Congratulations to all of our Young Scientists, and a giant thank you to all the parents who encouraged each step, including celebrating with us last Thursday night!! Your work & learning were very impressive!!!
Research: We have gotten our dinosaur names, organized our thinking & folders, gathered our sources, and learned how to take notes! Tomorrow we start taking notes on 3x5 cards, and putting each card into its proper category: body description, food chain or habitat.
Language Arts: You may be familiar with this story adapted from Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates, “The Hole in the Dike”, in which a boy courageously saves his village from being flooded. Ask your child why that took courage; also ask about the setting of this story.
Our spelling words are all past tense verbs; we are practicing identifying base words.
Math: We have spent a good amount of time really getting secure using the Partial Sums Algorithm to add big numbers; we’re also writing & illustrating some creative, fun multiplication stories for a class book patterned after Each Orange Had 8 Slices. Now we’re ready to focus on subtracting 2-digit numbers, starting with the concrete base 10 blocks, as well as dimes and pennies. While we call this Trade-first, it looks very like the traditional “borrowing” method.
Homework
I need to practice my ______ math facts for our mental math quizzes!
Join Longfellow’s fun with eating healthy fruits & vegetables:
Daily: Build your reading fluency by reading aloud to a parent several times a week; mark your Lambshead Book It Calendar; practice reading vocabulary (gurgling, trickling, gushing, numb, rumbling, and hero). And carefully do the cursive & Home Links the night they come home! Finalize your preparations & practice for giving your oral Women’s History book report. Include the character traits that made this woman so successful.
Tomorrow: Eat and wear White
Due Wednesday: Eat and wear Red; All Women’s History Story Maps (for inclusion in our class Big Book); Spelling workbook, pages 106-109 and/or the challenge word sentences
For Thursday: Eat and wear Yellow and Orange
For Friday: Eat and wear Green; It’s Mismatch Day – wear clothing that does not match! Spelling (10 past tense verbs + your dinosaur’s name!), vocabulary & reading tests; last day for Women’s History book reports
For next week: Have a wonderful vacation, take your learning outside of the classroom by being good observers and thinkers about all you do; find some good books to take you on adventures; be kitchen scientists and/or cooks!!
4/10: Longfellow’s Outdoor Ed Fund-raiser & great deal for bike owners: Spring Bike Tuneup, 10 - 2
Don’t forget Census 2010!
Monday, March 22, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
Week of March 15, 2010
Tomorrow is Spring Picture Day!
This is a light homework week, so you can prepare an attractive presentation of your Science Experiment, and practice at home telling about each step you did, using the Scientific Method. There will be no spelling, reading or vocabulary tests to prepare for.
Due tomorrow: your signed report card envelope & your lavender Women’s History Story Map on the book that you’ve been reading for your Women’s History book report
Due Thursday morning at 8 AM: your science fair experiment! Please do not bring it before Thursday, but you may bring it as early as 7:15 AM on Thursday.
Thursday evening from 6:30 -7 PM we need all students here at their “station”, explaining to our guests what you did and learned. All families are encouraged to come celebrate & encourage our young scientists! An added bonus that evening is seeing your child’s photo & writing about our dinosaur field trip, in a Power Point slide show!
Looking ahead… Due by Friday, March 26: Your March book report presentation/creative project. Remember, your project can be dressing up as her, and telling about her in the First Person Point of View!
Language Arts: Our Courage reading this week is a Frog & Toad fantasy: “Dragons & Giants”, and also a biography, “Picture Book of Martin Luther King, Jr”. The vocabulary words are: avalanche, puffing, trembling, leaping, cried, fell (“Dragons…”) and protests, demanding, fair, riots, prejudice (MLK).
This week we also begin a big project: Research!
Our topic is dinosaurs, which is our “life science” unit for the spring. We start today learning what research is, and will then develop the framework we will use to classify the information we gather. By the end of the week each student will have a book as well as internet information on his/her own dinosaur work. Next week we will start taking notes on 3x5 cards, and organizing them by topic.
Starting next week, can you volunteer to help Mrs. Pearce and me for an hour (once, or regularly?) Mon: 8-9; Tue, 1:30 -2:30; Wed, 12:50-1:50, Fri: 8-9??
Also, while we are doing research, we will not have a regular library story time or book check-out…students may return and check out library books whenever we’re in the library.
Math: We are focusing on improving our understanding and skill this week on operations: basic math facts, the partial sum algorithm, multiplication and division!
This is a light homework week, so you can prepare an attractive presentation of your Science Experiment, and practice at home telling about each step you did, using the Scientific Method. There will be no spelling, reading or vocabulary tests to prepare for.
Due tomorrow: your signed report card envelope & your lavender Women’s History Story Map on the book that you’ve been reading for your Women’s History book report
Due Thursday morning at 8 AM: your science fair experiment! Please do not bring it before Thursday, but you may bring it as early as 7:15 AM on Thursday.
Thursday evening from 6:30 -7 PM we need all students here at their “station”, explaining to our guests what you did and learned. All families are encouraged to come celebrate & encourage our young scientists! An added bonus that evening is seeing your child’s photo & writing about our dinosaur field trip, in a Power Point slide show!
Looking ahead… Due by Friday, March 26: Your March book report presentation/creative project. Remember, your project can be dressing up as her, and telling about her in the First Person Point of View!
Language Arts: Our Courage reading this week is a Frog & Toad fantasy: “Dragons & Giants”, and also a biography, “Picture Book of Martin Luther King, Jr”. The vocabulary words are: avalanche, puffing, trembling, leaping, cried, fell (“Dragons…”) and protests, demanding, fair, riots, prejudice (MLK).
This week we also begin a big project: Research!
Our topic is dinosaurs, which is our “life science” unit for the spring. We start today learning what research is, and will then develop the framework we will use to classify the information we gather. By the end of the week each student will have a book as well as internet information on his/her own dinosaur work. Next week we will start taking notes on 3x5 cards, and organizing them by topic.
Starting next week, can you volunteer to help Mrs. Pearce and me for an hour (once, or regularly?) Mon: 8-9; Tue, 1:30 -2:30; Wed, 12:50-1:50, Fri: 8-9??
Also, while we are doing research, we will not have a regular library story time or book check-out…students may return and check out library books whenever we’re in the library.
Math: We are focusing on improving our understanding and skill this week on operations: basic math facts, the partial sum algorithm, multiplication and division!
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Week of March 8, 2010
Yea for the warmer weather! I saw daffodil shoots and Snowdrop flowers in bloom on my jog yesterday morning! Let’s stay healthy, which means that even when the mid-day temperatures seem warm, I don’t allow bare arms outside. I encourage students to keep a fleece or sweatshirt in their lockers for mid-day recess, to wear outside when the winter coat you needed in the morning is too heavy.
Homework
Daily: Build your reading fluency by reading aloud to a parent several times a week; mark your Lambshead Book It Calendar; practice vocabulary & basic math facts!! And carefully do the cursive & Home Links the night they come home! Read the biography of the woman you chose for your March book report. Discuss at home the character traits that made this woman so successful. Include this information in your book report.
Due Wednesday: Spelling workbook, pages 102-105; library books to return??
For Friday: Spelling, vocabulary & reading tests
Due next Tuesday, 3/16: Lavender-colored Biography story map due on the woman you will present for your March Book Report.
Due any day by March 26: Your March book report presentation/creative project
Reading The fossil unit was quite challenging for many students. Today we start reading stories having the theme of Courage, which shouldn’t be so challenging. This is also an excellent unit to follow up on the many stories of courage and heroism in our February as well as March book reports! Many of the stories we’ll read are about 2nd grade kind of courage, including this week’s: “Molly the Brave and Me”. Ask your child how the main character, Beth, learned that she was brave. Know the meanings of these vocabulary words: guts, homesick, wimp, swatted, creepy. Our spelling words are verbs, all in the present tense.
Math: Some students have demonstrated a good understanding & use of the Partial-sums algorithm to add 2-digit numbers; I will work with them on using this concept to add larger numbers. I will also give extra focused help for the bulk of the class to master this important skill. Everyone needs to practice basic math facts, to learn them more automatically (see the addition/subtraction inventories coming home today!) To assist this, we will do “Mental Math” (a bit like Rocket Math) on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays to work on building our skill and speed, progressing from addition, to subtraction, and then multiplication
We also continue to work with sorting out the information from story problems, choosing a helpful graphic organizer.
Coming…
Friday: Report cards come home
Sunday: “Spring ahead” with your clocks!
Thurs, 3/18: Science Fair – during school, and for families, in our room from 6:30 – 7 PM (come at 6 to see the exhibits in Creticos’s & Naber’s rooms)
Fri, 3/26 at 2:55 – Spring vacation begins!
Attached: many tests & papers – review them together; rejoice in your successes, pay attention to what you need to work on.
Homework
Daily: Build your reading fluency by reading aloud to a parent several times a week; mark your Lambshead Book It Calendar; practice vocabulary & basic math facts!! And carefully do the cursive & Home Links the night they come home! Read the biography of the woman you chose for your March book report. Discuss at home the character traits that made this woman so successful. Include this information in your book report.
Due Wednesday: Spelling workbook, pages 102-105; library books to return??
For Friday: Spelling, vocabulary & reading tests
Due next Tuesday, 3/16: Lavender-colored Biography story map due on the woman you will present for your March Book Report.
Due any day by March 26: Your March book report presentation/creative project
Reading The fossil unit was quite challenging for many students. Today we start reading stories having the theme of Courage, which shouldn’t be so challenging. This is also an excellent unit to follow up on the many stories of courage and heroism in our February as well as March book reports! Many of the stories we’ll read are about 2nd grade kind of courage, including this week’s: “Molly the Brave and Me”. Ask your child how the main character, Beth, learned that she was brave. Know the meanings of these vocabulary words: guts, homesick, wimp, swatted, creepy. Our spelling words are verbs, all in the present tense.
Math: Some students have demonstrated a good understanding & use of the Partial-sums algorithm to add 2-digit numbers; I will work with them on using this concept to add larger numbers. I will also give extra focused help for the bulk of the class to master this important skill. Everyone needs to practice basic math facts, to learn them more automatically (see the addition/subtraction inventories coming home today!) To assist this, we will do “Mental Math” (a bit like Rocket Math) on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays to work on building our skill and speed, progressing from addition, to subtraction, and then multiplication
We also continue to work with sorting out the information from story problems, choosing a helpful graphic organizer.
Coming…
Friday: Report cards come home
Sunday: “Spring ahead” with your clocks!
Thurs, 3/18: Science Fair – during school, and for families, in our room from 6:30 – 7 PM (come at 6 to see the exhibits in Creticos’s & Naber’s rooms)
Fri, 3/26 at 2:55 – Spring vacation begins!
Attached: many tests & papers – review them together; rejoice in your successes, pay attention to what you need to work on.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Week of March 2, 2010
March is here, bringing Women’s History Month and the Science Fair! For Women’s History Month, the book report is to be on a biography of a woman. You many choose any of the suggested creative, but think coming in character as the woman you learned about is a great way for your classmates to “meet” her.
The February book reports were well-done and enhanced our social studies’ learning!
Homework
For March there will be 1 Story Map due, by Tuesday, March 16 (It’s lavendar, coming home today.) on a biography of a woman. Your oral report & project are due any day in March.
Daily: Build your reading fluency by reading aloud to a parent several times a week. Practice vocabulary & basic math facts!! And do the cursive & Home Links the night they come home!
Due Thursday: Spelling workbook, pages 98-101
Discuss at home: What work are you doing on your Science Fair this week?
Reading & Social Studies Our learning about the Colonial Period continues this week, as we continue reading a biography of Paul Revere, then read Six Silver Spoons, historical fiction in which the main characters encounter Revere on his famous ride. We’ll also learn about another hero of the American Revolution, Casmir Pulaski, in whose honor we had yesterday’s holiday. Eleanor, Ava, Sydney, Nina, Jane and Jeremiah will bring to life the culture & political tension of the pre-Revolutionary days as they present a little play “Tea for Felicity”.
Our spelling words work with the rule about when to double a final consonant before adding a suffix that begins with a vowel---this is an important rule to learn!
In the computer lab we are typing up our writing about our Dinosaur field trip. We hope to have it into a power point slide show available for you to see when you come to our Science Fair on 3/18!
Math: We continue to work with addition and subtraction of 2-digit numbers; for story problems we are using excellent graphic organizers to sort out the facts we know, so we can see more clearly which operation to use in solving the problems. We will work with base 10 blocks to build a better foundation of understanding how we can do short-cuts such as “borrowing”, now called “trade first”.
Science: Sink & Float. We will make boats of different size, shape, weight and capacity as we continue to explore the properties of buoyancy.
Attached: Lavendar Story Map form for March biography; Home Link 6.2, new spelling words; vocabulary & social studies tests.
I was so sorry I was sick last week and had to miss both Wednesday’s and Friday’s evening performances by our students, but I hear that they did an excellent job both evenings!! I’m glad so many of you were able to come too!
The February book reports were well-done and enhanced our social studies’ learning!
Homework
For March there will be 1 Story Map due, by Tuesday, March 16 (It’s lavendar, coming home today.) on a biography of a woman. Your oral report & project are due any day in March.
Daily: Build your reading fluency by reading aloud to a parent several times a week. Practice vocabulary & basic math facts!! And do the cursive & Home Links the night they come home!
Due Thursday: Spelling workbook, pages 98-101
Discuss at home: What work are you doing on your Science Fair this week?
Reading & Social Studies Our learning about the Colonial Period continues this week, as we continue reading a biography of Paul Revere, then read Six Silver Spoons, historical fiction in which the main characters encounter Revere on his famous ride. We’ll also learn about another hero of the American Revolution, Casmir Pulaski, in whose honor we had yesterday’s holiday. Eleanor, Ava, Sydney, Nina, Jane and Jeremiah will bring to life the culture & political tension of the pre-Revolutionary days as they present a little play “Tea for Felicity”.
Our spelling words work with the rule about when to double a final consonant before adding a suffix that begins with a vowel---this is an important rule to learn!
In the computer lab we are typing up our writing about our Dinosaur field trip. We hope to have it into a power point slide show available for you to see when you come to our Science Fair on 3/18!
Math: We continue to work with addition and subtraction of 2-digit numbers; for story problems we are using excellent graphic organizers to sort out the facts we know, so we can see more clearly which operation to use in solving the problems. We will work with base 10 blocks to build a better foundation of understanding how we can do short-cuts such as “borrowing”, now called “trade first”.
Science: Sink & Float. We will make boats of different size, shape, weight and capacity as we continue to explore the properties of buoyancy.
Attached: Lavendar Story Map form for March biography; Home Link 6.2, new spelling words; vocabulary & social studies tests.
I was so sorry I was sick last week and had to miss both Wednesday’s and Friday’s evening performances by our students, but I hear that they did an excellent job both evenings!! I’m glad so many of you were able to come too!
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