Team Howard is bringing home the gifts they made for their family members today! They have already been wrapped with love. Please be sure to help your child check their backpack and make sure all of the gifts get to where they need to be. Please remember to send your child to school with their coat, snow pants, boots, hats, and mittens. Without these items, they are not able to play at recess. Tomorrow is our reader's theater performance. Students are encouraged to wear something like their character would wear, but it is not necessary. THIS WEEK IN… Reader's Theater Preparations: Today, we worked together to create the backgrounds for our plays. We really had to think of the story and the setting to portray a true background to the play. We also worked hard to create props that we might need to help our plays come alive! Festive Fun: Today, we wrapped all of the gifts we made during our elf workshop. We did this completely independently! It was a great experience learning how to cut the wrapping paper, how much tape to use, how to fold the paper, etc. We were also visited by the high school choir group. They sang some lovely carols and even some songs from their concert. They sounded amazing! We had fun singing along too. Tomorrow, we will join Mrs. Sylvester's class in the morning to watch Frozen! Then, Mrs. Sylvester's class will perform the Nutcracker for us. Later in the day, we will perform our own reader's theater plays to Team Howard. We have been working really hard on using our movie star voices and making the play come alive. It will be a great experience to see each play put their own spin on the stories. Even with just a two day week, we are busy, busy, busy! I hope everyone has a lovely holiday season and enjoys some quality time with their family over winter break.
Tomorrow is a combined music and P.E. day. Please help your child pack their sneakers tonight!
Homework packets are due on Thursday! Please help your child put their homework packet back into their backpack on Wednesday evening. Remember... no homework packet = no free choice Friday!
Our December spelling test will be on THURSDAY! Please help your child to practice spelling the words correctly but also knowing how to use the word in context. For example, what is the difference between its and it’s?
Antonio da Rocha, a storyteller and mime, will be coming to Russell School on Thursday! He came to Russell School a few years ago and was a phenomenal storyteller. I am so excited to see him here again. Here is his website if you would like some more information: http://www.storyinmotion.com/index2.htm
Elf Workshop will be on FRIDAY! Thank you to all of you who volunteered to be master elves and help us out with the crafts. We are still looking for a few more items to be donated. Here is our wishlist:
large foam shapes (christmas trees, snowmen, ornaments, etc)
lots of ribbon (1 inch or wider)
festive or colorful cardstock or scrapbook paper
Mrs. Thibodeau is coming to visit us again on Friday! She’ll be bringing her good friends George and Kelso to help us learn more about how to be better problem solvers.
This week in...
Spelling: We will be practicing unit 12. The words are: long, little, very, after, and words. We’ll practice spelling these words but also how to use them correctly in a sentence.
You are now entering into the world of Mooseltoe...
Phonics: This week’s we will be following our Mooseltoe them and practicing the short and long /oo/ sound. For the long /oo/ sound, we’ll be working with words like food, balloon, moon, and school. For the short /oo/ sound, we’ll be working with words like cookies, wood, football, and hook.
Vocabulary: We’ll listen for words like blustery, minor, bountiful, regimented, and tidings when we read Mooseltoe.
Comprehension: After reading Mooseltoe by Margie Palatini (our theme book for the week), we’ll collect the characters, setting, problem, solution, and moral of the story.
Grammar: With a partner, we will sort the nouns and verbs from Mooseltoe.
Writing: In Mooseltoe, Moose tries incredibly hard to have his holiday go perfectly perfect. However, try as he might, Moose’s holiday is not so perfect. We’ll be writing about a time that things did not go so perfectly perfect for us and how we solved the problem. There will be a fun moose craft to go along with our writing, too!
Fluency: We have begun our Holiday Reader’s Theater productions! We will be performing three different plays in our classroom. Mooseltoe, Olive the Other Reindeer, and The Gingerbread Boy! Students will be encouraged to read with as much expression as the can. We’ll be using our movie star voices to help us read loud enough for the audience to hear. This week, we will practice our lines so we can understand how to say them best. We’ll also study what gestures and mannerisms we might use while reading our lines. Next week, we’ll have the chance to create our very own backdrops and props to be used during our official classroom performance on Tuesday. We are so excited to perform for our team!
Math: We will continue to learn some place value games. This week, we’ll play beat the calculator, close to 20, and cover up. When we play beat the calculator, we are practicing adding number strings mentally in a snap! We’ll have to practice a lot of our math fact skills during this game. When we play close to 20, we are practicing adding number strings and also how to use a number line. Using a number line is a crucial skill to learn in second grade! When we play cover up, we are practicing how to solve missing numbers.
We’ll also review telling time to the nearest hour, half hour, and quarter hour. We’ll be practicing a new strategy with a highlighter. To help us figure out which hand we should read first, we will highlight the hour hand. Once we have figured out the hour, we will will look at the unhighlighted hand (the minute hand) and count by fives to solve the minutes.
We have increased our coin adding goal to $1.00! Students will play collect $1.00 this week using a recording sheet. This sheet will help us practice using ¢ and $ appropriately.
Mooseltoe Math: This week, we’ll practice a variety of math skills with mooseltoe serving as our theme! Here are the stations:
Spin a Stache: We’ll use our special mooseltoe spinners to spin various mustaches. Then, we’ll graph our results.
Solving Mooseltoe’s Problems: We will be solving story problems to solve some of Mooseltoe’s dilemmas. We’ll have to use different strategies to solve the problem as well as show our thinking.
Measuring Moostaches: Using 1 inch moose tiles, we will measure various moostaches. Then, we’ll practice our addition skills by adding measurements together.
Missing Mooseltoe: We’ll practice missing addends again in this fun game! We’ll have to match the correct ornament to the correct missing addend equation. Woo! I think my head might be spinning with excitement from all of this merry madness. We certainly have a lot on our to-do list this week! Have a fabulous week!
Tonight is the Winter Concert! The concert will be at the Middle School. Kindergarten performs at 6:00, first grade performs at 6:30, and second grade performs at 6:45. Hope to see you there!
Today the playdate contact list went home with your child. If you are not on the list and would like to be added to it, please let me know. I’ll add you to the list and send out a new copy.
This Wednesday is an early release day! This time, we will be wearing hats to show our school spirit. Students are dismissed at 1:00. Please plan accordingly.
Homework packets are due on Thursday! Please remind your child to put their homework packet in their backpack on Wednesday evening. Remember... no homework packet = no free choice Friday!
Please remember send your child to school with their coat, snow pants, boots, hats, and mittens. They need these things to be able to play at recess and earned time.
THIS WEEK IN...
Phonics: We are working with the long /e/ sound with the following spelling patterns: e, ee, ea, and y. Here are our focus words: eat, mean, leaf, queen, need, seek, baby, pony, he, and we.
Spelling: This week we will work on units 10 and 11. Here are our words: made, over, did, down, only, way, find, use, may, and water.
Vocabulary: Our new words are: swung, attached, gasped, breathe, frantically, and delicious. We will define these words and build connections to them. Then, we will search for them in a short story called “The Story of the Giant Carrot” by Rosa Manuel.
Comprehension: This week we will be exploring the world of cause and effect. The effect is what happens in a story and a cause is why something happens. When we read, we’ll be asking ourselves: What happened? Why did it happen? We’ll practice this skill while we read Head, Body, Legs, a story retold by Won-Ldy Paye and Margaret H. Lippert.
Grammar: We will work with action verbs this week. Action verbs are words that tell what someone or something is doing. Here are some examples: walks, opens, sits, eats, and sleeps.
Writing: We will begin writing a persuasive letter. A persuasive letter is a letter that gives the writer’s opinion. It has facts, reasons, or examples to support their opinion.
Read Aloud: We have begun a new adventure! Today, we entered into the world of... The Nutcracker! We are so excited about our classic holiday adventure.
Scholastic News: With the temperatures we had this morning, we definitely know that winter is upon us! This week’s issue is about the snowshoe hare, an animal who not only changes it’s habitat when the season changes but also changes itself! When we finish reading the article, we’ll use a diagram of the inside of a chipmunk burrow to answer questions.
Science: We will continue to work on our matter unit. This week, we will have some more practice classifying matter as a solid, liquid, or gas.
Math: This week we will continue to work on time, money, and place value. We’ll practice reading clocks with our class manipulatives and our clock buddies. We’ll also have some practice on IXL. To practice money, we’ll play collect 50¢. It’s a great game that has us identifying coins and their values as well as adding them together. We also practice trading coins of equal values. To practice place value, we’ll introduce three new games this week that focus on place value skills and a place value tool... the hundreds chart! Have a wonderful week!
We will be going on a field trip to Memorial School TOMORROW! If I have not received a permission slip from you already, you should see a GREEN copy of the permission in your child’s backpack today. Please make sure you sign it and return it to school first thing in the morning. If we do not receive permission from you, your child will not be able to join us on the field trip.
Vacation Homework Packets will be due on Thursday! Some students chose to turn them in today and that it totally fine. If your child did not turn it in today, they will have until Thursday to pass it in.
Mrs. Thibodeau will be visiting us again on Friday! Her friend Kelso and George will be coming to discuss ways we can be better friends and solve the small problems we might have with our friends.
Please be sure to send your child to school with their winter coat, snow pants, snow boots, hats, and mittens. Without these things, they will not be allowed to play in the snow.
THIS WEEK IN...
Phonics: We are working with the long /o/ sound with the spelling patterns /o/, /oe/, /oa/, and /ow/. Here are our focus words: grow, mow, crow, toe, goes, toast, soap, foam, told, and most.
Spelling: We took our December pre-test today. I will get them graded and sent back to you by Thursday. This should help you know what words to focus on for homework. The post-test will be on December 18th. This week, we will focus on unit 9. The words are: its, who, now, people, and my.
Vocabulary: Our new words are: imaginary, uniform, practices, starting, tryouts, and coach. We’ll define these words and build connections to them. Then, we’ll search for them in the short story called “Brian Gets Fit on the Field” by Emily Goldman.
Comprehension: This week we will practice making inferences again. When you make an inference, you make a decision about the story based on what you know and what you read in the story. We’ll practice this skill while we read There’s Nothing LIke Baseball by Angela Johnson.
Writing: This week, students will practice writing an explanation. An explanation includes personal feelings, lively details, and reasons that help the reader understand the writer’s opinion or experience. Team Howard will write about something they like to do. They will explain why you enjoy doing that activity and also add lively words to their writing. When they are finished, they will read their explanation to a partner.
Grammar: We will be working with plural nouns. A plural noun names more than one person place or thing. To change most singular nouns to plural nouns, add -s. If a singular noun ends in s, sh, ch, or x, we will add -es to make it plural.
Math: December will be a month for us to focus on time and money. We will also be introducing many place value skills that will be essential in our next unit. We’ll introduce these skills by playing lots of fun games! Here are the goals for time and money:
Time: I can tell and write time to the nearest five minutes, using a.m. and p.m.
Money: I can identify the value of a penny, nickel, dime, quarter, and dollar. I can use addition to add coins together for amounts greater than $1.00. I can use $ and ¢ appropriately.
Science: We just started a new science unit: Matter, Matter, All Around! Matter is anything that takes up space. We can classify matter into three categories: solids, liquids, and gases. This week, we will be exploring different kinds of matter and deciding whether they are a solid, liquid, or gas based on their properties. Here are some examples:
Solids: Trees, pencils, bookshelf, sand, chairs, etc.
Liquids: Water, soda, milk, gasoline, etc.
Gases: Air, Helium, a big gust of wind, etc.
Scholastic News: With the holiday season upon us, we will be reading a Scholastic News issue titled Holiday Economics. We’ll learn how people decide what gifts to buy, who makes the gifts, and how we get the gifts to the people we love. We’ll learn words like goods, service, and budget. Then, we’ll become economics experts! Using what we learned in the article, we will decide whether something is a good or a service and also if certain gifts fit the character’s budget.
Read Aloud: We are getting closer and closer to the end of Stanley, Flat Again! My goal is to get Team Howard’s flat kids in the mail by the end of the week. We are definitely looking forward to learning more about the different places in the world!
Wednesday is an early release day so please plan accordingly. Since our early release days are also spirit days, we are asking that all Russell Students wear their favorite fall color on Wednesday!
Homework packets are due on Thursday! Please help you child make sure their homework is in their backpack on Wednesday evening. In order to get free choice Friday, students must have AT LEAST five checks for reading, two checks for spelling, and two checks for math.
Thursday will be our big spelling test for the November spelling words. If you would like to help prepare your child, make sure they not only know how to spell the word correctly but also how to use it correctly in a sentence.
This week in...
Spelling: We will focus on units 7 and 8. The words are: like, him, see, time, could, no, make, than, first, and been. We’ll practice spelling them correctly and also using them correctly in a sentence.
Language Arts: We’ll be practicing a variety of skills this week with a Thanksgiving theme! Here are some of the things we will be doing:
Nonfiction Reading: We’ll read a nonfiction books about wild turkeys. When we are finished reading the book, we will collect the various facts that we learned from the story.
Thankful thoughts: To help us get into true Thanksgiving spirit, we will be making thankful turkeys to display the list of things we are grateful for this time of year.
Mayflower Facts: Thanksgiving began with the Pilgrims on the Mayflower and the Native Americans here in America. We’ll be reading a book and collecting facts throughout the week. Then, students will make mini books showing some of the most interesting facts we found.
Story Elements: With story elements being such a huge focus in second grade, we practiced identifying them again today with a great story called Too Many Pumpkins. After reading the story, students were challenged to identify the title, characters, setting, beginning, middle, end, problem, solution, and moral of the story.
Flat Stanley: We will be making our flat selves this week! We will also be writing friendly letters to the friends and family members who agreed to help us with this project. Once the letters are complete and the flat kids are drawn, we’ll be sending Team Howard in the mail so they can begin their adventure all over the world! As we begin to receive our flat kids back, we’ll be able to track our adventures using many different kinds of maps. We’ll also be calculating the number of miles we have traveled. This is definitely going to be a memorable project.
Math: We will be finishing up our fraction unit this week. After some quick review, Team Howard will be given the final fraction challenge to see where they are with their goals. Later, we will be applying what we learned during our fraction unit to make fractionpillars! This will be a creative project where students will create a caterpillar using various shapes. When their caterpillar is complete, they will have to write the fraction of each shape that make up the caterpillar. These will then be on display in our classroom for all to see.
Read Aloud: We are continuing our adventure with Stanley in Stanley, Flat Again. Today, Stanley helped win a sailing race by becoming the sail of a boat!
There will be no school tomorrow as it is Veterans Day. Be sure to thank a veteran for their service!
Homework packets are due on Thursday! Please remind your child to put it back in their backpack on Wednesday evening. Remember... no homework packet = no free choice Friday.
Mrs. Thibodeau will be visiting with us this Friday! Her friends Kelso and George will be tagging along as well. We’ll learn more about Kelso’s choices and how to solve the small problems we might encounter when we are playing with our friends.
Please remember to send your child to school with their coats. Even hats and mittens have come to the rescue recently! With our early recess, we have had to deal with some of the cooler temperatures during the day.
If you have not done so already, please remember to send the Flat Stanley page back to school with the name and address of someone who would be willing to participate in this project. If you do not know someone who lives in a different state or different part of Maine, please let me know and I will find someone for your child to write to. We need everyone’s addresses before we can begin this project. Please contact me if you have any questions.
THIS WEEK IN...
Phonics: We are working with the long /i/ sound. We are practicing the spelling patterns igh, ie, i, and y. Here are our focus words: light, sight, high, wild mind, dry, cry, try, tie, and lie.
Spelling: We are focusing on unit 6 this week. The words are: into, has, more, her, and two. We’ll practice spelling these words as well as using them correctly in a sentence.
Vocabulary: Our new words are: peered, giggled, snuggled, fluttered, vanished, and recognized. We’ll define these words and build connections to them. Then, we’ll search for them in a short story called “Leo Grows Up” by Kevin Lee.
Comprehension: We will focus on two skills this week. First, we will focus on making inferences. When you make an inference you make a decision based on clues in the story and what you already know. We’ll also focus on story elements. Team Howard will practice identifying the title, characters, setting, beginning, middle, end, problem, solution, and moral of the story. We’ll practice these skills while we read Farfallina and Marcel by Holly Keller.
Writing: This week we will focus on writing and publishing a personal narrative. Here is what students will be expected to show in their writing: I can reread my writing to check for mistakes and places where I could make my writing better.
I have a good topic sentence that gets my reader’s attention and introduces my writing.
My story goes in order and makes sense. I use transition words.
My story gives lots of details that make a picture in my reader’s mind.
I used some interesting words to make my writing fun to read.
My sentences start with a capital letter.
I have correct ending punctuation.
Most of my words are spelled correctly.
I have a good closing sentence that brings my writing to a nice end.
Team Howard will be writing “Ouch!” stories while they practice these things. Their story will tell us all about a time that they got hurt. I, for one, am so excited to hear what they come up with.
Grammar: This week we will work with possessive nouns. A possessive noun shows who or what has something. To do this, we add an apostrophe and an s to a singular noun to make it possessive. Here are some examples: duck’s, cow’s, Joe’s, Sally’s, cat’s, etc.
Fluency: This week, I will be reading a great book that will help us understand what fluency really means. The book is called Wolf! by Becky Bloom. In the story, a wolf is determined to become a better reader. First, he reads too slow. Then, he reads too fast! Finally, he learns how to read at an appropriate pace and with his very own style. After reading the book, Team Howard will work with partners and practice different fluency passages so that they may find their own style too!
Math: We are continuing our adventure with fractions! Each day we are practicing how to divide circles and rectangles into two, three, and four equal parts. A big focus has been to use fraction words when describing these parts (halves, thirds, and fourths). We will also do a lot of work with writing fractions correctly. We’re even using big fraction words like numerator and denominator! We will also continue to focus on how to say each fraction (i.e. one half, one third, one fourth, etc.)
Scholastic News: With Thanksgiving right around the corner, we will be reading about the first Thanksgiving. Did you know that the first Thanksgiving happened almost 400 years ago? After reading about the meal between the Native Americans and the Pilgrims, we’ll use a chart to answer questions about how Pilgrims cooked and ate.
Read Aloud: We just finished Flat Stanley’s original adventure. We will continue to travel with Stanley in Stanley, Flat Again! by Jeff Brown. After Stanley Lambchop goes flat again, he uses his flatness to win a sailboat race and rescue a classmate from a collapsed building.
It was very cold this morning at recess! Please be sure to send your child to school with a coat, hat, and mittens. It's better to have them and not need them, than to need them and not have them! There will be more conferences tomorrow. If you are not sure what time you should be meeting with me, please contact me as soon as possible so that I can let you know. Picture retakes are this Thursday, November 6th. If you would like your child to retake their school picture, please let me know so I can send them down at the appropriate time. Homework packets are due on THURSDAY! Please help your child put their homework packet in their backpack on Wednesday evening. November marks the start of new spelling words! We will be working on units 5-8 this month. Your child took their pretest today. Be on the lookout for them at home! They will be coming home sometime this week. Attached to the pretest you will find words from the previous month that your child might need more practice with as well as the second bonus word list for an added challenge. THIS WEEK IN… Phonics: We are working with the long /a/ sound. We are practicing words with the /ai/ and /ay/ spelling patterns. Here are our focus words: main, wait, sail, tail, train, jay, pay, stay, hay, and may. Spelling: We will focus on unit 5. Our words are: some, so, these, would, and other. We'll practice using these words correctly in a sentence as well as how to spell them correctly. Vocabulary: Our new words are: serious, broken, personal, informs, and heal. We will define these words and build connections to them to help us remember them better. Then, we will search for them in two different short stories called, "A Ride to Help" and "Time for an X-Ray". Comprehension: We will continue working with the order of events. When we are thinking about the events in the order that they happen, we can use signal words like first, next, then, and last to help us. We'll practice this skill while we read A Trip to the Emergency Room. Writing: Now that we have had plenty of practice building our writing stamina as well as learning where all of our writing materials are, where we can practice our writing goals, what we can write about, we are ready to introduce our journal writing rubric. In our classroom, each student receives a writing journal. This is where they can do most of their free writing during daily 5 time. This week, we will focus on journal writing expectations. Here is the rubric we will be using:
Journal Writing Checklist
I can do it!
I have a capital letter at the beginning of every sentence.
I have correct ending punctuation.
. ? !
I have finger spaces between my words.
I tried my best with spelling and underlined the words I didn’t know.
My writing gives lots of details that make a picture in the reader’s mind.
For example:
Who?
What?
When?
Where?
Why?
How?
What did you...
see? hear? feel? smell? taste?
My writing makes sense when I reread it to myself.
This week, we will practice free writing in our journals and then checking our rubrics to make sure our writing is meeting expectations. We'll also practice what to do if you notice that your writing doesn't completely show something on the rubric.
Grammar: We will work with proper nouns. Some nouns name a special person, place, or thing. This kind of noun is called a proper noun. Proper nouns always begin with a capital letter. Here are some examples of proper nouns: Mrs. Howard, Riverside Hospital, Maple Drive, Monday, November, etc.
Read Aloud: We are heading out on an adventure with Flat Stanley! This story is a great story written by Jeff Brown. It is about a boy named Stanley who gets flattened by a bulletin board. Then, we get to follow him on his adventures. We will also be doing a really fun project to go along with this book. This week, you will receive a paper asking you to provide the name and address of someone who lives outside the state of Maine. This person will be someone who agrees to receive a letter and flat kid from our classroom. They get to take this flat student on an adventure with them and then send the flat kid back with a letter telling us about their adventure. Please look to the letter for more information.
Math: We are moving onto our fractions standard. Here is what the standard states:
Students must be able to divide circles and rectangles into two, three, and four equal parts. They will refer to these parts at halves, thirds, and fourths. A whole can be recognized as two halves, three thirds, or four fourths. The same fraction of an identical whole does not need to be the same shape.
Our lessons this week will focus on dividing circles and rectangles into two, three, and four equal parts. We will then practice referring to these parts as halves, thirds, and fourths. We will also practice writing 1/2, 1/3, and 1/4. Students are going to love the challenge of dividing up shapes in different ways! For example, we could divide a rectangle into halves horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.
Money: We are going to review adding different coins together. This week, we will practice adding pennies and nickels, then pennies and dimes. The activity will have student's practicing identifying the coins, naming the values, and adding the coins together.
Math Facts: We are continuing to practice different strategies for adding and subtracting 1 or 2, making ten and subtracting from ten, as well as adding and subtracting doubles. Today, we learned a fun rap about adding doubles. Check out the video we watched and then practiced.
I made copies of the words so that Team Howard can practice at home if they would like. Have them sing it to
Scholastic News: This week's issue will focus on veterans. We will learn about the different jobs men and women in the armed forces do. Then, we will read a short article about hardworking dogs. Using that article, we will answer questions about key details in the text.
