We’re celebrating our hard work… view our dinosaur writing & artwork online; and come tomorrow at 6 to see & hear about the Village we have constructed & designed; you’ll also get to meet Ms. Greve, our ArtStart artist from the F.L. Wright Education Foundation!
Three ways to access our dinosaur writing:
* Go to the Student section of the Longfellow website, click on Student Projects, then click the Lambshead listing in that index.
* Go to my webpage (via Longfellow→staff→Lambshead) & see link on right
* Go to http://www.op97.org/longfellow/onlineproj/0910/Dinosaurs.html
Congratulations are also in order for our 4 Spelling Bee winners,
and for Kai, the over-all 2nd grade winner!
In both Social Studies & Reading we are learning about immigration, valuing different cultures, and holidays of our country. Learn these vocabulary words for a test on Friday: ferry, monument, independence, voyage, harbor, vendor, passenger, tossed, harmonica inspectors. This week we will read “The Story of the Statue of Liberty”, and “Butterfly Seeds”, a tender story of bringing seeds from “the old country” to feel at home in the new country. Our spelling words are homophones, words that have the same sound but different spellings & meanings (two, sea, rode, road, meet, meat, to, see, piece, fourth).
In Math we’re working to really understand fractions & their equivalencies. See below for computer games we’ll play in school & you can play after school to get ready for Fri’s test.
Homework:
Daily: read for 20 minutes, practice spelling, math facts & vocabulary
For Tomorrow, 6 – 7 PM--Families come to our Open House, to see & celebrate our Young Architects, Builders & Urban Planners !
Due Wednesday: all library books! Spelling workbook, pages 134-137
Due by Thursday: final book report (bring book & creative project, tell a summary)
Due Thursday: order form & payment for End-of-the-Year School Picnic (form attached)
Friday: Sports Day & Olympic Day! In the morning are tests on vocabulary, and fractions & median; dress for an active afternoon having Olympic fun!
Coming: Tue, 6/1: Lambshead class Talent Show (see attached form on blue paper)
Wed, 6/2: All 2nd Grade Field Day & Picnic at Fox Park
Thurs, 6/3: Last day/hour of school. Dismissal at 9; PBIS Celebration at Rehm Pool
Kudos to all who have turned in your Super Summer Math registration!!
Instead of a paper study guide for our fraction test, have fun practicing fractions and equivalencies with these computer fraction games!
• Fraction Flags (http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/fractionflags/fractionflags.html) - Design a flag using halves and quarters
• What Is a Fraction? (http://www.jamit.com.au/htmlFolder/app1001.html)- Game in which you have to identify the fraction pictured and color in a given fraction.
• Pizza Party (http://www.primarygames.com/fractions) - Tell what fraction of the pizza is left
Monday, May 17, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
Week Of May 10, 2010
ArtStart! This is the week we build houses and public buildings, using the assortment of boxes I’ve asked you to collect. Our Architecture ArtStart program has enhanced learning in so many ways. For last week’s lego hourses, and this week’s box buildings, we are practicing how to determine the perimeter and area of each. Next week we will be urban planners, and design a community using all of our buildings.
We are at the final stage of our dinosaur research writing process: sharing! The students have done a fantastic job, having had consistent, dedicated support from Kai’s and Julian’s moms!!! Most students did their own typing, and we now we can share our published work in 3 ways: reading aloud to the class, making a class Big Book, publishing on the internet! I hope to have it linked on both my blog as well as the school webpage.
For reading and social studies on the different cultures within our country, this week we read “The First Americans”; this nonfiction work is full of interesting information about the native people of different regions of our country. Vocabulary: wampum, tundra, tepees, warriors. Our spelling words are all prefixes: redo, retake, rename, retry, retest, uneven, unpack, unlock, unroll, unsure.
Math: Our work with fractions continues. The most important concept for the students to master is that the bottom number (denominator) tells the total number of equal parts, and the top number (numerator) is the number of parts we are talking about. Parents, look for real-life situations at home where you use fractions, especially in the kitchen.
Social Studies: We finish our study of Government by studying the national government, democracy, and nations working together around the world. Test on Friday.
Homework
Daily: read for 20 minutes, plan now for your final book report (Kudos to Jane who has already done hers!), do cursive & home link the night they come home; practice spelling, math facts (for mental math quizzes) and vocabulary
Due by Wednesday: 10 or more boxes, no larger than a shoe box; also, Spelling workbook, pages 122-125 (or substitute challenge sentences for 124-125).
For Friday: twin day; be ready for tests: social studies (Government), spelling, reading, vocab.
Coming…
Tue, 5/18, 6-7 PM: Mark your calendar for the special Room 203 Open House, celebrating creation of “Our Town” (note change of date)
Thurs, 5/20: Last day for book reports
Fri, 5/21: Olympic Day! Last day to turn in PBIS Pool Party permission slips.
Wed, 6/2: 2nd Grade End-of-the-Year Picnic at Fox Park
Thurs, 6/3: Last day/hour of school. Dismissal at 9 AM; PBIS Pool Celebration at Rehm Pool from 9:45 – 11:45.
For Parents to do….
* Please call Lori Bradford if you can help spray paint our buildings this Thursday or Friday!
* Please fill out the survey of our PBIS (Positive Behavior Incentive System), either online
(http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MXJWFF5) or, pick up a hard copy in the office, which is due to the office Wednesday morning.
* Also, do your kids like Tasty Dog? My adult kids still do, so I’m treating them to Tasty Dog this Thursday, because Longfellow will receive a percentage of all sales designated as Longfellow friends or families. The district elementary school with the highest participation will also receive $200. Come out and support Longfellow School on this easy, tasty Fundraiser!
My Classroom Blog: http://d97lambshead.blogspot.com/
Digital backpack: http://www.op97.org/longfellow/digitalbackpack/ Mrs. Dolezal’s Blog: http://d97dolezalsdesktop.blogspot.com/ PTO: http://www.longfellow-pto.org
We are at the final stage of our dinosaur research writing process: sharing! The students have done a fantastic job, having had consistent, dedicated support from Kai’s and Julian’s moms!!! Most students did their own typing, and we now we can share our published work in 3 ways: reading aloud to the class, making a class Big Book, publishing on the internet! I hope to have it linked on both my blog as well as the school webpage.
For reading and social studies on the different cultures within our country, this week we read “The First Americans”; this nonfiction work is full of interesting information about the native people of different regions of our country. Vocabulary: wampum, tundra, tepees, warriors. Our spelling words are all prefixes: redo, retake, rename, retry, retest, uneven, unpack, unlock, unroll, unsure.
Math: Our work with fractions continues. The most important concept for the students to master is that the bottom number (denominator) tells the total number of equal parts, and the top number (numerator) is the number of parts we are talking about. Parents, look for real-life situations at home where you use fractions, especially in the kitchen.
Social Studies: We finish our study of Government by studying the national government, democracy, and nations working together around the world. Test on Friday.
Homework
Daily: read for 20 minutes, plan now for your final book report (Kudos to Jane who has already done hers!), do cursive & home link the night they come home; practice spelling, math facts (for mental math quizzes) and vocabulary
Due by Wednesday: 10 or more boxes, no larger than a shoe box; also, Spelling workbook, pages 122-125 (or substitute challenge sentences for 124-125).
For Friday: twin day; be ready for tests: social studies (Government), spelling, reading, vocab.
Coming…
Tue, 5/18, 6-7 PM: Mark your calendar for the special Room 203 Open House, celebrating creation of “Our Town” (note change of date)
Thurs, 5/20: Last day for book reports
Fri, 5/21: Olympic Day! Last day to turn in PBIS Pool Party permission slips.
Wed, 6/2: 2nd Grade End-of-the-Year Picnic at Fox Park
Thurs, 6/3: Last day/hour of school. Dismissal at 9 AM; PBIS Pool Celebration at Rehm Pool from 9:45 – 11:45.
For Parents to do….
* Please call Lori Bradford if you can help spray paint our buildings this Thursday or Friday!
* Please fill out the survey of our PBIS (Positive Behavior Incentive System), either online
(http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MXJWFF5) or, pick up a hard copy in the office, which is due to the office Wednesday morning.
* Also, do your kids like Tasty Dog? My adult kids still do, so I’m treating them to Tasty Dog this Thursday, because Longfellow will receive a percentage of all sales designated as Longfellow friends or families. The district elementary school with the highest participation will also receive $200. Come out and support Longfellow School on this easy, tasty Fundraiser!
My Classroom Blog: http://d97lambshead.blogspot.com/
Digital backpack: http://www.op97.org/longfellow/digitalbackpack/ Mrs. Dolezal’s Blog: http://d97dolezalsdesktop.blogspot.com/ PTO: http://www.longfellow-pto.org
Monday, May 3, 2010
Week of May 3, 2010
Lice are still being found on heads; Check your child’s head frequently, & if still needed, do the lice treatment and buy a $2. narrow-tooth comb at Petco to remove nits!
Congratulations to our classroom spelling bee winners, who will represent us in the 2nd grade Spelling Bee on May 14: Eleanor, Nina, Sydney, and Kai!
The students really enjoyed learning about pioneers last week, and did fine writing about it!! Naper Settlement, with its excellent docents, gave us an authentic experience of life in the 1800s. On Friday, those bringing a “pioneer lunch” had a terrific conversation about the different items in the lunches, ie, what parts a pioneer would have grown or made or bought. They really did some great thinking!
We will read another story about an African-American pioneer family this week, “A Place called Freedom”. The vocabulary words are: plantation, fretted, settlement, sturdy, weary. Our spelling words are all compound words: maybe, inside, bedroom, lunchroom, myself, nobody, sunrise, himself, railroad, everyone.
We are reviewing math Unit 7, and will have our test on Wednesday. Skills include: using complements of 10 to do mental addition; number-grid puzzles; counting by 2s, 5s, 10s and describing the pattern; measuring length (cm/in); plotting data on a bar graph; finding the median. Then we’ll start Unit 8 on Fractions (parent letter is attached.)
The students have done a fabulous job researching “their” dinosaur, and writing 3 paragraphs describing it. Today we wrote a generic group introductory paragraph. Now that the editing is complete, we’re hard-at-work typing on the computers, trying to finish by the end of the week. We’ll produce a class big-book (ie, Dinosaur Encyclopedia!), and I hope to mount their work on the internet as well.
In ArtStart this week we make Lego houses, next week is each student constructing a house or building out of boxes. Please let me know if your schedule enables you to help us out both Wednesdays (5/5 & 5/12) from 12:30 – 1:45.
Homework: It’s Fitness Week!
Daily: read for 20 minutes; study basic math facts for Mental Math quizzes; cursive.
Due Wed: Math test, Spelling workbook, pages 130-33 (& wear sweats for ACES).
Thursday: 6:30 – 7:30 PM, Come to Family Math Night at Longfellow;
Friday: spelling test; PJ day
Saturday: Fun Run at Lindberg Park
Due next week: at least 10 boxes here by Wed, 5/12, to make your Art Start building; Book Report due date has been pushed back to Thurs, 5/20,
All parents: let your voice be heard, and fill our Longfellow’s SIT parent survey sometime this week: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MXJWFF5
Congratulations to our classroom spelling bee winners, who will represent us in the 2nd grade Spelling Bee on May 14: Eleanor, Nina, Sydney, and Kai!
The students really enjoyed learning about pioneers last week, and did fine writing about it!! Naper Settlement, with its excellent docents, gave us an authentic experience of life in the 1800s. On Friday, those bringing a “pioneer lunch” had a terrific conversation about the different items in the lunches, ie, what parts a pioneer would have grown or made or bought. They really did some great thinking!
We will read another story about an African-American pioneer family this week, “A Place called Freedom”. The vocabulary words are: plantation, fretted, settlement, sturdy, weary. Our spelling words are all compound words: maybe, inside, bedroom, lunchroom, myself, nobody, sunrise, himself, railroad, everyone.
We are reviewing math Unit 7, and will have our test on Wednesday. Skills include: using complements of 10 to do mental addition; number-grid puzzles; counting by 2s, 5s, 10s and describing the pattern; measuring length (cm/in); plotting data on a bar graph; finding the median. Then we’ll start Unit 8 on Fractions (parent letter is attached.)
The students have done a fabulous job researching “their” dinosaur, and writing 3 paragraphs describing it. Today we wrote a generic group introductory paragraph. Now that the editing is complete, we’re hard-at-work typing on the computers, trying to finish by the end of the week. We’ll produce a class big-book (ie, Dinosaur Encyclopedia!), and I hope to mount their work on the internet as well.
In ArtStart this week we make Lego houses, next week is each student constructing a house or building out of boxes. Please let me know if your schedule enables you to help us out both Wednesdays (5/5 & 5/12) from 12:30 – 1:45.
Homework: It’s Fitness Week!
Daily: read for 20 minutes; study basic math facts for Mental Math quizzes; cursive.
Due Wed: Math test, Spelling workbook, pages 130-33 (& wear sweats for ACES).
Thursday: 6:30 – 7:30 PM, Come to Family Math Night at Longfellow;
Friday: spelling test; PJ day
Saturday: Fun Run at Lindberg Park
Due next week: at least 10 boxes here by Wed, 5/12, to make your Art Start building; Book Report due date has been pushed back to Thurs, 5/20,
All parents: let your voice be heard, and fill our Longfellow’s SIT parent survey sometime this week: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MXJWFF5
Monday, April 26, 2010
Week of April 26, 2010
Our 2 main themes this week: Pioneers (reading & social studies), and Dinosaurs (research, writing, science art).
Pioneers: We will read Wagon Wheels, based on a true story of an African American pioneer family, and “New Hope” historical fiction by a Dane, about a Danish pioneer family (& probably based on some of his own family history). “New Hope” is part of our final reading unit: “Our Country and Its People”. Learn to use these vocabulary words: ferried, recycling, brisk, invitation, citizens, bustling. Our field trip on Thursday to Naper Settlement will enable us to walk through history, noting the sequence of pioneer life, from the covered wagon, to a log cabin, to a community with a one-room schoolhouse, blacksmith shop & post office, to an elegant mansion. Each year, the students’ favorite site is the schoolhouse, and they want to have a pioneer school day. So that’s what we’ll do (as much as possible) on Friday. (See Homework section below.)
Math: We will explore the use of numbers and measurements in more real-life situations—arm spans, long jumps, weighing things. We will also collect & organize our data to find the median (middle value). We’ll finish up and review this unit early next week, then move on to Fractions.
Homework
Daily: read for 20 minutes (Have you chosen the book you’ll do your final book report on?); study those basic math facts for our Mon/Wed/Fri Mental Math quizzes, carefully practice cursive.
For tomorrow: rescheduled vocabulary test on courage words
Due Wed: Spelling workbook, pages 126-9.
Thursday: Naper Settlement Field trip – mostly outdoors – dress for walking & the weather!! Bring your lunch & drink (ecological lunchboxes are welcome!)
Friday: spelling test; no reading or vocabulary test. Optional Pioneer Day! pack lunch that pioneers would have eaten; see if you can bring it to school in pioneer packaging (ie, no plastic!); girls wear skirts or dresses & bring “hand-work” to school to do at recess time.
Saturday, 10 – 3:30: Ethnic Fest at Whittier School, starting with the Parade; come and go as you your schedule permits.
Due next Monday: final Story Map (4 total due since spring vacation).
Thursday, May 6, 6:30 – 7:30 PM: Come to Math Night at Longfellow; see digital backpack for more info. The class with largest % turnout wins a prize
Wonderful causes, worthy of your donations:
* Oak Park Education Foundation (funds our ArtStart program)
* Help third grade meet their goal of $2010. Tax-ded. checks can be written to CROP/CWS.
* Longfellow’s technology fund-raiser: candy sale.
Pioneers: We will read Wagon Wheels, based on a true story of an African American pioneer family, and “New Hope” historical fiction by a Dane, about a Danish pioneer family (& probably based on some of his own family history). “New Hope” is part of our final reading unit: “Our Country and Its People”. Learn to use these vocabulary words: ferried, recycling, brisk, invitation, citizens, bustling. Our field trip on Thursday to Naper Settlement will enable us to walk through history, noting the sequence of pioneer life, from the covered wagon, to a log cabin, to a community with a one-room schoolhouse, blacksmith shop & post office, to an elegant mansion. Each year, the students’ favorite site is the schoolhouse, and they want to have a pioneer school day. So that’s what we’ll do (as much as possible) on Friday. (See Homework section below.)
Math: We will explore the use of numbers and measurements in more real-life situations—arm spans, long jumps, weighing things. We will also collect & organize our data to find the median (middle value). We’ll finish up and review this unit early next week, then move on to Fractions.
Homework
Daily: read for 20 minutes (Have you chosen the book you’ll do your final book report on?); study those basic math facts for our Mon/Wed/Fri Mental Math quizzes, carefully practice cursive.
For tomorrow: rescheduled vocabulary test on courage words
Due Wed: Spelling workbook, pages 126-9.
Thursday: Naper Settlement Field trip – mostly outdoors – dress for walking & the weather!! Bring your lunch & drink (ecological lunchboxes are welcome!)
Friday: spelling test; no reading or vocabulary test. Optional Pioneer Day! pack lunch that pioneers would have eaten; see if you can bring it to school in pioneer packaging (ie, no plastic!); girls wear skirts or dresses & bring “hand-work” to school to do at recess time.
Saturday, 10 – 3:30: Ethnic Fest at Whittier School, starting with the Parade; come and go as you your schedule permits.
Due next Monday: final Story Map (4 total due since spring vacation).
Thursday, May 6, 6:30 – 7:30 PM: Come to Math Night at Longfellow; see digital backpack for more info. The class with largest % turnout wins a prize
Wonderful causes, worthy of your donations:
* Oak Park Education Foundation (funds our ArtStart program)
* Help third grade meet their goal of $2010. Tax-ded. checks can be written to CROP/CWS.
* Longfellow’s technology fund-raiser: candy sale.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Week of April 19,2010
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
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 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!
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