Reminders for the Week of April 27

Dear Parents and Portal Students,
We hope everyone has recovered from the Sacramento trip! It sure was exciting, educational, motivational, and a bit exhausting for all! We’ve heard so many positive comments from parents and students that confirm what a great trip it is for all those involved. Thank you to the parent chaperones who came with us. They did a fantastic job! We’re so pleased to hear that students took what they learned and observed and shared it at home with their parents and that parents also checked out Miss McPheeters' blog with live updates throughout the day. What fun!

STAR Testing

As you all are aware, the next two weeks (May 4 - 11) will be STAR testing. To help make sure your child is the best prepared for the tests:

1. Make sure your child is getting enough sleep every night - doctors
recommend NINE TO TEN hours for this age group!
2. Feed your child a balanced breakfast before school starts. Include
some protein, fruit or vegetable, and whole grains. (Cereal with milk and
bananas; eggs, pancakes, and bacon; etc.) Donuts and other sweets may boost a person’s energy for a short time, but will not sustain the brain through a long test.
3. Send your child with a healthy balanced snack and water.
4. DO have your 5th grade child study their work from last year for the Science test. Specific facts and ideas covered in the curriculum will be on the test.
5. Try not to put too much pressure on your child about these tests. They are only one measure of your child’s true abilities. Be sure to balance the evenings and weekend with relaxing activities.

Thanks for your support!


My best memories as a Portal Penguin!! (5th Graders only)

Do you remember your first day as a Portal Penguin? How about being a Rockhopper? Were you scared, nervous, excited, glad that you knew someone from your 2/3 village (maybe all of the above?!!)? We want you to share your favorite memory as a Portal Penguin. We want to hear from the 5th graders. Please write about your fondest memory or most favorite thing at Portal. It could be 2 to 3 lines. You can turn it into the office. There is a box labeled “5th Graders Memories of Portal”. Please turn in your entries by April 28th, 2009. Some of the entries will be featured in the Memory Book.

Thank you,
Memory Book Coordinators

Curricular Areas...

Language Arts:

This week we will continue with our literature circles and begin our novel, Bridge to Terabithia. We will be doing pre-reading activities and lots of discussion about friendship as this theme is central to the story. Please don’t have your child read ahead of the class, as we will be doing predicting activities and other discussions that will be more interesting and thoughtful if the student isn’t reading ahead in the book. If they already have a copy of the book, students should bring it in to class no later than the beginning of next week.

Math:

4th grade students are now moving into more complex geometry ideas, such as the area of complex two-dimensional shapes, and the surface area and volume of three-dimensional shapes. These concepts require a good understanding of perimeter, measurement, and application of multiplication to specific data.

5th grade students are currently working on our geometry unit. So far this year, we covered basic vocabulary terms and reviewed properties of triangles, quadrilaterals, circles, congruence of figures, points, lines, and rays. We will now be learning about perimeter and area of complex figures, and parallelograms, finding the area of triangles and parallelograms, and the circumference of circles. We will then move on to solid figures, nets, volume and symmetry.

Social Studies:

We are currently learning about the California Gold Rush. Students will be doing a research project within this unit of study that will also involve a costume and an oral presentation. The culminating activity will be a “wax museum” presentation for parents during Open House on the evening of Tuesday, May 19th. All expectations and dates for the project will be given to students this Thursday. Please take a moment to read through and then sign the sheet that is brought home.

Science:

Research on magnetic properties continues. We’ll eventually explore the relationship between electricity and magnetism as well, once we have a sold understanding of how magnetism really works!


Important Dates to Remember:

4/27 Literature Circles
4/27 SSC meeting 3:00
4/28 Parent Principal Exchange 8:15 a.m.
4/29 Literature Circles
5/4-5/11 STAR testing
5/4 Literature Circles at 12:30 p.m.
5/12 - 5/15 Book Fair
5/19 Open House
5/22 Staff Learning Day - no school for students

CALIFORNIA TRIVIA!

Q: What are the five cities that served as temporary capitals of CA between 1850 and 1854?

Good luck!

Mr. Roels & Miss Scourkes

Sacramento Weekly Reminders

Dear Parents and Portal Students,

Welcome back from April break! We hope you had a relaxing and fun filled vacation! It was great to see everybody today! Students looked happy and rested. We had a great time at the performance of The Secret Garden today and we’re excited about our trip to Sacramento on Thursday! We’ll be starting literature circles this week on Wednesday, and want to take this chance to again thank the parents who have volunteered to help.

Sacramento Trip:

Our big trip to Sacramento will be this Thursday. We would like all students to be at school at 7:00 in the morning and returning at approximately 9:00 p.m. Students should dress appropriately in layered clothing and wear comfortable shoes. Lunch and dinner are provided. Students may bring a book to read on the bus if they would like and may bring a camera. Cameras will be the sole responsibility of the student for the entire day, so we highly recommend disposable cameras. Students are welcome to bring small day pack for holding items such as a hat, a camera, and sunscreen.

Current Academics:

Language Arts:

Literature circles begin! Today, students chose their new books for our literature circles this week and next. As usual, students are very excited about the books they have chosen to read and discuss. We’re looking forward to our first discussion day this Wednesday, April 22nd. If you have volunteered to help with literature circles, we will see you at 8:10 on Wednesday. As a reminder, the dates for the discussion groups are: W 4/22, M 4/27, W 4/29, and M 5/4.

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 students will be doing some problems on rate this week and using distance and time to solve word problems. We will then be continuing with geometry concepts for the rest of the year.

Social Studies:

The week before vacation and this week we are learning about both Federal and local government to prepare for our trip to our capital in Sacramento. Next week we will begin our study of the Gold Rush.

Science:

Electricity and Magnetism is underway, and we’re presently exploring magnetic properties. Ask your student what terminology and magnetism rules they’ve learned so far!


Important Dates to Remember:

4/22 Literature Circles
4/22 Earth Day, Lunch on the Lawn!
4/22 PSCO Meeting 6:30
4/23 Sacramento Trip! 7:00 a.m.-9:00 p.m.
4/24 Spirit Day - Pajama Day!
4/27 Literature Circles
4/27 SSC meeting 3:00
4/29 Literature Circles
4/30 Parent Information Night Step Up to Writing, 6:30pm – 8:00pm

CALIFORNIA TRIVIA!

Q: As foreign traders came to CA in the early 19th century, they bartered principally for what products?



Good luck!

Mr. Roels & Miss Scourkes