Dear Room 20 & 21 parents and students,

We’re finally here..... the last few days of school! It has been an absolute pleasure being able to watch your child learn & grow, try new things, and realize that success comes in many forms; not always a test score. We’ve really emphasized in class that above all else, you must first be a good person. I have full confidence that these students will go on to do great things. The best part about it though is that they will be treating others with respect along the way! It just doesn’t get any better.
I want to encourage students to fully utilize the blog over the summer by sending in posts or comments. I think it will be a great platform to keep in touch with each other, especially our soon to be departed 5th graders. I hope everyone has a fun and safe summer. I can’t wait to hear all about it on the blog!!!

Our blogsite addresses are:

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

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

Thank you to the parents who came on our field trip to the Exploratorium!

Recognition Ceremony

We are really looking forward to a wonderful morning celebrating the promotion of our 5th graders to middle school. The ceremony will be held on Thursday, June 17th at 8:15 in the Multi-Use Room and all families of 5th graders are invited to attend. The ceremony usually lasts a little over an hour and then we celebrate with some yummy snacks while taking lots of pictures with which to remember each other!

If you are a parent of a 5th grader, we ask that you please bring a tray of food that can be eaten without the use of utensils. We like a mixture of both savory and sweet, and enough to feed approximately 10 -12 people. Please send your food with a small card filled out that mentions what is contained in your food, so that people with allergies can be aware. Thank you for helping to make the day a little more special!

Field Day

Our annual field day is on Tuesday, June 15. During this time, students will spend part of their day watching a movie and the other part of the day out on the yard, participating in a series of fun field events. As always, we rely on parent volunteers to help make this day a success. If you are interested in helping lead an event, please go to our school website for more complete information, and a chance to sign up as a volunteer!

Calendar of Events:

Tues. 6/15 Field Day 8:15-11:45

Thur. 6/17 Recognition Ceremony 8:15 Multi-use Room

Thur. 6/17 LAST DAY OF SCHOOL. 11:20 DISMISSAL.

Thur. 6/17 Report Cards Go Home

Thur. 8/5 First Day of School 2010- 2011

Mystery State Clues

• Artificial rain was first used in this state in 1947.
• The highest ground level wind speed in the United States was recorded in this state.
• The first free public library in the United States was established in this state.
• Dartmouth College, founded in 1769, is in this state.
• This state's motto is "Live Free or Die."
• Which state is it?

Sincerely,

Mr. Roels and Miss Scourkes

Rooms 20 & 21

Rockhopper Village

Portal School

June 7-11 Reminders

Dear Room 20 & 21 parents and students,

Just two weeks left in our 2009-2010 school year- it's hard to believe! As always, we in Rockhopper Village end our year in a blaze of glory (or at least a blaze of activity!) We're frantically completing documents for our anthology collections, cleaning up desks, cubbies, and bulletin boards, and wrapping up some pretty cool curricular units at the same time! We encourage all our students to keep focused for the next two weeks- concentration is key for these end-of-the-year tasks, and it's what allows us to take a breather and have fun activities like field trips and Field Day for our entertainment pleasure. Enjoy the year-end experience FULLY!

Our blogsite addresses are:

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

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

Exploratorium Field Trip

Just a reminder that we will return from our field trip to the Exploratorium on Wednesday at 3:30 pm. Please be sure to make arrangements to have your child picked up at that time. Also, your child will need a bag lunch and snack packed in their disposable lunch bag. Often, students choose to eat outside the building, so students should bring sweatshirts as the weather in San Francisco is unpredictable and it may be chilly.

Thank you so much to the parents who have volunteered to chaperone for us!

Promotion Exercise

We are really looking forward to a wonderful morning celebrating the promotion of our 5th graders to middle school. The ceremony will be held on Thursday, June 17th at 8:15 in the Multi-Use Room and all families of 5th graders are invited to attend. The ceremony usually lasts a little over an hour and then we celebrate with some yummy snacks while taking lots of pictures with which to remember each other!

If you are a parent of a 5th grader, we ask that you please bring a tray of food that can be eaten without the use of utensils. We like a mixture of both savory and sweet, and enough to feed approximately 10 -`12 people. This week we will be sending home small cards to be filled out, so that you can share any special ingredients contained in your food, so that people with allergies can be aware. Thank you for helping to make the day a little more special!

Field Day

Our annual field day is on Tuesday, June 15. During this time, students will spend part of their day watching a movie and the other part of the day out on the yard, participating in a series of fun field events. As always, we rely on parent volunteers to help make this day a success. If you are interested in helping lead an event, please go to our school website for more complete information, and a chance to sign up as a volunteer!

Curriculum:

Language Arts

Students continue to read their literature circle books and have discussions with their connections, thoughts, and responses to their story and the characters in their books. Two sessions to go! We are hard at work compiling all anthology items for the year's collection, and we've also been putting together a complete collection of our Sadako research and activities.

Math

Geometry is the theme of our math work until the end of the school year. We are now focused on the congruence of shapes and 3-dimensional shapes (including surface area and volume) before we finish our year. We will our cumulative test on Monday, since the problem-solving took many students longer than our 75 minute class time.

In 5th grade math we continue with Biz World! Students are now working on their marketing plan and advertising campaign. They will present their businesses to the consumers (4th graders) on Thursday, June 10. The Biz World Bazaar will be held that morning, and the following day the bracelet companies will evaluate how successful they have been as a company.

Social Studies

In social studies, students will learn the last group of states - The Pacific Northwest Group. There will be a test on these states on Friday, June 11th.

Science

We are working on Investigation #2 of Mixtures and Solutions. We completed a response to this investigation (parts 1 and 2) today during class- these types of assessments emphasize application of facts to a familiar experimental situation. After today, we'll try to make as much progress in this unit as possible before school winds to an end.

Calendar of Events:

Wed. 6/9 Exploratorium Field Trip 8:30am- 3:30 pm (Please note the return time!)

Wed. 6/9 Promotion Speeches Due (5th graders)

Thur. 6/10 Biz World Bazaar!

Fri. 6/11 Geography Test - Pacific Northwest States

Tues. 6/15 Field Day 8:15-11:45

Thur. 6/17 Promotion Exercise 8:15 Multi-use Room

Thur. 6/17 LAST DAY OF SCHOOL. 11:20 DISMISSAL

Mystery State!

• This state has more "ghost towns" than any other state.
• The state flag of this state has designs on both sides.
• The hazelnut is this state's official state nut.
• Crater Lake, the deepest lake in the United States, is in this state.
• Which state is it?

Sincerely,

Mr. Roels and Miss Scourkes

Rooms 20 & 21

Rockhopper Village

Portal School

The first June reminders!

Dear Room 20 & 21 parents and students,

Thank you for the wonderful flowers and cards this last week. As teachers, we are so appreciative of the great families we have here at Portal. Our students truly are the BEST!

Just a quick reminder that our blogsite addresses are:

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

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

A Note From Ina Johnson, our Art Specialist Teacher:

For the past week I've been mounting and labeling 4th and 5th grade artwork for display at the June 3rd Open House. Almost every student has at least one or two outstanding pieces so the artshow is sure to look fantastic. I will be in the multipurpose room on Thursday, June 3, hanging the artwork. I would love it if you could secure a few parent volunteers to help me put up the art show that morning. Would that be possible? It's a job that would take me and a few parent volunteers a little over an hour to do. If I do it all by myself, it would take me between 5-6 hours. SO it would be fantastic if I could get some help.

Note: Thank you to the wonderful people who have already responded to this note; Ms. Johnson is very grateful for your assistance!

Open House:

Just a reminder that Open House will be from 6:30-7:45pm this Thursday, June 3. There will be a number of exciting things to check out, so please make sure to plan your time accordingly for the evening. We'll see you Thursday!

Exploratorium Field Trip - Chaperone Help Needed - Please!

Thank you for returning our Exploratorium field trip permission forms for our trip on Wednesday, June 9. Each class needs six chaperones. Currently, Mr. Roels' class has five and Miss Scourkes' class has only two! Please won't you consider coming with us as a chaperone? It's a great trip and we could really use your help to break the students up into groups smaller than 10. Not only are ten students hard to manage in such large groups, but it's just not as fun for the students, since they must remain as a whole group, and will have fewer opportunities to see what's of interest to them. Thank you.

Curriculum:

Language Arts

Students continue to read their literature circle books and have discussions with their connections, thoughts, and responses to their story and the characters in their books. They are finishing the last of their Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes work, and are hard at work compiling all anthology items for the year's collection.

Math

Geometry is the theme of our math work until the end of the school year. We are focused on 2-dimensional shapes, symmetry and congruence of shapes, and 3-dimensional shapes (including surface area and volume) before we finish our year. We will also have a cumulative test on Friday to allow students to demonstrate improvements in their knowledge of concepts studied throughout the year.

In 5th grade math we continue with Biz World! Students have begun manufacturing. Using the information from their prototype design, they've estimated time for production of their product. After manufacturing for one day, they've readjusted their business plan and will be working on pricing structure and a marketing plan this week.

Social Studies

In social studies, students will learn the last group of states - The Pacific Northwest Group. They will be tested on these states on Friday, June 11th.

Science

We have completed Investigation #1 of Mixtures and Solutions. We will continue to investigate, as time allows, for the remainder of the school year. Our goal is to have as much hands-on knowledge in this scientific areas as possible! Assessments during this unit will be primarily responses to investigations we've done- these types of assessments emphasize application of facts to a familiar experimental situation. We'll also be preparing ourselves to show our families the iPhotoBook tech projects we completed this past trimester for Open House on Thursday.

Calendar of Events:

Thur. 6/3 Open House 6:30 p.m.

Wed. 6/9 Exploratorium Field Trip 8:30am- 3:30pm ( Please note the return time!)

Wed. 6/9 Promotion Speeches Due (5th graders)

Thur. 6/10 Biz World Bazaar!

Fri. 6/11 Geography Test - Pacific Northwest States

Thur. 6/17 Promotion Exercise

Thur. 6/17 LAST DAY OF SCHOOL. 11:20 DISMISSAL

Mystery State..........

• This state has one town on an island.
• This state's smallest city park is located in the middle of a road.
• This is the only state whose eastern and western borders are formed by water.
• This was the home state of actor John Wayne.
• Which state is it?

Sincerely,

Mr. Roels and Miss Scourkes

Rooms 20 & 21

Rockhopper Village

Portal School