Weekly Reminders 8/31/09

Dear Room 20 & 21 parents and students,

We hope that your weekend was calm and relaxing - maybe you had a chance to have some time to catch your breath after the first couple of weeks of school, which are always so busy! Hopefully, in addition to the Portal Press, these weekly reminders will help to keep you up to date on all that is happening in our classrooms. Reminders will be sent out each Monday night, and you can access them most easily by visiting the classroom blogsites; we have an easy to see (and use!) link on our blogsite page. Our blogsite addresses are:

Room 20 (Scourkes) http://rockhopperroom20.blogspot.com
Room 21 (Roels) http://gtfroom22.blogspot.com

Goal Setting Conferences Coming Soon!

Beginning on Wednesday, September 9th and continuing through Thursday, September 17th, our Goal Setting conferences begin. You should have received a date and time notice in the last week's Thursday's folder. Please be sure to return your confirmation as soon as possible, so that the teachers can plan for our conferences. The purpose of these conferences is for the student, parent, and teacher to work in a partnership to establish realistic goals for the student to focus on in the upcoming months. Because these goals are for the student, it is important that they participate in their conference. Therefore, all students in the Rockhopper Village are REQUIRED to attend the conference. Also, please remember that there is early dismissal of students at 12:30 during the entire conference period. Thank you!

Curriculum:

Language Arts

We continue with grammar lessons on nouns, pronouns, plurals, and verbs. Handwriting practice (in cursive) is also in place for those that need review or consistent form. Please check with your child to see if they have practice sheets to be completed at home. We have begun reading our novel, Stone Fox. We will be working on our reading comprehension, use of personification in writing, vocabulary development, and responding to literature in written and other creative ways during this unit. Stone Fox is a gripping story, so don't hesitate to ask your student what he or she has read in the novel during the week!

Math

In 4th grade math, we continue to practice the components of thorough problem-solving: restating the problem, noting key words that indicate problem-solving methods, solving the problem by outlining the steps taken, and explaining how you know that a problem-solving method is appropriate (or makes sense.) We are now working on Chapters 3 and 4 of our text, which concern themselves with addition, subtraction, and estimations of sums and differences. We will have a very fun application of estimation during our Friday extended math time; ask your student about it when he or she comes home on Friday!

In 5th grade math, we've started our fraction unit. We've reviewed mixed numbers and are learning to find equivalent fractions and put fractions in simplest form. Students have started to compare fractions and are developing an understanding of how fractions, decimals, and percents are related. We'll be using geoboards to strengthen understanding of equivalent fractions and finishing up with a fraction quilt next week.

Social Studies

Thank you to all of the parents who helped out in the class last week! Our "Kachina dolls" Native American craft project went very well! The students really enjoyed the paper mache and painting activity while getting a chance to let their creativity shine, and gain an understanding of a craft of the Native American culture. We'll be continuing our study of the Native American regions for the next several weeks.

Science

We are now focused on one of our major science units, "The Water Planet." This unit incorporates the study of astronomy along with the study of our atmospheric environment. We're finishing up our investigation of the solar system and the scientific principles that control planetary motion, and then we will start to narrow our focus to our own planet, Earth. First up, we look at atmospheric characteristics of our planet, especially as they apply to water on Earth. We'll have in-class investigations to solidify our understanding of the water cycle on Earth, and reading to make the concepts crystal-clear to all of us (hopefully, the "fog" will lift and we'll understand our planet well!)

Calendar of Events:
Mon., August 31- Friday, Sept. 4 Have a good week!
Monday, Sept. 7 Labor Day - no school!
Tuesday, Sept. 8 Parent Volunteer Training Make Up Date 11:00
Wed., Sept 9 -Thur., Sept. 17 - Parent Teacher Conferences - Student Dismissal at 12:30 every day
Friday, Sept. 18 , Learning Day for Teachers - No school for students!
Monday, Sept. 21 School Site Council Meeting 3:00


MYSTERY STATE CLUES:

For those of you not already familiar with our Weekly Reminders, each week we have a special "Clues" problem for our students to solve! Have your son or daughter read the clues below and answer the question; they can e-mail us with their answer or be prepared to respond at school the next day. Good luck to all!

• The first chartered town in the United States -- York, chartered in 1641-- is in this state.
• More than 90 percent of the blueberries in North America are grown in this state.
• Nearly 90 percent of the nation's lobster supply is caught off the coast of this state.
• This state is almost as big as the other five New England states combined.

Which state is it?


Sincerely,

Mr. Roels and Miss Scourkes
Rooms 20 & 21
Rockhopper Village
Portal School