March 30-April 3

Announcements and Reminders:

Please remember to send your child to school with all of their winter gear!  The wind was bitterly cold today and we had many students who were not properly dressed to be outside for recess.  As long as there is still snow on the ground, teachers ask that students come to school with their winter coats, snow pants, boots, hats, and mittens.

Wednesday in Biography Day!  Please send your child to school dressed as the person they are studying.  Remember, there is no need to buy anything for this special day.  Costumes can be as simple as a hat.  Construction paper can also be used for a lot of things.  If you need any help at all coming up with a costume for your child, please let me know.  I would be happy to help.

Homework packets are due on Thursday!

This week in...

Phonics:  We are working on the /u/ sound with the spelling patterns oo, ui, ew, ue, and oe.  Our focus words are:  root, boot, suit, fruit, clue, glue, new, flew, shoe, and canoe.

Spelling:  We are working on unit 24.  The words are:  every, between, still, name, and found.

Vocabulary:  Our new words are:  violent, beware, prevent, uprooted, destroy, and grasslands.  We’ll use our vocabulary books to help us define these words and show that we know what they mean.  Then, we’ll search for them in the short story called “Wild Weather Hits Florida” by Lisa O’Neil.

Comprehension:  This week, we will practice how to make predictions.  To make a prediction, I have to use the text, pictures, and what I already know to make a good guess about what will happen next.  Once I read on, I need to ask myself, “Was my prediction correct?”  I should be able to use evidence from the text to prove whether my prediction was correct or not.  We’ll practice this skill while we read Super Storms by Seymour Simon.

We’ll also practice using a complex reasoning tool called a comparison matrix.  Together, we’ll compare thunderstorms and snowstorms.  We’ll analyze the different similarities and differences between the different different storms.  Here is an example of the chart we will use:

Grammar:  We’ll practice irregular words like come and run.  Come in the past tense is came.  Run in the past tense is ran.  We’ll practice when to use each tense of the word correctly in a sentence.  

Writing:  We will finish up our biography projects tomorrow.  On Wednesday, we will present them to the team.  While Team Howard is presenting their information, I will be filling out a rubric on their presentation.  Here are the things I will be looking for:

On Thursday, we will be our new poetry book projects!  April is national poetry month and we will be exploring and practicing lots of different types of poetry.  Our book will contain an autobiographical poem, list poem, sensory poem, cinquain, haiku, and acrostic poem.  When our books are completed, we’ll invite everyone in for an Author’s Tea where we will share our favorite poems with you.

Math:  This week, we begin our new math switcheroo groups.  In each group, students will be working towards mastery in the following standards:

1. I can fluently add and subtract within 100 using strategies based on place value.
2. I can solve one and two-step word problems using strategies based on place value.

Some groups may extend their work and practice these standards as well:

1. Add up to four two-digit numbers.
2. Fluently add within 1,000 using strategies based on place value.
3. Understand the relationship between addition and subtraction.

In every group, students will be exposed to four different strategies.  They are:  100 chart, number line, drawings, and tens and ones.  Everyone will have the chance to practice each of these strategies.  Our goal is to hopefully find at least one strategy that works for your child.  The best thing would be able to find two strategies that your child is comfortable and fluent with.

When we don’t switch for math groups, we will practicing math facts, time, money, odd and even, and arrays.  

Science:  We are combining our work with fables and fairy tales with our love of science!  Today, we ready The Three Little Pigs and we decided that we needed to build better houses for the pigs.  Our first step was to test different kinds of “mortar” to see what would work best.  We tested four different combinations.  They were flour/water, salt/water, corn starch/water, and baking soda/water.  We placed a little bit of each mixture on an index card and attached a dry yellow pea to it.  Tomorrow, we’ll see which mixture holds the pea best.  That will be the kind of mortar we will use.  

Later this week, we’ll use our mortar and straws to build the frame of our houses.  Then, we’ll add paper for walls and a roof.  Next week, we’ll have our “Huff and Puff” test.  First, we’ll see if we can blow the house over ourselves with our own lung power.  Then, we’ll try the super duper huff and puff test with a blow dryer!  Our hope is that our houses can stand up through both tests!

Read Aloud:  We will begin Being Teddy Roosevelt on Thursday.  It is a story about fourth grader Riley who is studying Teddy Roosevelt in preparation for the annual Biography Tea.  However, he feels he has a far more important goal:  saving up enough money to buy a saxophone so he can learn to play it.  As Riley learns more and more about Teddy Roosevelt, he realizes that Teddy Roosevelt may be the key to him getting that saxophone after all!

Have a great week!

March 23-27

Announcements and Reminders:

Conferences are this week!  You should have received a confirmation paper with your date and time last week.  If you are unsure of your scheduled time, please contact me.  Looking forward to meeting with all of you again!

On Tuesday, the Children’s Museum and Theater of Maine will be visiting Russell School and performing a puppet show focusing on disability awareness.  We are so excited to welcome them to our school!

Wednesday is our field trip to Hannaford.  We will be going on their guiding stars tour to learn about how we can making healthy choices while grocery shopping.  If you have not returned your child’s permission slip yet, please do so as soon as possible!  If I did not receive a permission slip from you yet, there will be another copy in your child’s backpack tonight.

Homework packets are due on Thursday!

This month’s spelling test will be on Thursday.  It will cover units 20-23.

On Friday, students from UNH will be performing “The Nightingale.”  This performance also goes along with our disability awareness curriculum.  We will be laughing and learning a lot during this performance!

Mrs. Thibodeau will also be visiting us on Friday afternoon.  She will be wrapping up our disability awareness curriculum.

BIOGRAPHY DAY:  As a part of our biography project, second graders are invited to come to school dressed as the person they studied.  This should be a simple “costume” and can be as simple as a hat.  If you need ideas, please contact me.  I would be happy to help!  This year’s biography day will be on Wednesday, April 1st (NOT a joke!).  A paper reminder with a more detailed explanation will go home in totes this week.

This week in...

Spelling:  We will practice the final list for the month of March.  The words are:  great, tell, men, say, and small.  Our spelling test will be on Thursday.

ELA:  Our main focus will be on our biography projects.  Team Howard was required to use at least two resources.  After reading our nonfiction resources, we gathered many facts about the people we are studying.  We know when they were born, when they died, who their family members were, what their interests were, what they are best known for, how they are like us, and many other interesting facts.  This week, we will be organizing all of our research into a rough draft.  Once we have our rough draft, we will edit and revise it so we can then publish our writing into an illustrated and informative biography book.  

We will be presenting these books to our team on Wednesday, April 1st.  On this day, Team Howard is asked to come dressed as the person they studied.  As mentioned above, this should be a simple “costume”.  Again, if you need any help, please let me know!  I have lots of ideas for how your child could dress for the occasion.  

We’ll also continue to practice our literacy goals with our fable unit.  Each week, a small group of students performs a fable for the team.   Then, we discuss the fable and do a short activity to connect to the story.

Conferences:  This week, Team Howard will be doing their spring conferences.  As you know, half of the conference will be student led.  We will be practicing and rehearsing our student-led part with each other.  We’ll practice talking about our goals, our projects, and many of the projects that we plan to share with you.  

Computer lab:  We are practicing our typing skills by typing one of our personal narratives.  When we are finished typing our projects, we’ll be sending them home for you to enjoy.

Math:  This week, second grade will be involved in a strategy switcheroo!  Each second grade class will travel to every other second grade classroom.  In each class, they will have the chance to be introduced to a new strategy.  They’ll practice the strategy and leave with a “take-away”.  These strategies will be the strategies we will focus on and practice in our word problems unit.  Here are the two power standards that we will be focusing on for the next several weeks.

1. Fluently add and subtract within 100 using strategies based on place value.  These strategies will include the building and use of a number line.
2. Use addition and subtraction to solve one and two step word problems involving situations of adding to, taking apart, and comparing with unknowns in all positions including money and measurement word problems.

Read Aloud:  As a class, we are studying Clara Barton.  After reading a short picture book and nonfiction online article, we are now reading a short chapter book.  We are looking all kinds of interesting information!  For example, did you know that Clara Barton was one truly amazing teacher?  Now you know!

March 16-20

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

Please remember to send in your preferred dates and times for your child’s spring conference.  If it is easier for you, you are more than welcome to email me your preferences as well.  I’ll be sending out reminders sheets with your conference date and time in totes on Thursday.  Conferences will be scheduled on March 24-26.

Homework packets are due on Thursday!   Please remind your child to put it in their backpack on Wednesday evening.

A field trip permission slip will be coming home in totes on Thursday.  We will be going to Hannaford for their guiding stars tour to help us learn more about making healthy choices.  We are scheduled to go Wednesday, March 25 at 9:30.  Students do not need to bring anything special for the field trip.  Please sign and return the permission slip as soon as possible.  We’ll be needing the permission slips by Monday, March 23.

Ms. Austin will be joining our classroom on Friday to do an activity with us about the types of thinkers we are.  We’re looking forward to having Ms. Austin in the room again!  

This week in...

Phonics:  We are working with the spelling patterns /oo/ and /ou/.  Here are our focus words:  shook, stood, hook, brook, crook, foot, soot, could, should, and would.  

Spelling:   We will work on unit 22.  The words are:  again, off, went, old, and number.

Vocabulary:  Our new words are:  conservation, remains, trouble, extinct, and hardest.  We’ll define these words together and search for them in two short stories called “Prairie Problem” and “Be Careful!  We’re Almost Gone!”

Comprehension:  This week, we’ll read a nonfiction article called A Way to Help Planet Earth.  We’ll make a description web about recycling plastic.  

Grammar: We will work with irregular verbs.  Sometimes you can’t just add -ed to form the past tense.  Sometimes, the word changes.  Some examples of irregular verbs are went and did.

Writing:  We will continue working on our biography projects.  Today, students found out who they will be studying for the project.  We then found at least two resources to help us find information about the people we are studying.  After reading our resources at least one time, we will go back and read slowly and carefully.  This time, we will search for information about when our person was born and when they died, their family members, their interests, what they are best known for, their best accomplishment, how they are like us, what we admire about them, and interesting facts.  We will keep track of the resources we use to add to our bibliography at the end of our project.

Math:  We have finished our Pennies for Peace books!  You’ll have the chance to see them at your child’s spring conference.  This week, we’ll review some important concepts from place value and begin practicing several strategies that will help us add and subtract numbers within 100.  I’ll be sending home an information sheet with you to show you the strategies we will focus on in the classroom.  When you are helping your child with their homework, please help them practice these strategies.  Practicing carrying and borrowing is usually too advanced for second graders.  Instead, we want second graders to have a strong foundation in strategies based on place value and a strong understanding of what they are doing to the numbers.   Carrying and borrowing becomes a strategy that is taught and used in later grades.  

We’ll also continue to practice our math fact families.  Make sure you are practicing your child’s math fact families at home as well.  These facts need to be memorized and memorization takes time.  The more your child practices (at school and at home) the faster they will meet their goals at school.

Science:  This week, we will do an activity that involves pieces.  One goal for second grade is that we understand that matter is made up of smaller pieces and those pieces can be taken apart and rearranged to create something new.  We’ll practice this with pattern blocks!  We also introduced part of our next science unit:  landforms.  Check out this funny video we watched today:

Saint Patrick’s Day Fun:  We’ll be writing persuasive letters.  Team Howard will be challenged to defend their opinion of leprechauns... are they real or not?  We’ll write a good topic sentence that states our opinion.  Then, we’ll write three reasons for why we feel that way.  Finally, we’ll write a great concluding sentence that restates our opinion.  

March 9-13

REMINDERS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS:

If anyone still has items that we can use for our engineering project this week, they would be greatly appreciated!  We’re looking for toilet paper rolls, paper tower rolls, or anything made out of chipboard. 

This Wednesday is an early release day.  Please plan accordingly.

Spring conferences are coming right up!  They will be held on March 24-26.  A paper describing the conferences as well as a sign up sheet will be coming home this week in totes.  Please keep an eye out for it!  As always, conferences will be scheduled on a first come, first serve basis so please send them back to school as soon as you can.

Homework packets are due Thursday!

This Friday, the Cromwell Center for Disability Awareness will be visiting our classroom.  They will be doing a 30 minute discussion, lesson, and activity with Team Howard.  We are looking forward to their visit!

This week in...

Spelling:  We will focus on Unit 21.  The words are:  why, help, put, different, and away.

Fables:  Each week, a small group of students will be selected to practice and perform and short fable for the class.  Talk about a fabulous way to practice our fluency goals!   Following the performance, we will have a chance for discussion and practice work.  Fables open up a lot of really cool reading opportunities.  We will discuss character traits (which ones are strengths and which ones are flaws).  We will also have the chance to discuss the moral of the story.  When we have completed our fable unit, Team Howard will then have the chance to write their very own fables!  

Autobiographies:   We will finish our autobiographies this week.  When we are done, each member of Team Howard will have a book all about them.  We’ll learn about when they were little, in kindergarten, in first grade, this year, summer memories and other memories.  It has been so much fun to learn more about our teammates.

Biography project:  Since we will be finishing our autobiographies, we will be moving right into our next project... biographies!  This is one of the projects that second graders look forward to all year.  The goal of the project is to be able to read a non-fiction book to gather facts to be used in a research report.  Team Howard will select a book about someone famous in history.  Using the book, they will be collecting information about their interests, what they are best known for, how we are like the person they are studying, and other interesting facts.  Once our research is completed we will create a short book about the person we studied.  To model, Team Howard and I will be studying Clara Barton together.

Math:  We will begin a project that encompasses many topics.  Pennies for Peace will focus on place value, money, sharing, working together, maps, and different cultures.   After reading Listen to the Wind by Greg Mortensen (a children’s book based on his book Three Cups of Tea), we will learn all about how Dr. Greg worked together with the people of Korphe to create a school for children to learn.  By raising pennies, he, as well as many others, were able to raise money to build a school, get school supplies, and hire teachers to educate the children of Korphe.  Our project will challenge Team Howard to identify the main idea of the story, identify the author’s purpose, review how to write three digit numbers in words, numbers, and expanded form.  We will also review  bundles of 1, 10, and 100.  We will also review how to compare numbers and how to skip count within 1,000.  If you want to learn more about this amazing Pennies for Peace program, check out their website at:  http://www.penniesforpeace.org/

Scholastic News:  This week, we’ll learn all about Rayanie and her service dog, Chief. 

Science:  Engineering is the name of the game this week!  After reading a story about some friendly gnomes in their village and their market in town, Team Howard will be challenged to design something that will allow the gnomes to get to town and back to their village faster than they can now.  Using the materials you sent in from home, students will make their sketch a reality.  

Early Release Day Fun:  We’ll be reading one of my all-time favorite books, Oh the Places You’ll Go by Dr. Seuss.  After reading, we’ll have the chance to brainstorm where we think our brains and feet might lead us to in the future.  We’ll think about our future homes, jobs, and future accomplishments.  We’ll use this information to make a fun green screen movie of our future selves!  In order to help us make this video, your child may bring in things from home to help make the video more authentic.  These things could be clothes or even props they think they might want.  I’ll send home a paper with your child on Wednesday requesting these items.  Please send them to school on Thursday (the next day).  These items will be returned to you by the end of next week.  

Have a wonderful week!

March 2-6

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

Marty Kelly, a children’s book author and illustrator, will be visiting us on Wednesday!  Today we read Summer Stinks! and we loved it.  We are so excited to see what his presentation has in store for us this week.

On Thursday, there will be a disability awareness assembly.  This will kick off all of the great activities we have in store for us this month!  We are looking forward to the Cromwell Center presentation and UNH’s performance.  There will also be a Diabetes Awareness Assembly.  We’ll be learning so much about disability awareness.

Homework packets are due on Thursday!

Please remember to send your child to school with all of their outdoor gear for our outdoor science lessons.  Depending on the weather, our hope is to be outside every Monday!

This week, you’ll receive a letter regarding one of our upcoming science projects.  We are asking that you send in toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls, clean apple sauce or fruit cups, tissue boxes, cereal boxes, or any item made out of chipboard.  We’ll be using these items for an engineering project.  Please keep an eye out for the letter!  Let me know if you have any questions

This week in...

Phonics:  We are still working with r-controlled vowels with the spelling patterns /er/, ir/, and  /ur/.  Our focus words are:  clerk, term, herd, skirt, sir, stir, churn, burst, hurt, and turn.

Spelling:  March spelling words will focus on units 20-23.  This week, we’ll work on unit 20.  The words are:  place, well, such, here, and take.

Vocabulary:  Our new words are:  wider, saddest, balance, deserted, freezes, and imagine.  We’ll define these words and show what they mean in our vocabulary books.  Then, we’ll search for them in the short story called “Bill Helps Geese Survive” by Anthony Estes.

Comprehension:  We will practice identifying the cause and the effect in a story.  We’ll practice this while reading Goose’s Story by Cari Best.  

Grammar:  We will focus on helping verbs.  Helping verbs help another verb to show action.  Have and has are both helping verbs.  We use has when the subject is singular and have when the subject is plural, you, or I.

Writing:  We’ll begin our autobiography and biography unit.  To kick off our biographies of famous people, we will begin by writing about ourselves.  Using the information your family collected and turned in as homework, Team Howard will write about themselves.  They’ll include memories of when they were little, in first grade, this year, summer memories, and other memories.  They’ll use these pieces of writing to create a book all about themselves.  We’ll begin the project this week and complete it next week.

Math:  We are continuing our place value flexible groups for one more week.  By the end of the week, all students will be assessed on their learning goals.  We’ll use this information and more when placing students into the next flexible groups which would be focused on solving addition and subtraction word problems within 100 using strategies based on place value.  Team Howard will continue to practice math facts, telling time, money, and odd and even numbers.

Science:  In today’s outdoor science lesson we really challenged ourselves.  Not only did we have to identify different states of matter but we also had to describe them.  For example, some solids are hard and some are soft.  Then, we did an activity where we had to line ourselves up based on the viscosity (thickness) of the liquid we had.  We ended with a game of “What am I?” where students must ask yes or no questions to their peers to figure out what they are holding (pancakes, helium, water, etc.)

Scholastic News:  We’ll read an issue all about the Pony Express!  The article will tell us all about the fastest way to send mail across the country in the 1860s.  Then, we’ll use a map to answer questions about the path of the Pony Express.

Read Across America Day Fun:  Today is Dr. Seuss’s birthday!  We celebrated by honoring his funny and silly imagination.  First, we read Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!  Then, we used a program called Switcheroo Zoo to help us create some incredibly silly looking animals.  Based on the picture we created, we brainstormed stories to tell what our new animals looked like, how they acted, how they smelled, what they felt like, what they sounded like, and what they eat.  Then, we had the chance to illustrate and name our new and silly animals.  Later this week, we will use Dr. Seuss to extend our knowledge of matter!  After reading Bartholomew and the Oobleck we’ll create our own oobleck and decide... is it a solid or is it a liquid?  Check out this fun video of a pool filled with oobleck!

Have a great week!