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.