Sacramento Weekly Reminders- May 20-24

Rockhopper Weekly Reminders

May 20- May 24

Mark Your Calendars:

• Monday, May 20: Wax Museum Costume and Props Due
• Thursday, May 23rd:  Sacramento Field Trip. Students are to be at school at      7:00 a.m.
• Friday, May 24th:  Learning Day (No School)
• Monday, May 27: Memorial Day (No School)
• Wednesday, May 29th:  Open House 7-7:45pm for Rockhoppers!
• Friday, May 31st:  Spirit Day- Sports Day!
• Tuesday, June 11th:  Lunch on the Lawn

***** Attention parents! ****

We are in need of parents to help with the following duties in conjunction with our play, "Gold Dust or Bust!" on Thursday, June 6:

-chair takedown after the performance (6-10 people; 10 minute time commitment)

-video person for one dress rehearsal and the night of the performance (1 or 2 people; 2 day time commitment of approximately 1hour each day)

In addition, our parents who have volunteered for props support will be given items by the teachers or backdrop coordinator to purchase, make, or repair depending on our needs.  Please make sure to check with us if you have any questions about our props requirements.

Art Help Needed!- Letter from Mrs. Schulze

Hi There,

I'm really looking forward to our art show again this year.  Your students have done some amazing work!  I love watching the multi-purpose room come to life!

I need your help to find parent volunteers who can help in one or both of the following ways:

Mounting and labeling artwork:

One volunteer from each class who can take artwork home to mount and label for the show.  I will need to have it back by Thursday, May 23rd.

Hanging the art show:

Volunteers who can help me hang the art show on our black display boards.  Volunteers can drop in and help for any amount of time between 12:15-2:15 on Tues, May 28 and 8-12 on Weds, May 29th.

Please ask parents to email me if available.

Thank you for your help!

Judy Schulze

judy.schulze@gmail.com

CCSS PARENT INFORMATION NIGHT [MATH AND THE COMMON CORE]

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

6:30 – 8:00 p.m.

Lawson Middle School Event Center

10401 Vista Drive

Cupertino, CA 95014

The District will be holding a Parent Information Meeting focused on the Common Core State  Standards and mathematical shifts. This is a follow-up to the town hall meetings held in February and is open to all parents in the Cupertino Union School District (videos of the earlier town halls are available at www.cusdk8.org)

The guest speaker for the evening will be Hung-Hsi Wu, a Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at the University of California at Berkeley. He began his mathematics education in 1992 and worked from 1997-2005 with the State of California covering all aspects of mathematics education. Mr. Wu has worked with the National Mathematics Advisory Panel, and the writing team for the Common Core Mathematics Standards. He is currently in the process of completing several textbooks to help with the implementation of the CCSS for middle and high school teachers.

Please RSVP your attendance to https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/cusdccssmath

Curriculum Flash!

Language Arts

As our reading of Bridge to Terabithia takes us closer to the climax of the story, we are using our time to try and understand the depth of the relationship between the two main characters, Jess and Leslie.  The primary methods of exploration are discussion and thoughtful reflection shared in our writing. Rockhopper classes will be reading through Chapter 7 this week.  Our writer’s workshop time on Friday continues to be divided between display board work and speech preparation in Social Studies and ongoing work on the Interdependence technology project in Science.

Math:

4th grade:

This week we continue to concentrate on completing measurement applications in our Perimeter Park projects, finishing our statistical analysis of class “All About Us” data, and practicing coordinate graphing of points and functions.  All of this happens in THREE days.  By the time we reach Sacramento on Thursday, we’ll be measurement and data specialists!

5th grade:

This week the students continue to gather data and create line plots to help interpret their findings.  Students will be asked to complete a series of performance tasks that demonstrate not only their understanding, but the application of these ideas.  They will need to explain, reason and justify throughout this process.   

Social Studies:  

Our Gold Rush Wax Museum projects are under way; the final presentation will be shared with you at Open House!  The project has many different components (research essay, informational board, costume, speech, props) and a series of due dates to help students manage their time and accomplish tasks piece by piece.  Time in class will be given to work on the project, but students will also need to complete some parts for homework.

Science:

This week students have largely wrapped up their research for their technology presentation on interdependence among organisms. Formatting of factual material, adaptation of notes to bullet point, sentence, or short paragraph style is now a prominent task for students. Likewise, supporting charts, photographs, and illustrations are being included on applicable slides. These presentatiions will definitely have a personal stamp of the partners involved in the project!  Of course, the students must never lose sight of the fact that the entire project relates to the interdependence of organisms in various environmnets.  As time allows, we will read interesting articles from the science textbook that speak of animal and bird migration, range of tolerance, and the various ecosystems within California as part of Investigation 5 in the Environments unit.

CA Trivia:

Which University of CA campus is the smallest geographically?