Monday, October 29, 2012

Math Blog

Miss Clawson, our math specialist, has a new blog.  You can visit it at:


It has also been updated under the "Specialty Class Links" tab of this blog. 

Week 11



Welcome to week eleven! This week’s theme is: Halloween!

Students who are participating in the Book It! Program can return their October reading calendars any time after Wednesday to receive their coupons for a free personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut. Calendars for November will be coming home Tuesday.

Our November Field Trip is this Friday November 2nd!  We will be going on a special “in-house” field trip for November.  The fifth graders will be putting on a special performance of “Flat Stanley.”  The second graders have been reading all about Flat Stanley during our reading class. Nothing is required of parents for this trip, but feel free to let us know if you would like to see the play with us.  Second graders will be watching the play during our regular reading class on Friday first period at 8:30 in the elementary music room. It should last about 30 minutes.

The Take-Home Book bags are getting started.  Thank you to all the parents who helped stuff bags this week.  “Thank you” to all the parents who signed off the title and reading minutes.  Mrs. Slade’s class did not send home new books for the weekend, but we will resume next week.  Remember to send Take-Home book bags to school each morning.

Here is a look at what we are learning this week:

Art: Students will continue working on their student directed art projects using mediums such as collage, pastels, paper construction, and water color.

ASL:    We are reviewing the signs for the idea nouns in the Pledge of Allegiance: signing, word mapping, and drawing pictures of things that come to mind when we say “allegiance,” “liberty,” and “justice”.  Discuss this with your child and help them think of things.

Dance:  Students will continue working on their "Thriller" dance in honor of Halloween.

Health: Students will discuss harmful and helpful substances.

Math: Students will be studying temperature.

Music: Rhythm and bells, lyrics and so me notes

PE: Students are working on their Presidential Fitness by running or walking laps of our school. Second Grade has already run 100 miles this school year! We hope to make it to 200 miles by Thanksgiving.  As the weather gets bad we will have indoor recess whenever it is snowing or raining or freezing.  Pease have your children dressed for weather as we will go out in the cold, clear, crisp air this winter!

Reading:  Large Group Phonics: Digraphs ie, ue, Small Group Phonics: Vowel + ce and ge, Shared Reading: Nature Walk “Owls,” Guided Reading by leveled groups, Centers (SSR, iPods, Computers, Partner reading

Science: Students will begin studying animals and their habitats.

Social Studies: Students will finish up their study of the continents

Spanish: Students will continue to review the numbers in Spanish and begin learning the vocabulary for clothing.

Writing:
  • Writing: Hand writing with Mrs. P: Students will be learning the penmanship of lowercase “e,” and will be working on letter size and placement.  
  •  
  • Composition with Mrs. P: During composition time students will begin writing biographies of a classmate or writing an auto-biography.
  • Spelling with Mrs. S: Students are grouped by levels and engage in Words Their Way sorting activities.  Students sort words into categories by sounds patterns according to their present level of functioning.
  • Sentence Fundamentals with Mrs. S:: Students will continue their study of PENSMARK, a self-regulating strategy developed to teach sentence fundamentals: capital letters, end marks, making sense, simple sentence formulas, and subject/ verb identification. PENSMARK is a mnemonic device that stands for Pick a formula, Explore words to fit the formula, Note the words, Search and Check, Mark out the imposters, Ask “Is there a verb?”, Root out the subject, and Key in on the beginning, middle, and end. Everyone has mastered the three requirements of a complete sentence: Capital letter, End mark, and “Makes sense.” Now we are working on the prerequisite skills for identifying subject nouns and verbs:  the five types of nouns: person, place, thing, quality, and idea;  and the two types of action verbs: mind (ex. think) and body (ex. jump). Please reinforce this at home.  We are referencing quality nouns from the Scout law and writing the noun form of  each quality (trustworthiness, loyalty, helpfulness, friendliness, courtesy, kindness, obedience, cheerfulness, thriftiness, bravery, or courage, cleanliness, and reverence.).  We are drawing idea nouns from our The Pledge of Allegiance (allegiance, liberty, justice, republic) and from our school discipline policy (anarchy, bullying, cooperation, democracy).  Talk about these ideas and qualities with your children, and think of your own family qualities and ideas.  Make your own T-charts for your home values and practice using these nouns as the subject of simple sentences as you talk.  For example, “Trustworthiness helps our family work together.” By using nouns that the children are learning in other settings, the concepts are reinforced across the curriculum, and children can begin to generalize the skills outside the classroom.


Monday, October 22, 2012

Week 10

Welcome to week 10!  This week’s theme is: Discovery Week
The Scholastic Book Orders that were sent home last week are due this Friday if you wish to order anything.

Your students learn so much each day.  It is important that your child is in school so that they don’t miss out on important learning opportunities. To encourage all of our students to attend every day, we will be having a fun activity during our class time as soon as the second grade gets 10 days of perfect attendance.  

We are in need of volunteers!  The second grade needs parents who are willing to come in during our reading class (8:30-9:30).  We need helpers Monday-Friday. If you are able to come in during this time, please email your child’s teacher. 

During Term 2, we will be starting our take-home reading program (a letter will be coming home soon), so we will also need volunteers to help switch our books.  Each child will have a book on his/her reading level that will be sent home each night and returned to school the next morning. The parent volunteers will be responsible for taking the returned books out and putting a new books into the students’ bags.  Volunteers can come in anytime between 8:40 and 2:30 to switch these books.  The parent volunteers for the take-home reading library will be working in the faculty work room. This is a great opportunity for parents who have small children as they would be welcome to come with you. There is room in the faculty work room for a small porta-play.  If you are interested in helping with our take-home reading library during Term 2, please email your child’s teacher.

Here is a look at what we are learning this week:

Art: Students will continue working on their student directed art projects using mediums such as collage, pastels, paper construction, and water color.

ASL:  Students will be learning to sign the Pledge of Allegiance and focusing on understanding the IDEAS:  allegiance, republic, liberty, and justice.

Dance:  Students will begin to explore the dance element of SPACE. What does it feel like to move in place (axial)? What does it feel like to move and dance around the space (locomotive)? Students will discover the difference between axial and locomotive movement.
Health: Students will discover and begin to identify the difference between helpful and harmful substances through a magazine chase activity. Remember: this coming week is Red Ribbon Week,  the perfect week to introduce the dangers of harmful substances to the body and mind.
Math: Students will be studying measurement

Music: Rhythm and bells, lyrics and so me notes; conducting.
PE: Students are working on their Presidential Fitness by running or walking laps around  our school. Second Grade has already run 100 miles this school year! We hope to make it to 200 miles by Thanksgiving.

Reading: Large Group Phonics:  Long /o/ Digraphs, Small Group Phonics: Open Syllable + Silent /e/, Shared Reading: Nature Walk “Owl Moon” Guided Reading by leveled groups, and Centers (SSR, iPods, Computers, Partner reading); 2nd Grade Dolch sight word assessments

Science: Students will continue their study of the human body.

Social Studies: Students will learn the continents and  vote for their favorite continent-specific animal

Spanish: The numbers 1-10

Writing:

  • Handwriting with Mrs. P: Students will be learning the penmanship of lowercase “c,a,g”.
  • Composition with Mrs. P: During composition time students will write final drafts of their current narratives.
  • Spelling with Mrs. S: Students are grouped by levels and engage in Words Their Way sorting activities.  Students sort words into categories by sounds patterns according to their present level of functioning.
  • Sentence Fundamentals with Mrs. S:: Students will continue their study of PENSMARK, a self-regulating strategy developed to teach sentence fundamentals: capital letters, end marks, making sense, simple sentence formulas, and subject/ verb identification. PENSMARK is a mnemonic device that stands for Pick a formula, Explore words to fit the formula, Note the words, Search and Check, Mark out the imposters, Ask “Is there a verb?”, Root out the subject, and Key in on the beginning, middle, and end. Everyone has mastered the three requirements of a complete sentence: Capital letter, End mark, and “Makes sense.” Now we are working on the prerequisite skills for identifying subject nouns and verbs:  the five types of nouns: person, place, thing, quality, and idea;  and the two types of action verbs: mind (ex. think) and body(ex. jump). Please reinforce this at home.  We are drawing quality nouns from the Scout law and writing the noun form of  each quality (trustworthiness, loyalty, helpfulness, friendliness, courtesy, kindness, obedience, cheerfulness, thriftiness, bravery, or courage, cleanliness, and reverence.).  We are drawing idea nouns from our The Pledge of Allegiance (allegiance, liberty, justice, republic) and from our school discipline policy (anarchy, bullying, cooperation, democracy).  Talk about these ideas and qualities with your children, and think of your own family qualities and ideas.  Make your own T-charts for your home values and practice using these nouns as the subject of simple sentences as you talk.  For example, “Trustworthiness helps our family work together.” By using nouns that the children are learning in other settings, the concepts are reinforced across the curriculum, and children can begin to generalize the skills outside the classroom.

Monday, October 15, 2012

Week 9




Welcome to week nine! This week’s theme is: Poetry Week

Your students will be checking out their first library books this week! Please ensure that your student returns their books to school on their library day so they can check out new books (some students chose to keep their books at school).  Mrs. Piacenti's class goes to library on Monday and Mrs. Slade's class goes to library on Tuesday.


We are in need of volunteers!  The second grade needs parents who are willing to come in during our reading class (8:30-9:30).  We need helpers Monday-Friday. If you are able to come in during this time please email your child’s teacher. 

During Term 2, we will be starting our take-home reading program (a letter will be coming home soon), so we will also need volunteers to help switch our books.  Each child will have a book on their reading level that they will take home each night at return to school the next morning. The parent volunteers will be responsible for taking the returned books out and putting a new book in the student’s bag.  Volunteers can come in anytime between 8:40 and 2:30 to switch these books.  The parent volunteers for the take-home reading library will be working in the faculty work room so this is a great opportunity for parents who have small children as they would be welcome to come with you.  If you are interested in helping with our take-home reading library during Term 2 please email your child’s teacher.

Our next field trip is this Friday! We are going to the Hee Haw Farms on October 19th.  We will leave at around 12:15 p.m. to be there by 12:30 p.m.  We will be returning to the school at 2:15.  At Hee Haw Farms, the children get a hay ride, there is a petting zoo, and they all get a free pumpkin, and go through a small corn maze. We will use our experience at Hee Haw farms as inspiration for our writing.  

Here is a look at what we are learning this week:

Art: Students will continue working on their student directed art projects using mediums such as collage, pastels, paper construction, and water color.

ASL:  Students will be learning to sign the Pledge of Allegiance.

Dance:  Students will identify their 5 senses and discover the importance of each sense. Students will experience through movement what it would be like to not have each of their 5 senses.
Health: Students will promote their knowledge and understand of eating healthy through creating nutritional posters that promote healthy eating to be hung around the school.

Math: Students will be studying measurement

Music: Rhythm and bells, lyrics and so me notes

PE: Students are working on their Presidential Fitness by running or walking laps of our school. Second Grade has already run 100 miles this school year! We hope to make it to 200 miles by Thanksgiving.

Reading: Large Group Phonics:  Long e Digraphs, Small Group Phonics: Vowels + ck and ke
Shared Reading: Poetry, Guided Reading by leveled groups, Centers (SSR, iPods, Computers, Partner reading)

Science: Students will continue their study of the human body by learning about muscles.

Social Studies: Students will continue their study of Utah.

Spanish: Students will finish their study of the Spanish colors and take a quiz to test their knowledge of the colors.

Writing: Students will be learning the penmanship of lowercase “c,a,g”. Students will continue their study of PENSMARK, a self-regulating strategy developed to teach sentence fundamentals: capital letters, end marks, making sense, simple sentence formulas, and subject/ verb identification. Everyone has mastered the three requirements of a complete sentence set A-H.  We are starting a new set this week on identifying subject nouns and verbs!  During composition time students will continue to  learn about word choice and begin rough drafts of their next narrative.