Spelling Bee Winners!

Congratulations to Macie and Grace for being the Room 9 spelling champs! They will be competing against other 4th, 5th and 6th grade students this Friday. 

Week of January 26th

Notes/Reminders: 

* Please respond to the poll to the right - thank you! * 

* Back to a five-day week! We have a lot going on this week, so please read the entire posting so you are aware of all of the happenings in Room 9. 

* San Juan Bautista Mission Fieldtrip is coming up Tuesday, Feb. 3rd. Please return the signed permission slip and the $1 fee per student as soon as possible. I'll be sending home confirmations to parent drivers/chaperones later this week. 

* District Surveys, Yearbook Order Forms, and Dismissal Forms were all sent home - please return them if you haven't already done so. The Dismissal Form will assist us in keeping the dismissal process running smoothly, and is for the safety of your children. 

* Rio is looking for parent volunteers to assist in the lunch-time recycling program. Please contact Mrs. Dorney if you are interested. 

This week we will...

...have a class Spelling Bee on Monday. The top two spellers from each 4th, 5th, and 6th grade class will move on to the Rio Spelling Bee this Friday. This takes place in a 6th grade classroom during the school day, without an audience. The top two spellers from that round will compete in the North Zone Spelling Bee on February 5th, as well as the Santa Cruz County Spelling Bee. I'll post our 2 class winners Monday evening. 

...work on the Anti-Bullying skits that our class is writing and performing for the school. We'll be writing several skits for the 2nd-6th grade teachers to use in their own classes. We'll also be writing and performing skits for the Kindergarten and 1st grade classes. 

...complete our Rocks & Minerals science unit. There will be a test on Friday, with review homework on Thursday night. 

...have a math test Tuesday covering Chapter 13. 

....begin our next class novel:  Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes.  This is a short but important novel about a young girl affected by the atomic bomb in Japan. We do have a class set, but students are welcome to bring in their own copies (please write their name inside).

...learn how to write a summary.  The fourth-grade state writing assessment is coming up in March, and 'summary' is one of the possible options. The other three are narrative, expository, and response-to-literature, which we'll be practicing along with summary over the next several weeks. 

 

Week of January 19th

Notes/Reminders: 

* Scholastic book orders are due Tuesday

* $2 for the California Bat Conservation Fund presentation due Tuesday

* District surveys were sent home last week - please complete and return as soon as possible

* Yearbook order forms were sent home last week - if you need another, ask in the office

* San Juan Bautista Fieldtrip permission slips were sent home last week. We'll be visiting the Mission on February 3rd. Please return the signed permission slip, along with $1 per student. 

* Afternoon Dismissal forms were sent home last week. Please return this form as soon as possible if you haven't already. The students' safety is at the heart of these new procedures, and I appreciate your patience and understanding as we work out the bugs in the new dismissal process. 

This week we will...

...delve deeper into long-division with 3-digit division. 

...see a presentation from the California Bat Conservation Fund on Tuesday morning.

...take the Summative Assessment in Language Arts for the District, which includes a writing assessment. We'll spend Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday morning working on the assessment. 

...continue learning about Rocks and Minerals. Each student needs to bring in rock by Thursday (no bigger than a fist, please). 

Welcome Back!

Reminder:  School resumes Tuesday, January 13th

I hope you all had a refreshing and relaxing Winter Break! We'll be jumping back into school-mode Tuesday. I know it's difficult to get back on track, but please be sure to get students to class on time and ready to learn! 

Take a look at the Class Wishlist on the right side of the page - we are in need of some school supplies. Any donations will be greatly appreciated. 

Optional Extra-Credit assignments are due Tuesday. Check the previous post for more information. 

Keep an eye out for a fieldtrip permission slip (San Juan Bautista Mission - February 3rd) and a new Scholastic book order. 

This week we will...

...begin a unit on Rocks and Minerals. For the next few weeks we'll be learning all about the different types of rocks and minerals and the rock cycle. Check out the Links section for some kid-friendly websites. 

...review for the next Language Arts district assessment, which we'll be taking next week. We'll also practice writing descriptive essays, which will also be a part of the assessment in coming weeks. 

...continue with Long-Division! It is essential that students have memorized the multiplication facts - please practice these at home! 

...have our first session in the new Computer Lab! Before break we had an orientation session, and now we are ready to start using the computers. Our regular time will be Thursdays from 1:00-2:00. If any parents are interested in volunteering their time to help out in the computer lab during that time, let me know. On the Rio home page in the Classroom Blog section there is a link to Diane Sampson's page, where you can learn more about the Computer Lab.