Friday, October 25, 2013

Reading and Language Arts   

Next week we will read aloud What Mary Jo Shared by Janice May Udry.  It is about a girl, Mary Jo, who uses an original idea to solve the problem of what to share with her class.  

Comprehension Focus
-Students make inferences to understand characters' feelings, motivations, and actions
-Students informally explore text structure in narrative texts, including character and plot
-Students read independently

Social Development Focus
-Students take responsibility for their learning and behavior
-Students develop the group skill of explaining their thinking
-Students participate in a check-in class meeting

Vocabulary Words
-routine
-expert
-fade
-flap

Reading Logs  Second graders are expected to read 20 minutes each night. Please help your child record their minutes in their October reading folder. Reading log folders should be returned to school at the end of the month after reading for 21 days. Reading logs need to be turned in by November 1st to be included in our monthly reading celebration.

Writing  In writing next week students will write silly stories. They will write a rough draft, edit, revise and then write their final copy. We will continue building our writing community where students are listening respectfully to the thinking of others and sharing their own writing as well as working in a responsible way. Students will express interest in and appreciation for one another's writing.  

Spelling Look for your child's word sort to come home on Monday. Please keep the Weekly Spelling Activity Card in your child's green folder when they have completed the nightly activity. Students are being asked to choose a different activity from the Weekly Spelling Activity Card to complete each night (Mon-Thurs) to help them master their spelling words for the week. Once your child has completed the activity, please fill out the spelling homework sheet, indicating which activity they chose, initial it, and have them return it the following day. This will help them prepare for the assessment on Friday. 

Math We began Chapter 4, Number Concepts and Patterns. Students will order 2-digit numbers from least to greatest and greatest to least, round numbers to the nearest ten, and model and classify numbers up to 20 as even or odd. 

Flash Cards  Students should be practicing their addition facts with their flash cards. Weekly timed tests are given.

Science  We will discuss "What is heat?" Students will measure temperature, and identify heat sources. 

****************************************************************Star Student of the Week  Kaeden was our star student of the week. When he is at school he enjoys recess. When he is at home he likes to watch TV. When he grows up he would like to be a veterinarian. Kaeden is a star because he helps others. Thanks for sharing Kaden!

***************************************************************** 

Important Dates & Announcements

October Dates to Remember

28- Art to Remember is due

31 - Parade @1:40 weather pending. Everyone is invited to come! Classroom parties will follow. Students should bring their costumes to school in a bag on Thursday. Please make sure your child is able to put on his/her costume. No make-up will be applied at school and no toy weapons of any kind are aloud! Please do NOT send in any treat bags with candy or food in them. We have to be mindful of allergies. Thank you!

November Dates to Remember

    1 - Reading Logs are due for the month of October

   1 - School Wide Reading Reward Day-Wear orange and black and bring a             Halloween book to share 

   1 - Family Halloween Party @6:30

4-5-6 Parent/Teacher Conferences

   8 - No School - PT Conferences

 11 - Veteran's Day - No School

14 - Second Grade Concert

20 - Early Dismissal Day

26 - Report Cards sent home

27-29 Thanksgiving Break - No School

Friday, October 18

Reading and Language Arts   

This week we will read aloud The Paperboy by Dave Pilkey. It is about a paperboy and his dog enjoying the quiet of the early morning as they deliver their papers. 

Comprehension Focus
-Students visualize to make sense of text
-Students informally use schema and inference as they visualize
-Students read independently

Social Development Focus
-Students analyze the effect of their behavior on others and on the group work
-Students relate the values of  caring and helpfulness to their behavior and interactions
-Students develop the group skills of taking turns talking and listening

Vocabulary Words
-predicament
-remedy
-advice
-solution

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

Writing  In writing next week we will continue the lesson that focused on the read aloud Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Typed Aloud. Also, they will be reading My Little Sister Ate One Hare by Bill Grossman. It is a silly story about a little sister who eats many gross things. It begins with a silly sentence and just keeps getting sillier and sillier.

The focus will be:  students will hear and discuss good writing, write sentences to generate writing ideas, write silly stories, capitalize proper nouns, and approximate the spelling of unfamiliar words. We will continue building our writing community where students are listening respectfully to the thinking of others and sharing their own writing as well as working in a responsible way. Students will express interest in and appreciation for one another's writing.  

Spelling Look for your child's word sort to come home on Monday. Please keep the Weekly Spelling Activity Card in your child's green folder when they have completed the nightly activity. Students are being asked to choose a different activity from the Weekly Spelling Activity Card to complete each night (Mon-Thurs) to help them master their spelling words for the week. Once your child has completed the activity, please fill out the spelling homework sheet, indicating which activity they chose, initial it, and have them return it the following day. This will help them prepare for the assessment on Friday. 

Math Students will problem solve making reasonable estimates and then have a chapter test in the middle of the week. Check your student's assignment notebook for the exact date. Our next chapter is Number Concepts and Patterns. Students will use ordinal numbers to identify positions and compare numbers using <, > and =.

Flash Cards  Students should be practicing their addition facts with their flash cards. Weekly timed tests are given.

Science  We will continue our unit on Energy and Motion. We will continue an investigation on how light moves. 

*****************************************************************Star Student of the Week  Chloe was our star student of the week. When she is at school she enjoys reading. When she is at home she likes to read too. When she grows up she would like to be a veterinarian. Chloe is a star because she is nice. Thanks for sharing Chloe!

***************************************************************** 

Important Dates & Announcements

October Dates to Remember
21 - Box Tops Collection Day
24 - Early Dismissal @12pm
31 - Parade @1:40 provided we have good weather, classroom parties will follow

November Dates to Remember
   1 - School Wide Reading Reward Day-Wear orange and black and bring a                   Halloween book to share 
   1 - Family Halloween Party @6:30
4-7 - Parent Teacher Conferences
   8 - Parent Teacher Conferences - No School
  11 -  Veteran's Day - No School

Friday, October 11, 2013

Reading and Language Arts   

This week we will read aloud the story "Dry Skin" in the book Poppleton and Friends by Cynthia Rylant. This story is about Poppleton having dry skin and his friend Cherry Sue tries to help him get rid of it. 

Comprehension Focus
-Students visualize to make sense of text
-Students informally use schema and inference as they visualize
-Students read independently

Social Development Focus
-Students analyze the effect of their behavior on others and on the group work
-Students relate the values of fairness and helpfulness to their behavior and interactions
-Students develop the group skills of taking turns and listening and helping one another share

Vocabulary Words
-numerous
-recreation
-shelter
-necessary

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

Writing  In writing next week we will be reading Dogs Don't Wear Sneakers by Laura Numeroff and CLICK, CLACK, MOO:  Cows that Type by Doreen Cronin. 

The focus will be:  students will hear and discuss good writing, write sentences to generate writing ideas, write silly stories, capitalize proper nouns, and approximate the spelling of unfamiliar words. We will continue building our writing community where students are listening respectfully to the thinking of others and sharing their own writing as well as working in a responsible way. Students will express interest in and appreciation for one another's writing.  

Spelling On Tuesday, look for the Weekly Spelling Activity Card along with your child's word sort. Students are being asked to choose a different activity from the Weekly Spelling Activity Card to complete each night (Mon-Thurs) to help them master their spelling words for the week. Once your child has completed the activity, please fill out the spelling homework sheet, indicating which activity they chose, initial it, and have them return it the following day. This will help them prepare for the assessment on Friday. 

Math  We will continue the chapter on place value to 100. Students will read and write 2 digit numbers in word form, expanded form, and standard form, and apply place value concepts to find equivalent representation of numbers.

Flash Cards  Students should be practicing their addition facts with their flash cards. Weekly timed tests are given.

Social Studies  Our visit to the Darien Fire Station was fantastic! The students got to spray the fire hose! Ask them all about it.

Science  We will continue our unit on Energy and Motion. Students will find things in the classroom that move and describe what make them move. Next, we will focus on light energy. Students will draw conclusions on how light moves.

*****************************************************************Star Student of the Week  Eric was our star student of the week. When he is at school he enjoys recess. When he is at home he likes playing with legos. When he grows up he would like to be a builder. Eric is a star because he has massive building skills. Thanks for sharing Eric!

***************************************************************** 

Important Dates & Announcements

October Dates to Remember
14 - Columbus Day - No School
24 - Early Dismissal @12pm
31 - Classroom Halloween parties

November Dates to Remember
   1 - School Wide Reading Reward Day-Wear orange and black and bring a                   Halloween book to share 
   1 - Family Halloween Party @6:30
4-7 - Parent Teacher Conferences
   8 - Parent Teacher Conferences - No School
  11 -  Veteran's Day - No School
  14 -  Second Grade Concert
  20 -  Early Dismissal @12pm

Friday, October 4, 2013

Reading and Language Arts   

This week we will read aloud A Tree is Nice by Janice May Udry. This is a book about the many ways to enjoy trees. We will also read aloud a poem called "My Baby Brother" from the book Fathers, Mothers, Sisters, Brothers:  A Collection of Family Poems by Mary Ann Hoeberman. This is a  poem that celebrates baby brothers.

Comprehension Focus
-Students visualize to make sense of text
-Students informally use schema and inference as they visualize
-Students read independently

Social Development Focus
-Students analyze the effect of their behavior on others and on the group work
-Students relate the values of fairness and helpfulness to their behavior and interactions
-Students develop the group skills of taking turns and listening and helping one another share

Vocabulary Words
-dreadful
-terrific
-grumble
-scrunch

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

Congratulations to all the readers. On Thursday, we celebrated 21 days of reading, for he month of September, with lunch in the classroom, popsicles and the movie The Magic School Bus In the Haunted House.

Writing  In writing next week the focus will be:
Students will hear and discuss good writing, make lists to generate writing ideas, write about a friend, explore descriptive language, explore capitalizing the first letter of sentences, use ending sentence punctuation, and approximate the spelling of unfamiliar words. We will continue building our writing community where students are listening respectfully to the thinking of others and sharing their own writing as well as working in a responsible way. Students will begin to express interest in and appreciation for one another's writing. 

Spelling Each Monday expect your student to show you their word sort. A word sort activity is sent home each day (Mon-Thurs) to help them master their spelling words for the week. Make sure you practice this activity with them each night. Please initial the homework sheet and return it the following day. This will help them prepare for the assessment on Friday. 

Word Sort Activities:  Here are a description of the word activities (sorts) you can work on with your child when they bring home their own set of words:

Regular Sort - Student sort the words in their sort by creating columns or groups of words.

Buddy Sort - Students sort together, read the words in each column to check the correct placement of the word, and then discuss the generalization covered by the sort. 

Blind Writing Sort - Students work with a partner. They take turns reading the words to another student who then tries to write and categorize the words.

Writing Sort - You write key words or headers to label each category. Then the student sorts individually accordingly to the categories by turning over one word at a time from his/her collection and writing it down. 

Speed Sort - Using a stopwatch, students see how fast they can correctly sort their words.

Word Hunt - Students select a magazine or book and search for words that fit into their sort.

Math  We began the chapter on place value to 100. Students will model and identify tens and ones, use place value to describe the values of digits in 2 digit numbers and to understand the meaning of of the digits in the numbers. 

Flash Cards  Students should be practicing their addition facts with their flash cards. Weekly timed tests are given.

Social Studies  We finished our unit on maps. Next week is Fire Prevention Week. We will discuss fire safety and take a trip to the Darien Fire Station. 

Science  We just began a unit on Energy and Motion. Students will identify forms and sources of energy, and describe ways energy and matter interact. 

*****************************************************************Star Student of the Week  Sabrina was our star student of the week. When she is at school he enjoys reading. When she is at home she likes watching TV. When she grows up she would like to be an actress or D.J. Sabrina is a star because she is a great singer and dancer. Thanks for sharing Sabrina!

***************************************************************** 

Important Dates & Announcements

October Dates to Remember
11 - Field trip to Darien Fire Station
11  - Progress Reports issued
14 - Columbus Day - No School
24 - Early Dismissal @12pm
31 - Classroom Halloween parties

November Dates to Remember
   1 - School Wide Reading Reward Day-Wear orange and black and bring a                   Halloween book to share 
   1 - Family Halloween Party @6:30
4-7 - Parent Teacher Conferences
   8 - Parent Teacher Conferences - No School
  11 -  Veteran's Day - No School
  14 -  Second Grade Concert
  20 -  Early Dismissal @12pm
  26 -  Report Cards sent home
27-29 - Thanksgiving Break - No School