Upcoming Events, Academics, and a Thank you!

Dear Parents,


Here are some important upcoming dates:

October 22nd: Early Dismissal, I will be available for parent conferences from 1:30 - 3:30 on Friday. Please e-mail me if you would like to set up a conference on that day. Of course, if you are not able to come by on Friday, I would be more than willing to meet with you on another day.

October 22nd: Please look for report cards on Friday. Return signed report cards as soon as possible and I will provide a copy for you. Please e-mail me with any questions or concerns.

October 23rd: Spooky Spaghetti 4 - 8pm

October 29th: The students filled their cotton ball jar!! They voted to have a P.J. day and watch an educational video. We will be doing this on October 29th.

November 9th: We will be going on a field trip to Wortham Theater to see a matinee of Madame Butterfly. You will be receiving a permission slip in Tuesday folders closer to the field trip date. From what I have heard there will be no charge for this field trip.


What we are working on in the classroom:

• Math: We will start learning about multiplication very soon. In class, we have already started taking 3 minute multiplication quizzes and graphing the student's progress in class. These quizzes are not graded, but are designed to encourage students to memorize their multiplication facts. It would be wonderful if students could practice multiplication facts (1-12) for 5 to 10 minutes a day. If students memorize their multiplication facts more complex multiplication (2 and 3 digit) and division will be so much simpler.
• LDC will end this week. We have been working on writing tools and the students have been doing a wonderful job of trying new "tools" in their writing. Starting next week we will begin a novel and continue working on writing, revising and editing, and reading skills. Students should be reading 20 minutes or more each evening. Reading log assignments may change next week to incorporate our novel.
• Planner: Our current planner is a study of resources and how adaptations and environment produce a communities’ culture. We will be starting a research project this week in which students will work in groups of 2 or 3. They will be studying a region of Texas, Central America, Peru, or Mexico and a Native group that lived/lives in that region. The final product will be a PPT and a map. I will be giving students at least two weeks to work on this project in class, not counting this week. I want students working on this project primarily at school. If the due date is approaching and students are behind I may then allow them to work on their project at home. If students have a flash drive they should start bringing it to class next week.

Reminders:

• Please check students agendas daily. They should be writing their homework in their agenda each day and asking you to sign it.
• If you could send Tuesday folder graded papers and conduct charts back on Wednesday that would be wonderful. If you would like me to make a copy of any assignment for you for further review please write me a quick note and I will be more than happy to make those copies for you.
• Picture day was Monday, I believe there will be an opportunity for you to buy photos upon their return. I will keep you updated on that.

THANK YOU!

I would like to say a big Thank You to all of my students and their parents for a wonderful birthday!! I had every intention of writing individual thank you notes, but the weeks have slipped by and the stationary is still riding around in my purse blank :(. I truly had a special day thanks to all of the sweet notes, cards, sweets, gifts, and songs! I am pretty sure the students sang Happy Birthday to me at least 25 times :) Thank you for making my day so special!

I appreciate all of your support!

Sincerely,

Rebecca Zirczy

Quick Update

Dear Parents,

I apologize for the field trip rush! The fourth grade team is trying to get some field trips in the books and the process this year is very tedious for getting field trips approved by the district. I do realize that we have given you very little notice for the payment and permission slip for tomorrow's field trip and I apologize! Today, we were informed that the landfill would also like you to sign the yellow release form, so I sent that home with students today. Again, I apologize for the rush! You may pay for the field trips with a check if that is easier, just make the check out to Mark Twain. I would like to assure you that tomorrow's field trip is very controlled. Students will be on the bus the entire time we are on the landfill, and will have no contact with the actual landfill. In the recycling center students stand in a classroom/conference room space with a window from which they can view the recycling facilities. I hope this answers any questions that you may have, but please feel free to e-mail me or stop by with any other concerns or questions. Please also see the post I wrote yesterday for other info!

Thank you,

Rebecca

Field Trips!!

Dear Parents,

First of all I want to thank you for the multitude of birthday wishes, goodies, and gifts. You all and your children made me feel truly special on my birthday!! I cannot thank you enough!

Great news! Our class raised the most money for the Yankee Candle Fundraiser out of all of the classes at Mark Twain! The students will soon be enjoying a pizza party compliments of PTO! Needless to say, they are extremely excited!!

Today in the Tuesday folders there is a permission slip for a field trip this Thursday! I apologize for the short notice! The charge is $4.00 which will cover the price of the bus for the day. If you would like to write a check please make it out to Mark Twain. We will be going to the MRF (recycling center) and the landfill that is on the same property. The fourth grade went on this field trip last year and it was very educational. Please feel to join us if you would like to attend. We will be leaving school at 8:30, and returning around 12:30. Please send your child with a packed lunch because we will arrive back at school after our scheduled lunch time. We will not eat at the landfill, but when we return to school.

There is another field trip coming up shortly. We will be visiting a sculpture garden on October 14th. Please look for the permission slip for this field trip in the Tuesday folders next week. Again, if any parents are able to attend I would greatly appreciate it!

I placed the September order for the Scholastic magazine today, and sent home new magazines today in the Tuesday folder for October. The September order should be in before next Tuesday. I would like to place the October order by Friday, Oct. 15th. Thank you for all of your orders! Your orders help me to get new books for the classroom library.

The matter vocabulary quiz was sent home today in the Tuesday folders. If your child did not pass the test I attached a new vocabulary sheet and wrote that the retest will be Oct. 1st, this Friday. The retest will be in the same format, matching, but I will alter the order of the questions. I suggest that students make flash cards and practice nightly to prepare for the retest.

Our class party will be Friday, October 8th from 5:30 - 7:00 on the pavilion! You should have received an e-mail with details. If you did not, please let me know and I will forward it to you.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. The best way to reach me is via e-mail, but please feel free to stop by before school, during ancillary (10-10:45), or after school to speak with me.

Thank you for your continued support!

Sincerely,
Rebecca Zirczy

Spelling Words for the Week of 9-20-10

This week's spelling words:

prairie
calorie
honey
valley
money
finally
movie
country
empty
city
rookie
hockey
collie
breezy
jury
balcony
steady
alley
trolley
misty
Challenge Words
frequency
parsley
journey
chimney
attorney

More info coming soon!! :)

Open House, Math Test, Scholastic Orders

Dear Parents,

Open House is fast approaching! It is this coming Tuesday, September 14th. I will be speaking with you at 7:00pm. I am aware that some parents may have multiple rooms to visit, or may be unable to attend. I will have copies of the power point that I will be covering to send home with you, or your child. Please feel free to e-mail me with questions at any time.

We will be having a math assessment on polygons, triangles, lines, and angles on Friday. I will be sending home a study guide with students tomorrow. They also have notes in their math notebooks that they can study from.

I will be sending home Scholastic Book Order forms with the students tomorrow. There will be instructions attached for ordering online, but please feel free to send in cash or check (written to Scholastic) along with a paper order form. I will place the order on September 28th, so please have all paper orders to me on or before that date. All online orders will also need to be completed by September 28th. I do earn points from all orders which I then use to order books for our classroom. However, please do not feel obligated to order anything at all, it is completely voluntary. Orders will be delivered to the school and I will distribute the books to the students at that time. If you are ordering anything that you will be using for birthday/holiday gifts let me know at the time you place the order and I will set those books aside for you to pick up at your earliest convenience.

I hope that you are finding the homework matrix a bit easier to understand this week. I made an effort to specify which worksheets were part of the packet. I realize that it was a bit confusing last week and I apologize. I forget that everyone does not speak my specific dialect of teacher lingo and get carried away :)

It looks like we will be going to the recycling center/landfill on September the 30th from 8:30 - 12:30. We will be going with Mrs. Marroquin's class. She has 3 parent volunteers for the trip, so I do not have to have any parent volunteers, but I welcome you to come along. It is a bit stinky but a very interesting field trip. This year we are even going to get to observe a composting area.

This week's spelling words are:

sigh
right
weigh
eight
detail
height
spray
braid
bait
grain
slight
thigh
tight
raisin
trait
highway
frighten
dismay
freight
sleigh
Challenge Words
eighteen
mayonnaise
campaign
daylight
twilight

Thank you for your continued support! I could not do my job with you! We have another 4 day week next week, so I suggest that you look for the student's spelling words on Friday and encourage them to practice them a bit over the weekend. Homework charts are always sent home on Mondays. E-mail me or stop by with any questions or concerns!

Sincerely,

Rebecca Zirczy

Week 2 is here!

Dear Parents,

We have had a busy but wonderful first week together. It has been a pleasure getting to know your children and I am very excited to have such a sweet and hard working group of students! The students are getting used to the new routine including homework, LDC, conduct charts, etc. Please feel free to write a note in the student's agendas or email me with any questions. rzirczy@houstonisd.org Here is our daily schedule:


Mrs. Zirczy’s Daily Schedule 2010 - 2011

8:00 – 8:15 Morning Work/Announcements
8:15 – 10:00 Reading/Writing/Language Arts
10:00 – 10:45 Ancillary
10:45 – 11:00 Restroom Break and Snack Time
11:00 – 12:15 Inquiry
12:18 – 12:48 Lunch
12:48 – 11:18 Recess/ Restroom Break
1:18 – 2:50 Math
2:50 – 3:00 Pack Up/Dismissal

Vanguard Classes: Thursdays from 11:30 - 12:15 and 12:50 - 2:50 (we will do an early recess on these days)

You received conduct charts in the Tuesday folders today. I will send these weekly and ask that you sign and return them on Wednesdays. I will go over in detail conduct grades at the open house. If you have any questions between now and then please let me know!

I also put in a handout that asks for you to sign any student papers and place them back in the brown folders. I keep a file for each student that contains their student work. This is helpful when we are choosing work for student portfolios and for parent conferences as well.

I like to use Time for Kids magazines to enrich our social studies curriculum. It is $5.50 per student to order this magazine for the school year. If you are unable to, or choose not to participate your child will still benefit from the magazine and the coordinating activities, but they will not have their own copy to take home with them. You have been so generous this year already, I apologize for imposing another expense on you, but I believe that this is a valuable resource for students. I will collect the money and then write a personal check for the magazine. I will do my best to get any change back to you in a timely manner.

As you may have heard we have a class pet named Scarlet! She is a bearded dragon. We are co-parenting her with Mr. Bonn's class. She will be in our classroom for the first and third nine week periods! I have posted a weekly schedule outside my classroom for Scarlet food. If you would be willing to bring in a bunch of mustard greens or collard greens, and two dozen crickets for one week during this 9 week period please sign up on the weekly schedule or e-mail and let me know what week you would be willing to help. I am prepared to buy her food each week if needed, but any help would be appreciated.

I am in need of at least two chaperones for some upcoming field trips. We will be going to the recycling center and landfill on September 30th. We took this trip last year and it was very educational! You may drive your own car to the site, but the bus will take us up on to the landfill. We will be happy to squeeze you on if you would like a closer look at the landfill. Warning: It is stinky!

We will also be going to a sculpture garden and Glassell foundry on October 14th. This will be a new field trip for us, but will fit in nicely with our matter planner. If you would be interested in attended either of these field trips please let me know via e-mail. Thank you!

Open House will be on Tuesday, September 14th at 7pm. If you cannot attend I will send home a handout with the information I will present on that evening.

This week's spelling words are:

1. admire
2. magnet
3. contest
4. method
5. custom
6. rally
7. soccer
8. engine
9. sudden
10. finger
11. accident
12. mitten
13. intend
14. fabric
15. flatten
16. rascal
17. gutter
18. mammal
19. happen
20. cannon
Challenge Words
21. dungeon
22. magnify
23. festival
24. thunderstorm
25. injury

Thank you for bringing in wish list items, extra math and reading resources, and for all of your support already this year! I am looking forward to an exciting year full of learning and great experiences

Sincerely,
Rebecca Zirczy

Welcome Back to School!!

Dear Parents,

I am very excited to be starting a new school year at Mark Twain! I look forward to getting to know the most important people in your life! I hope your children will enjoy coming to school each day as much as I enjoy coming to school each day. I look forward to a fun-filled year of learning.
I am posting a copy of a letter that I will send home with the students on the first day of school, and also a letter that I wrote to the students that tells you a little bit more about me. This is a post only blog, so if you have any questions regarding the blog or any information on it please e-mail me at rzirczy@houstonisd.org

See you on Monday!!

Mrs. Zirczy

Parent Letter:

Dear Parents,

Welcome back to a new school year! I am very excited about working with your children and hope to foster their love of learning.
I use a blog to post announcements, spelling words, general info, upcoming items students may need, and upcoming events. Please check posts weekly at www.zirczysclass@blogpot.com.
There are a few items that I ask the students to bring that were not on the school supply list. I realize that the first week of school is a busy week for all, so if the items are at school by Friday of this week that would be just fine. I am asking for a three ring binder that has a soft cover that zips closed. In the fourth grade we work on teaching organizational skills and this binder is a great tool for that. Students will put their agenda, informational sheets, homework, etc. in this binder. Although these binders are a bit pricey they will be able to use them in fifth grade as well. Any binder will do, but the zipper binders are much more durable and have space for students to put their folders, etc.
Another item I recommend is a flash drive of any kind. We do a great deal of power points, research projects, etc. where this will come in handy. We will not be using them for a few more weeks, but if you have one on hand you might want to set it aside for classroom use. It is not necessary that they bring one to class at this time. I will let students know when they need to bring the flash drives to class. Again, this is only a recommendation.
There will be several forms coming home on the first day. Please try to return them as soon as possible. There is a parent survey and information sheet coming home specifically from me as well as the regular first day packet.
We will not have spelling words the first week of school but will have light homework assignments. These assignments will be written in the student's agendas each day. Please sign the agenda nightly so I will know that you have received the day’s homework and announcements.
Please pick up students in the cafeteria after school if possible. It helps the flow of traffic and allows me to make sure I know where each student is going and with whom.
I look forward to the 2009-2010 school year and working with you and your children!

Sincerely,

Rebecca Zirczy


Student Letter:

Dear Student,

Welcome to the fourth grade! Fourth grade is a very exciting grade and we get to learn about many interesting topics! I am looking forward to getting to know you and learning from you as well!
I want to tell you a little bit about myself. When I was growing up I moved around quite a bit. I lived in Houston, Midland, San Antonio, Cody Wyoming, Lexington Kentucky, and Vincennes Indiana. There were some great advantages to living different places, but at times it was tough. However, now I have friends all over the United States!
My parents live in Houston as well as my younger sister, Rachel. Rachel and her husband Dan have a 2 year old boy named Payne. I try to see him as much as possible. Do you have any brothers or sisters? My grandparents and aunts and uncles live in Kentucky. I enjoy visiting them about once a year and I love to see the beautiful horses that are raised there. Does any of your family live outside of Texas?
Growing up I really enjoyed school. My favorite subject was music. I started playing the piano and cello in elementary school and continued through college. What subjects do you enjoy? I graduated from the University of Houston in 2004. Since then I have taught second, third and fourth grades. This will be my sixth year teaching! I have to say that fourth grade is my favorite so far. This will be my third year at Mark Twain. I love teaching at Twain because the students here are very enthusiastic and committed. What do you enjoy about being a part of the Mark Twain community?
I had a very exciting summer. I started the summer with a trip to Toronto, Canada. I had french fries with gravy and cheese! It is a very popular dish there. I also got to go to the top of CN tower! It was very high and had a wonderful view of Toronto. Next, I spent 3 weeks teaching at the Summer Creative Writing Workshop at the Shlenker school. Teaching writing there was a wonderful experience for me, and I learned a great deal from the other teachers and my students. I cannot wait to teach again next summer! I also went to Miami, FL and Lexington, Ky. There were a few days left for reading and playing with my 20 year old cat, Holly. Right before school started my husband and I got a chocolate lab puppy name Mac. He is extremely cute, but a real wild man! What did you do this summer?
I am looking to fun filled year of exploring new things! Thank you for being a part of our class!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Zirczy

End of the Year Update

Dear Parents,

A few updates about upcoming events:

Tomorrow is the Spring Reading at Rice University. I am a part of the School Writing Project and therefore get the opportunity to ask students to come and read their writing at the Spring Reading at Rice. Other students from Twain and another HISD school will be there as well. Some students are reading individual pieces and the entire class is invited to come to perform the class poem. The reading begins at 4:30. Students may arrive between 4:00 and 4:30 to enjoy pizza, sweet treats, and drinks. All parents and other guests may attend. I will be at Rice University at 4:00 and will show students where our class will sit. Students are asked to dress nicely, but it does not have to be formal dress. Please bring your cameras! This is a wonderful opportunity for the students to show off!

Friday we will be going to Galveston for the Artist’s Boat field trip. I have never attended this field trip before, but from what I hear the students may get wet, so I would recommend that students dress in shorts and sandals (not flip flops) of some sort (to prevent wet socks). We will be riding in standard school buses, and therefore there is no room for parents on the bus. However, parents may attend the field trip free of charge and all are welcome! Students will again need to bring a sack lunch and some kind of refillable bottle. Sunscreen and hats are also recommended.

Our awards ceremony is Monday at 1:45.

Wednesday we will have our end of the year party from lunch on. You can send pizza money to me and I will pass it along. Please let me know if for any reason your child will not be at school on Thursday, May 27th. There are several materials I typically hand out on the last day and if I know they will not be there I will give them as much of that as I can on Wednesday.

Please feel free to e-mail me with any questions or concerns. I have REALLY enjoyed my class this year and appreciate all of the support I have gotten from all of you all!! Thank you for a wonderful year!

Sincerely,
Rebecca Zirczy

Busy Week Ahead

Dear Parents,

It was wonderful to see so many of you this afternoon! The students really love to show off their hard work.

• Please send $3 with your student by Friday for Field Day T-shirts.
• The end of the year is near, but we are in need of skinny sharpies for the students to use with the white boards. You may send one or two for your child only and we will sharpie their names on them so they can take them home at the end of the year.
• Thank you for sending Kleenex! I believe we have enough to last through the end of the year.

We have a busy month ahead! Here are some important upcoming dates:

Thursday, April 22nd: Last day of tutorials and Bring your favorite book to school day.

Friday, April 23rd: P.J. Day

Monday, April 26th: College T-shirt Day

Tuesday, April 27th: Math TAKS Test - Please make sure students go to bed early, have a hearty breakfast, and get to school on time.

Wednesday, April 28th: Reading TAKS Test -Please make sure students go to bed early, have a hearty breakfast, and get to school on time.

Thursday, April 29th: 5th Grade Science TAKS, make up testing, continued testing for some students

Wednesday, May 12th: Field Day - 4th grade is in charge of this event and we will need lots of help! We will be in charge all day. Our class is the Nutrition Committee!! More info to come after testing.

Tuesday, May 18th: Field Trip to the San Jacinto Monument - Chaperones Welcome!

Wednesday, May 19th: We will have visitors from the Artist Boat Group to provide a pre-field trip workshop and School Writing Project reading at Rice University from 4:30-6:30

Friday, May 21st: 1/2 of the 4th grade will go to Galveston for the Artist's Boat field trip

Monday, May 24th: 1/2 of the 4th grade will go to Galveston for the Artist's Boat field trip

Thank you for your continued support!!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Zirczy

Homework Packet/TAKS

Dear Parents,

I apologize for the lapse in posts! I have fallen behind, needless to say. TAKS is fast approaching so you will notice that the homework packet has both TAKS Reading passages and TAKS formatted math questions. We are working very hard in class, but it would be wonderful if you could look over their math and reading and help them correct mistakes as they work. That prevents them from doing something wrong and not realizing it is wrong. I know this is a lot to ask, but with the nature of this homework packet I often go over things with them well after they have actually completed it. To assist I am including the Answer Key for the four stories in this weeks homework packet. Thank you for your support! Another blog entry will be coming shortly!

A Case of Mistaken Identity
1.D
2.B
3.B
4.B
5.C
6.D
7.B
8.A
9.C
10.A
11.C
12.B

Sharks: The Perfect Predators
1.B
2.B
3.C
4.A
5.B
6.A
7.C
8.A
9.B
10.D

Nature's Construction Workers:
1.A
2.D
3.A
4.B
5.C
6.C
7.D
8.C
9.B
10.B
11.C

My New Friend:
1.C
2.A
3.D
4.D
5.A
6.B
7.C
8.D
9.B
10.B

Please be advised that these are a bit harder than the passages that have previously been on the TAKS tests. However, I feel that if we practice with these passages then the students will be very confident on the actual test.

Thank you!
Mrs. Zirczy

Stanford, Inventor's Showcase, Tutorials, etc.

Dear Parents,

A long overdue update! I apologize for the lapse in posts! There is a lot going on in the Spring semester! Here are a few upcoming events:

Stanford Testing:

• Stanford testing began today and will continue through Tuesday, Jan. 26th. Students who miss any part of the test will make up tests in the afternoon on testing days, or on Jan. 27-29th. During Stanford testing there will be no formal homework. There will be no math, reading log, LDC, or spelling words. It is imperative that students arrive on time in the morning because we are trying to start testing promptly at 8:15. From 8:00-8:15 we are sharpening pencils, choosing books, using the restroom, etc. We have a very tight schedule and all of the 4th grade classes start and finish at basically the same time.

Tutorials:

• Tutorials started last week and will continue until the end of April. I am tutoring on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:15-4:15. I will be available for conferences on Fridays and some Mondays after school, and every day except Thursdays during ancillary.

Inventor's Showcase:

• Please bear with me as this is a completely new program for the entire school. I received the information packet the same day the students did. I altered the first deadline (for the invention proposal) to today because I did not have time to discuss the project with the students until Friday. I am extending the proposal due date to this Friday, the 22nd. After Friday all other due dates in the packet will be accurate. I will keep in mind when grading final projects that this is the first time the students have had experience with this type of project.
• This project is mandatory, but can be done in groups of 2-3 if students wish to work together.
• Extra copies of the Inventor's Showcase packet can be purchased in the school store for $1.00, I was not given any extra copies.
• The students need to get some type of notebook ASAP to use as a log book for their project. We have discussed that the log book is like a diary of what they are working on daily. I have also explained that when their projects are being judged they may not be there. This log book is an insight into their thoughts and ideas for those that view their project.
• I will be checking log books and Step 2 (Plan and Research) on January 26th. I do not want to extend any more of the deadlines because I cannot extend the final project completion deadline. Every step is explained in detail in the packet, but please feel free to e-mail me or stop by with any questions.

LDC

• We are in LDC this week and next week. Due to testing we met with Mrs. Gee on Tuesday, but the remainder of the lessons will be taught by me in the classroom. Homework is being done in class, so we are spending a great deal of time after Stanford on LDC. Mrs. Gee and I are hoping that if there are not too many makeups we will return to her classroom on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of next week to wrap up the lessons. We are studying articles about the Dust Bowl during the Great Depression. This ties in perfectly with our soil planner and is great practice reading non-fiction text.

Huckleberry Bash:

• There is a donation bag in my room for any donations for the 4th Grad Sports themed Basket. All donations can be dropped off in my room and I will make sure they get to the appropriate PTO member.
• I will be discussing ideas for the Classroom Creation with my students this week. Once we settle on an idea, any help with the actual "creating" would be greatly appreciated!

Upcoming Events:

Thursday, Jan. 21st: Stanford - Math Procedures and Listening - Math Tutorials

Friday, Jan. 22nd: Stanford - Reading Comprehension

Monday, Jan. 25th: Stanford - Reading Vocabulary and Language - Rainbow Challenge Practice

Tuesday, Jan. 26th: Stanford - Social Science, Science, and Spelling - Step 2 of Inventor's Showcase Due - Reading Tutorials

Friday, Jan. 29th: Free Dress Day and Mark Twain Spelling Bee

Saturday, Jan. 30th: Rainbow Challenge, Mark Twain International Festival (Students will be collecting money for the Red Cross during the festival!)

March 3rd: TAKS Writing Test

April 27th: TAKS Math Test

April 28th: TAKS Reading Test

Thank you for your continued support! Thank you again for all of the sweet holiday gifts! I was definitely spoiled rotten! We have had a wonderful start to the new year!

Sincerely,

Rebecca Zirczy