March 13 All Day Out & About to Oregon Zoo
March 18 School Lunch Orders Due
March 18 Library Visit
March 25-29 Spring Break
April 3 Out & About to Fernhill Wetlands (10:30am - 2pm)
April 5 All School Meeting - Plovers will present
Homework Due by Friday, March 15th
1. Read for at least 20 minutes every night.
2. Complete 20 minutes of typing practice.
3. Complete at least 30 minutes of math practice (click here for DreamBox).
4. Optional - Compete Opinion Paragraph of the Week
Prompt: If you could take any animal from the zoo home as a pet, which one would you choose and why?
Upcoming Out and Abouts
This week, we will have an all-day O&A to the Oregon Zoo and students will participate in a Zoo School program to learn how animals are adapted to their environment. The weather in Portland may be rainy Wednesday morning, so please have your student bring a waterproof coat. Next week, we will go to the Backyard Garden to learn more about invasive species.
Volunteer Opportunities
Library Chaperones - Needed 3/18 and 4/8
Out & About Chaperones - Needed 4/3 (Fernhill Wetlands) and 4/24 (Haystack Rock)
Scholastic Book Clubs
Class Code: L79X9
Order Due Date: THURSDAY 3/21/19 by 9pm
- Go to scholastic.com/bookclubs
- Enter our one-time Class Activation Code: L79X9
- Shop and submit your child's book order.
- As soon as your order is delivered to our classroom, I will send it home with your child.
Weekly Review
Last week, we began a science unit called “Animals Through Time.” In our first mystery, we explored the idea that the rock under our feet sometimes contains fossils. Those fossils reveal how habitats have changed through time. For example, fossil shark teeth and fossil starfish found in the center of North America are evidence that what is grassland today must have been an ocean in the ancient past.
Then we explored the topic of dinosaurs: how do we know what they looked like on the outside, when all we have of them are fossil bones? Why are we always depicting them as scaly lizards? The Plovers are learning how we can infer what the outside of an animal looks like, by using clues about their skeleton. We are also learning how the structure of an animal’s teeth say something about what kind of food the animal preferred to eat (i.e. meat, plants, or both).
Dinosaurs are very exciting and so are likely to be a topic on your child’s mind these next few weeks! You can support this interest by choosing to watch an educational program on dinosaurs together, such as Walking with Dinosaurs. If you have any toothed pets, such as a cat, dog, or even hamster, you can also invite your child to classify these living animals as herbivore, carnivore, or omnivore by observing their teeth.
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 set up a time to meet with me before/after school.