January 28-29 No School
February 1 Library Visit
February 4 FGCS Geography Bee
February 5 All School Meeting and Spirit Day
No homework due by this week, but please turn in $5 for Wizard of Oz!
Because of the short week, there is no new homework due this week. In class, I encouraged students to continue reading, writing and math practice at home. Click here or here for math games and activities to try at home!
Upcoming Out and Abouts
This week, engineering groups will test their models of Scoggins Dam to see if they can withstand an earthquake! Surviving designs will be on display during February's Celebrations of Learning. Next month, we will resume our study of Oregon History and take a trip to the Oregon Historical Society of February 10th.
Volunteer Opportunities
Library Chaperones - 2 chaperones needed for our next library trip (2/1).
Academic Choice Support - The marble machine group needs 1-2 parents, hopefully with a power drill, to help with their project on Thursday, Feb 4th.
Dear Parents,
We need a drill and some help for a marble machine project. We would love it if you could take your time to help. We are doing this project because we think it will be a fun thing to have in our classroom for everyone to use.
Sincerely,
Aiello, Benton, Che, and Jack
More information about the project here: http://tinkering.exploratorium.edu/marble-machines
Book clubs continue to meet once or twice a week. Being a member of a book club requires completing assigned reading independently and preparing to present some information at the club's meeting. Students meet during quiet time or reading to share their work and discuss the story.
All Plovers will have time in class to read and write about their book, but some students may choose to read at home and complete their book club assignment as extra homework. I do not want this to be an extra burden for families, so if your Plover seems worried about completing their assigned reading or writing, please let me know so I can help their book club figure out a more reasonable pace. Not all students have joined a book club yet, but my hope is for everyone to try it out during the months of January and February!
Weekly Review
Last week, we began the preliminary rounds of the National Geographic Bee to determine the Plover class representative. There are 7 rounds of competition and each student individually answers a question in every round. The questions are about US and World geography. In some rounds, students receive multiple answers to choose from and in other rounds, the questions are open-ended. For more information, please visit: www.nationalgeographic.com/geobee. Only 4th-8th graders are allowed to participate in the National Bee, so Plovers who are 3rd graders just play along for practice! Next year, they'll have an opportunity to represent our class. We will finish our class competition by Wednesday to determine our class representation for the school-wide Geo Bee on February 4th!
Communication
Please contact me with any questions or concerns. Parents and students can e-mail me at [email protected]. You can also leave a voice message on the class phone or come into the classroom before/after school.