Weekly News September 28- October 2, 2015

•Thursday, October 1st at 6:30 is our curriculum night.

Homework: The math packet and reading log are due on Friday. Please return it on Friday in your Yellow Reading Log/Math Homework Folder.

Language Arts: We will read the book Patches Lost and Found. We will read about the life cycle of a frog. The children will work on opinion writing. We will discuss transitional words. We will also work on letter format as the boys and girls will be writing a friendly letter to you about second grade.

Mathematics: A Family letter for chapter 2 will be in your Spring Street folder. This week we will continue to use our place value skills as we practice adding three digit numbers. We will begin without regrouping. Then we will work on adding with regrouping in the ones place. Next we will add with regrouping in the tens place. Finally we will practice adding with regrouping in the ones and tens place. The students will solve word problems that involves practicing adding three digit numbers.

Science: We will continue to read and study the life cycle of a frog.

• Remember to sign your child’s Weekly Reflection on Friday night and return it for Monday.

Video of the Week

The Place Value Math Song

Weekly News September 21-25, 2015

•Thursday, October 1st at 6:30 is our curriculum night. I hope you can make it.

Our first full week of school was excellent. The boys and girls are doing a great job learning our classroom routines and procedures. This week we will talk about expected and unexpected behavior in the classroom. The class worked together to create our class constitution:

 Treat others the way you want to be treated.

Be happy.

Be a good friend.

Use Good Manners.

Stay focused.

Use Whole Body Listening

Homework: This week we begin our math homework. The math packet is due on Friday. Please return it on Friday in your Yellow Reading Log/Math Homework Folder. The reading log is due on Friday. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Language Arts: This week we will add Word Work to our reading routines. Students will practice distinguishing between short and long vowel sounds. We will learn the short vowel song and a vowel boogie. The children will work on identifying the correct end punctuation mark. This week the students will watch the video from The Electric Company called Punctuation Mark. You can find the link, this newsletter and other resources on our class blog. We are discussing the different genres. We will read the book Shelia Rae The Brave. We will compare nonfiction text to fiction text and connect it to our science unit on the life cycle of a frog.

Mathematics: The boys and girls will work on finding the missing number in a pattern. We will also do a problem solving lesson. We will review chapter one and get ready for our first chapter test.

Science: Our science study on animal groups continues from last week. We will be starting our focus on frogs and toads. We will read the book Frogs by Gail Gibbons. The class will be studying about frogs and toads for the next couple of weeks. 

Reminders:

•Spring Street School 2015-2016 Directory: Check out the SSS Link for information on how to submit your family's information into this years Directory or visit http://goo.gl/forms/6BQuK2ejjA  to complete the form. The Directory is a resource provided by the PTO that includes student family contact information, faculty and staff e-mails, classroom rosters and the school calendar.  Contact Nora Perry norawperry@gmail.com with questions. Forms must be completed by Friday, September 25th.

• Remember to sign your child’s Weekly Reflection on Friday night and return it for Monday.

Video of the Week

This week we will learn about punctuation.

A Peek Inside Our Classroom Whole Body Listening, Ways To Help, Expected Chart

These first days of school your children have practiced Whole Body Listening. They show Whole Body Listening by listening with their eyes, ears, hands, feet, body, brain and heart. We discussed what is expected and why it is important. You can help your children by reminding them to use Whole Body Listening each day as they go to school. You can make sure they are not wearing things that might distract them. Make sure your children get plenty of sleep each night and have had something healthy to eat for breakfast each morning. At the end of the day ask them how they did with Whole Body Listening. I hope we can work together to help your children do their best listening throughout the day. 

This week we will begin an Expected Chart. I will be rewarding children who are "Caught" following Whole Body Listening. I will share with them that I can't catch it all the time but the more they show it the better their chances are of getting caught. At different points in the day I will check. I will select from our Fair Can/Card Deck several names. If selected students are showing Whole Body listening at that time those children will get their charts marked. Once their charts are filled they will get to select a prize from our prize box. 

If you would like to help you can donate to our prize box. I will be accepting any gently used small trinkets that children enjoy such as bouncy balls, rings, small notepads, erasers, pencils etc. Anything small that you know children like and that you want out of your house would work great. If you are shopping in the Dollar Store, Party City or Target there are often many items there that work great. I typically grab things from these places as I am shopping and from my own home as well. Any help is appreciated. Thanks. 

We have a classroom job for each student that rotates throughout the year. One job is our classroom photographer. I will share a few pictures they take at different times in our classroom blog and/or up in our classroom.  Here is our first pictures taken by Kelly. It is a picture of our Whole Body Listening poster. You can also see a picture of some of our classroom rules, our emotional Thermometer (which we haven't used yet), our class promise and our Manners at School display and our classroom scoreboard. I'll explain more on each of these items at our curriculum night. 

 

                                                     

Pictures taken by Kelly

Weekly News September 14-18, 2015

•Thursday, October 1st at 6:30 is our curriculum night. I hope you can make it.

•Homework: This week we begin our Home Reading Log.  Please see the reading log information with your child’s log.

•Spring Street School 2015-2016 Directory: Check out the SSS Link for information on how to submit your family's information into this years Directory or visit http://goo.gl/forms/6BQuK2ejjA  to complete the form. The Directory is a resource provided by the PTO that includes student family contact information, faculty and staff e-mails, classroom rosters and the school calendar.  Contact Nora Perrynorawperry@gmail.com with questions. Forms must be completed by Friday, September 25th.

• Please make sure you have your child’s name on his/her water bottle, lunch box and lunch ticket. If you are sending in lunch money please put it in a baggie/envelope, change purse with your child’s name on it. It also helps to have your child’s name on caps, sweaters, jackets and any personal item your child might take off during the day. Thank you for your cooperation!

Language Arts This week we will be doing an opinion writing activity on a book from their summer reading. We are learning how to do our weekly writing journal entry. We will discuss why writing is important and why we should practice it each day as we learn our work on writing routines. We have a class of readers. The boys and girls did a great job as we learned about our read to self time last week.

 Mathematics: The boys and girls were eager to see their Math Workbook. The students will be tearing the sheets out of this book. I will check their work and send the sheets home as we complete them. Please check your child’s bag nightly. This week we will continue to practice our place value skills. You can help your children by having them explain how they solved a problem. If they made a mistake see if they can see what they did and  help them revise their thinking. They may realize they were being careless and just made a mistake. Then you can remind them this is why it is important to take your time and check your work.

•Science: We will begin by reviewing the animal classifications. Then we will focus on amphibians specifically frogs and toads.

•Social Studies: We read our first Scholastic News Magazine of the year. The focus was on being a good citizen. Constitution Day is Thursday, September 17th. We will talk about it and compare it to our class constitution (norms).

• Remember to sign your child’s Weekly Reflection on Friday night and return it for Monday.

•Scholastic Book order forms sent home last week are due by Friday. Ordering books online is easy. Our online code is GVN48. The website link is https://clubs2.scholastic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/LogonForm?ddkey=https:UserLogoff   If you do not want to go online to order you can send me your order form and your check made out to Scholastic Books. Then I can enter it for you. Thanks!

Video of the Week

Twelve Months Song

Video of the Week

Each week will have a video that connects to our curriculum. Last week we watched the video "What I Am." We discussed the message and how it applies to us at school.

Here is the video for you to enjoy at home:

This week we will watch a video about place value from PBS Learning Media.

A Place For Numbers
Click the words above to watch.

Weekly News September 8-11, 2015

• Please send in your summer reading parent sign off forms if you haven’t yet. Thanks to those families who have already returned their forms.

• Curriculum Night: Thursday, October 1st at 6:30 is grade 2 curriculum night. I am looking forward to sharing information about our class and information for the school year.

• In the Spring Street folder this week, there are Scholastic Book order forms and a letter about how to order online. Ordering books online is easy. Let me know if you have any questions about how to do it.  Buying Scholastic books is a great way to support your child’s reading and it helps give our classroom free books. Scholastic Book Orders are due on Friday, September 18th! Thanks!

• Please follow our classroom blog this year.  I will be sharing the Weekly News, Videos of the Week, educational websites and other information about our learning adventures. I am hopeful you will find it a good resource to support your child’s learning. I encourage you to submit your email address to the “follow by email” section on the blog. You will then be notified when there are updates. I will typically make updates on Mondays. I will continue to send home the paper version in our Spring Street folder for your easy reference.