Weekly Reminders 2/2/09

Dear Parents and Portal Students,

Welcome to February! Although this month is notable for it’s winter break
and presidential holiday, it’s also a time of much activity in the
classroom. We’re in the midst of significant work in social studies and
science, math and language arts routines are fully established, and our
technology hardware is about to be upgraded in a major way with the addition
of our two Apple laptop carts (featuring 20 BRAND NEW MacBooks per cart!)
I’m sure you’ll be hearing more about this important improvement to our tech
program from your student as we establish our use procedures and student
responsibilities. Finally, this week we are visiting Mission San Juan
Batista; this is one of California’s most significant historical locations,
so we have a terrific experience awaiting us this Wednesday. In short, it’s
a typically action-packed week at Portal!

Parcel Tax!
With the serious financial issues facing California, public education is
looking at major budget cuts that are truly threatening our schools —
including Murdock-Portal. In response, CUSD Board of Education has proposed
a school funding measure: a mail-in only ballot to approve a parcel tax that
would provide consistent and on-going funds for our schools – and help our
schools to retain qualified and experienced teachers, maintain our current
class sizes, and keep our schools safe and clean, among other items at risk.

This is an extremely important issue. Please do all you can to support this
parcel tax – our schools and our students are worth every penny. The mail in
election will be held with a due date of May 5th. Our District states: “All
registered voters who live in the Cupertino Union School District will be
mailed a ballot in early April. When you receive your ballot in the mail,
fill it out and return it by mail to vote in the election. There will be no
cost for postage when mailing the ballot.” Thank you again for doing all you
can to support this important Parcel Tax Measure.

Current Academics:
In language arts, we continue our in-depth reading of Island of the Blue
Dolphins. In addition, we are reviewing summary writing this week, and we
will venture into the realms of response to literature and persuasive
writing in the next two weeks.

Math for 4th graders is currently focused on understanding and using
decimals. Chapter 8 in our book contains the basic concepts that we’ll be
covering. We focus on addition and subtraction of decimals this week, along
with estimated sums and differences for decimal problems. We will have a
chapter test on the content on Monday, February 8. 5th graders are on to
customary and metric units of measurement. Also, the “Bedroom Project” is
now officially underway. The kids have chosen the format for their
assignment, so ask them to give you the details about this home remodeling
dream!

Social studies is preparing our classes well for our Wednesday trip to
Mission San Juan Batista, one of the most well-preserved California missions
available to visit. Class activities are beginning that introduce the chain
of missions throughout historic California, the lifestyles of the natives
and missionaries, and the cultural changes that took place in this time.

This past week, students submitted ideas for their Science Fair assignment
that all students will be participating in. The assignment provides
students with an opportunity to choose an experimental topic from one of our
six grade-level science subject areas, and to use the scientific method to
properly explore the question they have about their chosen topic. The next
step for those whose ideas were approved is to prepare the first half of
their “official scientific method” experiment- Purpose/Question, Hypothesis,
Materials, and Procedure- all due on February 11. In class, our
investigations of environments suitable for a variety of living organisms
continues. We now have isopods and darkling beetles in our terrariums, and
we’re developing a greater understanding of environmental factors and
healthy living!

Mega Skill of the Month - Responsibility!
Responsibility is something everyone can embrace; it simply means to do the
right thing in a given circumstance. It is also a PERSONAL duty; we need to
do things for ourselves where appropriate, ask for assistance where
appropriate, and allow others to fulfill their duties where appropriate.
When we are responsible, we work better as individuals and as groups!

Important Dates to Remember:
Feb 3 Math Olympiads
Feb 3 Hyde Middle School: New Parent Orientation 7-8pm, Hyde Multi-Use Room
Feb 3 5th grade measurement/integer test
Feb 4 Field Trip - Mission San Juan Bautista
Feb 5 Sacramento Field Trip forms and money due!
Feb 5 Kennedy Middle School: New Parent Orientation 7-8pm, Kennedy Multi-Use
room
Feb 8 4th grade Chapter 8 Math test
Feb 11 First half of Scientific Fair Write Up due (Question/Purpose,
Hypothesis, Materials, Procedure)
Feb 11 Social Studies Test: Missions, Pueblos, and Presidios
Feb 16 Mid Year Recess - no school
Feb 23 School Resumes

California Trivia

Q: Considering the latitude, are the ocean waters along CA generally warm
or cold?


Good luck!

Mr. Roels & Miss Scourkes