Dear Room 20 & 21 parents and students,
We hope you had a relaxing Labor Day weekend. It is hard to believe that the fall season is just around the corner! Since we have a short week, and we are preparing for your students' conferences, we'll keep our "happy patter" to a minimum! 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.
Goal Setting Conferences Start Wednesday!
Our Goal Setting conferences begin this Wednesday, September 9th, and continue through Thursday, September 17th. If you haven't returned your confirmation, please do so as soon as possible! 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!
Washington, DC Trip!
As you know we are currently beginning with the planning of our optional trip to Washington, DC during the April break. You received a bright orange flyer in the Thursday folder last week informing you of the mandatory informational meeting that will be held on Wednesday, September 16 at 6:30 p.m. in Room 1. If you're not sure if you're interested, you should plan on coming to the meeting, so that you can get answers to questions you may have and hear all about the trip. This opportunity is a fantastic chance for students to see the history we are studying come alive! Please remember to return the bright orange interest slip, by this Friday, September 11!
Curriculum:
Language Arts
We continue with grammar lessons on verbs of all kinds, including the misunderstood "helping verbs." Handwriting practice (in cursive) is also continuing 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 are now immersed in reading our novel, Stone Fox. We are using our special Stone Fox journals for activities that incorporate inference, use of personification in writing, vocabulary development, and responding to literature in written and other creative ways for each chapter. Stone Fox is a family story, so its especially appropriate to ask your student how Little Willy's family situation compares to their own- the answers will tell you a lot about their understanding of the story so far!
Math
In 4th grade math, our daily Problems of the Day allow us 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 choose one or more of these to focus on for each problem. Dynamath Magazine will be corrected as a group on Tuesday- Mr. Roels acts as "referee" for any disputed answers! We'll review addition and subtraction concepts (including proper estimation techniques) in preparation for our Chapter 3 & 4 test on Wednesday. I'm confident our in-class lessons will give all students a good chance of success this week! As the week winds down, we'll begin our study of expressions and equations. This will lead us in the coming weeks to our first work a grade level algebraic concepts- a very exciting development! Of course, much "unknown" at this point, if you get our little algebraic joke :)
In 5th grade math we have finished our first unit, which covered prime factorization and fractions. We're now moving on to study place value, decimals, and relative magnitude. We'll study very large numbers and very small numbers, and learn to round and order these types of numbers.
Social Studies
In social studies, we continue our Native American studies. We've learned about cultures of both the Southwestern and Northwest United States. Students have made Kachina Dolls to represent a craft of the Southwest and are working on totem animals to represent the Northwest.
Science
We will continue with our unit, "The Water Planet", throughout the short conference day schedule. We do this by taking morning class periods two time a week to perform our investigations of the water cycle components. The concepts of condensation and evaporation will be our primary focus over the next week or so. As always, the reading we do in our science text will make these ideas more clear after each investigation.
Calendar of Events:
Wed., Sept 9 -Thur., Sept. 17 - Parent Teacher Conferences - Student Dismissal at 12:30 every day
September 9 - Sept. 17 - Book Faire in the Multi-use room
Friday, Sept. 18 , Learning Day for Teachers - No school for students!
Monday, Sept. 21 School Site Council Meeting 3:00
MYSTERY STATE CLUES:
The first-ever revolving restaurant opened in this state in 1961.
This state has the world's longest floating bridge.
This state is the top producer of apples in the United States.
This state is the only state named after a U.S. president.
Which state is it?
Sincerely,
Mr. Roels and Miss Scourkes
Rooms 20 & 21
Rockhopper Village
Portal School
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