4/27/12
*There will be no homework through the STAR testing. But please make sure they keep reading and writing thier thinking in their journals daily.
* The Walkathon was a huge success. The kids and parents who participated seem to be enjoying as they walked the laps.
*We will be going on a field trip to Intel Museum. The permission slip will be coming home on Monday. Please sing and send it back as soon as possible.
APRIL NEWSLETTER
Dear Parents,
Thank you so much for all your generosity during Teacher Appreciation Week. Thank you Mrs. Lassa for organizing everything. I was very moved by the song and cards the kids gave me. It was great to see all of you in class for the Open House. The students had a lot to share on Friday morning. The best thing was every student seemed so proud and happy about showing off the work to his or her parent.
The STAR Testing is starting next week. We will be having a practice test on Monday and the booklet will be sent home so you can have a look at it. The test will start on Tuesday , May 1st. We will be starting at 9:30am. Please do not schedule appointments in the mornings till next Tuesday, May 8th. Parent volunteers cannot come in during the testing time. It is very important the students have a good night sleep and have a hearty breakfast. I want them to come to school happy and non-stressed.
The Walkathon is tomorrow . It starts at 3pm If you are participating please be here so you can join the class when they do their first lap. If they registered I will give their T-shirts just before the Walkathon. If there any T-shirts for the parents they will be sent home today or you can pick it up from class.
In Language Arts we will be starting the Tall Tales. They will be reading a variety of tall tales independently but as a class we’ll be reading Paul Bunyan. In the end they will write their own Tall Tale.
In Math there will be a lot of review work and they will be doing the leveled sheets of their Workbook.
In Science we will be studying Matter and Energy. I hope they enjoy this unit as much as they have had fun with the other units.
In Social Studies we are now working from the book. There is a lot discussion on the Native American unit since they did a lot of research for their project. It is interesting to hear their ideas and comments.
We will be doing some Art projects in class since we are done with our classes with Mrs. Vasu, the Art teacher.
The kids enjoyed their P.E with Coach T.K. this whole year .
Thank you to all of you for your encouragement and support which was very evident on Open House.
Kshama Bhatnagar
4/13/12
*Thank you to all of you for coming to the Open House. It was wonderful to see the kids taking you around and talking the different projects thta they did. They all have worked hard and were looking forward to giving you a tour. I hope you enjoyed it. The students were quite awed by the 4th grade work. They are ready for the challenge.
* I would like to thank Mrs. Lassa for all her hard work in making my day on Monday. Mrs. Lassa the door was decorated beautifully. It was a great surprise to come and see the appreciative notes and the flowers from all my kids.
* A big thank you to all the parents who came and did the yard duties or prepared delicious snacks and lunches for the teachers this whole week. We indulged and enjoyed it thoroughly.
* I am sending home the math workbook to review the math. Please make sure they look through the chapters to revise the chapters.
*Thanks to the parents who volunteered to send the snacks for the STAR testing.
*Thank you Mr. Johnson for updating the website for the kids work. Check it out.http://mrsbhatnagar.org
*The book report is due on Monday, April 23rd.
*Enjoy the Spring Break.
4/6/12
*We had a wonderful field trip to the Tech Museum. A big thank you to Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Lassa, Mrs. Merchant and Mrs. Parthasarathy for volunteering to chaperone. The kids had a lot to share.
*If you have not registered please do so. The link is www.lincoln-pta.org.
* I had sent home a link for the STAR testing. Please do have your child do the practice test. I would like to thank the parents who volunteered to send the snacks.
*Open House is on Thursday, April 12th at 6:30pm. Please do come since your child will show and talk about all the things they have done in class. It is their time to feel proud of all their hard work. You will have a chance to go and visit the 4th grade classes to see what the expectations are by this time next year.
* They also have the Ice Cream Social at 7:30pm.
*We are working on Graphs, Data and Probability in Math. The students seem to like the unit.
March Newsletter
Dear Parents:
Happy St. Patrick's Day
The students have been working very hard in all the subjects. I am glad that most of them put in a lot of effort into their work and do the best they can. Please keep encouraging them with positive reinforcement. During Literature Circles the students are having discussions like adults sitting in a book club. They are respectful and accepting of all the views.
In Language Arts the students are reading Knots on a Counting Rope. It is a very interestings story about a Native American family. Please do talk to them about it. They did enjoy Mr. Popper's Penguins and the work they did with the book is up on the bulletin board. Do come in and see it. Mr. Johnson has it on the website so you can see it there too. The students have been doing the Writer's Workshop in which they have written stories and now are typing it.
In Math we are finishing Fractions and Decimals. It is a hard concept and I hope they all got it. The next lesson we'll be doing is long division. This again is hard so please do help your child at home. If they do not know their multiplication or division facts this might get much harder for them.
In Social Studies the students have learning about the Native Americans. They are doing a project in groups. There are four groups and each group is researched on the lives of the Native Americans from each region of California. They are having a fun time doing it and at the same time they learning about the subject.
In Science they finished making their own constellation, named it and wrote a story about it. The next Unit we study is Matter and Energy. It should be coming in soon.
In Art they have been doing some water color paintings with Mrs. Vasu.
Mrs. Lassa thank you so much for a wonderful Valentine Party. I would like to thank the parents who had come to help too.
With best wishes
Mrs. Bhatnagar
January Newsletter
Dear Parents,
Wish you all a very Happy New Year. I hope you all had a great time with family and friends. The students shared what they did during the two weeks. It seems like they are all ready to start the New Year with a lot of enthusiasm. The homework will increase a little bit at times.
In Language Arts we started our Writer's Workshop format. In this they will get time once a week to write a story. The students have been exposed to organizing their thoughts in order to write the stories earlier. So now they will plan out the story before they start with their first draft. They will pay attention to the details and writing it correctly. Since they choose the topic students are motivated to create and complete their work. It is an independent activity but they will have a chance to conference with a peer and then with me. The conferencing is mainly to help them expand their ideas and make sure the story flows well. The students seem excited about it. We will be doing our National Geographic too. We have started the Literature Circles. They will be reading Mr. Popper's Penguins and discussing in their groups.. We will also be doing different activities with the book and learning about the penguins in the process.
In Math, we are doing Geometry. They have been learning about lines, angles, polygons, Perimeter and Area. Please keep on reviewing the multiplication facts with them daily. In a couple of weeks we will be starting division
In Social Studies, they are learning about the Native Americans. They will be group project again. They seem quite excited and ready to start. I have enclosed an invitation for their Holiday Project. I hope you all can come and see their hard work.
In Science we have been learning about the Sun, Moon, and Stars. They have watching the different phases of the moon and we have been talking about it.
Thank you Mrs.Cai for coming in and doing a great presentation for the Chinese New Year. The kids loved it and had a lot to share and discuss. We were sorry to let Yashik Dhanraj leave and go to Eisenhower school. But now we have a new student, Raj Raghulan. The students have been very considerate in making him feel welcome. If you have any questions please email me.
Kshama Bhatnagar
bhatnagar_kshama@cusdk8.org or 408-252-4798*223
November
Newsletter
Dear Parents,
I would like to wish you a
very Happy Thanksgiving. I hope
you all have a great time with your family and friends. The students will be bringing home a
project that we will do in class stating all the things they are thankful for.
I would like them to share it with you. Mr. Johnson has updated the website
of their work. Please have a look at it.
In Language.
we are reading Molly’s Pilgrim a book by Barbara Cohen, who talks about a
family who comes here from Russia for religious freedom. We will also be doing
some Thanksgiving activities and reading books related to this great holiday.
For homework the students will be bringing home their National Geographic and
doing reading and some sheets from it. Their reading and thinking will also be
from the same articles.
In Math, we are doing two and three digit
multiplication with one digit. Next will be division. Please keep on
reviewing the multiplication facts with them daily.
In Social Studies, they are working on a surprise project. After we
finish we should be inviting the parents to come and see it. The students will
need to bring a poster board, the color is their preference. The size is about
28in by 22in.
In Science
they are going to the computer lab and working on a web about the crayfish.
In Art, Mrs. Vasu had them make their family
using only shapes. The pictures
came out pretty good. Thanks to Mrs. Johnson for helping in ART class.
The student council and PTA together will
soon be collecting toys for the less fortunate starting after the break. Please
help by sending unwrapped gifts. The flyer will be in the MESH. Please do
sign up for the PTA and send in the check to school if you are not already a
member. If you are just sign the yellow form that went home last week and check
mark it that you are already a member.
If you are also interested in having your child join IXL please send in $8. This is for the whole
year and your child gets to practice math while having fun.
Thank you
Mrs. Bhatnagar
http://mrsbhatnagar.org
http://teacherweb.com/CA/LincolnElementary/MrsBhatnagar/uapt1.asp
Room 23
OCTOBER NEWSLETTER
Dear Parents,
Thank you for taking the
time to come and discuss how we, as a team, can help your child attain his or
her goals. It was interesting and informative talking to all of you. The
students in my class are so lucky to have parents who are completely and
thoroughly immersed in their education. Your input and suggestions will
help me help your child to work to his or her full potential.
I will be updating about what the kids have
been working on and other important details.
In Language Arts we finished reading Charlotte's
Web, a book by E. B. White. They wrote the summaries. They enjoyed the
book. As I read, I did stop to discuss and used different strategies to help
them understand better. We are using schema where they make connections
of the text to their own lives, to another book, or to the world. They wrote
questions, which they either got answered as they read or they could ask each other or me. Visualizing was
another strategy they use and find it
easy to implement. The students learned about trust, loyalty, and
sacrifice in true friendship. They
also wrote their Halloween stories which are up on bulletin board. The students
are learning about non-fiction conventions. We will be reading the National
Geographic.
In Math, we
are doing Multiplication. Please do review the multiplication facts with
them daily. The next concept we go on to is Division where a lot of students
have difficulty. If they know their multiplication tables well it just makes
it so much easier to learn division and fraction, which we'll be doing too.
In Science, we
finished our unit on Crayfish. Out
of eight six of them died and only two went back. The kids handled this whole situation very well. We have
been going to the computer lab and they are doing a project using Inspiration
We have gone to the
Computer Lab and they are learning to type and also did an assignment using
Comic Life. They used Inspiration to web out the characteristics of one
of the characters from the books they had read.
I want to thank
all the parents who bought books for the class from the book fair. The Red Ribbon Week was quite a success
too. Most of the students wore red last week. A big thank you to Mrs. Lassa for
organizing the party. It was
wonderful to see so many parents at the party.. Thank you to all of you for all your contributions. The kids were very excited and had a
great time.
The book report is due on the 14th
of November. I hope the kids are working on it. Please do make sure that they
practice since they will be presenting the timeline to the class and will be
graded upon it.
Please do check the websites for updates and for
the work of your child that is put
up on the website by Mr. Johnson.
Thank You
Kshama Bhatnagar
3rd Grade Teacher
Lincoln Elementary
http://teacherweb.com/CA/LincolnElementary/MrsBhatnagar/apt1.aspx
http://mrsbhatnagar.org
I am pleased to tell you that we will be
using a website called IXL. I have
signed up for one month of free trial and I hope you work with your child and see
how you like and give me your feedback. If I do get enough favorable answers I
will go ahead and sign up for the membership. IXL is a comprehensive math
practice site with an unlimited number of math practice questions in hundreds
of skills — all of which are aligned to state standards. One of the best things
about IXL is that your child can access it from home, so you have a chance to
see your child's progress!
To get your child started on your home
computer, please follow these easy steps:
1.
Go to www.IXL.com.
2.
Enter your child's username and password in the top right-hand corner
and click Sign in.
I am sending this letter home too, with the password and the username.
Please keep it safely in case your child forgets them. I will have the
information in class too if need be you can email me and I can pass the
information to you.
3.
Navigate to your child's grade level.
4.
Find a skill to practice by doing one of the following:
•
Select a specific skill to practice from the list of skills. You can
place your mouse over any skill to see a sample question and click on the link
to begin.
•
Click on the Awards tab. Each grade level has an embedded game
board with challenges for your child to conquer and virtual prizes to be
uncovered. Place your mouse over any challenge to begin.
In addition to making math practice
exciting, IXL is designed to help your child learn at his or her own pace. The
website is adaptive and will adjust to your child's demonstrated ability level.
The site also saves all of your child's results, so you can monitor your
child's progress anytime by clicking on the Reports tab.
I hope you'll encourage your son or
daughter to use IXL daily.
Sincerely,
Kshama
Bhatnagar