February 29-March 4

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

This Wednesday, we will have a school-wide book swap where every student will get to have a new book to take home.  This is in celebration of Read Across America Day where reading is the greatest adventure!

Mrs. Thibodeau will also be visiting us on Wednesday.  This will be a make-up lesson for the snow day we have had previously.

This week in...

Spelling:  We are working on Unit 13.  The words are called, just, know, most, and where.

Phonics:  We are working with consonant digraphs.  We’ll practice words with /sh/, /ch/, /th/, and /wh/.  Our focus words will be:  chest, chill, chase, shape, sheep, thing, think, white, while, and wheat.  

Vocabulary:  The new words are:  ancient, hopeful, unable, confirm, and valid.  We’ll define these words, make connections with them and then search for them in the short stories called “A Very Old Fish” and “Boy Finds Fossils!”

Comprehension:  This week, we’ll work on summarizing.  When we summarize, we retell the most important details of a text.  We’ll practice this skill while we read Meet the Super Croc.  

Scholastic News:  In celebration of Dr. Seuss, we’ll be reading an article all about his book Green Eggs and Ham.  Then, we’ll practice answering some multiple choice questions about the text.  To take things further, students will then be asked to provide evidence from the text to support their answers.

Writing:  Miss Gilmour has introduced the topic of autobiographies.  These are stories that we write about ourselves.  Today, students had the chance to brainstorm some idea about when they were a baby, details about their family, growing up, their friends, and hobbies/interests.  Tomorrow, students will begin organizing their ideas into a rough draft format.  By the end of the week, students will have produced a complete story about themselves.  These are in practice for the big second grade biography projects, that we will be starting soon.

Read Across America Day Fun:  We’ll be reading my all-time favorite book, Oh the Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss.  We’ll use this as a celebration of what fun reading can be and how reading can take you anywhere... including the future! :)  We’ll be creating short writing pieces of what we think our lives will be like in 20 years.  Then, we’ll use this information to make our very own GREEN SCREEN movie!  Just like reading can take us to many different places, so can technology!

Math:  We’ll continue our flexible groups for place value.  In these groups, your child is getting direct instruction based on your child’s needs.  All of this instruction is designed to help your child read and write three-digit numbers in numbers, words, and expanded form, understand the hundreds, tens, and ones place, understand bundles of 100, 10, and 1, skip count by 5s, 10s, and 100s, and also to be able to compare numbers using the symbols <, >, and =.

On days where we don’t switch for math, your child is receiving targeted instruction on their time, money, and math facts goals.

Read Aloud:  The grand adventures with the BFG continue!

Science:  This week, Miss Gilmour introduces the wonderful world of plants!  This week, lessons will focus on what a plant is, the parts of a plant, and the function of each part of a plant.  Students will also get the opportunity to design an experiment that will help us prove what plants need to grow.

Have a lovely week!

February 22-26

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

Welcome back to school, everyone!  I hope everyone enjoyed their vacation.  Fingers crossed for a smooth transition back to school.

A BIG thank you goes out to the parents who were able to meet us on Friday to help us deliver our hand-made valentines!  The residents of Birchwoods loved receiving a special note of kindness from Team Howard!

Regular homework packets will begin again this week.  Remember, homework goes home on Mondays and is returned the following Monday.  For students who turn in their homework on time, they are rewarded with 15 minutes of indoor recess.  For students who forget to turn in their homework packet, they participate in 15 minutes of homework time.  During this time, they can choose to work on RAZ kids, IXL, or spelling city.

Mrs. Thibodeau will be coming to visit us again on Wednesday!  She’ll be here to talk about all things kind.  

This week is a review/challenge week for spelling.  Your child’s individualized spelling list will be sent home with their homework packets.  Practice these words at home.  On Friday, they will take a buddy spelling test to see if they can spell these words correctly.

THIS WEEK IN...

Writer’s Workshop:  Over vacation, I have completely revamped the way we practice our writing goals.  Now, students will be given time to practice one targeted goal.  These goals come from what I see in their writing.  Here are some of the goals you might expect your child to be working on:

1. I can write in complete sentences.  My sentences start with a capital letter and have correct ending punctuation.
2. I can introduce my topic.
3. I can add details and facts to support my topic.
4. I can use adjectives and adverbs correctly in my writing.
5. I can use transition words to help connect my writing.
6. My writing has an order that makes sense.
7. I can conclude my writing in interesting ways.
8. I can edit and revise my writing.

Each goal now has a special writing menu to go along with it.  The menu shows students exactly what activities they can do to help them practice their goal.  Once a student feels like they are able to demonstrate proficiency in their writing goals, they will submit an example writing piece.  

I’m so excited to share these new activities with Team Howard.  Not only do I think they provide more targeted practice for them, but I think these activities are really fun!  

Students will also be introduced to a “Make Your Own Fairy Tale” station.  This is where their imaginations can run wild!  

Reader’s Workshop:  I also spent some time over vacation to revamp our read to self and read to someone choices.  For our read to self time, I was really looking to provide opportunities for students to demonstrate their knowledge of their books in an engaging and challenging way.  As students are progressing through their reading goals, they are expected to be able to respond to their reading in a variety of ways.  Here is a quick list of the new projects that will shared with your child this week:

1. iPad book report
2. Paper bag book report
3. Book commercial
4. Making connections
5. Poster
6. Board Game
7. Reading Comprehension Journal

Students will be expected to complete at least one read to self project per month.  Of course, they are welcome to do more as well.

For our read to someone menu, I wanted to create choices that allowed students to have more fun with fluency.  The new choices now provide targeted practice for students in accuracy, pace, expression, and punctuation.  Here is a quick list of the new choices that will be shared with your child this week:

1. Perfect Poetry
2. Read the room with emotion
3. Alphabet Flow
4.   Buddy Reading with a rubric
5. Fluency Freestyle
6. Super Speedy Sight Words

Math:  This week, students will begin their new flexible groups around place value.  Your child will be placed in a group where they will be provided with targeted instruction and practice around their personal place value goals.  In second grade, students are expected to be able to:

1. Read and write three-digit numbers in numerals, number names, and expanded form.
2. Understand the hundreds, tens, and ones place in a number.
3.   Understand how many bundles of 100, 10, and 1 may be in a given place.
4.   Skip count within 1,000 by 5s, 10s, and 100s.
5.   Compare two three-digit numbers using <, >, and =

On days where we don’t switch for flexible groups, Team Howard will focus on other math goals that we currently have open.  On Mondays, we will focus on money and math facts.  Each week, we’ll begin with a mini lesson on money or a mini lesson on a math facts strategy.  Then, the team will be given time to practice their individual goals.  On Wednesday, we’ll practice telling time as well as have time for some review and/or place value work.  Again, we’ll begin with a mini lesson and then students will be given time to practice their individualized goals.

Read Aloud:  This week, Miss Gilmour will begin reading The BFG by Roald Dahl.  This story is a great story of friendship.  It’s also one with lots of imagination!  The characters use some hilarious made-up words and have some really interesting conversations.

Science:  This week, we’ll conclude our unit on matter with a fun, integrated lesson.  After learning all about fairy tales, one of our favorite stories was the story of the three little pigs.  Unfortunately, some of the pigs did not have the best of luck designing their homes.  So, we’re going to help them!  This week, we will conduct an experiment that allows us to find the best kind of mortar for the job.  Once we’ve found the best mortar, we’ll use some of it to create the framework for a house.  After we have the framework, we’ll begin adding walls and a roof.  Now the challenge here is to build a house that can stand up to the “huff and puff” test.  During this test, all members in your groups will blow as hard as you can, trying to knock the house down.  If your house stands up to that test, you’ll have the opportunity to try the SUPER huff and puff test... a.k.a. Mrs.  Howard’s blowdryer!  

February 8-12

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

This week, we are doing a project that is very near and dear to my heart.  We'll be creating 100 valentines for the residents at Birchwoods Assisted Living facility in Portland.  I would LOVE to have some of you help me deliver them!  If you would like to bring your child (and maybe even a friend in the class), please let me know.  That way, I'll know how many people to wait for.  My plan is to deliver the valentines this Friday after school.  If you have any questions, please let me know!

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

Spirit Week Schedule:  
Monday:  mismatched clothes
Tuesday:  favorite team attire
Wednesday:  pink and/or red
Thursday:  pjs or comfy clothes

This Friday is our Fairy Tale Ball!  Please help your child come dressed as their favorite fairy tale character.  These costumes could be as simple as a hat or even wearing what your child thinks is their character's favorite color.  If you need any help or have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Next week is vacation, so today your child received a "switcheroo" homework packet.  Please follow the directions on the cover.  These packets will be due the Monday we return to school so your child has two weeks to work on it.

We will be taking our spelling test on Unit 12 words this THURSDAY!  The words for unit 12 are:  little, long, very, after, and words.

This Thursday, the second grade team will be celebrating winter and encouraging active play with a winter carnival!  Students are invited to bring sleds and other winter gear for a day of fun outside.  I'll be sending home a flyer tomorrow with more information.  Please send along an extra set of dry clothes for your child to change into once all the fun is done.  

THIS WEEK IN...

ELA:  We will continue our journey through fairy tales!  We are constantly reading tales.  For some, we have a short activity to help extend our learning and others we simply think critically about before, during, and after we read the book.  This week, your child's goal will be to complete a poster of their favorite character.  Their posters are required to have the name of the character, whether they are a protagonist or an antagonist, the problem, the solution, what magic was used in the story, a picture of their character, and the moral of the story.  Team Howard will share these posters with other second grade students this Friday at the ball.

MATH:  This week, we continue our focus on place value.  Our lessons will focus on five ways to write a number.  We'll practice writing numbers in standard form, word form, expanded form, picture form, and identify what digits are in the hundreds, tens, and ones place.  We'll play games that will require students to have a deep understand of the hundreds, tens, and ones place as well as the ability to compare numbers using <, >, and =.  

Valentine's Day Fun:  We'll be creating "Love Monster" bags to collect all of our valentines.  We'll also enjoy the delicious friendship snack mix we've all had a hand in creating.  Finally, we'll play some fun minute to win it themed games to encourage cooperation, good sportmanship, and to bond as a class.  

I'm so excited to share such a fun week with Team Howard!

February 1-5

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

Team Howard welcomes Miss Gilmour to the team!  Samantha Gilmour is an education student from the University of Maine Farmington.  She will be student teaching with us until May.  We are so excited to have her on our team!

You’ll see two papers come home from Miss Gilmour today.  One is a survey and the other is a permission slip.  During her student teaching experience she will be taking pictures to add to her portfolio.  The permission slip will let her know whether or not you would like your child to be photographed.  Your child’s name will never be used with the photograph.  If you have questions, please let me know.

Next week, the second grade team at Russell School will be holding a fairy tale ball!  For the next two weeks, we will be studying fairy tales.  Next week, your child will select their favorite fairy tale character and create a poster.  They are also invited to come to school dressed like their character for the ball.  This can be a SIMPLE costume.  It could be as simple as a hat.  Please look out for more information coming home in your child’s folder at the end of the week.

THIS WEEK IN...

Spelling:  We are working on Unit 11.  The words are:  way, find, use, may, and water.  

Phonics:  We are working with the long /u/ sound with the spelling pattern u_e.  The focus words are:  mule, June, fuse, duke, use, tune, dune, and flute.  The words bugle and music do not follow this pattern.

Vocabulary:  Our new words are tips, obeys, attention, accident, enormous, and buddy.  We’ll practice defining these words, using them in a sentence, and building connections to them.  Then, we’ll search for the words in the short story called “Safety and School” by Brian Sullivan.

Comprehension:  We will focus on using illustrations.  When we use illustrations we are looking for clues to help us better understand the story.  We’ll practice this skill while we read Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathmann.

Scholastic News:  Since tomorrow is Groundhog Day, we’ll be reading a special issue of Scholastic News all about Ms. G, a groundhog from Massachusetts.  Then, we’ll answer questions about Ms. G providing evidence from the text.

Math:  This week, we will be playing some fun place value games that will have us thinking all about the ones, tens, and hundreds place.  We’ll also have to think about how to compare two numbers using the symbols <, >, and =.  Ask you child about the fun and challenging place value game we play together!

Social Studies:  Today, the Love Monsters arrived!  They brought a special message telling us to be extra kind and extra nice to others in the coming days.  If we’re caught doing something nice, we’ll get a special treat from the Love Monsters.  In addition, the Love Monsters will leave a kindness challenge for us to complete each day.  

Read Aloud:  This week’s read alouds will be focused on fairy tales.  We’ll be reading Rumpelstiltskin, Beauty and Beast, Cinderella, and the Gingerbread Man.

Fairy Tales:  This week, we’ll read the story of the Three Little Pigs and the True Story by A. Wolf.  We created a motivational poster showing the moral of the story from the Three Little Pigs.  Tomorrow, we’ll write an opinion letter to the editor sharing our thoughts on who we think is telling the truth.  Later this week, we’ll read two versions of Cinderella.  First, we’ll create an invitation to Cinderella’s ball.  Then, we’ll create interview questions for Cendrillon (the other version of Cinderella).  Finally, we’ll read two different version of Little Red Riding Hood.  With the original version, we’ll make a missing poster of The Big Bad Wolf.  With the fractured version, we’ll be creating a magic wand ending and write a different ending to the story.