Weekly Reminders- Dec. 17-21

Rockhopper Weekly Reminders

December 17-21  2012

Mark Your Calendars:

• Tuesday, December 18- Thursday, December 20: Oral Presentations
• Thursday, December 20th- 4th grade math test- Chapter 7
• Thursday, December 20th: Tribe Report Final Copy Due
• December 24th-January 4th:  Winter break!
• January 7th, 2013:  School resumes

Curriculum Flash!

Language Arts   It’s another busy week in the Rockhopper classrooms!

Last week, we finished our Literature Circles. Thank you to our volunteer parents who worked with us throughout this valuable reading comprehension program - your help contributed greatly to the success of this activity.  Ask your child if they enjoyed their first “book club” experience!

Oral presentations of 1st Trimester Reading Contract book favorites will be done in class this Tuesday, Dec. 18- Thursday, Dec. 20.  Guidelines and expectations for student performances have already gone home with all classes.  Your student should be well-prepared (ask them to perform their 2-3 minute presentation for you!), have a costume to wear, and be enthusiastic about their presentation book choice.  


Math
4th grade: We’re starting our week by finishing up our written descriptions of mathematical scenarios and “translating” those situations into expressions that can produce an answer to the question being asked in the scenario.  The end product is a three problem booklet to share and solve with other students in class.  As the week goes on, we will review the order of operations in class on Wednesday and assess our understanding of the Chapter 7 concepts on Thursday.  Then, we will begin our work with fractions on Friday by creating our own fraction calculation tool!

5th grade:  
This week we embark on the fractions unit starting with fractions we encounter in the real world, and discussing the big idea behind the words denominator and equivalent. We will use outside resources as well as technology to meet the new common core standards.

Social Studies:
Students have been working hard on their California Native American research essays; we hope that they have learned some helpful writing tips when it comes to expository essay writing.  At home, students should continue to write their essays and edit carefully.  The final typed copy of the research report will be due this Thursday!

After we have “wrapped up” our Native American unit, we will begin our unit on Explorers. We will concentrate on explorers who ventured along the Pacific coast and “discovered” California.  Students will learn about the motivation and forces that brought these adventurers to the California coast!

Science:
This week we continue working on Investigation 4: Making Connections.  The highlight of our activities will most likely be Part 3: Making a Motor Run.  It’s just plain FUN to work with electricity and motors!  We’ll also have an assessed Response Sheet after Part 3 (our opening activity on Wednesday), along with the rest of the afternoon and Thursday afternoon devoted to Part 4 of the investigation. We hope that you’ve had a chance to help your child experience static electricity using the “Your Admirer is a Balloon” worksheet.

CA Trivia:
Which Native American tribe lived along the Sacramento River 200 years ago and still exists in Tuolumne today?

Weekly Reminders: Dec. 10-14

Rockhopper Weekly Reminders

December 10-14  2012

Mark Your Calendars:

• December 11th & 13th:  Literature Circle Discussions #3 & #4
• Wednesday, December 12: Science I-Check for Investigation 1
• Thursday, December 13- Wednesday, December 19 - auditioning for play
• Friday, December 14: 5th Grade Math Unit 12 Test
• Tuesday, December 18- Thursday, December 20: Oral Presentations
• Thursday, December 20th: Tribe Report Final Copy Due
• December 24th-January 4th:  Winter break!
• January 7th, 2013:  School resumes

Curriculum Flash!

A Quick Note:
As we all know, this is a very busy time of year, both in and out of our classes. As adults we all have different techniques for handling stress and our busy schedules, but we sometimes forget that children are also susceptible to the same stress that we experience as adults - even noticing stress in others can raise anxiety levels in children. As teachers, we find  that when students are well rested and relaxed they are able to learn so much more effectively.

Language Arts   It’s another busy week in the Rockhopper classrooms!

The highlight of the week is the conclusion of our first official Literature Circle meetings. Thank you to our volunteer parents who have worked with us throughout this valuable reading comprehension program.  Ask your child if they enjoyed their first “book club” experience!

Also, this week in Language Arts, we will be practicing the organization of our writing, as all good writers do!  First, we’re composing Occasion-Position statements and Proposed Plan (list) sentences.  These formatted topic sentences are often used when introducing expository essays. Secondly, we will using the structure of accordion paragraphs to help us to “stretch”, or add, more detailed information into an outline and draft for our social studies multi-paragraph essay.  Finally, we will have language arts centers focusing on our weekly vocabulary (Greek and Latin prefixes), grammar topics (subject/verb agreement and pronouns), technology (Type to Learn, iPad apps, AR quizzes), and reading-writing extensions (O/P statement practice.)

Oral presentations of 1st Trimester Reading Contract book favorites will be done in class next Tuesday, Dec. 18- Thursday, Dec. 20.  Guidelines and expectations for student performances have already gone home with all classes.  Your student should be well-prepared (ask them to perform their 2-3 minute presentation for you!), have a costume to wear, and be enthusiastic about their presentation book choice.  

Math
4th grade: We revisit equations in more detail this week in math.  Specifically, we will be presenting the order of operations to be performed in expressions and equations, we will be solving expressions, inequalities, and equations containing all four operations, and we’ll examine the effect of multiplying equal quantities by equal quantities.  Our classes will wrap up the week by taking written descriptions of scenarios and “translating” those situations into expressions that can produce an answer to the question being asked in the scenario.  It’s certainly a thought-provoking week!

5th grade:  
This week we “tie together” several concepts we’ve learned. Students will solve linear equations that include negative numbers, and plot the points on a coordinate grid.  This is the final step of our algebra unit, and will conclude on Friday. Throughout the week, students will also continue to work on explaining the process for solving equations. For additional practice with integers, students may use the following websites: www.mathgoodies.com/lessons/vol5/challenge_vol5.html
www.ezschool.com/EZsheets/numbersense/integers


Social Studies:
We are continuing to work on our first official research report of the school year. Students will be researching in pairs to learn more about different Native American tribes living in California. Since this will be the first expository research report of the year, there will be a lot of scaffolding to ensure student success. Each pair will cooperatively study a tribe in detail and gather as much information as possible. Students will then be responsible for individual written reports.

Some of the work for this report will be done at school, and other parts will be done at home. Students will use class time to do research and take notes with their partners. They will then use their notes to construct an outline on a special form. At home, students will follow the outline and put their ideas into separate paragraphs for a rough draft. Students will then write a final copy with a bibliography.

Science:
This Wednesday we have our first I-Check (Investigation Check.) This assessment will be open textbook/open notebook; students will need to apply their knowledge from their hands-on investigations and supporting reading to magnetic scenarios. The challenging aspect of these assessments is that a student must UNDERSTAND what the purpose of our investigation was and what concepts have been demonstrated by our activities.  Then, a student must use appropriate terminology in their written answers to make their scientific responses clear to the reader- their teacher!  The rest of the week will be devoted to review for the I-Check (on Monday) and beginning our next investigation, Investigation 4: Making Connections.  This is our introduction to electricity and its connection to magnetic properties.

CA Trivia:
What was the main source of water for the Mojave Indians?

December's First Weekly Reminders!

Rockhopper Weekly Reminders

December 3-7, 2012

Mark Your Calendars:

• December 4th, 6th, 11th, & 13th:  Literature Circle Discussions
• Thursday, December 6: Fifth grade math test in unit 11 on Integers
• Friday, December 7th:  Report cards go home
• Monday, December 10th: Fourth grade Ch. 12/13 Division Test
• Wednesday, December 12: Science I-Check for Investigation 1
• Thursday, December 20th: Tribe Report Final Copy Due

Curriculum Flash!

Language Arts   
It’s another busy week in the Rockhopper classrooms! The highlight of the week is definitely our first official Literature Circle meetings with a new book, new friends, new skills... Thank you to our volunteer parents who will be working with us throughout this valuable reading comprehension program.  

Also, this week as we begin our Social Studies Tribe Reports in Language Arts, we will be planning for the organization of our writing, as all good writers do!  Firstly, we will be practicing “OPPP,”  Occasion-Position Proposed Plan topic sentences.  This formatted topic sentence is often used when introducing expository essays. The “OP” or Occasion Position, states the author’s purpose or “occasion” for writing and includes the author’s “position” or what will be explained or proven in the essay.  The “PP” is the Proposed Plan that outlines the sub-topics of the body paragraphs of the essay.  Be sure to ask your child later in the week to share with you what they’ve learned about this sophisticated format!  Secondly, we will be discussing the structure of accordion paragraphs as a guideline to help us organize our notes and “stretch” more detailed information into an outline for our multi-paragraph report.  

Math
4th grade: Division continues during this week’s math time.  We’ll be modeling and practicing 3-digit division, placing the first digit of the quotient, and evaluating what to do when there are zeros in the quotient.  We’ll end the week with a couple of game activities that review multiplication and division skills- a great way to experience math!  Last, we will have a relatively short division test on Chapter 12 and 13 ideas on Monday, December 10; all students should review textbook lessons to prepare to show accurate work on the test.

5th grade:  
We will conclude the unit on integers by giving students additional practice in adding and subtracting of integers and applying these operations in word problems.They will be assessed on Thursday in this unit. For additional practice with integers, students may use the following websites: www.mathgoodies.com/lessons/vol5/challenge_vol5.html
www.ezschool.com/EZsheets/numbersense/integers


Social Studies:
We are continuing to work on our first official research report of the school year. Students will be researching in pairs to learn more about different Native American tribes living in California. Since this will be the first expository research report of the year, there will be a lot of scaffolding to ensure student success. Each pair will cooperatively study a tribe in detail and gather as much information as possible. Students will then be responsible for individual written reports.

Some of the work for this report will be done at school, and other parts will be done at home. Students will use class time to do research and take notes with their partners. They will then use their notes to construct an outline on a special form. At home, students will follow the outline and put their ideas into separate paragraphs for a rough draft. Students will then write a final copy with a bibliography.

Science:
Our three science classes have begun their study of Electricity and Magnetism.  This week our classrooms will be working on Parts 3 and 4 of Investigation 1- Breaking the Force and Detecting Magnetic Fields.  These activities are very beneficial to students in understanding magnetic concepts; they are not to be missed!  We will have reading assignments that will complement the investigations as well.  Our first I-Check (Investigation Check) will be on Wednesday, December 12.  This assessment will be open textbook/open notebook; students will need to apply their knowledge from their hands-on investigations and supporting reading to magnetic scenarios.

CA Trivia:
What is California’s deepest lake?