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...

10-2-15

10-2-15

October marks the beginning of the Book-It program in 2nd grade.  I remember doing this reading program when I was elementary school and I loved it.  Mainly because I love pizza!  I figure all of the students are required to read 20 minutes for five nights a week anyway for homework, so they might as well earn a free pizza a month while doing it.  You'll find the calendar pages in everyone's homework folder.  The program will run from October through March.  Send the calendar pages in at the end of each month and I'll give them a gift certificate for a free personal pan from Pizz Hut.  If your child doesn't like pizza, I encourage you to swap the free pizzas for something they do enjoy.

Lake Center Spirit Wear

New LCE spirit wear can be ordered online now through October 5th!http://bit.ly/1Jq7QFZ

Box Top Contest

Our first box top contest will run from October 5th - October 13th.  They extended the contest a few days since the 5th grade will be at Sherman Lake for most of next week.  

Movie Night

Next Friday, October 9th.  Movie starts at 6:30, doors open at 6:00.  This is not a drop off event, parents are expected to supervise.

Portage Bond Proposal

For any information on the Portage Bond Proposal that will be on November's ballot, please go to www.portageps.org  Just click on the picture icon that is featured above.  There are videos, powerpoints, and FAQ's.  I have seen the presentation about 3 times now so please feel free to ask me any questions if you'd like.

Math

Module 1 Assessments are in everyone's homework folders as well.  I decided to send them home so everyone can look at the results.  Conferences are too far away and by then we will probably be finishing up Module 3 or so.  There were two essential standards that Module 1 focused on:  2.OA.1 and 2.OA.2  Below is a description of the standards.  

We have continued forward with Module 2 all this week.  

Lesson 3

Objective:  Apply concepts to create unit rulers and measure lengths using unit rulers.

Lesson 4/5

Objective:  Measure various objects using centimeter rulers and
meter sticks.

Lesson 6

Objective:  Measure and compare lengths using centimeters and meters.

Lesson 7

Objective:  Measure and compare lengths using standard metric length units and non-standard length units; relate measurement to unit size.

Diary of a Spider

This week we’ll explore the question “What might cause a story character to change?” We’ll read a fun and fantastic story about Spider’s family, friends, school, and favorite places to play in Diary of a Spider. Along with this humorous fiction story, we will read A Swallow and a Spider, a traditional tale written in a read-aloud reader’s theater format. Both stories will help us understand more about different kinds of communities.

Target Vocabulary: rotten, sticky, insects, scare, judge, screaming, dangerous, breeze 

Phonics Skills: Words with long o (rose), long u (dune), long e (Pete) (VCe); hard and soft sounds for g (giraffe, goose) 

Vocabulary Strategy: Context clues 

Comprehension Skill: Cause and effect—tell how one event makes another happen 

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

Grammar Skill:  Nouns

Earth's Layers

We finished up talking about the layers of Earth this week.  Next week our focus will be the slow and fast changes that are always taking place on the crust.  

Key Slow Changes:  Weathering, Water Erosion, and Wind Erosion  

Key Fast Changes:  Tornadoes, Earthquakes, Hurricanes, Floods, Forest Fires, etc...  

Fast changes are way more fun to talk about but we have to learn about both.