The 2014 Coast Excursion was a huge success and a ton of fun. The kids learned about estuaries at the South Slough, applied their tide pool research at Cape Arago, and did Tarzan yells on the rope swing at the North bend Aquatic Center. No one got eaten by sharks at Sunset Bay or by lions at Wildlife Safari. And the kids were surprisingly contemplative in the gardens at Shore Acres. Check back in a couple weeks to view the CPETV episode. In the meantime, we still have a week and a half of school. We’ll be wrapping up our fractions unit with a final exam on Wednesday. Here are the last two homework sheets of the school year: Monday, June 2; Tuesday, June 3. Other important items are as follows:
5th Grade Party: Friday, June 6th, after school in the courtyard Roadrunner Day (including 5th grade vs. staff softball game): Monday, June 9th, 9 a.m. Baby Picture Program and Awards Assembly: Tuesday. June 10th, 8:45 a.m. Last Day of School (two hour early release): Wednesday, June 11th
It’s buses ahoy as we undertake our Oregon Coast Excursion bright and early this Thursday! Kids will get a lesson on how to pack on Tuesday, and we want them to deliver their overnight bags and sleeping gear to class on Wednesday. On Thursday, we want them here by 7:30, backpack and lunch in hand. Of course, the coast is not our only matter of concern this week. We have classwork on Tuesday and Wednesday, including this homework in math: Tuesday, May 27 and Wednesday, May 28. If you have questions about the coast trip, please contact me at mack.lewis@district6.org
We had an excellent exploration of Table Rock with our first grade reading buddies and our BLM rangers. While there we saw ookow, death camas, a ton of ticks, and the strange and extremely rare Grace tree (pictured at left). The Grace tree has a deciduous trunk and a human head (though it doesn’t talk–instead it merely babbles nonsense). It was quite a find! Speaking of field trips, we have our last Adopt-a-Street Clean-up on Tuesday, and DARE Day is Friday. In class, we’ve narrowed down our instruction to just a few focal points. Students are completing their tide pool research papers this week. After completing rough drafts, they’ll then create webpages or Power Point presentations. Students are also preparing for the coast trip. They’ll have a vocabulary test on Wednesday covering the key words. In math, students are moving into multiplication and division of fractions. There are a number of helpful video tutorials here, each created by a former Room 15 student. For homework, students should be studying their vocab words, reading for 30 minutes or more from a book of choice, and completing these homework sheets: Monday, May 19th; Tuesday, May 20th; Wednesday, May 21st; Thursday, May 22nd.
Congrats to all our DARE graduates! Thursday’s ceremony was excellent. We’ll have coverage of it in our next episode of CPETV, which is coming soon. Special thanks to Officer Griffin of the Central Point Police Department for all his hard work.
Our final month of the school year is jam packed! Here’s a quick list: Talent show tryouts–Wednesday, May14th, after school; Science Fair–Friday, May 16th (projects due on Thursday); Table Rock hike (with our first grade reading buddies)–Friday, May 17th (Chaperone needed!); Adopt-a-Street Clean-up–Tuesday, May 20th (Chaperones needed!); DARE Day–Friday May 23rd (celebrating our DARE graduates); Memorial Day–Monday, May 26th (no school); Coast Trip–May 29th & 30th; Talent Show–June 5th; Fifth Grade Party–June 6th; Roadrunner Day–June 9th; Baby Picture Show (and last day of school)–June 10th.
DARE, our drug resistance program through the Central Point Police Department, culminates this month with DARE Graduation on Thursday (May 8th) and DARE Day on May 23rd. Graduation is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. in the Music Room. Students are encouraged to dress well for the ceremony. Afterwards, be sure to stop by Room 15 to view your child’s signature on the Red Ribbon, which shows more than 20 years of anti-drug pledges!
Congratulations to Olivia K. and Elizabeth L., our DARE Essay winners! They’ll be presenting their essays at DARE Graduation. Come join us on Thursday, May 8th at 1:00 p.m. to watch all our drug resistance education program graduates. It’s one of the big events of your child’s elementary education. DARE Day, our annual celebration, is scheduled for May 23rd. More on that to come.
Other important dates to remember include Talent Show tryouts on May 14th, Science Fair on May 16th, our Table Rock hike (with our reading buddies) on May 16th, and our last Adopt-a-Street clean-up of the year on May 20th. We’ll need adult chaperones for the Table Rock hike and the Adopt-a-Street clean-up. Finally, our big Oregon Coast Outdoor Education Excursion is booked for May 29th and 30th. Let me know if you’re interested in joining is as a chaperone.
In class this week students will be testing on their most recent book club selections, taking a math quiz on Friday (on fractions concepts such as greatest common factor), and starting new play groups. I’m trying something different this time. The students will spend this week reviewing numerous plays, including the classic short story, A Piece of String (pictured). They’ll then select the three they wish to perform and then tryout for specific parts in front of the class. For the academic theory behind using plays to build reading fluency, click here. Here’s the math homework for this week: Monday, April 28th; Tuesday, April 29th; Wednesday, April 30th; Thursday, May 1st. Students should also be reading for 30 minutes each evening from a book of choice, recording the title and the minutes read on the Assignment Calendar. Students should also be working on their Science Fair project, and they can be doing extra credit work on IXL, and numerous students have an extra credit math workbook from which to work. They Science Fair project, by the way, is voluntary because it must be completed entirely at home and in all reality requires guidance and assistance from parents. Thanks.
Congratulations to Students of the Month for February, Elizabeth L. and Elizabeth H., and Students of the Month for March, Christina F. and Jordan L. These girls are always cheerful, enthusiastic, and hard-working. They make me look forward to coming to class!
Students took home progress reports on Friday. They need to be signed and returned by Tuesday of this week. A concern for many students was in the area of assignment calendars and homework reading. Students also have a vocabulary test on Wednesday, so they should be studying their words and definitions (which they keep in their vocab journals). We’ll be finishing up our current Book Clubs this week. In fact, the Frindle group will be done on Monday. Students will be then reading from a book of choice while we introduce new plays. We’ve released the Science Fair packets. Because this is a home assignment, science Fair projects are optional but encouraged. Please see the packet for guidelines or click on the “Science Fair Packet” link on the right. In math, students are moving on to concepts of fractions. This class has been working on fractions throughout the year via our Mini Math morning activity, so I suspect this unit will go quickly. Here’s the homework for this week: Monday, April 21st, Tuesday, April 22nd;Wednesday, April 23rd; Friday, April 25th.
Special thanks to all the good folks who served as chaperones for our Crater Lake trip. Sunburns aside, it was a great trip.
It’s tax time, which gives many of us the heebie jeebies. But if you think filing once a year is tough, try filing every week the way our students do in the Checkbook Project. They’re getting pretty darn good at it, too. Some of the kids have reached the $1000 mark in their registers, while others are being dropped from participating at all due to recurring problems maintaining a positive balance. This is troublesome. While it may merely be a classroom economy, it should be a red flag to parents. Students who struggle with the Checkbook Project typically have poor study skills (they don’t complete assignments), poor attendance, behavior problems, or poor spending habits (when they do have money, they blow it on impulse purchases). You’ll learn a lot about your child by asking him or her to bring home that checkbook! Speaking of good study skills, our Oregon Coast Outdoor Ed trip is scheduled for May 29th and 30th. Basic requirements for attending include being up-to-date with significant assignments, and staying out of trouble.
After our Monday snow-shoeing trip to Crater Lake, things are pretty straight-forward. We’ll be trying to get our Classroom Constitution wrapped up (or abandoning it due to time-constraints and moving on). We’re continuing our current book clubs. These are being read almost entirely in class with more teacher-direction. At home students should be reading from a book of choice. This week we’re also starting Junior Achievement with local banker Linda Deba of US Bank. We’re writing our final drafts of our DARE essays and we’ll begin presenting them on Friday. And in math we’re continuing our foray into algebra functions. Here’s the homework this week: Tuesday, April 8; Wednesday, April 9; Thursday, April 10.
Our return trip to Crater Lake is scheduled for Monday, April 7th. If you recall, the kids visited the National Park in the fall and learned about volcanoes, the lake’s history, and the native species. The spring trip, meanwhile, includes a snow shoe hike, some sledding, and information about how weather impacts the habitat there. This is another great trip for our students, but we need parents to join us. If you’re able, please let me know as soon as possible.
Also, keep in mind other upcoming trips including Table Rock on May 16th and our Oregon Coast Excursion on May 29th and 30th.
In class this week students will be starting yet another set of Book Clubs, starting their DARE essays (for real this time), and with any luck, finishing their Classroom Constitution. We’ll also be jumping into algebraic expressions. Sound scary? It’s not as bad as it sounds. Here’s the homework for this week: Monday, March 31st; Tuesday, April 1st; Wednesday, April 2nd; Thursday, April 3rd; Friday, April 4th.
Finally, congrats to #BeastMode for making it to the championship game of CPE’s 1st Annual Sportsmanship Floor Hockey Tourney, and to my class as a whole for demonstrating good sportsmanship throughout the event. You kids deserve a corn dog!
The 2014 Coast Excursion was a huge success and a ton of fun. The kids learned about estuaries at the South Slough, applied their tide pool research at Cape Arago, and did Tarzan yells on the rope swing at the North bend Aquatic Center. No one got eaten by sharks at Sunset Bay or by lions at Wildlife Safari. And the kids were surprisingly contemplative in the gardens at Shore Acres. Check back in a couple weeks to view the CPETV episode. In the meantime, we still have a week and a half of school. We’ll be wrapping up our fractions unit with a final exam on Wednesday. Here are the last two homework sheets of the school year: Monday, June 2; Tuesday, June 3. Other important items are as follows:
