3/16-20 Reminders

Dear Room 20 & 21 parents and students,

As this is a very busy week for all, the Reminders will be fairly short and sweet! Enjoy and thanks for reading!
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Just a quick reminder that our blogsite addresses are:

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

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

Volunteers for our Performance:

Thank you to those parents who have volunteered to bring food or help out with backdrop, painting, and costumes. If you haven't thought of helping, please do consider it. It might just be a small time commitment.Since this is a new play this year, we really could use your help with painting, sewing, or costume preparation. Our volunteer coordinators I know would be happy with even the smallest amount of time. Do you have even one hour free in the next couple of weeks? I bet we could find a job for you - even something that doesn't have to be done during the day or at school. It may be running an errand to a store or painting something that has already been drawn - no art skills necessary. Please contact Miss Scourkes right away if you feel you can even offer the smallest bit of time. Every little bit counts! Thank you!

Parent Teacher Conferences

Our parent teacher conferences begin this week. There will be 12:30 dismissal every day, starting this Thursday, March 18 through Friday, March 26. Please make sure that you've made arrangements for your child to be picked up on time.

We do schedule our conferences tightly, so please do your best to be on time for your conference. The students must be at their own conference so that they are learning the responsibility of being in charge of their own learning and goals. We look forward to seeing you and discussing your child's progress!

Outdoor School

Cabin Leader Applications:
If you know of someone who is interested in being a cabin leader at Outdoor School (an older sibling, Portal alumni, etc.), then please contact Sophia (831)332-0798 as soon as possible to let her know. Allowing more time to make preparations in advance is always greatly appreciated! For additional information about this opportunity, please refer to the dark green flier that was available at the Outdoor School presentation, or visit the website.

CEEF Opportunity for Learning!:

The final presentation of the 2009-2010 Speaker Series for students and parents to promote Thinking Mathematics, sponsored by the Cupertino Educational Endowment Foundation.

Title:
Joshua Zucker
Beyond the Book:
Learning More Mathematics!
Thursday
March 18, 2010
7 - 8:30 p.m.
Collins Elementary School GLC

Target Audience: Fourth, fifth and sixth grade students
(& their parents) who love math

Joshua Zucker, whose talk last year was very well-received, is a talented and knowledgeable teacher whose accomplishments in the field of mathematics have been recognized both in his tenure as a writer for the national MATHCOUNTS competition and as the Director of the Julia Robinson Mathematics Festival. Joshua discovered his love for number theory at Dr. Arnold Ross's summer program at Ohio State University many years ago. As a student, he was invited to the US Math Olympiad Summer Program and was a member of the first US Physics Olympiad team as well as a top-10 scorer on the Putnam. Once again Joshua will challenge students with insightful, intriguing problems and offer parents words of wisdom about math education that will help them work with their sons and daughters in productive ways.

Curriculum:

Language Arts

We will be finishing the reading and activities that accompany our novel, Dear Mr. Henshaw, this week. Students continue working on in class writing projects.

Math

In 4th grade math, we'll be working on graphing for the next 2-3 weeks. We begin with bar graphs and data collection, and we proceed on to coordinate graphing (including negative coordinates!) afterward.

In 5th grade math we've worked with nets, and surface area and reviewed decimals, fractions, and percentages and their relationship to one another. We will then move on to solid figures and integers.

Social Studies

Students are working on their final copies of their Explorer Essays this week. We will begin reading our History of US, Book 2 within the next week.

Science

We have begun or technology project that was introduced this past week. The topic will be plants, and the work will be done primarily at school with a partner. We'll be using Apple's iPhoto software to put together a visually informative presentation that could also be shared in BOOK form! Students this week will be expected to have their plant chosen, and to compile their information, including photographs, from books, Internet sites, and individual exploration (picture taking!) Final due dates for the project have not been set yet, but we anticipate a 2-3 week time period from beginning to end for project development and presentation.

Calendar of Events: (Please note that new dates have been added!)

March:

Wed. 3/17 5th Grade Level 1 Math Placement Test

3/18 - 3/26 Parent/Student/Teacher Conferences - 12:30 DISMISSAL EVERY DAY

Thur., 3/25 Middle School Parent Information Night - Lawson at 6:30

Fri., 3/26 Spirit Day: Crazy Socks Day!

Mystery State

• The world's first parking meter was installed in this state in 1935.
• More human-made lakes can be found in this state than in any other state.
• Only two states have capital cities that include the state name; this state is one of them.
• This state is home to the largest Native American population in the nation.
• The National Cowboy Hall of Fame can be found in this state.
• Which state is it?

Sincerely,

Mr. Roels and Miss Scourkes

Rooms 20 & 21

Rockhopper Village

Portal School