September 28, 2012

Reading and Language Arts  Next week we we will be reading Mrs. Brown Went to Town.  It is about a woman whose farm animals move into her house while she is away. We'll look for rhyming words as we read. The comprehension strategy we will be working on is predicting outcomes. The phonics skills are long vowels CVCe: a,i. Our grammar lesson will be on the action part of a sentence.  The high frequency words are:  move, different, floor, poor, word and letter. Our vocabulary will focus on multiple meaning words such as ball, fair, and match. The spelling words for this week will be Vowel-Consonant-e words.

Reading Logs  Please help your child record their minutes in their September reading folder. Reading logs are due Monday, October 1. We will have lunch and a movie in the room next week for those who have met their goal of reading for 21 days.

Math  We will begin Chapter 4, Number Concepts and Patterns. The students will use ordinal numbers to tell the position of a number or object, compare 2 digit numbers using <, >, or =, order 2 digit numbers, and round numbers to the nearest 10.

Flash Cards  Students should be practicing their addition and subtraction facts with their flash cards.

Science  We are beginning the unit on Exploring Matter.  Students will learn that everything in our universe is made of matter. Students will use their senses to learn about matter. We will begin to discuss the properties of matter and identify the three forms of matter:  solid, liquid and gas.

Star Student of the Week  Julia was our star student of the week. Julia lives in Darien with her mom and dad. Her favorite color is purple. Her favorite animal is a cat. When she is at school she enjoys gym and the computer lab. When she is at home she likes coloring and reading books. Some really cool facts about Julia are:  she plays the piano, she attends dance class and she goes to polish school. When she grows up she would like to be a movie star and a singer. Julia is a star because she is a good dancer and singer. Thanks for sharing with us Julia!

Important Dates & Reminders

*Please send in your box tops!

Mon, Oct. 1 - Reading Logs are due
Mon, Oct. 8 - Columbus Day - No School
Fri, Oct. 26 - Spooky Story Day - Wear black and orange and 
                   bring a  Halloween book from home to share
Mon, Oct. 29 - Conference Week begins- more info will be coming soon
Tues, Oct. 30 - Report Cards go home

September 21, 2012

Reading  Next week we will focus on Poetry. The comprehension strategies we will be working on are understanding poetry and monitor and clarify. The phonics skills we will be working on are short vowel sounds and VCCV patterns. Our grammar lesson will be on run-on sentences.

Reading Logs  Please help your child record their minutes in their September reading folder. Reading folders should be returned to school on October 1, after reading at least 21 days.

Math  We began Chapter 3, Place Value to 100. Next week, students will model and identify tens and ones, use place value to describe the value of digits in numbers and understand the meaning of the digits in numbers.

Flash Cards  Students should be practicing their addition and subtraction facts with their flash cards. They are taking weekly math facts tests.

Start Student of the Week  Nicky was our Star Student of the Week. Nicky lives in Darien with his Dad, Mom and two brothers. His favorite color is yellow. His favorite animal is a bunny. When he is at school he enjoys gym and lunch. When he is at home he likes to play Wii and Mario. Some really cool facts about Nicky are:  he is good at reading, he has two cool dogs and he is a good Wii player.  When he grows up he wants to be a daddy and a life guard. Nicky is a star because he is a good learner.

Important Dates & Reminders
Tues, Sept. 25 - Magazine Drive Turn in Day
Thurs, Sept. 27 - Picture Day and last Magazine Drive Turn in Day
Fri, Sept. 28 - Early Dismissal - 12pm
Mon, Oct. 1 - Reading Logs are due

Mon, Oct. 8 - Columbus Day - No School

September 14, 2012

Reading  Next week our story is Julius. We'll read about Maya's pig, Julius. Julius and Maya learn a lot from each other. Julius teaches Maya fun activities like trying on hats and dancing to jazz, and Maya teaches Julius how to be polite.  The comprehension strategies and skills that we will focus on are monitor, clarify, how to scan for information, and fantasy/realism.

Reading Logs  Second graders are expected to read for 20 minutes each night. Please help your child record their minutes in their September reading folder. Reading folders should be returned to school at the end of the month after reading for at least 21 days.

Spelling  In addition to the 12 word spelling test, we had a dictated spelling sentence test which included some of our spelling words from this week. Each week your child will be taking this dictation spelling test along with their 12 word spelling test. Your child will earn the following points on this test:  2 points for each spelling word spelled correctly(these can be from previous spelling lists), 1 point for each capital letter, 1 point for each end mark and 1 point for all the other words in the sentence. This will be a part of their language arts grade. Next week, we will focus on short e, o and u words. The children will have a pre-test on the week's spelling words on Monday.  They need to study the highlighted words during the week and be ready for a spellilng test on Friday.

Math We will finish up Chapter 2 on subtraction. Students will use addition and subtraction to identify missing addends and solve problems by using the skill choose the operation. The test will be Wednesday.  We will begin Chapter 3, Place Value to 100.

Flash Cards  Students should be practicing their addition and subtraction facts with their flash cards. They will be taking weekly math facts tests.

Social Studies  We are locating communities, states and countries on a map. Next week we will finish Unit 1, Where We Live, and take a test. 

Important Dates & Reminders

Tues, Sept. 18 - 1st Magazine Drive Turn in Day
Tues, Sept. 25 - 2nd Magazine Drive Turn in Day

Thurs, Sept. 27 - Picture Day and last Magazine Drive Turn in Day

Fri, Sept. 28 - Early Dismissal - 12pm
Mon, Oct. 1 - Reading Logs are due
Mon, Oct. 8 - Columbus - No School

Happy Birthday

Timmy - September 15

Book Fair   It was nice seeing many of you at the Book Fair/Icecream Social last night. Thank you to all the students who gave our class gift certificates to purchase books. We will enjoy reading them. It was very thoughtful!

Star Student of the Week  Alice was our star student of the week. Alice lives in Darien with her Mom, Dad and brother. Her favorite color is pink. Her favorite animal is a dog. When she is at school she enjoys math and reading. When she is at home she enjoys playing games, playing chess and reading. Some really cool facts about Alice are: she is American born, Chinese, she plays the piano and has really pretty fish. When she grows up she would like to be an art teacher. Alice is a star because she listens to other people.

September 7, 2012

Reading  Next week we will be following the five steps of the writing process to write a story. We will be choosing a topic, exploring and planning our story, and organizing details to include a beginning, middle and end. We will be concentrating on writing complete sentences and proofreading our story to make corrections and revisions.
Reading Logs  Second graders are expected to read 20 minutes each night. Please help your child record their minutes in their September reading folder. Reading log folders should be returned to school at the end of the  month after reading for at least 21 days.

Spelling  We will focus on sight words. The children will have a pre-test on the week's spelling words on Monday. They need to study the highlighted words during the week and be ready for a spelling test on Friday.

Math  We will review and take the chapter test, Addition Facts and Strategies. We will begin Chapter 2, Subtraction Facts and Strategies. Students will use the strategy counting back to determine differences. They will use fact families to find sums and differences.

Flash Cards  Students should be practicing their addition and subtract facts with their flash cards that were sent home.  They will be taking weekly math facts tests.

Social Studies  We will be learning about communities.  They will be comparing rural, urban and suburban communities.  We will learn how to read a city map and be able to locate communities, states and countries on maps.

Important Dates & Reminders

Thurs, Sept. 13, 6:30-8pm - Fall Book Fair & Ice Cream Social

Thurs, Sept. 27 - Picture Day

Fri, Sept. 28 - Early Dismissal - 12pm

Snack  Please do not send snacks with peanuts. Our classroom is peanut free.

Start Student of the Week  We will be starting Star Student of the Week on Monday. The children are chosen randomly to be our "Star Student of The Week". When it is your child's turn please make sure their poster is returned on Monday.  You are invited to be a guest reader in our classroom and read one of your child's favorite books on either Wednesday or Thursday at 2:45 of that week. If those times do not work with your schedule, please let me know and I will try and arrange a better time for you to read to the class.