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