Week of December 14, 2009

Thank you, thank you... for your wonderful responses to Lori’s & my requests for volunteers! It looks like we’re set for our Kindness Market tomorrow morning! Please make sure your child’s hand-made goods to sell are here at 8 AM. If you need to, you may bring them to the room as early as 7:30 AM. It would help your child if tonight you could pretend to be a customer, and, using real money, have your child make change for 1, 2 or 3 items. Also please remember to help your child set a price and determine how to display these treasures. The 2nd grade students have voted to have the local homeless shelter, PADS, be the recipient of our Kindness Market. PADS is a fine organization, staffed by many volunteers, so the money raised really will go (almost) directly to those in need.

The students did a wonderful job last week with their book reports, and engaged our interest in many fiction and non-fiction books! The evaluation is coming home today. When working on the report cards, I was pleased to note how many students met goals they had set at our fall conference—Congratulations!

The main things we will do & learn this week center on finishing these projects:
1. The Kindness Market! Having been producers, now we’ll be business people, selling our product, and mathematicians making change and counting our net sales.
2. Taking the different components of the Camouflage Unit test; the only part you can really prepare for is Wednesday’s vocabulary test (the definitions came home last Monday).
3. Finishing & assembling all the pages for our Tastings book, so you can celebrate your child’s learning (academic & nutritional) over the vacation. This may be a good time to put math & reading to use in making the recipes together in your kitchen.
4. Revise & polish the writing of our “Mayflower” voyage.
5. Continue “Author’s Chair”: each student is reading his/her best writing of the fall.
6. Start learning “the Scientific Method”. Last week’s investigation of the composting we’ve done was supposed to end our Rocks & Soil unit; however new questions emerged, so together we will design & begin another experiment about composting.
7. Continue work with concrete strategies of adding and subtracting 2-digit numbers. Counting up when making change is a great example of this.
8. Make a gift for you – remember to let your child know how much you appreciate it.
Reminder… Wednesday we go to the library; bring in your old books so you can check out new ones for the vacation.
If you are able, bring in non-perishable food items or cash for Longfellow’s Drive to help care for hungry people. (Thank you for all the generosity so far!)

Homework Please sign & return the report card envelopes ASAP. I want you to have Happy Holidays, so no written work is assigned until the new year!! However, do find time every day to read (& mark your Book It calendar)!
Attached is the class directory, in case you want to arrange play dates.
I wish each of my students’ families peace, joy & contentment; I’ll see you in the New Year, on Monday, January 4, 2010!
fondly, Ms. Lambshead

Week of December 7, 2009

December is going fast--Volunteer requests abound! Please let me know if you can help with any of the following:
~~ Support our young producers & cashiers next Tuesday morning, 12/15, at our Kindness Market is a week from tomorrow!
~~ Supervise a math station (I’ll have the materials & lesson prepared for you) this Friday afternoon, (12/11) from 1: 15 – 2:30.
~~ Help with our Holiday Party on Friday, 12/18, from 1:10 – 2:50. Each student follows a recipe to make his/her potato latke from scratch, so about 3 adults are needed at that station; there are 3 other stations as well, including a Dreidel game.
~~ Buy the supplies for our Holiday party.
~~ Do you have ½ to 1 hour a week to help us (by giving praise & reminders, for keeping fingers in the correct typing position) in the Computer lab ?

Regarding our Kindness Market: Please help your child decide how much their crafts will be sold for and how they will display them. Their desks tops will be the selling area for most students. Please continue to help your child count money and make change at home. We are suspending our Mad Minutes math packets for the next few weeks to concentrate on counting money. A math money packet is coming home for all to do in place of the Mad Minute.

Our final Camouflage selection is “Animal Camouflage” This well-written expository text, with wonderful photographs, gives new information on camouflage as well reviewing what we’ve already learned in our camouflage, or “Look Again” unit. As we read this text, we will summarize, make connections & identify the main idea of each paragraph or section. The vocabulary words are: blend, marsh, mimicry, costume, surroundings. Our spelling words all have the long /o/ sound, spelled in different ways. The spelling workbook gives good practice with the suffixes -er, -est.

Writing Celebration! In the “Author’s Chair” each students will read his/her best writing of the fall to the class.

Math Unit 4 is on developing strategies to do more complex addition and subtraction in our heads. The attached newsletter explains this well, and shows some excellent diagrams to help students organize their thinking, and visualize how to solve math word problems. You can reinforce what your child is learning in school by prompting him/her to use these strategies & tools at home. Also, please do not teach your child how to do pencil & paper vertical addition/subtraction of 2-digit numbers. In this unit your child will be learning other more concrete, 2nd grade level of thinking & understanding as s/he works with these bigger numbers (eg. tally marks, the 100 chart).
In Social Studies we continue our “People at Work” reading, learning about the difference between goods & services. At home, see if you can explain your work to your child – do you produce goods, or provide services?
We finish up our science study of rocks & soil this week by exploring our compost, as well as 3 different kinds of soil: loam, clay & humus.
Homework
Due any day this week: Book report: bring in the book and a creative project related to the book; using either the fiction or nonfiction story map as a guide, tell us about the book, and why you liked it (for further information, see my webpage). As you prepare for your Book Report, you may find it helpful to refer to the story maps & assessment of your last book report that are coming home today. Practice your book report summary at home. “Are you loud, proud and looking at the crowd?”
Daily: practice making change, in preparation for the Kindness Market, Home Link as needed, read aloud for 20 minutes and fill in your Book It calendar; practice your spelling & vocabulary words; use the vocabulary words in your conversations!
Due Wednesday: Go outside & gather these things to bring to school for making soil: sticks, leaves, pebbles, bark, roots! Also bring your library book; Spelling workbook, pages 62-65 (many students used their time well in class today, and were able to finish the spelling book)
For Friday: spelling test, & abbreviated reading/vocabulary test; Math-a-thon participation form due for extra math work/fundraiser for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hosp.
Due next Monday: money (math) packet
Coming… Tuesday, Dec. 15: Kindness Market--have your home-made, non-food, goods here ready to sell by 8 AM.
Wed, Dec. 16 – Camouflage unit vocabulary test
Also coming home today: spelling words, coin math packet; Camouflage vocabulary & definitions; also I’m returning your story maps & book report feedback;
The first trimester report card will come home on Friday.
More opportunities for Kindness – If you are able, bring in non-perishable food items or cash for Longfellow’s Drive to help care for hungry people.
Winter has begun, bringing more opportunities for fun, as well as flu! Sitting in class in cold, wet pants, socks & shoes is an invitation for all those germs. For snow play, winter boots are needed. For more fun, wear snowpants! Don’t forget mittens & hats.

Week of November 30, 2009

Thank you to all our wonderful Mayflower sailors & Pilgrims, and their families who came to watch! You can view photos of our reenactment on the Longfellow homepage, or use this direct link: http://www.op97.org/longfellow/archives0910/mayflower/index.html You can also print a copy of the Book It Calendar from Longfellow’s homepage, in case you ever misplace your original.

Our Camouflage selection for this week is an African folktale, “How the Guinea Fowl Got Her Spots”. As we read this delightful story, reminiscent of Kipling’s “Just So” stories, we will work on the thinking skills of classifying & categorizing, predicting & verifying as well as drawing conclusions. The vocabulary words for this story are: glossy, delicious, cautiously, scramble, slinking.

Math Unit 4 is on developing strategies to do more complex addition and subtraction in our heads. The attached newsletter explains this well, and shows some excellent diagrams to help students organize their thinking, and visualize how to solve math word problems. You can reinforce what your child is learning in school by prompting him/her to use these strategies & tools at home. Also, please do not teach your child how to do pencil & paper vertical addition/subtraction of 2-digit numbers. In this unit your child will be learning other more concrete, 2nd grade level of thinking & understanding as s/he works with these bigger numbers (eg. tally marks, the 100 chart).
Social Studies:
* Our final Tasting travels take us to Europe again: Sweden, for yummy blueberry soup!
* We will tie up our Pilgrim learning by doing some math, reading and writing related to Pilgrims.
* We start Unit 4: People at Work. The Kindness Market started years ago, as a way to help my students understand the concepts of goods, consumers & producers. We will learn about Olivia’s dad’s job tomorrow, as he shares about his work studying the brain and all the things our brains can do. If you would like to teach us about your work, in 2nd grade terms, please let me know.
Touch Typing: We have begun using the computer program, “Custom Typing”. Your child can also work on this at home, as long as you can supervise and make sure s/he is using the correct hand position & fingering. S/he knows the correct ID & password-these IDs are Not to be used by anyone else, because this program really is customized to your child’s skill and progress. Your child can find the “Custom Typing” link is right on the district homepage. Also, is there a parent who could come for an hour a week to help ensure that the students are using the correct finger on the keyboard? If so, please contact me.
Homework
Daily: Home Link (??), Read aloud for 20 minutes and fill in your Book It calendar; count coins, practice your spelling & vocabulary words; use the vocabulary words in your conversations!
Due tomorrow: Salmon-colored Kindness Market planner & the November Book It Calendar; If you can, bring the Pilgrim packet I handed out last Tuesday.
Due Wednesday: library book; Spelling workbook, pages 58-61; those doing challenge words, write a meaningful sentence with 5 of the challenge words instead of doing pages 60-61. Leave your sentences in the spelling workbook, at this week’s lesson.
For Friday: reading, vocabulary & spelling (long /i/ sounds) tests. Optional: Book orders due, so your books will be back before the winter break. Please email me if you want to order online. Math-a-thon participation form due for extra math work/fundraiser for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hosp.
Due next Monday: Mad Minute D2
Due any day next week: Book report: bring in the book and a creative project related to the book; using either the fiction or nonfiction story map as a guide, tell us about the book, and why you liked it (for further information, see my webpage).
Coming… Tuesday, Dec. 15: Kindness Market--have your home-made goods here ready to sell by 8 AM.
Also coming home today: spelling words, Everyday Math letter/resource for parents, Mad Minute D2, Dec. Book It Calendar, Book Order forms…

Week of November 23, 2009

There are no tests this week other than today’s math test. We are reading a charming fiction story about camouflage, “Hungry Little Hare”, and students are expected to learn these vocabulary words from the story: scent, avoid, disguise, disappear, sneaky.

After Tuesday morning’s time travel to 1620, in the afternoon our “Tastings” geographic travel takes us to Greece.
There is no homework due next Monday, but there is a lot coming up to keep in mind. Remember to continue your daily 20-minute reading at home. For some, the 5-day break from school may be a perfect time for you to work on your next book report (& project) due the week of Dec. 7, and/or making crafts to sell at our Kindness Market (Dec. 15).
Coming home today: End-of-trimester timed tests of addition & subtraction facts (some of you wrote goals about improving your word on basic facts.)
Due Dates:
Tuesday, Dec 1: Salmon colored Kindness Market planner & the November Book It Calendar
Week of Dec. 7: Book Reports (see description of the 3 components on my webpage)
Tuesday, Dec. 15: Kindness Market-have your “goods” here ready to sell by 8.
This is the final invitation to families who are available to come to our Mayflower reenactment… Come to Room 203 at 9:50 (stop first at the office to get a pass). We will start promptly at 10:00.
Students, remember to bring or wear your “costume”.
I wish everyone a renewing and meaningful Thanksgiving weekend!
Ms. Lambshead

Week of November 16, 2009

This is Longfellow’s nonfiction week… so this week’s story map is to be filled out on the gold nonfiction form. If you would like to read a biography (also nonfiction), ask me for the biography story map form. Our Camouflage selection for this week is also non-fiction, but written in poetic form; its unconventional language (poetic imagery and expressions, uncommon vocabulary and sentence structure) make it more difficult to capture the facts. To help prepare for Friday’s test, for homework, students are to fill out a 2nd nonfiction story map on “How to Hide an Octopus and other Sea Creatures”. The vocabulary words for this story are: enemies, creature, fades, drab, design.

In math we’ve worked on counting out change in different ways, and using different combinations of base 10 blocks to represent the same number, reading analog clocks. The new things we are learning this week are how to make change by counting up, and doing frames and arrows when there are 2 different rules for the arrows. The most difficult aspect of these skills is concentration!

Our Tasting travels take us to Europe again: Switzerland! Our Social Studies learning also includes the early history of our country, about the Native Americans who were here first, then about how settlers came from England, to Jamestown and Plymouth Colony. Preparing for our Mayflower reenactment will really deepen our learning about life 400 years ago!

Homework—start talking at home about possible ‘products’ to ‘produce’ for Kindness Market (It’s a concrete way of putting our learning into action. It ties together what we've learned in our reading about Kindness; we use the math skills we've worked on as we make change, and doing this market helps us really understand what consumers & producers are (from our Social Studies book) when we, the producers, make things to sell to the consumers, or customers, at Longfellow School. This year's Kindness Market will be on Tue AM, 12/15); plan what you will wear for our Mayflower reenactment;
optional: be a salesperson and see who would like to buy an Uno’s Pizza! (The main purpose of this PTO fundraiser is to purchase televisions for every classroom—useful for videos, DVDs and to display computer material.)
Daily: Home Link (??), Read aloud for 20 minutes and fill in your November Book It; count coins, practice your spelling & vocabulary words; use the vocabulary words in your conversations! Math: practice telling time on an analog clock, have someone quiz you on “complements of 10” (the number to add to a given number to make the sum of 10; eg, 6 is the complement of 10 for 4.)
Due Wednesday: library book; Spelling workbook, pages 54-57; those doing challenge words, write a meaningful sentence with 5 of the challenge words instead of doing pages 56-57. Leave your sentences in the spelling workbook, at this week’s lesson.
Due Thursday: nonfiction story map on “How to Hide an Octopus” For Friday: Math study guide is due; timed tests on basic +/- facts; reading, vocabulary & spelling (long /e/ sounds) tests. Optional: Uno’s Pizza orders are due, including online orders.
For next Monday: Nonfiction story Map on a book you read at home, Mad Minute D1; Unit 3 Math test
For next Tuesday: Families are invited to come for our 10 AM “Pilgrim Children on the Mayflower” reenactment (note the earlier time). Students need to have their costumes & props here.
Planning ahead… The next creative, oral book report will be due during the week of Dec. 7
Important items also coming home today: spelling words; Salmon Kindness Market planner; Mayflower reenactment information; math unit 3 study guide

Week of November 9, 2009

Kudos to Jackson, Jane, Olivia & Julian for their kindness in bringing in a combined $27.49 for UNICEF! The timing was great, as we began our study of money in math – everyone had a part in counting the change!

Coming…
* tomorrow – the fall goals we set at conference time will be taped into your take-home folder, to serve as a reminder for you. I also plan to return graded tests & book reports soon.
* “Pilgrim Children on the Mayflower”, Tuesday morning at 10:15, 11/24. A reenactment by the Second Grade Historians in Room 203. Parents are welcome to come.
* 2^nd Grade Kindness Market, Tuesday morning, 12/15. This is a holiday market in which each family contributes homemade crafts to be sold. Buyers are 1st and 2^nd graders, Longfellow staff, and parents. The profits raised by this event are donated to a charity chosen by the children in the 2^nd grade classes. Past charities have included the American Red Cross, the Greater Chicago Food Depository, and the Oak Park Education Foundation. This Kindness market gives continued practice of the lessons learned in our Kindness reading unit, and also reinforces both our math (money) and social studies (economics) curriculum. More information will come next week. Some people find the Thanksgiving break to be a good time for making these crafts.

Our second camouflage story is “They Thought They Saw Him”, a fictional story about how a chameleon escapes its enemies. The vocabulary words for this story are: swoop, ridge, wakeful, grip, glistens. Our spelling words give practice with the different spellings of the long /a/ sound, and the extra workbook pages focus on the important use of base words, prefixes & suffixes. Each student has chosen & we are now editing his/her best writing of the fall.

This week’s math activities focus on counting out the change in different ways to purchase different items, reading analog clocks, and connecting time to the events of our day, and collecting data which we represent in a bar graph.

Our Social Studies/Tasting travels take us to Antarctica… the only place we visit that is not a country! Perhaps your family would enjoy watching the video: “March of the Penguins”….

Our science study of erosion continues with investigating water & wind erosion. When the weather cooperates, we will do this on a little walking field trip to Longfellow Park’s sand area.

Homework
Daily: Maybe a Home Link. Read aloud for 20 minutes and fill in your November Book It Calendar (now available on the Longfellow home page); count coins, practice your spelling & vocabulary words; use the vocabulary words in your conversations!
Due Wednesday: bring your library book if you want to check out a new one! Spelling workbook, pages 50-53; those doing challenge words, write a meaningful sentence with 5 of the challenge words instead of doing pages 52-53. Leave your sentences in the spelling workbook, at this week’s lesson. For Friday: reading & vocabulary tests, spelling test on long /a/ sounds in words.
For next Monday: Story Map on a book you read at home, Mad Minute packet C2, gym shoes

I’m off today, enjoying an early Thanksgiving weekend with my children & sons-in-law.

Week of November 2, 2009

Last week’s book reports were well-done! I was impressed with how beautifully these 2^nd graders did, this first time giving an oral report to the class! Sharing their enjoyment of these stories inspires their classmates, so we’ll keep the projects here a few more days before sending them home.
I hope to get some photos of our wonderful Halloween characters in costume mounted onto my blog (webpage linked to Longfellow’s page). Our party was wonderfully sane, creative & enjoyable, thanks to our parent helpers: Lori (Julian’s mom), Annette (Kai’s mom), Joan & Don (Eleanor’s parents), Dragana (Nina’s mom), Alison (Joseph’s mom) and Tali (Ian’s mom)! We made & munched on vegetable skeletons and apple/nut/olive faces, and then ate ghosts!

Today we began a new reading unit, called “Look Again”. It’s about how we need to “look again” in order to see animals that are using camouflage. We will read a lot of nonfiction, or expository writing, including our first selection, “I See Animals Hiding”. So, in addition to learning a lot about camouflage, and how many animals use it, we’ll also learn the characteristics of expository writing, in preparation for the research & expository writing we will do later this year. The vocabulary words for this story are: unaware, slithering, wariest, natural, invisible. Our spelling words teach us about the funny schwa sound – a vowel sound in an unaccented syllable that is neither short nor long. In the workbook we are also practicing how to use more precise, interesting words in our writing, such as enormous instead of big.

Tomorrow is our Unit 2 Math test on the material we went over today (on the study guide). See the attached worthwhile Family Letter on Unit 3. We will work on: frames & arrows using 2 different rules; money; and “place value” using base 10 blocks; you can reinforce place value at home by using coins: 47 cents is 4 dimes + 7 pennies. The dimes are like our 10’s longs, the pennies are like the 1’s cubes. An important money skill to learn this fall is how to make change.

Our Social Studies/Tasting Travels take us to the land “down under”: Australia, home of Granny Smith apples.

Did you hear that our live worms arrived on Friday? So now we’ll observe to see if & how worms aid in the making of compost. In our study of rocks, we are learning about erosion.

Homework
Daily: Read aloud for 20 minutes and fill in your new November Book It Calendar; practice your spelling & vocabulary words & math facts (Every day do a Mad Minute worksheet and use your triangle flash cards.) See how many vocabulary words you can use in your conversation!
Due tomorrow: Be ready for the math test; optional: bring in your October Book It Calendar & UNICEF box (kudos to you if you collected for UNICEF on Halloween!)
Due Wednesday: bring your library book if you want to check out a new one! Spelling workbook, pages 42-45; those doing challenge words, write a meaningful sentence with 5 of the challenge words instead of doing pages 44 & 45. Leave your sentences in the spelling workbook, at this week’s lesson. For Thursday: reading & vocabulary tests, spelling test on the schwa sound
For Friday: Enjoy the holiday to honor our country’s Veterans; think of what you can do as a citizen of our country and of the world, to contribute to peace and the health of our planet.
For next Monday: Story Map on a book you read at home, Mad Minute packet C1, gym shoes

Week of October 26, 2009

Like last week, this week will go very fast, with different special events. Mrs. Weise, our music teacher, has arranged for a wonderful children’s opera to be performed at Longfellow on Wednesday morning, paid for by our PTO (and all of you who support the fund-raisers!) And although we celebrate Halloween with a Parade and a party at the tail end of the week, Halloween excitement will pervade the children’s thinking. So… there is no Mad Minute homework this week! Instead, the Study Guide for Unit 2 of math will be due by Monday.

This week we will take our comprehensive Open Court unit assessments on our Kindness Unit, to see how your child is independently practicing the phonics, comprehension and literary analysis skills we’ve been working on. The vocabulary definitions that came home last Friday should be practiced daily, for the fill-in-the blank vocabulary test this Friday.
The first, oral book report of the year is to be presented to the class this week, preferably before Friday. This means to tell the class a summary of the book (I’ll have the story map outline posted, to prompt you); showing the class the book, and bringing in a creative project you made that relates to the book. Knowing that an oral report is a big deal for many second graders, I give a lot of support to them, especially this first time. Practice at home so you will feel more relaxed in front of your classmates! Parents, remember the Book Report info can be downloaded from the right side of my class blog.

In Math we will finish up Unit 2 on subtraction & “algebra”.
We’ll try to get to our Science activities on Erosion & Weathering this week; meanwhile, our compost is definitely quite active!
In Social Studies, we travel to South America tomorrow for our next Tasting.

Regarding Halloween: costumes will be put on at lunchtime, no weapons allowed. We will have a 4-hour academic morning, so bring a healthy snack to eat mid-morning, as lunch does not begin until 12:00. Please contact Lori Bradford, if you’d like to offer help for our party, (ldemain@sbcglobal.net; 708-763-0452).

Homework summary
Daily: practice Kindness vocabulary, read for 20 minutes
Due tomorrow: optional book orders
Due Wednesday: Spelling workbook, pages 38-41
Due any day this week: oral book report, with book & creative project
Due next Monday: Unit 2 math study guide

Week of October 19, 2009

This is our special Parent-Child-Teacher Conference week! Remember, school is dismissed at 11 on Thurs. & Fri! Please be on time for you conferences, as they are scheduled very closely together. Mrs. Taylor, in the office, has a copy of my schedule, in case you need to check the time of our conference. If possible, please bring your child with you, as s/he is an important part of our review & goal-setting. Let me know at the beginning of our time if you’d like adult time at the end; I can set your child up with headphones, listening to a story on tape. After the conference, you can see some of our fun Halloween Poems on display outside the classroom.
Also during Conference week is the Scholastic Book Fair, a worthwhile PTO fund-raiser, and a chance for you to encourage your child’s reading by buying good books! It’s a great theme: Reading around the World. In case there are books you’d like which aren’t for sale at the Book Fair, I’ve enclosed some book flyers. These optional orders will be due next week on Tuesday, 10/27, paper forms or on-line.

This week’s kindness story is non-fiction: “The Story of the Three Whales”. Kindness spreads and becomes an international cooperative effort! The vocabulary to know for Friday’s test is: lurk, trudged, plight, invincible, ordeal & surface. (The verb “surface” means “come to the top of a liquid). In our Spelling workbooks, we are working on “multiple meaning” words.

In math we’re doing some Algebra, actually pre-algebra! We’re continuing to work with these algebraic concepts that were introduced in 1^st grade: frames & arrows, What’s my Rule?, Name-Collection Boxes. (Parents, see the Home Links coming home this week for more info.)

We do not have a Tasting this week; instead we will use the time to organize & finish up our writing for our Tasting Book.

Our study of Rocks, Minerals & Soil is getting us into many other areas of science. We are seeing how when some things decompose to become soil, they go through a chemical reaction, producing gasses that expand the Ziploc bag! For the little “Mini-worlds” we created last week with the 2-liter bottles, we see “condensation” as evidence of the water cycle! Thank you so much to all who sent in kitchen & yard plant matter, and 2-liter bottles! This week’s science lessons are on weathering & erosion.

Homework
Daily: Read aloud for 20 minutes and fill in your October Book It Calendar; practice your spelling words & math facts (Every day do a Mad Minute worksheet and use your triangle flash cards.) See how many vocabulary words you can use in your conversation!
Due Wednesday: bring your library book if you want to check out a new one! Spelling workbook, pages 34-37; those doing challenge words, write a meaningful sentence with 5 of the challenge words instead of doing pages 36 & 37. Leave your sentences in the spelling workbook, at this week’s lesson.
For Thursday: Note early spelling test on short /o/ or words that have the /aw/ sound as in hawk For Friday: reading & vocabulary tests
For next Monday: Mad Minute B2, gym shoes.
For next Tuesday: optional book orders due
For next week, Mon – Thurs: Give an oral book report (see guidelines… attached) Note: This is a new routine! The attached Book Report information is also linked on-line, just to the right of the current class newsletter.

Next week on “Halloween” 10/30… we will have an extended morning (8 – 12 noon), so I suggest bringing a healthy snack to eat mid-morning. Lunch will be from 12- 12:55. Students who bring a costume for the afternoon will have time to change after lunch. All families are invited to come watch our Parade at 1:10.

Volunteers are needed to help with our party! Please contact Lori Bradford, (ldemain@sbcglobal.net; 708-763-0452) if you can help in any of the following ways:
* to come at 11:55, to help students with their costumes,
* to supervise a station at our party, about 1:50, following the parade.
* If you’re a “crafty” person, who could head-up a crafts station?
* If you play the guitar, or can help lead singing of UNICEF’s “Halloween Carols”.

Thanks in advance to Joseph & his mom who will make cookies for our party.

Week of October 13, 2009

I hope everyone enjoyed the long, chilly weekend. I did something I’ve never done before—slept in a tent in Wisconsin’s below freezing weather—I was well-prepared & slept well!

Good timing! The Painted Lady butterfly emerged in our classroom this morning! We had watched this catepillar eat, grow & then make a chrysalis around itself. And this is what happens in our Kindness story this week, “Butterfly House”. This week’s important comprehension strategy is learning about point of view; this story is written in the first-person point of view. The vocabulary to know for Friday’s test is: larva, nectar, chrysalis, transformed, drift. This week’s spelling words all have the short /i/ sound. Congratulations to all who earned challenge words, and to all who spelled all 10 words correctly last Friday!

We are learning about nouns, verbs and adjectives, to make our writing more “colorful”. For practice, we’re writing a “formula” poem about Halloween which uses a variety of nouns, verbs & adjectives.

In math students are earning a stick of Doublemint gum by automatically saying the answers to a stack of doubles facts in 45 seconds or less. Working for automatic recall of basic addition & subtraction facts, we’re also practicing the different addition strategies we learned last week, and are beginning to apply them to subtraction. Ask your child to explain what a “fact family” is.

Today’s Tasting takes us to the Middle East and North Africa, focusing on Egypt.

We’ve had fun in Science learning about & comparing properties of rocks & minerals. This week we explore the composition of rocks by dissecting a cookie “rock” (Thank you to Eleanor & her mom!) Then we take a little break from rocks to start the process of making our own soil (& learning about composting).

Homework – Parents: please return your form confirming the time of your conference; also, you can still send in kitchen & yard plant waste, and 2 liter bottles any time up until Thursday.

Daily: Read aloud for 20 minutes and fill in your October Book It Calendar; practice your spelling words & math facts (Every day do a Mad Minute worksheet and use your triangle flash cards.) See how many vocabulary words you can use in your conversation!
Due Thursday: bring your library book if you want to check out a new one! Spelling workbook, pages 30-33; those doing challenge words, write a meaningful sentence with 5 of the challenge words instead of doing pages 32 & 33. Leave your sentences in the spelling workbook, at this week’s lesson.

For Friday: reading & vocabulary tests, spelling test on short /i/ words
For next Monday:: Story Map on a book you read at home, Mad Minute packet B1; gym shoes

Week of October 5, 2009

New homework--Starting in October: Story Maps! Most weeks, each student is to fill out a story map on a book read at home during the week. These story maps are useful in several ways: they encourage your child to choose books that are at the right reading level; they help keep the focus on comprehension; they help your child learn to summarize. I generally send home the attached yellow form, designed for fiction. However, if your child is reading nonfiction, have him/her exchange the yellow form for a gold one, which is designed for nonfiction. The last week of the month instead of working on a story map, each student will prepare to present an oral Book Report, with 3 components: telling a summary of the book, showing the class a creative project the student did related to the book, and showing the class the book (& leaving it here for 1 week, so fellow students can browse or read it).

We have another folktale in our Kindness unit this week, “The Paper Crane”. An important comprehension strategy we’ll apply to this story is looking for causesàeffects. This week’s vocabulary is: serve, guest, manner, stranger, unusual, overjoyed. Know the meanings of these words by Friday’s test. This week’s spelling words all have the short /e/ sound: bell, fed, nest, send, test, yet, went, then, next, them. Congratulations to all who earned challenge words

The students have written some impressive stories on how they have been persistent in learning something that was difficult. Their writing and illustrations are displayed on the hallway outside our classroom. You’ll be able to view them the next time you’re here (Parent-Teacher Conferences??).

In math we learned a “Beat the Calculator” game. Our goal is to learn addition (& subtraction) facts so automatically, that we can figure each out faster than a calculator! Last week we worked on “fact families”, doubles & “near doubles”. This week I will teach a short-cut for adding 9, and we will do more practice with all of these. As soon as students have memorized the Doubles facts, they will earn a stick of Doublemint gum. (I’ll time them orally.)

Social Studies: The theme of this week is Asia -- our Tasting tomorrow will include food from & facts about Asia, and this week’s story, “The Paper Crane”, is set in Asia! This week we will also finish our first unit of Social Studies, on urban, suburban & rural communities; neighborhoods & groups. To better understand our Columbus Day holiday next Monday, we will read and discuss some biographies of Columbus as well as a story written by a Native American descendent of the Taino people whom Columbus encountered when he arrived at Hispaniola.

On Wednesday we start our first Science unit on Rocks, Minerals, Soil and Fossils. This week we will learn the difference between rocks & minerals, and spending time classifying them. One way we’ll classify them is by comparing how hard the mineral is.

Homework – Parents: please fill out & return the attached form so I can schedule our Parent-Child-Teacher conference at a convenient time for you.

Daily: Read aloud for 20 minutes and fill in your October Book It Calendar; practice your spelling words & math facts (Every day do a Mad Minute worksheet and use your triangle flash cards.) See how many vocabulary words you can use in your conversation!
Due tomorrow: Home link (any time a Home Link comes home, it’s due the next day); Wednesday: International Walk to School Day! Also, remember to bring your library book if you want to check out a new one! Spelling workbook, pages 26-29; those doing challenge words, write a meaningful sentence with 5 of the challenge words instead of doing pages 28 & 29. Leave your sentences in the spelling workbook, at this week’s lesson. For Friday: Conference request form due; reading & vocabulary tests, spelling test on short /e/ words (Let’s all spell all 10 regular words correctly!)
Saturday, if you haven’t been before, I encourage you to go to the Oak Park Farmers’ Market, on Lake Street, by Elmwood. This will give you a better understanding of our Social Studies vocabulary: “market”
For next Tuesday: “My Rock Collection” homework sheet (It’ll be passed out on Thursday & involves finding 2 rocks, then using the classification skills we learned in class). Also due: Story Map on a book you read at home, Mad Minute packet A6; remember your gym shoes!

Attention Parents: The big white “gift wrap” envelope that came home a week and a half ago was an important fundraiser for our PTO. The PTO does such wonderful things for the students and the school, so I hope you will do what you can to make this a successful fundraiser—thank you!

Cookie-bakers? Part of next week’s study of rocks is a simulation of dissecting a rock to discover the components – we are to find different fruits and sweets embedded in a cookie. Please let me know if you would be able to bake 20 cookies for our “science investigation”.

We will have an educational Halloween Party on Friday, October 30, following the Longfellow Parade. I am looking for a parent to be my “point person”, coordinating volunteers & tasks for the party. Please let me know if you are available to supervise a “station” that day, and/or coordinate plans.

Fyi: On my blog is a volunteering form, the result of a teacher In-Service I attended Thursday after school. I was learning how to create on-line forms, so fill it out if you’d like….

Enjoy the Columbus Day holiday!

week of September 28, 2009

There are 2 special, new things this week: Passport and CogAT. Passport is one way we differentiate our teaching of reading – For 30 minutes 4 days a week, each student works in a smaller class on a phonics or reading skill that is developmentally appropriate. We will also take our only standardized test this week. While it’s important that your child be well rested, have a healthy breakfast and give his/her best effort, the results do not affect your child’s report grade. Instead it is used to help us see how to best help your child learn. The only other test we’ll have this week is the Friday spelling test.

Our Kindness story for this week is a familiar folktale, “The Elves and the Shoemaker”. While we won’t be tested this Friday on the vocabulary words, I expect your child to know the meanings of these words: leather, polished, handsome, cobbler. This week’s spelling words all have the short /a/ sound: dash, gas, jam, map, cash, path, sat, ran, ant, had. Congratulations to the 15 students who got all those right on today’s pretest, and have the challenge words to learn!

In math we are working on addition story problems (see attached Home Link), and on learning strategies to help in quickly and accurately computing the basic addition and subtraction facts (up to 9+9=18). Triangle flash cards came home on Friday, which you can use for practice (ask your child how they work).

We are finishing our first social studies unit this week learning about cities, suburbs, rural areas and markets. I encourage you to take your child to the Oak Park Farmer’s Market on Saturday morning, to help him/her get a fuller understanding of these concepts.

Our Tasting, when we made a pretend trip to Mexico, was delicious & educational for all. Special thanks to Paco, owner of New Rebozo, who donated the guacamole and tortilla chips!! The next time your family goes out to eat, please consider going to New Rebozo, on Madison Street, near Harlem.

Homework: Review last week’s reading and math tests with a parent, to help you learn you’re your mistakes. Overall, I was very pleased with the outstanding job the students did on these tests! Daily: Get good sleep; eat a healthy breakfast! Read aloud for 20 minutes (starting Thursday, you can start filling in a Book It Calendar; 20 days of reading for 20 minutes earns you a free Pizza Hut pizza; practice a Mad Minute worksheet (A2 packet), practice spelling.
Due tomorrow: Home link (any time a Home Link comes home, it’s due the next day) Due Wednesday—remember to bring your library book if you want to check out a new one! Spelling workbook, pages 18, 19, 22; those doing challenge words, write a meaningful sentence with 5 of the challenge words instead of doing pages 24 & 25. For Friday: spelling test (Let’s all spell all 10 words correctly!)
For next Monday, Mad Minute packet A5 is due; remember your gym shoes!

Parents: Did you place an on-line order for Scholastic books? If so, please let me know.

Have you seen our bilingual Scholastic News? I’m still waiting for reimbursement for some subscriptions, and for the party money ($5. each). Thank you very much to those who contributed $1. for your child’s take-home folder and Let’s Chat book!

Week of September 21, 2009

Wow, we’ve completed 4 weeks of 2^nd grade, and finished our first unit in reading and math. Today we finished our “Sharing Stories” unit by discussing “connecting the selections” assessment, taking a listening test, and another one on a story read independently. Reading and spelling tests from last week are coming home today or tomorrow. Look them over, discuss them, and learn from your mistakes. I was very pleased with the outstanding job most students did on the comprehension, as well as in remembering to write in complete sentences, starting with capital letters & ending with periods.

Our new reading unit is Kindness; we start with a fun fantasy, “Mushroom in the Rain”. The vocabulary words to learn by Friday are: clearing, barely, drenched, huddled, flicked. The spelling words all contain the consonant blends of st and/or -nd.

In math we are finishing up the introductory/review unit: Numbers and Routines, with a test on Thursday. We will review the study guide in class on Wednesday. See the attached Parent Letter for an overview on Unit 2: Addition and Subtraction facts. I’ll teach different approaches to help your child learn to think strategically on these basic facts (up to 9+9=18), so s/he can learn to provide the correct answer automatically and correctly.

In social studies, our “People & Places” study includes learning about our neighborhood, and the characteristics of cities & suburbs. At home, or in the car, you can discuss the different features, as well as the similar features, of cities & suburbs. On Wednesday or Thursday, we’ll take another walking field trip to note features of Longfellow’s neighborhood. When we return to school, we’ll make a map of our neighborhood.

Tomorrow we start another curriculum that includes social studies and health –Tastings! Many thanks to Julian’s & Ian’s moms for helping each week with the serving & cleaning up! Not only will we taste great international food, we’ll learn the nutritive value of it, how it’s good for us, and about the culture and/or country where it originated. Look for a “book” to come home at the end!

Homework
Daily: Read aloud for 20 minutes; do 1 page of A4 Mad Minute, practice spelling & use the vocabulary words in sentences. Any time a math “home link” comes home, it is due the following day.
Due Wednesday: Math study guide! Also, spelling workbook, pages 14-17; Students with the regular spelling list (p. 16) need to do pages all 4 pages; Students who were given the challenge spelling words to learn do not need to do pages 16 & 17; instead they are to choose 5 of the challenge words, and write a meaningful sentence with each. Remember to bring your library book if you want to check out a new one.

For Thursday: be ready for our math test. Friday: spelling, reading & vocabulary tests;

Due next Monday, Mad Minute packet A4 is due; remember your gym shoes!

We’re excited to be able to see and hear authors David Shannon & John Scieszka on Wednesday afternoon. Come back for more fun & inspiration at 7 PM!

Week of September 14, 2009

This week’s story is “Tomas and the Library Lady”. Our understanding of Spanish and the larger world is increased in this sweet story of a migrant family. Our enjoyment & understanding of this story will be enriched by activities this week that tie in with this story. The grandfather in the story is an excellent storyteller; today we had our in-school field trip today with Professional storyteller, Chris Fascione! On Wednesday afternoon we will visit our neighborhood public library, just the way Tomas visited his neighborhood library. The vocabulary words to learn by Friday are: midnight, chatter, thorny, eager, howling. The spelling words all end with the /k/ sound.

In math we continue working with the 100 chart and the number patterns-these are the concepts that underlie our Base 10 number system. We will also make number models (equations) with greater than (>) and less than (<), for example 8 > 5 is a true number model.

In social studies we’re learning about “People & Places”, an introductory unit that deals with groups, communities and rules, similar to our Longfellow PBIS “cool tools

Homework
Daily: Read aloud for 20 minutes; do 1 page of A3 Mad Minute, practice spelling & use the vocabulary words in sentences. Any time a math “home link” comes home, it is due the following day.
For Parents: PTO meeting tomorrow evening, 9/15, at 7 PM in the school auditorium. Due Wednesday: spelling workbook, pages 10-11; Students with the regular spelling list (p. 12) need to do pages 12 & 13; Students who were given the challenge spelling words to learn are to choose 5 of the challenge words, and write a sentence with each. Remember to bring your library book if you want to check out a new one! Note: If you want, bring your public library card to check out a book or 2 on our field trip. Parents who have not yet granted permission for me to take your child on a walking field trip need to send me a note by Wednesday granting your permission. For Friday: spelling test; our first graded reading test on the content and vocabulary of “Tomas and the Library Lady” I will encourage the students to take the reading book home, to read & discuss it with you.
Due next Monday, Mad Minute packet A3 is due; remember your gym shoes! Wednesday. 9/23, 7 PM—come see authors David Shannon & John Scieszka! (We’ll also get to see them during the day!)

Are you able to help us?

1. Next week we begin “Tastings”, a delicious way we learn about good nutrition, staying healthy and other cultures. We need 2 volunteers to help set the table & wash dishes before & after the tasting. It will be most every Tuesday afternoon (time to be determined) this fall. Please let me know if you can help.

2. Can you help us collect things for our Rocks & Soil science study? We need rinsed out 2-liter bottles, and clean yogurt cups with lids. Just send them in as they’re available.

Ask your child to tell you: the special “-ck” spelling pattern (it’s in the workbook); a summary of his/her favorite story that Chris Fascione told; the number patterns on a 100 chart (ideally s/he will use words like “tens place” and “ones place”).

Week of September 8, 2009

Thank you to all of you dedicated parents who were able to come to Curriculum Night last Thursday. I have attached the Curriculum Night materials for those of you who weren’t able to make it. If you have not yet filled out the paper or online information and permission forms, please do so as soon as you are able. Your permission is important! For example: I am trying to plan a walking field trip to our neighborhood public library, to correspond with the library stories we’re reading these days; having your permission for such neighborhood walks will really be helpful!

This week we read and study “Story Hour—Starring Megan!”, fairly realistic fiction about a little girl who works hard learning to read, and finally reads aloud to the children at the local library. The vocabulary words to know for Friday’s test are: assistant, librarian, calm, patient, amazement. This week’s spelling pattern has words that begin with the consonant blends: gr, dr, tr. As we practice spelling, we also practice handwriting—remember pencil grip, topàdown motion and the “magic c”. On Friday’s spelling test it is also important to use lower case letters unless a capital letter is required.

An important reading and writing skill is the ability to identify the main idea(s). Either today or tomorrow we will watch President Obama’s speech to the schoolchildren of our country. Afterward we will write and discuss his main ideas, ie, what he wants the children to remember.

In math we are doing a variety of activities to build understanding of place value, digits, and our base 10 number system. This includes a lot of work with the 100s chart, as we grasp its logic and patterns, and how it can help us take shortcuts to figure out math problems.

Homework
Daily: Read aloud for 20 minutes; practice a Mad Minute worksheet (A2 packet), practice spelling
Wednesday—remember to bring your library book if you want to check out a new one!
Due Thursday: spelling workbook, pages 6- 9 (A number of students used their time very well in school today, and were able to complete these pages at school!!)
For Friday: spelling test; a “test” on the content and vocabulary of “Story Hour—Starring Megan!” (I won’t grade this one; it’s a chance for your child to work on his/her own; next week’s test will be graded.) I will encourage the students to take the reading book home, to read & discuss it with you.
For next Monday, remember your gym shoes!

For Parents: PTO meeting next Tuesday evening, 9/15, at 7 PM in the school auditorium

Heads up! There will be a substitute teacher on Thursday morning (when the 2^nd grade teachers have an in-service on the new Physical Science Curriculum) and also all day Friday (I’m going to Phoenix to spend the weekend with my dear cousin who is in the final stage of living with cancer.)

FYI: We have some heart-healthy kids in this class! They have gone beyond my expectations of running around the perimeter of the playground once a day (a distance of 1/5 mile), and are doing extra running! Some have even run a mile during recess (5 laps)! Others are using great math skills and adding up the fractions to keep track of how far they’ve run this year! Kudos to them!!

Week of August 31, 2009

What a great group of students we have! They did a fine job of arriving at school on time, with their school supplies all in order. Thank you parents for helping with this transition from summer back to school; the fall weather probably helped too!

Continuing in the theme of “Sharing Stories”, we are reading “Come Back, Jack”, and focusing on the skill of comparing and contrasting. We are comparing this story to the one we read last week, comparing the characters, and even noticing how the un-named little girl in the story changes. At home, ask your child which “Jack” stories are featured in “Come Back, Jack” (eg. “Jack be nimble…”). Later in the week we will read “The Library”, a fanciful story written in rhyme. We will work together taking ungraded “practice tests” on these stories: a heads-up for you & your child.

See the attached EDM (Everyday Math) newsletter for parents, about our first math unit, “Numbers and Routines”.

Re: the optional Scholastic Book Order that was due this Friday… I have extended the deadline until next Tuesday, 9/8, in case you would like to order and pay for the books online. Here’s how:

• SIGN UP at www.Scholastic.com/bookclubs. On the parent page, click the "Don't have a User Name and Password?" link, then register for your own username and password. When prompted, enter the one-time Class Activation Code: 1FFAG. This code ensures that your order is sent to me.
• SELECT the books you'd like to order from over 500 titles available online....and take advantage of online-only specials and discounts.
• SEND your order to me online by the due date. Books will be delivered directly to our classroom, as always, and I will send them home with your child.
• An added benefit is that our class earns a FREE book every time a parent places an order online.

Homework begins this week. Expect a packet to practice basic math facts each Monday; your child will memorize these facts best if s/he does 1 page/day. Also expect the list of spelling words to learn for Friday’s test, along with 4 pages of the Spelling workbook due on Wednesday.

Daily: read aloud to an older person for 20 minutes, practice math & spelling

Due Wednesday: Spelling workbook, pages 2-5

Friday: spelling test on words beginning with bl, gl,pl; Also, 5:30P–7:30 is the Longfellow Picnic

Due next Tuesday: Mad Minute packet, optional book order (online or paper)

Parents, please make every effort to come to our Curriculum Night this Thursday, from 6-7 in our classroom (203) – this will help you understand our classroom expectations and how you can best support your child this year.

Welcome to second grade! News for the week of August 25...

Welcome to Room 203, a Rainbow of Friends! I hope everyone had a fun and renewing summer, and is ready for a new school year of learning and growing in many ways. I look forward to a rewarding year working with your child! It was a pleasure being able to meet many of you at last Thursday’s Open House.

Parents, look for a newsletter from me at the beginning of each week, providing helpful information, such as upcoming assignments and what we’re doing in class. I send home a paper copy, and put it online, linked to the Longfellow web page; à Staff à 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd à Lambshead, and click on “web”.

We start off the year reading, then illustrating the book, A Rainbow of Friends. This story, written in rhyme, sets the stage for a classroom community that includes everyone and accepts all of our strengths and weaknesses.

We will also begin our Language Arts theme, “Sharing Stories” by reading a fun story, “Ant and the Three Little Figs”, about 2 boys sharing the story of The Three Little Pigs.
Homework:
Bring in your school supplies, if you have not already done so; please also bring in a water bottle, with your name on it, as we have no water fountain in the classroom.
Read for 15 minutes each evening;

“Homework” for parents:

~~ As I teach my “Rainbow of Friends” I seek to work with the different learning styles, personalities and interests of each of my students. You can help me get to know your child better by sending me some notes on your child’s strengths, weaknesses, concerns and so forth. I find this helpful, and I keep it confidential. Thank you!

~~ In addition, I invite you to fill out an online form, which will save you from having to fill it out on paper! Go to my webpage; to the right of my newsletter, at the top of the column is a link for a form you can fill out which will give me useful contact and allergy information, as well as your permission for walking field trips and the internet.

Coming
~~ This Friday: 5:30 – 7:30 PM – Longfellow’s Back-to-School Picnic

~~ Next Monday, 8/31: Picture Day! And PE day (bring or wear gym shoes!)

~~ Curriculum Night: Thursday, Sept. 3, from 6-7 PM in our classroom (203). This is an adult evening, but if you are not able to arrange for childcare, please come with your child(ren). I look forward to seeing you then!

~~ Friday, September 4 – optional Scholastic book and “click” orders are due (attached).

The best ways to reach me are by email (jlambshead@op97.org), by sending me a note with your child (put it in the clear pocket in the center of your child’s “take home” folder).