April 27-May 1

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

The book fair is here!  Come by the library and check out the fabulous books they have.  The book fair will last all week.

This Thursday is our authors tea.  I really hope you can make it!  Room 10 is going to be transformed into the Team Howard  Poetry Cafe.  Come a few minutes early and you’ll have the chance to enjoy some refreshments and small treats before the poets perform.  Refreshments will be served at 5:15.  The poets will perform at 5:30.  The whole evening will be concluded at 6:00.  An RSVP will be sent home with Team Howard on Monday afternoon.  Please sign and return it by Wednesday.

Homework packets are due on Thursday.

April’s spelling test will be on Thursday.  It will cover units 24-27.

Donations:  It would be greatly appreciated if anyone could send in a sweet beverage to be shared with those who attend the authors tea.  Juices, sodas, waters, etc. would all be suitable.  If you would like to donate a beverage for the authors tea, please let me know!

Schedule Switcheroo:  The second grade team is going to try something new.  Instead of having recess at 10:30, we are going to try recess from 12:00-12:30.  It will be exciting to see how it goes!

This week in...

Creative Writing:  Team Howard will be writing a very special book titled Second Grade is Out of This World!.  The book is about an alien who has come to planet Earth and is nervous about starting second grade.  Together, we’ll author a book that shows our alien friend all of the great things about second grade.  This book will then be published!  In your child’s backpack there is an order form for you to look at.  It will give you all of the information you need should you wish to order your very own copy of our book.   I NEED ALL ORDER FORMS RETURNED BY WEDNESDAY even if you choose not to order the book.  It is a requirement from the publishing company.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

Penguin Research:   This week, Team Howard will work in small groups to research six different species of penguins:  emperor, adelie, gentoo, macaroni, little, and king penguins.  Together, they will find information about what they look like, what they eat, where they live, and interesting facts.  At the end of the project, the team will create LIFE SIZE posters of the penguins they studied.  These will be on display in the hallway.

Poetry:  We will finish our final draft books and begin rehearsing for our authors tea.  Each student will be performing at least one poem for you on Thursday evening.  So, we’ll spend some time rehearsing our poems so that we can perform them for you with great fluency.

Animal Projects:  This week, students will have the chance to explore tons of books about many different animals.  At the end of the week, they will decide which animal they would like to study most for our animal projects.

Math:  We are going to finish up our unit on odd and even numbers as well as arrays.  By the end of the week, all students will be assessed to see if they have met proficiency in these two standards:

“I can identify a group of objects up to 20 as odd or even.  I can represent even numbers with a doubles number sentence and an odd number with a near doubles number sentence.”

"I can find the total number of objects arranged in rectangular arrays with up to 5 rows and 5 columns.  I can write a repeated addition number sentence to find the total number of objects in the array.”

We will also continue our flexible groups for word problems with a focus on adding and subtracting within 100.

Science:  This week, we will be creating a landform flip book to represent the landforms and bodies of water we have been studying.  Our flip book will show an island, ocean, plains, mountain, valley, stream, lake, cave, canyon, and volcano.

Read Aloud:  We will finish up Shel Silverstein’s Where the Sidewalk Ends. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

April 13-16

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

Homework packets are due on Thursday!  Spring break homework packets will also go home on Thursday.  

On Thursday, Spark's Ark will be visiting Russell School.  This will be a great kickoff for our spring animal projects!

There is no school on Friday, April 17 as it is teachers' comp day for conferences.  Enjoy the extra day with your kiddos!

The April spelling test will be on Thursday, April 30.  It will cover units 24-27.

This week in...

Phonics:  We will be working with the diphthong sound /ou/ with the spelling patterns ow and ou.  Our focus words are:  clown, growl, howl, brown, crown, round, loud, cloud, house, and sound.

Spelling:  We will work on unit 26.  The words are:  line, set, own, under, and read.

Vocabulary:  Our new words are:  lengthy, burrow, ranger, warning, distant, and beyond.  We'll define these words and show we know what they mean in our vocabulary books.  Then, we'll search for them in the short story called "The Coatis of the Sonora Desert".

Comprehension:  We'll work on identifying the author's purpose.  We'll use the acronym PIE to help us.  Did the author write the story to PERSUADE, INFORM, or ENTERTAIN us?  We'll practice this skill while we read Dig, Wait, Listen:  A Desert Toad's Tale by April Pulley Sayre.

Grammar:  We will focus on personal pronouns.  Personal pronouns are words that take the place of a noun or nouns.  For example, "he" could take the place of "Bobby" in a sentence.  "It" might take the place of "the desert".

Writing:  We'll focus on two more kinds of poetry this week.  First, we'll write sensory poems.  Sensory poems describe a feeling or emotion with your senses.  Here is an example:

Happiness

Happiness is yellow.
It looks like my friends and family smiling.
It smells like freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.
It tastes like ice cold lemonade on a hot day.
It sounds like the ocean waves crashing on the sand.
It feels like a big, warm, hug.
Happiness is love.

Then, we'll write haikus.  A haiku is a Japanese poem that is written in three lines.  The first and last lines have 5 syllables.  The second line has 7 syllables.  Here is an example:

Ocean

Bright blue in color
Waves crashing on the warm sand
Smell the salty air

Math:  We'll continue with our flexible groups for word problems with a focus on adding and subtracting within 100.  We'll also practice odd/even and arrays.  Our goal for odd/even is to be able to identify numbers 1-20 as odd or even and to prove it with a doubles or near doubles number sentence.  Even numbers can be represented with a doubles number sentence.   Odd numbers can be represented with a near doubles number sentence.  Our goal for arrays it to be able to use repeated addition to find the total number of squares in a rectangular array.

Science:  We are continuing our work with landforms.  So far, we know how to identify several kinds of landforms.  Last week, we started talking about weathering and erosion and how they can change the shape of landforms.  Wind, sun, water, and ice all have the power to change different kinds of landforms over time.  

This week, we'll be using a globe to talk about where water can be found on earth.  The goal is to understand that most of the Earth is covered by water and that it can be found in both liquid (water) and solid form (ice).

Penguins:  As a class, we will be studying penguins as a kickoff to our animal projects.  This week, we'll be reading nonfiction books about penguins and collecting facts about what they look like, what they eat, where they live, and also some interesting facts.  By the end of the week, we'll have a report written showing all of the information we have learned about penguins.  When we come back from spring break, the team will be put into small groups to research specific kinds of penguins. 

Poetry:  Since April is national poetry month, we'll also be enjoying the many humorous poems of Shel Silverstein.  We'll be reading his book Where the Sidewalk Ends.  

April 6-10

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

Please remember to send students to school with all of their outdoor winter gear, especially on Mondays!  We had an outdoor science lesson today and many students were not prepared or properly dressed to be able to participate in the activity as it was designed.  As long as there is snow on the ground, students need to bring boots, snow pants, coats, hats, and mittens.

Wednesday is an early release day!  Please plan accordingly.

Thursday is spring picture day!

Homework packets are due on Thursday.

The April spelling test will be on Thursday, April 30th.  Please help your child practice their spelling words at home.  This month, we are working on units 24-27.

This week in..

Spelling:  We are working on Unit 25.  The words are:  should, home, big, give, and air.

Phonics:  We are working with the variant vowel sound /o/ with the patterns au and aw.  Our focus words are:  pause, launch, fault, jaw, raw, law, hawk, fawn, draw, and crawl.

Vocabulary:  Our new words are noble, promised, gleamed, wiggled, beloved, and glanced.  After defining these words, we’ll search for them in a short story called, “My Home in Alaska”.

Comprehension:  We will continue our work with making inferences.  When we make inferences, we take our schema and evidence from the story to make a decision about the book.  This week, we’ll practice this skill while we read Nutik, the Wolf Pup by Jean Craighead George.

Grammar:  This week, we will focus on contractions.  A contraction is a short form of two words.  An apostrophe replaces the letters left out when the two words are joined.  Here are some examples of contractions:  aren’t, isn’t, hasn’t, haven’t, shouldn’t, and can’t.

Writing:  We will continue to work on poetry.  This week, we’ll learn all about acrostic poems and cinquain poems.  An acrostic poem is when you take a word and each letter of that word becomes the first letter in a sentence or phrase that describes that topic.  Here is an example acrostic poem:

Sun is shining

Playing outside with friends

Raining, raining, raining

Insects buzzing around

New animals are being born

Growing lots of new plants

A cinquain poem is five line poem that follows a specific pattern.  The first line is one word that is the topic.  The second line is two adjectives that describe the topic.  The third line is three verbs about the topic.  The fourth line is four words or a sentence to describe your feelings about the topic.  The fifth line is a synonym for the topic.  

Here is an example cinquain poem:

Dolphin

playful, intelligent

jumping, spinning, swimming

incredible animals to observe

mammal

Math:  We will continue our strategy flexible groups.  We are working towards mastery in the following standards:

1. Fluently add and subtract within 100 using strategies.
2.   Solve one and two step word problems using strategies.

We will also practice our telling time goals.  We will review telling time to the nearest five minutes and also the difference between a.m. and p.m.

Science:  Today, we created our very own landform... a mountain!   We also added a valley and a cave.  Then, we discussed different bodies of water that we could find on a mountain.  Later this week, we’ll begin discussing how landforms change.  We’ll read a book called Cracking Up:  A Story About Erosion.  The book talks about how water, ice, wind, and sun wear away at the Earth’s surfaces and the changes that occur.

Scholastic News:  This week, we’ll read an issue titled Beautiful Balloon.  The article is all about the science behind hot air balloons.  Then, we’ll use a diagram to answer questions about hot air balloons.

New Library Books Fun:  I was able to find some great new books to add to our classroom library this weekend!  This week, Team Howard will work with partners to pick one of the new books and create a brochure about them.  The brochure will include a cover page, the characters, setting, beginning, middle, end, and juicy words.  They will also rate the new book with stars... one star being terrible and five stars being the best!  Finally, they will write a persuasive letter to the reader of the brochure telling them why they should read the new book.

Early Release Day Fun:  Earth Day is celebrated in the month of April, so this week we will be reading The Lorax by Dr. Seuss.  After reading the book, we’ll write about some of the things we can do to help keep the Earth a beautiful place to live.  For some added fun, we’ll also create our very own truffula trees!

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!