Sunday, September 24, 2017

Fall is here!

Good Afternoon 2A!

I hope you're all enjoying this cooler weekend as much as I am! Molly and I have had a blast baking some fall treats and enjoying all the wonderful fall smells in the air. :)

Literature: Our reading of Charlotte's Web is coming to an end! We will read the last chapter on Monday and work on completing some work in our literature folders as a good review, including a Eulogy for Charlotte. Ask your child to retell you the end of the story...Chapter 21 was very sad for us all. We've grown to love the friendship between Charlotte and Wilbur. One of my favorite quotes from the story...

"Why did you do all this for me?" he asked. "I don't deserve it. I've never done anything for you." "You have been my friend," replied Charlotte. "That in itself is a tremendous thing. I wove my webs for you because I liked you. After all, what's a life, anyway? We're born, we live a little while, we die. A spider's life can't help being something of a mess, with all this trapping and eating flies. By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a trifle. Heaven knows anyone's life can stand a little of that." "Well," said Wilbur. "I'm no good at making speeches. I haven't got your gift for words. But you have saved me, Charlotte, and I would gladly give my life for you - I really would." 

Spalding: We will have 20 words next week since there is no school next Friday.
Monday: grant, soap, news, new, small, smaller, smallest, war, summer, above
Tuesday: express, turn, lesson, half, father, anything, table, high, June
Wednesday: Review grant-June
Please continue to reinforce handwriting and proper pencil grip at home. Please also review 15 phonograms a night. This link has all of the phonograms said and written.

Poetry: We will assess your child's recitation of Something Told the Wild Geese. See if they can recite it for you on the way to or from school to get some good practice in the car ride!

Grammar: Adjectives, Adverbs, and Article Adjectives will be reviewed next week. Ask your child if they know the jingles for these 3 parts of speech :-).
Adjective Jingle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFJHOrTvXjQ
Adverb Jingle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzv2BH-xdao
Article Adjective Jinglehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJbqt-LImEE

Writing: Our story excerpt next week comes from the The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. We are really working on answering in complete sentences!

Science: Can you believe that so far we have been lepidopterists (through studying butterflies), herpetologists (through learning frogs), and even ornithologists (when we learned about the life cycle of a chicken). We are continuing with our study on life cycles and growing into our next topic: the life cycle of a plant! We will be doing an experiment with a lima bean. Time to add botanist to our list!

Math: We will continue subtracting within 1000 where renaming occurs in both the tens and hundreds. We are also getting into more challenging word problems that require renaming. Keep a sharp eye out for a study guide on Wednesday night to review with your child for a test over subtraction on Thursday!


Just a note about math today (FRIDAY 9/22): We started RENAMING in Subtraction! Something to keep in minds is that this is ALWAYS the topic in math that is the HARDEST concept for a 2nd grader to grasp! It helps that we have been using our number discs and physically building the problem - renaming 1 ten for 10 ones. If your child is having trouble with the homework this weekend please let me know. I'd love to do some review with them in a smaller group setting if they are struggling with this concept. It also helps to brush up on those math facts as it makes the actual subtraction go faster.
We learned these rhymes/phrases to help us:

More on the floor? Go Next Door, Get Ten More! Cross it out, count one down, bring the ten over, it's big enough now SUBTRACT!
More on the top? No need to stop!
Numbers the same? Zero is their name!


History: This week we will begin our studies of ancient cultures with Ancient India. Your child will be able to locate India on a map and explain why the Indus River was important for the civilization to form. We will also learn about Hinduism as a world religion by discussing the three most important Hindu gods and the caste system.

Have a great afternoon!

Warmest, 

Mr. High

Sunday, September 17, 2017

Happy Sunday!

Good afternoon!

I hope you're all doing well and enjoying the start of this cooler weather as well! We had a very busy week this week but it was a whole lot of fun as well. :)

Math and Phonics Night Links: Thank you to all of the parents who were able to attend Math and Phonics on Wednesday! We hope you learned a lot of tips and tricks to take from the classroom to your kitchen table! Here are the links to the presentation, parent packet, and a few math games for home...I hope these are helpful resources for you...
Homework Survey: Please see this week’s family newsletter from Office Manager, Rachele Holcomb, for a link to the annual homework survey. If you are not receiving the weekly family newsletter, email Rachele Holcomb at rholcomb@archwayarete.org.

Moving on to what we are learning this week in 2A: 

Poetry: We will learn the last stanza of Something Told the Wild Geese. Thank you for practicing this poem at home with your child. This week we are also going to watch this video of a chorus SINGING the poem!

Literature: We will read chapters 18-21 in Charlotte's Web. Tears *might* be shed next week (from children and teachers alike) as we learn of Charlotte's fate. Ask your child to retell the story events they read in class. Ask them what is happening at the fair and how Templeton has played a role in saving Wilbur's life.

Writing and Grammar: We will continue to classify sentences and will add a new jingle to our repertoire: The Adjective Jingle! We will also learn about article adjectives. Ask your grammar professional to sing you their favorite song this week!

Spalding Words Next Week:
Monday: catch, catcher, kitchen, butcher, black, warm, unless, clothing, clothes, clothe *Review phonograms 16-30 for homework
Tuesday: began, begin, beginning, able, gone, go, done, do, suit, track *Review Phonograms 31-45 for homework
Wednesday: watch, dash, fell, fight, buy, by, stopping, stop, walk, talk, chalk *Review Phonograms 46-60 for homework
Thursday: Write each word 1x each and review phonograms 61-70

Math: This week we will continue adding and subtracting with renaming as well as learning how to add three numbers within 1000. (Example 231 + 144 + 19)

Science: We are fluttering into our next life cycle study ~ can you guess what it is? It's the life cycle of a butterfly! Ask your child if they can identify the stages of life in the animals we've learned about so far: a chicken, a frog, and now a butterfly.

History: We will be finishing up our unit on Japan this week. On Monday, we will be talking about the kimono as traditional clothing as well as discussing the importance of nature in Japanese traditional crafts by making origami! Watch for the study guide to come home on Wednesday to review for the Friday test.

Please don't ever hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or concerns. We'll be here for you!

Warmest, 

Mr. High

Sunday, September 10, 2017

Week 5!

Dear 2A, 

We had such a blast getting to spend some special time with grandparents on Friday and travelling to so many different islands! We have another exciting week ahead of us and here is a quick look into what we'll be learning: 


From The Classroom to The Kitchen Table...Math and Phonics night is taking place on Wednesday, September 13th in the evening from 6-7pm. Please plan on attending as we are ready to give you many tips and tricks on helping your child with our Singapore and Spalding curriculum! We look forward to seeing you here at school. No homework will be assigned that evening. Just a reminder (like Curriculum Night) this is a parent only event.

Picture Day is on Thursday, September 14th. Don't forget to comb that hair and brush those pearly whites :-). Clean looking uniform shirts too!

Spalding Words Next Week: 20 words only
Monday: cloud, draw, drink, garden, goose, hopping, hop, knife, mouth, oakTuesday: peach, pole, queen, rope, season, sign, space, wagon, wheat (eat), window Wednesday: None ~ Math and Phonics Night :-)

Literature: We will read Chapters 15-17 as we learn how Wilbur gets ready to go to the fair! What kinds of things are at the fair? Please have a discussion about the fair with your child. Especially if they've never been to a fair before! This will help us a great deal leading into an activity next week.

Poetry: Recitation Grades from Bed in Summer will be found in your child's homework folder on Monday. Next week we will learn and practice stanza 2 of Something Told the Wild Geese.

Writing: Your children will identify the central theme of a poem called My Shadow and we will continue to work on sentence dictation. 

Grammar: We will be introduced to prefixes, suffixes, and adverbs next week! We will review the topics learned in grammar so far, including classifying sentences, parts of a sentence, and capitalization rules.

Math: This week in Math we are going to begin our journey into addition with renaming/regrouping! (Ex. 28 + 7 = 35) Renaming can often be a good challenge for second graders so please keep in mind your child may need a nice cheer or encouraging word while completing the nightly homework. There will be no homework Wednesday - we hope to see you at Math and Phonics Night!

History: This week we are traveling across the Pacific Ocean to Japan! Students will be introduced to modern Japan and Tokyo, as well as be able to discuss the differences between school here and in Japan. We will also talk about the symbolism of the Japanese flag and why Japan is called the "Land of the Rising Sun" (because it is the first country in Asia that sees the sun rise).

Science: Next week we will HOP into our next animal life cycle: a frog! We will learn about how the frog experiences metamorphosis through these stages: egg, tadpole, froglet, and adult frog. Did you know that there are thousands of different kinds of frogs in the world and they don't all look alike? See if your 2nd grader can answer these to questions: Do you know what a group of frogs is called? Frogs live on every continent in the world except _____.

Warmest, 

Mr. High

Monday, September 4, 2017

September!


Dear 2A,

Can you believe September is already here? This past week has flown by and I'm so excited for this upcoming week because Grandparent's Day is next Friday, September 8th! We are looking forward to seeing many of our special grandparents at school. Please see the school newsletter regarding this event and see the link above for an invitation and link to RSVP. There will be separate assemblies and time in the classrooms for K-2 and 3-5. 

Here is what we will be learning next week...

Literature: In Charlotte's Web we will read Chapters 13 and 14 and learn about the 2nd miracle at the farm! Students will write a newspaper article about the exciting event! Our grandparents will help us read Chapter 14 on Friday and we are excited to talk with them about their special talents.

Spalding Words (20 next week): Due to the short week we will only have twenty spelling words this week. 10 will be given on Tuesday and 10 on Wednesday.
Tuesday: these, those, club, seen, see, felt, full, fail, setting, set
Wednesday: stamp, light, coming, come, night, pass, shut, easy, ease, bone

Writing and Grammar: We will review the meanings of nouns and verbs, go through our question and answer flow to pick out important parts of speech, work on punctuation rules, and classify sentences!

Poetry: We will be practicing stanza two from Something Told the Wild Geese. We finished our recitations of Bed in Summer and I will send home your child's score next week.

Math: This week our mathematicians will be solving word problems involving addition and subtraction within 1000 without renaming. We will be testing addition and subtraction without renaming, so keep a sharp eye out for a study guide that is titled Test B – Unit 2: Addition and Subtraction!

Science: Next week we will move from learning about the seasonal cycle to learning about life cycles. We will begin by studying life cycle of a chicken. What came first, the chicken or the egg?

History: This week we will travel to the Southern Cone of South America to take a look at Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Your child will also be able to identify important people of those countries. On Friday we will review everything we have learned about North, South, and Central America in preparation for our test next week. Island projects are due on Friday, September 8th! Here are a few example photos of previous projects: 




Warmest, 

Mr. High