Everybody needs a rock

Homework:

Writing:  "Abuelito Who" assignment.  Rough draft of poem due on Monday.  We will work on it in class on Monday too.
Fourth grade math homework, due tomorrow
Purple group:  Unit 8, pages 16, 17, 18

Blue Group:  Story problems with money.

Everybody needs a rock

Students enjoyed trying to identify their mystery rocks by the descriptions classmates had written about their rocks.  In general the descriptions were quite detailed and the kids' observation skills were keen, so we correctly identified almost every single rock!

Fourth grade math
Purple group:  As we wind down the school year, students are focusing on good habits in computation. For example, when doing a computation:

1. Make an estimate. 
2. Is it an under- or over-estimate?
3. Compute the answer.
4. Compare it to your estimate. 
5. Is your answer reasonable?

We practiced estimating addition and subtraction solutions, and learned a new way to think about subtraction problems, using a number line.  Although the standard algorithm is efficient, adding up using number lines is a flexible method for subtraction that can often be done in your head more easily.  Students also practiced keeping track of all the parts of a double-digit multiplication problem, using story situations and arrays.  

Blue Group:  We warmed up with estimation practice, and determining whether our estimates were high or low.  While the students have successfully learned algorithms for multiplying double digit numbers, we considered other methods of breaking the problems a part by using arrays to model what is happening with multiplication.  

Thanks for the Community Lunch!

Homework

Fourth grade math homework, due tomorrow
Purple group:

Please finish Unit 8, pages 7, 8, 9, 10 

Blue Group Homework:   Estimation and Story Problems

Science homework, due tomorrow

Please finish both sides of the Rock Cycle handout

Details and links to help finish this work are below.

Everybody Needs a Rock - homework assignment related to the story due tomorrow:  Find a rock that fits in your hand, write a description of it on the index card.  Bring it all in tomorrow.

Community Lunch Thanks!

Many thanks to Hannah's mom Madelyn, Gwen's mom Madeleine, Milo's mom Tara, and Vivian's mom Jolie, as well as our cooks, Hannah, Gwen, Milo, Viv, Selihome, Nora, Ethan, and Sam for a wonderful Asian themed meal with home-made soda pop and chocolate pizza. Many thanks as well to all the generous parents who donated supplies for the meal. Everyone, including our special guest teachers, thoroughly enjoyed the meal!

Science--Geology

We have been studying rocks, learning about how they are made from minerals and how they come in 3 basic types:  igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic.  Students have measured and studied different rocks, recording their characteristics, and today small groups tried to classify their rocks into one of the 3 types, and if possible, identify the kind of rock it is.

A key concept is that each of the 3 kinds of rocks can turn into either of the other rocks, in something called the Rock Cycle.  Tonight's homework is about this cycle, and below are some resources to help answer the questions, if students have forgotten what they learned.

Yesterday we watched The Rock Cycle, the story of Louie the rock, which you can see here.

Today we used an interactive rock animation online, which you can see here.

Some examples of the 3 types of rocks can be found on the Rocks & Minerals website, by following different links.

Fifth grade math

Fifth graders learned how to create a stem and leaf plot after measuring all their heights in centimeters. They found mean, median, mode, and range, as well, then worked in partners to create data sets based on word problems. Their homework is downloadable on yesterday's blog. 

Fourth grade math
Purple group:  Students are making a push for the rest of the year to finish memorizing their multiplication facts up to 12s.  After a break of some weeks, we did another multiplication fact warm up that was generally quite successful, especially compared to the beginning of the year. We also shared strategies for breaking up double-digit multiplication problems into parts, and making sense of all the parts of the answer using story situations and pictures. 

4th Grade Blue Group:  Today we examined our estimation method to determine how close the estimates were to the actual solution to multiplication problems.  We discovered that rounding numbers is a great way to make mental estimations, but to be aware of certain problems that arise.  We determined that if both numbers in a problem are "rounded up" the estimation will be greater than the actual answer, and the reverse being true as well.

Community Lunch tomorrow!

Reminders: No need to pack a lunch tomorrow. Students and parent volunteers are preparing the final Community lunch of the school year.

Homework:
Final Reading Log 

5th grade mathematicians got back in the saddle today to examine growth patterns, and the many mathematical ways of representing change. They will look at line graphs, bar graphs, circle graphs, stem-and-leaf plots, slope, coordinate planes, and more before the year gets out. Here's the week in homework:  Part 1 and Part 2

Fourth grade math Purple group:  We started class with multiplication banana tag, then talked about estimating the answers to double-digit multiplication problems.  Students came up with lots of reasons you need to be able to estimate, and to explain your thinking behind your estimation.  They also came up with strategies that work well for estimation.

Fourth grade math homework, due tomorrow
1 Give parents their letter (download here)
2. Unit 8, pages 2-3
3. Practice math facts for 10 minutes

4th Grade Blue Group:  Today the blue group practiced rounding numbers and solving problems to find estimates.  Our goal with estimating is to establish quick ways to do mental math to get a ball park idea of an answer to a problem.  In real life we often make estimates to determine situations with money, gas mileage, time . . .  The  handout linked here is the complete set of sheets we began today.  Some students brought home the part they are working on for homework.


Science with Rocks!

 Identifying & Recording Properties

Walk-a-thon success!

Reminders: 

• Please iron your child's Walk-a-thon t-shirt before laundering. They were generously donated by a TBS family, so they are your child's to keep.
• We still need volunteers to drive for our Thursday, June 7 field trip to Sacramento. Please let us know if you can drive!

Blog Technical Difficulties: The past few weeks our photo albums for events have not been appearing on the blog menu.  We are not sure why, but in the meantime, you can hit the link to some of the slide shows.

Walk-A-Thon, May 24, 2012 
The (Super Cool) Gold Rush, May 23, 2012, Kathleen Schwallie
The (Super Cool) Gold Rush, May 23, 2012, Jolie Coursin
Thirty-third week of school 
Thirty-second week of school
Coloma Gold Rush photos:  Randy Yee 
Coloma Gold Rush field trip photos (Jeff):  May 7, 2012

Walk-a-thon success 

The students were excited to add up all the donations from our class for the Walk-a-thon.  We found out that we have a very generous community of friends and family--we collected $1681.00, which students figured out would buy 2586 meals in Haiti thanks to the What If? foundation!!!  See photos below.

Fourth grade math

Students were thinking about combinations today, making combinations of outfits with different colored shirts and shorts, or different combinations of double-scoop ice cream cones. We learned 3 different ways to figure out possible outcomes, or combinations:  make an organized list (table), make a tree diagram, or multiply.   

No homework--enjoy the long weekend!

The (Super Cool) Gold Rush!

What a night!  There is a calm feeling of deep satisfaction among the Strawberry Students today.  They impressed themselves with the show, and shared this morning about moments from the performance that were unexpected and delightful.  We are also all quite tired from a job well done.  It was certainly a Super Cool Gold Rush.

Walk-a-thon: Walk-A-Thon, May 24, 2012, The weather was perfect, and the Walk-a-thon was a success!  The ECC prepared lemonade for our arrival, and we had an enjoyable lunch and play period along the Ohlone Greenway on the return.  It was wonderful seeing the whole school playing, climbing and enjoying the sunshine together.  A highlight at the park was the game Craig Jackson coordinated with kids of all ages.

Students may still bring in their Walk-a-thon envelopes with cards and donations for the What-If? foundation. We hope to have all the donations in by tomorrow.  Thanks! 

 
State Capitol & Sutter's Fort:  We still need students to return their permission slips (download here) and more parent driver/chaperones for our trip to Sacramento on Thursday, June 7.  Thanks to the parents who have already volunteered. We need space for 10 more students, or we will be unable to go on the trip.

Performance Tomorrow!

Please come join us for our Gold Rush puppet show tomorrow from 6:30-8:30pm in the Depot. Students will stay for rehearsal and pizza 3:30-6:30pm.

Script Homework:  All students must practice their scripts tonight, and memorize the lines for their main scene.  Each child has a script (and some have several). Please help your child by reading the script with them.

Puppeteer Costumes: Tomorrow students should bring (or wear to school) plain black or dark colored tops (dark grey, navy blue etc.).  Please avoid shirts with pictures, large logos or words displayed on the front.

Students should also bring in all of their envelopes with cards and donations for The Walk-a-thon tomorrow, since the Walk-a-thon is this Thursday, the day after tomorrow.  They will need a bag lunch for Thursday; there will be no hot lunch that day.

 
We still need students to return their permission slips (download here) and more parent driver/chaperones for our trip to Sacramento on Thursday, June 7.  Thanks to the parents who have already volunteered. We need space for 10 more students, or we will be unable to go on the trip.

Cube Nets
While some students rehearsed for the play, the rest of us explored cube nets, 2 dimensional arrangements of squares that can be folded into cubes.  In the problem, a jewelry box maker wants to figure out how many different cube nets are possible.  The students figured out that there need to be 6 squares (the company won't allow overlaps) and each square has to share at least one side.  They found 8 non-congruent nets, but there are even more!  Check out this online Cube Net activity to determine which will make cubes, and how many different cube nets are possible.

Learn Your Lines!

Script Homework:  All students must practice their scripts tonight, and memorize the lines for their main scene.  Each child has a script (and some have several). Please help your child by reading the script with them.

The scripts for all scenes can be found at the Strawberry Creek Gmail site (google documents), user name: Strawberryfiles@gmail.com, password: strawberry1310.  All of the scripts are in the Documents section (not the email section), and there is a folder on the side bar with the scripts separate from the many other document files.

Working on Google Docs:  If your child needs to access the scripts at the gmail site, it is best to print out or copy the script as a document file on your computer (rather than leave it open in google docs to read from and practice).  This will alleviate accidental changes to the scripts that are "live" on the google doc. 

Puppeteer Costumes:  On the performance day of Wednesday, May 23, the students should bring (or wear to school) plain black or dark colored tops (dark grey, navy blue etc.).  Please avoid shirts with pictures, large logos or words displayed on the front.  In our puppet show, the upper half of the puppeteer (student) is visible, and becomes part of the background. 

Our version of By the Great Horn Spoon puppet show, and the end of year recognition of fifth graders, will be Wednesday, May 23rd from 6:30-8:00pm in the Depot. Students will stay for rehearsal and pizza 3:30-6:30pm that day. 

Reminders:
We still need students to return their permission slips (download here) and more parent driver/chaperones for our trip to Sacramento on Thursday, June 7.  

The Walk-a-thon is this Thursday, May 24.  Students should bring their envelopes with pledge cards and money for the What If? Foundation in Haiti to school, as well as small, light toys for the children there (see information sheet and slide presentation) 

Pictures of puppeteers in action, with director Jeff:

Performance Home Stretch

Reminders:
We still need students to return their permission slips (download here) and more parent driver/chaperones for our trip to Sacramento on Thursday, June 7.  

The Walk-a-thon is this coming Thursday, May 24.  Students should bring their envelopes with pledge cards and money for the What If? Foundation in Haiti to school, as well as small, light toys for the children there (see information sheet and slide presentation)

Performance Day:  Our version of By the Great Horn Spoon puppet show, and the end of year recognition of fifth graders, will be Wednesday, May 23rd from 6:30-8:00pm in the Depot. Students will stay for rehearsal and pizza 3:30-6:30pm that day.  Please let room parents Jolie Coursin or Clare Woakes know if you can help out.

Script Homework:  Homework for next week (and over the weekend) is to learn their lines for the performance.  Each child has a script (and some have several).  The scripts can be found at the Strawberry Creek Gmail site (google documents):  Strawberryfiles@gmail.com, password: strawberry1310.  All of the scripts are in the Documents section (not the email section), and there is a folder on the side bar to view just to the scripts separate from the many other document files. 

Working on Google Docs:  If your child needs to access the scripts at the gmail site, it is best to print out or copy the script as a document file on your computer (rather than leave it open in google docs to read from and practice).  This will alleviate accidental changes to the scripts that are "live" on the google doc.

Puppeteer Costumes:  On the performance day of Wednesday, May 23, the students should bring (or wear to school) plain black or dark colored tops (dark grey, navy blue etc.).  Please avoid shirts with pictures, large logos or words displayed on the front.  In our puppet show, the upper half of the puppeteer (student) is visible, and becomes part of the background. 

Fourth grade math:
Students who were not in ERB make up testing contemplated the question:  Is this game fair?  Pairs of students tossed pairs of coins 30 times, to find out how often they observed two heads, two tails, or a head & a tail.  We learned how to calculate probability by dividing the number of favorable outcomes by the number of possible outcomes, and practiced calculating probability in different situations with spinners, dice, or coins. In the coin experiment, students figured out that the game isn't fair:  there are 4 possible outcomes because there are 2 different ways of getting a head & tail.  A rousing chance/choice game of SKUNK finished the class.

Drivers & permission slips still needed!

Reminders:

We still need students to return their permission slips (download here) and more parent driver/chaperones for our trip to Sacramento on Thursday, June 7.  Please help us make it possible to visit Sutter's Fort and the State Capitol!

The Walk-a-thon is this coming Thursday, May 24.  Students should bring their envelopes with pledge cards and money for the What If? Foundation in Haiti to school, as well as small, light toys for the children there, like Silly Bands, very small bouncy balls, Hot Wheels cars, etc. More details in the information sheet and slide presentation. 

 

Our version of By the Great Horn Spoon puppet show, and the end of year recognition of fifth graders, will be Wednesday, May 23rd from 6:30-8:00pm in the Depot. Students will stay for rehearsal and pizza 3:30-6:30pm that day.  Please let room parents Jolie Coursin or Clare Woakes know if you can help out.

 

No homework this week due to standardized testing.

 

Today was the last day of standardized testing for most of the students. We celebrated at lunch with fruit popsicles!

Please volunteer for our trip on June 7!

Reminders:

Parent volunteers are needed to drive and chaperone for our next field trip on Thursday, June 7.  Students brought home permission slips today (which you can also download here) for our trip to Sutter's Fort and the State Capitol in Sacramento. We hope you can join us!

Standardized testing continues tomorrow through Thursday, May 17, with make up testing on Friday.  Please make sure your child gets a good night's sleep and a hearty breakfast, and comes to school on time by 8:30 a.m.

The Walk-a-thon is Thursday, May 24.  Students brought home envelopes with pledge cards to give to sponsors as they raise money for the What If? Foundation in Haiti, as well as an information sheet about finding sponsors.  Check out the slide presentation created by our very own service learning council representative about the efforts of What IF?.

 

Our version of By the Great Horn Spoon will be Wednesday, May 23rd at 6:30pm in the Depot, with rehearsal 3:30-6:30pm that day.

 

No homework this week due to standardized testing.

 

 Today we worked hard on the scripts for the performance and had our first read through!

Standardized testing continues

Reminders:

Standardized testing continues tomorrow through Thursday, May 17, with make up testing on Friday.  Please make sure your child gets a good night's sleep and a hearty breakfast, and comes to school on time by 8:30 a.m.  

Fifth graders should bring in a calculator for tomorrow's section.  Any four-function, graphing or scientific calculator is acceptable.  Fourth graders may not use calculators unless they have special instructions from one of our Learning Coordinators, MaryBeth or Jodie.

The Walk-a-thon is Thursday, May 24.  Students brought home envelopes with pledge cards to give to sponsors as they raise money for the What If? Foundation in Haiti, as well as an information sheet about finding sponsors.  Check out the slide presentation created by our very own service learning council representative about the efforts of What IF?.

 

Our version of By the Great Horn Spoon will be Wednesday, May 23rd at 6:30pm in the Depot, with rehearsal 3:30-6:30pm that day.

No homework this week due to standardized testing.

Walk-a-thon & set building

Reminders:

Walk-a-thon

The Walk-a-thon is Thursday, May 24.  Students are bringing home envelopes with pledge cards, to find people to sponsor them, and to raise money for the What If? Foundation in Haiti.  Here is a link to the information sheet about collecting sponsors for the Walk-a-thon.

Standardized testing will be next week, the morning of Monday, May 14-Thursday, May 17, with make up testing on Friday.  Please make sure your child gets a good night's sleep and a hearty breakfast, and comes to school on time by 8:30 a.m. each day.  Fifth graders may bring a calculator from home for one of the math sections, but please be sure to label the calculator with your child's name.  Fourth graders may not use calculators. Please let us know if you have any questions.
 

Please let us know right away if there is a conflict preventing your child from attending our version of By the Great Horn Spoon Wednesday, May 23rd at 6:30pm in the Depot, or the rehearsal 3:30-6:30pm that day.  Students will stay after school to rehearse for the performance.  We will serve a pizza dinner to the students (being coordinated by Jolie and Clare).  More information to come.

No homework for the next week due to standardized testing. 

Fourth grade math:

Today all of the students met together to learn a new method for multi-digit division called partial quotients.  Students brought home their work so that they could share this with their families.

Set building

Julianne was absent today, but we spent the morning engaged in art by designing the sets and props for our upcoming play.  Check out the pictures below and on the left of the blog.

Many thanks for the thoughtful and generous treats, books, flowers, and notes for Teacher Appreciation Week.  Have a great weekend! 

Standardized testing next week

Reminders:
Standardized testing will be next week, the morning of Monday, May 14-Thursday, May 17, with make up testing on Friday.  Please make sure your child gets a good night's sleep and a hearty breakfast, and comes to school on time by 8:30 a.m. each day.  Fifth graders may bring a calculator from home for one of the math sections, but please be sure to label the calculator with your child's name.  Fourth graders may not use calculators. Please let us know if you have any questions.
 

Please let us know right away if there is a conflict preventing your child from attending our version of By the Great Horn Spoon Wednesday, May 23rd at 6:30pm in the Depot, or the rehearsal 3:30-6:30pm that day.  Students will stay after school to rehearse for the performance.  We will serve a pizza dinner to the students (being coordinated by Jolie and Clare).  More information to come. 

The Walkathon is Thursday, May 24.  Students will be bringing home envelopes with pledge cards, to find people to sponsor them, and to raise money for the What If? Foundation in Haiti.

Homework:  

Language arts test prep work due tomorrow (see yesterday's blog).

Fourth grade math homework, due tomorrow
Purple group:  Standardized test practice: computation

Blue Group Homework:  Word Problems

By the Great Horn Spoon:  We are hard at work preparing for the show on May 23rd.  There is much still to do including sets props and finalizing scripts.  We began a discussion today to decide upon a name for the puppet/play. 

Fourth grade math
Purple group:  We reviewed measures of center in data analysis today:  median, mode, and mean (or average). Students calculated each of these as well as the range.  Then students practiced their multiplication or division of multi-digit numbers, and some students worked with pan-balance problems that use algebraic reasoning.

4th Grade Blue Group:  Today we reviewed our work from Tuesday finding the area of parallelograms, and extended this work to finding the area of triangles.  Our formula of "base x height=Area" for parallelograms (including rectangles), has now been adapted to 1/2 (base x height) = area for triangles.  The kids got this concept when comparing halves of parallelograms bisected from vertex to vertex.  We began a look into long division at the close of class to be continued tomorrow.

Mark Wed., May 23 on your calendars!

The Spring Performance is Growing Nearer: Wednesday, May 23rd at 6:30pm in the Depot, the Strawberry class will perform our version of By the Great Horn Spoon. Rehearsal will be 3:30-6:30pm that day.  Students will stay after school to rehearse for the performance.  We will serve a pizza dinner to the students (being coordinated by Jolie and Clare).  More information to come.

Homework:  Language arts test prep work.  Due Friday.  This homework includes reading passages, and may count for reading homework time as well.

Math:  Remember, 4th grade math homework in the purple group is due tomorrow. See Tuesday's blog

Step Up Day:  The kids had an excellent day in their Step Up classrooms.  The Strawberry 4th grade and Sweet Briar 3rd grade became the new Strawberry class for the morning.  We played math games in and out of the classroom, read and discussed different versions of The Three Little Pigs, and the students began drafting their own versions of this classic fairy tale.  The Strawberry 5th graders went to Wildcat to be 6th graders in the morning, and particularly enjoyed Spanish!

Step Up Day tomorrow

• Step Up Day tomorrow Wednesday, May 9. Please make sure your child is at school promptly by 8:30 a.m.  This is an opportunity for all the fifth graders to come together in the Wildcat Creek classroom with sixth grade teachers Norman Johnson & Marcella Anwandter and spend the morning as middle schoolers, as well as for fourth graders to be the mentors to the third graders visiting for the morning.  They will spend the entire morning, then back to their normal classrooms for recess and lunch at 11:45 a.m. Please let us know if you have any questions.
• Spring Performance: Wednesday, May 23rd at 6:30pm in the Depot, the Strawberry class will perform our version of By the Great Horn Spoon. Rehearsal will be 3:30-6:30pm that day.

Homework:

Fourth grade math homework, due Thursday
Purple group: 
Finish the JUMP Geometry packet (if you did not finish it in class)
Standardized Test Practice (skip problems you've seen before)
Blue Group: No homework.

What if? foundation visit
Today Margaret Trost from the What If? foundation came to visit our class to tell us about the work her organization is doing in Haiti, and how funds the class raises with the Walkathon will help the children there.  Our students brainstormed lots of ideas for small, light, fun, and useful things that they can send with her to the kids in Haiti, like small bouncy balls, pens & pencils, hair clips, hot wheel cars, and tiny toys and action figures (but without guns).  You can learn more about the organization at their web site:  www.whatiffoundation.org.

ERB preparations:  Today was our final in a series of preparation lessons for taking the ERB tests next week.  The students worked on the constructed response section of the exam that requires written responses and showing your work.  It is not multiple choice.  We discussed strategies for the reading section, such as, read the question before reading the story so you know what to look for as you read.  In the math section we discussed how important showing your work is since the test is scored based on effort and showing your thinking, and is not just about correct answers.

Fourth grade math
Purple group:  After sharing the multiple choice homework, we explored more concepts in geometry today.  First we talked about slides (translations), flips (reflections), and turns (rotations).  Students learned how to describe these on coordinate grids.  Our other focus was volume, in particular, volume of rectangular prisms.  By looking at connecting cube constructions, students derived a formula for the volume of a rectangular prism:  length x width x height.  No 4th grade math tomorrow due to Step Up Day.

Blue Group:  Today we worked with area in geometry to discover the relationship between length & width compared to base & height.  The students were already familiar with the formula for finding the area of a rectangle, length x width = area.  Our work today led us to uncover that base x height can be used to find the area of a parallelogram that is not a rectangle.  Students cut parallelograms in half and reassembled them as rectangles to prove this formula works for finding the area.
No homework tonight.

Thanks to chaperones!

Reminders:

• Step Up Day this Wednesday, May 9. Please make sure your child is at school promptly by 8:30 a.m.
• Spring Performance: Wednesday, May 23rd at 6:30pm in the Depot, the Strawberry class will perform our version of By the Great Horn Spoon. Rehearsal will be 3:30-6:30pm that day.

Homework:
Script Question Sheet (character work) - Due Tuesday

Fourth grade math homework, due tomorrow
Purple group:  Standardized test practice
Blue Group homework: Practice/review pages for Geometry and Measurement.  Due Tuesday

Fifth grade math homework for this week
5th Math Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Thanks to chaperones!
We had a very successful trip to the Gold Country on Friday!  It was a wonderful way to make our Gold Rush studies come to life. Students had the chance to see a real horn spoon; pan for real gold; hear from a member of the Mormon Battalion in the Mormon cabin and see how they lived there; hear and see blacksmiths at work; explore a Chinese store, bank, and cultural center; and discover more about how mining worked. 

Many, many thanks to the parents who drove to Coloma and chaperoned: Amelia's mom Anne, Aya's dad Peter, Hannah's dad Don, Max's dad Eric, Charlotte's dad Tom, Milo's dad Grégoire, and Isaac's dad Randy.  We couldn't have done it without you!

Check out more pictures below and on the left of the blog.

Fourth grade math
Purple group:  Today students explored finding the area of parallelograms and triangles using the dimensions base and height.  Using geoboards, students experimented with a fixed base length and fixed area, discovering that you can create different parallelograms but they all have the same height. They also found that the height is not the side length of the parallelogram (unless it is a rectangle), but the length of a line from the base perpindicular to the opposite side or vertex.  We came up with these formulas:

Area of parallelogram = base x height
Area of triangle = (base x height) / 2

Fifth grade math

Fifth graders have spent extensive time of late practicing the seemingly simple skill of counting up and down. As Beatles music plays, the students warm up their brains skip counting with a partner. I say seven, you say fourteen. When the music stops, students have often gotten to the twelfth or thirteenth multiple of the number. Today they counted by square numbers, to change it up. They continued their work on starter problems, which have been conceptually quite difficult (perhaps the most difficult concept of the year?), but students are beginning to have aha! moments about their utility. What problem would a shopper do if he wanted 8 lengths of board at $29.99 a piece? Let's hope these kids don't have to pull out their iPhones for that one (unless of course it's to calculate the 8% sales tax!).

 

 

Early arrival 8 a.m. & late pickup 4:30 p.m. tomorrow

Reminders:
We are so excited about our trip tomorrow to the place where gold was first discovered in California, Marshall Gold Discovery State Park in Coloma. We will be exploring the buildings and museum and panning for gold.  It should be a full day!

1. Please arrive at 8:00 a.m. with student's packed Day Pack containing:
* hearty snacks
* hearty bag lunch
* water bottle
* sunscreen
* good book to read in the car (optional)

The weather should be good, partly cloudy and only a 10% chance of rain, temperatures in the 60s.  We will do a lot of walking, so students should wear:
* good shoes to walk in
* layers, including a rain jacket (just in case!)

Please leave electronics, candy, and gum at home, just like any other school day.  An exception is an e-book reader.

2.  Meet in front parking lot - we are not going to the classroom.
3.  Students should sign in with a teacher.
4.  Drivers should park near the entrance to the school.

We will return to school between 4:30-5:00 p.m.  We will leave a message with Cindy at the front desk if we are running later than that, due to traffic, etc.  Please let us know if you have any questions, and thanks very much!

No homework tonight or tomorrow.


Fourth grade math
Purple group:  Measurement was our focus today, in particular, the US Customary system.  First, we looked at measures of volume or capacity.  Students in small groups poured water from container to container to determine how many cups in a pint, quart, half gallon, and gallon. Students practiced converting between units, as well as calculating the number of fluid ounces (fl.oz.) in each.  Then we examined measures of weight, by comparing an ounce to a slice of bread, and a pound to a loaf of bread (16 ounces).  We pointed out that fluid ounces and ounces are not related and easy to confuse!  Students hunted for objects in the classroom weighing approximately an ounce.

Puppets and Script Writing

Reminders:

Students must be at school at 8:00 a.m. this Friday, May 4  for our field trip to Marshall Gold Discovery State Park in Coloma!  Please make a note in your calendars and get ready to come to school early that day (and plan for a late return around 4:30). 

Spring Performance: Wednesday, May 23rd at 6:30pm in the Depot, the Strawberry class will perform our version of By the Great Horn Spoon. Rehearsal will be 3:30-6:30pm that day.

Homework:
Sentence and Punctuation multiple choice practice (due Thursday).

Fourth grade math homework, due tomorrow

Purple group:  Standardized test practice--quantitative reasoning & estimationBlue Group Homework:  Function machines and using parenthesis.

Fifth Grade Math: Fifth graders struggled through more starter problems in division today. They wondered why they should have to do this when they could just use the algorithm. The truth is that they are wonderful for helping students develop number sense and strengthening mental math skills. Onward! ERB pages for homework.

Puppets and Scripts:  Our main focus today was on writing the scripts and trying to finish building the puppets for our show on May 23.  We had a "round table" discussion of how the scenes are coming along and many groups are ready to practice with the puppets.  This project requires personal dedication, cooperative team work, and flexibility in a group setting.  The kids are amazing!

Fourth grade math
Blue Group: Today we used our recently learned strategy for making equivalent fractions to help us add and subtract fractions with unlike denominators.  Students learned to use the denominators from each fraction in the problem to create a fact family, and resulting common multiple for the denominator.  Some students are beginning to see connections between fractions using multiples, and for others this is a developing skill.  A few students had the opportunity to practice simplifying fractions as well.

Purple group:  We practiced multiplying fractions by whole numbers (like 1/2 of 10) as our warm up today.  Then students took an assessment to end our fraction and decimal unit.

Tuesday News

Reminders:

Students must be at school at 8:00 a.m. this Friday, May 4  for our field trip to Marshall Gold Discovery State Park in Coloma!  Please make a note in your calendars and get ready to come to school early that day (and plan for a late return around 4:30).

Homework:
Sentence and Punctuation multiple choice practice (due Thursday).

Fourth grade math homework, due tomorrow
Purple group
Prepare for tomorrow's assessment.
Option 1: Complete a few of each kind of problem on the Fraction & Decimal Review
Option 2:  Handout

Blue Group Homework:  Standardized testing preparation worksheets.
5th Grade Math: Fifth grade will continue ERB practice for homework this evening.

Fourth grade math
Purple group:  Our warm up today focused on writing equations to solve word problems.  We discussed comparison of fractions, then students worked on a Fraction & Decimal Review handout, to look back at all they have learned this unit.  Questions came up:  for example, what does it mean to write a fraction in "lowest terms"? (Find a common factor and simplify the fraction until it can no longer be simplified.) They will continue to work on completing at least a few of each kind of problem for homework, and we will go over answers in class tomorrow before the assessment.  A small group continued work calculating percentages (handout here).

Blue Group: Today we focused on making equivalent fractions.  We had an easy time thinking of equivalents for 1/2, but posed with finding equivalents for 1/4 the class was stumped, so we used a little "math magic" by multiplying by different versions of 1 (for example, 2/2, 3/3, 5/5 . . .) to make equivalent fractions.  Then, we continued work on adding fractions by finding common denominators.