Weekly Reminders 3/7/11

Weekly Reminders: Rooms 20 & 21

Dear Room 20 & 21 Parents,

Conferences are fast approaching, and we're excited to sit down with all our students to review their goals, set new goals if appropriate, and compliment them on the good work they're doing here at Portal! This week we are getting into our fine arts performance practice in earnest; students are memorizing their lines, learning song lyrics by heart, and preparing to venture onto the school stage for the first time this year. All this activity, and still......we have math, language arts, social studies, and science that continue to entertain as well! As springtime approaches, it is apparent that all of our students are ready for the challenges (and fun) that lie ahead.

Our blogsite addresses are:

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


Parent Survey is now online!

It’s Survey Time!! We would like to invite you to take part in our annual School Survey. Your feedback on the survey is critical to the school as the survey results are used by the School Site Council to create our school goals. The survey will be “live” until Monday, March 14, 2010. After the survey, we’re having a raffle for a group of kids to have lunch with Mrs. Ales! Fun!

To complete the survey, follow these steps -- Go to the school website, www.portalpenguins.org, and:
1) Click on the link to the survey.
2) Complete one survey for each child attending Murdock-Portal.
3) After you have completed the survey, print the last page of the survey – fill in your child’s name and room number and return this slip to the classroom teacher to enter in to our raffle!

Thank you for your participation in making our school a wonderful place! Again, your feedback for the survey is so important and we value your input.

Note: If you tried to take the survey during the break and had some technical problems, we believe that they are all sorted out, so you may log on and take the survey now.

Interested in helping out?

Yes, it is now less than FIVE weeks until Rooms 20 and 21 will perform the incredible play entitled "Geology Rocks!" If you've ever wondered if learning about rocks, minerals, fossil fuels, geologic time, and tectonic plates could be funny, then you won't want to miss our upcoming fine arts performance on Thursday, April 7th at 6:30pm in our multipurpose room at Portal.

We are looking for interested parents to help support us with the following jobs:
Painting Art Coordinator – Organize the installation and repair of backdrops.
Painting Art Assistants – Help the coordinator repair and repaint backdrops.
Prop Art Coordinator – Organize and inventory of props.
Prop Art Assistants – Help the coordinator with props.
Costume Designers – Help to design and make costume pieces.
Food Coordinator – Organize snack donations for potluck on the night of the show.
Organize parents to help with set up and clean up on the night of the show.
Food Donators – Donate food for the potluck.
Performance Crew – Help transport, set up, and take down sets.
I’m flexible - Let me know what I can do to help.

If you would be interested in ANY of these volunteer opportunities related to our play, please sign up below on the Google Doc we've created for this purpose called "Parent Sign Up". Click on the link below and then list your name in the column under the job with which you would like to help. We will plan on meeting with those interested parents sometime next week.

Parent Sign Up


Parent Teacher Conferences:

In last Thursday's folder, you were sent the parent/teacher conference appointment schedule. Thank you to all who returned their forms already! If you have not already signed and returned your confirmation, please do so as soon as possible. We have worked hard to fit all of the conferences in within a reasonable time, and with 30-31 students each, there are not many slots left open throughout the conference period, so it is difficult to reschedule. We understand if you cannot make the assigned time due to a prior commitment, but it would help us tremendously if you were able to conference with us on the assigned date and time.

Curriculum Notes:

Language Arts- In the Year of the Boar reading and work is being wrapped up (one chapter to go!) Our writing practice in the persuasive and response to literature genres is well under way; we're now polishing up drafts of several assignments for insertion into our writing anthologies. "Geology Rocks" will showcase our oral language abilities in a scientific context- an earthshaking development, to be sure!
Math- 4th grade is using restaurant menus to learn effective use of algebraic expressions, including how to use simplification and other problem-solving strategies to determine the identity and value of an unknown variable. We also learn how to convert an order into algebraic terms, and we practice describing our algebraic expressions in words too. It's a super fun unit, and the culminating activity is especially good!
Math - 5th grader are developing and strengthening our algebra skills also. We are creating generalizations for patterns, learning to graph equations on coordinate planes, and working with both positive and negative integers.
Science- Next up, we dabble a bit in electromagnetism to wrap up the Electricity and Magnetism section of studies before moving on to our next major scientific unit, Solid Earth.
Social Studies- We're currently working on our Missions Activities Menu, reinforcing concepts we have learned.

Calendar of Events:

Wed., 3/9 5th grade students meet with middle school counselors (Note: NOT a parent meeting!)
Mon., 3/14 Learning Day (no school for students)
Thur. 3/17 Social Studies Missions Test
Thur.3/17 Parent Teacher Conferences begin (early dismissal @12:30 schedule)
Fri. 3/25 Parent Teacher Conferences end (last day of early dismissal @12:30 schedule)
Wed. 3/30 Family Science Night
Fri. 4/1 Report Cards go home


California Trivia Clue (student responses are REQUIRED):

What was the original name of the town that became San Francisco?


Sincerely,

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