Jan. 28- Feb. 1 Weekly Reminders

Rockhopper Weekly Reminders

January 28- February 1

Mark Your Calendars:

• Monday, January 28th:  Author Visit- Mac Barnett
• Monday, January 28th:  4th grade test on fractions

• Tuesday, January 29: Career Day
• Thursday, January 31st: Science Investigation 3 Quiz
• Friday, February 1st: 5th Grade Fraction Test
• Monday, February 4th:  Learning Day (No School)
• Saturday, February 9th:  Tree Planting 9:00-12:00

Cicero’s Pizza Night:
Take a break from cooking and help our school too!!
PSCO is sponsoring a Cicero's Pizza Days Fundraiser on January 28, 29, and 30th from 11am to 9:30pm.  15% of all purchases will be donated back to our school.  Please bring the coupon being sent home with your student on your grade level day.  The coupon is also on the school website, click on "Parents" then click on "Community Letters"

Monday, Jan. 28th: K/1
Tuesday, Jan. 29th: 4/5
Wednesday, Jan. 30th: 2/3

Cicero's is located at 6138 Bollinger Rd. San Jose  (408) 777-0690   Fax(408) 777-0698

Hope to see you there!

Curriculum Flash!

Language Arts:   
Two subjects are occupying the majority of our time right now: the core literature book By the Great Horn Spoon and formal responses to literature.  We’ll be reading Chapters 6-8 in the book this week, and our activities will revolve around these pages.  For example, we’ll be making journal entries from the perspective of one of the main characters, Praiseworthy or Jack, that will reflect the character’s thoughts, moods, and feelings as the story unfolds. In addition, there will be useful vocabulary drawn from the book that our students will learn to use for themselves.  Also, the wonderful figurative language of the book in all its forms will give us the chance to think about simile, hyperbole, onomatopeia, and the benefits of these elements in our own written work.  Finally, our Friday afternoons are currently devoted to learning the components of a proper response to literature.  All classes are reading fiction books that are leading us into discussions of theme, character, personal connections to text, and plot summarization.  From our whole group work, we will eventually craft our own responses to literature in weeks to come.

Writer’s Workshop on Friday afternoons also resumes its prominent place in our planning.  We’ll start developing our formal response to literature skills during this block of time.  Focus areas initially will be discussion of themes in different short stories, chapters, or Gold Rush era picture books, description of character traits, setting details, and beginning plot elements.  Personal connections to situations in literature will be necessary to incorporate into effective responses as well.

Math:
4th grade:  Question: What is a fraction that is not actually called a fraction?  Answer: It’s a decimal!  This week, we’ll be solidifying our understanding of fractional concepts as we move into hands-on work with decimals.  For those of you who like to review the supporting book materials, we’ll be focusing on Chapter 19, Lessons 1-3 during our class sessions.  Please feel free to pre-read these lessons to improve your background knowledge and understanding of decimal expressions of fractional amounts.

5th grade: This week we will add and subtract fractions and mixed numbers by learning to rename whole numbers, using models and number lines. We will give a comprehensive assessment on Friday on all concepts that lead to the understanding of addition and subtraction of fractions and mixed numbers.

Social Studies:
These next few weeks of Social Studies will be dedicated to our studies of the establishment of California missions.  To share their new learning, students will be engaged in multi-media activities that include character poetry, mission watercolors, and California mission “trading cards” that we will be creating using a new and exciting app on our ipads!  

Rooms 19 and 24 have begun to prepare for their March performance of California Missions and More!  The play showcases brief moments in California’s history that range from early explorers, missions, and ranchos to the early days of statehood! Stay tuned for invitations to attend and test your, what will be by then, “background knowledge” of our Social Studies curriculum thus far ( :

Science:
We have only two sessions of science class this week.  We’ll be wrapping up our review of Investigation 3 and assessing understanding (open book/open note format) using I-Check: Investigation 3.  If time allows, we’ll begin the next investigation on Thursday.
Our students have read the supporting articles in our text for our investigation, and they have study guides as well, so Monday and Tuesday evenings are great times to reread the articles, review their investigation writeups, and ask their science teacher clarifying questions if needed (we’re available).


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

The Reminders for January 14-18

Rockhopper Weekly Reminders

January 14-18

Mark Your Calendars:

• Monday, January 21st:  Martin Luther King Jr. Day (No School)
• Wednesday, January 23rd:  PSCO Meeting at 6:30 p.m.
• Friday, January 25th:  Spirit Day- Twin Day!

    

Curriculum Flash!

Language Arts:   
Our current core literature book is By the Great Horn Spoon, by Sid Fleischman.  We’ll be doing a number of large and small activities designed to tie together the ideas presented in the book.  Center activities range from Google Earth exploration of sea routes to figurative language study in our novel and other Gold Rush poetry to vocabulary development based on chapter content. We’ll also be keeping a journal of the story developments from the perspective of one of the main characters- Praiseworthy or Jack. In addition, there will be a peer response writing task tied into the opening themes of the book.

Writer’s Workshop on Friday afternoons also resumes its prominent place in our planning.  We’ll start developing our formal response to literature skills during this block of time.  Focus areas initially will be discussion of themes in different short stories, chapters, or Gold Rush era picture books, description of character traits, setting details, and beginning plot elements.  Personal connections to situations in literature will be necessary to incorporate into effective responses as well.

Math:
4th grade:  Fractions, fractions, fractions! The world of fractions contains many interrelated mini-concepts including determining equivalency, finding the lowest common denominator, reducing to simplest form, and comparing and ordering values.  We continue this week using manipulatives to understand the formulas associated with these concepts.  Parents, please ask your child to model for you the many skills they are building in fractions this week!


5th grade:  This week, students will transfer the conceptual information that they’ve learned about equivalent fractions from the concrete to the abstract.  Students will be adding, subtracting, and comparing fractions with unlike denominators and completing a beautiful fraction quilt.


Social Studies:
Our new unit studying early explorers continues this week with the first European settlers and the study of presidios, missions, and pueblos.  Students will be sketching a galleon to be showcased on our classroom walls.  We are excited to make the historical connection between the voyages of early California explorers and those who traveled later in search of gold.  Our very first chapter of By the Great Horn Spoon!  introduces the main characters as stowaways traveling from Boston, around the tip of Cape Horn, headed towards California’s Gold Rush!

Science:
This week our classes use their basic knowledge of circuitry to explore more advanced connections.  We’ll begin the week by building a variety of series circuits, and we’ll do trouble-shooting related to this type of circuit as well.  Schematic diagrams will be used to record the types of circuits that we create.  After reviewing the results of this past week’s I-Check on Wednesday, the students will have an opportunity to build parallel circuits on Thursday. We compare series and parallel circuits at this point, and we’ll think about the potential applications of each type of circuit in the world around us.  As always, the textbook readings are primarily used to reinforce our hands-on learning and to expose our students more formally to the vocabulary and descriptive language of circuit design.

CA Trivia:
What object found a place on the CA state flag in 1911 with a grizzly bear?

The First 2013 Weekly Reminders

Rockhopper Weekly Reminders

January 7-12

Mark Your Calendars:

• Thursday, January 10th: Field Trip to San Juan Bautista
• Friday, January 11th: Science Investigation 2 Quiz
• Friday, January 11th:  Vocabulary Quiz
• Monday, January 21st:  Martin Luther King Jr. Day (No School)
• Wednesday, January 23rd:  PSCO Meeting at 6:30 p.m.
• Friday, January 25th:  Spirit Day- Twin Day!

San Juan Bautista Field Trip:
This Thursday, as part of our social studies curriculum, we’ll spend the day at Mission San Juan Bautista.  Students will tour the mission and grounds both with a tour guide and independently with their chaperones. They’ll go on a “treasure hunt” looking for features that are common to all missions and that are unique to Mission San Juan Bautista.  They will also attend two class sessions where they will deepen their understanding of mission life.  Students will need to bring a bag lunch and dress appropriately for the weather. This is a fantastic trip where history comes alive; we’re all looking forward to it!

Curriculum Flash!

Language Arts:   
Our current core literature book is By the Great Horn Spoon, by Sid Fleischman.  This fun adventure tale is set in the California Gold Rush Days and ties directly to our social studies curriculum.  Our activities this week incorporate primary source materials from the Gold Rush era; these photographs, documents, and illustrations allow our students to make connections to this time period for themselves.  We’ll also learn more about the author of our book with a couple of short biographies, we’ll share our background knowledge of the Gold Rush days and any areas for possible research, and we’ll make a personal connection to the main characters of the book as well.  Westward, Ho!


Math:
4th grade:  This week will be devoted to the study of fractions in all their glory! We’ll be modeling fractions with our fraction kits and counters, use our fraction kits again to explore equivalency, and complete a “parts of a whole group” cookie project (related to the children’s book entitled The Doorbell Rang) at the end of the week to reinforce our understanding of fractional values and amounts.


5th grade:  Using pattern blocks and geoboards, students will continue to discover  fractional relationships and practice adding fractions. They will apply the concept of equivalent fractions without using traditional methods, but using the pattern block models and the fractional pieces.


Social Studies:
We will continue with our unit on Explorers and begin our study of California Missions. 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 and with an emphasis on the reasoning behind the development of the mission system and the effects it had on the Native population.

Science:
Before our break, we tested different objects to see if they were conductors or insulators of electricity. This week we will conclude Investigation 2: Making Connections.  The highlight of our activity will be Part 5: Mystery Boards.  In this activity, students detect hidden wires in a board using an electric circuit. We will also review the whole investigation to prepare students for Thursday’s quiz. We will use the study guide for our review, as well as go over questions that they have answered from the readings in the textbook. Finally, those who signed up for a kitchen science activity will receive a worksheet called “Behold the Power of Magnets!” We hope that you enjoy this activity with your child, especially since it ties in with our current topic of study.

CA Trivia:
What CA town has the same name as the state motto?