Weekly News March 27-31, 2017

This week is our School Spirit Week:

  Monday is Sport’s day- dress in sports items/gear of your favorite team

  Tuesday is Wacky Tacky Tuesday- dress in mismatched colors and fun clothing

  Wednesday is Dress like a Very Important Person-(example, grown-up appropriate or

                           dressier items.

  Thursday is  Healthy Food Day- dress up in your favorite food colors.

  Friday is Stuffed Animal Day- Dress with animal patterns/designs and/or bring in       

                      a small stuffed animal.

The students are encouraged to bring non-perishable food items to donate to St. Anne’s Food Pantry on Thursday. On Friday they are encouraged to bring in a item for the Worcester Animal Rescue League on Friday. Suggestions include: cat food, dog food, pet toys, collars, leashes, small litter boxes, old blankets/towels.

         

Homework: The math packet is due on Friday. It is a different format than previous weeks. It is a review of fractions. The Spring Street School Reading Incentive Clocks are due on Friday. We will not be completing our classroom reading log while we are doing the reading incentive. Check in with your child’s clocks to make sure it is being recorded accurately. This is our last week of the reading incentive contest.

Language Arts: We will continue working with long I including igh words this week in our word work. We will be working on retelling the main idea in nonfiction articles. We will read Marlene, Marlene the Queen of Mean. In writing we are working on personal narratives. The students finished their entertaining beginning and setting of their ouch story. We are working on some main event lesson. We reviewed including TOADs into our story. This means elaborate the story using Thoughts, Observations, Actions, Dialogue and Sounds. We have talked about slowing the story down and explaining with details what happened in that moment where the ouch happens. We have an All School Meeting on Friday. We will be discussing Marlene, Marlene Queen of Mean.

Author Visit: Local author April Jones Prince will visit with the second graders on Friday. You can find her website here: http://www.apriljonesprince.com

Mathematics: We will be finishing up chapter 12 on Fractions this week. The children have really enjoyed learning about fractions. We will work more on adding and subtracting like fractions. Our test will most likely be on Wednesday. Try to finish the homework packet for Wednesday or at least review it with your child by then.

 Ways you can help at home: Talk about what you think the most important event is in a fiction book you are reading with your child. We will read Marlene, Marlene Queen of Mean later in the week. Ask your child how everyone felt about Marlene and what caused Marlene to change. Have your child practice telling his/her ouch story using TOADS. Practice telling stories using TOADS and descriptive words. Talk about fractions with your child. Have them explain what they have learned about them. Have your child read aloud to you and encourage him/her to use expression.

Writing Journals: Please enjoy your child’s journal and make sure it comes back for Tuesday.  I talked with the students about using descriptive words (adjectives) in their writing today. See if your child could do this. 

Sign and return your child’s Friday Reflection

Weekly News March 20-24, 2017

Homework: The math packet is due on Friday. The Spring Street School Reading Incentive Clocks are due on Friday. We will not be completing our classroom reading log while we are doing the reading incentive. Check in with your child’s clocks to make sure it is being recorded accurately.

Language Arts: We will continue working with oa words this week in our word work. We will be working on retelling the main idea in nonfiction articles. In writing we are working on personal narratives. The students will be writing a story about a time they got hurt. We are referring to them as our Ouch Story. I encouraged the boys and girls to practice telling their story aloud to you. I also encouraged them to gather as many details as they could. Some students have very memorable times and others are regular scraps and bumps that come with growing up. Both types of stories are fine as long as they show the reader what happened.

Mathematics: I sent home the chapter 12 math test today. Please review it, sign and return it to school as soon as possible. We are learning about fractions. The students will be reading, writing and identifying unit fractions for halves, thirds, and fourths. Students will learn that fractions are equal parts of a whole. We will be comparing and ordering fractions. Students will learn about adding and subtracting fractions. Students will not be expected to have complete mastery of comparing, ordering and adding fractions. This chapter is laying the foundation for next year.

Ways you can help at home: Have your child practice his/her ouch story with you. Help them recall details they could include in their story. Talk about fractions with your child. Have them explain what they have learned about them. Have your child read aloud to you and encourage him/her to use expression.

Writing Journals: Please enjoy your child’s journal and make sure it comes back for Tuesday.

Sign and return your child’s Friday Reflection.

I didn’t send home the Spring Street folder as we didn’t have any papers for it this week.

Have a great week!

March 13 - 17, 2017

Stay safe in the winter storm/blizzard. It is a great opportunity for the boys and girls to get a lot of reading minutes for our contest!

Homework: The math packet is due on Friday. The Spring Street School Reading Incentive Clocks are due on Friday. We will not be completing our classroom reading log while we are doing the reading incentive. Check in with your child’s clocks to make sure it is being recorded accurately.

Language Arts/Science: We are finishing up our storm writing and project. We will be sharing with our grade level peers soon. We will be working with oa words this week in our word work. We will be ending trimester 2 with a few assessments. We will be looking closely at what makes a sentence and how to expand our sentences to be more descriptive.

Mathematics: We will be doing a problem solving and a math review assessment. We will begin chapter 12 on Fractions. Please see the School to Home Connections sheet that was sent home along with the Chapter Wrap-up paper for information.

Ways you can help at home: Continue to read and discuss the story. Talk about the big idea. Talk about writing ideas for an informative piece. Try stretching sentences out together using descriptive words. Use questions words to help your child expand: who, what, when, where, how, why. Continue to review money skills.

Writing Journals: Please enjoy your child’s journal and make sure it comes back for Wednesday.

Sign and return your child’s Friday Reflection.

Spring Street School’s Fun Fair is this Sunday 12:00-4:00! I hope to see you there.

Weekly News March 6-10, 2017

Homework: The math packet and reading incentive chart for Spring Street School’s reading contest are due this Friday. Please return it in your Yellow Reading Log/Math Homework Folder. We will not be having a writing homework for the month of March. We will be focusing on our school’s reading incentive. Be sure to record all of the minutes spent reading for the school’s reading contest. Each week the class from each grade level with the most minutes earns a raffle. Once the contest is over there will be a winner drawn from the raffle.

Language Arts/Science: Students are working on researching a type of storm. We will be writing an informative piece on the storm researched. We are going to record our weather observations this week. We will study the long o vowel patterns. We will review the CVCe pattern and learn that oa can also make the long o sound. I am doing our Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) with students.

Mathematics: Students will practicing writing money amounts in both cents and dollar notation. We have talked about taking their time to carefully count money amounts. It is very easy to keep counting by value even when the coins change. For example they will keep counting by tens even when they get to the nickel. Students will need to figure out how much more is needed to get to a stated amount. They will need to figure out how much is left if they spend a certain amount. We will be getting ready for our chapter test at the end of this week or the beginning of next week.

Ways you can help at home: Help your child as he/she explores a new topic of interest to read and writing about for the writing assignment. Continue to watch the weather together. Describe your observations. Watch a meteorologist on tv together. Talk about the key words he or she used to tell about the weather. Read books and poems about the weather or seasons. Practice counting coins and bills. Talk about how to write it in dollar and cent notation. Show different ways to make the same value. Look for long o words in your reading. Continue to read aloud to your child and have conversations about what you read.

Writing Journals: Please enjoy your child’s journal and make sure it comes back for Tuesday. Some students were taking their reading assessments and did not get to write in their journal this week.