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!!
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