6-13 February 2011
As you probably already know, there is NO school for students on Monday 7 February!........I know, I, too, am waiting on a full week of school with the students! With our accreditation process with the ADVANCE ED team from the U.S., we've accomplished and lot and preparations continue for our school's site visit the first week in May. Your patience is appreciated, and let it be known that your child will have the same amount of required days as any other year, regardless of the days that we use for these kinds of situations.
This week's work includes:
Reading:
Story: I'm a Caterpillar (with Science connections)
Skills:
Genre: Narrative Non-Fiction (reading for information)
Comprehension Skill: Drawing Conclusions
Comprehension Strategy: Text Structure (which is different than fiction!)
Study Skill: Technology: My Computer
Spelling/Phonics: Contractions (-'s,[is] -'ve[have] & -'re [are-were)] and vowel controlled 'r' words: /er/, /ir/, & /ur/
Language/Vocabulary: Using the dictionary
Grammar: am, is, are, was, & were
Writing: Facts
The castles are beginning to arrive in our hallway and they look amazing. During our math unit on measuring, we'll practice using non-standard and standard forms of measuring the different parts of our castles with a recording sheet. We'll have fun and post the results to accompany their creations. No one is allowed to touch anyone else's creations, so we're hoping that measuring doesn't damage any of them either. We'll be extra careful!
We'll be participating in Math Lab with Ms. Breault, again for 7 consecutive days in the afternoon. So you'll hear news about that, as well. It's our 2nd round, so we hope to 'get busy' and also enjoy some extra math activities throughout the day in our own classroom.
Our math flash card races have produced some pretty awesome results with strategies such as: counting up, counting on from the greater number, taking the greater number to ten and adding the remainder of the 2nd addend, knowing our doubles and just plain mental computation. I'm really pleased and we'll continue this into subtraction, as well. We're also pretty fluent with saying the quarter of fact family equations (2 subtraction, and 2 addition) with a set of three numbers. Good job! Some of us still need our fingers, but we're hoping to have that soon taken care of. Practicing on the IXL math homework site is so much help to them, as well. It gives immediate feedback on errors, and monitors each skill for mastery. We're tracking their medals and Isha is the leader in our class for now. Good job, Isha!
We're also posting their Reading Counts points. The books they're bringing home now are leveled by the ABC's. The 'higher' the letter, the harder the book. These books require your child to know most of their high frequency words, so continue practicing the chart of 100 at home, unless they've already mastered that. Then, each day they are expected to get on the computer and take a 10-question quiz about the book and story. They must score a minimum of 7 correct answers in order to earn a point. Right now, Dakotah takes the lead with 37 points! Way to go, Dakotah!
I hope the contents of the Progress Report gave you enough information to know how your child's performance is progressing. I am 'raising the bar' with work production, time on task, and accuracy in written work. I am also asking that they read book(s) each night, enter a response twice-weekly in the RR log; and visit the MOST IMPORTANT links on this blog in order to increase their accuracy in spelling, reading, math and sight words. I know it's a lot, but in the end, you'll be grateful for the investment of time that helps to produce independent 2nd graders.
I sent the permission slip home concerning the Study Trip to San Giorgio's Pizzeria. This is a fantastic trip, where students will enter the kitchen, form their own pizza with toppings of their choice and enjoy their efforts with water and, of course, gelato for dessert. If you'd volunteer to chaperone, that will be fantastic. Parents are welcome to order off the menu while we're there. If you bring your camera, you'll be glad you did! Walking shoes, and lots of wishes for NO rain on that day. Please return the 8 Euro in a zip-loc and the completed permission form as soon as possible. I need to have chaperone information filled out, as well. Thank you!
As a last item, we'll have our valentine exchange on Monday, 14 of February, so make yours ahead of time so they can 'mail' them before then. They'll be decorating a paper bag for their valentine box.
Here are the student names:
Janiah
Blake B.
David
Elijah
Julio
Manuel
Layla
Enndean
Lucas
Aiden
Isha
Jaylyn
Michael
Kole
Jacob
Gracie
Blake W.
Kaliyah
Dakotah
