This week in literacy we will focus on the skill of synthesis. With this comprehension strategy, students will monitor the overall meaning of text and recognize that thinking may change during the course of a story. Readers also take opportunities to share, recommend, and discuss text with their peers, teachers and families. Our text connection for the week will be The Great Kapok Tree. In guided reading groups, I will be using part of the week to being administration of the end of year individual reading assessments. These will also continue into next week.
In writing, we shift our focus to opinion writing. Our topic for the week will keep with our outdoor fun theme in writing this month. Students will be asked to write their opinion based on the following prompt: What is the best time of year? School or summer vacation? Students will be expected to give three reasons to support their opinion. Students will also begin to use evidence and examples to support each reason. Students will complete a graphic organizer and then write their piece in paragraph form. The homework assignment this week is similar to this in class writing experience. We will also look at dictionary skills and guide words this week.
In math, we will complete Unit 11. Our lessons this week will focus on multiplication and division fact families and basic multiplication facts. We will have our math assessment next Monday.
In social studies we will conclude our unit on timelines. Students will have a mini-assessment this week in which they will need to put events in chronological order and answer questions based on the timeline. Their project will also contribute to their overall grade.
Please remember that the timeline project is due in class this Friday!
As we approach the end of the year, there are a few important events that are ready to go on our calendar!
May 30: Sing and Swing Music Presentation @2:00
June 19: Fraher/Kinback Class Writing Celebration @9:15
June 20: Move Up Day and Last Day of School (early dismissal)
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Weekly Update 5.6.13
This week in literacy we will be discussing theme or the author's message. We will be using Leo the Late Bloomer as our text connections. Students will be working on transferring their thoughts into a written reading response using a topic sentence, details with supporting text evidence and a closing sentence. All guided reading groups will be starting new books this week and continuing their book group discussions.
In writing, we will continue working on our outdoor fun personal narratives. This week we will be focusing on the main event of the piece. We will also focus our revision on vivid verbs. Our lessons will concentrate on using different words for "said". We will also look at poetry and look at the technique of line repitition. Our grammar focus this week will be on the use of articles a/an.
In math, we will assess Unit 10 on Tuesday and begin Unit 11 on Wednesday. Unit 11 will focus on whole number operations. Our lessons this week will concentrate on addition and subtraction number stories using dollars and cents. As always, Fridays we will be used for small group review, preview and enrichment.
We will begin our social studies unit on timelines this week. We will use the text connection Diary of Worm to help kick off our unit. Students will be working on putting events in chronological order (also our vocab word of the week)
We are in need of a few classroom supplies to get us through the rest of the year. Any donations of paper towels, wipes and/or tissues would be greatly appreciated!
In writing, we will continue working on our outdoor fun personal narratives. This week we will be focusing on the main event of the piece. We will also focus our revision on vivid verbs. Our lessons will concentrate on using different words for "said". We will also look at poetry and look at the technique of line repitition. Our grammar focus this week will be on the use of articles a/an.
In math, we will assess Unit 10 on Tuesday and begin Unit 11 on Wednesday. Unit 11 will focus on whole number operations. Our lessons this week will concentrate on addition and subtraction number stories using dollars and cents. As always, Fridays we will be used for small group review, preview and enrichment.
We will begin our social studies unit on timelines this week. We will use the text connection Diary of Worm to help kick off our unit. Students will be working on putting events in chronological order (also our vocab word of the week)
We are in need of a few classroom supplies to get us through the rest of the year. Any donations of paper towels, wipes and/or tissues would be greatly appreciated!
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Weekly Update 4.29.13
I am back in the classroom as usual this week. Thank you to Mrs. Stech for her hard work during her takeover weeks!
This week we will focus our whole group reading sessions on character traits. Students will be responsible for identifying personality traits of characters and also identifying text evidence to support their opinions. We will be discussing this concept as well as creating written responses. Students will be using their opinion writing paragraph template using a topic sentence two reasons with supporting evidence and a closing sentence. Our text connection for the week will be Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters.
In writing we will be starting a new theme of outdoor fun. Students will write to a vareity of genre under this theme. This week we will be working on a personal narrative about a fun outdoor experience. Students are now required to write their narratives using all components of the writing diamond. These include an entertaining beginning, descriptive setting, fully developed main event and an extended ending. We will also be learning about Haiku poetry and alphabetical order to the third and fourth letter.
In math, we continue with Unit 10. This week our lessons will focus on place value to the ten thousands and grouping with parentheses. We will assess unit 10 early next week.
We have a special presentation by the Acton Discovery Museum Wednesday on the different states of matter. They will be visiting our classroom with a variety of different experiments. We will also review the core concepts and vocabulary of our unit and will have our assessment next Monday. Study cards will be coming home this week to help prepare. I will also send home an electronic copy of the PowerPoint presentation showed in class to help review as well.
Have a great week!
This week we will focus our whole group reading sessions on character traits. Students will be responsible for identifying personality traits of characters and also identifying text evidence to support their opinions. We will be discussing this concept as well as creating written responses. Students will be using their opinion writing paragraph template using a topic sentence two reasons with supporting evidence and a closing sentence. Our text connection for the week will be Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters.
In writing we will be starting a new theme of outdoor fun. Students will write to a vareity of genre under this theme. This week we will be working on a personal narrative about a fun outdoor experience. Students are now required to write their narratives using all components of the writing diamond. These include an entertaining beginning, descriptive setting, fully developed main event and an extended ending. We will also be learning about Haiku poetry and alphabetical order to the third and fourth letter.
In math, we continue with Unit 10. This week our lessons will focus on place value to the ten thousands and grouping with parentheses. We will assess unit 10 early next week.
We have a special presentation by the Acton Discovery Museum Wednesday on the different states of matter. They will be visiting our classroom with a variety of different experiments. We will also review the core concepts and vocabulary of our unit and will have our assessment next Monday. Study cards will be coming home this week to help prepare. I will also send home an electronic copy of the PowerPoint presentation showed in class to help review as well.
Have a great week!
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
4.22.13
Just a reminder, Mrs. Stech will continue to assume full classroom responsibilities this week. Next week, I will be back in the classroom as usual! Please see the note about this week's activities from Mrs. Stech below.
This week in writing, the students will compose their own
haiku and acrostic poems about science. They will also apply their knowledge of
math to science by collecting data and making glyphs for the class bulletin
board. In addition, the States of Matter Project will be added to the bulletin
board as the students complete them. Through experiments, the students will
also observe chemical as well as physical changes to matter.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Weekly Update: 4.8.13: A Note from Mrs. Stech
This will be a busy week for the students. April Jones, a local author, visited the students and shared some of her books. The students will learn firsthand what it takes to be a good writer. In addition, on Friday, the students will have an opportunity to see “Charlotte’s Web” at Mechanic’s Hall.
The students are learning how to write a persuasive paragraph. They are reading about the language used in persuasive writing. The students are also learning to back up their opinions with reasons and examples, as they share their point of views on different topics.
We have begun our Science unit on the three states of matter. They have discovered that matter is everywhere around us and is anything that takes up space. Through music and movement, the students will learn how energy affects the different states. The students will be making posters to illustrate the different states. They will also be contributing to our bulletin board in the hallway. In order to do this, however, the students will need pictures to cut out and sort into the different states of matter. If you have any magazines you could donate to the class for this purpose, it would be greatly appreciated if you can send them in this week.
Thank you, Mrs. Stech.
The students are learning how to write a persuasive paragraph. They are reading about the language used in persuasive writing. The students are also learning to back up their opinions with reasons and examples, as they share their point of views on different topics.
We have begun our Science unit on the three states of matter. They have discovered that matter is everywhere around us and is anything that takes up space. Through music and movement, the students will learn how energy affects the different states. The students will be making posters to illustrate the different states. They will also be contributing to our bulletin board in the hallway. In order to do this, however, the students will need pictures to cut out and sort into the different states of matter. If you have any magazines you could donate to the class for this purpose, it would be greatly appreciated if you can send them in this week.
Thank you, Mrs. Stech.
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Weekly Update 4.1.13
This week, we will shift gears into a new comprehension strategy. Our focus strategy will be inferring. Inferring is when reader's draw conclusions from text. Readers take the information from the text and merge it with their schema, or prior knowledge, to draw a conclusion. This week our text connection is the story What Mary Jo Shared. Students will be discussing inferences as well as listening to "think alouds" in order to understand the metacognitive process that occurs when readers make inferences. Students will also begin to identify text evidence to support their inferences. Guided reading groups will be finishing up their non-fiction material this week before moving on to new fiction stories next week.
In writing, we are wrapping up the publishing process for our Trimester Two stories. The publishing process has been very helpful as students have learned more about revising, editing and conferring. They have learned how to accept feedback, offer feedback to others, identify areas for improvement and set a plan on how to improve their work. We continue to work on opinion writing in our reading response journals as we write about texts and focus on finding text evidence to support the main opinion in these pieces.
In math, we will conclude Unit 9 this week and have our assessment on Tuesday. The rest of the week will be spent reviewing secure second grade skills in small groups for both review and enrichment opportunities. These secure skills include subtraction with regrouping, word problems, as well as telling time and elapsed time.
We will be discussing timelines in social studies this week. We will begin by defining timelines and creating timelines of important personal events. We will then take a look at timelines that show information from important dates in history.
Just a reminder, Mrs. Stech, our student teacher, will be taking over the class starting on Monday. She will be in charge of planning and delivering instruction for all academic areas and will be running the classroom all week long. I will be in the building all day as well and will be available if needed. As always, I am available on email throughout the day for questions, concerns and any dismissal/attendance notifications!
Upcoming Dates:
Tuesday April 9: Early Dismissal for Students
Friday April 12: Field Trip to Mechanics Hall 12:30 showing of Charlotte's Web
Friday April 12: Spring Vacation Begins
In writing, we are wrapping up the publishing process for our Trimester Two stories. The publishing process has been very helpful as students have learned more about revising, editing and conferring. They have learned how to accept feedback, offer feedback to others, identify areas for improvement and set a plan on how to improve their work. We continue to work on opinion writing in our reading response journals as we write about texts and focus on finding text evidence to support the main opinion in these pieces.
In math, we will conclude Unit 9 this week and have our assessment on Tuesday. The rest of the week will be spent reviewing secure second grade skills in small groups for both review and enrichment opportunities. These secure skills include subtraction with regrouping, word problems, as well as telling time and elapsed time.
We will be discussing timelines in social studies this week. We will begin by defining timelines and creating timelines of important personal events. We will then take a look at timelines that show information from important dates in history.
Just a reminder, Mrs. Stech, our student teacher, will be taking over the class starting on Monday. She will be in charge of planning and delivering instruction for all academic areas and will be running the classroom all week long. I will be in the building all day as well and will be available if needed. As always, I am available on email throughout the day for questions, concerns and any dismissal/attendance notifications!
Upcoming Dates:
Tuesday April 9: Early Dismissal for Students
Friday April 12: Field Trip to Mechanics Hall 12:30 showing of Charlotte's Web
Friday April 12: Spring Vacation Begins
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Weekly Update 3.25
This week in literacy we will be wrapping up our non-fiction unit. We will review the different features of non-fiction text that we have been working on. These include caption, bold face words, glossary, index, table of contents, maps, photographs and charts. All guided reading groups will also be reading short non-fiction articles as well. We will focus on identifying the main idea as well as supporting details. Our text connection this week will be a non-fiction article on animal adaptations.
We will also be working on our reading response journals with a focus on using text evidence to support thinking. This relates to both fiction and nonfiction reading responses.
In writing, we will be selecting our "best pieces" from Trimester Two. Once the piece is selected, students will work on editing, revising, peer conferences and teacher conferences. After all of these steps are complete, students will be publishing their work. Our grammar focus this week is compound sentences.
In math,we continue on with our measurement unit. We will focus the majority of the week on learning about perimeter and area. Students will still be working on word problems as well as explaining the strategies used to solve the problem. As usual, Fridays are reserved for review and enrichment focus groups.
We will read our Book of the Month in preparation for Friday's All School Meeting. Our March book is The Ant and the Elephant. We will be reading, discussing and writing about the author's message of this book.
Report Cards will go home next Monday April 1!
Please remember that our student teacher Mrs. Stech will be starting her first takeover week April 8. She will assume all of the classroom responsibilities. Her second week of full student teaching will be April 22.
We will also be working on our reading response journals with a focus on using text evidence to support thinking. This relates to both fiction and nonfiction reading responses.
In writing, we will be selecting our "best pieces" from Trimester Two. Once the piece is selected, students will work on editing, revising, peer conferences and teacher conferences. After all of these steps are complete, students will be publishing their work. Our grammar focus this week is compound sentences.
In math,we continue on with our measurement unit. We will focus the majority of the week on learning about perimeter and area. Students will still be working on word problems as well as explaining the strategies used to solve the problem. As usual, Fridays are reserved for review and enrichment focus groups.
We will read our Book of the Month in preparation for Friday's All School Meeting. Our March book is The Ant and the Elephant. We will be reading, discussing and writing about the author's message of this book.
Report Cards will go home next Monday April 1!
Please remember that our student teacher Mrs. Stech will be starting her first takeover week April 8. She will assume all of the classroom responsibilities. Her second week of full student teaching will be April 22.
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