Weekly Reminders 9/21/09

Dear Room 20 & 21 parents and students,

This week we are back to a normal, full-day schedule at Portal. As teachers, we want to thank our students and parents for taking the time to meet with us and participate in setting realistic, achievable goals for the year. It is a great example of how we all work together to make learning possible! As we resume our regular activities this week, let's all work hard at making the changes we need to excel in our various targeted areas for improvement- we can DO it!!!
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Just a quick reminder that our blogsite addresses are:

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

Students should be checking these sites weekly to keep THEMSELVES informed of all the latest village news.

Curriculum:

Language Arts

We continue to read the novel, Stone Fox in class. Students are getting further into the story, and we are getting introduced to new characters of interest, like the massive Stone Fox himself. Journal entries recounting the main character's experiences, descriptions of new characters with illustrations, vocabulary from the context of the story, and organized Step Up to Writing paragraphs of our Samoyed research and summaries of the book loom on the horizon.

In the near future, our rooms will also begin to implement a supplemental reading program called Accelerated Reader. The first step is a computerized assessment of reading levels, then students can independently make book choices at their reading levels and take on-line evaluations of their comprehension abilities for the book chosen. The goal is to provide students with appropriate guides to books at their independent reading level, and to give each person a chance to see if the basic language and elements of the story make sense to them.

Math

In 4th grade math, we are moving into the study of factors, multiples, prime numbers, arrays, fact families, and other terminology and elements of multiplication and division. We be starting out by participating in the Rectangle Factory, which is a great interactive method of seeing and experiencing the relationships between sets of numbers. Multiples really come to life for our classes in this activity; students also see prime numbers emerge from the great mass of numbers in the "factory." I'm sure you'll hear more from your student soon about this BIG project!

In 5th grade math

In 5th grade math, we will begin solving our Problem of the Week this Wednesday. Students will be required to solve and explain their thinking on a variety of problems using different methods such as working backwards, making a table or list, drawing a picture or diagram, or other appropriate strategies. Most problems have multiple ways to be solved, and students will clearly need to explain their thinking and the steps they used to solve the problem. We will continue with our study of fractions, decimals and percents in class.

Social Studies

In social studies, we have now learned about the Plains culture of the Native Americans and are working on a "Winter Count" as our craft for this region. Have your child tell you what a Winter Count is and let them tell you about the winter count they created.

Science

Our investigations related to "The Water Planet" resume in earnest now that our afternoons are available to us. The effects of location and temperature on evaporation, and understanding condensation, will be investigation topics this week. The higher temperatures we expect this week could make our results very interesting!

Calendar of Events:

Mon., Sept. 21 - School Site Council Meeting 3:00
Tues., Sept. 22 - Parent Principal Exchange 8:15
Wed., Sept. 23 - Destination Imagination meeting 6:00
Fri., Sept. 25 - Spirit Day : HAT DAY!
Fri., Sept. 25 - Learning Plans go home with students


MYSTERY STATE CLUES:
This state was named after a queen of England.
The first umbrella factory in the United States opened in this state in 1928.
Francis Scott Key wrote "The Star Spangled Banner" in this state while watching an attack on Fort McHenry during the War of 1812.
The United States Naval Academy is located in this state.

Which state is it?

Sincerely,

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