Week of October 3rd

What a gorgeous day it was today! The kids love this weather and are a lot less sweaty after PE and recess :). This week we have Conference Day and I am very excited to meet with you guys. Please check your time!

Here are some sites that I have linked on the side of my blog:

1. http://www.ixl.com/math/grade/second/ - This link provides a number of activities for the students to practice. The skills will increase in difficulty depending on how the child answers the questions. I have gone through the different categories and marked off the ones that your child could use additional practice on!

• Counting and Number Patterns (A.1 - A.12)
• Names of Numbers (C.1 - C.5)
• Addition - one digit (E.1 - E.4)
• Place Value (M.1 - M.6)
• Money (P.1 - P.15)
• Time (Q.1 - Q.16)
• Data and Graphs (some exposure good practice)
• Measurement (S.1 - S.2)
• Properties (K.1 - K.3)

2.http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/thats_a_fact/english_4_6.html This is a great
site to practice math facts!
3. http://www.starfall.com This is a great site that has a lot of language arts activities and reading selections. This site also has activities geared towards younger siblings!
4. http://www.aaaknow.com/grade2/htm This has a lot of different math categories and if you click on one and scroll down it will have a "practice" area which is a game.
5. http://www.mathfactcafe.com You can make worksheets and/or print already made worksheets for practice.
6. http://www.wildmath.com Fun games to practice addition facts!
7. http://www.eduplace.com/kids/hme/k_5/grammar/ Grammar Blast - fun games that work on different grammar skills.

Last week in Science we continued our study of changes. We investigated what happened when they mixed two substances. They created a mixture using two solids - salt and gravel. After describing each solid, they mixed them together in a cup. They recognized that the small grains of salt dispersed in the spaces between the pieces of gravel. They then separated the components of their mixtures using a sieve.

In Language Arts, we are continuing to work on making Predictions. This is something you can do with your child whenever you read with them. Read the title of the book, take a picture walk and make a prediction. Then read the story and see if your prediction was correct. The formula that we have been using in class is this: details from the story + what we know about real life = prediction(s). We will also be introducing singular and plural nouns this week. You will see this reinforced on their homework. This is following the work we did last week with nouns. We are also continuing to review sentence structure, commands, and statements. Our spelling words this week following the long a sound using ai, ay. I am so proud of how well they have been learning their "blue" words as well. The goal now is for them to spell those words correctly in their daily work.

Here is what we are studying in Math this week:

• Exploring weights, scales, and equal groups
• Name collections
• Frames and Arrows

Your kids do a great job coming to school "Dressed for Success". Please remember that this include their socks! No colored socks. Thank you.

At this morning's town meeting the 1st grade kicked off their service learning project. This year each grade will lead a service learning project that, if possible, will involve the entire lower division. The first grade is leading a donation drive for the SPCA and would love for every child in the lower division to bring in at least one donation on the SPCA's wish list. At the end of the month the 1st graders will load up all the donations and hand deliver them to the SPCA followed by a tour. Some easy donation items are dog & cat snacks, newspapers, paper towels, shoe boxes & towels!


For the complete list, here's the link to the SPCA Tampa Bay Wish List:

http://www.spcatampabay.org/page.aspx?pid=396 ]http://www.spcatampabay.org/page.aspx?pid=396


Thanks so much for your help to make a difference for this great organization!

I hope you have a wonderful week and I look forward to meeting with you!