Weekly Reminders 4/2/12

Rockhopper Weekly Reminders
April 2 - April 6


Mark Your Calendars:
Wednesday, April 4th: 5th grade Math Placement Test #2 for middle school
Thursday, April 5 - Field Trip to see the play “Ben Franklin”
Thursday, April 5 - Final Geography Test
Friday, April 6- Report cards go home
Monday, April 9 - Spring Recess Begins
Monday, April 23 - School Resumes
April 24-April 27- Outdoor School

OUTDOOR SCHOOL REMINDERS!
• On April 24th, students are to arrive at school at 7:45 and drop their luggage off in front of the office right away.

• Put all luggage, with special tags, out in front of the office in your child's designated room area.

• We will send home special luggage tags.

• Make sure both sleeping bag/pillow and luggage have the tags attached before you arrive.

• Medication needs to be in its original container and then placed in a Ziploc bag with the child's name and room number written on the outside. Be sure to drop medications off in the office in your family room teacher’s medicine box. If your medication is already at school, Mrs. Fong will pull it out of the cabinet and put it in the boxes before we leave.

• All students must have a bag lunch with their name on it. Place the lunch in the family room teacher's class lunch container.

• We have designated special parents to help load the buses to avoid confusion. After dropping off your child’s luggage, medication, and lunch, please clear the bus loading area.

• The buses will be leaving at 9:00 sharp!

•Please check your outdoor school packet for the checklist of what is to be packed and what NOT to bring. Make sure that ALL personal items are labeled with a Sharpie permanent marker.

• On April 27 we will arrive back at school between 12:30 and 1:00. We would like to encourage you to pick up your child at this time for early dismissal!

• Also, it is FUN for kids to get mail while they’re at camp. Please feel free to send a letter or two during the first couple of days. The address is in your packet.

Portal Enrichment Program = P.E.P.
Spring Break is coming- we will have no classes during the weeks of April 9-13 and April 16-20 at Portal. What we DO have for those of you who are in town and looking for a good way to spend your days is the Portal Enrichment Program- this is a program of fun and interesting classes for K-5 students taught by members of the Portal staff during our break. Electronic registration forms are still available for you to sign up for the second week that P.E.P. is offered at our school- see our last Portal Press for more information!

Additional Rockhopper Donations:
We are in need of tissues (Kleenex) for our classes. Any donations would be appreciated! Thank you!

Curriculum Flash!
Language Arts:
This continue to get deeper into our novel Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. Class discussions are an important place for our students to share opinions, predictions, background knowledge, and character analysis. Oral language is key to developing the ability to respond in writing, so let’s just DO IT!

Math
4th grade: Our focus for this week is graphing using a coordinate plane. Students have been plotting points, calculating the length of line segments, and graphing functions. On Friday, we will be involved in hands-on measuring stations known as the “Measurement Extravaganza!” Students will rotate through three different centers to use real-life skills involving capacity, weight, and measurement. In order for our Extravaganza to be successful, we need students to bring in clean (rinsed out) empty containers (gallon, liters, pints, etc.) by Friday! Thank you in advance!

5th grade: This week we continue our data, statistics and graphing unit. We’re currently using data to create line plots. We will look at different ways to display and interpret data throughout the week.

Science:
In Rooms 20 & 21, we begin our investigation of the solar system. Understanding the classification of solar system components and the forces that work on the solar system is our goal for the week. We will also use half of our time this week to get planning and research done on our Water Planet tech projects. We’ll be working both inside and outside of the classroom to have research done and a sensible plan for our groups to share the information with our peers.

Social Studies:
We have begun reading The History of US (volume 2). Discussions, worksheets, and short quizzes will be given periodically to check for understanding. As a reminder, the final geography test will be given on Thursday, April 5, and will include all 50 states. Be sure to prepare in advance!

Name that State!
This state used to be an independent nation.
The state's name comes from a native word that means "homeland."
Two active volcanoes can be found in this state.
It was the last state to join the United States.
This state is made up of eight islands.
Which state is it?