We had another fantastic week here in Room 13!  The kids are beginning to settle into the everyday routines and are really working hard!  Keep up the great work!

Harvest Festival
I want to remind you (again) that our Harvest Festival is scheduled for NEXT Wednesday (10/26) from 12:30-2:00 in Room 13.  I haven’t heard back from anyone saying that they CANNOT make it, so I am assuming I will see you all there!!  I can’t wait! J

Wishlist
We are in dire need of yellow index cards!  We need about 60 more per child (~1000 cards) for our math fact flashcards.  We greatly appreciate any/all donations! Thank you!


Our Week in Review:
READING
The theme in reading this week was Being Yourself. As a class, we spent a lot of time talking about what this means and why it is important for children to be proud of who they are. This week’s story, Meet Rosina by George Ancona, was about a young, deaf girl who lives a life very similar to lives of other children. Students were fascinated and excited to discover how much they had in common with Rosina! They were also excited to learn a little bit of sign language!

This week’s reading comprehension skill was the same as last week – identifying the main idea and 3-5 supporting details from a story. Overall, students are demonstrating some difficulty with this skill. We will continue working on this in school and I strongly encourage you to practice doing this at home as you read with your child!

SPELLING
This week, we reviewed short i and focused on the i_e pattern. This pattern creates a “long i” sound (iiiiiiiyyyy). The _ (underscore) represents a consonant.   The e in these words is silent, but it causes the i to “say its name” (iiiyyy). Students will recognize this e and may refer to it as:

King E, magic E, silent E, or sneaky E

Just like last week, I suggest that you point out words that follow this pattern as you go about your daily lives. They are more common than you think – and students will enjoy “hunting” for these words. (This activity will reinforce and strengthen students’ ability to identify and recognize spelling/word patterns!)

GRAMMAR
Last week, students worked to identify the subjects in a sentence. This week, we have been working to identify the predicate. The predicate of a sentence is usually the “rest of the sentence” (after the subject). It is the “action” part - it tells what the subject is or is doing.

1. Bobby works at the grocery store.
         works at the grocery store     tells what Bobby does.
2. The bird is green and gold.
         is green and gold         tells what the bird is.

We have created a little rhyme to help us remember subject and predicate.

           The subject is the WHO and the predicate is the DO.

You need a WHO and a DO to make a complete sentence!!

WRITING

Students have continued making books this week - with a special focus on organization.  After reading Leo Lionni's story, A Busy Year, students actively participated in a discussion about different ways an author can organize his/her writing.  Some of these ways include:

* beginning, middle, end

* problem/solution

* cause/effect

* chapters (non-fiction)

We decided to really focus on writing stories with a clear beginning, middle, and end and this week, we honed in on creating a BOLD BEGINNING!  Bold beginnings often HOOK the reader - making them want to keep reading.  Some ways we can hook a reader are to start a story with:

- a question

Have you ever seen a hundred butterflies at the same time? I have when I went to...

- a riddle

What is greenish-blue, silky smooth, wet and wild?  The water in the Bahamas...

- a sound word or exclamation

BOOM!  "Yikes!"

- an announcement

Bulldogs are the best!

- an opinion

Second grade is the best grade!

- a simile or metaphor

The sky was as black as night on the day I left for my grandmother's house...

- a famous/common saying or quote

"Practice makes perfect" my coach always says...

Encourage your child to use a HOOK when writing! :)

MATH

On Monday, we connected math to reading with the story, Pumpkin Heads, by Wendell Minor.  After reading and discussing the story (and all the great pumpkin faces illustrated in the book), students created their own Name-Collection Pumpkin Heads!  Take a look:

 I can’t wait for you to see them in person at the Harvest Festival! 

Function Machines (IN/OUT boxes)

Function Machines - also called in/out boxes - get at algebraic thinking by having students apply a "rule" (such as +3) to different numbers.  One number goes "in" to the function machine, "something happens" (the rule is applied), and a different number comes out!  Sometimes students are asked to determine what number comes out, sometimes they need to figure out what number goes in, and sometimes they have to identify the rule! Tricky!!

Frames and Arrows

Frames-and-Arrows problems are another fun way for students to think algebraically!  A “rule” is given (ex. +5) and then students must fill in any empty “frames” by following this rule. 

I thought it might be fun to integrate some art into math this week.  After working together to complete a few Frames and Arrows diagrams, students then created their own, individual diagrams with construction paper and good thinking! 

SCIENCE

We are starting to wrap up our Matter unit in science!  This week, we did several fun experiments to learn more about liquids and gases.  On Wednesday, students followed along with a real scienctist to test the density of 4 different liquids:  water, vegetable oil, maple syrup and dish soap.  What did they discover?  Which liquid was the most dense?  Which was the least dense?  How did they know?  (Click here to see the experiment at home!)

On Thursday, students worked in pairs to see for themselves the strength of air (a gas)!  How were they able to lift a book with just a straw and a plastic bag???  Ask!!

On Friday, we learned about molecules (the tiny "particles" that make up matter) and showed how the molecules are arranged in solids, liquids and gases using Cheerios!  

MYSTERY READER
Our Mystery Reader this week was Mrs. Kasper - Nate's mom.  She read the story Old Hasdrubal and the Pirates by Berthe Amoss, which was a great story about the War of 1812.  She concluded her visit by passing out CRAZY eyeball patches for the kids to wear!  Arrrggghhh!!

Happy Friday!

Wow - another week gone by!  I can't believe we are halfway through October already!  These kids will be third graders before we know it!

It was another "short week" - which meant it was another busy week for us in Room 13.  Keep reading to learn about what students have been up to!

READING

This was an exciting week in reading because we read our first Time For Kids article! This week, the selection was titled “Fighting the Fire.” From this selection, students learned all about forest fires and the many different roles that firefighters have. They were even introduced to an old friend, Smokey the Bear! (He was actually a “new friend” to most of them!!) Ask your child to tell you a few interesting facts that they learned about fires this week!

Since this was the first nonfiction story that we have read from this reading program, we spent a lot of time talking about the different features offered by a nonfiction text. Some of these features include:

 Real/authentic photographs
 Factual information
 Captions and Headings
 Glossary
 Index

This week, we have been working really hard to identify the main idea and supporting details of a text.  This is a difficult, but important, skill – one that students will need to utilize throughout their academic career.  It takes a great deal of practice and I really encourage you to reinforce it at home.  You can do this by reading a book together and then coming up with a good sentence that tells what the WHOLE story is about.  Then, work to identify 3 details that support/give information about the main idea. (Students sometimes get confused with facts/details that are interesting and facts/details that are important/supportive). 

As a special treat, a few firefighters from the Hopkinton Fire Department came to visit us at Elmwood on Friday!!  Students were able to ask some of their "burning questions!"  Did your child have a good time?  Did s/he learn anything new??

Some of this week's reading centers included:

Phonics Center - This center focused on Word Families (words that all share the same rime/ending.) Words in the –ame Word Family, for example, include name, game, shame, etc. The ability to identify Word Families helps students read and spell more difficult words. In this center, students worked to create Word Families with the following rimes:  -ame -ate -ack -ash -ake.  They then used tangible cubes to create real words and recorded their ideas.

Grammar Center - This week, students were reminded that every complete sentence must have a subject (who or what the sentence is about). In this center, students cut out 2 pictures from a magazine of a person or animal. They then wrote a complete sentence about each picture and circled the subject.

Spelling - Students wrote down their spelling words, cut them apart, and glued them in alphabetical order.  Tricky!

Writing Center - Students looked through photographs from the 2007 wildfires in California and wrote one statement, one question, and one exclamation about the fires.

Graphic Organizer - After reading a story in their small reading group, students created a web identifying the main idea and details. 

SPELLING
This week, most students were reintroduced to “SNEAKY E” (aka: King Ed, Magic E, or Silent E). Students’ spelling lists had a few short a review words (with the consonant-vowel-consonant pattern) as well as some words with the a_e pattern. This pattern creates a “long a” sound (aayy). The _ (underscore) represents a consonant. Words that follow this pattern include:

game                 slate

made                place

grape                 lane

The e in these words is silent, but it causes the a to “say its name” (aaayyy). Students should be aware that this is just one way to spell the long a sound.

Suggestion: Point out words that follow this pattern as you go about your daily lives. They are more common than you think – and students will enjoy “hunting” for these words. (This activity will reinforce and strengthen students’ ability to identify and recognize spelling/word patterns!)

MATH

We have really been focusing on the inverse relationship between addition and subtraction in math this week.  This is a concept that many students don’t recognize right away and it is only through practice that it begins to sink in!  One way to support and encourage this understanding is to practice using the MATH FACT TRIANGLES.  By covering different corners each time, students are forced to use different strategies to solve the problems and, although they may not know it, they are using both addition and subtraction to come up with the missing numbers.   (Paper copies of the math triangles were sent home on Friday.  You can use them as they are, or you can copy them over onto thicker paper. Either way, I strongly suggest you use these at home!!!) 

FACT FAMILIES clearly demonstrate the relationship between addition and subtraction.  As a refresher:  Fact Families are 3 numbers that are all “related” to each other. 

For example:

              2, 3, 5 are a fact family

With these numbers we can create the following 4 number models:

2 + 3 = 5          5 – 2 = 3

3 + 2 = 5          5 – 3 = 2

Students often have trouble with the subtraction models, trying to subtract the two smaller numbers and getting a different answ er (example: 3 – 2 = 1).  The key to Fact Families is that you always use the same 3 numbers.  If a child can recognize this, then math facts will become much easier.

As a spin-off, we integrated a little bit of art into math this week (yay!) and children created fact family houses.  Take a look:

SCIENCE
This week, students learned more about solids and liquids. They should now understand that solids are a type of matter that have their own shape. That’s not to say that solids can’t change their shape, but it is important for students to understand that they HAVE their own shape. Solids can be hard (desk) or soft (pillow), natural (wood) or people-made (plastic).

Liquids are another type of matter. Liquids take the shape of whatever container they are in. They do NOT have their own shape. Liquids can be thin or thick, heavy or gooey. Ask your child about the fun experiment we did with different containers!

MYSTERY READER

Our Mystery Reader today was Rachel's mom, Mrs. Halberstadt.  She read 3 great stories including:  We're Off to Find the Witch's House by Mr. Krieb, A Silly Snowy Day by Michael Coleman and Gwyneth Williamson, and If You Give a Cat a Cupcake by Laura Numeroff and Felicia Bond.  The children were very interested and engaged and were, as always, a wonderful audience!

Welcome October!

Another week gone by?  Wow, time flies when you're having fun!

Important Information
Harvest Festival:  A date has been chosen for Room 13's Annual Harvest Festival!  The fun is scheduled for Wednesday, October 26 from 12:30 - 2:00pm.  All parents are invited and encouraged to come play math games with their child! I hope to see you all there!

The GRADE:  Students took the GRADE this week - a standardized reading test.  Results from this test will be made available to you toward the end of this month and can be discussed at our parent-teacher conferences.

Math Test:  Thank you all so much for signing and returning the Everyday Math Unit 1 Assessments so quickly!  Aside from a few careless errors here and there, I hope you feel that the assessment was an accurate demonstration of your child's knowledge.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to let me know

Our Week in Review
READING
This was our second week with the new reading anthology and we read some great stories!  The theme this week was “making friends” and all the stories we read related to this theme. The main selection this week was Mr. Putter and Tabby Pour the Tea, written by Cynthia Rylant.  Cynthia Rylant is a very well-known children’s author and this story is only one of the many she has written in the Mr. Putter series.  She is also the author of the Henry and Mudge series and the Poppleton series.  

Students have been working very hard on identifying the beginning, middle and end of the stories that they read.  Determining the main events (the plot) is a very important reading strategy and one that should be practiced and reviewed on a regular basis. Suggestion:  Ask your child to tell you about a book that s/he has read by telling you just the important events that happened in the beginning, the middle and the end. 

Since we were so busy with the GRADE this week, students did not have time to complete any reading centers.  We DID have a chance to read in small reading groups, however!!  What did your child read about?

SPELLING
This week, the short vowel spelling pattern continued. Instead of short a and short i, however, most students reviewed words with the short e, short o and short u sound.  Keep an eye out for words with these sounds as you go about your daily life.  Challenge your child to “hunt” for them while you drive, shop or read!  (Remember – just because a word has a certain vowel in it, does NOT mean that it has that short vowel sound!!)

WRITING
Has your child mentioned that s/he has been writing books in school?  They are so excited about the opportunity to author their own books - they BEG to write during their free time!! (Don't believe me??  Ask them!)  My initial goal for Writer's Workshop this year is to get children excited about writing...and I think most are!  Now, we will begin to weave in specific lessons to help them become more sophisticated writers - with clear ideas, good organization, specific word choice, sentence fluency, and appropriate grammar and punctuation.  It's certainly a process - but I think we are on the right track!!  Ask your child to tell you about ONE of the books s/he is writing!

MATH
This week, our Mystery Reader was Mr. Ullman - Maddie's dad!!  Mr. Ullman read a very interesting book about different animals, titled Rare Animals.  Students listened as Mr. Ullman shared facts about whooping cranes, elephants, seals and polar bears!

We began Unit 2 last Friday, and continued on with the lessons this week -focusing primarily on addition.   Early in the week, students learned to solve and create addition number stories and the 3D number stories that they created for homework are AMAZING!!  They are proudly hanging in the hallway outside our classroom for everyone to see, read, and enjoy! 

We also reviewed some of the “easy” addition math facts this week – like +0 and +1 and students were introduced to a fun, new game called Beat the Calculator.  Ask your child about it!  (Challenge him/her to play at home! It's fun!) 

Later in the week, we talked about doubles facts (example:  2 + 2, 5 + 5,etc.) and we read a great story, titled Two of Everything by Lily Toy Hung, about a magic pot that doubles everything!!  Students illustrated /colored their own ideas about what they might put into the pot - they are so creative!

SCIENCE

In science this week, students were challenged to describe and compare the properties of two different objects.  They used the knowledge gained from their experiences with the buttons to create a Venn Diagram listing at least 2-3 similarities and differences - referencing the objects' size, shape, color, material, and texture.  Here are a few pictures:

Students were also introduced to the three major states (types) of matter this week – solids, liquids, and gases.  On Tuesday, we worked together to come up with a web identifying different solids, liquids, and gases in our world.  This knowledge was then reinforced in Computer Lab with a BrainPopJr video!

Then, on Thursday, students’ knowledge was put to the test with the Mystery Matter Challenge!   With a partner, students observed 10 different containers filled with “mystery matter.”   They could not see inside the container, but they could use their other senses to try and figure out whether the matter inside was a solid, liquid, or gas. Then, the truth was revealed!  Was your child tricked? 

MYSTERY READER
This week, our Mystery Reader was Mr. Ullman - Maddie's dad!! He read a nonfiction story about animals - titled Rare Animals.  Students learned many interesting facts about whooping cranes, elephants, seals, and polar bears!  Thank you so much for visiting, Mr. Ullman!