June 9-13

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

FIELD DAY IS TOMORROW... RAIN OR SHINE!  Please make sure your child is dressed appropriately.  Also, it’s a good idea to send in an extra pair of dry clothes for students to change into.  

Next week is our field trip the Gray Wildlife Park!   I’m still looking for the $3.50 admission fee from some of Team Blowey.  A note went home today with those students who I need it from.  Please be sure to send it in ASAP!  We’ll need the money soon so that we can send a check from Russell School over to the Wildlife Park.  It will make for a much smoother entrance as we go into the park.

Also, students are welcome bring an EXTRA $2.00 with them on the day of the field trip to buy an ice cream or a drink.  They should bring no more than $2.00.  We will only be visiting the snack shack.  We will not be going into the gift shop.

The last day of school is coming up so soon!  The last student day will be on Thursday, June 19.  This will be a half day for students.

This week is the last week for volunteers!  Thank you so much to all of you who were able to make a commitment to come into our classroom and help us out all year long!  We truly appreciate all of your help!

This will be the last week for spelling tests and math fact check-ins!

This week in...

ELA:  This week’s focus will be preparing a personal narrative that will go into our folders and be shared with the third grade teachers.  Today, we brainstormed some fun times, scary times, sad times, and some ouch moments.  Tomorrow, we will begin writing our first drafts.  We will be focusing on doing our very best second grade writing!  Here are the things we’ll be doing in our writing:
-lots of elaborated details about our memories
-a great beginning sentence that introduces our writing
-a great ending sentence that concludes our writing
-correct ending punctuation
-upper and lowercase letters where they belong
-good spelling

Math:  This week, we will be wrapping up our measurement unit.  As a culminating activity, we will be collecting materials from outside and measuring them.  Then, we’ll use these items to build our very own fairy houses!  

We’ll also wrap up our work with line plots.  We’ll do this with a lot of the items we’ll be measuring.  We’ll use the measurements to create a line plot.  Then, we’ll read the line plot and be able to explain the data.

Measurement Olympics has been rescheduled to this Thursday instead.

June 2-6

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

If you have not done so already, please remember to send in $3.50 for the admission fee for the animal park.  We will need this money ahead of time to make our transition into the park a smooth one.  On the day of the trip, students may choose to bring $2.00 extra in with them to purchase an ice cream or a drink at the snack shack.  Another reminder closer to field trip will go out as well.

Next Monday is our Step Up Day at Dunn School!  If you checked off that you would like your child to receive a school lunch from Dunn, you are all set!  If you checked off that your child will be bringing a lunch from home, please remember to send a packed lunch with them to school that day.  We are so excited to be meeting with some of the third graders up at Dunn!

This week in...

ELA:  This week is the final step for our animal projects!  We are currently building our diaramas and using clay to model our animals.  On Friday afternoon, we will be inviting teachers, parents, and students into the classroom to see our projects.  We will be giving “tours” from about 1:45-2:30.  We would love it if any of you were able to stop by and check out our animals!  If you are planning on coming, I would greatly appreciate just a quick email or note as a heads up so I can plan for extra people in the room.

Math:  We are in the final week of our flexible math groups for adding and subtracting within 100 with a focus on word problems.  We will also be doing a ton of review activities for measurement, arrays, odd and even numbers, time, money, and math facts!  We have even planned to have an exciting day on Thursday!  The second grade will be having Measurement Olympics!  Second graders will be participating in five different events.  At each event, they will be facing a new challenge and using a variety of measuring tools.  For example, at my station, students will be building paper airplanes and measuring how far they can fly them!

Science:  Today, we are heading to another second grade classroom to present our research on severe weather!  We will be showing off our wonderful posters and sharing our wealth of knowledge on tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, thunderstorms, volcanoes, and earthquakes!  Then, students will be given a chance to ask Team Blowey’s “weather experts” some questions!  

I know it may look like a short update, but you can definitely count on us using absolutely every free minute we have on all of our challenging learning projects!   

May 27-30

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

Field Day has been postponed to Tuesday, June 10 instead of today due to inclement weather.

Remember the LAST HOMEWORK PACKET of the year will be due on Thursday!  Please remind your child to put it in their backpack on Wednesday evening.

Calling all paper towel rolls and toilet paper rolls!  Please send whatever you have at home.  We'll need it for the finishing touches on our wildlife biologist project.

HUGE thank you to all of you who were able to send in modeling clay for us to use!  We truly appreciate your generosity!  

THIS WEEK IN...

Phonics:  We are working with r-controlled vowels.  Here are the new patterns we are practicing:  /ar/, /are/ and /air/.  Our focus words are:  star, dare, shark, hair, care, pair, stare, chair, rare, and fair.

Vocabulary:  Our new words are creating, memories, familiar, imagination, glamorous, and occasions.  We'll define them and build connections to them.  Then, we'll search for them in the short story called Making Stories Happen.  

Comprehension:  This week we will focus on drawing conclusions.  This means we will make decisions about the text based on the pictures and the words and what we already know.  We'll do this while we read Stirring Up Memories by Pam Munoz Ryan.

Writing:  We are putting the finishing touches on our animal report final drafts.  We have been challenging ourselves to write in paragraphs!  Whenever we introduce a new idea, we have a new paragraph.  A new paragraph always starts on a new line.  There is always an indent at the beginning of the paragraph.  We'll also be creating a colorful, neat, and detailed cover page!

Grammar:  We will be working with articles.  Articles are "a" and "an".  We use "a" before a word that starts with a consonant sound and "an" before a word with a vowel sound.  For example:  a story, a cat, a firefighter, an apple, an ending, an umbrella.

Math:  We will continue our flexible groups for adding and subtracting within 100 with a focus on word problems.  We will also work on odd and even numbers, arrays, and measurement.  

Science:  We are continuing to use our weather tools to gather information about the daily weather.  We are tracking the temperature, air pressure, wind speed, wind direction, and amount of precipitation.  

May 19-23

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

Tonight is the Spring Concert!  It will begin at 6 p.m. at the GNG Middle School.  I hope to see everyone there!

Homework packets are due on Thursday!  Please remind your child to put it in their backpacks on Wednesday evening.  Remember, no homework packets = no free choice Friday!

Mrs. Thibodeau will be coming to our classroom this week!  We will be watching the good touch/bad touch video that you received information about.  If you would like more information, please contact Mrs. Thibodeau.  

CALLING ALL SHOEBOXES!  We will be needing shoeboxes to create diaramas of our animal habitats.  Please send in one shoebox for you child.  If you have any extras that you would like to send in, that would be great!  Please send them in by Friday May 23.  I’ll send home a paper reminder as well tomorrow.  

CLASSROOM WISHLIST:  We will be needing molding clay for our animal projects.  If you are willing and able to donate some molding clay to our classroom, it would be greatly appreciated!  Please send in any donations by Friday, May 23.  

THIS WEEK IN...

Phonics:  We are working with the /j/ sound with the spelling patterns -dge, -ge, -lge, -nge, and -rge.  Here are our focus words:  cage, page, judge, lodge, large, barge, bulge, change, range, and hinge.  

Vocabulary:  Our new words are:  menu, fetch, forgetting, simmered, assembled, and devoured.  We will define these words and build connections to them. Then, we will listen for them in the short story called Bobo’s Celebration by Keith Fish.

Comprehension:  We will be focusing on story elements.  We’ll be searching for the title, characters, setting, plot, problem, solution, and moral.  We will practice this skill while we read Mice and Beans by Pam Munoz Ryan.  

Grammar:  This week’s focus will be on adjectives.  Adjectives are words that describe a noun.  

Writing:  We are working on completing our rough drafts of our animal reports.  Once Team Blowey finishes their rough drafts, they will be rereading their work to look for areas where they can revise and edit.  For example, they are making sure they have complete sentences that are interesting and focused on the topic.  They will be looking for capital letters where they belong and correct ending punctuation.  They will also be looking for any words that they could change to make their writing more interesting.

Math:  We will continue our flexible math groups where students will be practicing adding and subtracting within 100 with a focus on word problems.  We will also continue our work with measurement, time, money, and math facts.  My hope is to also incorporate our last couple math standards into the mix.  The last few standards are:

Students will be able to:

-Identify numbers as odd or even and write a doubles number sentence       to represent an even number (equal teams) or a near doubles number sentence to represent on odd number (unequal teams).  

-Write a repeated number addition sentence to find out the total number               of squares in an array.  This is the foundation for multiplication.

Science:  This week, we will begin using the weather tools that we built to track the weather.  We will be using a thermometer, anemometer, barometer, rain gauge, and a wind vane.  By the end of our experiment, Team Blowey should demonstrate understanding that weather changes everyday.

I hope everyone has a lovely week!

May 5-9

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

Please remember to send your child to school with a jacket or sweatshirt!  Morning recess and even afternoon recess have been somewhat chilly recently.  Like I say to the team... better to have more of what you need than not enough!  

Remember that homework packets are due on Thursday!  Please remind your child to put their homework packet into their backpacks on Wednesday evening.  No homework packet = no free choice Friday!

From now on, you can expect for Team Blowey to have P.E. outside. Please remember to send your child to school with appropriate footwear on Mondays!

This week in...

Phonics:  This week we are working with silent letters!  We will be practicing words with silent k, g, w, and b.  Here are our focus words:  knee, knife, knot, gnaw, sign, wrist, wren, thumb, lamb, and debt.

Vocabulary:  Here are our new words:  blooming, prickly, muscles, aroma, scent, and trade.  We will define these words and build connection to them.  Then, we’ll search for them in the short story called City Garden by Roberta Salazar.

Comprehension:  This week we will be working on identifying the sequence of events.  We will use the words first, then, next, and last to help us show the sequence of the story.  We’ll practice this skill while we read the story called The Ugly Vegetables by Grace Lin.

Grammar:  This week, we will be focusing on pronoun-verb agreement.  A present-tense verb must agree with the pronoun in the subject part of the sentence.  If the pronouns he, she, and it are in the subject part of the sentence, we would add -s to most action verbs to form the present tense.

For example:

She weeds the garden.  (weed-weeds)
He brings the hose.  (bring-brings)

Writing:  Team Blowey will start collecting information for their animal research projects.  Today, we chose the animal we wanted to study.  Tomorrow, we will begin reading for information about what our animal looks like, where it lives, what it eats, and some interesting facts.  

Math:  We are continuing our flexible groups for adding and subtracting within 100 with a focus on word problems.  On the days where we are not doing flexible groups, we will be working on time, money, and math facts.  At the end of the week, we will also continue to explore the world of measurement.  We’ll be reviewing what tools we use when we measure things and how to use the tools appropriately.  

Animal Research:  To help model the animal research project, Team Blowey will be studying Penguins as a whole group.  First, we will read a book about penguins identifying some important penguin vocabulary such as waddle or colony.  Next, we will read the same book again searching for information about what penguins look like, what they eat, where they live, and some interesting facts.  Then, we will talk about the different types of penguins we read about.  From there, the team will be divided into groups who will find out more information about the specific types of penguins we read about.  They will find out where their kind of penguin lives, what it eats, its size, and an interesting fact.  Using the information they were able to gather, they will create a life-size drawing of that kind of penguin to be displayed out in the hallway along with the facts they were able to find.  

Severe Weather Alert:  To enhance our weather unit, Team Blowey will be studying types of severe weather in small groups.  We will be studying floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanoes, earthquakes, and thunderstorms.  With their small group, Team Blowey will find information about the kind of severe weather they are studying.  From there, they will use that information to develop a poster that can be used to teacher others about that kind of weather.  At the end of the week, we will present these posters to each other.  During the presentations, we will be developing a list of safety tips that we should know when it comes to dealing with severe weather.  My hope is that we will soon be able to share these posters with some other classrooms as well.

April 28-May 2

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

Wednesday is our field trip to Hannaford for their guiding stars tour!  Please remember to turn in your child’s permission slip by TOMORROW!  Second notices went home in your child’s folder today.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thursday afternoon, we will be hosting Pablo Paredes!  Here is an excerpt from his poster:

“Pablo Paredes Goche is a ceramic artist from Tlaquepaque, Mexico. He comes from a family of artisans famous for their traditional figures depicting Mexican celebrations and village life. The region where he lives, in the state of Jalisco, is known for a variety of traditional ceramics that are produced using the techniques passed down from generations within craft families.

Pablo will be traveling with his wife Enriqueta, and together they will be demonstrating the techniques used to create the ancient art of the Olmec and Aztec civilizations. Their lecture and demonstration follows the progress of ceramic sculpture from ancient times to present day folk art traditions. “

The second grade students from Memorial School will be traveling down to Russell for this special event as well.  We will enjoy lunch and recess together!  It will be a group opportunity for us to mingle with some friends that we will see at Dunn School next year.  

Team Blowey’s First Annual Poetry Night is this Thursday!  Please make your best efforts to be there.    The event will be from 5:30-6:30.  Students are asked to wear black shirts and jeans to honor the beatnik culture in which poetry readings at small coffee shops were popular.   Snacks and drinks will be served from 5:15-5:30.   We hope to see you there!

If you are willing and able to donate any snacks, juice, or water for our Poetry Night, it would be greatly appreciated!  Please remember, no strawberries, pineapples, or kiwis should be included.  It would be great if we could also have one dairy and/or gluten free option!  If you would like to contribute, please contact me by Wednesday morning with what you would like to bring in.

Spring break homework packets are due on Thursday!  Please remind your child to put it in their backpack on Wednesday evening.

This week in...

Phonics:  We are working with the schwa sound (uh sound).  Here are our focus words:  alone, agree, ago, above, again, awake, away, idea, alike, and comma.

Vocabulary:  Our new words are vast, oceans, areas, voyage, and planet.  We’ll define these words and build connections to them.  Then, we’ll search for them in the short stories “Continents and Oceans” and “Record Holders!”.

Comprehension:  We will be working on identifying the main idea and supporting details.  The main idea of a story is what a story is mostly about.  The supporting details give us more information about the main idea.  We’ll practice this skill while we read Columbus Explores New Lands.  

Writing:  This week we are wrapping up our poetry unit and beginning our next big writing project... our animal research projects!  Later this week, students will have the chance to explore lots of books about all different kinds of animals.  From there, they will make a list of their top three choices.  One of those choices will become the animal that they study.  They will be looking for information such as:

-Is your animal a mammal, fish, amphibian, insect, reptile, or a fish?  

-What does it look like?  What are some of its defining characteristics?

-Is your animal a herbivore, carnivore, or omnivore?  What exactly makes                  up your animal’s diet?

-Where does your animal lives?  What is their habitat like?

-What are some interesting facts about your animal?

To kick off this project, we will begin studying penguins together as a class.

Grammar:  We will be working with possessive pronouns.  A possessive pronoun shows who or what has something.  Here are some examples:  my, her, his, your, and our.

Math:  We will continue our math flexible groups for adding and subtracting within 100 with a focus on word problems.  On the days that we don’t switch, we will also continue our work with our math facts, time, and money.  This week, we have also introduced our measurement unit.  To get our brains fired up, we talked about what we know about measurement (i.e. units of measure we know, tools we might use, etc.).  Then, we practiced measuring with meatballs (a nonstandard unit) as a review from our first grade measurement standards.  Then, we walked around the room to find things that were longer, shorter, or the same as our craft sticks to practice making comparisons based on measurement.  Finally, we sorted objects by what we would measure them with:  inches, feet, or yards.  For example, we would measure a flower in inches but we would measure a tree in yards. 

Science:  We will finish up our cloud observations this week as well as talking about some tools that we use to track weather.  Here are some examples:  thermometer, barometer, wine vane, rain gauge, etc.  Later, we will actually create some of these weather tools to track the weather for one week at Russell School.  

We'll also learn about healthy choices on our field trip to Hannaford this week!  Be sure to ask your child what they learned about the guiding stars on Wednesday!

Scholastic News:  This week, we will be reading about fireflies!  We’ll learn how they make their light, how they communicate, and how they send a warning!  Then, we’ll answer some questions about the firefly life cycle based on a chart.

April 14-17

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS

CALLING ALL RECYCLED GOODS!    We will be needing some recyclable items from your home for a project we will be doing this week.  Please send in one or more of the following items: 

 small snack boxes, plastic lids (shaving gel lids, clorox wipe lids, plastic jar lids, etc) paper or plastic cups.

Please send these items in with your child by Wednesday!  A reminder notice will be going home with students tomorrow.

Tomorrow morning we will be heading to a special presentation!  Leo from EcoMaine will join the second grade.  His presentation will focus on things we can do to help planet Earth and boost awareness and excitement for Earth Day!

Wednedsay night from 5:30-7:00 is the second annual literacy night!  All families needed to pre-register for the event.  A certain someone might be coming to the event.  Hope to see you there!

BE ON THE LOOKOUT!   A permission slip will be coming your way tomorrow afternoon as well.  Our next field trip will be to Hannaford.  We will be taking their Guiding Stars Tour as a part of our ICARE and healthy choices curriculum.  We will not be needing any chaperones for this particular trip.

SAVE THE DATE!  On may 1, 2014 (it’s a Thursday!), Team Blowey will be hosting it’s first annual Poetry Night!  More information and a formal invitation will follow soon.

This week in...

Phonics:  We are studying the dipthong oi and oy.  Here are our focus words:  soil, broil, mosit, point, boil, oil, toy, joy, soy, and royal.  

Vocabulary:  Here are our new focus words:  gathered, agreed, randomly, jabbing, and signal.  We’ll define these words and build relationships with them to help us remember them better.  Then, we’ll search for them in the short play called Why Sun and Moon Live in the SkY.

Comprehension:  This week, we will focus on problem and solution.  The problem is something the characters want to change, fix, or find out.  The solution is what solves the problem.  We will be practicing this skill while we read the play called Pushing Up the Sky by Joseph Bruchac.

Writing:  This week, we will finish up our poetry books.  First, we’ll write haikus.  Haikus are a form of Japanese poetry that follows a specific pattern.  It is made up of three lines.  The first and third lines both have five syllables.  The second line has seven.  Here is an example:

Summer is the best

With blue skies and a bright sun

Smiling everyday

The other kind of poem we will write is a concrete poem.  Concrete poems are poems where the words literally take on the shape of the subject.  These poems do not have to rhyme.  

Finally, our books will end with an “About the Author” page where Team Blowey will write their names, age, and where they live.  They will also include three of their hobbies.

Math:  Our flexible groups for adding and subtracting within 100 with a focus on word problems will continue this week.  Remember to use the strategy sheet that I sent home when you are helping your child with their homework.  Those are the strategies that are developmentally appropriate and are the strategies the students will be assessed on.

Science:  Today we read The Cloud Book by Tomie de Paola.  We learned about all different kinds of clouds and how different clouds can mean different kinds of weather will be coming.  For this week, students will be keeping track of the clouds and writing predictions for what weather they think will be coming.  Today, we observed cirrostratus clouds.  These kinds of clouds usually mean that moist weather will be here soon.  We might see drizzle, showers, or rain within the next 24 hours or so.  

Earth Day Fun:  Earth day is on April 22.  To help us look ahead to this day, we will be doing two different activities.  First, we will be reading The Lorax by Dr. Seuss.  We’ll create our very own truffula trees and take pictures with a lorax mustache to display with our Earth Day promises that we will be writing.  We will also be using your recycled goods that you send in to create our very own litterbugs!  We’ll take something that could have been litter and recycle it into a fun and unique bug that will display our friendly reminder:  “Please don’t be a litterbug!”