Monday, March 2nd: Puffins to Forest Grove Public Library 1:50pm-2:50pm
Chaperones Welcome! We visit the children's department about every three weeks and can always use parent volunteers to walk with us, encourage our kiddos to make smart choices, and to help kids find and check out books. If you would like to join us, simply meet us in the classroom at 1:55pm on library days.
Monday, March 2nd: Read Across America Day
Grab your hat and read with the cat! Level 2 students will celebrate the National Education Association's annual Read Across America Day on Monday, March 2nd. Puffins can bring their favorite stuffed animal to school and we will honor Dr. Seuss's birthday with a day of buddy reading, art appreciation and poetry!
Friday, March 20th: All School Meeting: Puffins present!
Forest Grove School District building (1728 Main St.) in the Grove Room @ 9:45am
March 23th-27th Spring Break: No School
FGCS YEARBOOK: The 2019-20 FGCS Yearbook is now available to order online! Click here to purchase a yearbook with credit or debit. If you prefer to pay with cash or check, you may do that in the office using this form, which is also available in the school office. Yearbook orders are due by 3 p.m. Fri., March 20.
What’s happening in the Puffin Nest?
Book Clubs & Book Tasting O&A:
This week, students visited a “Book Tasting” restaurant at the UCC. There, everyone had the opportunity explore and review new books and to discover some treasures amongst the many choices available to them in our classroom book club library. We are looking forward to diving into these books next week when our book clubs begin!
These small group "Book Clubs" will engage students in rich conversations about shared readings. Students can express their opinions, predictions, and questions about a text in a productive, structured way. Students take on specific group roles which are designed to develop reading, speaking, and thinking abilities.
Storytelling in the Classroom
Puffins are learning about the art of storytelling and building their public speaking skills. First, this week students read several "Noodlehead" stories and selected the one they want to learn. Next week, they will create a "story map" to help them memorize their own version of the tale. Finally, we will do several fun activities to help them practice and prepare to tell the stories out loud in class. We will be working on:
- Talking loudly, clearly, and slowly enough so that our audience can hear everything
- Using gestures and facial expressions to help the listeners SEE the story
- Emphasizing some words and repeating parts to make them stand out
- Being brave, assertive, and calm when speaking in front of others
Science in the Puffin Nest
What we're learning in science this week...
This week we began a unit of study called: The Human Machine.
In this introductory human body unit, we will explore our senses and consider how the information we process helps us to react to our environment.
This week’s guiding question: “Why do your biceps bulge?”
Many people know on some vague level that muscles are responsible for the body’s movement… but what *exactly* do the muscles do?
As your child discovered this week: the muscles work by pulling on bones at the joints. The muscles do this via strings called tendons. Your child created a paper model of a finger based on their understanding of this process.
Stop-Motion Project
Last week, level 2 students presented their fairy tale adaptation stop motion animations at our Celebrations of Learning event. Wow! These kids are amazing! Thanks SO much to all the FGCS families and community members who visited our classroom to view these projects.
Here's how our stories came to life:
- Piggy Locks
- Cinders and Ella
- Jack and the Giant Hole
- Goodallocks and the 3 Chimps
- The 3 Little Soldiers and the Big Bad Tank
- Winterlocks and the 3 Penguins
- The 3 Little Sharks and the Big Bad Narwhal
- Astrolocks and the 3 Aliens
- Little Creative Puffin
- The Sushi Man
- The Donut Man
- Jack and the Magic Portal
- The Little Blue Dolphin
Our current class Read Aloud:
Where The Mountain Meets The Moon by Grace Lin. This story incorporates many Chinese folk tales told by the main character's father, which makes it a great fit with our focus on folktales & storytelling!
Level 2 Suggested Weekly Homework:
Reading Homework
Spend at least 20 minutes reading (outside of school) every day.
Typing Homework
Level 2 students have typing homework to develop and support important keyboarding skills. Please practice at least 20 minutes per week on: Typing.com
Math homework
It is strongly recommended that your student practice math skills at least 30 minutes (or more) per week.
Click here for DreamBox
Recent 4th grade Math Topics:
- Multiplication: 1 digit by 2 digit and 2 digit by 2 digit using the "area method"
- Divide 1 digit by 2 , 3 and 4 digits using an area model
- Division Algorithm (AKA: Long Division) Watch a Video!
- Fractions
Prefer a worksheet for math homework? You can download here, or your student can pick up a paper copy in class.
Here are the practice pages for the previous weeks:
- Homework #1: Introduction to Fractions
- Homework #2: Unit Fractions/ Finding Fractions on a Number line
- Homework #3: Comparing Fractions
- Homework #4: Adding & Subtracting Fractions
- Homework #5: Adding & Subtract Fractions with UNLIKE denominators AND Multiplying a Fraction by a Whole Number