Video of the Week

Our video of the week this week is about nocturnal animals.
http://viewpure.com/UW_oNQyKlJc?start=0&end=0

Weekly News October 3-7, 2016

Homework: The math packet and reading log are due on Thursday. Please return it in your Yellow Reading Log/Math Homework Folder. Thursday Night’s Math Fact practice sheets are optional this week.

Raz-Kids Login information will be sent home tomorrow. Raz-Kids provides a great resource of books for your child to read online at home or school. Our PTO Funds help us pay for this wonderful resource. You can sign-in to see your child’s results on the comprehension quizzes. I encourage you to include Raz-Kids in your child’s weekly reading. It would be ideal if students complete at least one Raz-Kids book at home each week (read/listen and quiz). Reading “just right” books is the best way for children to improve their reading. I have included your child’s “just right” or independent level on the “Level UP” section. I also have left the book room option open for you to select books at different levels. If you find your child is frustrated move down to an easier level. Keep in mind that the Raz-Kids reading levels do not always correlated with the DRA/guided reading levels the school shares. Students often do best when they know you are checking in with them and discussing what they have read. Make it part of your weekly reading routine. I will get results of what your child reads and how they do on the quizzes. Have fun adding these books to your reading library this year. Let me know if you need any help accessing your account.

Language Arts: We will read our Scholastic News Magazine. This week it is about Voting. We will do a mock election and send our results to Scholastic’s Election. The class will practice how to do Read to Someone. We will discuss nonfiction text features. The children will be wrapping-up opinion writing this week. We will learn about compound words and two syllable words.

Mathematics: We will be reviewing chapter 2 on addition with regrouping. We will be taking our test on Tuesday. I am sending home the workbook pages for chapter 2 that were in your child’s unfinished math folder. You can keep these worksheets to review with your child at home. I do not need to have them sent back to school unless I wrote “Please Finish” at the top. It is more important that students understand the skill and are doing quality work than quantity.

Mr. Mabie’s Spring Link this week is going to include information about accessing the Math in Focus’s online resource called Think Central. It is a great resource for you to learn what your child is working on at school. There are virtual manipulatives for students to use when doing homework. It also has our student math book. I use this book as one of my resources for my small group work with students. The  student workbook pages are not on the online account. These are the problems students work on mostly during “Math By Myself” or during “Math with Partner.” There are videos that help explain more about Math in Focus. To access this site you need to go to your Power School Parent Portal  to find your child’s username and password. There is a link on the portal that will take you to the site. Let me know if you need support. I would be happy to help you find your way to this resource.

Science: We will continue to read about life cycle of a frog and work collaboratively on a PBL (project based learning) project. Our goal is to create a project (book, poster, skit or zoo brochure) teaching others about the frog’s metamorphosis. . We continue to read about the life cycle of a frog and we will work collaboratively on a PBL (Project Based Learning) project. Our goal is to teaching others about the frog’s metamorphosis.

Social Studies: We will talk about Columbus Day. We will learn about leaders and how good citizens vote in our Scholastic News.

October Scholastic Reading Club catalog will be in your child’s Folder. If you want to order please submit it to me or online by Friday, October 14th. Our online code is GVN48. You can find the website link on our class blog.

October Student Share Calendar: Please see the calendar for your child’s Share Day. Student can bring up to three pictures to share with the class. You can upload them to their Kid Blog account or just bring them to school. The Kid Blog address is https://kidblog.org/class/mrs-porters-class-2016-2017/posts

Students do not have to bring anything. They can just tell us about something going on in their life. The share should not take longer than 3 minutes most students finish in under a minute. In the past I have had students upload great videos to their Kid Blog to share. These shouldn’t be longer than 2 minutes with a minute to talk about it. It is fun to see students share certain talents of theirs with a quick video.

Conferences: I sent a Sign-Up Genius Link out to sign-up for a Conference. Here is the Link

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0c44abac23a4ff2-conference1

There is no school Friday because of a teacher Professional Development Day Enjoy the long weekend!

Video of the Week

This week we will watch a view called Punctuation Marks.

Punctuation Marks!




Last week we watched a video about Metamorphosis.
Life Cycles

Weekly News September 26-30, 2016

•Homework is due on Friday. Please sign your child’s reading log each week. Keep your reading log and math packet in your yellow folder.

• Thank you for all of you who were able to sign up for volunteer opportunities this year. I will be setting up a schedule in October and we will be starting at some point in late October early November once our routines and procedures are in place. 

Language Arts: Our work on opinion writing continues this week. We will be reading an opinion piece titled Are Trampolines Too Dangerous? Students will use the article to identify reasons for each side of this question. Then they will pick write their opinion. We will complete an opinion pillar and then write the opinion piece. We will continue to work on learning our word work, work on writing and read to self routines. Students will work on identifying nonfiction text features as we read books about frogs and toads.

Mathematics: We will continue to work on adding three digit numbers with regrouping in the ones. We will begin to learn how to regroup in the tens place. Then by the end of the week we will be regrouping ones and tens. Students will be working on identifying the mistake and fixing it. We will also look at finding the missing digit in a completed addition problem.

Science: We will be learning about frogs and their habitat. On Friday we had a wonderful visit from the Boston Museum of Science. The children learned what animals need to survive. We identified animals’ habitat, shelter and what it eats based on clues.. We saw a hedgehog, box turtle, and frog. The children got to see a Bull Frog Skeleton. This week we will discuss what we saw from our field trip. We are doing a jigsaw activity where students become an expert on one part of the life cycle and then they will share with others what they learned.

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Social Studies: We wrote our class constitution. They did a great job discussing what was important to them in how we will treat each other and behave in class. Here is our constitution:

•Be respectful-Treat others the way you want to be treated

•Show good character.

•Be a good citizen- follow the classroom rules

•Show perseverance

•Support and include others

•Treat class books and materials with care

•Be positive and peaceful with everyone

• Please sign and return your child’s reflection for Monday.

Writing Journal

This afternoon your child will be bringing home his/her writing journal. The purpose of this is for you to see your child’s independent writing. Please be supportive and patient in your child’s growth as a writer. It is not expected that all the words be spelled correctly. I would rather your child not be limited in his/her writing by only writing what can be correctly spelled.  You can encourage them and discuss details that could be added.  I hope that having parents see their work will help the children want to include more details.

However, keep in mind that the students only have about 20 minutes to write. If your child did not finish his/ her writing you are encouraged to have him/her finish. 

If you would like you can write a quick comment back to you child in the journal.

Please return the journals on Tuesday each week. The students will be using the journal for other writing prompts during the week in addition to their weekend writing.

I hope that you enjoy reading your child’s journal each week.

Weekly News September 19-23, 2016

• Wednesday, September 21, at 6:30 is our curriculum night. I hope you can make it.

Language Arts: We will learn more about our Word Work Routines as we continue to review long and short vowels. Our Work on Writing practice continues this week. We will write about our weekend in our journal. It is very helpful to review your weekend with your child on Sunday nights or Monday mornings so your child will remember what they did. We will read and discuss the book Me I Am. Then the students will create an “I Am” bulletin board. We will be reading about frogs and toads. We will learn about opinion writing. Students will learn how to complete an opinion pillar to organize their writing. Then we will write our opinion piece. This week we will write about our favorite subject in second grade and our favorite season.

Mathematics: We will be wrapping up our first chapter this week and begin chapter 2. Please see the family letter on this unit and the chapter 2 wrap-up that will be in your Spring Street Folder. We will be reviewing addition and subtraction strategies. Students will be adding three digit numbers first without regrouping, then with regrouping in the ones, then with regrouping in the tens only and finally with regrouping in the tens and ones.

•Science: We will be learning about frogs and their habitat. Be sure to return your child’s permission slip to go on the field trip on Monday, September 26th. 

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•Social Studies: We will design our class constitution. We will be discussing how students should behave so all of our hopes and dreams for the year can be achieved.

 Please sign and return your child’s reflection for Monday.

Video of the Week

This week our video is The Place Value Song: Ones, Tens, Hundreds

http://viewpure.com/5W47G-h7myY?start=0&end=0


Enjoy!

Weekly News September 12-16, 2016

Wednesday, September 21, at 6:30 is our curriculum night. I hope you can make it.

• Please make sure you have your child’s name on his/her water bottle, lunch box and lunch ticket. If you are sending in lunch money please put it in a baggie/envelope, change purse with your child’s name on it. It also helps to have your child’s name on caps, sweaters, jackets and any personal item your child might take off during the day. Thank you for your cooperation!

Language Arts: We are learning how to do our weekly writing journal entry. We will discuss why writing is important and why we should practice it each day as we learn our work on writing routines. We have a class of readers. The boys and girls did a great job as we learned about our read to self time last week. We will continue to work on building our reading stamina. We will also discuss word work as we review long and short vowels.

Mathematics: The boys and girls were eager to see their Math Workbook. The students will be tearing the sheets out of this book. I will check their work and send the sheets home as we complete them. Please check your child’s bag nightly. This week we will continue to practice our place value skills. You can help your children by having them explain how they solved a problem. If they made a mistake see if they can see what they did and help them revise their thinking. They may realize they were being careless and just made an error. Then you can remind them this is why it is important to take your time and check your work. In tonight’s folder you will find directions for a game we played called Show Me the Number. It would be fun practice for you to play with your child. You can draw bace-ten blocks if you don't have them. I will also send home a chapter 1 review page for you. We will be finishing up chapter one on Friday or Monday.

• Science: We will begin by reviewing the animal classifications. Then we will focus on amphibians specifically frogs and toads.

• Social Studies: This week we will write our hopes and dreams for the year. We will discuss how we need to behave in order for our hopes and dreams to come true. From the discussion we will design our class constitution. We will celebrate Constitution Day which is this Saturday. We will read about our Country’s Constitution in our Scholastic News Magazine.We will talk about it and compare it to our class constitution (norms).

• We will do our first Weekly Reflection on Friday. The Weekly Reflections are great opportunities for you to see what your child is working on and have them explain what they know. Please send and return it for Monday.

• I was able to get the Class Blog on Blog Spot (Blogger) working with Link Lists. I will post Class News here. On Kidblog I will share student work/pictures.