Hello Everyone,

Field Trip: The Tech Museum

Simplicity of Electricity Lab and IMAX Robots

Thursday February 4, 2016

We need volunteers to drive and chaperone for this fun and educational field trip! If you would like to do so, please fill out the field trip form on our blog and hit the submit button on the bottom of the form. You must be sure that all DMV paperwork is current in the office. I will select no more than 7 drivers/chaperones on a first-come, first-served basis. We will leave school at 8:15 sharp so that we arrive at the museum in San Jose at 9:00. We will gather on Park Avenue and then go into the museum as a group. A brief orientation will follow where we will receive our wristbands and tech tags. Our Simplicity of Electricity Lab begins at 9:30 and runs 90 minutes. If the weather is nice, we'll gather our lunches (with help from our lovely chaperones) and eat in the park before heading over to wait in line for the Robots IMAX at 11:45. The movie begins at 12:00 and has a 40 minute running time. This wraps up our museum fun. Chaperones and students gather, get their head counts and drive back to school to arrive at about 2:00.

For tech parking and info

Santa Cruz County Science Fair: March 7th  (registration deadline: Fri., Feb. 12)

Please visit the link below to keep informed about important dates and deadlines. 

SC County Science Fair Link

Although it is not required, we encourage students to enter their projects into the Santa Cruz County Science Fair. Please view the website with your child to consider whether she or he is interested in this opportunity. It includes exciting ideas as well as guidelines for projects. If your child is interested in participating, he or she is strongly encouraged to begin a project as soon as possible.

Mountain School Science Fair

Our annual science fair will be on Wednesday, March 2nd.  

All students seem to have good ideas for projects at this time. One reminder is to have only one variable. We will continue to review the scientific method and process with examples in class. There is a calendar in the packet that went home last Monday that should help keep you and your child on schedule. It is helpful to post that on the refrigerator as a reminder.

Upcoming Dates:

HOLIDAY/ NO SCHOOL- Monday, February 8th

HOLIDAY/ NO SCHOOL- Monday, February 15th

Accelerated Reader

We will begin our Accelerated Reader program within the next few weeks.  Your child will bring home a letter indicating their reading level range.  They are encouraged to find books by searching on http://arbookfind.com.  The “Collections” tab lists the Newberry Award Winners & Newberry Honors.   These are highly recommended, and we have many of them in our library.  Students are welcome to borrow our classroom books.  Please assist with having them returned.  Thanks!

Typing Club/Cursive

We will continue learning to type. Yahoo!! Students can log onto the free website below: 

https://www.typingclub.com/

We will be typing in class each week, and students will sometimes be assigned typing homework. Please let me know if computer access is a problem. In addition to typing, students will continue to practice their cursive. These activities will alternate to give students time to master these fine-motor skills.

Curriculum

Math: fractions (equivalent, ordering, adding and subtracting, like and unlike, mixed number, improper, multiplication for 5th)

Science: 4th Environments

Social Studies: colony partner research, posters, presentations
Vocabulary and spelling packets: daily vocabulary, Friday assessment; writing prompt

Writing/grammar: subjects and predicates, pronouns, adjectives, sentence variety, opinion writing, book reviews

Kind Regards,

Mrs. Young