12-4-15

12-4-15

Polar Express Pajama Jam

Our holiday party will be on Friday, December 18th.  We will be having our Polar Express Pajama Party.  We will watch the movie during the morning and have some popcorn and juice boxes.  Our afternoons are pretty packed as it is but any left over time will be spent having a Read-In.  Kids are more than welcome to bring in a blanket, pillow, books, stuffed animal, etc...  Just remember that they have to be able to take it all home on the bus that day.  If you are interested in donating some microwaveable popcorn, paper bowls, or juice boxes, please let me know.  I will also need a volunteer to come in and pop the popcorn in the staff lounge if anyone is available that morning.

Math

We have reached the point in our math lessons where we are learning about composing and decomposing ones and tens when adding or subtracting.  Just remember, 

composing = carrying over  

decomposing = borrowing.  

They just call the process by a different name now.  Students are also expected to draw pictures of the place value disks to show the process.

We will continue to practice this strategy through the rest of Module 4 and again in Module 5.  We just finished Lesson 12 if you are using Zearn at home.  It will be a good idea to practice on Zearn at home to reinforce the 2 strategies.

Composing

Decomposing

Language Arts

During the next few weeks, we’ll explore the theme Tell Me About It. Our reading selections in this unit focus on how we communicate with each other. From a fanciful tale of typing cows to artists from around the world, we’ll read about the ways people share their ideas and feelings. As we read, we’ll explore the Big Idea “We learn from each other.” We began this week with a humorous fiction story called Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type.  Farmer Brown’s cows have found a typewriter, and they’re using it to demand better working conditions. What will Farmer Brown do? We also read about how real animals communicate in the informational text Talk About Smart Animals! Throughout the week we considered the question “What helps you make a decision about a character?”

Target Vocabulary: problem, impossible, understand, impatient, furious, demand, gathered, believe

Phonics Skills: Base words with endings -s, -es (including pronunciation and syllables)

Vocabulary Strategy: Prefixes pre- (means “before”) and mis- (means “not” or “badly”)

Comprehension Skill: Conclusions— use details to figure out more about the text

Comprehension Strategy: Infer/predict—use clues to figure out more about the story parts or important ideas

Social Studies

Portage - Phase 3

Here come the Settlers!  In the 1830's the first pioneers of Portage made their way west from the state of New York.  They traveled by covered wagon that were pulled by oxen.  They had to travel on roads where the mud was so thick they were lucky to make it 10 miles a day.  The pioneers were attracted to the area because of the rich farmland, oak openings, and prairie land.  Despite the wolves that roamed the area and mosquitoes that infested the wetlands, word spread back east to New York and New England about this great farmland.

The Little House on the Prairie books go great with this part of the unit.  We are even watching the very first episode of the show that was on TV back in the 70's. 

We will continue to build our log cabins, add the general store, one-room schoolhouse, blacksmith, and sawmill throughout the next week.

Then we will start working on what Portage looks like today.  My goal is to have this social studies unit wrapped up by winter break.  That way we can focus on maps when we return for the new year.

11-20-15

11-20-15

I want to thank everyone for making it out for conferences this week.  Communication between home and school is the key for success.  Please contact me at anytime if you have any concerns or questions.

Language Arts

This week we explored the question, “How do you know if something is a fact or an opinion?” We read two informational texts about the deep blue sea. The first selection, Jellies, features beautiful underwater photographs and fascinating facts about jellyfish. Then Meet Norbert Wu will introduce us to a man who makes his living photographing animals that live in the ocean. What an exciting—and wet—job!

Target Vocabulary: decide, disgusting, drift, millions, simple, wrapped, choices, weaker 

Phonics Skills: Contractions 

Vocabulary Strategy: Base words and suffixes –er and –est (comparatives and superlatives) 

Comprehension Skill: Fact and opinion—tell if an idea can be proved or is a feeling 

Comprehension Strategy: Monitor/ clarify—find ways to figure out what doesn’t make sense

Math

Lesson 2 

Objective: Add and subtract multiples of 10 including counting on to subtract.

Lesson 3 

Objective: Add and subtract multiples of 10 and some ones within 100.

Lesson 4 

Objective: Add and subtract multiples of 10 and some ones within 100.

Social Studies

Portage - Phase 2 (Potawatomi)

This week we talked about how our name came to be Portage.  The "portaging" of a canoe is how our name came to be Portage, with its many waterways and streams which travel in both directions.  This area was an ideal place for the Potawatomi people and their lifestyle.  They traveled mainly by canoe.  By migrating to Portage each year the Potawatomis created paths when walking by foot.  These paths are known as the 3 major streets we continue to travel on today:  Oakland Dr., Westnedge Ave., and Portage Rd.

We also talked about the different responsibilities of the Potawatomi people.  The men were responsible for hunting, fishing, chopping down trees, making tools, etc...  The women made the wigwam homes, planting of crops, making of clothes, mats, child care,etc...

The Potawatomi lived in peace for many, many, years until the settlers starting buying all the land in Portage in the 1830's.  The first Pioneer settlers were from New York.

11-13-15

11-13-15

Tuesday, November 17th                       Thursday, November 19th 

4:30-4:45    Jimenez                                4:30-4:45    Open

4:45-5:00    Robinson                              4:45-5:00    Cassiday

5:00-5:15    Open                                    5:00-5:15    Cheatham

5:15-5:30    Underwood                          5:15-5:30    Open

5:30-5:45    Rozankovich                        5:30-5:45    Trzybinski

5:45-6:00    Grennwood                          5:45-6:00    Tangeman

6:00-6:15    Mayfield                              6:00-6:15    Reeves

6:15-6:30    Johnson                                6:15-6:30    Sibley

6:30-6:45    Vandersloot                          6:30-6:45    Open

6:45-7:00    Brannen                                6:45-7:00    Schoder

7:00-7:15    Koop                                    7:00-7:15    Riggleman

7:15-7:30    Voneitzen                             7:15-7:30    Proctor

7:30-7:45    Davis

Please double check your conference time and I look forward to seeing everyone next week.

Our classroom's holiday gift shopping time will be on Tuesday, December 1st.  The shopping will only take place during our recess time. 

Report cards will be sent home on Monday, November 16th.  I just want to give you a heads up that there won't be any grades for reading comprehension right now.  There is a letter from the district explaining our new standards based grading approach.  Basically, you need to have atleast 3 grades for each standard before our grade books can report out a trend.  Even though we have weekly comprehension tests on the stories we read, we have not had 3 tests that focus on one standard.  I can explain everything easier in person if you still have some questions.

Discount Ski Passes

Interested in skiing this year? We've got a deal for you... Purchase discount ski passes for the entire family through Lake Center! Discount passes are $14 for students and $20 for adults. This pass allows you to purchase a lift ticket to ski/snowboard for $14 and rent skis for $14. It pays for itself the first time you use it! 

Regular prices without a discount pass: 

$27 Lift (child) + Rentals $17 $38 Lift (adult) + Rentals $20 Feel free to share this incredible deal with others. *Email Lisa Koop if you have questions!lkoop@portageps.org 4th and 5th graders can join the coolest club in town... LCE Ski Club! Begins in January. The Ski Club meeting for 4th and 5th graders is Tuesday November 10 at 6:30pm in the cafeteria. A big thank you to everyone that went out and voted!  That was a huge bond proposal that will help out PPS for years to come.  New schools, new technology, new athletic improvements, etc...It's crazy to think about all the changes that have taken place since I started teaching in Portage.

Please continue to try and do Zearn at home.  This is by far the best math practice because it goes right along with our math series.  Since we just finished Module 3 in math, everyone should try to be finished with Mission 3 on Zearn.  We try to practice on Zearn twice a week at school but it's important that everyone is trying practice at home too.  If your child has already reached Mission 4 then you are in great shape.

Lexia is another program that we practice twice a week at school.  The goal is to be past level 12 by the end of the year.  A lot of students have already done this, which is great.  They can keep going on to higher levels that will challenge them.  Levels 10, 11, and 12 are considered 2nd grade.  Levels 13 and up are considered 3rd, 4th, and 5th.  If your child is not yet to the 2nd grade levels, then please start replacing some of their reading homework time with Lexia until they get caught up.

This week we answered the question “What can you learn from the way a character acts?” First we read a folktale called How Chipmunk Got His Stripes. Then we read a traditional tale called Why Rabbits Have Short Tails. As we read, we kept talking about the Big Idea, “Nature can teach us many things.”

Target Vocabulary: curled, direction, healed, height, toward, tunnel, tease, brag 

Phonics Skills: Base words and endings -ed, -ing (including spelling change of drop final e); words with consonant/ vowel (CV) pattern 

Vocabulary Strategy: Synonyms 

Comprehension Skill: Understanding characters—tell more about characters 

Comprehension Strategy: Summarize— stop to tell important events as you read

Next Week's Story:  Jellies

Portage in the Past - Phase 1

Over the last couple of weeks, we have been talking about what attracted the Potawatomi to Portage.  The swampy muck land and the vicious mosquitos kept many away.  The Great Lakes were another barrier to Michigan.  The Potawatomis saw much more in the land we now know as Portage.  This friendly group of Native Americans were always on the move but continued to come back to Portage.

Reasons the Potawatomi were attracted to this land:  streams, rivers, lakes, trees, various animals, nut trees, maple syrup, honey, fish, soil for crops, etc...

Like I said earlier, we finished up our 3rd Module or unit for the year.  I will share their end of module assessments at conferences.  We started Module 4 today.

GRADE 2 • MODULE 4

Addition and Subtraction Within 200 with Word Problems to 100

Module Overview

Topic A:  Sums and Differences Within 100

Topic B:  Strategies for Composing a Ten

Topic C:  Strategies for Decomposing a Ten

Topic D:  Strategies for Composing Tens and Hundreds

Topic E:  Strategies for Decomposing Tens and Hundreds

Topic F:  Student Explanations of Written Methods

Lesson 1 

Objective: Relate 1 more, 1 less, 10 more, and 10 less to addition and subtraction of 1 and 10.

We introduce the arrow way as another strategy to add tens and ones.

10-23-15

10-23-15

Field Trip

Our field trip is next Tuesday, October 27th.  The bus will depart around 8:45 and we should be back around 12:00.  Please make sure everyone packs their own lunch that day because we will have to eat in the room.  If you'd like to order a sack lunch from the cafeteria, please let me know by Monday.  Please pay attention to the weather because our whole field trip is outside.  Please dress in layers.  You may want hats, gloves, jackets, etc... I haven't looked that far ahead weather wise yet.  We will be walking trails so please make sure everyone has appropriate tennis shoes or boots.  Our field trip is a great introduction to Portage's past.

Book Orders

If you want to place a last minute book order, please do so over the weekend.  I will be placing the order on Monday.

A big thank you to everyone that helped make playdough for our landform project.  I'm hoping we'll have time to complete the project on Monday.

Language Arts

During the next few weeks, we’ll explore the theme Nature Watch. We’ll learn about different kinds of plants, animals, gardens, and weather while considering the Big Idea “Nature can teach us many things.” We’ll begin by exploring the question “How can chapter headings help you?” We’ll read an informational text called Animals Building Homes that tells about different types of animal homes around the world. Then we’ll have fun with the play Hiding at the Pond. What animals might have homes in a pond?

Target Vocabulary: beaks, break, deepest, hang, pond, shaped, winding, branches 

Phonics Skills: Common final blends nd, ng, nk, nt, ft, xt, mp 

Vocabulary Strategy: Base words and prefixes un- (means “not” or “undo”) and re- (means “again”) 

Comprehension Skill: Text and graphic features—tell how words work with art 

Comprehension Strategy: Question— ask questions about what you are reading

Lesson 6

Objective:  Write base ten numbers in expanded form.

Lesson 8

Objective:  Count the total value of $1, $10, and $100 bills up to $1,000.

Lesson 9

Objective:  Count from $10 to $1,000 on the place value chart and the empty number line. 

I taught this lesson without using the number line, I felt like it just confused everyone last year.

Lesson 10

Objective:  Explore $1,000.  How many $10 bills can we change for a thousand dollar bill?

10-16-15

10-16-15

Looks like Halloween is back on this year at LCE.  Our school-wide parade will be at 9:00 a.m. on Friday, October 30th.  I believe the idea is to have all the parents out back by the track to see all the costumes.  The office is asking that everyone please walk around back rather than cut through the cafeteria.  2nd grade is having our party from 1-3 in the afternoon because of all the specials in the morning.  We will mix all the kids up and have them rotate through 4 different Halloween centers.  Parents are more than welcome to join in on the fun.  I will need a couple volunteers to help out with the "Poor Joe" story in my room.  Our class is also in charge of providing cheese and crackers for the 4 classrooms.  So please let me know if you are interested in any of the above.

I'm finally ready to start putting together a monthly book order for any parents interested in some new reading material for home.  I sent home two different flyers for October.  The easiest way to order book is on-line.  Just enter our class code:  DX98H  You can also fill out the order form and send it back to school with your child.  Just make sure the checks are made out to Scholastic and NO CASH...  I'm asking that all orders are due by next Friday, October 23rd.

Im looking for a few volunteers that would be willing to make some Kool-Aid playdough for our class.  We have a fun landform project coming up that the kids really seem to enjoy.  Please email if you'd be willing to help us out.

We spent the week working on personal narratives.  We wrote our first one on Fall.  If I have time we will also write one on everyone's favorite vacation.  The writing process I use to help the children organize their ideas on this blog under the Writing Prompts tab.  We also took our Unit 1 Reading Assessment this week.  We will be back on schedule next week with our first story in Unit 2.

Module 2 Assessments are graded and in everyone's homework folder.  The assessment focused on 2 essential standards:  2.MD.1 & 2.MD.5.  I know that doesn't help you any so I pasted the standards below to help clarify. 

Module 3 - Place Value, Counting, and Comparison of Numbers to 1,000.  

Lesson 1

Objective:  Bundle and count ones, tens, and hundreds to 1,000.

Lesson 2 

Objective:  Count up and down between 100 and 220 using ones and tens.

Lesson 3

Objective:  Count up and down between 90 and 1,000 using ones, tens, and hundreds.

Lesson 4

Objective:  Count up to 1,000 on the place value chart.

Lesson 5

Objective:  Write base ten three-digit numbers in unit form; show the value of each digit.

We are wrapping up slow and fast changes in science and will move onto landforms.  The students are responsible to know the following 9 landforms:  plains, hills, mountains, rivers, lakes, oceans, islands, peninsulas, and valleys.

and finally...