Monday PE | Tuesday Afternoon O&A to Fernhill | Wednesday ART | Thursday ELC | Friday ASM |
Important Dates April 2nd -- Complete this Returning Student Form by April 2 to hold your student's space for 2018-19. April 3--Fernhill trip April 13--No school, grading day April 19 -- No school, student led conferences April 20-- No school, staff development day |
Goals: As a family, log on to your child's Google Classroom and ask them to share their new goal reflection. Talk about why reflecting on goals is worthwhile.
Writing: Spelling activity 1/ day. Food debate paper will be due THURSDAY, April 12th
Reading: The usual - read the newsletter as a family on Monday. Read a book of your choice the other nights, or catch up on lit circle if you fall behind. Lit circle packet will be due FRIDAY, April 6th
Math: Daily math homework - check your child's agenda or contact teacher
Geek Out: Some kids are working on their Geek Out to be able to present on Thursday.
Welcome back!
I hope this note finds everyone well rested after a lovely spring break! Summer break will be here before we know it, but these next 2 and a half months are very important! Encourage your kiddo to finish the year strong and even build successful habits for their transition to the next grade level. Consider creating homework routines, checking over work to be a polished, finished product, and asking for help when misconceptions arise. Testing season will soon be upon us. Read about opting your student out below, and don't hesitate to ask me any questions about testing. Fifth graders have the additional science test to take this year, too. Other tests include two English language arts test and two mathematics test
Testing info:
FGCS, like all public schools, is required to administer state-mandated standardized tests in mathematics and English Language Arts to students in 3rd-8th grades every year. The state also requires a science test for students in 5th and 8th grades. State testing at FGCS will start next week with 5th grade science and continue off and on through June 9, with students spending no more than one hour/day on testing. Check with your students' teachers if you have questions about specific testing days and times. To read about our approach to state testing, please click here.
Oregon state law gives parents the right to opt their students out of state testing. Parents who wish to exercise this right are required to fill out and sign an opt-outform (links below) or in the school office. Opt-out forms apply to one school year only, so you will need to fill out a new form even if you opted out last year. Please contact Karen Torry at [email protected] or 503-359-4600 with any questions about state testing or opt-out forms.
Opt-Out Form - English
Opt-Out Form - Spanish
Literacy & Project
For literacy, will be wrapping up Chains and our persuasive paper on eating in the classroom. Merlins can use quiet classroom before our morning meeting to do spelling homework. This way, their food debate paper can continue to be worked on at home.
We will also be wrapping up our unit on Colonial America by debriefing our debate and reviewing all the content we learned during this long and exciting unit. There will be a short test at the end of the week. Next week we’ll kick off our unit on health!
6th Grade Math
One goal I have in the coming days is to check in with Chris, Level 4 math teacher, to discuss how to best help this crew be ready for 7th grade math. Parents, you can help by checking your child's notebook. Is it set up correctly? Lesson title, number, date? Is the learning target written down and vocabulary words? Are they showing work, not just answers? Are answers appropriately labeled? These are expectations I continually remind kids of, because it can be the hard part of math--being a solid communicator. Let's keep up our great work through the end of the year!
5th Grade Math
Friday before break, 5th grade mathematicians shared some creative projects related to our study of quadrilaterals - some students sketched up amazing classroom blueprints, and a few threw down beats in an original geometric song. Ask your 5th grader about their favorite quadrilateral! This week, we are sticking with geometry but moving on to the coordinate grid.