Weekly Reminders 2/6/12

Rockhopper Weekly Reminders
February 6-10


Mark Your Calendars:
Tuesday, February 7th: Math Olympiads
Tuesday, February 7th: Washington, D.C. meeting Room 20, @ 6:00 p.m.
Wednesday, February 8th: 5th grade Fraction Test, Room 20
Thursday, February 9th: Cupertino Middle School Parent Info. Night @ 6:30 p.m.
Thursday, February 9th: Winter Band Performance @ 7:00 p.m.
Thursday, February 16th: Geography test!
Friday, February 17th: Parent Survey deadline



Portal Parent Survey:
All parents received a link to the survey in last week’s Penguin Press which is located here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/mpsurvey11-12. This survey is how we continue to provide the best possible, well-rounded experience for your child here at Portal. Please complete the survey by February 17th. It should only take 12+ minutes. Each child will receive a "penguin" pencil and get to add their name to a classroom poster upon completion. We hope to have 100% participation. Thank you!

Outdoor School:
Thank you for coming to the Outdoor School parent presentation last Wednesday.
We had a great turnout and many of you took this opportunity to ask the Assistant Director questions. On the Outdoor School’s website, you will find the contents of the presentation and a copy of the packet your child received. The permission slip and your check made out to Portal School is due to your teacher on or before March 8th. Please fill out the medical form carefully and completely. If you still have questions, email Mrs. Gokhale at gokhale_kalpana@cusdschools.org . She will serve as the liason between parents and the Outdoor School. Please be sure to let her know your child’s family room, so that she may direct her responses.

Tyler Enfield Visits Portal!
Students were ecstatic about the writing workshop held today with Tyler Enfield, the author of Wrush. He led them through an intense session on how to create characters, build new fantasy worlds, determine the author’s point of view, and how a character’s motivation and obstacles determine the plot, as well as several other components to strong fantasy writing. We will be working over the next few months to slowly turn this detailed outline into a finalized story. The students were very motivated by his talk!

If students are interested in purchasing copies of his book(s), an order form went home today, as well as with last week’s Penguin Press. Please try to submit orders by the end of the week, or as soon as possible.

Curriculum Flash
Language Arts:
We’ve finished reading Dear Mr. Henshaw, and our activities in class continue to be inspired by the content of our novel. We’ll be producing a final draft of our letters to our authors during the next two weeks. We are also making our first attempt at a formal response to literature by writing in the proper format about Dear Mr. Henshaw. In addition, we’ll be composing a personal narrative about a special day in our lives that is closely linked to Leigh’s narrative topic in our book. It should be a fun week of writing!

Math
4th grade: This week, students will be working on their Menu Math restaurant menus with their partners. We’ll be using our laptop and desktop computers to complete the construction of our project featuring algebraic equations (and answers) of our own creation. By Friday, we hope to have the opportunity to try and SOLVE each other’s menu problems!

5th grade: This week we continue with fraction word problems and models. Students often find it difficult to model and communicate their understanding of fractional operations, especially when dealing with word problems. Students can do the algorithm just fine (computation), but I want them to gain the foundational knowledge of how fractional operations fractions actually work. This will allow them to apply what they know to any situation as opposed to memorizing a set routine to find a solution. We will take this knowledge and apply it to situations where students have to determine the best strategy, multiplication or division, to determine the outcome.

Science:
In Rooms 20 & 21, we are finishing up Investigation 4 in Mixtures and Solutions: “Elements.” We’re looking for the presence of elements in consumer products, we’re researching an element of our choice, we’re reading more on our topic in class, and we’ll test our understanding of the unit by taking our I-Check on Friday.

Social Studies:
Our studies turn toward the events in Europe, specifically Spain, that led to the Great Age of Exploration and Spanish Conquistadors. Our next geography test, including the Rocky Mountain States, will be on Thursday, February 16th.

Name that State!
The only active diamond mine in the United States can be found in this state.
The state was named after a Native American tribe whose name means "south wind."
The fiddle (violin) is this state's state instrument.
"The Natural State" is one of this state's nicknames.
This state is the home state of former President Bill Clinton.