Gung-Hey-Fat-Choy Parents!
Happy Year of the Dragon! This week we will be wrapping up our Science Unit on Weather! Today you will receiving a weather project to help me ensure that your student understands all of the weather vocabulary and concepts discussed in our unit. This will also enable you to measure their understanding as many of these concepts will be reviewed in later grades. Also, it will help keep things fresh in their heads for our Meteorologist visit on Wednesday at 2:30pm. Please encourage your child to have a good question or two to ask him when he visits.
In Reading we are taking a dive back into Fiction books. Of course, with the "Cafe" your child can choose fiction or non-fiction books to read during our Literacy time but for the next nine weeks we will be focusing our energies on Author's Purpose and writing detailed summaries of the stories that we read as well as making connections. The important thing is for your student to be able to go back to the story and pull out specific details to support their thinking. The easiest way for you to help your student is to encourage them to read each night and then model connections that you have with the text. For example, if your child read Cinderella then you could share about the first time that you read the book or share how you felt like Cinderella when you got married...anything like that. As for writing, in the coming weeks we will begin writing our personal narrative. For the time being though, I will push your child to use proper spacing, punctuation, and capitalization. We are also trying to "decimating" the overused words in our writing and attempting to use more eloquent words. Your child was given a personal dictionary to help with this.
Mathematically speaking, your student is reviewing the basics of graphing for this week. We are reexamining pictographs and all of their features (title, key, named columns, etc) and practicing creating our own. We will also be creating bar graphs and comparing the different uses for different graphs. You will find one homework assignment about bar graphs where they will have to create their own measuring objects in the kitchen. If you have any questions please email me.
Wish List
Since it is already the middle of the year we are beginning to run out of things in the classroom. If anyone would like to donate the following items to the class all of the Heroes would be grateful. We could use:
-colored expo markers
--notebook paper
-#8 pencils (nothing fancy)
-crayons
Important Dates
*Healthy Hunter will be sending home an announcement next
week...get ready for some heart healthy information about
Healthy Heart Month & find out ways to keep your student from
becoming sweeter around Valentines Day.
*Readathon begins on TOMORROW!
*One Hunter Family Night is Friday, January 27th starting at 4pm for the students and 5 pm for the parents.
*Yearbook orders can be sent in by February 15th for the early bird price of $14, after that the price goes up to $17.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
January 17th-20th
Happy Chinese New Year!
Well, not really. Chinese New Year is this coming Sunday (January 22nd) but we are learning about this tradition all week as part of our Language Arts integration with Social Studies. Today in class we read Lion Dancer: Ernie Wan's Chinese New Year. Please ask your child what this non-fiction book was about. We will continue to research this topic over the course of the week. These leads me to our first "webquest" of the year which is completely optional. In an effort to motivate and excite your student I will be posting webquests at least twice a month through the blog (The webquests will of course still be available to students who do not check the blog but will require them going to the bookmark). Have your student click on this link: http://www.infoplease.com/spot/chinesenewyear1.html and read about Chinese year. Once they have read about Chinese New Year (and taken the quiz at the bottom if they like;) then please have your student go to https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dGtGRlVGOTVfUVlkWVBZR3p2MVU4U1E6MQ and complete four questions about the Webquest. As this is the first one of the year and I am trying to familiarize myself with google.docs please be patient with it being "rough around the edges." Hopefully, in a few weeks in will be very engaging.
Aside from this new development, the rest of this short week will be action packed with our brand new electives, 2nd Quarter Math Assessments, Running Record Literacy Assessments, and Weather Science Experiments. Don't forget that next Wednesday we will be having a celebrity Meteorogist visit the 2nd grade to talk to your child about weather.
The word of the week is illusory which means deceptive, based on an illusion. Please encourage your child to use this word as well as last weeks word "emulate" to drum up their language skills. In a related note, Noah Anderson made it to the 9th round of the School Wide Spelling Bee! All of the Heroes are especially proud of this young man so be sure to give him a high-five if you see him in the hallways!
Other important things:
*The PTA Book Exchange is this Friday. Please have any books that you wish to donate turned in by tomorrow. So far I have recieved about 8 books. Remember that any gently used books that you wish to donate will be welcomed regardless of difficulty level!
*There is No School on Monday, January 23rd as it is a Teacher Workday
*Readathon begins on Tuesday, January 24th.
*One Hunter Family Night is Friday, January 27th starting at 4pm for the students and 5 pm for the parents.
*Yearbook orders can be sent in by February 15th for the early bird price of $14, after that the price goes up to $17 (an extra $3, which as we all know can be used toward a CookOut Milkshake:)
Well, not really. Chinese New Year is this coming Sunday (January 22nd) but we are learning about this tradition all week as part of our Language Arts integration with Social Studies. Today in class we read Lion Dancer: Ernie Wan's Chinese New Year. Please ask your child what this non-fiction book was about. We will continue to research this topic over the course of the week. These leads me to our first "webquest" of the year which is completely optional. In an effort to motivate and excite your student I will be posting webquests at least twice a month through the blog (The webquests will of course still be available to students who do not check the blog but will require them going to the bookmark). Have your student click on this link: http://www.infoplease.com/spot/chinesenewyear1.html and read about Chinese year. Once they have read about Chinese New Year (and taken the quiz at the bottom if they like;) then please have your student go to https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dGtGRlVGOTVfUVlkWVBZR3p2MVU4U1E6MQ and complete four questions about the Webquest. As this is the first one of the year and I am trying to familiarize myself with google.docs please be patient with it being "rough around the edges." Hopefully, in a few weeks in will be very engaging.
Aside from this new development, the rest of this short week will be action packed with our brand new electives, 2nd Quarter Math Assessments, Running Record Literacy Assessments, and Weather Science Experiments. Don't forget that next Wednesday we will be having a celebrity Meteorogist visit the 2nd grade to talk to your child about weather.
The word of the week is illusory which means deceptive, based on an illusion. Please encourage your child to use this word as well as last weeks word "emulate" to drum up their language skills. In a related note, Noah Anderson made it to the 9th round of the School Wide Spelling Bee! All of the Heroes are especially proud of this young man so be sure to give him a high-five if you see him in the hallways!
Other important things:
*The PTA Book Exchange is this Friday. Please have any books that you wish to donate turned in by tomorrow. So far I have recieved about 8 books. Remember that any gently used books that you wish to donate will be welcomed regardless of difficulty level!
*There is No School on Monday, January 23rd as it is a Teacher Workday
*Readathon begins on Tuesday, January 24th.
*One Hunter Family Night is Friday, January 27th starting at 4pm for the students and 5 pm for the parents.
*Yearbook orders can be sent in by February 15th for the early bird price of $14, after that the price goes up to $17 (an extra $3, which as we all know can be used toward a CookOut Milkshake:)
Monday, January 9, 2012
January 9th-13th!
Hello Parents and Heroes!
It is the second week of the new year and already we have a full list of exciting things! On Friday, our class will celebrate having earned 1,000 star tickets by watching a student selected video and playing a movie comprehension trivia game. This activity should fit perfectly with our Early Release Day schedule, remember that school ends at 1:15pm on Friday. Also, we are registering for our new electives tomorrow! Our new electives will start on Tuesday, January 17th.
A quick run-down of our lessons this week include: reading a variety of Non-fiction texts about Gandhi & Martin Luther King Jr. (while answering "How," "Why," and "What if" questions regarding them). We will also be exploring weather (and air pressure) through a variety of science experiments this week, please be sure to ask your student each day what they have done in class to learn about weather. For writing we will begin practicing using contractions/apostrophes in our writing. In case it's been a while since you've reviewed the rules of apostrophes here is a quick crash course: Rule 1-Use the apostrophe with contractions. The apostrophe is always placed at the spot where the letter(s) has been removed. Rule 2-Use the apostrophe to show possession. Place the apostrophe before the s to show singular possession. Rule 3-Use the apostrophe where the noun that should follow is implied. Example: This was his father's, not his, jacket. Rule 4-To show plural possession, make the noun plural first. Then immediately use the apostrophe. Example: two children's hats. Rule 5-Do not use an apostrophe for the plural of a name. Rule 6-Use the apostrophe and s after the second name only if two people possess the same item. Example: Cesar and Maribel's home is constructed of redwood. Rule 7-Never use an apostrophe with possessive pronouns: his, hers, its, theirs, ours, yours, whose. They already show possession so they do not require an apostrophe. Rule 8-The only time an apostrophe is used for it's is when it is a contraction for it is or it has. I hope that these reminders help you and your child. Finally, in Math we will be wrapping up our short unit on time this week and taking a brief quiz. The NCSCOS says that your child should be able to tell time to within 5 minutes but I will continue to challenge your student to tell time to the minute for the rest of the year. Please try to quiz your student throughout the year to monitor their understanding of telling time, after all...it is a life-skill. I would also like to take this time to introduce our "Word of the Week" which is emulate. Please challenge your child to tell you the meaning of the word and to use it in a sentence at some point in the week.
Finally, please be sure to look over all of the information inside your son or daughter's Monday Folder. There is a lot of information from the PTA coming home today. Some items include the book trade which will be occuring next Friday, Readathon, and the One Hunter Family Night. I've listed some of the dates below.---------------------Important Dates------------------------------
January 13th-Early Release at 1:15pm
January 16th-NO SCHOOL!!!
January 20th-PTA Book Exchange
January 24th-Read-a-thon Begins
January 26th-One Hunter Family Night
February 13th-Healthy Hunter Challenge Begins
It is the second week of the new year and already we have a full list of exciting things! On Friday, our class will celebrate having earned 1,000 star tickets by watching a student selected video and playing a movie comprehension trivia game. This activity should fit perfectly with our Early Release Day schedule, remember that school ends at 1:15pm on Friday. Also, we are registering for our new electives tomorrow! Our new electives will start on Tuesday, January 17th.
A quick run-down of our lessons this week include: reading a variety of Non-fiction texts about Gandhi & Martin Luther King Jr. (while answering "How," "Why," and "What if" questions regarding them). We will also be exploring weather (and air pressure) through a variety of science experiments this week, please be sure to ask your student each day what they have done in class to learn about weather. For writing we will begin practicing using contractions/apostrophes in our writing. In case it's been a while since you've reviewed the rules of apostrophes here is a quick crash course: Rule 1-Use the apostrophe with contractions. The apostrophe is always placed at the spot where the letter(s) has been removed. Rule 2-Use the apostrophe to show possession. Place the apostrophe before the s to show singular possession. Rule 3-Use the apostrophe where the noun that should follow is implied. Example: This was his father's, not his, jacket. Rule 4-To show plural possession, make the noun plural first. Then immediately use the apostrophe. Example: two children's hats. Rule 5-Do not use an apostrophe for the plural of a name. Rule 6-Use the apostrophe and s after the second name only if two people possess the same item. Example: Cesar and Maribel's home is constructed of redwood. Rule 7-Never use an apostrophe with possessive pronouns: his, hers, its, theirs, ours, yours, whose. They already show possession so they do not require an apostrophe. Rule 8-The only time an apostrophe is used for it's is when it is a contraction for it is or it has. I hope that these reminders help you and your child. Finally, in Math we will be wrapping up our short unit on time this week and taking a brief quiz. The NCSCOS says that your child should be able to tell time to within 5 minutes but I will continue to challenge your student to tell time to the minute for the rest of the year. Please try to quiz your student throughout the year to monitor their understanding of telling time, after all...it is a life-skill. I would also like to take this time to introduce our "Word of the Week" which is emulate. Please challenge your child to tell you the meaning of the word and to use it in a sentence at some point in the week.
Finally, please be sure to look over all of the information inside your son or daughter's Monday Folder. There is a lot of information from the PTA coming home today. Some items include the book trade which will be occuring next Friday, Readathon, and the One Hunter Family Night. I've listed some of the dates below.---------------------Important Dates------------------------------
January 13th-Early Release at 1:15pm
January 16th-NO SCHOOL!!!
January 20th-PTA Book Exchange
January 24th-Read-a-thon Begins
January 26th-One Hunter Family Night
February 13th-Healthy Hunter Challenge Begins
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
January 3rd-6th 2012
January 3, 2012
Hello Students and Parents,
Welcome to the very first week of the new year! This month is full of items such as our PBIS “Dance In” this Friday from 10-10:45am. Please be sure to read all of the items at the bottom of the page to ensure that you don’t miss a beat at Hunter Elementary. This month will also be full of assessments for your student. This week will be conducting assessments on AIMsWeb to measure the growth rate of the your child in regards to Math Facts and Reading Fluency. Your child will also have their 2nd Quarter Math Assessment, and possibly a writing/running record assessment. Due to that fact the homework for this month may seem rather light. It will gear up again in February but for the rest of this month please make sure that your student gets plenty of rest each night and a warm hug as they leave each morning. This two factors can dramatically increase the testing ability of your child.
In Reading/Writing continuing to work on making connections across texts as well as reading non-fiction books. In writing we are creating “how to books” regarding non-fiction topic. With regard to foundations we are discussing multi-syllable words with vowel pairs ai, ay, ow, ou, ee, ea, oa (i.e., tailor, crayon, roasting) as well as working on memorizing our 125-150 HFSW. Please make sure that your student is practicing them at least once a week.
Scientifically speaking, we are beginning our Unit on Weather this week and will continue through the end of January. The class will analyze the changes in matter that occur in nature (the water cycle) as well as discuss weather terms. We even have a special meteorologist visiting our grade sometime soon!
In Math, we are working on a short unit dealing with time. The 2nd Grade Standard Course of Study mandates that your child should be fluent in reading a clock to the hour, half/quarter hour, and in increments of 5 minutes. I challenge each of my students to be able to read a clock accurately to the minute. Please encourage your student in this life-skill at home using both digital and analog clocks.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------NEWS------------------
January 17th-M.L.K Jr. Holiday (no school)
January 21st-End of the 2nd Quarter
January 24th-Teacher Workday (no school for students)
January 31st-2nd Quarter Report Cards sent home
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