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!