Weekly Reminders 5/2/11

Weekly Reminders: Rooms 20 & 21

Dear Room 20 & 21 Parents,

It's good to be able to communicate with you all again! STAR testing is done as of today, except for makeup tests, which will take place tomorrow for students at our grade level. On Thursday, we go on our incredible all day trip to Sacramento, which will be a fantastic historical and contemporary experience for our kids! Please remember that all students and chaperones must be at school by 7:00am on Thursday, May 5th. We will be loading onto the buses as soon as possible for our 7:30am departure, and we must leave on time to be able to arrive in Sacramento promptly for our first itinerary items. Students will meet their teachers and classmates in the front of the school that morning; look for your class cone/marker to line up and wait for our buses!

Note: T-shirts and lanyards will be passed out to students and chaperone parents on Wednesday afternoon. Chaperones and students should come to school on Thursday morning dressed in their T-shirts and wearing their lanyards. Itineraries for the day went home in the Thursday folders last week.

Our blogsite addresses are:

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

Curriculum Notes:

Language Arts- Bridge to Terabithia remains our primary focus in class. We are using the in-depth discussion questions to develop our ability to analyse character traits with a greater degree of accuracy. We're also gaining exposure to vocabulary that allows one to make subtle distinctions between feelings and actions that might provide insight to a character's thoughts and motivations.
Math- 4th graders are working on solid figures, including descriptive terminology and the use of nets to build figures. Volume will be a key measurement concept that will be taught later in the week. Our design project called "Perimeter Park" will be finished up at home after several hours of concerted work on the project at school over the last week and a half.
Math - 5th graders are finishing our geometry unit. We have assigned the Bedroom Project as an optional item this year, due later this month for participants.
Science- We are now into our Solid Earth unit, and we are presently learning to distinguish between rocks and the minerals that rocks contain. We will proceed to learn more about the analytical techniques used by geologists to identify rocks over the next two weeks as well.
Social Studies- This week students are finishing their diseno projects and beginning to research for their Gold Rush Essay in preparation for our Open House Waxed Museum. Students received a timeline and expectation sheet last week.

Literature Circles -Volunteers Needed!
We will be having our last literature circle groups of the year on the following dates, all times from 8:15 - 9:10am:

Monday, May 23
Wednesday, May 25
Tuesday, May 31
Thursday, June 2

Would you be willing to come in and listen to a small group or two? Ask any parent who has volunteered for this job before - it's lots of fun, easy to do, and a tremendous help to ensure success for our groups! It's best if you can attend all 4 sessions so there is consistency, but if that's not possible, please let us know the dates you're available, and we will work with your schedule as best as we can. Please email your family room teacher as soon as possible if you're able to help!


Calendar of Events:

Thur. 5/5 Sacramento Field Trip- be at Portal @7am
Thur. 5/12 5th Grade Math Placement Test - Level 2
Fri. 5/20: 5th Bedroom Project Due
Mon. 5/23: Wax Museum Boards Due
Scientific Method- Part Two Due
1st Literature Circle @8:15am
Tues. 5/24 Bridge to Terabithia test
Wed. 5/25: Open House (Rockhopper time 7-7:45pm)
2nd Literature Circle @8:15am
Fri. 5/27: Learning Day
Mon. 5/30: No SCHOOL
Tues. 5/31 3rd Literature Circle @8:15am
Thurs. 6/2 4th Literature Circle @8:15am
Mon. 6/6: Last day of P.E.
Science Fair Project Board due
Tues. 6/7 Volunteer Brunch
Thurs. 6/9: Academy of Sciences Field Trip
Fri. 6/10: Field Day
Tues. 6/14: Recognition Ceremony/Last Day of School!!!


California Trivia Clue (student responses are REQUIRED):

“Spanish pear” and “green gold” are among the nicknames for what Southern CA fruit?

Sincerely,

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