February 2012

Questions for Mr. McCarthy

Mr. McCarthy visits 2nd grade

Dear Parents,

We are  winding down working solely on addition and subtraction with regrouping/borrowing in math class. We’ll be moving on to units on graphing, time , money, measurement  and introducing multiplication. All of these units will build on the students  addition and subtraction skills as well as their numeracy. I am confident that everyone has grasped the underlying concepts introduced so far, however they would ALL benefit with more practice in both operations to help make these facts more automatic.  To that end, I have sent some worksheets home in the packets today, but you can make up some problems just as well. Also, it’s always good to emphasize the inverse relationship between addition and subtraction, for example, if 5+5=10, what does 10-5 equal? Skip counting can be great practice as well,  some time in the car can be spent going up by 3, or down by 2, or whatever numbers they might choose to play with.

Also going home today are more blank books for book reports. I’ll be sure everyone has one by the weekend.

The second trimester ends tomorrow. The 2nd graders will miss their theatre class for sure, but there is plenty to be done back here in the classroom. Besides theatre class, there will be no change in schedule.

Mr. McCarthy, who teaches Spanish in Middle and Upper School, joined us yesterday and shared his knowledge of and experience with Mexican culture. He will return in two weeks and we will do some hands on work with the corn grinder and some other tools he brought in for us to learn about.

Finally, sign-up sheets for conferences will be posted online tomorrow. Also, tomorrow, Friday, there is no ski-Friday, we have a full day.

Listed below are some dates to keep in mind these next busy two weeks:

Wednesday, February 29 – Alaska Day

Thursday/Friday 3/1 & 3/2- Conferences

Monday, March 5th-  Fiesta

Tuesday, March 6th- Book Reports Due

Friday, March 9th- Full Day, begins March Break

Enjoy the weekend, Katharine

Happy President’s Day Weekend!

As you all know, it has been a pretty packed week. In between the play and the Valentine’s Party we did get some other work done as well, including; the estimation jar of paper clips, spelling quiz on suffixes, subtraction practice, Mexican geography and new books in reading class. I suggested to the students to try to get some reading done on book report books this weekend so it doesn’t become too last minute. Most students have the blank books they need to start their reports, if not, they can easily be made at home or I can give them more next week. As with all projects, I encourage rough drafts, pencils and making light lines on which to write their words.

The end of the trimester is next Friday and I look forward to seeing you all at conferences on March 1 and 2. I’m glad we have time to catch our breath before our next big event, the Fiesta!  The play was just wonderful, they all did such a great job. They had such a blast working with Mrs. Brentano and learned so much at the same time. Thanks to all of you that were able to attend and the snacks for both events were just right! Thank you parents!  I have posted a slide show of the play below.

If you have any questions about anything in the classroom let me know, otherwise, have a wonderful long weekend!

Katharine

Some lucky ticket holders

Greetings,

Sorry that I’m a little late with this but I experienced ‘technical difficulties’ when I finished this on Friday afternoon. However, I’m trying again….

We were invited to watch the 5th graders skits illustrating East Indian folk tales on Friday morning so our Spelling Quiz was postponed until next Friday. Needless to say, no one seemed too disappointed at the last minute change. We will continue to work on suffix spelling patterns throughout this upcoming week. As you may know, there is another book report due on March 6th. Almost everyone has chosen their book and I think we have learned a lot about choosing appropriate books; ones that not only are a good match with the assignment, but ones we enjoy as well! I have scanned a copy of the assignment at the bottom of this entry.

Please note: We will make the blank books in school and the students can take them home to fill with their information and ideas  as described in the assignment below.

Upcoming Dates in 2nd grade: Tuesday, February, 14th. Valentine’s Party last period. The bags are up and Valentines can start coming in tomorrow (Monday) and Tues.
    Wednesday, February, 15th. 2nd grade play. 1:30 Small cast party following the performance.

I have attached a few shots from Choice period last week. Choice time is a wonderful part of the curriculum where all sorts of imaginative and creative play occur. Last week, the discovery of a box of popsicle sticks made for crowd pleasing puppet shows.

Contributing to the Morning Message

Joe's puppet showAbbey's show...Act IIContinuing to care for our plantsAct IIContinung to care for our plants

February March Book Report029

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