9-30-16

9-30-16

Volunteers Needed

I'm looking for a few parents that might be able to help out and lend a hand.  If anyone would be interested in running some copies for our grade levels, please contact me through email.    I'm also looking for volunteers for the Halloween party on Oct.28th and someone to help us with box tops.  

Our first box top contest will run from October 3rd - October 7th.  Please make sure all the box tops are trimmed nice and neat if you could.  I also still need a volunteer that would be willing to head up our box tops in room B109.  They would help collect,trim, and count box tops when we have these contests.  

Lake Center Spirit Wear

I'm not sure how long everything is on sale but the form was sent home today!

All donations are due on October 7th!!!!

Halloween will be here before you know it.  Lake Center will be celebrating Halloween on Friday, Oct. 28th.  This is a half day of school so I'm guessing all the parties will be in the morning and the parade will take place before dismissal at 12:00.  I usually have parents plan and kind of run the party.  I have plenty of center ideas, I'm just not the greatest at coordinating all the food.  Please email if you're interested in heading up the party.  We will need 4-5 volunteers to help out that day but all are welcome even if you'd rather just observe.

www.headsprout.com

Lexia is gone at PPS so the district decided on a new website called headsprout.  I've placed all of the kids at their recommended reading levels and they are ready to go. I don't have a lot of experience with this website like Lexia but it seems like it hits all of the Big 5 areas when it comes to reading.  You can always count headsprout towards the 20 minutes of reading each night for homework.  

They will ask for the teacher login which is bcritz.

Students log-in is the first letter of their first name and their last name.  Password is read.  

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.  Only the story problems are a report card benchmark.  Here is the answer key in case you have any questions.

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 explored the question “What might cause a story character to change?” We 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 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

This week for science, we discussed soil.  I even taught everyone a little song to help them remember what soil is made of, which is rare because I can't sing at all.

(Sing to the tune of B-I-N-G-O)

Soil covers all the earth 

There's 4 things that it's made of:

Rock, Sand, Humus, Clay

Rock, Sand, Humus, Clay

Rock, Sand, Humus, Clay

And that's what the earth is made of....

Coming Up Next....

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. 

9-23-16

9-23-16

Weekly Reading Reports

Please keep a lookout for our weekly reading reports that will be in everyone's homework folders on Fridays.  It will let you know how they did on their spelling, vocabulary, comprehension, and phonics tests.  If your child didn't get an MS or meets standard on the test, I printed it out so you take a look at the results.  In order to save time and money on copies this year, the whole 2nd grade has moved all of the reading tests on-line to a site called Socrative.  The kids can take the tests on any type of computer.  So far it has gone pretty smooth.  Please let me know if you have any questions.  The only time they would take a paper and pencil type of test would be if I happen to be gone on a Friday and a sub was there to give them their weekly tests like this Friday.  It's a little too complicated to have a sub try and do it.

Turtle trot was another big success.  The kids had a great time running around the track today at their recess.  You can send in the money you raised for the turtle trot at anytime.  I believe all money has to be in a couple of weeks.  The 2nd grade class who raises the most money gets to have a wacky green hair day!

Water Bottles

Please feel free to  have your child bring in a water bottle to school.  I actually prefer it because then I don't have students raising their hands asking to get a drink.  They can just have one at their seat.  It's also very helpful after specials like P.E.  I just ask that they take the bottles home each night so they can be washed.

www.zearn.org

We finally have the perfect website that supports our math program.  If you want your child to get the exact math support that we teach at school, then have them log onto zearn.org.  It goes right along with the common core and NY Engage or Eureka.  Everyone's login is the first letter of their first name and their whole last name.  (Ex:  bcritz)  Password is math.  There are only a few students who have to add a 1 or 2 to their login because it was already taken.  If they can't remember, please email me. The link is also on our blog under websites.

Other Websites

www.ixl.com/signin/portage

Remember, if it doesn't say Portage Public Schools at the top, you aren't in the right place.  You have to add the signin/portage.

www.mobymax.com

This is good practice for both math and reading

www.sumdog.com

We are still waiting on the PTO's approval for the paid membership for both math and reading.  For now, you can still access the site and play math games.  Just not all the games are available yet.

Math

We wrapped up Module 1:  Sums and Differences to 20.  I had everyone take the end of module assessments on this.  I will  grade those and send them home shortly.  One is a formative assessment that doesn't go with any of our report card standards and the other one was on story problems which is a report card standard.   We have already started Module 2:  Addition and Subtraction of Length Units.

Lesson 1Objective:  Connect measurement with physical units by using multiple copies of the same physical unit to measure.

Lesson 2

Objective:  Use iteration with one physical unit to measure.

Language Arts

By the end of the week, your child will know a lot more about communities. We will look for answers to the question “Why might an author write a story?” We’ll read Henry and Mudge Under the Yellow Moon, a realistic fiction selection about how Henry and Mudge explore their community in different ways. We’ll also read Outdoor Adventures, a selection of e-mails between a girl and her grandmother as they discuss the seasonal changes in their communities. 

Target Vocabulary: woods, turned, tops, chipmunks, busy, picked, south, grew 

Phonics Skills: Words with long a, (gate), long i (mine) (VCe); hard and soft sounds for c (car, cent) 

Vocabulary Strategy: Multiple-meaning words 

Comprehension Skill: Author’s purpose—tell why an author writes a book 

Comprehension Strategy: Analyze/ evaluate—tell how you feel about the text and why

Grammar Skill:  Statements and Questions

Earth's Layers

We finished up talking about the layers of Earth this week. Next week we will take a closer look at what makes up soil and then move towards fast and slow changes that take place on Earth.