Severin's Superstars

February 27, 2009

 

Math:  We have been doing our measurement unit.  We learned about inches, feet, and yards last week.  This week we began learning about the Metric system using centimeters and meters.

Next week we will be reviewing different types of graphs and practice two-step math problems.  Please continue to help your child at home with those skills that they need extra practice with.

Language Arts:  This week we learned about dictionary skills.  We learned the terminology, entry word, guide words, definition, multiple meanings of words, and worked on alphabetizing words to the third and fourth letter. 

We also worked on Persuasive writing.  We learned the difference between a fact and opinion and followed this by writing a persuasive story.  The children were read a story about a dog who must go to obedience school.  The children had to persuade the reader whether they believed that the dog should have gone to obedience school or not.  The children had to support their opinion with facts from the story.

Social Studies:  This week we reviewed the different parts of our government (local, state, and national).  They learned about the people who are leaders in those areas (the mayor, the governor, and the president).  They also learned about the place where they work (the City Hall, the Capitol, and the White House).  We also learned what a citizen is and rights of a citizen.  Next week, we will learn about how we elect our leaders and the qualities that one looks for in a good leader.

Calendar:

3/3  Early Release Day - students are released at 12:20

3/8  Daylight Saving Time Begins

3/11  Banking Day

3/19  Report Card Distribution

3/26  School Picture Day

3/27  Spirit Day

Thank you!

Thank you to Morgan's grandmother for copying our weekly papers.  She is a life-saver!

Thank you to Morgan's family for donating a huge box of copy paper to my class to offset due to the paper shortage we are experiencing

Thank you to Urvi's mom and Jala's grandmother for continuing to help us with our Writers Workshop.

FYI:

1.  Last Friday a yellow notice was sent home concerning CRCT practice test homework.  This is required homework.  I check the website every Friday to see who has completed the assigned tests for that week.  Those students that complete all the assignments through the week of April 13th will be rewarded. 

2.  Reading Logs are due for the month of February.  I will accept them next week only.

3.  Watch for the letter coming home on Monday concerning breakfast being offered at Chalker.

February 2009

 

Happy February!

I want to thank all my parents for a wonderful conference week.  Thank you for coming and hearing all that I wanted to share about your wonderful children.  If you have any further questions please don't hesitate to contact me.

Math:  This week we learned about the hundreds and thousands place value.  We learned what the "value" of a number means and then we used this knowledge to skip count and solve two-sided equations using greater than, less than, and equal symbols. 

Next week, we will learn how to make change.  We will use the strategies of "counting up" or "counting down" in order to count the change.   Please help your child at home by counting money ( including bills) to find total amounts and help them to write the money two different ways ( using a cent sign or dollar sign and decimal point).

Language Arts:  This week we practiced using quotations marks correctly in a paragraph.  The children created a group story using dialogue and then used colored macaroni to enhance the quotes in their story.  Next week, the students will be creating mini plays using dialogue in order to practice this skill.  They will create finger puppets and perform their mini plays.

We are also reviewing the use of suffixes and we created suffix flip books to help us understand how a base word is connected to different suffixes.  We also studied the "igh" and "oo" spelling patterns and brainstormed words that have those sounds.

We will also be working to understand the difference between fact and opinion this nine week period.  We will be working with magazine pictures to help us write our own fact and opinion statements for these pictures.

Social Studies:  We will begin our Civil Rights unit next week with another look at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  We"ll begin reading facts about him and the students will create a fact chart together to demonstrate their knowledge.  The students will use those facts to create a special type of picture frame.

Calendar:

2/4:  Early Release - students are dismissed at 12:20

2/5  PTA Program at 7:00 - The second grade students will perform

2/22  Banking Day

2/12  Jump Rope For Heart

2/13  Valentine Exchange - A List will be sent home next week

2/16  Presidents' Day - No School

2/20  Bingo Night at Chalker

2/27  Spirit Day

FYI:  Please make sure that your child is bringing a warm winter jacket for recess time.  I am concerned for the health of my students.

Reading Logs are due for January next week.  Please continue to monitor this important homework every night.

Thank you to Morgan's grandmother for photocopying our weekly work.  She saved me alot of time.  Thank you to Jessica's mom for sending in special treats for Chinese New Year.  We will really loved the almond cookies and the "lucky" candy.

January 9, 2009

I hope everyone had a fun holiday season full of fun and special memories.  It is wonderful to be back in school and I am looking forward to the next half of the year.  We have a lot of exciting new things to learn!

Language Arts:

This week we learned about homographs.  These are words that are spelled the same but are pronounced differently and mean different things.  For example:  We played a song on the record.   I will record the song.  The underlined words are the homographs.  Next week we will review the spelling of the words "to, too, and two".  We will also work on "their, there, and they're".

Math:

This week we finished our geometry unit.  We had a lot of fund making two dimensional shapes using marshmallows and toothpicks.  We are beginning a unit on fractions next week and will be using play dough to help us understand this concept.

Science:

This week be began our Space unit.  We learned all about stars and the fact that stars make up constellations.  We also created sundials to use next week to use to understand about the rotation of the earth and the shadows that are created on a sundial to tell the time.  We will also be learning about day and night.  We are very fortunate to have the opportunity to go inside a portable skylab that will be at Chalker. 

Health:

We began our fire safety unit this week and have been fortunate to have firemen come to teach us about the rules.  The children will come home today with a fire safety coloring book and informational pamphlets.  Ask them about all that they have learned to help reinforce these important rules.

Calendar of Events:

1/14:  Banking Day

1/19:  Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday- No school

1/22:  The 100th Day of School!

1/30:  Spirit Day

1/26 - 1/30:  Conference Week - The children will be released from school at 12:20 every day this week.

 

Language Arts

 

We are learning the questioning strategy in Reading to help increase our Reading comprehension. Reading groups are going very well and we are enjoying our books.

We continue to work on Spelling patterns to increase our Spelling knowledge and have also worked on antonyms and synonyms.  Next week we will learn what homographs are and how they are used in our daily language.  Encourage your child to continue to work on adding suffixes to words correctly and practice this at home. 

October 10, 2008

Language Arts

Next week we will be working on vowel sounds.  We will also be classifying words according to vowel patterns. 

The October Reading Log was sent home in your child's Friday Folder so that your child can begin recording books /and or chapters that they are reading as part of their homework.

The "Book It" program begins in the month of October.  I will be sending home the information on Monday.  Your child can earn a coupon for a free individual pizza with a completed reading log.

Math

Next week we will complete our unit on two digit addition without regrouping.  We will begin a unit on subtraction strategies.  Encourage your child to continue practicing addition with regrouping practice.  Please continue to encourage your child to take practice tests on Math Magician and bring in the results to school.

Science

We will be completing our unit on Matter and our discussion and experiments about the changes in matter. 

We will be beginning a unit on Energy.  We will be studying light energy, heat energy, and motion energy. 

Our new Vocabulary words are as follows:

energy

heat

light

reflect

temperature

solar energy

motion

electricity

friction

thermometer

Health

Your children will have a KidSafety program during school on Monday and Tuesday.  Your child will learn about child lures and safety when in public places.  It is an excellent program!  Ask your child to tell you about it and what they learned.

Thank You

Thank you once again to Mrs. Gupta for helping with Writers Workshop this week.  We are becoming motivated writers!

Another thanks goes to Mrs. Nikolov for copying this week. You are wonderful!

Reminder!

Wednesday, October 15th is Early Release Day.  Your child will be released at 12:20.

Report Cards will be sent home on Friday, October 17th.

Fall Festival is October 25th from 10:00-4:00.

Spirit Day is on October 31st.

October 3,2008

Language Arts

We are currently working on the three types of connections that we use when we read.  Those connections are text-self, text-text, and text-world.  Ask your child about these connections and have them make a connection to a book that they are reading at home.  We have also been working on learning the difference between to, two and too. Next week, we will begin working on the suffixes ed, ing, and s.  We will also be reviewing how to add "s" and "es" to make words plural.  We will also be working on exclamatory sentences and how to use exclamation marks correctly.

Math

We will be practicing counting collections of bills and coins.  We are also working on writing money amounts two ways; using the dollar sign and cent sign.  Ask your child after Monday about "Hairy Money".  This is a fun way for children to count money quicker and easier.  We will also be reviewing how to write numbers four ways.  We are continuing our regrouping with addition practice.  Please remember to practice this at home, especially if you child forgets the process. 

Science

We will continue our study of matter.  We will be learning about how changes occur in matter and learn the difference between chemical and physical changes.

Thank you!

A huge thanks to Mr. Fowler for copying out papers for this week.  We appreciated it so much!

We couldn't do Writers Workshop without Mrs. Gupta.  She helped us on both Monday and Tuesday and we so greatly appreciate her!

Another huge thanks to Mrs. Simmons for doing our Class Directory.  She saved me a lot of time!

FYI

We will be doing assessments next week for report cards.  Please have your child here every day and on time for these important tests.

October 3,2008

Language Arts

We are currently working on the three types of connections that we use when we read.  Those connections are text-self, text-text, and text-world.  Ask your child about these connections and have them make a connection to a book that they are reading at home.  We have also been working on learning the difference between to, two and too. Next week, we will begin working on the suffixes ed, ing, and s.  We will also be reviewing how to add "s" and "es" to make words plural.  We will also be working on exclamatory sentences and how to use exclamation marks correctly.

Math

We will be practicing counting collections of bills and coins.  We are also working on writing money amounts two ways; using the dollar sign and cent sign.  Ask your child after Monday about "Hairy Money".  This is a fun way for children to count money quicker and easier.  We will also be reviewing how to write numbers four ways.  We are continuing our regrouping with addition practice.  Please remember to practice this at home, especially if you child forgets the process. 

Science

We will continue our study of matter.  We will be learning about how changes occur in matter and learn the difference between chemical and physical changes.

Thank you!

A huge thanks to Mr. Fowler for copying out papers for this week.  We appreciated it so much!

We couldn't do Writers Workshop without Mrs. Gupta.  She helped us on both Monday and Tuesday and we so greatly appreciate her!

Another huge thanks to Mrs. Simmons for doing our Class Directory.  She saved me a lot of time!

FYI

We will be doing assessments next week for report cards.  Please have your child here every day and on time for these important tests.

September 26, 2008

Language Arts

In Language Arts we  wrote stories using Circle Maps and Flow Maps about things we do at recess.  We are learning how to write personal narrative stories.  We are also learning how to add more supporting details to sentences within a paragraph.  We have also continued to learn about homophones (words that sound the same, but have different meanings.)  Things are going well in reading groups.  Please remember that homework includes 20 minutes of reading per night.  Reading Logs are due at the end of September.  These were given to you at Parent Orientation.

Math

We finished our unit on the use of math strategies for addition.  We have moved on to two digit addition addition with and without regrouping (carrying).  Some of us have been using Workmats to help us understand the process of regrouping.  We use base ten block to show the ten being carried over to the tens place value.

Social Studies

We have completed our Native American unit.  We learned alot about the Creek and Cherokee Indians.  Ask your child about all the interesting things that they learned.  We are beginning our first Science unit for the year.  We will be learning all about Matter.  If your child would like to bring something to show or share about Matter we would love to see it.

Calendar of Upcoming Events

October 2nd - PTA Program

October 3rd and 4th -  Sally Foster Pickup after school

October 8th -  Picture Day and Banking Day

October 15th - Early Release at 12:20

October 17 - Report Card Distribution

October 25th - Fall Festival

October 31 - Spirit Day

September 17, 2008

FYI

Our picture day has been changed due to testing which is occurring throughout our school.  Instead of Thursday, September 25th, our picture day will be on Wednesday, October 8th.  I will be sending home further information when I receive it.

Social Studies

Students may access their new Pupil Edition of the Social Studies book online.  Do this by logging on to:

http://www.eduplace.com/eservices

The Teacher Username for second grade is cobbstudent2 and the password is password.

I hope your child will use this to share what they are learning or help them review their knowledge before tests.  We are studying about the Creek Indians and will learn about the Cherokee Indians next week.  We read about the Creek Nation starting on page 30 today.  The students really enjoyed the picture depicting a Creek village!

September 2008

It was so good to see everybody at Open House.  Thank you so much for taking your time to learn about my class and my expectations.

We have been learning so much and working hard in class.

Language Arts

We began reading groups this week and they are progressing well.  Ask your child about the book that they are currently reading.  We also worked on long "e" spelling patterns, "ou" and "ow" spelling patterns, and began to learn what idioms are and how they are used in our English language.  Here is a Sitton Spelling website that could be helpful to your child to help him/her practice the basic spelling words.

http://school.elps.k12.mi.us/donley/classrooms/berry/sitton_spelling_activities/2ndgrade_spelling/core_word_units.htm

During our writing time the students have enjoyed writing stories in Writers Workshop.  They have really enjoyed having their stories cut out into shape books.  They have also completed their first "Write From the Beginning" story by watching me model the process of using Thinking Maps to organize my writing.

Encourage your children to read 15 minutes every night and record the chapters and/or books that they are reading on their September Reading Logs that were given to you at Open House.

Math

We began our week by giving a post check for Chapter 3 covering surveys, tally tables, bar graphs, and their uses.  Please look for these in your child's Friday Folder.  We have begun Chapter 4 which includes multiple addition strategies ( doubles, doubles plus one, counting on) along with the Commutative and Identity property.  Encourage your child to use the Math Magician website given at Open House to help your child improve their math facts.

http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/Mathmagician/cathymath.html

Social Studies

We have been learning for the last three weeks about the five regions of Georgia and the eight major rivers in Georgia.  To complete this unit, the students created salt maps of the state of Georgia.  Look for these coming home in the near future.  We will begin our new unit on the Creek and Cherokee Native Americans.  We would welcome any information that you or your child would be willing to share to enrich our unit.

Vocabulary Words For The Next Two Weeks

The vocabulary words are covered in class.  These are provided for your information only.

Native Americans

Creek

Cherokee

Muskeegee

history

plaza

natural resources

round house

council house

artifact

trade

ceremony

Sequoyah

Special Thank you

Thank you to Mrs. Simmons for typing our Class Directory.  Please return those on Monday so that I can send our final copy home.  Thank you to Mrs. Venter who came into Writers Workshop to help students cut out their shape books.  I can't do it without you!

Special Request:  We really need playground equipment.  Mrs. Simmons sent in chalk that the children are really enjoying, but we could really use playground balls and jump ropes too.