Weekly Overview - Jan.30-Feb. 3

HERE'S WHAT'S HAPPENING IN ROOM 14.... JAN. 30-FEBRUARY 3

Dear Parents:

 Our Food From the Heart canned food drive collection began today and will end this Friday. We are hoping that each child will be able to donate at least 5 items to reach our classroom goal of 150 items. Thank you for helping those in need!

LANGUAGE ARTS:

Phonograms/Printing:  We will learn two phonograms, gh  (g, f, "silent"), and wr (2-letter "r").  There will be a quiz on Thursday.

ghost  ghastly  laugh  enough  daughter dough  write  wrist  wreath  wren

 

Reading: We will be starting Theme 8 –“Our Earth”. The students will do listening comprehension questions for a non-fiction selection about students in Fremont who started an ecological awareness club. Our story for the week, “The Forest”, continues this theme as it takes us along with a group of children as they travel through a forest to observe the plants and animals that live there. We will work on compound words. We will also begin our work with reading comprehension as it relates to nonfiction selections as we learn about nonfiction features (photographs, diagrams, labels, maps, headings, etc.) and their purposes. We didn’t get to it last week! In your book discussions with your child after she/he reads the Take-Home books, please encourage him/her to talk about the thinking and connections that were going on, as well as any feelings that might have been experienced.  

English:  We will review how to use pronouns in sentences and how to find punctuation and grammar errors.  There will be a sentence-writing test on Tuesday and a quiz on Friday to review pronouns and editing skills (choosing the correctly written sentence from 3 choices).

Phonics: We will review the sounds of y at the ends of words:

1.  If y comes at the end of a very short word, and there are no other vowels, then the y gets the long i sound.  Examples:  sky  dry  try  my 

2.  If y comes at the end of a two-part word, then the y gets the long e sound.  Examples:  candy  party  sleepy  funny  happy  baby

Spelling: HW- write words 4 times and copy all sentences perfectly!

1.  I love to write my name.

2.  Will that be the wrong way to go?

3.  Are these the best books to read?

4.  My friend is very happy.

5.  A mouse just ran by you!

MATH:  We will continue our study of place value with tens and ones.

SOCIAL STUDIES:  We will learn about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and some of their contributions to our country.

SHARING: Your child’s holiday custom sharing project will be presented this week. All presentations should be ready to go on Tuesday.

******************SPECIAL NOTES******************************

P.E. will be on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. Please make sure that your child is wearing appropriate running shoes on those days.

We earned our 100 Marble party and will watch a movie and have popcorn on Thursday! J

Science Fair reminder: If your child is  planning on doing a project, she/he needs to turn in the  project idea form to be checked for appropriateness.

Looking Ahead:  Tuesday, February 14^th- Valentine’s Day party after lunch and Talent Show in the evening (6:30 pm at Santa Clara High)

Looking (Way) Ahead: Feb. 17 - 1:37 dismissal and Trimester 2 ends … February break- 20th-24^th…Thursday, March 1- 1:37 dismissal… Report cards will be sent home on March 2^nd.

Sincerely, 

Mrs. Pierce

Weekly Overview - Jan.23-27

HERE'S WHAT'S HAPPENING IN ROOM 14...JANUARY 23-27

Dear Parents: 

On Wednesday we will celebrate our 100th day of school! Please note the change in spelling beginning this week. We will also have another week of sharing.

LANGUAGE ARTS:

Phonograms/printing: We will learn two phonograms, igh (3-letter long i) and gn (2-letter "n" at the beginning or end of the word).  There will be a phonogram quiz on Thursday.

high  night  sigh  fight  bright  gnaw  gnat  gnarled  sign  

Reading:   As a part of our 100th Day celebration we will be reading a list of 100 words.  Part of Tuesday's homework will be for your child to practice reading the 100 words on the list. We will be doing a special lesson focusing on comprehension and thinking. Reading must involve a thinking response (such as connecting to a past experience, evoking a question or a feeling) for it to be truly comprehended. Have you ever read a paragraph and then needed to reread because you have no idea what you were reading about? You “read” it- decoded the words- but true reading did not take place because your brain was not engaged and did not elicit some type of response. On Friday we will be doing a lesson for monitoring comprehension with respect to nonfiction features and their purposes: photographs, captions, headings, labels, maps, graphs, and charts. 

English:  We will continue to review all skills. We will learn 2 new skills: pronouns and is/are usage.  A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun.  Examples:  he   she   it   we   they

The boy helped the lost bear. He helped the lost bear.

The plant is growing tall.  (for one person or thing) 

They are sharing the cookies. (for more than one) 

Spelling: Beginning this week we will have 5 spelling sentences.  The homework procedure will change slightly.  On Monday your child is to write the underlined new words (#1-5) four times each and then COPY the five sentences, exactly as written.  On Tuesday your child is to write the underlined new words (#6-10) four times each and then again COPY the five spelling sentences.  S/he will not make up his/her own sentences. There will be a practice test on Wednesday for all five sentences and a final test on Friday.  Each test will now be given four grades (new words, old words, English, printing) as outlined on the grid below. Please remember that complete homework points will only be given for perfectly completed homework.

If a student misses a word on the practice test, s/he should write that word 4 times as homework. Any sentence with a punctuation or capitalization error should be written two times in its entirety. Please remember to check your child’s homework- the sentences should be numbered, the new words should be underlined, and the sentences should be error-free.

1.  Is that light too bright?                      4.  She wants him to go inside now.

2.  Put Millikin on the big sign.                  5.  Don't trick your friend!

3.  Do you have some old coins?

MATH: We will finish up our counting patterns topic. Your child should be able to write the patterns from 1-100 for counting by 1s, 2s, 5s, and 10s. Our topic test will be on Tuesday. After that we will begin working on place value by using a fictitious planet’s number system (Planet Zurkle) where they group their numbers in groups of 4.  For example, 1,2,3,zurkle, zurkle and 1, zurkle and 2, zurkle and 3, 2 zurkle…)

SOCIAL STUDIES: We will finish up discussion about the American flag and then discuss a few more American symbols.

SCIENCE: We will be discussing the major bones in the body- naming and function. There will be a lab on Thursday-helpers take note!

SHARING:  Please note the special schedule for sharing- Rows 5 and 6 will share Tuesday, Rows 3 and 4 will share Thursday and Rows 1 and 2 will share Friday. A note will go home in the Wednesday envelope about our special sharing project due next Tuesday. Each student must have his/her sharing ready to go on Tuesday, even if s/he is not sharing on that day.

*************************SPECIAL  NOTES*************************** 

This Tuesday, January 24 – Science Fair info. meeting – 6:30 Students are encouraged to attend!

Wednesday, January 25 – Talent Show tryouts

Please help our Food From the Heart © canned food drive. Collection begins January 30!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Pierce

Weekly Overview - Jan.17-20

HERE'S WHAT'S HAPPENING IN ROOM 14...JANUARY 17-20

Dear Parents:

Please note the new dates for Visitation: Tuesday and Wednesday ONLY from 9-10 am. If you would like to visit, please do so according to your last name (check the Millikin newsletter for specifics).

     

LANGUAGE ARTS:

Handwriting/Phonograms:  We will learn 3 new phonograms this week: ew (dotted o,long u that starts with an e) and ue (dotted o,long u that ends with an e), and kn (2-letter "n" at the beginning of the word).  There will not be a phonogram quiz on Thursday.

new  knew  grew  few   pew   blue   glue  hue   cue   knit   know   knock       

Reading: We will be reading the final story in Theme 7, If You Give a Pig a Pancake. The students will be discussing fantasy versus realism and cause and effect. At the end of the week we will be having a special lesson related to monitoring comprehension which will encourage students to develop an awareness of thinking about text as they read and listen. I will be doing some individual oral reading and comprehension assessment. Please remember to monitor your child’s Take-Home book use by listening to him/her read and by having him/her do a story retell as well as commenting on character actions and feelings.  

English/Writing:  We will continue to review skills through creative writing and the spelling sentences.  There will be a fix-it sentence quiz to review all skills on Wednesday.

Phonics:  We will be reviewing blends (st, sl, scr, squ, gr, bl, etc.) through homework.

Spelling: This is our last week for 10 words. Next week we will be having 5 spelling sentences with 2 new words in each sentence. There continue to be students who have errors on homework. Please remember that accuracy is important. I don’t know what to tell your child when s/he says to me, “But my mom/dad checked my work!”.

1.  glue          2.  blue         3.  new         4.  they         5.  was

6.  of                  7.  not         8.  knee         9.  know         10.  knew

          

MATH:  This week we will be looking at the 100s chart and looking for patterns. We will be talking about counting forward and counting back from any number. The students will also be learning to count to 100 by 1s, 2s, and 5s. This is something that can be practiced easily at home or even while going places in the car. Our last topic this week will be to talk about even and odd numbers. The students will learn that even numbers are those that can make “pairs” or “buddies” and odds will always have one left over.

 

SOCIAL STUDIES: This week’s lesson focuses on the American flag.

SHARING: The students enjoyed their sharing experience last week. We will do one more practice week of sharing next week and during that week the homework sharing project will be assigned for the next week.

******************SPECIAL NOTES******************************

Science Fair- information meeting Jan. 24 at 6:30 in the cafeteria. The Science Fair project information packet can be found online. Please read it carefully and fill out the appropriate form if you are interested in having your child participate in the Science Fair this year.

Have a great week!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Pierce

Weekly Overview - Jan.9-13

HERE'S WHAT'S HAPPENING IN ROOM 14....JANUARY 9-13

Dear Parents:

Next Tuesday (January 17) we will be going on a field trip during our regular lunchtime. Your child MUST bring a lunch that day, as there will not be a hot lunch available at the time we will be eating.

Please help your child to remember to bring his/her library book back to school on Tuesday, if s/he has brought it home.       

LANGUAGE ARTS:

Handwriting/phonograms:  We will learn two phonograms:  oa – long o as in boat and ey – long e, long a at the end of the word. There will be a quiz on Thursday.

boat  coat  throat  soap  groan  road  key  turkey  they  grey  prey

 

Reading: Our story this week is called “Lost!”. The comprehension strategy focus is to think about the sequence of events to aid in understanding. Continue to use the Take-Home books to give your child more practice with retelling the order of events.

English:  We will continue to work on editing for punctuation mistakes in sentences.  We will be writing our own creative sentences to practice using ‘s. 

Writing: We continue to focus on the writing process. Students are continuing to work on their narratives. This is proving to be a difficult process for many students to complete on their own as I have given them more of the responsibility to use the structure checklist by themselves.

Spelling: Homework and testing schedule as usual. PLEASE check your child’s homework for numbered sentences, capitals, underlined spelling words, and ending marks (1 must be a ?).

1. her       2. first     3. nurse    4. works   5. early

6. share  7. turn   8. better  9. want  10. (your last

                                                      name)

MATH: We will take our Topic 9 test for patterns. We will begin Topic 11 (skipping 10 for now). We will review the use of the ten-frame to make numbers 11-20 and then we will begin working on number patterns, particularly counting by 10s.

SOCIAL STUDIES: We will talk about American holidays as they relate to famous people (Martin Luther King, Jr, Presidents’ Day..).

SHARING: Rows 1 and 2 share Tuesday, Rows 3 and 4 share Wednesday, Rows 5 and 6 share Thursday. Students may share about a thing or an activity. Information about a sharing homework project will be sent home soon.

SCIENCE: We will finish up our air and weather unit by reviewing the types of weather that we graph each day and interpreting a month’s worth of data. We will also review all of the vocabulary that went along with this unit.

*********************SPECIAL NOTES************************

Looking ahead:

January 16 – Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday

January 17- field trip by bus to a play (“Peter Rabbit”). We will not be taking parent helpers. We will be leaving right after recess and returning after the regular lunch. PLEASE SEND A SNACK AND A LUNCH WITH YOUR CHILD THAT DAY. There will be no hot lunch available.

January 17-19 - Parent Visitation from 9-10:00 am

January 24 - Science Fair info. Night 6:30 in the cafeteria

January 30 - Canned Food Drive begins

Have a wonderful week!

Sincerely, 

Mrs. Pierce 

Weekly Overview - Jan.3-6

HERE'S WHAT'S HAPPENING IN ROOM 14....JANUARY 3-6

Dear Parents:

Happy New Year! I hope you and your family were able to enjoy some relaxing vacation time together. We are diving right back into things, so please try to reestablish homework and bedtime routines as quickly as possible for your child. Also, just a reminder that the YMCA childcare in Room 17 is not open before school. No children should be dropped off at that room with the expectation that the staff will be there to watch them.

LANGUAGE ARTS:

Handwriting/phonograms:  We will learn 4 phonograms this week that are all very similar. They belong to the “er” sound family (er, ir, ur, wor, ear). To help with distinguishing between them, we will memorize a silly sentence: Her first nurse works early. We have already learned er. There will be a phonogram quiz on Thursday.

first  bird  stir  nurse  curl  burn  works  word  worth  early  earn  learn

  

Reading: The majority of our reading time this week will be used to focus on writing a personal narrative about a vacation activity. Your child will work through the entire process and structure of mind map, introduction, events, details and a closing sentence. We will also listen to a story called “The Doorbell Rang” and do some creative writing based upon the story ending.

English/Writing:  We will continue to review and assess all of the skills that we have learned (capitals, ending marks, s, ‘s, ed, and to-too-two

Spelling: There is no spelling list for this short week.

MATH: This week we will have our final assessment for our geometry unit and then we will work on patterns. Our work will consist of describing, building, extending and labeling patterns. There are two types of patterns that we will work on: repeating patterns (abab, aabaab, abcabc) and growing patterns (2,4,6,8…   1,3,5,7,... 1,1,2,2,3,3,4,4,…).

SHARING: Next week we will have a “practice” sharing time. Your child may bring something special to share or share by telling about a special event, activity or item. Please make sure that your child practices his/her sharing the night before. Rows 1 and 2 will share on Tuesday,  Rows 3 and 4 – Wednesday, Rows 5 and 6 – Thursday

SCIENCE: We will continue our study of the water cycle. This week we will continue to explore the topic of condensation as it relates to cloud formation. We will also briefly discuss the final water cycle stage-precipitation. There is a science lab this week-helpers please take note! We will be working on the water cycle in lab.

**************************SPECIAL NOTES*************************

PARENT VISITATION: January 17-19 (Tuesday-Thursday) 9-10:00 am. Please take the opportunity to visit 2^nd grade classrooms. Try to attend according to your last name (A-I – Tues., etc). Please do not bring small children- thank you for your cooperation.

Looking Ahead:

Jan. ? field trip to a theater to see a play- date to be announced

Jan.16  - Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday

Jan.17-19 - Parent Visitation Days - 9-10 am

Jan.24 – Science Fair info. night- 6:30 pm

Jan.30 – Canned Food Drive begins

There will not be a progress report this week.

Have a great week!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Pierce