Week of April 12, 2010

It’s TV Tune-out week! (check out: http://tvtuneoutweek.wordpress.com/)

Coming home this week: Social Studies vocabulary cards & “Math Grid” (your child’s answers to a quick quiz on the next set of math facts your child needs to memorize. Each student works at his/her own level, and has 5 seconds to correctly write the answer. I dictate the same number—they add it, subtract or multiply it according to the number inside the circle!)

Social Studies If your child told you s/he got to meet the President last week, it was the truth! Village President Pope spent about 15 minutes with us during our interesting tour of Village Hall. In fact, I’ll post the photo Ruby’s dad took online as soon as I can! With interest piqued in government, the class decided to vote for our own president. Kai was elected for a 2-week term! This week’s lessons focus on laws and leaders.

Language Arts We had a great time reading & discussing “Hole in the Dike” last week; then took a break from taking the Friday test. This week’s story takes us to a contemporary Native American reservation; the problem in the story is a boy’s fear of being in the school spelling bee. This is another very relevant story, as in a month we’ll have a 2nd grade spelling bee here! Vocabulary words to know: reservation, dread, qualified, gymnasium, swirling. The spelling words all have the comparative/superlative suffixes er, -est. Think & remember the rules for changing the y to i, or doubling the final consonant!
The students are doing a great job on research! With the encouragement of our parent helpers, they are now beginning the writing of their expository paper!

Our Unit 6 math test is tomorrow, then we move onto “Patterns & Rules” as we extend our learning into 3-digits. Keep the “Family letter” handy for easy reference at home.


Homework:
Daily: read for 20 minutes (aloud!??); practice cursive, math facts, home link
For tomorrow: be ready for Unit 6 math test (we reviewed the study guide today)
Due Wednesday: Spelling workbook, pages 114-117 (or substitute 5 challenge sentences for pgs 116-117). If you did not spell your dinosaur’s name correctly on Friday, write it correctly 10 times in the margin on page 117;
For Friday: “Blast from the Past” Day; Naper Settlement field trip $ and permission due; Get ready for the Ethnic Festival by turning in your t-shirt order today!
Spelling, reading & vocabulary tests!
Due next Monday: story map


Lots is coming this month!
~~Thursday, Apr. 22 is Earth Day & also a morning assembly, afternoon field trip to tour the FLW Home & Studio. Then it’s Longfellow Reading Night: Read, Recycle, Recite! 6:30–7:30 PM (See “Trade” below)
~~No School for students on Fri, 4/23—Institute Day for teachers
~~Thursday, April 29: 2nd & 5th Grades go back in time with the pioneers to Naper Settlement (all-day field trip)
~~Friday, April 30: Pioneer Day in Room 203
~~Saturday, May 1: The Ethnic Fest--join Longfellow friends walking in the Parade!

Donate: to CROP to help 3rd grader walkers raise funds for the hungry.
Trade: bring in gently used books so you can get “reused” books on 4/22
Bring: in a water bottle with your name on it (April’s theme of hydration)