February 12 Art Project with Level 4
February 14 Friendship Celebration (Valentine's Day)
February 18 No School (Presidents' Day)
February 20 Celebrations of Learning
Homework - More details posted on the Homework Page
1. Read for at least 20 minutes per day and fill out your reading log each night. Your parents must sign your reading log.
2. Complete your math homework.
3. Write sentences for at least 12 of your spelling words
4. Work on your valentine's day cards (optional)
Upcoming Out and Abouts
We will have a classroom presentation this week about "Earth Choices," which explores how we use natural resources. Next week, we will begin our study of water with a "River Rangers" presentation by Clean Water Services, followed by a visit to the water treatment facility at Fernhill Wetlands on February 26th.
PE News
8th grader, Noah Tufts, will be working with Rick to complete a capstone project which involves our class. He will be teaching self-defense and safety practices. Please see the note below about his project:
Dear Parents of Children at Forest Grove Community School,
I am an eighth grade student, Noah Tufts, working on my capstone project. Through this project, we’re supposed explore an interest we have while also making a connection to the community. We also need to get a mentor to help us. What I have decided to do for my project is to teach self-defense practices to all students at the school. I am a skilled martial artist (black belt level), and so is my mentor Mrs. Hansen. I won’t be teaching the kids anything dangerous or scary. We’ll talk about things like situational awareness; how to respond to strangers; and then a few simple drills of what to do if someone grabs you. In a survey of Oregon students, kids were asked if they would help a stranger find a lost puppy. Older kids said No, and most of the younger students did too. But when asked if they would help a stranger find a lost kitten, almost all younger kids said Yes. So, I want to help kids to learn that they should never go with strangers and other basic guidelines of safety. With Vanessa and Rick’s approval, I’ll be teaching students these guidelines during PE classes next week.
Math Notes
This week in Third Grade math, we will continue our study of multiplication by looking at the area model. In the area model, the dimensions (height and length) of a rectangle - also called an array - are multiplied to find the total area. We call the dimensions the factors and the total area is the product. Together with the equal groups strategy (ie Loops & Groups), the array model will help students visualize and understand multiplication facts.
For homework, students will complete the Multiplication Story Problems worksheet. Please help your student check that their story problems match the information given in the pictures.
This week in Fourth Grade Math, we will continue our unit focusing on fractions and division. Using egg cartons as a model, your fourth grader will work this week on understanding, modeling, reading, writing, ordering, and comparing common fractions using concrete models (egg cartons) and visual representations (drawing egg cartons).
Homework This Week: Home Connections 25. Questions/Comments/Concerns, please contact Becky at [email protected]
Weekly Review
Last week we started a fiction writing unit. We will use the works of several children's authors to guide us though the writing process. First, we are reading and studying books by Oliver Jeffers, such as This Moose Belongs To Me, Stuck, The New Sweater and Up and Down. You can watch him read one of his stories here: http://youtu.be/hipx6HJs4XQ. The focus for this writing unit will be on developing characters, rereading and revising, and writing powerful endings. All students have already picked a topic and started their first drafts! Students will publish their final stories.
We visited the World Forestry Center last week to kick off our study of Oregon's natural resources. After learning more about the parts of a forest, students worked in groups of 8 to manage a fictional 80-acre forest. They considered how our school would want to use the forest and how the neighboring houses and farms would react to new construction. This week in class, students will take on roles of other interest groups to debate other possible scenarios for managing the forest. We also saw a wonderful storyteller at Central School, who incorporated facts about wetlands and the water cycle into his fascinating stories! Ask you Plover to tell you about the steel head trout who learned how to walk on land!
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, come into the classroom before or after school, or call me before 8PM at home.