News from Ms. Lambshead’s Second Grade Class
Week of April 19
I know of 2 students from our classroom who found head lice last week. Please check your child’s scalp today, especially above the ears & in the back at the neckline. Do not send your child to school until fully treated, because spreading lice to someone else means you may get it again yourself! Attached is a letter from Nurse Pam, with excellent instructions for each family affected.
The students are learning so well in so many areas!
~~ Learning architectural features from our Art Start artist, Ms. Greve! Has your child told you or showed you some of the architectural features s/he learned?
~~ Excellent work on last week’s math test (attached)– most mistakes were careless.
~~ Our research is moving along well, as we use our note cards to organize & write paragraphs describing the dinosaur, then describing its habitat.
~~ Spelling unfamiliar words well in our classroom Spell-off, to see who would represent us at the 2nd grade Spelling Bee on Fri, 5/14. Our winners are: Sydney, Kai, Nina & Eleanor!
This 4-day week is packed full!
~It’s Earth Week at Longfellow (see schedule below in italics); we’ll celebrate Earth Day on Thursday with a daytime assembly and then Family Reading Night! Think of our environment and walk or carpool to school; bring in gently used books to exchange at the Family Reading Night!
~With ArtStart we build with Froebel Blocks, as Frank Lloyd Wright did (Tuesday); then on Thursday we’ll tour his famous home and studio, see other home he designed, and compare them with Victorian homes.
Language Arts We will review our Courage stories, and then take the series of Unit tests. Therefore, we will not have our regular spelling or reading tests. As time allows, we’ll begin our next unit on “Our Country and Its People” by reading a few non-fiction selections, one on Native Americans (“The First Americans”, an appropriate selection for Earth Week, since the Native Americans showed so much respect for nature & the environment.) and one about an African-American Pioneer family (Wagon Wheels).
Today’s math lesson will include measurement of your child’s dinosaur. See if s/he can describe its size to you, as well as tell you how many feet long it is! We are also extending our learning of “complements of 10” and doubles, and measuring.
In Social Studies we’re reading about Laws & Leaders, and solving conflicts.
Homework:
What book are you thinking of using for your final book report?
Have you begun collecting boxes for your ArtStart building (on 5/12)?
Daily: read for 20 minutes; practice cursive, math facts, home link
Optional: Think about the architectural features Ms Greve taught us; think about the geometric shapes you know, and draw the front “elevation” of your house or apartment.
Today: Last day to turn in Spring picture orders!
For tomorrow: wear blue to show the power of recycling; preferred deadline for bringing in books to swap.
Due Wednesday: Pack a lunch with reusable containers
For Thursday: Courage Vocabulary test. Wear walking shoes & dress for the weather for our FLW field trip; Come to Family Reading Night, 6:30 -7:30, with your book exchange coupon to get “new” books to enjoy!
Friday: NO SCHOOL! Enjoy learning outside of school!!
Due next Monday: story map
Coming:
~~next Thursday, 4/29: all-day field trip to see pioneer life at Naper Settlement
~~Friday, April 30: Pioneer Day in Room 203 (optional: dress like a pioneer, bring a pioneer lunch, in pioneer containers/wrapping.)
~~Saturday, May 1: The Ethnic Fest—take a trip around the world at Whittier School (Harvey & Augusta! Join Longfellow friends walking in the Parade at 10; throughout the day enjoy great music, dance and food from many cultures. Hang out with friends in the sunshine!
~~Saturday, May 8: Fun Run for kids at all the schools, at Lindberg Park (on Marion at LeMoyne Parkway). Check out the Longfellow website for a sign up form, for this free, fun event!
Donate to:
CROP: to help 3rd grader walkers raise funds for hungry folk near & far.
The Feinstein Challenge: The Student Council is also collecting money & non-perishable food for the OPRF Food Pantry because Mr. Alan Shaw Feinstein will match all donations.
The PTO to support updating Longfellow’s computer technology (or buy at the candy sale.
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. Nourish to Flourish also emphasizes handwashing & wearing a bike helmet.)
Keep up-to-date on all of this and more by using the school & district digital backpack! (See Longfellow’s homepage.)
Can you help supervise our ArtStart building? If so, please let me know!
~~Lego houses on 5/5 at 12:30
~~Cardboard houses & public buildings on 5/12 at 12:30
Monday, April 19, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
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)
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)
Monday, April 5, 2010
Week of April 5, 2010
Note Longfellow’s online, environmentally-friendly info:
~~Dolezal’s Desktop is now a blog at: http://d97dolezalsdesktop.blogspot.com/.
~~The direct link to my newsletter is: http://d97lambshead.blogspot.com/
~~Our student newspaper: https://sites.google.com/a/op97.org/the-longfellow-bearnecessities/home
~~The PTO has a new website. Its address is www.longfellow-pto.org. Soon to be linked to the Longfellow homepage.
~~ Geared Up (engineering with Legos) for students NOW in grades 2, 3 & 4. Design and build machines that work using Lego Motorized Mechanisms kits, sponsored by OPEF
http://oakparkeducationfoundation.org/BASECamp.pdf or contact Deb Abrahamson at (708) 524-3023, or dabrahamson@op97.org
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
With less than 2 months left of second grade, these next 9 weeks will zoom by. I hope that the exercise & fun of baseball season and other outdoor enjoyment strengthens, rather than detracts from academic focus! We have a lot of important work to complete!
Book reports The March book reports on women were excellent, reminding us of the value of hard work and dedication to one’s goals! For these next 2 months, there will be weekly story maps due in April, and 1 more required book report, due by May 20. The genre is your choice! If you do an extra book report, you will earn 5 Bear Necessities!
Art Start is an enrichment program in our second grade classrooms, funded by the Oak Park Education Foundation. Our class welcomes Shannon Greve, from the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust. Her work with us will embrace many disciplines: art, architecture, geometry (2-D and 3-D), and urban planning. On May 12 each student will construct a building from boxes, so you may want to start saving them now (small ones are great; no bigger than a tissue or shoe box). But please keep the boxes at home until May 10!! The following week, 5/19, we’ll have an Open House, for our families to come see the village we’ve created with our buildings!
Research We are well into the heart of our research – taking notes and then organizing that information to create an essay about our dinosaurs. Thank you to Kai & Julian’s moms who have helped in this grown-up process! Thanks also to other parents who plan to join us; just remember to let me know when you plan to come.
Our Courage stories are spanning the cultures. This week’s folktale, “The Empty Pot” is set in China, and is about courage at a 2nd grade level: a young boy being honest. Great discussion question: why (& when) does it take courage to be honest? In class we will work on the skills of summarizing and making inferences (noticing what is suggested but not explicitly stated). The vocabulary words are: admire, succeed, courage, worthy, proclamation. The spelling words are plurals—remember when to add –es instead of just -s. Also, make sure you know how to spell your dinosaur’s name.
Cursive-The students are working carefully & doing a great job! We’ll finish up the lower case letters this week. Pay particular attention to those “magic c letters”!
Unit 6 of Math has included the important skills of “trade-first” subtraction & introducing multiplication and division. We’ll finish up this week; review the study guide next Monday; & have our test on Tuesday.
We’ll study our Government this month: This week we’re learning about local, state & national governments, and about the rights and responsibilities of citizens. We’ll get “hands-on learning” about our local government on Wednesday AM, as we take a walking field trip to tour Village Hall & the Oak Park Police Department.
Homework/information: We had 11 Homework Stars last week; Let’s all be homework stars this week!!!
Homework:
Daily: read for 20 minutes (aloud!??); practice cursive, math facts, home link
Due tomorrow: Lambshead Book It Calendar for March, FLW field trip permission form
Due Wednesday: Be here on time for our field trip to Village Hall! Also, spelling workbook, pages 110-113 (or substitute 5 challenge sentences for pgs 112-113). If you did not spell your dinosaur’s name correctly on Friday, write it correctly 10 times in the margin on page 113; 2nd Grade Book It All-Star Pizza Luncheon
Due Thursday: (This may be dictated to a parent) A written account of what you noticed and learned on Wednesday’s field trip to Village Hall, especially about our local government.
Friday: "Future 3,000 Day" (What will the future bring? Jet backpacks, television watching you, anti-gravity sneakers? Show off your imagination and design sense!)
Meanwhile, be ready for the present: spelling, reading & vocabulary tests!
Saturday: Longfellow’s Outdoor Ed Fund-raiser & great deal for bike owners: Spring Bike Tune-up, 10 – 2
Due next Monday: Story Map & Math Unit 6 study guide. For gymnastics in PE, these alternatives to gym shoes are acceptable: gymnastics slippers or no-slip socks. No-slip socks are the kind with the rubber on the bottom. Long hair needs to be tied back.
Next Tuesday: Math test
Lots is coming this month!
~~ TV Tune-out week is 4/11 – 18; for more info: http://tvtuneoutweek.wordpress.com/
~~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
~~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!
~~Dolezal’s Desktop is now a blog at: http://d97dolezalsdesktop.blogspot.com/.
~~The direct link to my newsletter is: http://d97lambshead.blogspot.com/
~~Our student newspaper: https://sites.google.com/a/op97.org/the-longfellow-bearnecessities/home
~~The PTO has a new website. Its address is www.longfellow-pto.org. Soon to be linked to the Longfellow homepage.
~~ Geared Up (engineering with Legos) for students NOW in grades 2, 3 & 4. Design and build machines that work using Lego Motorized Mechanisms kits, sponsored by OPEF
http://oakparkeducationfoundation.org/BASECamp.pdf or contact Deb Abrahamson at (708) 524-3023, or dabrahamson@op97.org
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
With less than 2 months left of second grade, these next 9 weeks will zoom by. I hope that the exercise & fun of baseball season and other outdoor enjoyment strengthens, rather than detracts from academic focus! We have a lot of important work to complete!
Book reports The March book reports on women were excellent, reminding us of the value of hard work and dedication to one’s goals! For these next 2 months, there will be weekly story maps due in April, and 1 more required book report, due by May 20. The genre is your choice! If you do an extra book report, you will earn 5 Bear Necessities!
Art Start is an enrichment program in our second grade classrooms, funded by the Oak Park Education Foundation. Our class welcomes Shannon Greve, from the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust. Her work with us will embrace many disciplines: art, architecture, geometry (2-D and 3-D), and urban planning. On May 12 each student will construct a building from boxes, so you may want to start saving them now (small ones are great; no bigger than a tissue or shoe box). But please keep the boxes at home until May 10!! The following week, 5/19, we’ll have an Open House, for our families to come see the village we’ve created with our buildings!
Research We are well into the heart of our research – taking notes and then organizing that information to create an essay about our dinosaurs. Thank you to Kai & Julian’s moms who have helped in this grown-up process! Thanks also to other parents who plan to join us; just remember to let me know when you plan to come.
Our Courage stories are spanning the cultures. This week’s folktale, “The Empty Pot” is set in China, and is about courage at a 2nd grade level: a young boy being honest. Great discussion question: why (& when) does it take courage to be honest? In class we will work on the skills of summarizing and making inferences (noticing what is suggested but not explicitly stated). The vocabulary words are: admire, succeed, courage, worthy, proclamation. The spelling words are plurals—remember when to add –es instead of just -s. Also, make sure you know how to spell your dinosaur’s name.
Cursive-The students are working carefully & doing a great job! We’ll finish up the lower case letters this week. Pay particular attention to those “magic c letters”!
Unit 6 of Math has included the important skills of “trade-first” subtraction & introducing multiplication and division. We’ll finish up this week; review the study guide next Monday; & have our test on Tuesday.
We’ll study our Government this month: This week we’re learning about local, state & national governments, and about the rights and responsibilities of citizens. We’ll get “hands-on learning” about our local government on Wednesday AM, as we take a walking field trip to tour Village Hall & the Oak Park Police Department.
Homework/information: We had 11 Homework Stars last week; Let’s all be homework stars this week!!!
Homework:
Daily: read for 20 minutes (aloud!??); practice cursive, math facts, home link
Due tomorrow: Lambshead Book It Calendar for March, FLW field trip permission form
Due Wednesday: Be here on time for our field trip to Village Hall! Also, spelling workbook, pages 110-113 (or substitute 5 challenge sentences for pgs 112-113). If you did not spell your dinosaur’s name correctly on Friday, write it correctly 10 times in the margin on page 113; 2nd Grade Book It All-Star Pizza Luncheon
Due Thursday: (This may be dictated to a parent) A written account of what you noticed and learned on Wednesday’s field trip to Village Hall, especially about our local government.
Friday: "Future 3,000 Day" (What will the future bring? Jet backpacks, television watching you, anti-gravity sneakers? Show off your imagination and design sense!)
Meanwhile, be ready for the present: spelling, reading & vocabulary tests!
Saturday: Longfellow’s Outdoor Ed Fund-raiser & great deal for bike owners: Spring Bike Tune-up, 10 – 2
Due next Monday: Story Map & Math Unit 6 study guide. For gymnastics in PE, these alternatives to gym shoes are acceptable: gymnastics slippers or no-slip socks. No-slip socks are the kind with the rubber on the bottom. Long hair needs to be tied back.
Next Tuesday: Math test
Lots is coming this month!
~~ TV Tune-out week is 4/11 – 18; for more info: http://tvtuneoutweek.wordpress.com/
~~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
~~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!
Monday, March 22, 2010
Week of March 22, 2010
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!
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 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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