inside Mrs. Allentuck's classroom

Dear Parents,

We have begun our study of Mexico! In reading groups we’ve all read Hill of Fire, which tells the story of the volcanic eruption in Paricutin in 1943. Mrs. Clausen’s slide show included her visit to that site as well as others in Mexico. Our pinatas from Art class now grace the classroom and we have been making maps and learning about the geography of Mexico.  While the Fiesta is scheduled for March 5, we will continue that unit until the break on March 9th.

We enjoyed sharing our Comic Strip book reports with the class and it’s great to see that everyone has a solid sense of the flow of a story, it’s problems and how they are resolved. I will be introducing a new book report assignment on Monday and that will be due on Tuesday, March 7th. I realize that half the challenge of the assignment is in selecting the right book and I am hopeful that will be easier with each report. I will make sure they have made their selection by the end of next week.

We visited the Computer Lab last week for some review with the Spelling City website. The students continue to really enjoy that site and it’s a great resource for reinforcing spelling patterns we have been working on all year. You can click on the link anytime from the left side of this website under Classroom Links or just go onto Spelling City and type in Kathy Clausen’s name for our spelling lists to appear.

Lunch Bunch (or Brunch Bunch) this past week was a big hit, as they all have been this year. The kids look forward to them so much, thank you to all the parents that contribute to them.

Have a great weekend,

Katharine

Finally! The flag was green and we went!  The 2nd graders had a blast on the ice last Monday, they all learned so quickly.

As some of you might have noticed, our classroom inherited a veritable jungle of house plants when my daughter recently moved out of her apartment in Vermont. There were 16, so everyone was assigned a plant to care for. Joe’s Dad, Adam Weinberg, came in and helped the class understand just how much water and sun each plant needs to thrive. He went through each one and left us with a moisture meter that ensures we won’t overwater.

Next week begins our Social Studies unit on Mexico. On Monday to get us started  Mrs. Clausen will treat us to her slide show from when she traveled to Mexico some years back with some colleagues from BCD.

We’ve finished our maps and they will be posted in the coat room. I’ve attached some photos of those map making classes. Next week we will not introduce a new spelling lesson, instead do some review of past lessons. Don’t forget to visit Spelling City, it’s a terrific resource and fun way to reinforce previous  phonics lessons.

We’ve hung more suet for the birds and I’ve heard from the class that we’ve had some takers.

Book Reports are due on Tuesday and Lunch Bunch is set for this Wednesday.

Enjoy the weekend despite this gloomy Friday,

Katharine

Hard at work at mapmaking.

Greetings,

I’ve attached a short slide show from a variety of different events over this last month and some from the end of last year. Some chip trading, choice time, peer reading and finally hanging a suet feeder for our friends, the birds.

All that time spent manipulating those yellow, blue, green and red chips has really paid off as we move to putting pencil to paper. We are also estimating larger and larger numbers in our estimating jar and will do the final count tomorrow to see who came the closest. If anyone would like to send in something new for the jar, please do. We’ve done dried pasta and beans, but perhaps there’s something different  in your pantry we could count!

Prepositions are ruling day in our Written Expression class and we have begun to design our maps. Homework is coming in on time and prepared with care. I appreciate the help and support you give in that department. Book Reports are ongoing, everyone seems to be on track with them, but I am going to do a check in next week in hopes that everyone has finished their books and is ready to move on to the report.

Students are coming in with snow boots which is great, but if you could also send in some indoor shoes for them to change into during the day, that would be helpful.

Mrs. Heady would like to get the class out for some ice skating on Monday, so if you have skates at home, please send them in – otherwise, she will size them up and they can use a BCD pair. Seeing the 1st graders out on the ice today really wet their appetite.

Ski Friday’s seem to be going really well, please remember to label your equipment to help prevent mix-ups.

Have a great weekend,

Katharine

Greetings on this dreary Thursday,

As you may know, our Social Curriculum in Lower School includes three major themes this year. Our first theme was Cooperation and this trimester we are discussing Courage. It seems particuarly fitting as we pause to celebrate Martin Luther King Day this Monday. Today we will read about Dr. King and talk about how he was courageous and all the other peacemakers they know about who have shown great courage.

In Math we have moved from the chip trading board to paper and pencil, as children learn best when they can work with manipulative materials before moving to abstract symbols.  With chip trading we traded in 10 yellows for 1 blue which is just what you do when you ‘carry the ten’, you are re-grouping just as they did with their yellow chips.  Throughout the year we have always been looking for mathematical patterns and relationships to help strengthen number concepts so that place value and regrouping are not just rote steps but are coming from a solid foundation. I am confident that with continued practice these important skills will continue to develop.

Finally some snow!…..Albeit wet. I have been asked to remind you to please label ALL ski equipment, even rented equipment can be labeled with some masking tape and initials. We want to be sure everyone goes home with their own equipment.

Finally, I was lucky enough to sneak over and visit play practice this afternoon and it was a real treat to watch everyone learn their line-readings, their entrances and exits and their words. While most were pretty solid with their lines, some could still use some practice……perhaps this weekend?

Most everyone has almost finished their books for their January book reports, but if not, this weekend might be a good time to catch up with that as well. Other than that, I wish you all a relaxing, snowy weekend!

Happy New Year to All,

Today is our first Ski Friday! We have read over the lists and everyone seems to be clear on where they are going.  There will be a shortened lunch period right before we pack up and the buses roll at 12:45. Luckily the weather calls for a fairly warm day. The kids have been doing a great job of having hats and gloves each day before they head out to recess and there are a few extra pairs of gloves here as well.

We are starting our Map Unit in Social Studies and have been busy marking where we’ve traveled to and where we live on classroom maps. As we learn how to read maps, how and why we use them, their different parts (legends/keys, scale, title, compass rose, etc.) we also learn a whole new vocabulary at the same time. We will work with compasses next week before we tackle making our own maps, of our bedrooms, our school and then our imaginary lands.

A new book report has been assigned for January. It calls for a 6-8 comic strip panels explaining the different parts of the story. I have attached the assignment if (!)some get lost along the way. Everyone should have a book selected by Monday and the final project is due on Tuesday, January 31st. Comic Strip Book Report Project

In the packets that went home this week, you might notice Pascal’s Penguin. Ask your child if he/she can explain the pattern, it took  a couple of days of fiddling with it, but I think we finally all got the different parts.

And again, I would like to thank you ALL for your thoughtful and generous holiday gift. I cannot tell you what a smile it brought to my face.

Have a great weekend,

Katharine

Social Studies this December has been devoted to the study of peace; what it looks like, what it feels like, how we can encourage it in ourselves and others. We have talked of places that bring us peace and how to find that peace that is inside us all. Some of my favorite contributions to what peace is include:

listening to instruments, watching the sun rise and set, seeing things grow, being warm, being read to by the fire, light shower of rain, gazing at one thing, darkness, and finally, everyone here.

We used those and many other themes as a starting point for our Peace Poems which are posted above.

Thank you to our class parents and all parents that have helped with some of the wonderful events we’ve enjoyed so far this year. Thank you all for your Secret Snowflake contributions. It gives the children a great opportunity to practice what it means to give and  receive a gift.

Finally,  I want to say what a pleasure it has been to be a part of this class and the entire 2nd grade community. We’ve had a wondeful 2011 and I wish you all a wonderful, fun, restful and peaceful holiday with your families.

Dear All,

The holidays are upon us along with our first snow! Please remember to have a set of dry clothes for the cubbies and a pair of ‘indoor’ shoes to put on when the snow boots come off. Thank you.

As you know, the Winter Concert is tomorrow at 1:30. I have their BCD holiday concert t-shirts and they can wear anything for bottoms.

Chip trading has begun in Math. This method of instruction helps develop a basic understanding and visualization of number, place value and regrouping through the concrete manipulation of trading colored chips on game boards —and they love it!

I hope you’ve had a chance to visit Spelling City. The children seem to really enjoy it and it’s a another useful tool as they work to master their spelling words each week.

I have FINALLY posted some photos in a slide-show from Grandparent’s Day below.

I look forward to seeing those of you who can make it to the concert tomorrow, and if I don’t see you, have a wonderful, restful weekend!

Greetings 2nd Grade Parents,

We seem to be in the groove of our 2nd trimester. As you may have heard from your child, theatre class  has been added to their schedule and they are loving it! Jilly Lederman has done an adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Mrs. Brentano will be handing out scripts tomorrow.

For these last busy weeks before the Winter break, we will be concentrating on Peace in Social Studies class. It’s an opportunity for much rich discussion and work that dovetails with many of the themes we have been studying so far; cooperation, awareness of the larger world around us and how we fit in, what it means to be part of a community, why is peace sometimes disprupted and what to do when it is.

In math we continue to practice strategies that support the automatization of addition and subtraction facts. When I put 9+6+3+1+5+4+5+2+7+8 =  ?   on the board this morning , at first  the class was sure they could never solve such a problem, but as we discussed different strategies we might use to solve it they soon realized that when we paired two numbers that were familiar to us the problem became- 10+10+10+10+10, and that they could easily count to be 50….problem solved!  We begin using chip trading next week as a concrete model before we tackle addition with regrouping.

Every year Marie Massini spearheads a Card to Soldiers program and we will be doing ours tomorrow. The cards go to different army hospitals each year.

Thank you to those of you who have sent in your Holiday Gifts with stars attached- Monday, December 5th is the deadline for those.

After much thought and planning about exactly the right book to bring to our peer readers, we began reading to our pre-school friends on Tuesday. It’s wonderful to watch the  2nd graders read with such confidence to their pre-school buddies.

Upcoming Dates to remember:

Friday, December 9th- Holiday concert and Pizza Friday!

Also, tomorrow (12/2) is the last day for the Book Sale and the Sports Swap.

Enjoy your weekend,

Katharine

Dear Parents,

I hope to see many of you tomorrow at Thanksgiving Soup but wanted to check in with some last minute details before the break.

The children have done a terrific job, with Mrs. Brentano’s help, preparing for our Lower School gathering celebrating Cooperation tomorrow. This has been the theme for the first of the  three units of our Social Curriculum. We will also discuss and consider future themes of Courage and Compassion as the year progresses.

The Colonial Times books will be going home tomorrow along with other work related to that study. Also going home (finally!) are the candles we made up at the shop while we were pounding out our lanterns. When we return next week we will begin a new Social Studies unit on Peace.

I think we have heard back from all 2nd grade families regarding the Book Sale here at BCD next week. If not, the sheets are available on line as well as the ’Ski Friday’ forms if you need to access those as well.

I wish each one of you a restful and peaceful Thanksgiving holiday and look forward to seeing some of you at Soup tomorrow!

Katharine

Dear Parents,

Thank you all for coming in for conferences last week. I enjoyed sharing thoughts, observations, concerns, and celebrating the positive progress each 2nd grader is making this year.

As you might know, Mrs. Frantz and I attended a conference entitled, Mathematics As A Second Language at the Reading Institute in Williamstown yesterday. Like any good conference, it was extremely exhilarating and has inspired me to further attend to the vocabulary, syntax and grammar of mathematics. Acquiring proficiency in mathematics requires mastering not just the  procedural piece but a linguistic and conceptual one as well. I am anxious to include some of the strategies I learned into our currrent unit on Addition and Subtraction Facts and Strategies.

We have finished working with vowel teams, i, a, o and e. Next week we will begin learning the schwa sound, the unaccented syllable that makes the short u sound.

I have received some permission forms for the Holiday Book Sale. They are due by Wednesday of next week, the 16th.

Food for Thanksgiving Soup isn’t due until a week from Monday, the 21st. This year 2nd grade’s contribution is the garlic……the aroma will no doubt add a lovely touch to the coat room!! I will put a reminder in next week’s blog.

Have a great 3-day weekend, and Happy Veteran’s Day to all Veterans and their families.

Katharine