CLICK HERE FOR A GREAT SITE WITH LOTS OF FRACTION PRACTICE!!
Scroll down to the Fraction section.....
Spelling City - Type in Grezlik
Monday, March 12, 2012
Thursday, March 8, 2012
New Adventures Near and Far
Today, we mailed our "flat selves" around the world. As we finished up the first Flat Stanley book today (about a boy flattened, origianlly, by a bulletin board who goes on adventures around the world traveling by mail), we prepared our envelope for delivery. Boy, do I wish I had a video on some of the envelopes after the kids licked the adhesive strip! They had just come back from lunch, but you would think some kids hadn't eaten all day by how chewed up these envelopes got from the licking! 
I told them they needed more envelope licking experience so don't be surprised if they ask to write letters the old fashioned way! We are all very excited about the adventures our "flat selves" are going on. We are sending letters to Texas, Minnesota, Australia, India, and more wonderful places!! Some of us are traveling only a short distance, like to a different neighborhood in Aurora, but we are still looking forward to the letters we will get back and the activities we will do with our friends and family.
As I sit and write this post, I am listening to both of my daughters cough miserably! This weather has not done us any favors on the homefront! One has a terrible hacking cough and the other is having asthma attacks. I, unforunately, am hearing the same noises in the classroom. With these extreme changes in the weather, the kids need to be reminded constantly to cover mouths when coughing or sneezing. Also, due to all the sickness, we have depleted our supply of tissues again. I know some of you have already donated an extra box in January, but if anyone hasn't contributed an extra box - it would be most appreciated!!
In reading, we are beginning our study of community helpers and careers. We are reading a story about a mailman named Curtis. We will do an activity where the kids will study different jobs and teach the class about what they have learned. You can expect an optional activity coming home next week for those kids interested. They will interview someone at home about the job they have and how they went about getting it. It can be the job you are in currently or any previous job. The kids will love hearing about all the different jobs they have to choose from. Thanks for participating in any way!
The kids have really enjoyed our water cycle unit so far! We've been learning about evaporation, condensation, and precipitation. We came up with some fun moves to demonstrate each part of the cycle. We set up some containers of water in different places around the room to see if different places can affect the rate of evaporation. Also, we've been sharing some amazing facts about water! Ask your child to tell you a few, like:
How much water do we use when showering?
How much water is used to build one car?
How much water should we drink in one day?
How much of the earth is water?
In computers, the kids have been enjoying learning how to use text boxes in their documents. We've been focusing on how to use the text features of textbooks, careful not to skim over the important pictures, captions, tables, and maps that accompany the text in our important reading. This practice will serve them well in the higher grades. Manipulating text boxes gives them an understanding of how publishers and authors display work and sue creative ways to share information.
I hope all the Young Sons who are going on the "campout" tonight enjoy themselves!! Have a great weekend, everyone!
I told them they needed more envelope licking experience so don't be surprised if they ask to write letters the old fashioned way! We are all very excited about the adventures our "flat selves" are going on. We are sending letters to Texas, Minnesota, Australia, India, and more wonderful places!! Some of us are traveling only a short distance, like to a different neighborhood in Aurora, but we are still looking forward to the letters we will get back and the activities we will do with our friends and family.
As I sit and write this post, I am listening to both of my daughters cough miserably! This weather has not done us any favors on the homefront! One has a terrible hacking cough and the other is having asthma attacks. I, unforunately, am hearing the same noises in the classroom. With these extreme changes in the weather, the kids need to be reminded constantly to cover mouths when coughing or sneezing. Also, due to all the sickness, we have depleted our supply of tissues again. I know some of you have already donated an extra box in January, but if anyone hasn't contributed an extra box - it would be most appreciated!!
In reading, we are beginning our study of community helpers and careers. We are reading a story about a mailman named Curtis. We will do an activity where the kids will study different jobs and teach the class about what they have learned. You can expect an optional activity coming home next week for those kids interested. They will interview someone at home about the job they have and how they went about getting it. It can be the job you are in currently or any previous job. The kids will love hearing about all the different jobs they have to choose from. Thanks for participating in any way!
The kids have really enjoyed our water cycle unit so far! We've been learning about evaporation, condensation, and precipitation. We came up with some fun moves to demonstrate each part of the cycle. We set up some containers of water in different places around the room to see if different places can affect the rate of evaporation. Also, we've been sharing some amazing facts about water! Ask your child to tell you a few, like:
How much water do we use when showering?
How much water is used to build one car?
How much water should we drink in one day?
How much of the earth is water?
In computers, the kids have been enjoying learning how to use text boxes in their documents. We've been focusing on how to use the text features of textbooks, careful not to skim over the important pictures, captions, tables, and maps that accompany the text in our important reading. This practice will serve them well in the higher grades. Manipulating text boxes gives them an understanding of how publishers and authors display work and sue creative ways to share information.
I hope all the Young Sons who are going on the "campout" tonight enjoy themselves!! Have a great weekend, everyone!
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Happy Valentine's Day!
A few reminders for next week:
Monday, Feb. 20 - no school for President's Day
Tuesday, Feb. 21 - no school for Parent/Teacher Conferences (Conference letters went home a couple weeks ago)
Friday, Feb. 24 - Daddy/Daughter Dance (remember to turn in your "dancing shoes!")
We have been working on being more responsible in 2G. We have had many class meeting recently about recess and classroom behavior. We have spent much time discussing how to get along and compromise with friends, as well as using kind words and voices with each other. It has taken us a long time to get our green chips filled for Class Reward. Talking and not following directions has been an issue, as well. This results in turning cards, so please be sure to check and sign your child's homework sheet nightly.
Speaking of the homework sheet, the expectation is that your child reads 20 minutes every night and list one title they read. While reading material is sometimes sent home, your child should always have something new to read (not read the same thing every night). If you find that you don't have materials to read at home, please email and I will be sure some materials go home. Also, your child is to write down a title of a book they read each night. Your child should write it, taking ownership and responsibility for this task. Also, we've talked about your child putting his or her OWN name on their work. Again, this helps them take some responsibility and pride in the work they did. Please make this your expectation as well. There are consequences if your child does not do this part of their homework, such as missing Fun Friday or recess.
On a positive note, the majority of the class is moving right along through the subtraction facts (some are even working on multiplication tables)! Be sure to allow your child time to work with an adult on this most nights of the week. 5 minutes is all it should take to work with the subtraction cards! If your child hesitates for more than 3 seconds, tell them the fact and have them repeat the whole fact 3 times. Lay it in a separate pile to bring up again after the full rotation of cards. This should not take long, but it makes a HUGE difference.
Enjoy your Valentine's Day! I will make sure your child feels loved and cared for today at school!
Monday, Feb. 20 - no school for President's Day
Tuesday, Feb. 21 - no school for Parent/Teacher Conferences (Conference letters went home a couple weeks ago)
Friday, Feb. 24 - Daddy/Daughter Dance (remember to turn in your "dancing shoes!")
We have been working on being more responsible in 2G. We have had many class meeting recently about recess and classroom behavior. We have spent much time discussing how to get along and compromise with friends, as well as using kind words and voices with each other. It has taken us a long time to get our green chips filled for Class Reward. Talking and not following directions has been an issue, as well. This results in turning cards, so please be sure to check and sign your child's homework sheet nightly.
Speaking of the homework sheet, the expectation is that your child reads 20 minutes every night and list one title they read. While reading material is sometimes sent home, your child should always have something new to read (not read the same thing every night). If you find that you don't have materials to read at home, please email and I will be sure some materials go home. Also, your child is to write down a title of a book they read each night. Your child should write it, taking ownership and responsibility for this task. Also, we've talked about your child putting his or her OWN name on their work. Again, this helps them take some responsibility and pride in the work they did. Please make this your expectation as well. There are consequences if your child does not do this part of their homework, such as missing Fun Friday or recess.
On a positive note, the majority of the class is moving right along through the subtraction facts (some are even working on multiplication tables)! Be sure to allow your child time to work with an adult on this most nights of the week. 5 minutes is all it should take to work with the subtraction cards! If your child hesitates for more than 3 seconds, tell them the fact and have them repeat the whole fact 3 times. Lay it in a separate pile to bring up again after the full rotation of cards. This should not take long, but it makes a HUGE difference.
Enjoy your Valentine's Day! I will make sure your child feels loved and cared for today at school!
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Our Trip to Metea!
We enjoyed our first field trip last week, venturing to Metea Valley High School to see the bilingual author, Antonio Sacre. We spent some time reading his books and talking about learning different languages. We learned some Spanish, too! Do you remember what hermana, abuelo, or gato mean? Here are some pictures!
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Super Math Sites
Some parents have been emailing me for ways to help their child prepare for the Accelerated Math test next month. All second graders take this test to determine the best placement for math in third grade. I have included links to great math websites in the margin of my blog for this purpose (Advanced Math Sites). Some have printable tests that you can sit with your child and work on together, some are online games you can have your child do independently and check their progress. The 2nd Grade Math Sites section also has great online sites for practice (although the kids have a sneaky way of finding the games that are more entertaining than educational!). I hope this helps those of you looking for additional practice at home.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
We're going to have a WHALE of a time!
We are learning about WHALES!! I am learning things I never knew about whales this week. Tomorrow, the kids will work on something called a webquest. This is like a scavenger hunt using links on the web. They will look for specific information about the whale they are assigned to research! I think they will really enjoy this experience, since we'll be using the laptops and there will be a few parents to help out (so I am not running around like a crazy person!). The goal is to read for information, organize the information on a research sheet, and make a plan for how to share this information with the class.
Today was very exciting, for many reasons! First, we had a terrific assembly called The Wright Brothers. There were two men who told the story of how the Wright brothers came up with the idea for the airplane. They sang some great songs and were very good singers!! I thoroughly enjoyed it!! The kids came back and wrote paragraphs about what they learned. There were some really great facts used in our paragraphs.
Another exciting part of our day was the work we did with multiplication. We started talking about multiplication yesterday. For some, this is a beginning skill. For others, this is developing. The most important thing to focus on is that multiplication is not a scary new idea...it is just repeated addition. We have started this concept with understanding an array (rows with equal numbers of objects). Today's homework included thinking about multiple packages of things. One way you can help at home is to take the opportunity to turn everyday things at home into a multiplication problem. Do you have a box of granola bard at home? If there are 12 in that box, how many would be in two boxes? Did you buy a pack of gum? How many pieces are in one pack? How many would be in 3? Stress that to solve these problems, you would just add a number a certain number of times. We are working on the answer being called the product.
We continue to work on learning cursive handwriting. So far, we have worked on cursive i, t, u w, r, and s. Which one do you think would be the hardest to learn?
That is some of the news for today! Thanks again for all the donations of pencils and tissues!
Today was very exciting, for many reasons! First, we had a terrific assembly called The Wright Brothers. There were two men who told the story of how the Wright brothers came up with the idea for the airplane. They sang some great songs and were very good singers!! I thoroughly enjoyed it!! The kids came back and wrote paragraphs about what they learned. There were some really great facts used in our paragraphs.
Another exciting part of our day was the work we did with multiplication. We started talking about multiplication yesterday. For some, this is a beginning skill. For others, this is developing. The most important thing to focus on is that multiplication is not a scary new idea...it is just repeated addition. We have started this concept with understanding an array (rows with equal numbers of objects). Today's homework included thinking about multiple packages of things. One way you can help at home is to take the opportunity to turn everyday things at home into a multiplication problem. Do you have a box of granola bard at home? If there are 12 in that box, how many would be in two boxes? Did you buy a pack of gum? How many pieces are in one pack? How many would be in 3? Stress that to solve these problems, you would just add a number a certain number of times. We are working on the answer being called the product.
We continue to work on learning cursive handwriting. So far, we have worked on cursive i, t, u w, r, and s. Which one do you think would be the hardest to learn?
That is some of the news for today! Thanks again for all the donations of pencils and tissues!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)