Week of September 22nd- September 26th

Hello Families-

We hope that you all enjoy your nice long weekend! 

Next week we will be sending home your child's binder. This will serve as a portfolio piece, so please do not take anything out of it. Feel free to review the content inside, and return the binders by Friday 9/26.

The Scholastic book fair will be happening all next week.  Our classes will have an opportunity to walk through the book fair to check out the books.   Due to the set up of the book fair in the library, we will not be having regular library check out for books next week.  The Snake Lady will be in on Wednesday, the 24th.  

Muffin's for Moms will be on Friday 9/26. We look forward to having you in to our classrooms.

Friday is also a PTCO Friday Fun Day, bring in $1 and wear your favorite team jersey. 

This week we will focus on ....

Math: In second grade math, we will be continuing unit 2 and will be working on Name Collections, Frames and Arrows, What's My Rule, and Counting Strategies for Subtraction.  Typically your child will have homework Monday through Thursday.  We will be working on higher level thinking activities on Fridays, and will not assign homework over the weekend.  For 3rd grade math students, they are continuing unit 2 focusing on relationships and comparing number stories.

*Please continue to time your child 2 minutes and 15 seconds with their math facts. 

FAST (phonics):  We are working on concept 5 (Vowel Suffix Power) this week. Vowel Suffixes are suffixes which begin with a vowel.  Vowel Suffixes are bullies, which jump over the consonant, and make the vowel say it's own name. In order to protect the short vowel sound, we double the final consonant.  If your child ever forgets their spelling spiral, please check out the spelling tab on the blog. 
 
Reading: 
In Class: We will be working on lessons that help readers discover their passion and become specialists while reading.  We want students to learn that non-fiction reading, is reading to learn, and non-fiction writing is writing to teach.  We want the students to know what a specialist is, and what it means to have passion.  We want them to recognize they come to school with information, and they are specialists in something.  Lastly, we want them to create a list of specialist topics that they know a lot about, care about, and could teach someone about.  

For Homework: Your child will be continuing to work on the strategy: Non-fiction text features.  The students will be reading Non-Fiction Texts, and will be looking for and recording the different text features within their books, as well as where they found them, and how the feature helps them understand the story.   Your child will have a sheet to fill out inside their reading pouch.     . 

Wordly Wise: We are continuing Lesson 3 this week.  The words we are focusing on this week are: antenna, balance, boulder, cliff, joint, machine, motor, muscle, planet, and slope.  Check out the wordlywise3000 website for addition support. 
 

Writing: We are continuing to work on Personal Chronological Narrative.  This week your child will be writing about "A fun time you have had in the Fall".  We are writing into our focused modeled writing notebooks. There is an opening sentence, three sentences for details, three sentences for extended details and a closing sentence.  We are modeling so many wonderful writing strategies within our lessons based on our rubrics and the student's needs. 

Social Studies:  We are working on Unit 6 "How are goods made and brought to us?" Students will learn how goods are produced and distributed. 

FOSS:  FOSS science is in full swing.  Your child will get to experience FOSS in their classrooms on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:45pm-3:25pm.

Upcoming dates to know:

9/22-9/26 Scholastic Book Fair
9/24 Snake Lady at the Book Fair 9/26 Muffins with Mom
9/26 PTCO Friday Fun Day, bring in $1 and wear your favorite team jersey
10/1 Count Day
10/3  PTCO Friday Fun Day, bring in $1 crazy hair/hat day
10/8 Walk to School Day
10/10 PTCO Friday Fun Day, bring in $1 mismatch day
10/10 Pizza and Bingo Night
10/16 Cherokee Trail Spirit Bus
10/16 Pack Assembly
10/17 PTCO Friday Fun Day, bring in $1 mustache day
10/20-11/2 Fall Break