Weekly Reminders 1/23/12

Rockhopper Weekly Reminders
January 23-January 27

happy Lunar new year!

Mark Your Calendars:
Wednesday, 1/25 PSCO meeting 6:30 p.m.
Thursday, 1/26 Rooms 20/21 Science I-Check, Investigation 3
Thursday, 1/26 Dear Mr. Henshaw field trip, Sunnyvale Community Theatre
Friday, 1/27 Spirit Day- Hat Day!
Wednesday, 2/1 6:00 p.m. Outdoor School Parent Information Night - Multi-Purpose Room
Thursday, February 2nd: Kennedy Middle School Parent Info. Night @ 6:00 p.m.
Thursday, February 2nd: Hyde Middle School Parent Info. Night @ 6:30 p.m.
Tuesday, February 7th: Math Olympiads




New Addition to Rockhopper Program: Respect Referrals
Dear Parents,
Respect for Authority was the theme of last week’s Rockhopper Village Meeting. Rockhopper teachers have observed most recently that many students are struggling with demonstrating basic respectful behaviors in the classroom. A few of these behaviors include: reading while a teacher is instructing, interrupting when a teacher is talking, and ignoring specific instructions such as “going ahead” of the teacher or performing directions other than those given. Often these behaviors are exhibited because a child is not listening to a lesson, considers it unimportant, and/or the student has their own agenda of what he/she wants to do at that time. The indirect message given to the teacher is that their time and expertise is not valued.
While respect for authority is a crucial life skill we expect is being taught and reinforced at home, these disrespectful behaviors will not be tolerated at school, and when exhibited, are now subject to a Respect Referral. This document will be reviewed and signed by teacher, student, parent, and principal.
We Rockhopper teachers ask that you will review this important topic with your child tonight and discuss the ways in which respect for authority is both disregarded or shown. Your child should be able to tell you the details of what was discussed at our village meeting.

Thank you, as always, for your support at home of our efforts at school,
The Rockhopper Teachers

Technology:
Last Friday we received our highly anticipated iPads! There are only 12 for the time being and they are being used with only the Rockhopper students for now. Students will be learning the special handling procedures and expectations this week as they begin to use them for lessons. The iPads and iTouches have increased students engagement exponentially here at Portal. Students are so excited to do their work on these devices that they hardly remember that it is work they are doing. The teachers are working together to incorporate this outstanding learning tool into the curriculum instead of creating lessons in order to use technology. It’s quite remarkable how much information they have access too all in the palm of their hand. We wish we had these when we were in school!

Outdoor School:
An information sheet will be coming home tomorrow with basic facts about this year’s Outdoor School program. We will be attending Outdoor School April 24-27, 2012 at Camp Koinonia in the Santa Cruz Mountains near Watsonville. Please read this sheet carefully since it has details about upcoming meetings for parents and students.

Curriculum Flash!

Language Arts:
We’ve been reading Dear Mr. Henshaw in anticipation of our Thursday field trip to see the theatrical version, and we’ve gotten heavily involved in the circumstances of our main character’s life. As we read this week, we’ll continue to discuss vocabulary critical to the story, we’re constantly looking for examples of sentence variety for grammar mini-lessons. As insightful readers, it is our responsibility to respond in writing to meaningful questions about our character’s motives, reactions, and feelings. Finally, we have finished initial versions of business letters and burglar alarm designs (based on situations in our novel’s story). Today, we recorded a podcast of a classroom interview. We conducted this as a complement to Leigh Botts’ questions that he posed to Mr. Henshaw the author. As you can see, we try to immerse ourselves in a story as much as possible to gain experience in the analysis of literature.

Math
4th grade: We introduced our algebra unit last week with an activity called "Red Fences and Green Gates." Students used pattern blocks to build a fence and had to identify the algebraic rule that they saw being repeated in the pattern. Please ask your child to share more details with you. Students will continue delving into algebra this week! We will be using a fun set of activities called Menu Math to provide a clear relationship between variables and items in our world. This activity, which was introduced to teachers three years ago during a district teacher training, is a stimulating method of getting our student to grasp the purpose of variables in algebraic equations. Ask your student about it as our we proceed through our week! On Friday, we’ll be using iPads and our laptop computers to gain some valuable practice with algebraic relationships as well.

5th Grade: This week we continue our study of fractions with multiplication skills. We’ll be multiplying fractions with fractions, whole numbers, and mixed numbers. Along the way, we’ll reinforce the concepts with manipulatives and models. The students fraction quilts are also due this week, and we’ll use the iPads to create a class book of our quilts.

Science:
In Rooms 20 & 21, we are finishing Investigation 3 in Mixtures and Solutions: “Fizz Quiz.” This segment emphasizes students’ exposure to reactants and products in chemical reactions, introduction to atomic models and the chemical equations used to represent chemical reactions, and experience measuring the volumes of solids and liquids. We will be testing our understanding on Thursday by completing the open book/open note I-Check, Investigation #3 in class. The goal of our assessment is to give our students the opportunity to apply their hands-on experience in class to a set of questions or scenarios similar, but not identical to, their previous work. Good luck to all!

Social Studies:
We have been reading about the adventures of Christopher Columbus, and his controversial “discovery of the New World,” which has led to rich discussions. Students have also been strengthening their note-taking skills by working in groups and focusing on key information. Last week, students tested their knowledge of food originating in either the New World or Old World by sniffing a variety of ingredients in covered cups and using their knowledge of the Columbian Exchange to determine their origins. Please have your child share more details with you; we had a lot of fun!

Name that State!
The first "sit-in" to protest racial segregation occurred in this state.
Hurricane Floyd damaged this state's coast in 1999.
The first English child born in the United States, Virginia Dare, was born in this state in 1587.
Blackbeard the pirate was killed off the coast of this state.
Which state is it?