I am sending home possible homework ideas for do this week and the following week during vacation. These are simply suggestions for how to keep those brains growing even during our days off from school. These ideas are fun! Give them a try as a family. The best learning always happens when we work like a team!
Reading
Check out the local library for some super fun books! Remember, reading isn’t just being able to decode the words that you are reading but it is also about understanding what you’re reading. Make sure you ask questions before, during, and after reading your book. You could even use your schema to make some awesome connections! Reading is like an adventure, so head out on your adventure today!
Writing
A family holiday journal is a great way to not only work on your writing goals but also to keep track of all of your precious memories that you are creating together. Try taking pictures of all of those special moments and then writing a caption for each of the pictures. Then, you could put them together in a book so you could look back on your memories for years to come!
Another fun activity to do with family is to write a progressive story, where everyone in the family takes turns adding a sentence to the story until the story is complete! It’s amazing to watch everyone’s creativity come together to make a stupendous story!
Math
There is so much shopping that is going on during this time of year whether it is for gifts for your loved ones or your weekly groceries. Have your child figure out how much money to pay or count the change that your receive.
You could also create your very own schedule for this crazy time of year! Making a schedule and sticking to it is a great way to reinforce all of our telling time skills!
You could also play any or all of the math games that were sent home! Those games are not only tons of fun, but they also reinforce incredibly important place value skills that are a crucial part of our next few standards.
You could also practice those math facts of yours! Once you feel like you have mastered one math fact family, start working on the next one!
Science
Cooking and baking involves language arts, math, and science! Why not involve your child in all of the kitchen activities? Topics could include:
measuring (measurement and fractions)
hot and cold temperature (fridge, stove, etc)
mixing ingredients (chemistry)
reading and following a recipe
writing/copying a recipe legibly
You could also spend some time tracking the weather. Make your own weather journal and track the temperature, the kind of weather (sunny, cloudy, snowy, etc), and what kind of clothes you should be wearing. During vacation, you’ll be heading into the first few days of winter. How are they different from the days in other seasons like fall or summer?
Social Studies
Talk about your family traditions. What traditions did your grandparents have? How are they the same or different to yours today?
You could also talk about how everyone is struggling with different things this time of year. Maybe you could create a family plan for how you could help out someone in need. For example, is there someone who could use a little extra joy in their life? Maybe you could make them a card telling them how special they are to you and how you were thinking of them!
Physical Activity
It’s so important to get at least 30 minutes of physical activity a day! Build a snowman together! Go on a family walk! Dance to your favorite songs! Whatever you do, just get your bodies moving!
Health
The holidays always offer lots of treats! Treats are ok as long as they are in moderation. Take some time to talk to your family about the importance of eating healthy not just during the holidays, but eating healthy all year long!
Art
Try making homemade cards, gifts, or even wrapping paper!
HAVE FUN!!
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
December 17th-21st
ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:
Homework will look a little different this week. I know everyone has been super busy with the holidays coming up and I'm sure you won't have time to slow down during our Winter Vacation either. Instead of sending home our normal homework packet, I've sent home a list of fun suggestions for you and your child to do to keep their brains growing even if we don't have school. This packet is optional and you do not need to return anything to me. If your child wants to bring in what they did to share with the rest of the class, they can definitely do that! I will post the entire "Holiday Homework Extravaganza" in a separate post. This way, you will always have access to it even if that pesky little paper gets lost! As always, if you have any questions about it let me know!
This Friday, December 21st, our class will be boarding the Polar Express and be heading to the North Pole! Students will be invited to wear their pajamas to school. I am also planning on serving hot chocolate to the class. If this is something that you do not want your child to have, you are more than welcome to send an alternative to school. Please just give me a heads up either by written note or by email. I will also send home a paper reminder tomorrow.
This week in...
Language Arts: This week, we are going about a rather unusual schedule. There is so much holiday excitement in the air so rather than fight it, we're going to embrace it! I decided to let the team have a little more time for craftivities so this week, we are tackling some of our language arts standards with some holiday read alouds to go along with it.
The Polar Express: After listening to the polar express, students were challenged to write the beginning, middle, and end of the story (a HUGE comprehensions strategy). They wrote each part of the story on a piece of a train. Then they connected these parts together to make their very own Polar Express. On Friday, after watching the movie, we'll have a chance to compare and contrast the book to the movie using a venn diagram.
Imogene's Antlers: After reading the story, we'll get the chance to design and describe our very own antlers! Using really descriptive words and trying to "show not tell" can be really tricky! But with so many creative minds in the room, I know we'll be able to do it!
Olive the Other Reindeer: We will read the story of Olive, the Other Reindeer and then tackle our persuasive writing skills by filling out a job application to be one of Santa's Reindeer.
Math: In math this week, we will continue to play our place value math games! Here are some of the things that our games our helping us practice:
-adding numbers
-subtracting numbers
-coin recognition (value and name)
-counting money
-telling time
-skip counting
-place value of a number (hundreds, tens, and ones)
-bundles of numbers (bundles of hundreds, tens and ones)
-using a hundreds chart
-using a number line
-drawing pictures as a strategy
-adding number strings
-adding numbers mentally
-adding and subtracting numbers within 20 mentally
-subtracting two digit numbers
-using a calculator
And so much more!
These games and the skills that they let us practice are incredibly important when we start unpacking our next few standards!
I think that's it! I hope you all have a wonderful week!
Monday, December 10, 2012
December 10th-14th
ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:
Tonight is the Winter Concert! Come on down to the middle school. The concert will start at 6:00, second grade will be singing around 6:30. See you there!
A paper went home last about our Elf Workshop. If you would like to send in supplies to help us out, please send them in ASAP. Also, if you would like volunteer and help us out with the crafts during our Elf Workshop, just let me know! The Workshop will be on December 17th and will run from around 9 to 11.
Homework packets are due tomorrow! Send them in the boomerang folders! Remember, I love any feedback you have to give!
Calling all Mystery Readers! If you would like to come into our classroom and read a short story, please let me know! We have plenty of space still open!
IXL:
Graphing: R. 2, 3, 6, 7
Facts: E. 1-12, L. 1-5
Time: Q. 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10
Money: P. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15
Odd and Even: A. 6, 7, 8
Geometry: T. 1, 2, 3
Fractions: U. 1-5, 7, 8
This week in...
Phonics: We are studying the long /u/ sound with the spelling patterns u_e and u. We practiced with the following words: mule, bugle, fuse, use, flute, June, music, duke, tune, and dune.
Vocabulary: Our new vocabulary words are: tips, obeys, attention, accident, enormous, and buddy. We'll figure out what these new words mean and build connections to them. Then, we'll search for them in the story called Safety at School by Brian Sullivan.
Comprehension: This week we'll be focusing on using the illustrations to help us understand story events. We'll be working on this skill in small groups and as a whole group while we read the story called Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathmann.
Writing: We will begin thinking about persuasive writing. When we are trying to persuade someone, that means we are trying to express our idea or opinion about something. We'll be using the OREO model to help with this. OREO stands for: state your OPINION, give your REASON, give an EXPLANATION, and then restate your OPINION.
Grammar: We're working with present-tense verbs. These verbs tell about actions that happen now. For example, answers, stop, stand, blinks, and watch are all present-tense verbs.
Math: We will continue working with our game menu. These games are giving us the chance to not only practice the games we'll be using a lot in our next unit but they also give us the chance to practice some really important strategies for how to add and subtract using place value.
Social Studies: We will continue to work on making an S.O.P. for our kindergarten friends for how to get dressed for outdoor recess in the winter months. This will take some time and maybe a couple rewrites. Then, we will share it and model it to our kindergarten friends.
I hope that was everything on our to-do list for the week! Let me know if you have any questions!
Have a fabulous week!
Monday, December 3, 2012
What to Practice on IXL
Graphing: R. 2, 3, 6, 7
Facts: E. 1-12, L. 1-5
Time: Q. 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10
Money: P. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15
Odd and Even: A. 6, 7, 8
Geometry: T. 1, 2, 3
Fractions: U. 1-5, 7, 8
December 3rd-December 7th
ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:
Team Blowey earned their last marble today! They chose to have a pajama day. So, tomorrow (Tuesday, December 4th) students will be allowed to wear their pajamas at school.
Homework packets are due tomorrow! Please send them back to school with your child! If you have any questions, comments, or insights, please take a few seconds to jot them down on the parent feedback page.
The holiday concert will be at the GNG High School, December 10th at 6:00! It's a great evening and the students love to show all of the parents how hard they have been working!
This week in...
Phonics: We are studying the long /e/ sound with the spelling patterns e, ee, ea, and y. We practiced with the following words: eat, leaf, mean, queen, need, seek, baby, pony, he and we.
Vocabulary: Our new words are: swung, attached, gasped, breathe, frantically, and delicious. We will work together to figure out what these words mean and to build an attachment to them. Then, we will search for these words in The Story of the Giant Carrot by Rosa Manuel.
Comprehension: This week's focus is around cause and effect. The effect is what happened and the cause is why the event happened. When we think about cause and effect, it helps us to better understand the story. We'll be practicing this skill in small groups and also as a whole group while we read the folk tale called Head, Body, Legs: A Story from Liberia. Together, we will fill in a cause and effect graphic organizer. This strategy will also go up on our CAFE board. Check out our CAFE board now! We've already been introduced to so many strategies that will help us become better readers!
Writing: This week, students will have the chance to explore what would happen if they lived in a snow globe. Many students might have seen the Pixar Short called Knick Knack where a snowman tries to leave his snow globe to join the other friends on the beach. That's one scenario of what might happen if you lived in a snowglobe... trying to escape! However, Team Blowey will have the chance to think up their own scenario and explain it to their audience.
Grammar: We will be talking about action verbs. Action verbs are words that tell us what someone or something is doing. Some examples of action verbs are: walks, opens, sits, eats, sleeps, runs, plays, etc.
Math: This month students will be diving into the wonderful world of educational games. This week, we will be learning how to play 12 different games that will help us to add and subtract numbers using place value. The skills that are introduced and practiced in these games are critical to the next two units we will be studying, place value and being able to add and subtract using place value. Once students have learned how to play all of the games, they will then have the choice of which game they play each day. They will be playing each game at least two times.
Science: Last week we gathered all kind of weather words while we were reading. We found and discussed weather words like: wind, air pressure, snow, cumulous clouds, cirrus clouds, stratus clouds, tornado, and many more! This week, we will be working on the very first part of our year long service project to help kindergarteners and first graders be prepared for the various types of weather that we might face. A huge part of that is just being able to get dressed to go outside quickly and efficiently. This week, we will be putting together a "Getting Dressed for Outside" S.O.P. This S.O.P. will be shared and taught to other classrooms in the school in hopes that it will make their "getting ready" time a little bit easier. Check out our Weather Words anchor chart below!
Mystery Reader: We have another mystery reader coming into our classroom this week! We still have plenty of open weeks for others to sign up for! If you or someone you know is interested in coming into our classroom on a Wednesday from about 11:50-12:10, let me know! This is something the team really enjoys and it's a lot of fun for those of you who decide to do it as well.
Words to Think About: Here is a picture of our words to think about for the month of December.
Remember, please don't hesitate to send any comments, questions, or insights my way! Your feedback is always considered and definitely appreciated!
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