11-18-16

11-18-16

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.

Student Council is sponsoring this two-day fund raising campaign on Monday, November 21st and Tuesday, November 22nd.  Each classroom will receive a collection box for any donations (cash, loose change).  Checks have to be made out to JDRF.  I forwarded an email earlier in the week explaining the event in more detail.  Our school goal is to raise $1500 to help kids who live with diabetes.

We are headed to Miller Auditorium on Tuesday, November 29th to see Ensemble Espanol.  We will be leaving at 11:30 and returning around 2:15.  We will have to eat lunch in the classroom that day so please make sure everyone packs their own lunch.  Please let me know if you'd like to order a sack lunch from the cafeteria that day.

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

Module 4 & 5 easily take up the majority of the year in math.  Module 4 is 31 lessons in itself.  There will be a mid-module and an end of module assessment.

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.

Lesson 2 

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

Portage in the Past - Phase 1

Over the next couple of weeks, we will be 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 Potawatomi 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...

11-11-16

11-11-16

Parent Teacher Conferences

See everyone on Tuesday or Thursday!

Lexia

Lexia is up and running now.  Although, I'm not sure how many licenses our school will have as a whole.  For now, feel free to go to lexiacore5.com and practice reading from home.  Lexia can count as your 20 minutes of reading homework.  

Language Arts

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

Lesson 14 

Objective: Model numbers with more than 9 ones or 9 tens; write in expanded, unit, standard, and word forms. 

Lesson 15 

Objective: Explore a situation with more than 9 groups of ten.

Lesson 16 

Objective: Compare two three-digit numbers using <, >, and =.

Lesson 18 

Objective: Order numbers in different forms.

11-4-16

11-4-16

Halloween

Thank You to everyone that helped make this year's Halloween party a success.  The kids seemed to enjoy themselves at all the different centers and the treats were fantastic.  Here are a few pics from Halloween.  If you have others you'd like to share, I can put them on our class blog.

Field Trip

We lucked out on the weather for our field trip to the Potawotomi Village.  We were able to complete the whole tour before the rain came through.  We always use the field trip as an introduction to our Portage Unit.  We will probably spend from now until winter break talking about Portage in the past.

Ski Club

Ski Passes for Timber Ridge

Lake Center friends and families (students and adults) can purchase DISCOUNT passes for $20.00 each, through our LCE Ski Club. This pass allows you to ski anytime.  

After purchasing the discount passes, here is the cost for you each time you go to Timber Ridge:

• ADULTS: Lift tickets will be $14 Monday-Friday (Non-Holiday) and $20 Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays (Dec.26nd-Jan.2nd). Ski rental will be $14 anytime.

• STUDENTS:$14 lift and $14 Ski rental anytime.

Each person MUST have their own pass.  You can’t share.

Please return this sheet and check to:  Lake Center, by November 11th!

Questions? lkoop@portageps.org

Conferences are coming up!  NEW Scheduling Tool!

Click Here to schedule your conference(s).  The code is M8ugz You must type this code to schedule. Please give yourself enough time between conferences. You have until 4pm on Wednesday 11/9 to book and/or make any changes to your conference day/time.  After that date, you will need to contact the teacher directly.  Please remember only one conference per student.   If you need access to technology to schedule, please stop by our office or the Portage District Library.

This week we explored all kinds of weather. We also explored the question “How do you know what a story is mostly about?” In the informational text Super Storms, we learned about several kinds of extreme weather. Then we read Weather Poems, including “Night Drumming for Rain,” “Leaves,” and “Morning Sun.”

Target Vocabulary: flash, equal, damage, reach, pounding, prevent, beware, bend 

Phonics Skills: Consonant digraphs th, sh, wh, ch, tch, ph; base words with endings -s, -ed, -ing (no spelling changes)

Vocabulary Strategy: Compound words 

Comprehension Skill: Main ideas and details—tell important ideas and details about a topic 

Comprehension Strategy: Visualize— picture what is happening as you read

Lesson 9

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

Lesson 10

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

Lesson 11 

Objective: Count the total value of ones, tens, and hundreds with place value disks. 

Lesson 12 

Objective: Change 10 ones for 1 ten, 10 tens for 1 hundred, and 10 hundreds for 1 thousand.

Lesson 13 

Objective: Read and write numbers within 1,000 after modeling with place value disks.