Week of October 1st

Happy Monday! This week we have Conference Day and I am very excited to meet with you guys. Please check your time on the Conference Day tab up top! We are also excited and proud to announce that we collected 1,000 pencils! Thank you to everyone who helped us meet this goal! It is so very exciting to know that we will help impact the lives of students.

In math this week we will be working on the following skills:

• Doubles Facts
• Turn Around Facts
• Addition Strategies That Use Doubles Facts
• Subtraction from Addition

Please use the fact family triangles that your child will bring home this week as flashcards that you can use with your child or they can use independently. Recall of addition and subtraction facts is very important! They should be able to recall these facts quickly and without the use of their fingers. Please also remember that there are numerous sites linked on the side of my blog that provide additional resources for math facts/skills practice.

Here are some of the 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.

In Reading Workshop this week, your child started using their Reader’s Notebook as well as their Reader’s Toolkit. I am so proud of the work they are doing as readers and hope to tell you about it some on Conference Day. We are also talking this week about making predictions when we read. This is a great skill/strategy that you can do with your kids at home.

Last week in Science we did an experiment called: Where Did the Water Go? In the previous lesson, the students observed an ice cube as it changed from a solid to a liquid. In this lesson, the students observed and discussed how water evaporates into the air as it changes from a liquid to a gas. This lesson helped to reinforce that cycles are an integral part of science. These observations align with that of the water cycle. In short, the students had a small cup of room temperature water, and a small cup of warm water. They covered each small cup with a larger cup and watched as condensation formed on the cup covering the smaller cup containing the warm water. It was amazing to watch. The kids were glued to the cups waiting for the “change” to occur. As they started to visibly notice changes, they couldn’t contain their excitement. They discussed what they saw and also drew and wrote observations in their science journal.

On Friday this week, we will get to work in the garden! Please send with your child a shirt that they can get dirty (preferably a bigger one that would go over their uniform) and gloves if you have them. Please do not feel that you need to go and buy gardening gloves. We can share and many kids prefer to get their hands dirty!

In Writing Workshop, we are continuing our study of Small Moment Personal Narratives. We are working on publishing our first story! The students are doing a great job editing and revising their stories. I know they are excited to share them!

Current Events:

Last week your child received a new October Current Events Calendar. One will stay in their folder and the other one you can take and hang it wherever you need to in order to remember! Due to some "scheduling conflicts" in October, your child may have a different day of the week than last month. Please remember this is part of your child's homework grade. They LOVE getting up and sharing with their friends.

Have a wonderful week!