December News
Classroom News- I am so excited to be back at school! I have missed all of the kids. I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend! I cannot believe that there is only 23 days until Christmas! Just a quick reminder, students will have off from Wednesday, December 24th until Monday, January 5th.
Here are a few other things that are coming up this month. The following points are for my homeroom students.
- We will be having a Holiday Party on Tuesday, December 23rd. The party will be from 11-12:50. You will be receiving more information about possible volunteer opportunities as well as items we would love to have donated within the next few days.
- Our class had 3 chicks hatch! J Mrs. Snader will be taking one of the chicks to her friend’s farm. However, we are looking for someone to adopt the other two chicks. A permission slip went home today with your child. If you would like to adopt the chicks, please return the permission slip by Friday, December 5th. I will be putting all of the returned permission slips in a hat and drawing one lucky family at random to keep the chicks. I will send a letter home informing you if your family was chosen or not. You will need to pick the chicks up after school one day next week.
- Christmas Child Update- If you would still like to donate something for our Christmas Child, please remember everything needs to be turned in by Friday, December 11th. Here is the updated information of donations. Thank you so much to everyone that has donated something as well as those of you who are still planning on donating something.
Items donated so far or reserved for donation:
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Items still on Wish list:Favorite color= pink
Additional Ideas:
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Ways to Help: * You may make a monetary donation. The money collected will be used to purchase items from the child’s wish list. * You may donate wrapping paper, tape, gift tags and bows to help the family wrap the donated gifts. * The family has expressed a need for health care items. You may send in kids’ cold medicine, children’s Tylenol/Motrin, Vicks VapoRub, bandaids, etc. to be given in a basket to the family. |
Language Arts- We are starting Unit 3 of our Reading Street Program. The theme for Unit 3 is creative ideas. Our Big Question for the unit is What does it mean to be creative? During unit 3 our phonics pattern will be focusing on long vowel patterns. This unit will focus on verbs.
This week: Unit 3, Week 1- Question of the week- When does support from others help with a creative idea?
Phonics Pattern: Long e sound- e, ee, ea, y
Comprehension Skills- Author’s Purpose and Questioning
Vocabulary- Antonyms
Conventions- Verbs
Writing- Informative Writing
Week of 12/8: Unit 3, Week 2- Question of the week- In what creative ways do we communicate?
Phonics Pattern: Long o sound- o, oa, ow
Comprehension Skills- Draw Conclusions and Visualize
Vocabulary- Prefixes
Conventions- Verbs with singular and Plural Nouns
Writing- Friendly Letter
Week of 12/15: Unit 3, Week 3- Question of the week- How can creative thinking solve a problem?
Phonics Pattern: Compound Words
Comprehension Skills- Compare and Contrast and Summarize
Vocabulary- Antonyms
Conventions- Verbs for Past, Present and Future
Writing- Informative Writing
Math- We are now working on Unit 3 for math. Unit 3 focuses on place value concepts, skip counting and comparing numbers. Currently, we are focusing on place value concepts.
Here are a few fun place value games that your students can play online to practice the skills:
http://www.abcya.com/second_grade_computers.htm
http://www.softschools.com/math/place_value/games/tens_and_ones/
http://www.softschools.com/math/practice/place_value.jsp
http://www.softschools.com/math/place_value/teaching_place_value/
http://www.softschools.com/math/practice/place_value.jsp
For some of the games you will need to make sure to set the maximum number to 999.
Science- We are going to complete our Force and Motion Unit this month. Our essential questions for the unit are: What are the different kinds of forces? How do forces change an objects motion? How can the action of a force be observed and described? How can force and motion be measured? Our vocabulary words for the unit are: Force, motion, gravity, wind, friction, magnet, magnetism, attract, repel. This unit is a lot of fun because we will be doing a lot of experiments!
Please feel free to contact me with any questions or comments!
Mrs. Henn
lacey_henn@elanco.org