.

Campus News…

Sommer Carnival

We are in NEED of Parent Volunteers to help at the carnival. Please use this link to sign up.  https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b0b49adae23a2fa7-its

Art Exhibition

The 24th Annual RRISD Youth Art Month Exhibition will be held March 26th-April 2nd at the McNeil PAC. This is an opportunity for every elementary school in the district to showcase student work. There will be a teacher meet and greet on April 1st from 5:30 pm-7:00 pm.

Parent Input for 2019-2020 School Year:

Although we still have much to finish for this school year (a FULL nine weeks!). We are also beginning the process to plan for the 2019-2020 school year.  Although we do not take requests for specific teachers, we do value your input into the specific needs and characteristics that make your child(ren) successful.  Please complete the form if your child will not be returning to Patsy Sommer next year and/or if he/she will return and you would like to provide specific information.

Parent Information Form

Mrs. Satterwhite’s Class Service Project

Dear Everyone,

Austin Pets Alive is a cool shelter. They help save animals that are going to be killed. You can help by donating money, donate items off the wish list, volunteer to help, get a toy for them at the dog store, you can foster (like babysitting) or adopt an animal. We made flyers so ask our class! You can go to the website https://www.austinpetsalive.org/ or get things off our sign up here.

 https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0A4BA5A628A02-austin

 We need your help.

 Love the PET HEROES!

 Mrs. Satterwhite's Class

There will be a box outside our classroom for supplies until April 1st. The specific brands are linked on the wish list and connected to amazon. See below.

 https://www.austinpetsalive.org/donate/wishlist

Important Dates…

• Mar. 25  Historical Figures Google Form was due
• Mar. 28 Student completed Historical Research packets due back in class
• Mar. 28 Report Cards sent home
• Apr. 2 Class and Individual spring photos (send in payment envelope for class picture)
• Apr. 5 Living Museum Historical Figures PBL presentations 10:45-11:45 AM in classrooms (parents invited)
• Apr. 5 Sommer Carnival 4:30-7:30 PM
• Apr.9-10 Campus CLOSED to all visitors due to STAAR testing
• Apr. 12 k-2 Assembly
• Apr. 19 No School/holiday

March 14, 2019

Dear Family,

LOTS of information below….

Your children earned a silly sock day during the APEX Fun Run.  We will do that this tomorrow (Thursday).  The class also earned a shoes off day for filling up our class pebble jar, so we will do that on Thursday too so we can see everyone’s silly socks!

Field Day is this Friday!  Please send your child to school wearing our GREY class shirt and tennis shoes.  We will be eating lunch in class that day before field day begins. Please refer to the form sent out by email about making a lunch choice

Choice 1 -corn dog

Choice 2-sun-butter and jelly sandwich

Pizza will NOT be served this Friday.

When we return from spring break, we will be working on a Historical Figures PBL project. Students will be researching and creating a living museum project about a person from history that exemplifies individualism or inventiveness.  Students will be expected to research information about a historical figure of their choice . Please fill out this document: Historical Figures Google Form  with the name of your historical figure no later than Monday, March 25.  I am sending home additional information, the research question packet, and the rubric if you and your child would like to get a head start with researching over spring break. Completed research question packets, written in “kid friendly” language are due back in class by Thursday, March 28.  We will use these research packets in class to create the script for the projects. You are invited to our final presentations on Friday, April 5 10:45-11:45 AM in our classrooms.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

Next Week…

Math: This week in math, students will continue to review with missing addend and fact families (4+4=8 so 8-4=4).

Science: This week, students will continue investigating how the external characteristics (Ex.: fins, beaks, claws, feathers, etc.) of an animal are related to where it lives, how it moves, and what it eats.  We will specifically discuss fish and chickens.

Reading/Writing: We will research, as a class, the historical figure, Ruby Bridges. We will come up with open ended questions and use relevant sources to gather our information in our research packet. We will then write a script we could use to present.

Balanced Literacy: This week in social studies, the students will continue to learn about historical figures that have made a difference in history in preparation for our PBL.  In phonics, students will work on recognizing and saying consonant clusters that blend two or three consonant sounds as well as recognizing and using high frequency words with three or more letters.

Campus News…

Math Superstars is coming to the last reward week on March 29th. Grades 1- 5 will need 400 minutesand Kinder 220 minutes by then to earn an invite for the ice cream party. Please encourage your kids to work on it during the spring break and catch up on all their minutes.

Important Dates…

• Mar. 14 Singing Stars Concert 6:30 PM
• Mar. 15 Field Day (12:40-2:20 PM) Volunteers needed: Field Day Volunteers
• Mar. 18-22 spring break/no school
• Mar. 25 MRS. K'S BIRTHDAY
• Mar. 25  Historical Figures Google Form due
• Mar. 28 Student completed Historical Research packets due back in class
• Mar. 28 Report Cards sent home
• Apr. 5 Living Museum Historical Figures PBL presentations 10:45-11:45 AM in classrooms (parents invited)
• Apr. 5 Sommer Carnival

March 11, 2019

Dear Family,

Just a reminder...the order forms for our published book were due on Friday.  I do need one from every student whether it is a yes or no.  If you have not returned one please do so by Wednesday.

Highlights of Important Information for Class Poetry Book:

1)  Please make checks payable to Studentreasures Publishing NOT the school.

2)  Ordering Online: Please be sure to include the Authorization Code on the order form and return it to school with your child.

3) When you pre-order online you can save $2 on the purchase of a hardcover book. Simply go to studentreasures.com/preorder.

4)  Even if you do not wish to purchase a copy, please send back the form with NO marked so that it is indicated that your child’s page can be included in our class book and so that our class will receive a free book for all to enjoy.

5.  If you need a new order form, even to mark no, please let me know.  Due March 8.

Next Week…

Math: This week, students will be reviewing subtraction concepts such as part-part whole and missing addend.

Science: This week, students will begin to investigate how the external characteristics (Ex.: webbed feet, long legs, fins, fur, etc.) of an animal are related to where it lives, how it moves, and what it eats.  

Reading/Writing: Students will edit/revise/publish their poem for our Student Treasures book publishing project.

Balanced Literacy: This week in social studies we will begin our PBL over historical figures.  Students will learn about historical figures such as Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison and Garrett Morgan and how they are important to history.  In phonics students will recognize and use phonograms that end with a double consonant as well as recognize and say consonant clusters that blend two or three consonant sounds.

Campus News…

The Wellness Committee would like to implement recess coverage once a month for teachers.  If you are interested in monitoring students during recess (12:40-1:10 PM), please sign up for a time slot below.   Thanks!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0f49aaac28a2f85-first

Important Dates…

• Mar. 8 Studentreasures class book order forms and payment due (info. was sent last week; please return all No’s as well)
• Mar. 11-12 Mrs. Ashby out at a training
• Mar. 13 Kindergarten Round-Up (NO LIBRARY)
• Mar. 14 Singing Stars Concert
• Mar. 15 Field Day (12:40-2:20 PM) Volunteers needed: Field Day Volunteers
• Mar. 18-22 spring break/no school
• Mar. 28 Report Cards sent home