I hope everyone was able to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather!

 

We will start week 3 in unit 6 of our reading series.  We will be focusing on words with er, ir, and ur.  We will also work on possessive pronouns in grammar.  Students will be working on determining importance and main ideas in selections we will be reading.  We will use our main selection, a human interest feature, "In a Mountain Community".  We will also incorporate these skills into other stories we will hear/read in class.  Students will get new vocabulary words since it is week 3.  Words were sent home for all weeks with the Newsletter introducing Unit 6.  I will send home another copy in their homework folders.

 

We are finishing our drafts of the animal fiction stories we have been working on in class.  We will spend the next couple of weeks editing and revising our stories so we can take them through the "publishing" process.  We will work on this process through peer conferencing as well as conferencing with me.

 

In math, we will continue working on mental math.  We will continue practicing adding numbers up to 3 digits mentally with and without regrouping.  We will also begin to apply the mental math strategies to help us subtract up to 3 digit numbers mentally with and without regrouping.  We will be working on -9 for our math fact fluency.  To help with this skill, we are encouraging students to -10 then +1 since 10 is an easier number to work with.  For example, 37-9=?  Think of 37-10= 27 then add 1 = 28.  This is much easier and more efficient then using our fingers and counting back, using a 100's chart, or using a number line.

 

***Important Reminders***

 

Be sure to check out the pictures from the Valentine's Day Party!  Make sure to click on albums!

 

Keep working on those animal projects!    Projects are due Monday, February 29th!

 

March 3rd is our annual Cultural Festival!

 

Have a great week! :)

I hope everyone is enjoying their long weekend...for those of you who get Monday off!

 

We will start our next story in our reader, "Stone Soup".  For comprehension this week, students will be working on comparing and contrasting stories that we have read last week and this week.  We will work on comparing genres, settings, characters, plots, and other story elements.  We will also work on this skill with leveled readers in reading groups.

 

In phonics, we are working on words with or and ore.  Spelling words came home last Friday since we are off on Monday.  We will be working with prefixes for our vocabulary strategy.  We will also continue working on subject and object pronouns in grammar.

 

We will be starting a new chapter in math: Mental Math.  Please look for the Home-School Connections letter that will come home on Tuesday.  Students will be learning and practicing how to add numbers with up to 3 digits mentally with and without regrouping.  We will NOT HAVE NEW facts for this coming week.  With the shortened week we will use the time to review and take any tests that students have not passed!

 

We will continue learning more about Tanzania and the native people that live there.  We will also learn more about daily living habits and compare/contrast them to ours to tie in our comprehension skills!

 

Thank you to all the parents and volunteers that sent in items or donated their time to our Valentine's Day Party!  We all had a great time and the students really enjoyed it!  The boxes were ALL AWESOME!!!  I will post pictures of the party sometime this week in our "Albums" section!

 

*Don't forget to continue working on those animal projects!

 

***Reminders!***

 

No school on Monday, February 15th!  Presidents' Day!

 

Progress reports came home last week!  

 

Father-Daughter Dance Saturday, February 27th!  Flyers came home last week!

 

Multi Cultural Night March 3rd!  Flyers were sent home a few weeks ago!

 

Have a wonderful week!

I hope everyone had a relaxing weekend!

 

We are starting our next unit in reading this week.  Make sure to look for the newsletter explaining Unit 6.  We will focus on words with "ar".  We will also work on subject and object pronouns and practice using them correctly in our writing. To help with comprehension, we will focus on analyzing story elements and determining importance.  We will work on these skills with our main selection, a play, "Domino Soup".  Students will continue to work on reading skills in reading groups and reinforce what we've learned during centers.

 

We will wrap up our math chapter on customary measurement.  We will spend most of our time focusing on real-world problems using customary length.  We will also finish our "study guides" and take them home on Wednesday.  Please review the study guide with your child if needed!  We will focus on +9 for fact fluency.

 

We will continue learning more about Tanzania for social studies.  Your child should have brought home the animal project requirements last Friday.  Please make sure to tie this in with daily homework or however you wish to have your child complete the assignment.

 

*Important Reminders*

 

Club's Choice Fundraiser packets came home last Friday!  Please read through the materials and help support our school!

 

CiCi's Pizza Night this Thursday, February 11th!  5-9p.m.

 

Valentine boxes and valentines are due this week!  A class list was sent home last Friday!

 

Valentine's Party this Friday the 12th from 2-3!

 

No school on Monday, February 15th because of Presidents' Day! 

 

Have a great week! :)

We are in our last week for Unit 5!  We will focus on author's reasons this week in class and in reading groups.  We will also compare and contrast genres with what we have read in Unit 5.  This week will consist of some review skills since the end of week testing will be a cumulative review over this unit.  Our spelling will focus on the vowel digraphs of ew, ui, ou, and ue.  Also, word endings with -s, -es, -ed, and -ing will be tested.  Homework will review skills over Unit 5 to help support what we are doing in class.  Students did wonderful with their paragraph writing on comparing and contrasting seasons in their writing binder.  We will continue this skill with non-fiction writing about Koko the gorilla.

 

We are also moving right along in math.  We will focus on measuring in inches and drawing parts of lines of given lengths.  Students will also use inch rulers to compare lengths and find the difference in lengths of objects.  We will be practicing the skill of -8 for fact fluency!

 

Last week, we learned about the capital of Tanzania and discussed how our two main focuses will be Mount Kilimanjaro and conservation areas.  We also learned about some animals that are native to Tanzania.  This week, we will continue to focus on the animals and animal projects will be sent home at the end of the week.  We will also learn more about the flag of Tanzania and what the colors represent.

 

Valentines Day project flyers were sent home last week!  Be creative and have fun!  These "projects" will hold valentines from their classmates! :)

 

*Reminders*

 

He and Me Cake Decorating Contest- Friday, February 5, 7p.m.

 

Club's Choice Spring Fundraiser Kick Off- Friday, February 5, information will come home with your child on that day!

 

Cici's Pizza Night- Thursday, February 11, 5-9p.m.

 

Valentines Party- Friday, February 12 from 2-3!

 

Have a great week! :)

 

 

I hope everyone had a great weekend!  I'm glad we have a full week ahead of us!

 

We are moving right along in unit 5.  We will be focusing on our main selection, a poem, "What Makes the Seasons".  Our skill will be comparing and contrasting as well as reviewing visualizing.  We will also dig into diagrams for our text feature.  Our phonics skill will be words with "oo", "ue", and endings er, and est.  We will focus on compound sentences for grammar and work on a seasons writing to help with our skill of compare/contrast.  Students will also learn more about paragraph writing.

 

We will be starting a new chapter in math, "Customary Measurement of Length".  We will focus on using a ruler to estimate and measure length, focusing on feet first.  We will compare lengths and find the difference in lengths of objects using feet.  Please make sure to look for the Home-School Connections letter that will come home tomorrow!  We will also start our next fluency skill: +8. 

 

Each year, Central has their awesome Multicultural Night.  This is a night for each class to showcase their classroom's country.  Second grade each has an African country.  Our country is Tanzania.  We will spend this week learning about where Tanzania is and important facts about our country.  In a couple of weeks, students will be assigned individual projects.  More information will be sent home later. 

 

***Important Reminders!***

 

He & Me Cake Decorating Contest-Friday, February 5th at 7p.m.

 

Club's Choice Fundraiser Kick-off!   More information will be sent home with students!

 

Have a wonderful week! :) 

I hope everyone is staying warm!

 

*Please remember, since we have a shortened week, I sent home all spelling words and homework last Friday. 

 

We will start our next story this week and focus on steps in a process and analyzing the steps.  We will do this with our main story, "Day and Night".  Students will be bringing home their leveled readers this Thursday.  For our vocab. skill, we will focus on antonyms.  We will continue working on complete sentences.  In writing, we will also work on a science based writing, focusing on changes during the day and night.

 

We will have D.A.R.E. each day this week.  D.A.R.E. stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education.  It is a program led by Officer Lamb to provide students with techniques on how to resist peer pressure and refrain from drug use and other high risk behaviors.

 

In math, we will complete the "study guide" for chapter 7 and continue working on real world measurement problems.  We will test on Friday of this week.  Study guides will go home Tuesday!  There will be NO NEW fact this week for fact fluency.  Students will have the opportunity to retest on facts not mastered.

 

***Important Reminders***

 

Spirit Wear orders and money are due by Friday the 22nd!

 

Book Orders due this week!

 

Box Tops!  We are in 2nd place!  Great job sending them in!  Keep them coming!

 

Chipotle Dine to Donate is THIS Thursday, the 21st!  5-9pm.

 

He and Me Cake Decorating Contest- Friday, February 5th at  7pm!

 

Have a great week!

 

I'm sure the children were finally happy to see some snow! 

 

We have a very busy week ahead of us!  We will be starting a new unit in reading, MAP testing, and starting cursive.  There will be some changes while we get into unit 5 in reading.  First, spelling pretests will now consist of 14 words instead of 12.  Then, the three additional words they don't know will be on the test will still be given on Friday to see if they can apply the skill..  So, this means that instead of 15 words on the test each week, there will be 17.  Please make sure to read the Newsletter that will come home Monday to see what this unit is all about.  We will be digging deeper into skills we have gone over before and adding new skills throughout the unit.  We will continue theme this week as well as visualizing. 

 

We will be MAP testing all week.  Please make sure that your child gets a good night's sleep and a well balanced breakfast.  They will be given two days to complete each test, with Friday being a make up day for anyone who did not finish.

 

Because of MAP testing, we will not be doing a new lesson in math each day, it will be 1 lesson for every two days since it cuts into math time.  We will continue measuring in centimeters and begin real world problems with length.  Our fact for the week will be -7.

 

We will also begin cursive this week.  Please make sure to look over the papers that come home to see where your child needs extra practice!  I know they are very excited!

 

We will continue our science unit with earth, space, and air.  Last week, we learned through an experiment that air, does indeed, have weight.  Most students were shocked!  We will be making anemometers next week as well as learning more about our solar system.

 

***Reminders***

 

PTC meeting this Tuesday at 7pm!

 

Chipotle Dine to Donate, January 14th from 5-9pm!

 

Have a great week! :)

I hope everyone had a great holiday break!  It's 2016 and back to business!

 

This week will be our last week in Unit 4.  We will focus on author's purpose  along with reviewing skills from this unit.  Homework will reflect these skills and Friday's test will be the cumulative unit test.  We will be reviewing theme, sequencing, and character traits.  In phonics, and for spelling, we will be focusing on compound words and abbreviations.  In grammar, we will review plural nouns, verbs, and subject-verb agreement.  They will be bringing home their leveled readers this week!

 

We will be starting a new chapter in math, Metric Measurement of Length.  We will recall prior knowledge of measuring and work with meter sticks to estimate and measure length.  We will also compare lengths in meters by working on different activities.  Please make sure to look over the Home-School Connections letter that will come home.  We will be working on +7 for math fluency.

 

Students will also be introduced to typing in the computer lab this week.  Students will learn more about typing and home row using our district adopted program.  They will do a lesson each week in the computer lab along with Fast Math. 

 

*Important Reminders*

 

PTC meeting Tuesday, January 12 at 7pm

 

Chipotle Dine to Donate Thursday, January 14 from 5pm-9pm 

 

Have a wonderful week!  I'm excited to see the kids!

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

 

We only have TWO days this week!

 

We will NOT be doing a new story/skills in reading or math!  We will be working on some special projects in class and continuing with our Polar Express rotations! We also get to have a special performance by our school chorus!

 

We are very excited for our Christmas breakfast on Tuesday!  Thanks so much for the donations, we really appreciate it! :)  We were able to purchase fruit, donuts, yogurt, bacon, eggs, juice, milk, and hot chocolate!  There are also some awesome parents that donated items such as marshmallows and condiments!  I will make sure to post pictures!  DON'T FORGET TO WEAR YOUR PAJAMAS!!!

 

Last, but not least, Merry Christmas!  I hope you and your family take some time to relax over break and spend some quality time together.  As always, it's such a blessing to have all of your kids in class!  Have an awesome break!  See you, Monday, January 4th!

We are getting closer and closer to Winter Break! 

 

This week, students will continue focusing on how we can lend a helping hand and give back to those around us.  We will also learn how others around the world are giving back.  Our comprehension focus will be reviewing skills with our main story, "Giving Back".  We will review making connections, sequencing, theme, author's point of view, and traits.  Our phonics skill will be vowel digraphs with oa and ow, CVCC words with long o: such as host, and high frequency words.  We will also work on subjects and predicates for grammar.  We will be on week 3, I will send home the new set of vocabulary words again.  These are the ones that were initially sent home with the letter explaining the unit!  Students will continue working on their Elf writing.  They have really enjoyed writing their elf stories in first person!  I can't wait to read them all! :)

 

STUDENTS DID AWESOME ON THEIR CHAPTER 4 BAR MODELS TEST!!!

We will spend the rest of the week reviewing skills and doing some fun holiday math with coordinates!  We will focus on -6 for fact fluency!

 

We will also continue with holiday rotations. They loved "traveling" all over the world to learn about different holidays.  This week, students will be making crafts in each classroom with the theme being "Polar Express" since we will be watching that on the last day before break, December 22nd!  I know they are very excited!

 

Please remember to turn in your breakfast donations!  The money will go towards our Christmas breakfast!  Also, don't forget that the kids can wear their pajamas on the last day, December 22nd!

 

Have a great week! :)

 

 

We have another busy week ahead of us!

 

We will continue with Unit 4 and focus on analyzing and comparing themes.  We will use our leveled readers to help us with this skill.  Students will learn about themes and how it is the main message of some stories.  We will focus on words with ee, ea, and ie.   We will also be working with suffixes and parts of a sentence.  Students will focus on the naming part, telling part, and review punctuation and capitalization.  I have really been stressing the use of D'Nealian in writing.  Students will be learning cursive when we come back from break.  They will be expected to use the cursive we teach.  Having them write in D'Nealian gives them practice to prepare them for cursive!  Make sure to reinforce this at home with homework or worksheets!  Students will continue working on their "elf" stories.  We are learning to write multiple paragraphs for a first person story.

 

We will finish our chapter on bar models this week.  Study guides will come home tomorrow (Monday).  They will take their test on Thursday!  Remember, you can use this site to help practice!

Make sure to click the first box on the bottom (comparison 2-step) to practice what we are working on in class, 2-step problems.  An email was sent about this site a few weeks ago, let me know if you need the information again!

 

We are moving on to holidays/traditions around the world.  This will be a very exciting week because ALL 8 teachers will be rotating classes starting Tuesday.  We will do two rotations a day and end on Friday.  Students will be learning about holidays in Africa, Spain, Mexico, England, and more!  We are very excited!

 

Last but not least, we had a great time during our ice-cream party on Friday.  Please make sure to congratulate your child!  We earned an ice-cream party for getting 40 team tickets!  These are "tickets" we earn from other teachers throughout the building for doing a great job!  I will post pictures later this week! 

 

*Important Reminders*

Timeline homework was sent home!  Timelines are due before break!

Book Fair all week!

Skyline Nights until December 14th!

Hat and Mitten Tree now accepting donations until the 11th!

The Little Red Schoolhouse can always use help during the lunch periods on Wednesdays!  Let me know if you are interested and I can put you in touch with the right people!

Have a great week!:)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with their families and everyone got their fill of turkey!!!

 

We will be starting Unit 4 in our Reach reading program!  The overall theme for this unit is teamwork and what we do to help one another.  Look for the family newsletter tomorrow! Our main comprehension focus will be analyzing character traits as well as making connections.  We will do this with our main story from our anthology, "Aesop's Fable: The Lion and the Mouse".  Remember, they will bring home their book this Thursday to share the reading with you.  This counts for the reading calendar!  We will focus on the phonics skill of using vowel digraphs: ai, and ay.  We will also continue to practice spelling multisyllabic words along with high frequency words in spelling.  We will continue working on writing complete sentences in our stories as well as focusing on the beginning, middle, and end of a story to make sure we have all parts when writing a piece.

 

In math, we will continue working with bar models this week.  Our focus will continue to be comparing bar models as well as some two step problems.  Please make sure to check the formative assessment that will go home tomorrow to see how your child is doing with bar models in class!  Remember, there will be no new skill for math fact fluency this week.  You received a letter last week with the facts your child still needs to master.  This week will be used to retest those students on certain facts.  If your child has mastered all the facts...you have the week off for fact practice! :)

 

We will finish up our social studies unit on life then and now and to help wrap up this unit, students will have a timeline project.  Details will be sent home later this week.  Students will have a couple of weeks to complete the project! 

 

*IMPORTANT REMINDERS*

 

OUR FIRST ANNUAL CHRISTMAS BREAKFAST paper came home today.  THIS WILL BE OUR PARTY!!!  Please send in your $ by the due date so we can start planning/purchasing items!  The second grade team is very excited!

 

Book Fair starts this week!  We will be previewing during our library time.  Students will have a chance to write down a "wish list".  You may send in money with your child to purchase books or shop after school.  The book fair will be open on Thursday night for our Family Literacy Night!

 

Thursday, November 3rd, Family Literacy Night- Reading is SNOW much fun!!!  Flyers went home a couple of weeks ago, reminders will go home this week!  Come enjoy a fun night of literacy games, books, food, raffle baskets, and more!

 

Have a wonderful week! :)

We only have two days of school this week!

 

This week is going to be VERY different!  WE WILL HAVE NO HOMEWORK, SPELLING TEST, READING TEST, VOCAB. TEST, MATH FAST FACTS TEST, OR ANY OTHER KIND OF TEST! :) 

 

We will be spending the two days on our long ago and now unit.  We will continue to compare life long ago to how we live now.  Our focus will be on school life and daily life such as chores.  I'm also bringing in some snacks for the students to try that colonial people made long ago!

 

We will also tie this in with the first Thanksgiving and learn more about the voyage the pilgrims made.  Students have really enjoyed learning about food, clothing, and houses from long ago.  Their expressions and conversations put a smile on my face! :)

 

We will continue to work on comparing bar models in math!  We will be incorporating some Thanksgiving story problems to help us with this skill!

 

There will be NO new skill for math computational fluency.  I will send home a letter on Tuesday to update you on which facts your child has passed/not passed.  The week we come back will be re-testing for failed facts. 

 

I will also be sending out another blog update later this week for important dates and reminders!

 

HAVE A WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING WITH YOUR FAMILY!!!

Good morning!  I hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend!

 

We are working on our last week in unit 3!  This means that our reading test at the end of the week and our vocab. test will include this week's skill PLUS previous skills that were taught in this unit.  These skills include: problem and solution, questioning, sequencing, cause and effect, and this week's skill of author's reasons.  Homework this week will consist of reviewing and practicing these skills.  We will also be reviewing skills in class while heavily focusing on this week's skill!  Spelling words will focus on CVCe words with long u and high frequency words (2nd grade sight words).  We will also continue working on adverbs and how to use them correctly in our writing.

 

We will continue working on bar models in math.  Students are doing well with bar models but some are still getting confused on what "parts" of the bar model we already know and the part we are trying to figure out.  This is HUGE because it helps them determine whether we need to add or subtract.  We have really been focusing on VISUALIZING or acting the scenario out in our head and to REALLY think about what the question is asking to help us determine what operation to use.  We will be focusing on adding on and taking away sets as well as comparing two sets (later in the week).  You should have all received an email with the math website that can help your child with bar models, have them practice this a couple of times a week to reinforce what we are learning in class.  I will send another email out to remind you which "skill" we are working on if you want to have your child practice at home!

 

In social studies, for the next two weeks, we will be focusing on life long ago and comparing it to life now!  We will be learning about clothing, transportation, schooling, daily life, chores, food, and games/entertainment then and now!  This unit is one of my favorites and ties in very well with Thanksgiving!  

 

*Reminders*

 

Please make sure to empty your child's homework folder each week!  The only thing that should be returned are papers that are homework!  Please keep all other papers at home!  You can keep lined paper or papers that help them with homework in their folder.  Many of the folders are getting too full with previous papers and starting to fall apart!

 

Math Night this Thursday!

 

Marco's Pizza Nights 16th and 17th! 

 

Keep sending in those box-tops!  We are in 2nd placed! :)

 

Have a great week!

 

 

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend! 

 

We have so much to do this week!  We will be starting week 3 in our reading series and focus on words with super silent e, words with open and closed syllables, and words with -ed and -ing.  In comprehension, we will be working on the skill of cause and effect with our main selection, "Play Pumps".  Students will deepen their understanding of cause and effect and learn that the "cause" is why something happens and the "effect" is what happens.  This can be a very confusing skill with misconceptions but we will make sure to spend extra time on this skill in reading groups!  We will also have a new set of vocabulary words.  Words for the entire unit came home a few weeks ago with the parent newsletter, but I'm sending home another copy in their homework folders on Monday- we are on week 3 for words!

 

We will be writing letters and sending them to veterans for Veterans' Day.  We will review parts of a friendly letter and write our own to important veterans in our family, friends that are veterans, or if you were unable to send the veteran sheet back, a veteran that I know!

 

We will start Chapter 4 in math: Using Bar Models: Addition and Subtraction.  This is a very tricky concept for students.  I will be posting information later this week which will provide you with a practice site for students and even video tutorials.  They are very helpful since bar models are a new concept for not only students but adults!  We will start off with the simplest form of bar models : part-part-whole.  Students will use bar models to solve addition and subtraction problems and apply the inverse operations of addition and subtraction.

 

We will also be taking time to learn about Veterans' Day and why we celebrate this holiday for social studies.  We will learn about the different branches of service and the sacrifices that they make.

 

*Reminders*

Pizza Hut Book It coupons came home with your child on Friday IF they returned their reading calendar for October.  This coupon allows your child to get a FREE personal pan pizza!  I have told students that the coupon is only good for one month so, make sure to use them within a month from the issued date!  Please remember, reading calendars are taken for a grade!

 

PTC Meeting this Tuesday, November 10th!  7:00 pm!

 

Book orders are due by THIS Friday, November 13th!  Please let me know if they are gifts so I can make sure to get them to you or cover them!  This will be the last book order until January!