Friday, November 8, 2013

Weekly Update 11/08/15


Important Announcements:

*Our room mom, Mrs. Fought, is in the process of organizing our Fall Party that will take place on Wednesday, November 27th from 2:00 – 2:45.  If you are interested in donating anything for the party or coming in and volunteering for the party please contact Mrs. Fought at lsinclairfought@hotmail.com. 

*Tuesday, November 7th would traditionally be Election Day in the United States.  During our government unit, the class campaigned for best snack and held a mock election on Tuesday.  All campaigns did a FANTASTIC job with writing speeches and making campaign posters and buttons.  Popsicle won the election for best snack.  We even enjoyed a popsicle snack in honor of its victory on Wednesday! 

*We took our SRI test on Wednesday, November 6th.  A second grader should have a lexile that falls in a 300 – 600 range.  Today I will send home a report showing your child’s SRI scores so far in second grade.  Your child’s score from Wednesday is the last data point.  If you have any questions regarding the report, or your child’s scores, please contact me! 

*This week we finished up writing letters to a Disney character.  We practiced addressing an envelope as well, and I sent the letters home in an envelope with your child when he/she completed the letter.  If you want to put a stamp on the letter and send it to Disney, Disney should send your child back a postcard! 

*While we were working on things this week such as filling out a voter registration card and putting a return address on envelopes, it became very clear that many students do not know their addresses.  Knowing the address and phone numbers are important skills that every child should know for his/her safety.  This might be a good skill to review with your child to make sure he/she has it! 

*Next week I will be introducing the addition strategy of partial sums to your child.  While some children already know how to do the more traditional method of adding two two-digit numbers by carrying, I am going to ask that while I am introducing / teaching this method that you help your child practice partial sums.  I tell the students all of the time that there are many ways to reach an answer in math, and I will be introducing carrying later on in the year.  I want every child to be exposed to and comfortable with partial sums as well.  Thanks for your support in this! 

*In reading next week, I will begin taking a fluency grade.  This grade will be determined by the number of words your child reads correctly in a one minute timed reading passage.  When I enter it in the grade book it will be entered as Fluency 68, Fluency 69, Fluency 70, etc.  The number after the word fluency is the number of words that your child is expected to read in a minute.  That number will increase each week to meet the end of the year goal of 87 words in a minute.  I will convert your child’s score into a percentage and then enter it in the grade book out of 10 points. For example, if your child read 56 words, his/her percentage would be 56/68 = 82%.  I would enter this is the grade book as 8.2/10.  If you would like to practice timing your child while reading, the Wednesday reading homework would be a good passage to use to do this.   

*Discover Indy fundraiser will begin on Friday, November 8th and continue until November 22nd.  The books are $25.00 each and 40% of the sale comes back directly to the school! Our goal this year is to have 400 books sold by the end of the sales period.  Order forms are going home today! 

*Our annual Grandparents’ breakfast will take place before school on Monday, November 11, 2013.

*In honor of Veteran’s Day on Monday, November 11th, we will be having a school wide convocation starting at 9:15. 

*We will be having a book fair the week of November 18th – 22nd.  Your child will have a chance to shop at the book fair during his/her library special that week. 

*November 18th – 22nd we will be having the Eliminate Hunger for the Holidays food drive to benefit Brownsburg families. 

*Wednesday, November 20th will be a Riley Wacky Hair Day.  If your child brings in $1 to donate to Riley, he/she can wear his/her hair in a wacky way! 

*Make sure Monday, December 9th is marked on your calendars!  That is the evening of the second grade music program!  It will be a wonderful program that your child has been working very hard on preparing for you!  The program starts at 6:30.  Your child will need to be dropped off at the classroom at 6:15 p.m. 

*I believe in building relationships with the children both inside my classroom and outside the classroom.  If your child participates in any extracurricular activities (sports, dance, theater, etc.), or has any other events that he/she would like to invite me to, please let me know, and I will do my best to come! 

*The blog will also be updated with this information as well so if you need to see it again visit http://misswhisman.blogspot.com .

A Look at Next Week:

Science/ Health

Weather

Spelling

Words with vowel patterns ee, ea, y

Reading

Story: Pearl and Wagner

Skill: Author’s Purpose

Math

Addition Strategies homework sent home on Tuesday (your child may use any strategy he/she is comfortable with to add two-digit numbers.  Strategies would include using the number grid to count up, adding the tens and then adding the ones, and adjusting and compensating) and Place Value homework sent home on Thursday (your child will need to use the partial-sums method to solve these problems)

Social Studies

Veteran’s Day activities

English/Writing

Writing persuasive letters