Dear Parents and Portal Students,
Thank you for taking the time to come and participate in your child’s conferences and goal setting for the spring. It’s always a pleasure to share your child’s progress and accomplishments! Report cards will be coming home this Friday, April 3. Please remember to sign and return the report card envelope after vacation. Also, thank you to all of the parents who took the school survey. We appreciate your feedback and would like to have 100% participation if possible, so if you haven’t had the chance, please do take the survey and give your valuable feedback to the school.
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 going in to more depth on the terminology of Geometry this week. We’ll be learning how to describe figures (and parts of figures) accurately, which will eventually allow us to determine perimeter and area of a variety of shapes with consistency.
5th grade math students are concluding their study of decimals, fractions, and percentages this week. The math Level 2 placement test will be on Tuesday and after the April break we’ll begin our geometry unit.
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:
Student’s have done a great job on their diseno projects and rancho narratives these last few classes. They look fantastic and the narratives are fun to read. Students really got into the craft portion of the project when making their reatas! OUr next unit of study will be the California Gold Rush!
Science:
Science Fair project boards are coming to school on Thursday, April 2! Please be sure to check with your child to make sure they have their experiment completed and described in detail using the steps of the scientific method as their template. In class, we begin our work on Electricity & Magnetism this week. The initial investigation centers on magnetic properties- I think the kids will be “drawn” to it!
Important Dates to Remember:
March 29 - School Site Council 3:00
March 31- Math Placement Test - 5th grade, Level 2
April 2 - Science Fair Project Boards Due
April 2, 3- Fitnessgram Testing
April 3- Report Cards go home
April 6 - Spring Recess Begins
April 20 - School Resumes
CALIFORNIA TRIVIA!
Q: Of the ten largest national parks in the lower 48 states, which three are in CA?
Good luck!
Mr. Roels & Miss Scourkes
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Conference Week Reminders
Dear Parents and Portal Students,
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
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
Monday, March 16, 2009
Conference Week Reminders
Dear Parents and Portal Students,
We hope you’ve enjoyed the long weekend! The teacher Learning Day on Monday was very productive and we were even able to take some time to talk about fine tuning our program for both this and next year. On another note, parent teacher conferences begin this week. Please be sure that both the child and parent come to the conference, that you bring the school survey receipt with you (information below), and that you are on time as the schedule is very tight. 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
Portal Enrichment Program
We will be offering our Portal Enrichment Program (PEP) during our April 2009 Spring Recess break; April 6 – 10, 2009 and April 13 - 17, 2009.
PEP is a wonderful, multi-age enrichment program for Murdock-Portal students only. You can choose to have your child in the program for one week or both weeks with an option of half-day or full day.
Possible enrichment activities include: Manners with Old Fashion Games, Cooking, Paper Mache, Dramatic Game/Play, Multi-Cultural Activities, Painting, Drawing, Spring Arts and Crafts, Science Related Activities and Computer Related Activities.
Please remember that staffing is dependent on the number of student enrollment.
Math Speaker Series Opportunity!
Below are the details for a math class for parents and students. The actual flyer is attached.
“Announcing the final presentation in our 2008-2009 Speaker Series
for students and parents to promote Thinking Mathematics,
sponsored by the Cupertino Educational Endowment Foundation”
Joshua Zucker
Beside the Book!
What else can students do to meet their yearning for learning more mathematics?
Thursday,
March 19, 2009
7 - 8:30 p.m.
Collins Elementary School GLC
Target Audience: Fourth, fifth and sixth grade students
(& their parents) who love math
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!
Oral Presentations:
On March 17-18, students will be presenting their favorite book
from the past trimester’s Reading Contract. As you probably know, this is a very fun way for Rockhoppers to gain more experience in the public speaking realm! Kids will come as the main character (complete with costume and props), and they will share either a brief summary or a specific scene from the book, acting as if they were this character. Students are limited to 2-3 minutes for these presentations, and at this point in the year, they are encouraged to have their dialogue memorized (although effective note card use is still an option.) Ask your son or daughter to give you a “preview” of their book- it will be good practice for them, and an enjoyable experience for you!
Math:
4th grade students will start work on Geometry and Measurement this week. We will be studying both customary and metric forms of measurement covering 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 1 will be on March 19. This is a test of general knowledge and skills that 5th graders should know. All schools in the district will be taking the test this week, and no middle school expects any school to have covered the entire curriculum for the year, since there are still three months left in school. The students received a review package today, that they will be working on in class over the next couple of weeks. The 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, we are moving into the “Mexican California” era of our history. During this unit, students will be making a diseno, which is a land grant map of the time. Thank you for the donations of grocery bags!
Science:
Our Environments unit is being completed. Our assessments for this unit have consisted of formal responses to investigation situations that our integrated into our studies. I will also be checking science notebooks for organization (dated work) and level of participation in our activities. Our next unit will be Electricity & Magnetism. Our Science Fair project continues on as well, with our second half of the scientific method write-up due on March 18. This portion of the formal write-up will contain the results of their experiment and their interpretation of these results, otherwise known as the conclusion! Please check with your student to make sure they have shared their results in a clear format (chart, graph, detailed notes), and that they have thought about how their results relate to their original question and hypothesis.
Important Dates to Remember:
March 17 -18 Oral Presentations
March 17 - Miller Middle School New parent orientation 7:00-8:30
March 18 - Science Fair Project Conclusions and Results due
March 18 - Middle School Counselors coming to talk to 5th graders
March 19 - Math Placement Test - 5th grade. Level 1.
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: Which famous amphibian was grand marshal of the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade?
Good luck!
Mr. Roels & Miss Scourkes
We hope you’ve enjoyed the long weekend! The teacher Learning Day on Monday was very productive and we were even able to take some time to talk about fine tuning our program for both this and next year. On another note, parent teacher conferences begin this week. Please be sure that both the child and parent come to the conference, that you bring the school survey receipt with you (information below), and that you are on time as the schedule is very tight. 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
Portal Enrichment Program
We will be offering our Portal Enrichment Program (PEP) during our April 2009 Spring Recess break; April 6 – 10, 2009 and April 13 - 17, 2009.
PEP is a wonderful, multi-age enrichment program for Murdock-Portal students only. You can choose to have your child in the program for one week or both weeks with an option of half-day or full day.
Possible enrichment activities include: Manners with Old Fashion Games, Cooking, Paper Mache, Dramatic Game/Play, Multi-Cultural Activities, Painting, Drawing, Spring Arts and Crafts, Science Related Activities and Computer Related Activities.
Please remember that staffing is dependent on the number of student enrollment.
Math Speaker Series Opportunity!
Below are the details for a math class for parents and students. The actual flyer is attached.
“Announcing the final presentation in our 2008-2009 Speaker Series
for students and parents to promote Thinking Mathematics,
sponsored by the Cupertino Educational Endowment Foundation”
Joshua Zucker
Beside the Book!
What else can students do to meet their yearning for learning more mathematics?
Thursday,
March 19, 2009
7 - 8:30 p.m.
Collins Elementary School GLC
Target Audience: Fourth, fifth and sixth grade students
(& their parents) who love math
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!
Oral Presentations:
On March 17-18, students will be presenting their favorite book
from the past trimester’s Reading Contract. As you probably know, this is a very fun way for Rockhoppers to gain more experience in the public speaking realm! Kids will come as the main character (complete with costume and props), and they will share either a brief summary or a specific scene from the book, acting as if they were this character. Students are limited to 2-3 minutes for these presentations, and at this point in the year, they are encouraged to have their dialogue memorized (although effective note card use is still an option.) Ask your son or daughter to give you a “preview” of their book- it will be good practice for them, and an enjoyable experience for you!
Math:
4th grade students will start work on Geometry and Measurement this week. We will be studying both customary and metric forms of measurement covering 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 1 will be on March 19. This is a test of general knowledge and skills that 5th graders should know. All schools in the district will be taking the test this week, and no middle school expects any school to have covered the entire curriculum for the year, since there are still three months left in school. The students received a review package today, that they will be working on in class over the next couple of weeks. The 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, we are moving into the “Mexican California” era of our history. During this unit, students will be making a diseno, which is a land grant map of the time. Thank you for the donations of grocery bags!
Science:
Our Environments unit is being completed. Our assessments for this unit have consisted of formal responses to investigation situations that our integrated into our studies. I will also be checking science notebooks for organization (dated work) and level of participation in our activities. Our next unit will be Electricity & Magnetism. Our Science Fair project continues on as well, with our second half of the scientific method write-up due on March 18. This portion of the formal write-up will contain the results of their experiment and their interpretation of these results, otherwise known as the conclusion! Please check with your student to make sure they have shared their results in a clear format (chart, graph, detailed notes), and that they have thought about how their results relate to their original question and hypothesis.
Important Dates to Remember:
March 17 -18 Oral Presentations
March 17 - Miller Middle School New parent orientation 7:00-8:30
March 18 - Science Fair Project Conclusions and Results due
March 18 - Middle School Counselors coming to talk to 5th graders
March 19 - Math Placement Test - 5th grade. Level 1.
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: Which famous amphibian was grand marshal of the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade?
Good luck!
Mr. Roels & Miss Scourkes
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
March 9-13 Weekly Updates...
Dear Parents and Portal Students,
We hope you had a relaxing weekend! Please take a few moments to read and enjoy the weekly reminders below as we continue to update and add new information each week!
Parent/Teacher/Student Conferences Scheduled!
In the Thursday envelope last week, the students received the conference date scheduling information. We would truly appreciate it if you made every effort to try to come at the scheduled time. However, if you do have a conflict, please contact the office to reschedule as soon as possible. Thank you!
Portal Enrichment Program
We will be offering our Portal Enrichment Program (PEP) during our April 2009 Spring Recess break; April 6 – 10, 2009 and April 13 - 17, 2009.
PEP is a wonderful, multi-age enrichment program for Murdock-Portal students only. You can choose to have your child in the program for one week or both weeks with an option of half-day or full day.
Possible enrichment activities include: Manners with Old Fashion Games, Cooking, Paper Mache, Dramatic Game/Play, Multi-Cultural Activities, Painting, Drawing, Spring Arts and Crafts, Science Related Activities and Computer Related Activities.
Please remember that staffing is dependent on the number of student enrollment.
A message from the yearbook staff:
Please order your yearbook today. The 72-page full-color yearbook is a wonderful way to preserve your child’s memories at Murdock-Portal. The deadline for ordering the yearbook has been extended to March 31, 2009. Extra order forms can be obtained from the office. The cost of the yearbook is $18.00.
Pictures needed for Yearbook
Please share your “Kodak” moments with us. Please e-mail pictures of field trips, plays or any other pictures taken at school events to Michelle Wissig at wissigfam@comcast.net. Please help us make the yearbook a “memorable” one.
Thank you,
YB Coordinators
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!
Oral Presentations:
On March 17-18, students will be presenting their favorite book
from the past trimester’s Reading Contract. As you probably know, this is a very fun way for Rockhoppers to gain more experience in the public speaking realm! Kids will come as the main character (complete with costume and props), and they will share either a brief summary or a specific scene from the book, acting as if they were this character. Students are limited to 2-3 minutes for these presentations, and at this point in the year, they are encouraged to have their dialogue memorized (although effective note card use is still an option.) Ask your son or daughter to give you a “preview” of their book- it will be good practice for them, and an enjoyable experience for you!
Math:
Our unit test on statistics, graphing, and coordinate planes is this Friday. Reviewing concepts like mean, median, mode, and range, along with the idea of ordered pairs to describe a point, is especially recommended. We will start work on Geometry and Measurement the following week.
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.
Our Bedroom projects were turned in on Friday, and they are WONDERFUL! Full of creativity, effort, and art. Well done, 5th graders.
The math placement test for middle school, Level 1 will be on March 19. This is a test of general knowledge and skills that 5th graders should know. All schools in the district will be taking the test this week, and no middle school expects any school to have covered the entire curriculum for the year, since there are still three months left in school. The students received a review package today, that they will be working on in class over the next couple of weeks. The 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, we are moving into the “Mexican California” era of our history. During this unit, students will be making a diseno, which is a land grant map of the time. Thank you for the donations of grocery bags!
Science:
We will be finishing, as much as possible, our Environments unit
this week. Our assessments for this unit have consisted of formal responses to investigation situations that our integrated into our studies. I will also be checking science notebooks for organization (dated work) and level of participation in our activities. Our next unit will be Electricity &
Magnetism. Our Science Fair project continues on as well, with our second
half of the scientific method write-up due on March 18. This portion of the
formal write-up will contain the results of their experiment and their
interpretation of these results, otherwise known as the conclusion! Please check with your student to make sure they have shared their results in a clear format (chart, graph, detailed notes), and that they have thought about how their results relate to their original question and hypothesis.
Important Dates to Remember:
March 12 - Fitnessgram testing 5th graders
March 13 - GATE testing (during Specialist time)
March 13 - 4th Grade Math Unit test
March 16 - Learning Day - No school for students
March 17 -18 Oral Presentations
March 18 - Science Fair Project Conclusions and Results due
March 18 - Middle School Counselors coming to talk to 5th graders
March 19 - Date Change! Math Placement Test - 5th grade. Level 1.
March 19 - March 27 Parent/Teacher/Student Conferences -
EARLY DISMISSAL -12:30. Students must attend conferences with parents.
CALIFORNIA TRIVIA!
Q: At which mission was the altar painted by an American sailor who had jumped ship?
Good luck!
Mr. Roels & Miss Scourkes
We hope you had a relaxing weekend! Please take a few moments to read and enjoy the weekly reminders below as we continue to update and add new information each week!
Parent/Teacher/Student Conferences Scheduled!
In the Thursday envelope last week, the students received the conference date scheduling information. We would truly appreciate it if you made every effort to try to come at the scheduled time. However, if you do have a conflict, please contact the office to reschedule as soon as possible. Thank you!
Portal Enrichment Program
We will be offering our Portal Enrichment Program (PEP) during our April 2009 Spring Recess break; April 6 – 10, 2009 and April 13 - 17, 2009.
PEP is a wonderful, multi-age enrichment program for Murdock-Portal students only. You can choose to have your child in the program for one week or both weeks with an option of half-day or full day.
Possible enrichment activities include: Manners with Old Fashion Games, Cooking, Paper Mache, Dramatic Game/Play, Multi-Cultural Activities, Painting, Drawing, Spring Arts and Crafts, Science Related Activities and Computer Related Activities.
Please remember that staffing is dependent on the number of student enrollment.
A message from the yearbook staff:
Please order your yearbook today. The 72-page full-color yearbook is a wonderful way to preserve your child’s memories at Murdock-Portal. The deadline for ordering the yearbook has been extended to March 31, 2009. Extra order forms can be obtained from the office. The cost of the yearbook is $18.00.
Pictures needed for Yearbook
Please share your “Kodak” moments with us. Please e-mail pictures of field trips, plays or any other pictures taken at school events to Michelle Wissig at wissigfam@comcast.net. Please help us make the yearbook a “memorable” one.
Thank you,
YB Coordinators
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!
Oral Presentations:
On March 17-18, students will be presenting their favorite book
from the past trimester’s Reading Contract. As you probably know, this is a very fun way for Rockhoppers to gain more experience in the public speaking realm! Kids will come as the main character (complete with costume and props), and they will share either a brief summary or a specific scene from the book, acting as if they were this character. Students are limited to 2-3 minutes for these presentations, and at this point in the year, they are encouraged to have their dialogue memorized (although effective note card use is still an option.) Ask your son or daughter to give you a “preview” of their book- it will be good practice for them, and an enjoyable experience for you!
Math:
Our unit test on statistics, graphing, and coordinate planes is this Friday. Reviewing concepts like mean, median, mode, and range, along with the idea of ordered pairs to describe a point, is especially recommended. We will start work on Geometry and Measurement the following week.
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.
Our Bedroom projects were turned in on Friday, and they are WONDERFUL! Full of creativity, effort, and art. Well done, 5th graders.
The math placement test for middle school, Level 1 will be on March 19. This is a test of general knowledge and skills that 5th graders should know. All schools in the district will be taking the test this week, and no middle school expects any school to have covered the entire curriculum for the year, since there are still three months left in school. The students received a review package today, that they will be working on in class over the next couple of weeks. The 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, we are moving into the “Mexican California” era of our history. During this unit, students will be making a diseno, which is a land grant map of the time. Thank you for the donations of grocery bags!
Science:
We will be finishing, as much as possible, our Environments unit
this week. Our assessments for this unit have consisted of formal responses to investigation situations that our integrated into our studies. I will also be checking science notebooks for organization (dated work) and level of participation in our activities. Our next unit will be Electricity &
Magnetism. Our Science Fair project continues on as well, with our second
half of the scientific method write-up due on March 18. This portion of the
formal write-up will contain the results of their experiment and their
interpretation of these results, otherwise known as the conclusion! Please check with your student to make sure they have shared their results in a clear format (chart, graph, detailed notes), and that they have thought about how their results relate to their original question and hypothesis.
Important Dates to Remember:
March 12 - Fitnessgram testing 5th graders
March 13 - GATE testing (during Specialist time)
March 13 - 4th Grade Math Unit test
March 16 - Learning Day - No school for students
March 17 -18 Oral Presentations
March 18 - Science Fair Project Conclusions and Results due
March 18 - Middle School Counselors coming to talk to 5th graders
March 19 - Date Change! Math Placement Test - 5th grade. Level 1.
March 19 - March 27 Parent/Teacher/Student Conferences -
EARLY DISMISSAL -12:30. Students must attend conferences with parents.
CALIFORNIA TRIVIA!
Q: At which mission was the altar painted by an American sailor who had jumped ship?
Good luck!
Mr. Roels & Miss Scourkes
Monday, March 2, 2009
March Weekly Reminders!
Dear Parents and Portal Students,
“March Madness” has begun - and we don’t just mean the basketball tournament! We have a full academic calendar this month along with quite a few social happenings. Add this to everyone’s regular busy schedule and you have the recipe for the “madness” until the end of the year! Please make sure that you are getting enough rest and relaxation and have the time to reflect and enjoy the events in your life.
A message from the Memory Book staff:
Please order your Memory Book today. The 72-page full-color Memory Book is a wonderful way to preserve your child’s great moments at Murdock-Portal. The deadline for ordering the Memory Book has been extended to March 31, 2009. Extra order forms can be obtained from the office. The cost of the Memory Book is $18.00.
Pictures needed for Memory Book!
Please share your “Kodak” moments with us. Please e-mail pictures of field trips, plays or any other pictures taken at school events to Michelle Wissig at wissigfam@comcast.net. Please help us make the yearbook a “memorable” one.
Thank you,
Memory Book Coordinators
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:
Math for 4th graders is moving from our “Profiles” statistical study into another form of data analysis- ordered pairs, coordinates planes, and representing algebraic expressions in graph form. We’re beginning this week, and this work promises to test the mathematical thinking skills of all our students!
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.
Social Studies:
In social studies, we are moving into the “Mexican California” era of our history. During this unit, students will be making a diseno, which is a land grant map of the time. For this project, we will need large brown paper grocery bags. This is a good way to “reuse” bags that you have. Please send your donations in with your child before next Monday, March 9. Thank you.
Science:
In science class, our work this week is focused on learning terminology for the characteristics of aquatic environments, followed by a study of food webs and food chains in various environments. Our aquatic organisms have arrived, and we are busy observing fish behaviors and changes in the environments we have established for them.
Mega Skill of the Month - Motivation!
The MegaSkill for this month is MOTIVATION! Motivation is the desire and
willingness to do what is required. Motivation is something that comes
naturally in some situations (I'm MOTIVATED to eat that ice cream cone),
while motivation may need to be practiced in other instances (I DO want to produce the best summary I've ever written!) When you're motivated to accomplish the tasks in front of you, whether it's schoolwork or chores at home, you will find that work gets done quickly and at a superior level- who wouldn't WANT that kind of result? So......GET MOTIVATED!
Important Dates to Remember:
March 3 - 4th grade STAR Writing Test, 5th Grade District Writing Test
March 3 - Math Olympiads 12:30
March 4- 4/5 Fresh Choice Night 4:00-8:00
March 5 - Fitnessgram testing 5th graders
March 5 - 5th Grade Parent Night- Cupertino Middle School 6:00-8:00
March 6 - Reading Log Due
March 6- Fitnessgram testing 5th graders
March 6 - Second Trimester Ends
March 12 - Fitnessgram testing 5th graders
March 13 - GATE testing (during Specialist time)
March 16 - Learning Day - No school for students
March 18 - Science Fair Project Conclusions and Results due
March 18 - Middle School Counselors coming to talk to 5th graders
March 19 - Date Change! Math Placement Test - 5th grade. Level 1.
CALIFORNIA TRIVIA!
Q: During which months do Californians see the most migrating gray whales?
Good luck!
Mr. Roels & Miss Scourkes
“March Madness” has begun - and we don’t just mean the basketball tournament! We have a full academic calendar this month along with quite a few social happenings. Add this to everyone’s regular busy schedule and you have the recipe for the “madness” until the end of the year! Please make sure that you are getting enough rest and relaxation and have the time to reflect and enjoy the events in your life.
A message from the Memory Book staff:
Please order your Memory Book today. The 72-page full-color Memory Book is a wonderful way to preserve your child’s great moments at Murdock-Portal. The deadline for ordering the Memory Book has been extended to March 31, 2009. Extra order forms can be obtained from the office. The cost of the Memory Book is $18.00.
Pictures needed for Memory Book!
Please share your “Kodak” moments with us. Please e-mail pictures of field trips, plays or any other pictures taken at school events to Michelle Wissig at wissigfam@comcast.net. Please help us make the yearbook a “memorable” one.
Thank you,
Memory Book Coordinators
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:
Math for 4th graders is moving from our “Profiles” statistical study into another form of data analysis- ordered pairs, coordinates planes, and representing algebraic expressions in graph form. We’re beginning this week, and this work promises to test the mathematical thinking skills of all our students!
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.
Social Studies:
In social studies, we are moving into the “Mexican California” era of our history. During this unit, students will be making a diseno, which is a land grant map of the time. For this project, we will need large brown paper grocery bags. This is a good way to “reuse” bags that you have. Please send your donations in with your child before next Monday, March 9. Thank you.
Science:
In science class, our work this week is focused on learning terminology for the characteristics of aquatic environments, followed by a study of food webs and food chains in various environments. Our aquatic organisms have arrived, and we are busy observing fish behaviors and changes in the environments we have established for them.
Mega Skill of the Month - Motivation!
The MegaSkill for this month is MOTIVATION! Motivation is the desire and
willingness to do what is required. Motivation is something that comes
naturally in some situations (I'm MOTIVATED to eat that ice cream cone),
while motivation may need to be practiced in other instances (I DO want to produce the best summary I've ever written!) When you're motivated to accomplish the tasks in front of you, whether it's schoolwork or chores at home, you will find that work gets done quickly and at a superior level- who wouldn't WANT that kind of result? So......GET MOTIVATED!
Important Dates to Remember:
March 3 - 4th grade STAR Writing Test, 5th Grade District Writing Test
March 3 - Math Olympiads 12:30
March 4- 4/5 Fresh Choice Night 4:00-8:00
March 5 - Fitnessgram testing 5th graders
March 5 - 5th Grade Parent Night- Cupertino Middle School 6:00-8:00
March 6 - Reading Log Due
March 6- Fitnessgram testing 5th graders
March 6 - Second Trimester Ends
March 12 - Fitnessgram testing 5th graders
March 13 - GATE testing (during Specialist time)
March 16 - Learning Day - No school for students
March 18 - Science Fair Project Conclusions and Results due
March 18 - Middle School Counselors coming to talk to 5th graders
March 19 - Date Change! Math Placement Test - 5th grade. Level 1.
CALIFORNIA TRIVIA!
Q: During which months do Californians see the most migrating gray whales?
Good luck!
Mr. Roels & Miss Scourkes
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)