December 16-20

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

Elf Workshop is tomorrow!  If you signed up to be a Master Elf, please arrive by 9:00.  We will start moving our elves at 9:10.  

Team Blowey has filled my heart and now it is time for a reward!  For a sweet winter reward, we will be watching the Polar Express in our pajamas, with our stuffed animal friends, while drinking hot chocolate!  We will watch the movie on Friday morning.  If you do not want your child to have hot chocolate, please let me know as soon as possible and please plan to send in an alternative "treat drink" for them to drink during the movie.  If you have any questions, please let me know!

Remember to send your child to school with snow pants, jackets, boots, hats, and mittens!  They will need them to play outside for recess and earned time!

Please remember to send in only water as an in-class drink.  Water bottles are allowed on student desks all day and can be refilled as necessary.  Juices and other drinks need to be saved for lunch drinks or at home drinks.  

Homework Packets are due on Thursday!  Since we are heading into a vacation, we will be sending home a holiday fun homework packet instead this week.  Students are asked to complete at least two language arts and two math activities over winter break.  If you have any questions while working on the packet, please let me know!

This week, Mrs. Thibodeau will join us for our monthly guidance sessions!  We'll continue to learn more about Kelso's choices and how we care about ourselves, the school, and others.  

This week in...

Holiday Fun Activities:

Today, we read the story Imogene's Antlers by Michael Small.  It is a story about a little girl who wakes up one morning and finds that she has antlers!  After reading the story, we got to design our very own antlers and then apply to be one of Santa's reindeer.  We included information about the position we wanted, our desired salary, and our education.  We also included reasons why we thought we would be a great addition to Santa's team.

Team Blowey is working on finishing up their creative stories about their lives in a snow globe.  This week, we'll finish our final draft and create a picture to go along with our stories.  These will be hung out in the hallway.

We will also be rehearsing and rehearsing and rehearsing for our reader's theater!  We'll practice reading with expression and also being able to add gestures while performing.  Fingers crossed that we'll have enough time to create some stage props to help our plays come alive!

We'll also continue to practice our place value skills with our fun place value games! 

December 9-December 13

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

The Winter Concert has been rescheduled.  It will be on Thursday, December 12.  It begins at 6:00 at the GNG Middle School.  Second graders are scheduled to perform at 6:45.  

Wednesday is an early release day!  Please plan accordingly.

Homework packets are due on Thursday!  Please remind your child to put them in their backpacks on Wednesday night.  No homework = no free choice Friday!

On Friday, we will be welcoming Maine author/illustrator Ryan Higgins to our school!  He will talk about what it’s like writing and illustrating picture books as well as talking about the creative process.  If you would like to purchase a copy of his book Twaddleton’s Cheese Please send in $15 with a copy of the order form.  

This week, the second grade team has started morning recess!  In an effort to give our students more time for physical activity, we came up with the idea of having a morning recess from 8:50 to 9:05.  Remember, exercise grows brain cells!  What makes us move is what makes us learn!  

The chilly and snowy weather has now approached us!  Please remember to send your child to school with a jacket, snow pants, boots, mittens, and a hat!  They will need it for recess and earned time!

This week in...

Phonics:   We are working with the long /o/ sound with the spelling patterns oe, ow, oa, and o.  Here are the words we are working with this week:  grow, mow, crow, goes, toe, told, most, toast, soap, and foam.

Vocabulary:  Here are our new words:  imaginary, uniform, practices, starting, tryouts, and coach.  We will define these words and build connections to them.  Then we will search for them in the short story called Brian Gets Fit on the Field by Emily Goldman.  

Comprehension:  We will continue working on making inferences.  When we infer we are taking what we read in the story and our prior knowledge to make a decision about the story.  We will practice this skill while we read There’s Nothing Like Baseball by Angela Johnson.

Grammar:  We will work with plural nouns.  A plural noun names more than one person place or thing.  To change most singular nouns to plural nouns we simply add -s to the end of the word.  If a word ends in -sh, -s, ch- or x we add -es to make it plural.

Writing:  Our Flat Stanley Projects have finally begun!  Team Blowey is currently making themselves flat (a.k.a drawing pictures of themselves) and writing friendly letters to your wonderful friends and family members that were willing to participate!  Team Blowey will have to make sure their friendly letters include all letter parts such as the heading, greeting, body, closing, and signature.  We’ll also make sure we have capital and lowercase letters where they belong as well as periods at the end of our sentences.  We are so excited to get our flat selves in the mail so we can begin to learn more about the US and other countries around the world!

We will also begin a fun writing project that will follow this writing prompt:  “If I lived in a snow globe...”   Team Blowey will do some brainstorming about how they got in the snow globe, sensory details, as well as a strong beginning, middle, and end to their story.  Then, we’ll create a fun craft to go along with the writing.  These projects will be on display in the hallway.

Math:  We are continuing to learn some more place value games.  These games are introducing crucial place value skills that we will be using in our place value units.  These games give students a fun way to be introduced to some strategies and having fun practicing them!  We will also be doing some work with time, money, and math facts.  Our telling time focus this week will be working on time to the nearest hour and half hour.  Our money focus will be identifying coins and their values.

We will also be creating another fun holiday glyph!  A glyph is a a way to show data or information through a picture.  We will read the book The Gingerbread Pirates and create a gingerbread pirate glyph to represent us.  For example, if you’re a girl, you’re gingerbread pirate will wear a skirt.  If you’re a boy, your gingerbread pirate will wear shorts.  These glyphs will be on display on Team Blowey’s own gingerbread house (a.k.a. our classroom door!)

Reader’s Theatre:  We will begin transforming our classroom into Studio 10, where stars are born!  The class will be divided into three groups, each group performing a different holiday play.  Throughout the next two weeks, Team Blowey will be practicing their lines and eventually perform their play for the rest of the class.  They will focus on fluency!  Fluency means being able to read accurately and with expression... a.k.a use a movie star voice!  The three plays will be:  The Gingerbread Boy, Mooseltoe, and Olive the Other Reindeer.  

Story Elements:  Since story elements are such a huge focus in second grade, we will practice them with the fun and enchanting holiday story of The Polar Express.  Together, we will read the book and identify the story elements (Title, setting, characters, plot, problem, solution, and moral).  Then, Team Blowey will create train cars to represent each of these story elements, in turn, creating their very own Polar Express!  We will culminate the activity by watching the movie The Polar Express next week and using our complex reasoning skills to be able to talk about the similarities and the differences between the book and the movie.  

I hope everyone has a lovely evening!  Enjoy the snow!

December 2-6

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

Tomorrow is our field trip to see what happens backstage at The Nutcracker Ballet!  Mrs. Reeber has asked teachers to remind students to dress their best for this trip!   Team Blowey will not need anything else for this field trip.

Homework packets (yes, the Thanksgiving fun packets!) will be due on Thursday!  I hope everyone enjoyed some of the activities!

Please remember that your child is allowed to have a water bottle at school to help them stay hydrated throughout the day!  We also have time for snack so please remember to send in nutritious and delicious snacks to help us stay energized throughout the day!  Please remember, no strawberry, pineapple, or peanut (or peanut butter) snacks for school!  

It is getting awfully chilly outside!  Please send your child to school with their coats, hats, mittens, and boots!  

THIS WEEK IN...

Phonics:  We are working with the long /i/ sound with these spelling patterns:  i, ie, y, and igh.  Here are the words we are working with:  light, sight, high, tie, lie, wild, mind, try, cry, and dry.

Vocabulary:  Our new words are:  peered, giggled, snuggled, fluttered, vanished, and recognized.  We will define these words and build connections to them.   Then, we'll search for them in the short story called Leo Grow Up by Kevin Lee.

Comprehension:  We will be working with the very complex skill of making inferences!  We we make inferences, we make decisions based on clues in the story and the prior knowledge that we already have.  Making inferences is one way for us to answer some of our questions while we read.  We'll practice this skill while we read Farfallina and Marcel  by Holly Keller.

Grammar:  We will be working with possessive nouns.  A possessive nouns shows who or what has something.  We add an apostrophe (') and s to a singular noun to make it possessive.  For example we would say:  The duck's egg will hatch soon or the cow's calf is learning to stand.

Writing:  Team Blowey will be introduced to the idea of writing a friendly letter.  This is a part of our Flat Stanley unit.  This week, we will learn the parts of a friendly letter (heading, greeting, body, closing, and signature) with a fun song.  Then, we'll take the knowledge we gain from the song to practice writing friendly letters to each other.  Next week, we will begin our letters to friends and family that agreed to participate in our project.

Math:  This week, we will be introducing two more concepts that will be practiced throughout the year:  time and money.  Today, students brainstormed things we already know about clocks and telling time.  We also talked about how we measure time (seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, etc).  Then, in small groups, we brainstormed activities that might take us one second, one minute, and one hour so we could get a picture of how long these units of time actually are.  Finally we made a giant clock on the rug and talked about the different parts.  I wanted to make some BIG connections so we talked about how fractions relate to time!  We use phrases like half past one or quarter past three, or quarter to five all the time!  So we broke our clock into halves and quarters.  As an extra challenge, we tried to figure out how many minutes were in 1/10 of an hour.  We'll continue to strengthen our time telling skills through the rest of the week and the rest of the year.

We'll also introduce the concept of money.  This week, we will be working on identifying and recognizing the different coins.  We'll talk about attributes of the coins as well as how much the coins are worth.  Then, we'll talk about how different coins could be combined to make new coins.  For example, five pennies equals a nickel or 5 nickels equal a quarter. 

Social Studies:  After a long vacation, we will be practicing and refining our day to day routines again.  A huge part of our classroom revolves around teamwork!  So, this week, we will focus on what it looks like to be a good partner!  We will brainstorm together and then have the chance to role play and practice with each other.  

Read Aloud:  Today we read The Nutcracker Ballet by Vladamir Vagin in preparation for tomorrow.  Then, we will begin reading another Flat Stanley adventure!  The team will be voting on which adventure we would like to read together later this week.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

November 18-22

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS

PERMISSION SLIPS AND ADMISSION FEES FOR THE NUTCRACKER NEED TO BE TURNED IN!  If you have not turned them in yet, please do so as soon as possible!  Students will not be allowed to go without a signed permission slip.  No student will be left out of the field trip because their family cannot send in the $1.50 for the admission fee.  If the admission fee is a hardship for you family, please let me know!  We can make it work!  Any questions, please let me know!

Please send in the Flat Stanley papers!  We will need the names and addresses of all of Team Blowey’s friends or family members willing to participate in the project before we can start our Flat Stanley projects in school.  If you do not have any friends or family members out of state that are willing to participate, please let me know!  I have friends and family members on stand by!

Although today was quite warm, the weather is getting much colder on a daily basis.  Please remember to send your child to school with a jacket, hat, and mittens!

Please remember to send in a healthy snack to keep your child’s brain and body energized throughout the day!  They are also able to have a water bottle on their desk to keep them hydrated.  However, ONLY WATER is allowed in the water bottle.  Juice can be a lunch time drink, not a class time drink.  

This Thursday, we will be having bus safety!  Students will learn all about being safe on the bus.  Be sure to ask your child about some safety rules they should remember when they come home.

Also on Thursday, Mrs. Thibodeau will be joining us with another fun-filled lesson to help us be successful at Russell School!

Homework packets are due on Thursday!  Please remind your child to put their homework packets in their folders on Wednesday night.

Next week’s homework packet (the one that will be sent home on Thursday) will be a Thanksgiving Fun Homework Packet.  The packet will consist of a menu of choices for Team Blowey to choose from.  Students are encouraged to do at least one of the activities over the break.  If you have any questions after you have received it, please let me know!

This week in...

ELA (English Language Arts):  

We have been very busy working to understand story elements.  We have been reading stories as a whole group and then identifying the following elements:  title, characters, setting, beginning, middle, end, problem, solution, and moral of the story.  This can be quite a challenge!  So far we have practiced with Chocolate Fever, Flat Stanley and Too Many Pumpkins.  During this week, we will also read Rainbow Fish and Big Pumpkin to get some more practice.  Then, students will be challenged to read a story on their own and complete a graphic organizer for all of these elements.

We are also reviewing what a fluent reader looks like.  A fluent reader is able to read smoothly, have short pauses in between words, pay attention to punctuation, and read with expression.  We have practiced with some poetry and some short stories.  Fluency comes with lots and lots of practice!

We are finishing up our “How to Catch a Turkey” writing as well.  As we move through the writing process, Team Blowey is really writing some very creative plans for catching turkeys!  

Math:

We are beginning to wrap up our fractions unit.  We have been busy dividing circles and rectangles into halves, thirds, and fourths.  We’ve also been practicing how to write and read fractions to match the fraction that we see in a picture.  Team Blowey has also been working on being able to divide identical wholes in different ways (i.e. I could divide a sandwich in half vertically or diagonally).  As we’re nearing the top of Mount Shapes and Fractions, we’ll be throwing in some fraction challenges as well.  Here are some of the challenges we’ll be working on.

1. Working with larger denominators such as fifths, sixths, eighths, twelfths, etc.
2. Working to create a quilt with 100 squares.  After designing the quilt, students must write a fraction for each color they used.  This is our way of introducing percents!
3. Working with fractions of groups or sets.  For example, a half of a dozen of cookies is six cookies.
4. Working with fractions in time (i.e. how many minutes are in a quarter hour or a half hour?)
5.   Working with equivalent fractions.  For example, 2/4 is equal to 1/2.

Social Studies:  

We are busy collecting all kinds of facts about the Pilgrims, the Mayflower, and the first Thanksgiving!  When we are finished collecting all of our facts, we will turn them into a Mayflower shaped fact book!  We can use this book to teach others about the first Thanksgiving.

Words to think about:  

Don't let what you can't do stop you from doing what you can do!

I hope everyone has a great week!

November 12- November 15

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

Please remember to send in the Flat Stanley papers with the name and address of a friend or relative that lives in a different state who would be willing to participate in our project.  The means that would agree to have a Flat Kid sent to them with a friendly letter and send pictures, momentos, etc, along with a friendly letter back to Russell School for us to share with the class.

Please remember to send back the permission slip for the music field trip.  We'll be going to see the Nutcracker on December 3.  Along with the permission slip, students need to send $1.50 for the admission fee. Please let me know if you are unable to do this.  No child will be left out because they are unable to pay.  We will make it work!   Parents who would like to chaperone need to let me know ASAP and send along $6.50 for the admission fee.  

Tomorrow, Wednesday November 13 is early release!  Please plan accordingly!

Homework packets are due on Thursday!

For IXL, please refer to previous blog post.

Wishlist:  Plastic sheet protectors!

THIS WEEK IN...

Phonics:  We are working with the long /a/ sound with the spelling patterns ai and ay.  Here are our focus words:  main, wait, sail, tail, train, jay, pay, stay, hay, and may.  

Vocabulary:  Our new vocabulary words are serious, broken, personal, informs, and heals.  We'll work together to figure out what these words mean and build connections to them.  Then, we'll listen for them in two short stories called A Ride to Help and Time for an X-Ray.

Comprehension:  We will continue to work with sequence of events.  We'll pay attention to words like first, next, then, and last to help us understand the order of the story.  We'll practice this while reading A Trip to the Emergency Room.

Grammar:  We'll focus on proper nouns.  Proper nouns are names, the days of the week, months, and holidays.  Proper nouns always begin with a capital letter.

Writing:  Since we didn't have a chance to do our "How to Catch a Turkey" writing last week, we'll work on it this week.  We'll also be collecting our "Thankful Thoughts"

Read Aloud:  We'll begin reading The Thanksgiving Story by Alice Dalgliesh.  It tells the story of the pilgrims and why they chose to come to America, gives details about their lives when they arrived, and also talks about interactions with the Native Americans, leading up to the first Thanksgiving dinner.  While we read this book, we'll be taking notes on important facts on our anchor chart.  

Science:  As a preview to our animal unit that will happen later in the year, we'll be reading about Wild Turkeys!  While we research we will take notes on the different facts that we learn about them.  

I hope everyone has a great week!

November 4-November 8

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

Homework packets are due on Thursday!  Please remind your child to put them in their folders on Wednesday night!  No homework=no free choice Friday!

I will not be at school on Friday, November 8 as I will be attending a professional development workshop.  If you have any notes about dismissal please send in a handwritten note or email Connie Holland directly at cholland@sad15.org.  I may not be able to check my email throughout the day.

The weather is getting pretty chilly!  Please make sure you send your child to school with the appropriate footwear and outerwear!  We generally go outside for recess and earned time at the end of the day.

I know many of you had the chance to bring your children around the neighborhood last week and get lots of candy!  Please do not send in candy as a snack.  I ask that you send in a nutritious snack that will help your child stay full and focused throughout the day.  Halloween candy can be a at home treat.  

Classroom Wish List:  We are in need of plastic sheet protectors!  Any donations would be greatly appreciated!

IXL standards (review and new):

Graphing:

I can read and interpret a picture graph and bar graph using words like most, least, how many more, and how many less.

Second Grade

R.2

R.3

R.6

R.7

Third Grade

P.5

Geometry:

I can identify triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, hexagons and cubes.  I can recognize and draw shapes with specified attributes such as a given number of sides, angles or faces.

T.1

T.2

T.3

Math Facts:

I can add and subtract numbers up to 20 using strategies from memory!

Addition One Digit

E.1

E.2

E.4

E.7

E.8

E.12

Subtraction One Digit

F.1

F.2

F.4

F.7

F.8

F.12

Mixed Operations

L.1

L.2

L.4

Fractions:

I can divide circles and rectangles into equal shares and describe the shares as halves, thirds, fourths, etc.

U.1

U.2

U.3

U.9

This week in...

Phonics:  We are working with consonant blends.  A blend is when two letters come together to make a sound.  We are working with sl, dr, sk, st, and sp words.  We will practice with:  slide, slips, dress, drop, skin, task, still, must, crisp, and spell.

Vocabulary:  Our new vocabulary words are:  rescued, mammal, young, hunger, examines, and normal.  We will work together to define and build connections to these words.  Then, we will listen for them in a short story called A Whale is Saved! by Elizabeth Baker.

Comprehension:  This week will focus on identifying the sequence of events.  This means we are paying attention to the order of events while we read.  We will look for clue words such as first, next, then, and last.  We’ll do this while we read A Harbor Seal Pup Grows Up by Joan Hewett.

Grammar:  We will work with plural nouns.  Most of the time, we can just add an s to the end of nouns to turn it into its plural form.  However, we can add -es to singular nouns that end in s, sh, ch, or x.  To change nouns that end in a y, we will change the y to an i and add -es.  

Writing:  Fingers crossed!  Hopefully Ms. Gill can get a super fun book from the Gray Library for me!  I’m hoping that we will soon be getting A Plump and Perky Turkey by Teresa Bateman.  It’s a silly story about some townspeople have to hatch a clever plan to catch the turkeys for Thanksgiving.  After reading the book, we’ll be writing another “How To” story... How to Catch a Turkey!  

Read Aloud:  We have finished Chocolate Fever and have now begun the wonderful story of Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown.  After reading the story, we’ll be creating flat versions of ourselves, writing friendly letters, and sending them to friends and family members around the world!  

Social Studies:  To go along with our Flat Stanley Unit, we will be introducing the idea of maps!  We’ll learn about continents, countries, states, towns and streets.  After reading the story Me on the Map students will do a fun project to show where in the world they are! 

Math:  We have now begun our Fraction Units!  After watching our movie trailer today, we unpacked our fraction standard and checklist to find out exactly what we need to do in order to meet the standard and make it to the top of Mount Shapes and Fractions!  Here is what we will be doing:

1. Dividing circles and rectangles into two, three, and four equal shares and describing those shares as halves, thirds, and fourths.
2. Understand 1/2, 1/3, 1/4.
3. Know that a whole could be described as 2/2, 3/3/, or 4/4.
4. Recognize that equal parts of identical shapes can be different shapes (i.e. you can divide a rectangle in half diagonally or vertically)

Our next few whole group lessons will focus on important vocabulary such as fraction, numerator, denominator, half, third, fourth, and whole.  Then, we will work on dividing shapes into equal shares, shading in one part, and writing a matching fraction.  We’ll be practicing this with lots of different menu choices such as IXL, fraction flags, hands on activities, practice worksheets, and games.  This is sure to be a super fun unit!

Words to THINK about:  Don’t let what you CAN’T do stop you from what you CAN do!

I hope everyone has a great week!

October 28-November 1

Announcements and Reminders:

This Thursday, October 31st, will be our Harvest Party!  Thank you so much for all of those who were able to donate supplies or offer up their time to volunteer at this event.  If you are still interested in volunteering, please let me know as soon as possible!  The event will run from about 1:40-2:40 with time for set up and clean up before and after.

Our Harvest Party will get Team Blowey moving and working together!  We’ll have fun with pumpkin ring toss, butternut squash bowling, and popcorn relays!

Homework packets are due on Thursday!  Please remind your child to put their homework packet in their folders on Wednesday night!  No homework packet = no free choice Friday!

With the weather starting to get chillier, please remember to send your child to school with the appropriate outerwear!  I don’t know about you, but I get pretty cranky if I’m cold!

Conferences continue this week!  I will see some of you tomorrow and some of you on Wednesday.  If you don’t remember your day and/or time of your conference, please let me know!  I’d be happy to send along another reminder.  Also, these are parent, teacher, STUDENT conferences so please remember to bring along your child!  They will play an important role in the goal setting part of our conference.

This week in...

Phonics:  We are studying the long and short /u/ sound.  We will practice sounding out, sorting, and spelling the following words:  bud, dude, rude, rule, fume, duck, sun, bump, cup, and cube.  

Vocabulary:  Our new vocabulary words are:  drowns, drifts, desert, gently, burst, and neighbor.  We'll be figuring out what these words mean and building connections to them.  Then, we'll search for them in a story called Plant Power by Bradley Roberts.

Comprehension: We will practice drawing conclusions about a story.  We'll do this by using what we know, clues in the story, and picture clues.  Being able to draw conclusions helps us to understand the story better.  We'll practice these things while reading The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle.

Writing:  This week, we will be working on a harvest time “how-to” story.  We’ll begin by brainstorming some ideas for things we do this time of year (i.e. picking the perfect halloween costume, carving pumpkins, going trick-or-treating, etc).  Then students will pick an idea that they would like to teach to someone else through their writing.  They will have to break down each step using the words first, next, then, and last to show the correct order.  They’ll also have to make sure their sentences start with a capital letter and end with a period.  Here is an example:

How to Tell a Spooky Story

First, make sure you are in a darkened room.

Next, use a flashlight to show your face.

Then, use a deep and scary voice to tell the story.

Last, make sure you take a big pause before you tell the scariest part!

Math:  We are going to focus on strategies to help us learn our math facts.  In second grade, we are learning how to add and subtract numbers up to 20 using strategies from memory.  Basically that means, we know the sums and differences in our heads in a snap (three seconds or less).  We have already practiced a lot of the games and other menu stations that we will do to practice our math facts, however, now our goal time will be focused on each student’s individual goals.  We’ll also be placing a bigger emphasis on using mental strategies.

We will also introduce our time standard.  Students must be able to tell time to the nearest five minutes.  This week, we’ll introduce digital and analog clocks, talk about the hour hand and the minute hand, and review how to read different clocks.  Our math centers will allow students to practice these skills, reviewing old skills and practicing new ones.

Read Aloud:  We are still reading the silly story, Chocolate Fever.  A story about a boy who loves chocolate so much that he ends up getting chocolate fever!

Technology Time:  This will be our first week in the computer lab!  We will be exploring the laptops and computers while practicing our typing skills.  Throughout the year, students will also have the opportunity to create fun projects with technology!

Halloween Themed Activities:  Since Halloween happens this week, we’ll also be doing some festive and spooky activities to practice second grade skills.  In math, we’ll practice making a different kind of graph called a glyph.   A glyph is a picture that shows data that we have collected.  After reading two books about bats (Stellaluna and Bats at the Beach), students will create a bat glyph that represents them.  They will be giving information about whether they like to hang upside down or not, what book they liked best, and if they are afraid of bats.  We'll also be making a graph to show if we think spiders are cute or creepy!  In literacy, we’ll introduce the idea of fact vs. opinion.    Facts are things that are true and can be proven.  Opinions are personal beliefs or feelings about a topic.  Using fall themed and spider themed facts and opinions, Team Blowey will have to sort them into their correct categories.

October 21-October 25

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

Homework packets are due on Thursday!  Please remind your child to put them in their folders on Wednesday night!  Homework must be turned in by Friday morning in order to have Free Choice Friday.

This Wednesday, October 23, is an early release day!  Please plan accordingly!

Thanks so much to all who have responded to our Harvest Party requests!  We are still looking for someone to donate some pumpkins, a few more butternut squashes, some plain popcorn (we won’t be eating any of it), and some canning rings.  If you would like to donate any of those materials, just send a note or email my way!  It would be greatly appreciated!

Conferences begin on Thursday this week!  Next week, there are conferences on Tuesday and Wednesday.  If you are unsure of what time and day your conference is, please contact me!  I would be happy to remind you of our meeting time.  I’m looking forward to seeing all of you again and talking about Team Blowey’s progress!  Remember, these are Parent, Teacher, STUDENT conferences so please plan on bringing your child to the conference!  Also, if you have any questions that you would like answered at the conference, please send them to me ahead of time so I can make sure I have the appropriate resources to answer you question fully and appropriately.  Thank you!

Mrs. Thibodeau will be coming to visit our classroom again this week!  We’ll continue talking about using Kelso’s choices to help us solve our small problems!

THIS WEEK IN...

Phonics:  This week we will be reviewing the sounds we have been working with in Unit 1.  We’ve practiced 50 words so far!  We’ve practiced all of the short vowel sounds and we’ve also practiced the long /i/, long /o/, and long /a/ sounds.  We’ll work on sorting some of the words we worked with and practice reading and writing them.

Vocabulary:  We are reviewing several words from Unit 1.  We’ll review:  groan, whisper, delighted, share, safe, forest, deaf, cultures, patient, and settled.  We’ll talk about what these words mean and give examples of how we might use them in a sentence or how we connect to the words to remember them better.

Comprehension:  This week, we’ll be working together to take a sample Unit assessment.  These assessments focus on being able to read a passage and answer questions about it.  Together, we’ll read about Tigers and Kim’s Good Idea.  In this practice assessment, we’ll also practice using some of our reading strategies like using pictures to answer questions.

Grammar:  We will be reviewing all of the skills we have practiced so far!  We’ll review the different type of sentences like statements, questions, commands and exclamations.  We’ll review the parts of a sentence (subject and predicate) and we’ll also review how to combine sentences if they have the same subject or the same predicate.  

Writing:  This week we will focus on revising, editing, and publishing our personal narratives!  Today, student’s worked with a partner to try and figure out what they could add to their story to make it more interesting!  Team Blowey will take those changes and create a second draft.  Then, they will conference with me for the editing process.  We’ll be making sure that every sentence starts with a capital letter and has correct ending punctuation.  We’ll be making sure that most of our words are spelled correctly and 
that our story flows, meaning that it is easy to read.  Then, Team Blowey will use their very best handwriting to publish their personal narratives!

Math:  We are getting so close to making it to the top of Mount Geometry!  Our whole group lessons this week will focus on reviewing each step on our checklist.  Here is what Team Blowey will need to show in order to make it to the top of Mount Geometry!

Identify a triangle, quadrilateral (any shape that has four sides and four angles), pentagon, hexagon, and cube.  Students should also be able to identify a rhombus, trapezoid, square, rectangle, and circle.

Be able to count the number of sides (the lines that make up the shape) and angles (the corners) that make up a 2D shape.

Identify a 3D shape.

Count the number of faces (the flat surfaces) of a 3D shape.  

Draw a 2D shape given specified attributes (like a given number of sides and/or angles) and draw a 3D shape.

We’ll also be doing some fun projects to help us review some of these things!  We’ll be reading The Shape of Things by Dayle Ann Dodds and then creating a very similar classroom book.  We’ll follow this format:  A _______________ is just a _________________ until you add __________________.  Then it’s a _____________________.  For example, a square is just a square until you add a roof and some windows, then it’s a house!  We’ll also be making some geometrical Jack-O-Lanterns!  Students will use geometric shapes to decorate pumpkins and then they will have to tell me how many of each shape they used.

Social Studies:  Our classroom store will open this week!  Students will have the chance to spend the “B” that they have earned however they would like!  Some might choose to spend it all, some might choose to save it all and try and save up to buy something more expensive!  

Science:  Since we didn’t have a chance to play our “Plant Needs” game last week, my goal is to try and play it sometime this week!  Students will become plants themselves and have to find the four things a plant needs in order to stay alive in the game!  They will be collecting sunlight, soil, water, and air.

Have a wonderful week!

October 15-18

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

Time requests for Parent/Teacher/Student conferences went home last Thursday!  Please remember to send them back to school as soon as possible!  Conferences are set up on a first come, first serve basis!  If I do not get a time request from you, I will assign you a day and time.  

Homework packets are due this Thursday!  Please remind your child to put it back in their folder so they can get their Free Choice Friday!

On October 31st, we will be celebrating the harvest season in true Team Blowey style!  We will be celebrating with some fun fall-themed games!  We'll need your help to make this event happen so I will be sending home a sign-up sheet this week with the items we will need.  If you are willing and able to send in any of the items, just send the bottom part of the sheet back to school with your child indicating what it is that you would like to contribute.  

A reminder about spelling:

If you were able to come to the Parent Night last week, you heard me mention that students are not only asked to spell their words correctly, but also to be able to use them in a sentence correctly.  We have had lots of students get 100% on the spelling part of their test, but are unable to use their words correctly in a sentence.  My suggestion would be to help them put this into practice while they are practicing their spelling words at home.  I've been noticing a lot of trouble around words like an (many of us try to use it in a sentence where "and" really belongs), your, there, and their.   This can be quite a challenge but I know that if we work like a team (parent, student, and teacher)  Team Blowey will surely succeed!

Calling all mystery readers!  We have only had a few people sign up and we're looking for more!  Generally I ask mystery readers to come on Wednesdays from 11:50-12:15.  If you would like to come in and be a mystery reader but that day and time doesn't work for you, let me know!  I'll do my best to make some accommodations!

Practicing on IXL!  The second grade teachers did some more exploring on IXL and realized that the geometry activities under first grade actually meet our second grade geometry standard better!  So here are the areas students can practice on IXL that truly match our learning focus:

First Grade:  K.1-8
Second Grade:  T.1-3

THIS WEEK IN...

Phonics:  We are working with the long and short /o/ sound.  Here are our focus works:  rope, rose, poke, cone, hope, box, fox, dog, lock, pot.

Vocabulary:  Our new words are:  settled, wrinkled, practiced, cuddle, favorite, and patient.

Comprehension:  This week, we will be focusing on making and confirming predictions while we read.  When we make a prediction, we are making a reasonable guess as to what will happen next in the story.  We do this by looking at the pictures, thinking about what we already know, and thinking about the text from the story.  When we are confirming a prediction, we are reading on to find out whether our prediction was correct.  We'll practice this skill while we read My Name is Yoon by Helen Recorvits.

Grammar:  This week we'll be working on combining sentences.  So far we have learned about the subject of a sentence (who or what the sentence is about) and the predicate of a sentence (the part of the sentence that tells more about the subject).  If two sentences have the same subject, or they have the same predicate, we can combine them!  For example, if we had two sentences such as:  

Nina came from Mexico.  Marcos came from Mexico.

We could combine them using the word "and".  Our new sentence might say:

Nina and Marcos came from Mexico.

Writing:  Last week, I modeled how to take our brainstorming about our personal narrative and put it into a rough draft.  We made sure we used excellent word choice to not only paint a picture in our reader's mind but also to make them know what we were feeling!  This week, Team Blowey will be working to make their rough draft of their personal narrative story.  

Math:  We are still on our geometry adventure!  Last week, our whole group lessons focused mostly on identifying and naming shapes using their specific attributes (such as sides and angles).  We also did a lot of work to make sure we knew what a side (a line that makes up the shape) was and what an angle (where two lines come together) was.  This week, we will be delving more into the world of 3D shapes!  Students will be exposed to many different kinds of 3D shapes.  We'll be working on identifying vertices, faces, and edges as well as being able to draw 3D shapes.  This can be fun but it can also be quite a challenge!

Social Studies:  Since yesterday was Columbus Day, we talked about how Christopher Columbus was a famous explorer.  We made a connection with him in a writing prompt when we were asked to think like explorers!  Team Blowey wrote about where they would like to explore the most and why.  As a team, I think we wanted to explore the whole world!

Scholastic News:  Our Scholastic News issue will focus on Columbus as well.  we'll read about how he used to keep a diary and what he used to write about.  Then, we'll use a diagram of the Santa Maria to answer some key questions.  

Science:  I just found a new game that will help reinforce the needs of a plant!  We'll be playing that together this week.  Basically, Team Blowey will become plants.  Then, they will have to find the resources they will need to survive:  water, sunlight, air, and soil (little pieces of paper).  

Read Aloud:  We are almost finished with the wonderful story of Charlotte's Web!  Soon, we'll be diving in the book called Chocolate Fever by Robert Kimmel Smith.  A perfect read aloud for the sugar-induced coma that tends to hit many of us around the month of October!