Report Cards

Due to the two snow days this week, report cards will not be going home until Monday, February 2.  This gives teachers time to input grades in our Web2School system, and gives office staff time to print drafts for proofing, as well as any time needed for fixing up mistakes before final copies are printed.

Thank you for your patience.  As always, I will be happy to talk to you about any particular questions or concerns you may have.

January News

The first week of January flew by so quick!  This month brings us new units to explore in math and writing.  While we will continue to work with money, adding and subtracting, and telling time, we will also explore a unit in math on data analysis.  Students will learn how to read and interpret data, as well as how to collect data and make representations of their results.

In writing workshop we have just completed our unit on Information Texts, and will begin to learn how to write opinion pieces.  So far this year, second graders have really risen to the challenge of our new writing program.  I am excited to see where the Opinion Writing unit will take us!

Reading Response

The purpose of our Reading Responses is not only to get students thinking about their reading, but also to encourage students to talk about good books as they present their Responses to their peers.  I am incredibly pleased at the level of conversation that takes place around the books that students in our class are reading!  The passion for a good story ends up spreading to others and students find themselves reading and enjoying books that they might not have noticed otherwise.  Thank you, families, for supporting your child's reading - and responding to reading - at home!  It is quite evident how literacy rich this classroom is.

Mark Your Calendars

Monday, January 19 -- No School

Celebrations

Our K-4 Winter Concert is Monday, December 22 at 1:00 pm. Please join us as our students celebrate winter with song.

On Tuesday, December 23, we will have a classroom party. You do not need to bring anything in – I will provide a small snack.

I hope you all have a happy and safe Christmas!

Dates to Remember

Newsletters and other notices have come home, but December is a busy month so I want to remind families of some important dates:

Tuesday, December 16 - 'Twas the Night Before Christmas
                                        book celebration day
                                        (students may wear pajamas)

Monday, December 22 - Winter Concert for grades K-4 at 1:00

Tuesday, December 23 - Noon dismissal

Car Ramps and Catapults

Writing Workshop is looking a lot like science class these days! Working with the concepts of simple machines and forces and motion, we are learning to write like scientists.  Instead of stories, we are writing "Lab Reports".  We are using scientific ideas such as question, hypothesis, procedure, results, and conclusion to write in a way that will inform our readers.  

In order to write like a scientist, we need to be scientists!  So far we have performed experiments that involve the distance a toy car will travel off a ramp on tile floor and on carpet; and the distances a ping-pong ball and cotton ball will travel when shot out of a catapult.

It is a shared opinion in our class that science and writing are fun!

Book Fair

The school library will be transformed into a Scholastic Book Fair from November 17 - 26.  A flyer has come home today that gives a little peek into the book fair.  The flyer is not the same thing as a monthly book order form (it is larger and says "Book Fair" on the front page).  Students will have an opportunity next week to browse the Book Fair and it will be open for families during Parent/Teacher conferences.

November News

I cannot believe that it is November already!  I am blown away by how much we have learned together so far!

In Writing Workshop, our Narrative unit has come to and end and we are about to learn all about writing Informational Texts.  I am really looking forward to this unit.  I have seen so much growth in our young writers as they apply narrative writing strategies in their own writing; using mentor texts as inspiration.  I am sure that we will see several experts writing about what they know the most about - including using features such as a Table of Contents, bold print, and captions under pictures.

In math we have just ended a unit in geometry and are now re-visiting the number system.  We will learn more efficient strategies for adding and subtracting two digit numbers, become familiar with mental math strategies when adding several addends together, explore even and odd numbers, and work with skip counting (an early introduction to "multiples").

*Report Card Notice*

Please note that Report Cards will not be available until November 12.  Although you will still receive a paper copy, we want to make sure that our on-line reporting system is up and running for you to use.

*Mark Your Calendars*

There will be no school Tuesday, November 11.
There will be noon dismissal on Tuesday, November 25.
Parent/Teacher Conferences are on Tuesday, November 25 and Wednesday, November 26. Please refer to your November School Newsletter for details on signing up!

Here are a few photos from October:

A visit from Orrington Fire & Rescue

Sharing our Book Responses

Working with 2-dimensional rectangles

 to create 3-dimensional rectangular prisms (boxes)