Weekly Reminders 5/26/09

Dear Parents and Portal Students,
We hope you enjoyed your long weekend. With the great weather it seems like a perfect time to relax and enjoy yourself! We are busy in school this week and continue to work hard and learn many new ideas. We’re looking forward to all that’s happening this week. Please read below to see what’s happening.


Human Growth and Development for 5th Graders:

We will continue teaching Human Growth and Development for 5th Graders only. Our classes this week will be on Wed. 5/27 at 12:30, and Thursday, 5/28 at 8:15. During this time, 4th graders will be in math classes. The curriculum and videos that we will be using are available for parent viewing at our district resource center.


Language Arts:

We continue our study of the novel, Bridge to Terabithia. We’ve been exploring values, friendship, and challenges that many children face in their lives. This book has so many great “talking points” in class; we’re definitely learning as a group how to “dig deeper” into human relationships and the subtle, and not so subtle, ways we express ourselves.


Math:

4th grade students are actively involved in the “Game Factory” this week. This multiple week unit allows students to examine probability in action, and they are quickly learning how fairness relates to probability and possible outcomes. Many games have been played and analyzed already; the goal is to prepare ourselves for the ultimate task- our own fair game design! Ask your student what fair games are really all about; I’m sure you’ll get some insightful answers....

In 5th grade math, students are continuing their Biz World Companies. Take a minute to ask your child about what they’ve learned about business and company ownership! In addition to Biz World, we are reviewing chapter 10, geometry concepts with many students, based on the results of our last test. We will continue to work with these students for the week, and then reassess their understanding of these ideas.
Social Studies:

We are wrapping up our studies of the California Gold Rush. Students will finalize their essays and bibliographies for their anthologies.


Science:

Our investigations of electricity began over the last two weeks. We started off with static electricity (charge), then we worked with lights to develop an understanding of components, circuits, and current electricity. We’ll be using motors this week to continue expanding our knowledge of open and closed circuitry, as well as what items are conductors & insulators. This is one our classes’ favorite science topics, so we’re going to fit as much experimentation in as we can during the last portion of our year!


Important Dates to Remember:

5/27 International Festival
5/27 PSCO Meeting 6:30
5/28 SSC Meeting 3:00
5/29 School Spirit Day - Backward Day!
6/2 Volunteer Appreciation Brunch - 9:50 am
6/5 Library Closes for the year. All books due.


Congratulations

Congratulations to all students in competing in the Rooms 20 and 21 HORSE basketball tournaments! What great fun we had in this friendly competition that demonstrated both skills and taught sportsmanship. In a small way, we also learned about probability and tournament organization- kind of a sneaky, but enjoyable, way to apply our math knowledge and logical thinking skills! We salute our terrific student-athletes here at Portal!!!






CALIFORNIA TRIVIA!

Q: What did California’s first endangered-species law, written in 1874, protect?

Good luck!

Mr. Roels & Miss Scourkes