April 19th thru April 23rd

Hello Parents & Students!

     Spring break is only 8 days away!  Can you believe it?  However, please don’t catch “Spring Fever”  even if tomorrow is the 1^st day of Spring, we still have a lot of work to do and a whole Quarter of school left!  This week we do not have electives as it is elective down week.  Next week will be the start of our 4^th Quarter Electives.  Also, I want to send a HUGE SHOUT OUT to Mrs. O’Brien and her daughter McKenna for helping us on Friday with our St. Patrick’s Day crafts.  We would not have finished our blarney stones or our Leprechaun Marionettes without their help.  I also want to thank Mrs. Jones for sending in some card-stock!  The Heroes would not be as heroic without all of our wonderful families and their support!
Reading/Writing-We are continuing to learn about some amazing women that have impacted our world.  This week we are going to learn about explorer Mary Kingsly, author Amy Tan, model/philanthropist Christy Turlington, astronaut Ellen Ochoa, and diplomat/author/figure skater Michelle Kwan.  Please encourage your son or daughter to seek out other famous women who have helped to impact the world. 
     In Writers Workshop this week, we will continue to ask ourselves "How did this person's actions verify or belie their beliefs" as well as express "Would the world have been a better or worse place had that person not behaved in the way that they did?  Your student will be given the opportunity to express their opinion and to support that opinion with facts from what they have read.  We will also wrap-up our fantasy writing where we write about meeting a Leprechaun!  I have read some terrific stories so far and hope to see some more.  Please ask your child how their writing is going each day when they come home.  I can tell you that we are indenting about 95% of the time and using capital letters and punctuation marks 99% of the time.  Those 3^rd Grade teachers are going to be ecstatic next year!
Math-Your student (if they are in my classroom for Math) will be taking another math preassessment this week to see if they qualify for math enrichment.  The results should be available by the end of next week.  We will also continue to work on our 3-digit addition and subtraction strategies.  This week we are working with three-digit addition/subtraction problems that involve missing addends.  An example is “Nevaeh has 5 boxes of stamps.  Each box contains 100 stamps.  If she mails letters to her friends and has 132 stamps left, how many letters did she send?  The equation would be 500 (solved by 100+100+100+100+100=500) minus ?=132.  So to solve the equation the student would subtract 123 from 500 and find the missing addend. 

     Also, next week we will begin taking the quarterly math assessment.  Please make sure that your child gets a good rest each and every night as well as a hearty breakfast.  
Science-We have wrapped our Science Unit on Matter.  You may still see one or two experiments come home over the next quarter to reiterate the learning that we did so don’t be alarmed.  Your child will continue to study matter next year under the Common Core although the experiments will be different.  Please keep this in mind when you are thinking about activities to do this summerJ

Social Studies-Your student will be jumping headlong into Geography this week and next.  We will be learning states along the East and West Coast (COW’s live on the West Coast-California, Oregon, Washington) as well as the states in our country’s interior.  We will be learning a lot more than that though.  Your student will learn geographic terms such as peninsula, isthmus, island, and strait to name a few.  You will see a short project coming home today which will be due next Thursday.  This project can easily be done in one to two hours however homework for the next two weeks will be at a minimum to allow your child plenty of time to complete it.  If you need any supplies please let me know.  I am more than willing to give your child construction paper, crayons, etc.  Also, if time is a factor please know that your child can work on it during lunch,  inside recess, or as part of their morning work.       
News for the Week

      *Science Night is March 28th (the Wednesday before Spring Break) at 5:30pm
     *March 30th is a Teacher Workday!
     *Spring Conference Sign-Ups are coming home today!  Please sign up for 3 spots and rank them 1st, 2nd, 3rd choice so that I can hope to accommodate you.
     *Spring Break is April 2nd-6th.  We will see you back on April 9th!
     *The Healthy Hunter Challenge for the week is to EAT HEALTHY! 

     Have a great week!

                                         Mr. H

March 12th-16th

Hello Parents & Students!

     What a week we have in store, let me tell you!  Please be sure to read the entire blog as there are many details and dates that you may miss out on if you just skim it.  Also, here is a link that you and your student may find helpful to learn about other famous women that have shaped our world  http://www.women-scientists-in-history.com/historia.html I hope that you find it helpful and full of fun facts!  I know that I have!

Reading/Writing-This week we will continue to learn about some remarkable ladies that have impacted the world.  So far, you should have heard about Annie Oakley, Marie Antoinette, Amelia Earhart, Zora Neal Hurston, Anne Frank, and Marian Anderson.  It was refreshing to have so many writers and artists to learn about and the overwhelming message is how young, old, beautiful, or plain...everyone can make a difference if they choose to.  As such, we will continue to learn about some more exciting ladies this week.  On the agenda are:  Dolly Madison, Joan Baez, Mother Theresa, and Mary Todd Lincoln.  We will be taking a short sidebar on "the Ides of March" to learn about another historical figure who helped shape the world and the lady by his side, well in Egypt anyway. 
     For the writing component this week, we will be asking ourselves "How did this person's actions verify or belie their beliefs" as well as express "Would the world have been a better or worse place had that person not behaved in the way that they did?  Your student will be given the opportunity to express their opinion and to support that opinion with facts from what they have read.  We will also be working on a fantasy writing where we meet a Leprechaun!  All in all, it should be a fun and exciting week in the world of writing!

Math-Your student (if they are in my classroom for Math) will be wrapping up their second Geometry unit for the year this week and take a quick assessment on Tuesday.  Please make sure that your student gets plenty of rest.  On Wednesday, we will be jumping into our next unit in Expressions which will deal with three (3) digit addition and subtraction.  While this may sound a little scary, most of the numbers that your child will be working with will be under 750 and will generally involve subtracting/adding a single or double digit number with a triple digit number.  (ex. 749-32= or 438+32=) The expectation now is that your child has an understanding of their math facts (7+7=14) and can QUICKLY compute basic addition and subtraction.  Please make sure that if your child is not quickly adding/subtracting one digit numbers that they spend an extra 5-10 minutes a night working on this skill.  I promise you, if your child has not mastered this skill by the end of the year then they will have a difficult time in 3rd grade when they are exposed to multiplication.

Science-By now, you have probably been wondering about all of the bizarre things your child has told you about matter.  Such as, "Did you know that Splenda dissolves faster in room temperature water than Equal and Sweet and Low?  We have been mixing gravel, salt, water, tissue paper, and a whole lot of other things in our science class last week and will continue to do so this week.  The matter unit will be leaving the 2nd grade next year (due to common core) but will always live in your child's heart due to all of the fun applications that is has with everyday activities.  Please continue to encourage your child to explore endothermic and exothermic experiments at home (with supervision of course) as well as anything matter related.  Science is an adventure in learning that never has to end, although we only have 50 minutes to devote to it in class.    

News for the Week

     *3rd Quarter Electives end this Thursday.
     *Friday (the 16th) is an EARLY RELEASE
     *The Heroes will be having a St. Patrick's Day Activity Day on Friday, if you wish to help out or volunteer please let me know.  I can work with your schedule (anytime after 10:45am).  We still have lunch from 11:05-11:35 on Friday but the Heroes can eat and work if that will allow you to help us with an activity.
     *Science Night is March 28th (the Wednesday before Spring Break) at 5:30pm
     *March 30th is a Teacher Workday!
     *Spring Conference Sign-Ups are coming home today!  Please sign up for 3 spots and rank them 1st, 2nd, 3rd choice so that I can hope to accommodate you.
     *Spring Break is April 2nd-6th.  We will see you back on April 9th!
     *Healthy Hunter Challenge is starting this week.  We are "Moving It" this week and Eating Healthier Food next week!

     Take Care!

                                      Mr. H

March 5th-9th

Hello Students & Parents,

     No doubt you heard about all the excitement last week.  Maleficent was declared innocent due to a lack of "concrete proof" (and a shock admission by her security chief) and the Cat in the Hat also swung by on Friday to spend the day with us.  This week is going to be just as exciting...because...Mr. Tom Birdseye is finally here!  This Tuesday you can meet him from 8am-9am and enjoy a bagel with this acclaimed author.  I was privileged to talk with him both Sunday and Monday and he has some terrific stories to tell you.  The students spent forty-five minutes with him today hearing about events in his life that have helped shape his stories.  Tomorrow, the students will have a workshop with Mr. Birdseye so please be looking for some exciting work samples to be heading home this week!
     There are also a lot of "happenings" in our academics this week.  We are beginning Unit 10 in Math which deals with Geometry.  Today and all this week we will be exploring congruent/similiar shapes as well as classifying shapes based on their characteristics.  This is a short unit but very important so please encourage your child to have their homework done each night so that we can go over it in class the next day. 
     In Spelling...a.k.a. Fundations we are going full force into Unit 7 featuring open syllables.  The most important thing to keep in mind with this unit is that open syllables are when the syllable ends with a vowel.  Up to this point most of our syllables have split in between two consonants.  Please also be sure that your student understands their long and short vowel sounds.  Last weeks spelling assessments are coming home today, I was pleased with all of the students performance but did notice how there was some difficulty regarding vowel sounds.  We are working very hard in class to correct this for the future but please help support me with this at home.
     In Reading/Writing this week we are working on writing imaginative texts!  Your child will be writing fantasy stories and specifically using fantastic details to capture their ideas.  In Reading, we will be analyzing the actions that character have made in the text and asking ourselves "what would I have done in that situation?" and "how can I apply that solution to my life?"  Both of these are very "higher level thinking questions" but questions that your child will be expected to answer under the new common core.  A great way that you can help at home is by modeling what you would do based on what you read.  For example, you could share how in Watch Out Jack, the Giant's Back by Tom Birdseye, Jack caused a lot of trouble by stealing the Giants' gold and harp.  You could mention how that is one reason why it is important not to take things from others. 
     Finally, in Science this week we are continuing to learn about Matter and the various mixtures that can be created through combining solids and liquids.  We will be attempting to seperate tissue from gravel and water (spoiler alert...it doesn't work well) as well as trying to melt solid water (ice) the fastest!  Be prepared for some funky homework parents!

                     Have a great week and please email me with any concerns,

                                                    Mr. H
Dont' Forget...
     *Next week is Healthy Hunter "Move It, Move It" week.  Be sure to stay active at home because we will be staying very active at school.
     *Next Friday (March 16th) is an Early Release Day.
     *Third Quarter Electives end NEXT THURSDAY! (March 15th)
     *Science Night is coming up on March 26th  at 5:30 pm.  (the Wednesday before Spring Break)