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

Friday, September 27, 2013

Reading and Language Arts   

This week we will read aloud Alexander and the Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst. This story is about one bad thing happening after another to a boy named Alexander.

Comprehension Focus
-Students make text-to-self connections
-Students informally identify important ideas in a story
-Students read independently

Social Development Focus
-Students relate the value of caring to their behavior
-Students develop the group skill of explaining their thinking

Vocabulary Words
-eavesdropper
-accompany
-annoy
-include

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 21 days. Reading logs need to be turned in by October 1st to be included in our monthly reading celebration.

Writing  In writing next week the focus will be:
Students will hear and discuss good writing, make lists to generate writing ideas, write about something that happened to them, explore descriptive language, explore capitalizing the first letter of sentences and use ending sentence punctuation. 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.

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 will continue the chapter on subtraction.  Students will use addition to find the difference, use addition and subtraction to identify missing addends, and solve problems using the skill choose the operation. We will have a chapter assessment on subtraction on Thursday or Friday next week. Check your students assignment notebook for the exact date. We will be working with place value to 100 next. 

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

Social Studies  We will finish our discussion on the U.S. map. Lastly, we will look at a landform map and identify the some landforms on a map of North America. 

Science  We will begin 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  Rohan was our star student of the week. When he is at school he enjoys recess. When he is at home he likes to play with his friends in the house . When he grows up he would like to be a Entomologist. Rohan is a star because he is funny. Thanks for sharing Rohan!

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

Important Dates & Announcements

*Please send in a 1 subject, wide rule notebook by Monday, Sept. 30th.*
We will be using it for writing! Thank YOU!

October Dates to Remember
  1- Reading Logs are due
11 - Progress Reports issued
14 - Columbus Day - No School
24 - Early Dismissal @12pm
31 - Classroom Halloween parties

November Dates to Remember
   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

Friday, September 20, 2013

Reading and Language Arts   

The read aloud is Jamaica Tag-Along by Juanita Havil. The story is about a girl named Jamaica and her brother, Ossie. Ossie refuses to let Jamaica play basketball with him, so she goes off on her own and makes a new friend.

Comprehension Focus
-Students make text-to-self connections
-Students informally identify important ideas in a story

Social Development Focus
-Students relate the value of caring to their behavior
-Students develop the group skill of explaining their thinking

Vocabulary Words
-ruckus
-victory
-risky
-glee

Writing  In writing next week the focus will be:
Students will hear and discuss good writing, learn about the writing practices of professional authors, draw to generate writing ideas and write about their drawing. We will continue building our writing community where students are learning the procedures for silent writing time, working in a responsible way and listening respectfully to the thinking of others and sharing their own writing.

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 21 days. Reading logs are due October 1st.

Word Sort Activities:  Here are some of the different 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 subtraction.   Students will use the strategy of count back to find differences, and use fact families to find sums and differences. Students will use the inverse relationship of addition and subtraction to recall basic facts. Students will use drawings to represent a variety of addition and subtraction facts.

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

Social Studies  We will be discussing a map scale. Students will use a map scale to figure out the distance to places on a map. We will also discuss a political map, a map of the U.S., and identify states on the map. Lastly, we will look at a landform map and identify the some landforms on a map of North America. 

Important Dates & Announcements

I would like to thank the following families for the book fair certificates:

Cerny Family, Crowely Family, Obeid Family, Clair Family,
Kerfin Family, Kenyeri Family. 

I was able to pick out some really great books for our classroom library! Thanks so much!

The Magazine Drive is underway. This year the the PTO will award a pizza party to the class:

     1.  with the most participants
                         and/or
       2.  who raises the most money.

Hope you can help us!

If the Bears win on Sunday, wear orange and blue Monday!

Please look for an email from Miss Wyse!

September Dates to Remember

24 - Magazine Turn in Day

26 - Picture Day

27 - Early Dismissal @12pm - SIP Day

October Dates to Remember
  1- Reading Logs are due
11 - Progress Reports issued
14 - Columbus Day - No School
24 - Early Dismissal @12pm
31 - Classroom Halloween parties

November Dates to Remember
  1 - Family Halloween Party @6:30

Friday, September 13, 2013

Reading and Language Arts   

The read aloud is Eat My Dust! Henry Ford's First Race by Monica Kulling. The story talks about how Henry Ford won his first car race and used his prize money to realize his dream of building a car that everyone could afford.

Comprehension Focus
-Students make text-to-self connections
-Students build their reading stamina


Social Development Focus
-Teacher and students build a reading community
-Students practice classroom procedures
-Students take responsibility for their learning and behavior
-Students develop the group skill of listening to one another

Vocabulary Words
-fearless
-fearful
-familiar 
-convince

Writing  In writing next week the focus will be:
Students will hear and discuss good writing, draw to generate writing ideas and write about their drawing. We will begin building our writing community where students will learn the procedures for silent writing time, working in a responsible way and listening respectfully to the thinking of others and share their own writing.

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 21 days.

Word Sort Activities:  Here are some of the different 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  Next week we will continue reviewing all of the addition strategies as we solve additions sentences with 2 and 3 addends.  We will also use the problem solving strategy, draw a picture, to solve word problems.  Our first chapter test will be on Thursday or Friday. Check your child's assignment notebook next week for the exact date and a review page to help them prepare for the test. 

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

Social Studies  We will be discussing a compass rose. Students will use a compass rose on a picture map to:  follow directions to a hidden treasure, learn about a town, and find their way around a neighborhood. They will make a map of a town following a written set of directions. 

Important Dates & Announcements

The Magazine Drive is underway. This year the the PTO will award a pizza party to the class:

     1.  with the most participants
                         and/or
       2.  who raises the most money.

Hope you can help us!

September Dates to Remember

19 - Fall Book Fair and Ice Cream Social @6:30
17 - Magazine Turn in Day
19 - Magazine Turn in Day

24 - Magazine Turn in Day

26 - Picture Day

27 - Early Dismissal @12pm - SIP Day

October Dates to Remember
11 - Progress Reports issued
14 - Columbus Day - No School
24 - Early Dismissal @12pm
25 - Family Halloween Party @6:30
31 - Classroom Halloween parties

Friday, September 6, 2013

Reading and Language Arts   

Comprehension Focus
-Students make text-to-self connections
-Students begin Individualized Daily Reading (IDR)
-Teacher and Students share their reading lives

Social Development Focus
-Teacher and students build a reading community
-Students learn procedures for "Think, Pair, Share," class meetings and IDR
-Students take responsibility for their learning and behavior
-Students develop the group skill of listening to one another

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 21 days.

Word Sort Activities:  Here are some of the different 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 10-12 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 reviewing addition strategies such as using doubles, and doubles plus 1 (near doubles). Next week the students will be using the addition strategy of making ten to find the sum and finding the sum of 3 addends. We will practice our addition facts.

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

Social Studies This week we learned about a globe, what a map is, what a map shows and what map symbols represent. Next week we will discuss a map key and make a map of our own given a written set of directions to follow. We will also begin discussing directions and how they help us get to places. 

Important Dates & Announcements

Box Tops

The PTO is collecting labels for education and box tops. Any student collecting 50 box tops, and turns them in by Friday, September 13,  will be entered into the Chuck E. Cheese Raffle. The PTO will also be awarding the class that turns in the most box tops by the end of the year a pizza party. Start collecting now!

September Dates to Remember

10 - Magazine Drive Kick-off

19 - Fall Book Fair and Ice Cream Social @6:30

24 - 1st Magazine Turn in Day

26 - Picture Day

27 - Early Dismissal @12pm - SIP Day

Friday, August 30, 2013

It was wonderful meeting all of you at Open House. This week we've been involved in many activities to help us get to know each another. We also have been going over our new routines and procedures.  We jumped right into the PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support) program by reintroducing the students to our cool tools that reinforce our school's behavior expectations. 

Important Dates & Announcement

Scholastic Books

A Scholastic Book order was sent home today. This is an wonderful opportunity to order books at reasonable prices. Ordering is optional. I send home these forms monthly. Every book you buy earns FREE books for our classroom library. There are two ways to order:

*Register at scholastic.com/readingclub

*Enter our Class Activation Code LD48H

*Choose from thousands of books

                  or

*Return your order form and payment, checks only, payable to Scholastic Books

All orders are due by Friday, September 6.

Thanks in advance for your support!

Box Tops

The PTO is collecting labels for education and box tops. Any student collecting 50 box tops, and turns them in by Friday, September 13,  will be entered into the Chuck E. Cheese Raffle. The PTO will also be awarding the class that turns in most box tops by the end of the year a pizza party. Start collecting now!

September Dates to Remember

  4 - Labor Day - No School

  5 - Curriculum Night - Parents only - @6:30 

  6 - Scholastic Book orders due
10 - Magazine Drive Kick-off

19 - Fall Book Fair and Ice Cream Social @6:30

24 - 1st Magazine Turn in Day

26 - Picture Day

27 - Early Dismissal @12pm - SIP Day