Weekly Reminders 3/2/09

Dear Parents and Portal Students,

“March Madness” has begun - and we don’t just mean the basketball tournament! We have a full academic calendar this month along with quite a few social happenings. Add this to everyone’s regular busy schedule and you have the recipe for the “madness” until the end of the year! Please make sure that you are getting enough rest and relaxation and have the time to reflect and enjoy the events in your life.

A message from the yearbook staff:

Please order your yearbook today.  The 72-page full-color yearbook is a wonderful way to preserve your child’s memories at Murdock-Portal.   The deadline for ordering the yearbook has been extended to March 31, 2009.   Extra order forms can be obtained from the office. The cost of the yearbook is $18.00. 
Pictures needed for Yearbook

Please share your “Kodak” moments with us.  Please e-mail pictures of field trips, plays or any other pictures taken at school events to Michelle Wissig at wissigfam@comcast.net.   Please help us make the yearbook a “memorable” one. 

Thank you,
YB Coordinators


Current Academics:

Language Arts:

The finish of Island of the Blue Dolphins draws near! We'll be finishing
our reading of this great book in the next two weeks, and we'll continue to assess our understanding of the text through vocabulary work, comprehension checks, and writing responses to the literature. When we bring this book study to a close, we'll be starting our last core literature book of the year, the realistic fiction novel entitled Bridge to Terabithia. We have copies of this book at school, but we are short a few books for our students. If you have a copy of this great book at home (maybe an older brother or sister had one), please send it to school with your son or
daughter as soon as possible; this will allow us to see if any additional
books will be needed from local libraries or other sources. Thank you!

Math:

Math for 4th graders is moving from our “Profiles” statistical study into another form of data analysis- ordered pairs, coordinates planes, and representing algebraic expressions in graph form. We’re beginning this week, and this work promises to test the mathematical thinking skills of all our students!

5th graders continue to study fractions, percentages, and decimals. We are learning how all of these concepts are related and how to move easily between the three.

Social Studies:

In social studies, we are moving into the “Mexican California” era of our history. During this unit, students will be making a diseno, which is a land grant map of the time. For this project, we will need large brown paper grocery bags. This is a good way to “reuse” bags that you have. Please send your donations in with your child before next Monday, March 9. Thank you.

Science:

In science class, our work this week is focused on learning terminology for the characteristics of aquatic environments, followed by a study of food webs and food chains in various environments. Our aquatic organisms have arrived, and we are busy observing fish behaviors and changes in the environments we have established for them.

Mega Skill of the Month - Motivation!

The MegaSkill for this month is MOTIVATION! Motivation is the desire and
willingness to do what is required. Motivation is something that comes
naturally in some situations (I'm MOTIVATED to eat that ice cream cone),
while motivation may need to be practiced in other instances (I DO want to produce the best summary I've ever written!) When you're motivated to accomplish the tasks in front of you, whether it's schoolwork or chores at home, you will find that work gets done quickly and at a superior level- who wouldn't WANT that kind of result? So......GET MOTIVATED!

Important Dates to Remember:

March 3 - 4th grade STAR Writing Test, 5th Grade District Writing Test
March 3 - Math Olympiads 12:30
March 4- 4/5 Fresh Choice Night 4:00-8:00
March 5 - Fitnessgram testing 5th graders
March 5 - 5th Grade Parent Night- Cupertino Middle School 6:00-8:00
March 6 - Reading Log Due
March 6- Fitnessgram testing 5th graders
March 6 - Second Trimester Ends
March 12 - Fitnessgram testing 5th graders
March 13 - GATE testing (during Specialist time)
March 16 - Learning Day - No school for students
March 18 - Science Fair Project Conclusions and Results due
March 18 - Middle School Counselors coming to talk to 5th graders
March 19 - Date Change! Math Placement Test - 5th grade. Level 1.

CALIFORNIA TRIVIA!
Q: During which months do Californians see the most migrating gray whales?

Good luck!

Mr. Roels & Miss Scourkes