We’ve finished the first two days of conferences and are really enjoying the
chance to meet with all of you. Conferences are always a good opportunity
to clarify and answer questions as well as create new goals and have the
chance to look forward to new and exciting learning oppportunities. Please
remember that conferences continue this entire week and that the students
will be dismissed at 12:30 each day. If we haven’t met with you yet, we’re
looking forward to seeing you!
A note from Mrs. Ales:
Dear Parents,
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 the school
goals. The survey will be “live” on Monday, March 16, 2009 and will close
on Tuesday, March 31, 2009.
To complete the survey follow these steps (during the dates listed above):
1) Go to the school website, www.portalpenguins.org
2) Click on the link to the survey.
3) Complete one survey for each child attending Murdock-Portal.
4) After you have completed the survey, print the last page of the
survey.
5) Bring your receipt to your parent-teacher conference.
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.
Sincerely, Julie Ales
Current Academics:
Language Arts:
The finish of Island of the Blue Dolphins draws near! We'll be finishing
our reading of this great book in the next two weeks, and we'll continue to
assess our understanding of the text through vocabulary work, comprehension
checks, and writing responses to the literature. When we bring this book
study to a close, we'll be starting our last core literature book of the
year, the realistic fiction novel entitled Bridge to Terabithia. We have
copies of this book at school, but we are short a few books for our
students. If you have a copy of this great book at home (maybe an older
brother or sister had one), please send it to school with your son or
daughter as soon as possible; this will allow us to see if any additional
books will be needed from local libraries or other sources. Thank you!
Math:
4th grade students are continuing to work on Geometry and Measurement this week.
On Monday, March 30, we’ll have our Chapter 6 test covering both customary and
metric forms of measurement, including length, capacity, mass, and temperature.
5th graders continue to study fractions, percentages, and decimals. We are
learning how all of these concepts are related and how to move easily
between the three.
The math placement test for middle school, Level 2 test will be given to
students on March 31. This test is basically used to determine if a student
is ready to skip all of sixth grade math , which VERY few are. Students
should not get overly stressed about the assessments. The placements that
are determined are usually just right for the child to be successful in
their math class in middle school. The middle schools will notify students
in the mail. If a parent feels that their child has been incorrectly
placed, they may discuss the placement with the middle school. Also,
students are reassessed every year to determine correct placement.
Social Studies:
In social studies, students are working on their disenos. Along with the
disenos they’re working on a narrative, cattle brand and reata (lasso).
Science:
We will be starting our Electricity and Magnetism unit next week. Our Science Fair project
wraps up next week when our presentation boards are turned in. We are looking forward
to seeing the finished product of our students’ scientific minds!
Important Dates to Remember:
March 19 - March 27 Parent/Teacher/Student Conferences -
EARLY DISMISSAL -12:30. Students must attend
conferences with parents.
March 24- Parent Principal Exchange 8:15 am
March 25- PSCO Meeting 6:30
March 27- Sprit Day - Crazy Sock Day
March 31- Math Placement Test - 5th grade. Level 2.
CALIFORNIA TRIVIA!
Q: The Sierra Nevada, CA's primary geological feature, is composed mostly
of what rock?
Good luck!
Mr. Roels & Miss Scourkes
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