11/29-12/3 Reminders

Weekly Reminders: Rooms 20 & 21

Dear Room 20 & 21 Parents,

Welcome back to school! We hope you had an enjoyable extended Thanksgiving break with your families, and we're looking forward to the next segment of our exciting school year! The holiday season keeps us all moving a lot- buying gifts, visiting friends, and preparing our homes for our special celebrations. As teachers, we will be extra diligent about managing the student workload during this time. As families, you may also want to consider some changes to your schedules to avoid overwhelming your Portal student with school, after-school, and holiday activities. We hope that all of us can celebrate the BEST time of the year in a spirit of peace, understanding, and love for one another.

Barnes & Noble Night/Fresh Choice/Willow Street Pizza

Don't forget that TOMORROW, November 30th is our annual Barnes & Noble fundraiser for our school. Barnes & Noble donates a portion of your purchases back to our school; this includes purchases made on-line as well during this week! In addition, teachers will be coming to the Westgate Barnes & Noble location to read to our great Portal families; see the Rockhopper teachers at 5:00-5:45pm!!! Before or after your visit to the store, please enjoy a snack or a meal at either Fresh Choice or Willow Street Pizza- both restaurants will also be donating a percentage of your bill to our school (this includes take-out orders too!) So, come join our fantastic community tomorrow for a fun evening on the town.........and help your school at the same time.

*** Please note that flyers for this event can be downloaded and printed from our website- remember to bring it with you!***

Our blogsite addresses are:

Room 20 (Scourkes) http://rockhopperroom20.blogspot.com
Room 21 (Roels) http://gtfroom22.blogspot.com


Calendar of Events:

Tues. 11/30 Barnes and Noble Night

Fri. 12/3 Report Cards sent home

Wed. 12/15 PSCO Meeting 6:30

Fri. 12/17 Social Studies Native American Essay Due

Fri. 12/17 Spirit Day - Crazy Hair!

Fri.12/20 Winter Break

Mon. 1/3 School Resumes!


California Trivia Clue (student responses are REQUIRED):

What two large CA lakes extend into other states?

Sincerely,

Mr. Roels and Miss Scourkes
Rooms 20 & 21
Rockhopper Village
Portal School

Reminders for Nov. 15-19

Weekly Reminders: Rooms 20 & 21

Dear Room 20 & 21 Parents,

We hope you all enjoyed the long Veteran's Day weekend. I know our students seemed to appreciate a little extra time for themselves, and it seems that they are ready to resume their studies as our week begins. We have a full week of all subjects, plus our first performing arts field trip today and a great Lawrence Hall of Science assembly to look forward to on Wednesday. A great goal for this week is to be prepared to respond- to questions, requested assignments, volunteer opportunities, or friends in need. Being aware of your environment and responsive to your own needs and the needs of others is a valuable trait for all of us to incorporate into our character.

Literature circle meetings will conclude on Wednesday, and once again, a big "thank you" to the parents who have volunteered and have given up valuable time to help us out. It makes a huge difference in our ability to see what is going on in each group. We've learned a lot about our classes' critical thinking abilities by observing during this activity, and it will guide our approach to our core literature studies for the remaining trimesters.

Math Olympiads Parent Volunteers:

We would like to thank all parents who’ve signed up to help out with Math Olympiads this year. We have formed three teams, and three parents per team have been chosen as volunteers. We have contacted all volunteers via email already. The first contest will take place tomorrow, November 16th, during school hours.

As you are now aware, our Reminders are now linked to our website, so that you can access all of this information each Monday. Go to the Portal Website (https://sites.google.com/a/cusdschools.org/murdock-portal) and click on 4-5 Villages and then Rockhoppers Rooms 20 and 21. Weekly Reminders will be on the left side.

For the immediate future, reminders will also be sent by email, and they are posted on our blog as well.

Our blogsite addresses are:

Room 20 (Scourkes) http://rockhopperroom20.blogspot.com
Room 21 (Roels) http://gtfroom22.blogspot.com


Calendar of Events:

Mon. 11/15 Literature Circles 8:10

Mon. 11/15 Field Trip to Children's Theater Center - Amelia Earhart - 11:00. Bag lunch needed!
Tues. 11/16 Project Cornerstone Class Presentation #3 9:00

Wed. 11/17 Literature Circles 8:10
Wed. 11/17 Lawrence Hall of Science Assembly 12:30
Thurs. 11/18 Island of the Blue Dolphins comprehension quiz
Wed. 11/17 PSCO Meeting 6:30
Fri. 11/19 4th Grade Math- Ch.10/11 Test
Mon.-Fri. 11/22-11/26 Thanksgiving Break- Happy Turkey Day! (NO SCHOOL)


California Trivia Clue (student responses are REQUIRED):

In what U.S. state is there a town named California?


Sincerely,

Mr. Roels and Miss Scourkes
Rooms 20 & 21
Rockhopper Village
Portal School

A short week for Weekly Reminders

Weekly Reminders: Rooms 20 & 21

Dear Room 20 & 21 Parents,

As the pace begins to pick up toward the end of this first trimester, we've noticed that there are students who are having trouble completing assignments and remembering homework. By this time of the year, we expect students to have certain procedures in place for recording and remembering homework. We are working with the students at school on strategies to help them organize themselves and their homework and we discuss prioritizing and time management. They may also need some gentle reminders at home and a little bit of supervision and assistance with making sure that tasks are getting completed and that their time at home is managed well. We'd appreciate your help in this area so that we can all work on having each child be successful. Remember to please let us know if you have any questions regarding the homework procedures and policy. Thank you in advance for your help.

Thank you to the parents who attended our NASA field trip with us last week. The trip was lots of fun and VERY educational. We were also given a "goodie bag" at the end of the trip that included paper models and bookmarks with cool interactive websites on them.

Today, we had our first literature circle meetings. Thank you to the parents who have volunteered and have given up valuable time to help us out. It makes a huge difference in our ability to see what is going on in each group. You are our "eyes" and "ears".

Math Olympiads Parent Volunteers:
We would like to thank all parents who’ve signed up to help out with Math Olympiads this year. We have formed three teams, and three parents per team have been chosen as volunteers. We have contacted all volunteers via email already. The first contest will take place on Tuesday, November 16th during school hours.

As you are now aware, our Reminders are now linked to our website, so that you can access all of this information each Monday. Go to the Portal Website (https://sites.google.com/a/cusdschools.org/murdock-portal) and click on 4-5 Villages and then Rockhoppers Rooms 20 and 21. Weekly Reminders will be on the left side.

For the immediate future, reminders will also be sent by email, and they are posted on our blog as well.

Our blogsite addresses are:

Room 20 (Scourkes) http://rockhopperroom20.blogspot.com
Room 21 (Roels) http://gtfroom22.blogspot.com


Calendar of Events:
Wed. 11/10 Social Studies Native American Test (date change)
Wed. 11/10 Literature Circles 8:10
Wed, 11/10 First Trimester Ends
Thur. 11/11, Fri. 11/12 Veteran's Day - No school!

Mon. 11/15 Literature Circles 8:10

Mon. 11/15 Field Trip to Children's Theater Center - Amelia Earhart - 11:00. Bag lunch needed!

Wed. 11/17 Literature Circles 8:10
Wed. 11/17 PSCO Meeting


California Trivia Clue (student responses are REQUIRED):

How many state forests are in CA?


Sincerely,

Mr. Roels and Miss Scourkes
Rooms 20 & 21
Rockhopper Village
Portal School

November's First Reminders

Weekly Reminders: Rooms 20 & 21

Dear Room 20 & 21 Parents,

Can you believe it's November? Election Day is tomorrow, and many important decisions about education's future will surely come from some of the choices made on Tuesday. I hope that our Portal voting population makes sure to state their position on the important issues of the day by casting their ballots; modeling the behavior of an informed and participating member of our society is critical for all our students.

On the student front, this week is exciting in so many ways- oral presentations going on, a science Webquest project underway, our NASA/Ames field trips, and a chance to see our fellow Rockhoppers in "Gold Dust or Bust!" Be prepared for a full week by resting properly, eating well each morning, and arriving on time (by 8:00am) to Portal!

As you are now aware, our Reminders are now linked to our website, so that you can access all of this information each Monday. Go to the Portal Website (https://sites.google.com/a/cusdschools.org/murdock-portal) and click on 4-5 Villages and then Rockhoppers Rooms 20 and 21. Weekly Reminders will be on the left side.

For the immediate future, reminders will also be sent by email, and they are posted on our blog as well.

Our blogsite addresses are:

Room 20 (Scourkes) http://rockhopperroom20.blogspot.com
Room 21 (Roels) http://gtfroom22.blogspot.com

NASA/AMES field trip update

We are very excited for our NASA trips this week! On Wednesday, November 3 (Room 21) and Thursday, November 4 (Room 20), our students will be going on an informative and interactive 1/2 day visit to the NASA/Ames Exploration Encounter. Each student will need a bag lunch for that day and a snack, since we will return to school after our normal lunch time. If you are a parent volunteer, please arrive at school no later than 8:20 so that you can be briefed about the day. There is no need for you to bring a lunch, but you may wish to bring snack. Adults should remember to bring ID and your green card if you're not a US citizen.

Literature Circles- Are you an interested parent?

Help Needed!!
We currently only have a few parents. Mr. Roels only has ONE. Miss Scourkes has THREE. We really need 6 each! Please email us right away if you can help!

Our first literature circle dates will be: Monday, Nov. 8, Wednesday, Nov. 10, Monday, Nov. 15, and Wednesday, November 17. All literature circles will start promptly at 8:10am, and we'll end by 9:00 a.m. on these dates. If you expressed an interest in participating as a literature circle volunteer previously, please let us know if you can attend during these dates. Ideally, we would like parents to attend all four sessions, but we will make exceptions based on your schedules in order to have the maximum number of parent participants. So......please participate if you can!

Calendar of Events:

Mon. 11/1 - Thur. 11/4 Oral Presentations
Tues. 11/2 Election Day!!

Wed. 11/3 Room 21 field trip to NASA/AMES 8:30-12:30 - Bag lunch needed

Thur. 11/4 Room 20 field trip to NASA/AMES 8:30-12:30 - Bag lunch needed
Mon. 11/8 Native American Test in Social Studies

Mon. 11/8 Literature Circles 8:10

Wed. 11/10 Literature Circles 8:10
Wed, 11/10 First Trimester Ends
Thur. 11/11, Fri. 11/12 Veteran's Day - No school!

Mon. 11/15 Literature Circles 8:10

Mon. 11/15 Field Trip to Children's Theater Center - Amelia Earhart - 11:00. Bag lunch needed!

Wed. 11/17 Literature Circles 8:10
Wed. 11/17 PSCO Meeting


California Trivia Clue (student responses are REQUIRED):

CA has how many counties?


Sincerely,

Mr. Roels and Miss Scourkes
Rooms 20 & 21
Rockhopper Village
Portal School