February 25th - March 1st

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

Homework packets are due on Tuesday!  Please send them back to school in your child's boomerang folder!

While there is still snow on the ground, please remember to send your child to school with all of their winter gear!  They'll need their coats, snow pants, snow boots, hats, and mittens!

The end of February is approaching!  Remember to send back their reading log at the end of the month!  They'll be rewarded for all of those minutes they have been reading!

Ms. Thornhill, Mrs. Lupardo, and I are dancing at Dancing with the Staff this year!  Come out and show your support for GNG teachers and schools!  Tickets are $10 and can be picked up at Gray Parks and Rec!  The event will be GNG high school at 6 p.m. on March 9th!  We hope to see you there!

If you have any friends or family members that participated in our Flat Stanley project and have not sent our flat friends back, please give them a gentle reminder to do so soon.  Team Blowey has been anxiously awaiting their return!  We love learning about new places and calculating how many miles we've traveled!

What to practice on IXL: 

I would like for students' IXL practice to be focused on place value, time, and money.  Once students have mastered these goals, they are more than welcome to go back and review some of our previous topics.

Place Value:

I can read and write three digit numbers:  C.3-4

I can tell you what number is in the hundreds, tens, and ones place in a three digit number:  M.1, 2, 4, 5, 9, and 10.

I can tell you how many bundles of 1, 10, and 100 are in a three digit number:  A.5, M.12

I can write a three digit number in expanded form:  M.13

I can compare three digit numbers using <, >, and = correctly:  B.3-7

I can skip county by 5s, 10s, and 100s:  A.1-3, A.12

Time: Q. 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10

Money:  P. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15

Students should also be practicing their math facts at home!  Since we are just past halfway in the year, students should be close to or working on their subtraction facts by now.  Don't worry if your child isn't there yet!  It just means that they should be practicing a little more at home.  The tricky part about math facts in second grade is that they need to be able to recall the sums and differences from their memory in three seconds or less.  This requires lots and lots of practice!  Although students do get time to practice math facts at school, the more they practice at home, the faster they'll meet their goals here at school!  The best online resource for students to practice their math facts is on mathfactcafe.com.  On that website, students can practice worksheets and flashcards.

Classroom Wishlist:  Highlighters and markers

This week in...

Phonics:  We're working with r-controlled vowels with the spelling patterns /er/, /ir/, and /ur/.  Here are the words we'll be working with:  cleark, term, herd, skirt, sir, stir, churn, burst, hurt, and turn.  We'll say the words, sound them out, and sort them by their spelling patterns.

Vocabulary:  Our new vocabulary words are:  wider, saddest, balance, deserted, freezes, and imagine.  We'll define these words and build connections to them before searching for them in a short story called Bills Helps Geese Survive by Anthony Estes.  

Comprehension:  Our reading strategies that we'll be focusing on this week will be generating questions throughout reading and also identifying cause and effect.  Good readers are always asking questions.  These questions help us connect to the book and make reading meaningful.  When we are identifying the cause and effect in a story, we'll looking for why something happened (cause) and what actually happened (effect).  We can use the connecting word "because" to help us with this.  For example:  I used an umbrella (effect) BECAUSE it was raining (cause).  We'll practice these skills while we read Goose's Story by Cari Best.

Writing:  This week, we'll be working on creating our very own classroom newspaper!  Students will be working with partners to create news articles where they answer the essential questions:  who, what, when, where, why, and how.  They will also create illustrations for their articles.  These pictures and articles will then be assembled into our very own issue of Team Blowey News!  Our newspaper will highlight some of the fun things we've done this year as well as provide information about our team and our classroom.

Grammar:  We'll be working with helping verbs such as have and has.  Helping verbs help other verbs to show an action.  We use has when the subject is singular and have when the subject is plural or I or you.  For example:  My sister HAS learned a lot about insects.  Or,  those cows HAVE eaten a lot today.

Dr. Seuss Day:  Dr. Seuss day is usually celebrated on his birthday, March 2nd.  However, since the second is a Saturday this year, we'll be doing a couple activities during the week to celebrate such a fun and wonderful author!  Our first project will with his book Oh, the Thinks You Can Think! This is a great book that inspires creativity.  One of my favorite lines says, "Think right and think left and think low and think high.  Oh, the thinks you can think up if you only try!"  Students will be challenged to come up with any creative picture they see in their mind and describe it to their audience!  The second project comes from my all-time favorite children's book Oh, the Places You'll Go!  After reading the story, Team Blowey will be challenged to write about where they see themselves going in life.  Will they become President, will they play in the NBA, will they become a teacher, will they go to science camp, etc.  These writings will then be attached to their very own hot air balloon!

Math:  We'll be finishing up our focus on money for now, however, we'll be revisiting this topic throughout the year.  In order to meet this standard, students need to meet the following checklist:

1.  I can identify a penny, nickel, dime, quarter, and dollar bill and know the value of each.

2.  I can add coins up to $1.00.

3.  I can add coins and dollar bills with a sum greater than $1.00.

4.  I can use $ and ¢ appropriately.

5.  I can solve money word problems.

Our whole group lessons this week will focus on adding money and how to solve money word problems.  Small group and individual lessons will be targeted to each student's needs.

February 11th-15th

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

Homework packets are due tomorrow!  Please remember to send them back to school in your child's boomerang folder.

Valentine's Day is on Thursday!  If your child would like to bring in valentines for their friends, please remember to bring a valentine for everyone on Team Blowey.  We have 19 students.  Your child will bring home a class list so that they will have the names of each of their teammates. 

To go along with Valentine's Day and the idea of friendship, we will be creating a friendship snack mix!  Each student is asked to bring a cup and a half of their favorite snack (possibilities include, chex cereal, goldfish crackers, chocolate chips, golden grahams, sunflower seeds, raisins, etc) in a ziploc baggie.  We'll be adding each student's ingredient one at a time and the students will realize that when everyone pitches in their ingredient, the mix gets better and better... just like friendships!   Your child will bring home a paper note with more ideas for snack foods with them today.  Also, if anyone can donate cups and napkins it would be greatly appreciated!

The Winter Carnival will be this Thursday, February 14th from 1-1:45!  We'll be able to burn off all of our valentine excitement by building snow sculptures, throwing snowballs at targets, and sledding!  If you have a sled that you would like to send in for us to use for the day, please bring it to school and do not send it on the bus!  We're also hoping for parents to donate some hot cocoa and cookies to help students enjoy this festive day!  We'll also need some parent volunteers to help out!  If you can donate any supplies or some of your time to help us with this event, please let me know!  Thank you!  (If the weather doesn't allow for Thursday, we'll have the carnival on Friday at the same time)

Next week is February Break!  Instead of normal homework packets, students will be getting a special vacation homework packet that I have created.  If you have any questions after receiving the homework packet, please let me know!

 Valentine's Day mailboxes:  I have heard that several students have already created their very own mailbox at home for valentines and would like to bring them to school.  They are more than welcome to bring them to school with them on Thursday.  For those of you who have not created anything at home, no need to worry!  I have scheduled some time for students to create their very own mailbox of sorts here at school.

This week in...

Language Arts:  With so much excitement going on this week, our schedule will look a little different than normal.  Our phonics/spelling words for the week will be homonyms from our priority list.  Homonyms are the words that sound the same but have different meanings.  For example, write and right or to and two.  Here are the words we will be working with:  right, write, no, know, their, there, to, two, too, wood, and would.  

For writing, we will be finishing our final drafts of our persuasive letters.  We'll be using our writer's eyes to make sure our letters are convincing, they have capital letters where they belong, they are organized, they have correct punctuation, and that most of our words are spelled correctly.  Our goal is to finish up the last part of the writing process by the end of the week!

Book Buddies:  We will be meeting with our Kindergarten book buddies this week!  It's such a great time to build connections and enhance our reading skills!

Math:  We will be continuing to work on money.  Students have already unpacked the standard, but will now take a pre-test to see where they will start.  From there, we'll practice menu choices to help us meet our goals.

We'll also be trying to finish up our Pennies for Peace projects.  If you haven't already checked out the organization, here is the website:  www.penniesforpeace.org.   Learn more about the origin of our project that blends money standards and place value standards!

Social Studies:  Since the 100th day of school will fall on Valentine's day, students were challenged today to create 100 valentines to deliver to some elderly folks who are living in an assisted living facility.  Just this weekend, I attended a chocolate festival at an assisted living center in Portland and I will deliver the valentines to that facility.  We thought it was a great way to connect our 100th of school, Valentine's day, the idea of friendship and giving, and also to connect to the community.  Making 100 valentines was a simple way for us to give back to someone else and let them know that they are special.

So far our flat kids have visited:  Maine, Vermont, New Jersey, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Colorado, Nevada, and even Germany!  We're still waiting on a couple friends to return to Russell School.  If you know of someone who still has one of our flat kids, please remind them to send their letters and the flat kids back as soon as possible!  Thank you!

100th day of school activities:  Our 100 valentines were not the only thing we'll be doing to celebrate.  Team Blowey will also be writing about what they think life will be like in 100 years.  They'll also have the chance to color in a hundreds chart and use the pieces to create a picture.  

If there is anything that I have forgotten to put on the blog, please let me know!  Also, do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions!

I hope everyone is enjoying all of the SNOW!! Have a wonderful week!

February 4th-February 8th

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

I will be out of school on Tuesday and Wednesday at a complex reasoning workshop.  The team will have a substitute teacher.  If you have any important notes about dismissal, etc. please make sure you either send in a paper copy or email Connie at cholland@sad15.org.  She'll make sure the sub will get the right information.

Homework packets are due tomorrow!  Please remember to send them back to school with your child.

Although there isn't much snow left on the ground, please make sure that your child comes to school with the right winter gear (i.e. coat, hat, mittens, etc.)  It can still be VERY chilly outside!

We have time for snack every day so please make sure you send your child in with a healthy snack to keep their brains energized!

WANTED:  Wooden bats.  Mrs. Lupardo, Ms. Thornhill, and I are representing Russell School at Dancing with the Staff this year and our theme is "Take Me Out to the Ball Game!"  We're looking to use wooden bats in our routine.  If there is anyone who has a wooden bat and would be willing to let us borrow it for about it month, it would be greatly appreciated!  We promise we'll hand it back in one piece! :)

What to practice on IXL:

I can read and write three digit numbers:  C.3-4

I can tell you what number is in the hundreds, tens, and ones place in a three digit number:  M.1, 2, 4, 5, 9, and 10.

I can tell you how many bundles of 1, 10, and 100 are in a three digit number:  A.5, M.12

I can write a three digit number in expanded form:  M.13

I can compare three digit numbers using <, >, and = correctly:  B.3-7

I can skip county by 5s, 10s, and 100s:  A.1-3, A.12

 

They can also practice the following:

 

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

 

We are also introducing money this week.  They can practice the following to help them with that:

 

P. 1-15

 

This week in...

 

Phonics:  We're working with r-controlled vowels with the spelling patterns "ar" and "or".  Here are our phonics words for the week:  part, start, park, farm, dark, sort, storm, short, for, horse.

Vocabulary:  Here are our vocabulary words for the week:  puddles, preen, itches, beasts, handy, and nibble.  We'll figure out what these words mean, build connections to them, and then search for them in a short story called Animals Need to Eat by Patty Serrano.

Comprehension:  This week our focus will be on generate questions and being able to compare and contrast.  When we generate questions, we need to think of questions before, during, and after reading.  This keeps our minds engaged and helps us to understand the story later.  When we compare and contrast, we are figuring out how things are alike and how they are different.  We'll practice these skills when we read Splish Splash Animal Baths by April Pulley Sayre.  

Writing:  This week, we'll work really hard to put those finishing touches on our persuasive letters!  We have lots of interesting topics going around.  We've been working on creating a picture in someone's mind in our opening paragraphs, then giving our three important reasons, and then creating a lasting impression in our closing paragraphs.  And, of course, asking politely for what we want.

Grammar:  We will be working with linking verbs.  These are words that do not show action.  Some examples would be:  are, is, am, was, and were.  We'll have to think extra hard to make sure our linking verbs are in the right tense.

Math:  We have unpacked a new standard... MONEY!    Here is what the standard says:

MA.02.MD.03.02

I solve word problems with dollar bills, quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies.  I can use $ and ¢ symbols appropriately.

Today students had the chance to play "make 50¢", work on money worksheets, and use some of the money apps on the ipads.

Later this week, they will work on identifying each coins specific attributes.

To string together place value and money, Team Blowey will also be working on a performance task called Pennies for Peace.  This activity is based upon the book Listen to the Wind by Greg Mortenson.  Many of you may know his book Three Cups of Tea which is the book the story in Listen to the Wind comes from.  

In the book, people raise pennies to help build schools and supply teachers and materials to schools in Korphe.  This service learning project continues today.  Check out the website at http://www.penniesforpeace.org/.

Team Blowey will be learning about the Pennies for Peace project and using data to create a book that demonstrates both their knowledge of Listen to the Wind, the service learning it represents, and place value. 

Social Studies:  We are constantly getting more and more flat friends back in the mail which means we are constantly learning about many new places!  So far, we have calculated that we have traveled over 16,000 miles!  Every time someone comes back, we share pictures, we listen to the letters and learn about new places and cultures, and we plot ourselves on our map (keeping our mapping skills fresh!).  

Read Aloud:  We are still working our way through The Borrowers.

 

Words to THINK about:  This month, we will be thinking about "When life hands you a lemon, make some lemonade!"  Many of you have heard and know this saying.  It's something that's important for all of us to remember right now.  Things may not always go your way, but life is simply what you make it!  So why not make it something great?

I think that just about covers it for this week!  Let me know if you have any questions!

Have a spectacular week!

 

 

January 28th-February 1st

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

Homework packets are due tomorrow!  Please send them back in your child's boomerang folder.

This is a gentle reminder to please let me know ahead of time if you are planning on sending any kind of food items in for the class.  We do have some allergies and intolerances that we need to be mindful of.  Any time food is brought into the classroom, I am required to let the nurse and parents know ahead of time so that we can check our allergy/intolerance list and to allow parents enough notice to send in alternative items for their child if they so choose.  Thank you!

It is VERY chilly outside!! Please remember to send your child to school with the appropriate outdoor gear.  They will need it for outdoor recess/earned time. 

Our second grade winter carnival is planned for this Friday, February 1st (weather permitting) from around 1:00-1:45.  Students will make snow sculptures, throw snowballs at targets, and go sledding.  They will also have some hot cocoa and cookies.  Students are more than welcome to bring sleds with them to school, as long as they do not bring them on the bus.  We're looking for cookie and cocoa donations and also some parent volunteers!  Please let me know if you are interested and available.

IXL:  Please refer to last week's post for what to practice on IXL.

This week in...

Phonics:  We're working with triple consonant blends.  The blends we're focusing on are:  scr-, str-, and spr-.  Here are our words:  screen, scream, scrape, stripe, struck, strict, sprain, spring, spruce, strap.

Vocabulary:  Our new words are:  sincerely, impatient, furious, demand, emergency, and snoop.  After we have figured out what these words mean and built connections with them, we'll search for them in the story called Izzy Pig Saves the Day by Kevin Tormino.

Comprehension:  We will continue to work on visualizing the story but we will also revisit the skill of identifying the cause and effect in a story.  The cause is WHY something happened and the effect is WHAT happened.  We'll be using our important linking word "because" to help us with these ideas.  In order to practice, we'll be reading a funny story called Click, Clack, Moo:  Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin.

Writing: This week student's will combine their knowledge of letters and persuasive posters and write a persuasive letter!  Students will be challenged to use precise words, use powerful reasons, combine sentences using the word "and", and make sure that their ideas are clear and easy to follow.

Grammar:  We'll be working on  combining sentences with the word "and".  If two sentences have words, ideas, subject, etc. that are the same, you can combine them!  For example:  Mom picked the apples.  Mom baked a pie.  We could combine them and make this sentence instead:  Mom picked the apples and baked a pie.

Math:  Our place value menu continues!  

However, the second grade team will be beginning something new!  This week starts our first Turnaround Tuesday!  During Turnaround Tuesday, students will be sent to a second grade classroom that will meet them where they are.  For example, there are several students who need some extra help and practice with skip counting, so they will head to the "Skip Counting Room".  While they are there, they will meet up with their peers who need help with similar things and work together to get closer to achieving their goals!  We're very excited to get started!

Social Studies:  We are getting more and more flat friends back everyday!  Today, we learned about some travels to Colorado, Ohio, and South Carolina!  After school, I received a package from Florida!  Already, our flat friends have traveled over 13,000 miles!!  We're learning so much about places all over the country and we're having fun with our imaginations as well.

Book Buddies:  Last week, we had a "Meet and Greet" day with Mrs. Noyes' Kindergarten class.  They will be our book buddies until the end of the year.  Team Blowey and Mrs. Noyes' friends will be getting together every other week to read to one another and once in a while do a fun project together.  We are oh so excited we can barely contain ourselves!

January 22nd-January 24th

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

There will be no school for students this Friday, January 25th!  It is records day.

New homework packets will go home TOMORROW!  Unfortunately, we just weren't able to finish filling them out over the course of the day.  However, students can most definitely still practice their goals at home today and record them on the packet tomorrow.  

Students are bringing home two out-of-the-ordinary things today.  They are bringing home a Scholastic News issue and a script from a reader's theater play.  The Scholastic News is about President Obama, since the presidential inauguration was yesterday.  Students can read this and complete the questions on the back.  The script is something that students can read over tonight as well.  We will be practicing and refining these plays over the course of the week.

Thanks so much for all of your positive thoughts sent to me and my family!  My dad's surgery was yesterday and it went pretty well.  He's currently in the ICU recovering and is expected to go home at the end of the week!

What to practice on IXL:

PLACE VALUE IS REALLY IMPORTANT!  This is our focus in-class right now.

I can read and write three digit numbers:  C.3-4

I can tell you what number is in the hundreds, tens, and ones place in a three digit number:  M.1, 2, 4, 5, 9, and 10.

I can tell you how many bundles of 1, 10, and 100 are in a three digit number:  A.5, M.12

I can write a three digit number in expanded form:  M.13

I can compare three digit numbers using <, >, and = correctly:  B.3-7

I can skip county by 5s, 10s, and 100s:  A.1-3, A.12

 

They can also practice the following:

 

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...

Language Arts (and a little Social Studies):  With it being such a short week this week, we are doing things a little out of the ordinary as well.

Today, students worked together in small groups to read a Scholastic News issue all about Dr. Martin Luther King.  Together, they worked to complete and understand a timeline of his life.  For a fun little spin, they got to create a timeline to mark important times in their lives as well.  They also completed a reading check-in.  The check-in consisted of comprehension questions about the issue that they read.  They also talked about some words that would describe Dr. King:  kind, fair, brave, and peaceful. 

Students will also be practicing and performing a short play.  They were put into three groups.  One group will be performing the play "All by Myself!" which is a play based on the story of the Little Red Hen.  Another group will be performing the play "The Troll Bridge" which is a play based on the story of the Three Billy Goats Gruff.  The last group will be performing "To Kiss a Frog" which is a play based on the story of The Frog Prince.

This week, students will work on their fluency and comprehension with these plays.  They'll be challenged read with LOTS of expression to keep their audience entertained!  Some will even have to try out different voices to fit the voice of their character.  It's going to be a lot of fun!

They will also have the chance to create their very own setting together to set the scene for their play.  A challenge for creativity and teamwork!  Woo!

Math:

We are continuing our focus on place value.  Team Blowey has been doing such an awesome job so far!  Please refer to previous blog posts or the IXL information above to see the focus for second grade on place value.

If you have any questions, comments, or insights, please don't hesitate to ask!  Have a wonderful week!

January 14th-January 18th

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

Homework packets are due tomorrow!  Please send them back to school in your child's boomerang folder!

Remember to send all of your child's winter gear with them to school!  They will need their coat, snow pants, boots, hat, and mittens for outdoor recess and earned time.

There will be no school Monday, January 21st (MLK day) or Friday, January 25th (records day).

What to practice on IXL:

PLACE VALUE IS REALLY IMPORTANT!  This is our focus in-class right now.

I can read and write three digit numbers:  C.3-4

I can tell you what number is in the hundreds, tens, and ones place in a three digit number:  M.1, 2, 4, 5, 9, and 10.

I can tell you how many bundles of 1, 10, and 100 are in a three digit number:  A.5, M.12

I can write a three digit number in expanded form:  M.13

I can compare three digit numbers using <, >, and = correctly:  B.3-7

I can skip county by 5s, 10s, and 100s:  A.1-3, A.12

This week in...

Phonics:  We are practicing with the following consonant digraphs:  th, sh, ch, and tch.  Our focus words are:  each, teaching, teeth, wishbone, matching, which, path, fishing, watch, and dish.

Vocabulary:  Our new vocabulary words are:  students, effort, perform, mood, remember, and proud.  After working with them, we'll search for them in a short story called A Little Symphony by Lani Perlin.

Comprehension:  We will continue working on being able to summarize the most important parts of a story.  However, we will also be talking about visualizing.  Visualizing means picturing in your mind what is happening based on the dialogue, descriptions, and illustration.  We'll practice these strategies while reading Dancing as a Team by Sharon Dennis Wyeth.

Writing:  To coordinate with healthy choices going on here at school, we will be making posters to share with Russell School how we like to "move it!".  These posters will be like advertisements for the activity we like to do most to keep our bodies healthy!  Students will using the following checklist for their writing:

Ideas:  Is my message clear?  

Voice:  Does my advertisement sound exciting?  Does it make people want to "move it?"

Conventions:  Did I start each sentence with a capital letter and end them with a period? 

Word Choice:  Did I use strong, lively words (not just fun) to make my advertisement exciting?

Grammar:  We'll be working with the verb "have."  It has two forms in the present tense, has and have.  We use "has" when the subject is singular.  We use "have" when the subject is plural, "I", or "you."

Math:  We'll continue our focus on place value.  Students are working at their own pace and making their own learning choices for how they will practice the skills on the following checklist (example included):

I can read and write a three digit number in standard and word form.

Example:  378 (standard form)       Three hundred seventy eight (word form)

I can tell you what digit is in the ones, tens, and hundreds place in a three digit number.

Example:  536     5 is in the hundreds place, 3 is in the tens place, and 6 is in the ones place.

I can tell you how many bundles of 1, 10, and 100 are in a three digit number.

Example:  752  There are 7 bundles of 100, 75 bundles of 10, and 752 bundles of 1.

I can write a three digit number in expanded form.

Example:  139        Expanded form:  100+30+9

I can use <, >, and = to compare three digit numbers correctly.

Example:    545 > 341             148 < 981                107 = 107

I can skip count by 5s, 10s, and 100s up to 1,000.

Example:  

By 5s:  105, 110, 115, 120, 125, 130, 135...

By 10s:  410, 420, 430, 440, 450, 460...

By 100s:  217, 317, 417, 517, 617...

I can tell you the number that is the greatest and the least.

Example:    145     345    678    981    247    863    239

145 is the least and 981 is the greatest.

Social Studies:  Some of our Flat Stanleys are already on their way back!  We'll be talking about where in the world our Flat Kids went, locating it on a map, learning about the different places we visited, and calculating the distance we traveled!  It's definitely an exciting time in room 10.

January 7th-January 11th

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS

It's definitely winter outside!  Make sure you send your child to school with a coat, snow pants, hat, mittens, and boots!  They will need them to go outside for recess and earned time!

Regular homework packets will begin again tomorrow!  Students will fill in their goals and school and practice them at home during the week.  Whenever your child practices a goal, please have them circle the letter of the day that they practiced.  This will show me how and when they are practicing their goals at home.  Also, remember that there is a place for parent feedback!  Please use it!  Let me know any of your comments or questions!

Next Monday, January 14th is early release!  The following Monday is Martin Luther King Day and there will be no school.  On Friday, January 25th, there will also be no school for students as it is records day.  

CALLING ALL MYSTERY READERS!  We still have plenty of weeks without mystery readers.  If you or someone you know would like to come in and read to our classroom (or if you would like to read to us again!) please let me know!  Team Blowey loves Mystery Readers!  We invite mystery readers into our classroom on Wednesdays from 11:50 to 12:10.

What can my child 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

 

NEW! PLACE VALUE SKILLS!

 

I know what number is in the hundreds, tens, and ones place:  

M.1, M.2, M.3, M.4, M.9.

 

I know how many bundles of 1, 10, and 100 are in a three digit number:

A.5, M.12

I know three digit numbers in numbers and in words:

M.5, M.10

I can skip count by 5s, 10s, and 100s.

A.1, A.2, A.3, A.12

I can write three digit numbers in numbers, words, and expanded form:
C.3, C.4, M.13

 

I can compare numbers using < > or =.

B.3, B.4, B.5, B.6, B.7

This week in...

Phonics:  We are practicing the following consonant digraphs:  th, sh, ch, and wh.  Here are our new phonics words for the week:  chest, chill, chase, shape, sheep, thing, think, white, while, and wheat.  We sorted, sounded out, and spelled all of these words together and will continue to work with them throughout the week.

Vocabulary:  Our news words are:  ancient, hopeful, unable, confirm, and valid.  We will figure out what these words mean and build connections to them so that we are better able to remember them.  Then, we will search for them in two short stories called A Very Old Fish and Boy Finds Fossils!

Comprehension:  We will continue our work with summarizing.  When we summarize, we are making a statement of only the most important ideas in a section.  We'll practice this skill while we read Meet the Super Croc.

Writing:  I have finally set up a system so that students may write letters to each other on a regular basis!  Yay!  We will be reviewing the parts of a friendly letter and talking about how our intra and interclassroom mailing system will work.

Grammar:  We will be working with past-tense verbs.  Most of the time, we will add -ed to a verb to make it a past-tense verb.  We will also be reminding each other that a sentence should start with a capital letter and a sentence should end with a period. 

Math:  We have unpacked our next HUGE and important unit!  Place Value!  Today we unpacked the checklist for place value together.  Here are the parts that your child will need to know in order to pass the place value standards:

1.  I can read and write three digit numbers.

2.  I can tell you what number is in the hundreds, tens, and ones place in a three digit number.

3.  I can tell you how many bundles of 1, 10, and 100 are in a three digit number (A bundle of 100 is made up of 10 bundles of 10, and 100 bundles of 1)

4.  I can write a three digit number in expanded form.

5.  I can use < > and = correctly to compare numbers.

6.  I can skip count by 5s, 10s, and 100s within 1,000.

7.  I can tell you what number is the greatest and what number is the least.

This week, we will practice several menu choices for how to practice and review our individual checklists so that we know what exact parts we still need to work on in order to understand our second grade place value standards.

Social Science:  The plans are still up in the air, but we're hoping to teach our S.O.P. to a kindergarten classroom by the end of the week!

We are also continuing to learn and breathe by our new code that says that we will work together!  It's crucial for us to do this so that we can make our classroom vision come true!

Read Aloud:  We are still reading The Borrowers.

Words to Think about:  Whatever you do... be all about it!

I hope you have a fantastic week!