Mrs. Liz Taylor

Geometry and Gratitude

2011-11-20T20:17:00.002-07:00

This short week we will be doing some activities dealing with gratitude and Thanksgiving. We are also finishing up our Math unit on Geometry. We have learned about names for various 2D and 3D shapes, how to use square inches to determine which rectangle is biggest, and we have been doing activities with symmetry. We made really cool symmetrical turkey tails out of pattern block paper pieces.

Look for the November and December Book Order Catalogs coming home on Monday. Please place your orders by Tuesday November 29th. Remember books make great gifts for your children learning to read. If you place an order online we get $3 for class books. Whether you order online or send me the book order and your money you can send a note or email and let me know if you want the order kept a secret from your child. I can then contact you directly when the order arrives so you can keep it secret.

This week we will play a game called "Guess the Covered Word" to help them with their word attack skills. In the game they learn that when they come to a word they don't know they should think of it as a covered word. Then if they follow these strategies they should be able to guess the covered word.
1- Think about what you are reading about - ask yourself "What would make sense in this sentence?"
2- Look at the picture - it will help you think of words that will make sense in the sentence.
3- Say the first sound - What word that begins with that sound will make sense in the sentence.
Usually you will know the word by now - if you don't you can try two more things.
4- Look at the ending of the word to see if it will help you find a word that makes sense.
5- Say the middle, vowel sound then try to blend the beginning sound, vowel sound and ending sound into a word that will make sense in the sentence.

Many children try to sound out a word without thinking about what they are reading. If they first think about what they are reading and then think of what will make sense in the sentence they often will be able to guess the word. Then they employ the other strategies to see if it is correct.

In our Language Arts unit we are exploring Legends, Fairy Tales, Tall tales, and tales of the Wild West. They will be comparing and contrasting a traditional Tall Tale with a modern Tall Tale - "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs". We are also reading several traditional and non-traditional versions of "The Three Little Pigs". They will be writing a narrative piece about The Three Little ________ and the Big Bad ________. Finally we are also learning about collective nouns such as; a school of fish, a herd of cows, a pod of whales, a flock of geese and a pack of wolves.

We will be having a token store on Friday December 2nd. I will use our boxtop money to stock the store but would still welcome donations to make sure we have enough items for the students to use their hard earned tokens on. Thanks to all who have donated. It really makes a difference.

Wednesday at 1:10 we will put on our turkey hats and gobble around the school. This is a fun 2nd grade tradition. If you want to hear a flock of turkeys, come wait for your students outside of the second grade doors at about 1:20-1:25. (Please park in the parking lot, not along the pick up curb if you are going to be leaving your car.)

This week's keyword is "Gobble, Gobble"

We will have a great short week. Have a wonderful week and a Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanks for the Fun!!!

2011-11-01T21:49:00.006-06:00

A huge thank you to Myndi Paras and all other parents involved in putting on a great Halloween Party for the class yesterday. The kids had a lot of fun. I appreciate that the refreshments were mostly non sugar - a more healthy choice. The kids were really well behaved all morning and had a great afternoon with the party and the parade. Congratulate your child on their super behavior!

I have been pushing them hard the last couple of weeks trying to finish up some projects and get some final assessments done before the end of the term. They have been real troopers, working hard and not complaining, even on the day we did 7 different short tests. I am trying to finish listening again to each of them read to determine their present GRL. I am not finished scoring two of their writing assignments and we do have a few more assessments to complete. I do this so that I have a really good picture of their strengths and weaknesses to more accurately determine their grade. Also we can use this information to guide our discussion about your child and his/her needs.

This week we have started two important areas of study. In math we are studying doubling of numbers. This is a great strategy to help them learn a lot of their math facts as many of the facts can be solved by using doubles, doubles +1 or doubles -1. We will have some good fun with doubles tomorrow. We are also studying the group of fiction genres that include legends, fables, folktales, fairy tales, and tall tales. We read two folktales, "Two of Everything" (a Chinese Folktale) and "Double Trouble" (a Latin American Folktale). They are basically the same story but set in different cultures. This experience helps the kids learn that many of these types of tales and stories are related in different cultures with some differences. These two tales also introduce the strategy of doubling.

Today we also read "The Three Wolves and the Big Bad Pig," a fractured Fairy Tale which is also included in this genre group. Their next vocabulary list will come from this book. Watch for that list to be posted tomorrow, hopefully.

PLEASE REMEMBER TO SIGNUP ONLINE FOR YOUR APPOINTMENT TIME FOR PARENT TEACHER CONFERENCE WHICH WILL BE NEXT WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY.

Keyword -"Parent/Teacher Conference"

Math Facts Practice Pages

2011-10-13T21:18:00.003-06:00

Our Math Games Mom, Stephanie Johnson, has developed some math facts practice pages that would be a good tool to use with all children each night. I believe she has her child do one set of math facts each night. I am emailing this file to you so that you may print it off and use it to help your child practice their math facts each night.

October is Here!

2011-10-03T19:14:00.006-06:00

We are thinking of falling leaves and pumpkins, cooler weather and spooky times ahead.
Actually the class has come up with a list of about 20 questions about autumn and they will be doing some research and writing answers to the questions. Our ultimate goal is for the class to write an informational book about fall. Each of the 2nd grade classes will be writing a book about one of the seasons. This is a project that is required by the new Language Arts Common Core. It will be done over the next few weeks, mostly during our rotation time.

SPELLING and Language
We are working with the consonant blend ck in combination with each vowel. The students will learn "The CK Rap". They will read a poem called "The Train" in which they are learning about rhyming, rhythm, and repetition. We will also do a quick-write class book called "A My Name Is Alice" where we will be learning about alliteration. All of these are an introduction to poetry. (They will be writing poems about autumn as part of their autumn book.)

This last week the students practiced finding the beginning, middle and end of a story. We learned about thinking about the Who?, What?, When?, Where?, Why?, and How? in what they read. This also relates to the Characters, Setting, Problem and Solution in the story. Then we learned about the roles of authors and illustrators. We have done a fun project where they were given a brief story and had to figure out the Who?, What?, When?, Where?, Why?, and How? of the story and use that information to illustrate the story. They actually did a very good job at this. Now they are finishing up a sequel to that project by looking at an illustration, writing down their own ideas of characters, setting, problem and solution and then using that information to write a story about the illustration. This new Common Core is really pushing these kids to be deeper thinkers and harder workers.

MATH
Today we did an activity called "How Many Pockets?" The students put one connecting cube in each pocket they were wearing. They then stacked all their own pocket cubes into a tower on their desks. We used this data to make a line plot graph. Then each table discovered ways they could count how many pockets were at their table. Finally we found ways to find out how many pockets were in the class today. I hope you have fun counting pockets at your house.

We are starting study of counting money. This is an area where practicing at home with a parent is very helpful. Please take time to reinforce the names and values of coins and to practice counting small amounts of money. Start small and with the pennies and nickles and increase the difficulty as the child's skill increases.

VOCABULARY
We did not get the test done last Friday so we will take the test tomorrow. After that I will choose a new vocabulary book and publish the new vocabulary words here.

This week's keyword is "Cemetery".

Review Vocabulary Please

2011-09-28T10:34:00.003-06:00

Just a heads up on this week's vocabulary words. Please talk with your child about these words. They will be tested on these on Friday morning. Thanks!

autumn
creature
harvest
snug
accomplished
conclude

Look for a full blog entry for next week. This week's keyword is "Vocabulary."

Book Orders Due Tomorrow

2011-09-19T22:41:00.002-06:00

Remember that the book orders are due on Tuesday September 20th. You can fill them out and send them to class with a check made out to Scholastic Book Clubs or order online. If you order online we receive $3.00 in an account which I can use to buy books for the classroom.

Field Trip
The District cannot process all of the fingerprinting as fast as they thought they could. To go on the field trip with us on Oct. 7th you need to fill out the District Volunteer form and return it to our school. Fingerprinting before the Field Trip will not be required.

The complete process will follow these steps. After the Principal signs the forms the form will be sent back to the individual and they will need to take it to the District Offices for fingerprinting. Then a list of those who's background checks have been completed will be sent back to the school.

Spelling
This week's spelling words are words with consonant blends. Help your child practice blending the sounds but realizing that they still hear both sounds and that the words are spelled with both letters in the blend.

I am sending home their center time work papers tomorrow. These have Work Completion score on them. Each child was to complete 4 assignments during this time. They may have done more but this is all that was turned in. They need to do the work and file it in their spelling folder. That folder is turned in on Thursday with their Spelling Test and all Center Work Papers.

Vocabulary
This week's words come from the book "Six Dinner Sid." The words are: damp, suspicious, gullible, versatile, nasty, and one other one I can't remember right now. I will put it in when I get to school in the morning.

Math
I hope you are enjoying playing the math games that have been sent home. I will also soon send home some math facts cards. I will send these home one week and they will be tested in class on them the following week. Each week I will send home more sets of math facts which use a specific strategy to help the child solve them. Keep practicing these every night please.

Science
We are studying rocks. The Rock Cycle teaches about the formation of the three main types of rocks: Sedimentary Rocks, Metamorphic Rocks and Igneous Rocks. We also talk about how rocks are broken down into smaller rocks and eventually into sediment through the processes of weathering and erosion. Next week we will explore the many uses of rocks.

Keyword: "Rock On!"

Seeing Some Progress

2011-09-13T21:39:00.004-06:00

At the beginning of the school year each teacher has to remember these new students are a year behind the students that she just sent on to 3rd grade. The students take longer to do less and everything has to be taught to them step by step. They are now showing some progress. Most of them are able to copy the weather box and graph the weather on a daily basis. Nearly all of them are able to do the Math Journal starter each morning though it is still taking much longer than I would like it to take. We are just beginning to learn the different spelling practice activities and phonics activities.

Spelling
The first spelling test will be Thursday morning. Thank you ahead of time to the volunteers who will be correcting the spelling tests. We could not do the individualized spelling without their help. Thanks to all parents who are helping their child study each night.

When the spelling test comes home it will have been corrected and the last weeks list and new spelling list will be attached to the test. Each week I will alternate the color of the lists so you don't confuse the new list with the old list.

Language Arts
We are learning the new Language Arts core as we start implementing it. We are integrating Science and Social Studies concepts as the content as we learn language arts concepts. We have learned about our earth; the land and water, names of oceans and the 7 continents. We learned a song and poem about the 7 Continents. We learned about movement of the earth around the sun and that we have seasons because of the tilt of the earth's axis. We have read a book called "For the Love of Autumn" and determined the beginning, middle and end portions of the book. We will explore beginning chapter books together as a class. We'll begin with a Henry and Mudge book called "The Green Time." As we read about seasons and related topics we will continue the study of beginning, middle and ending of stories.

Next we will learn how a book is made and learn more about the role of the author and the illustrator. Your students will get practice being the author for an illustration and the illustrator for a story written by someone else. These are important concepts for your students both as readers and as beginning writers.

Math
We have begun at the beginning with study of number sense, place value and simple computation (fact families). We are also taking time to learn how to use the many math tools we will use throughout this year such as: pattern blocks, number line, 100's chart, linking cubes, base ten blocks, etc..

Vocabulary
We read the book "Mice Make Trouble". The words from the story that we are learning
are: assortment, civilized, orderly, inappropriate, contributed, and concoct. You can use these in sentences at home to help your child remember their meaning.

Science
We are also beginning our study of rocks. The three main types of rocks are Sedimentary, which is formed in layers, Metamorphic, which is formed from other rocks that have been heated and placed under extreme pressure, and Igneous rock which is formed from molten or melted rock. We will look for these three types of rock when we visit the cemetery on our field trip.

Handwriting Many of the students are still struggling with their handwriting. Often they are making backwards letters and numbers. Please continue to help them correct these problems as you work with them at home.

Please remember that each child needs to return their homework folder to school every day along with their tracking sheet and their Reading Response Journal (RRJ). They are given tokens for doing this. They should be reading 15 - 20 minutes every night and writing one well thought out response to their reading each night.

This week's keyword phrase is: "We have seasons because the earth is tilted." Please watch for book orders to come home soon, they are due on the 20th. If you order online we earn $3 for the class.

Thanks for your help and support!

Welcome to 2nd Grade 2011-2012

2011-08-29T20:54:00.008-06:00

Dear Students and Parents,
Welcome to 2nd Grade at Elk Meadows Elementary. My name is Mrs. Liz Taylor and I am looking forward to getting to know my new students, and their parents. I hope you students have enjoyed a nice break from school and are now ready to get started learning again. I am excited to get to know all of you.

I am hoping we can use our class blog as a means of communication to help us all be aware of what is going on at school, what homework assignments are due and so we can also share some of the fine work of the students through this technology. I am hoping you will check this blog at least once or twice a week to stay current on what is going on.

You can contact me through my school email which is
elizabeth.taylor@jordan.k12.ut.us
or by phone at the school 801-446-3200,
or just send a note to school on the back of your child's tracking sheet and I will return a note the same way.

My philosophy is to try to make school a place your child will enjoy coming to and then to help them learn those things that will help them build a strong foundation in math, literacy, writing, science and the other areas of whole child education.

Our three class rules are:
1 - Be Honest - no lying, cheating or stealing
2 - Be Respectful - of self, of others, of your environment (inside and outside)
3 - Do Your Best Work - this means to really work hard

I try to encourage the children through positive talk such as, "Your handwriting is much improved." , "I love how you are following the directions that I gave you." , "I appreciate how Joe is walking so quietly in the hall today," etc. I use a system of class points and individual tokens that the children earn by doing their work and following the rules. The tokens are used to buy things at the Token Store which is held about six to eight times during the year. The store is parent supported with donations of inexpensive items the children will enjoy buying. I usually need one volunteer to help run the store on those Token Store days. I would greatly appreciate your support for this activity as it truly is a wonderfully successful incentive program to encourage responsibility in the children both in their work and in their behavior.

It would be helpful if your child had the following items:
A pencil box - about 6" by 9" - with child’s name on it
A personal pencil sharpener with catch container for the sharpenings - with child’s name on it
A water bottle - with child’s name on it
A set of Twistable colored pencils for finer coloring
24 crayons
Elmers School Glue

We would also greatly appreciate donations of the following:
1 ream of white copy paper
1 package of sharpened #2 pencils
Ziplock type bags Snack, Quart or Gallon sizes
Boxes of tissues as needed throughout the year
Items for the token store throughout the year

The classroom temperature varies greatly - as fall approaches I would encourage you to send a jacket to school to stay here for the times when the room is too cool for your child.

Often I have students who brag about how they stay up until 11:00 at night. All of the research as well as common sense tells us that children of this age need nearly 10 hours of sleep a night or more. If they do not get this sleep their ability to learn and their behavior in the classroom is impaired. I can see it in individuals and in the class when they have not had enough sleep. I would encourage you to set up a family routine concerning homework and bedtime that will be the best for your child's health and education.

I see education as a three legged stool; the teacher, the student and the parents are the legs on the stool. Without any one of them the education is unbalanced and less than the strong foundation that each child deserves. Please be involved by helping your child with homework on a nightly basis. Then if you can please volunteer your time to help in our classroom either as a room mother, party helper, field trip volunteer, spelling volunteer, in the classroom on a regular basis or by doing things at home to help prepare materials.

Mrs. Liz Taylor’s Class Schedule

8:30 -9:00 Weather/Starter activity/ Spiral Math Review/
Morning Message – Grammar and Conventions/
Business/Calendar
9:00-10:15 Math
10:15-11:30 Language Arts – (Guided Reading, Spelling and Centers)
11:30-12:15 Lunch
12:15-1:30 Language Arts – (Writing) or (Guided Reading, Spelling and Centers)
1:30-2:15 Rotations (Mon. – Science/Social Studies, Tue. – Art, Wed. - music, Thur.-P.E.)
Please make sure your child wears tennis shoes on Thursday for P.E..
2:15-2:30 Recess
2:30-3:00 Vocabulary
Thurs. – 5th grade Buddies
3:00-3:05 Clean up and home

Curriculum

Reading: Students will keep a reading response journal. They will read at least 15 - 20 minutes every school night and write at least 1-2 sentences telling how they connected with the book. The due date is on the cover of the journal.
Students will learn how to select a book that is just right for their reading ability.
We will focus on developing good strategies for accuracy, fluency, and comprehension in reading.

They will read in many different genres and do a good deal of reading about non-fiction subjects which are in the Science and Social Studies core.
Spelling: We will begin spelling on Friday, September 2nd. The spelling lists will be comprised of frequently used words in the English language, word chunks, and sight words that are individually chosen for your child. Each week we will focus on a phonics principle and learn to spell words using that principle.
The list will come home on Friday so you have the weekend as well as Monday-Thursday morning to study the words.

Spelling tests will be given on Thursdays.

Math: We will continue working on basic math facts of addition and subtraction. I have a goal for each child to be fluent in these facts by the end of December. It is important that you work with your child to learn these. Basic facts are one digit plus one digit numbers and the subtraction fact that goes with it, for example: 9+9=18, 18-9=9. The students will be learning strategies to help them learn and memorize these math facts.

Students will learn problem solving strategies as well as create some strategies of their own.

We will learn about fractions, addition and subtraction with regrouping (some of us remember 'carrying' and 'borrowing'), measurement skills, time to the quarter hour, and geometry. A lot of work will be done in firming up the children’s’ number sense understanding.

Social Studies/Science: We will be studying rocks, plants, weather, life cycles, movement in the night sky including phases of the moon, season, map skills, some American history concerning the American West and the Long Journey to Freedom (Civil Rights), communities, cultures, and citizenship.

Library: We will have library on Tuesday. Please make sure that your child has his/her book to turn in each Tuesday. I will allow the children to take home the library books, however if the books do not come back each week I will have them keep them at school. If they are not finished with the book they may renew it. Since more children are at school all at one time it is important to return the books promptly.

P.E. We will usually have PE on Thursdays. Please make sure that your child has sturdy and comfortable shoes suitable for activities and that they wear them on Thursdays.

Character Education - Our school will be using the book "The Leader in Me" by Steven Covey to help us learn to implement and teach to the children the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. This is involved in a program aimed specifically at school age children. There is a companion parent/adult - and child book that we will also be using to help teach the students. This book is "7 Habits for Happy Kids" by Sean Covey. It would be a great resource for each family to have in their homes to help the school and home to work together to teach our children great character habits.

Book Orders: From time to time we will send home a book order form. If you are interested, please return the form to school with your money. Please send checks only made out to Scholastic Books. The orders will be due on the Friday following the day they are sent home. I am sending information that will allow you to order the books and pay for them online. Each time an online order is placed we receive $3.00 in an account for me to purchase books for the classroom. If you have questions please email me.

The Blog- Instead of a weekly newsletter I put important information on the class blog. You can access it at: http://www.ltaylor2.blogspot.com/ I also provide links to important and helpful information on the blog. It can also be accessed through the grade pages on the school web page.

Volunteers: We love volunteers in our classroom. If you are interested in helping out in our class please sign up on the ½ sheet paper on your child’s desk with the dates and times you are available. We need volunteers to help with spelling tests, reading, math games, and home projects. The PTA has been telling us about 'Gold Medal Schools' and one of the goals of these schools is to have every parent donate at least 3 hours of volunteer work for the school.

The keyword or phrase is "Be a Leader" - please write it on your child's yellow tracking sheet and they will be rewarded for your efforts to keep current with what is going on in class.

Please feel free to email me with any questions, or something I need to know about your child. I am here to be a help to you, educationally, as you raise your child.

elizabeth.taylor@jordan.k12.ut.us (the official school email)

Hundreds of Reasons to Love School

2011-02-05T20:41:00.007-07:00

This last Thursday, February 3rd was our 100th day of school for the year. We celebrated by learning about and making a book about counting to 100 in different ways. (By ones, twos, fives, twenty, twenty-five and by fifty) We practiced 100 math facts, colored 100 things, played 100 dice tic tac toe, drew a picture of what we might look like if we were 100 years old. And, wrote advice a 100 year old person would give. We also wrote about how we would spend $100.00. During the week we worked hard to meet our goal of reading 100 books. You can see our Reading Bug with 100 body sections in our hallway. We also read a poem about 100 which happens to have 100 words. 5 class members actually memorized it. Yea for them and their effort! We also played a card game, "Close to 100".

Math

We have been really working on grouping things by a certain number and counting by that number. This was accomplished by skip counting. The kids are quite good at counting to 100 by ones, twos, fives and tens. You can help them continue to improve by helping them sing our skip counting songs at home. Just sing the skip counting numbers to the tune listed.
Counting by 2 Yankee Doodle
3 Are You Sleeping
4 Row, Row, Row your Boat
6 London Bridge
7 Mary Had a Little Lamb
8 This Old Man

We are really working hard to understand double digit addition and subtraction without regrouping (no carrying or borrowing). (Please do not teach your child regrouping adding or subtracting yet until I can help them build the conceptual understanding needed.) If they learn the algorithm (short cut of carrying or borrowing) before they have a conceptual understanding then it is more difficult for them to understand it. Like many adults who memorized the how to do it before they understood the why you do it - they will not have the mathematical foundation they need. We will get to it - just give us time.

Example of kids present strategies -
Problem - Sally went to the Sticker Station. She bought 2 strips of ten star stickers and 6 single star stickers. She also bought 2 strips of ten moon stickers and 3 single moon stickers. How many stickers did Sally buy?

2 strips and 6 singles + 2 strips and 3 singles =
20 + 6 + 20 + 3=
26 + 23 =
10 + 10 + 6 + 10 + 10 + 3 =

Sometimes they keep one number whole as in:
26 + 10 + 10 + 3 =

Sometimes they combine the tens and then the ones and then those numbers:
20 + 20 = 40
6 + 3 = 9
40 + 9 = 49

All of these are valid strategies. It just depends on the child which one they understand better. Eventually they will progress to higher level strategies but we have to start where their understanding is now.

It is a similar process in their understanding of subtraction. Hang in there they will get it. We have to get them understanding these strategies before we can move on to regrouping. I am seeing improvement everyday.

We also use the 100's chart, base 10 blocks and number line as tools for their computation. I have them drawing lines and dots for base 10 blocks. A horizontal line represents a strip of 10 base 10 blocks, a dot represents a single block. This representation relates to the base ten blocks, the sticker strips and singles and the 100s chart. It is a very simple picture of the modeling tools.

Please continue to work with your child on counting money and telling time. Most have this figured out but some are still struggling. Also continue to practice the math facts cards I sent home and the related subtraction facts.

Reading

Once a week we ability group the entire 2nd grade to facilitate working on specific reading skills that the different groups need. Most of the students are working on fluency. Fluency is made up of 4 elements: expression, phrasing, smoothness and rate. They need to read like they were having a conversation. It needs to be interesting to listen to. It needs to be phrased correctly by attending to punctuation so as to have correct meaning. These elements need to be balanced. If there is too much expression but incorrect phrasing it is still awkward and lacks correct meaning. The best way for them to know how to read is to listen to others read correctly to them. Please read to your child. Besides the 15 - 20 minutes of independent reading that they are to read each night they should also be hearing books read to them. It may also be helpful to record your child reading and let them listen to themselves. Then they can hear if they are reading word by word, in two word phrases, choppy,or with correct phrasing and expression. Except for a few children in each class who are still struggling with decoding words as they read, fluency seems to be the biggest hurdle students are facing to becoming great readers.

Spelling

This week's Spelling Principle has to do with adding -ed to words. This changes the word to it's past tense. It is a difficult spelling principle because it had three different sounds associated with it.
Sometimes when you add -ed it will ad a /d/ sound as in slugged
Other words take on an /ed/ sound as in rounded
And other words will have a /t/ sound as in baked

We will also be talking about past, present and future tenses.

Writing

Some students are still trying to finish up and publish a snowman story.

We are starting a spiral review of writing and grammar skills. We will begin by focusing on capitalization and punctuation skills.

Social Studies

The students have just completed a unit on healthy eating. They are beginning a unit on map skills. I will teach our class a poem about the 7 continents and a song to go with it.

We will learn from a short video and a Scholastic News about the Chinese New Year. We will also begin activities related to Abraham Lincoln and Valentines Day.

That brings us to our keyword for this week which is
"Love is in the air." We will be having a Valentines/Friendship party on Monday February 14th at 2:00. Please have your child bring Valentines to share with the class. I will send a note and a list of the student's names.

Vocabulary

We have read the book "Mike Mulligan and His Steamshovel." Our vocabulary words are:
straightened
skyscraper
efficient
settled
diligent
cellar

Last week every student in the class got 100% on the vocabulary test. Yea!

Dress the kids appropriately for the weather conditions and have an enjoyable week.

Cold, Snowflakes and Penguins

2011-01-11T20:49:00.004-07:00

Happy New Year to all! It is time to really buckle down and learn a lot of new things.

Math
We are doing a unit on data and graphing. We have begun by learning that all things have attributes or different things about them by which we can describe them and sort them. We played a game called "Guess My Rule". I called kids to the front and told the children whether that child was keeping my rule or not. The Students had to study their peers and decide what my rule was. Examples: kids with stripes on their shirt, kids with freckles, kids with long sleeves. We discovered that it is just as important to know who is not keeping the rule as the ones who are. It helps us determine the rule easier. We also found that if there are 25 students in the class and 18 have long sleeves then we can figure out how many have long sleeves. We also made a bar graph of some of our data.

Next we learned about aliens called Yecktis and some basic ways to describe them. They each have a head which is shaped like a square, triangle, rhombus or hexagon. They each have 1,2,3 or 4 antennas and some have dot eyes while others have oval or doughnut eyes. We learned how to sort these Yecktis using these attributes. We could sort them using just one attribute or using a Venn Diagram we can sort them using two or three attributes.

Today we learned about surveys and how to take a survey and record our results. The children are in partnerships and are working to have each team take a survey of the class using one question and three answer choices such as: Which is your favorite icecream - vanilla, chocolate or strawberry. They will take turns surveying the class, recording the results on a tally chart and then making a pictograph to represent the data. They are learning that all graphs must have a Title, Labels and a Key.

Reading

I finished administering the Fountas and Pinnell reading inventories in December. All children gained 1 to 3 levels in their Guided Reading Levels. I will be continuing to teach them and I do have to do another District mandated test on each individual child by Feb. 11th. Several of the students are struggling with Fluency so that is what we will be working on for the next little while. Fluency includes the enthusiasm and expression we use while reading as well as phrasing, smoothness and speed of reading. These are each important as we try to improve our reading ability and our enjoyment of reading.

Spelling

This week the student's spelling words focus on r-controlled vowels. These are when a vowel sounds different because it is next to an r. We sometimes say the r is bossy so it tells the vowel how it should sound. The /or/ sound can be spelled or, ore, our, oor. The /ar/ sound is the easiest to spell. The /er/ sound is very tricky as it can be spelled with er, ir, ur and some variations. When the /er/ sound is at the end of a word it is generally spelled with the er.

Vocabulary

Today we read a fun book called "Six-Dinner Sid" about a cat who made 6 families feel like they owned him. Thus each night he got 6 dinners. The vocabulary words for this book are: damp, nasty, perfect, suspicious, gullible, and versatile. Please have fun using these words in your home and your conversations with your child.

Other

We have also been exploring fiction and non-fiction books and learning the differences. The students experience writing both fiction and non-fiction in their writing activities. I have been having the children look at some of their graded work to notice what I am looking for in their work and how they can improve their work to show that they have learned specific skills. Last week we wrote New Year's Resolutions. This week we will be learning about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and be writing about our dreams for a better world.

The keyword for this blog is "I Have a Dream".

Remember that there is no school for the students on Monday and Tuesday, January 17th and 18th. The 17th is the national holiday and the 18th is a teacher work day which coincides with the secondary schools end of quarter.

I will try to get better at keeping the blog updated. So, please keep checking here for information about your child's class and what we are learning.

There is Something in the Air

2010-12-12T21:41:00.003-07:00

I'm Back! So sorry I haven't gotten to the blog in so long. I do this on my own time at home and we have been remodeling our home in preparation for the holidays. We don't hire someone to do this we actually do the work ourselves. There just hasn't been enough of me to go around.

Thinking of the holidays I have a tradition of setting up a Christmas village at my home. Each year I invite my 2nd graders to come enjoy the wonder and magic of the village. My home will be open this Wednesday the 15th and Thursday the 16th from 5-9 pm. I invite all of you to bring your children over to my home to enjoy this bit of the season. You can bring your other children also.

Math
We have been working on understanding odd and even and on grouping by 2, 5 and 10. We are really trying to build an understanding of tens and ones the basis of our number system. You might think this is too simple for 2nd graders but many of them still don't understand this most basic concept. Thank you for helping your child do and return their homework.

Reading
Last week the students were administered a State Literacy test. Most of them did very well. Of course we always have a few student who are still struggling with reading at this point in the year. We will keep working and learning together. I am now in the process of administering the Fountas and Pinnell reading test. I must complete these individual tests before we go on holiday. Mr. Griffith offered each teacher 2 half days of subbing for us during the year. Last Friday and this Monday afternoon I have been able to test individual students because he has been in our classroom teaching. Thanks Mr. Griffith!

Vocabulary
Last week we read a book caled Dear Mrs. LaRue. We learned about writing letters. The students are practicing their new skills by writing letters to Santa Claus. Their words were melodramatic, misconception, neglected, obedience, despair, and persistent. This week we will read a book called "Everybody Cooks Rice." It talks about people in a neighborhood from many different cultures but all of them cook rice. This goes along with our study of cultures and customs at Christmas time from around the world. The words we are working on this week are: boarder, community, appetizing, gulped, grumbling and diversity. I hope your family will continue to use some of these words around your home to help add to the children's understanding of their new found vocabulary words.

This week we will be learning from parents about customs in Germany, Denmark, Australia and Argentina.

The students are working on a special gift for their family that will be coming home hopefully on Friday.

We will be having a Token Store on this Friday the 17th. I encourage the students to use their tokens to buy things for brothers and sisters or friends. If any of you have items to donate for the store I would welcome your donations. Thank you for all you do to help in many ways in our classroom.

Just a reminder that for the class Christmas party on Wednesday the 22nd each child is asked to bring a new or gently used book, wrapped. This will be used as a book exchange gift. Each child will come home with a different book.

Today's keyword is "The Magic of Christmas". Please write it on the front top of your child's yellow tracking papers. Your child will receive 3 tokens if your write it there.

The Weather is Changing

2010-10-24T21:24:00.005-06:00

Please send a jacket or coat with your child to school everyday. They will go outside for lunch recess and afternoon recess and need access to a jacket or coat everyday.

Please remember to look through the book orders that I sent home last Thursday. If you need me to keep ordered books for you (to keep secret for gifts) just let me know and I can do that for you. Book orders are due on Tuesday October 26th.

Reading
This last week we started our reading groups where I teach the children reading skills in small groups. We learned a game called "Guess the Covered Word". It really is a set of strategies that students can use to help them decode difficult words they may encounter in their reading. When they come to a word in their reading that they are not sure of they should:
1- look at the picture for a clue,
2- look at and think of the beginning sound in the word
3- make sure that any word they guess that might go in the sentence MAKES SENSE with what they are reading about,
4- think about the length of the word ( John likes to play _______. You might guess tag or tennis. The length of the word is a clue to let you know which might more likely be correct.),
5- think about the ending sound in the word
6- see if there are any little words you already know inside the bigger word you don't know.

If they will use these strategies they likely will be able to come up with the word they are struggling with. As a parent listening to your child read you can prompt them to use these clues like this. Did you look at the picture for a clue? What sound does the word begin with? What word would make sense in the sentence? That's a good guess and it will make sense in the sentence but look at how long the word is? Could it be your word? Do you see any little words you know in the big word?

You don't have to ask all of the questions each time. Give them no more that three clues then tell them the difficult word. Don't let them become frustrated with the reading. Remember the 5 finger rule: If they miss 5 words or more on a page then the book is too difficult for them. In this case you read the book to them and find an easier book for them to read to you.

Math
This week we learned about the Almost Doubles Strategy. If two numbers are next door neighbors on the number line like 3 and 4 or 8 and 9 you can find the sum of the two numbers by doubling the smaller number and adding one. You can also find the sum by doubling the larger number and subtracting one.

This week they will be looking for Doubles and Almost Doubles in subtraction problems. This will be like 16 - 8 = If you know that 8+8 = 16 then you will know the answer to this subtraction problem. If the problem is 17 - 8 = If you know that 8 + 8 = 16 and 17 is one more than that then you know that 8 + 9 = 17 so 17 - 8 = 9.

This week we will be working with skip counting, odd and even numbers and addition with three numbers. We will also explore use of the not equal sign. Children are to decide which number sentence is represented in a story problem and be able to write a story problem when given a number sentence. The story problem must end with a correct question.

We will also be measuring a scarecrow with candy corn and making a graph we derive from colored goldfish data.

Writing
Each of the students is trying to finish up the publishing of their first major story which is about a scarecrow. Come see their scarecrow stories and artwork on the bulletin board.

Vocabulary
This week we will be reading a book entitled "Grandpa's Teeth". The vocabulary words we will be working on learning are:
complain
description
mystery
suspect
conspiracy
sleuth
Please try to use these words at home and notice if your child notices them and tells you it is one of their vocabulary words.

Spelling
We will be studying the different ways that we can spell the long a sound. It can be spelled with
ai -- usually in the middle of a word
ay -- usually at the end of a word
/a/ (consonant) (silent e)-- as in name

I hope your student has been singing the song "Witches Brew" to you. It is such a fun song. This week they will each make up their own verse to the song.

We are quickly approaching the end of the first grading period and Parent/Teacher conferences which will be on Wednesday and Thursday November 10th and 11th. Please go online to schedule your own time for this conference. I am looking forward to meeting with each of you and discussing your child's strengths and needs.

I hope you have a great week. I am looking forward to seeing many of you on Friday for the Halloween parade and party. Thank you for all each of you do to help your child, our class and me. I couldn't do this job without great parent helpers.

The keyword for this week is "Jack-O-Lantern".

Back From Fall Recess

2010-10-17T18:48:00.003-06:00

I hope you all had a great time over Fall Recess. I attended the UEA Convention on Friday and have been alternating between spending time with my family and cleaning house.

Reading
This week we will begin Guided Reading Groups. I will teach reading to small groups while the other students are engaged in center activities. Some of those activities are spelling practice and phonics activities that will help the students with their spelling. This Guided Reading time is the most important time for volunteer parents to be in the classroom. They help to answer questions and to assist students while I am teaching the small reading groups.

Spelling
We are continuing our study of the diagraphs- th, sh, ch, ph, and wh. These may be used at either the beginning or at the end of words. Please help your child study their spelling words. The test will be this Thursday the 21st.

Math
Last week we read two books - "Two of Everything" and "Double Trouble". They were the same folk tale but told in the setting of different cultures, one hispanic and one Chinese. They were about a magic pot that doubled everything that was put into it. We then had a fun experience with my magic pot. It also doubled everything that was put into it. We let these experiences lead us into learning about doubles. The students are now working on memorizing their doubles facts. The cards I sent home only go up to 10+10 but I really would like the students to learn a lot more doubles facts. These will help a lot as they move into more advanced math. Please help them work on all of the math fact cards that I have sent home.

We are also still trying to help all the students to understand how to use fact families. When you know 3+4=7 it can help you when you are trying to figure out 7-4= .
Following the first Block Math Test there are still 10 students who scored below 70%. I would hope to have all students above 70% in all areas of math before the end of the year. Please take little moments to let your student count some money or tell you the time. These things will help your student.

Vocabulary
We have read the book "Picnic at Mudsock Meadows". The vocabulary we are working on from this book are the following words:
bleak
legend
reveal
eerie
mischievous
mortified
Please try to use these words around the house and see if your child picks up on hearing it and then talk about what it means.

PE
In PE we have been working on strength, flexibility and endurance. We walk and run laps around the gym, we do some exercises and stretches and we also play games that involve running, throwing, catching, following rules, and being good sports.

Science
Please help your student continue to observe and draw the moon on a nightly basis. This is the first time that the night sky and moon phases has been part of the 2nd grade curriculum. It is new information to the students and will be fun for them to talk with you about what is happening in the night sky.(We can't have that exact experience with the children so we appreciate you taking time to help your child with this part of the learning process.

This week is Red Ribbon Week. It is a time to focus on making commitments to stay away from drugs and other harmful substances. On Monday the students are to wear red and I will let them write with a red pen all day. The schedule for the rest of the week was sent home last week and can also be found on the school web page.

The keyword for this week is "Hunt for Red October". It is one of my favorite movies but the kids won't get that. They will just be thinking of red leaves during the month of October.

Reds and Orange, Apples and Pumpkins

2010-10-03T21:06:00.002-06:00

What a great time we had on our walking field trip. The weather was beautiful and the kids had fun learning. The students are making a lunch sack journal about what they experienced during the field trip. You will want to check it out during Parent Teacher Conferences. (It will be in the students' portfolios.) Thanks to each and every parent and grandparent who came with us. You did an awesome job helping the kids have a super time.

Also a big thank you goes to our "Spelling Moms" who came to the classroom while we were on the field trip and corrected the spelling tests for us.

While we are talking about great parent helpers I want to thank all of you who have been coming in and helping in the classroom and for those who have helped by sending in boxes of tissues and baggies and items for the token store. An extra thank you goes out to Brooke Robertson for helping to organize the volunteers and for assembling the lunch sack journals for our class and Mrs. Douglass' class. That truly was going the extra mile to help us.

PUMPKIN DECORATING CONTEST
One of the parents from the school is donating 800 pumpkins to the kids in the school. She will deliver them on Monday October 4th. Students will take the pumpkins home and decorate them at home. NO CARVING THE PUMPKINS as they will spoil. Look for the orange paper giving ideas for decorating. Decorated pumpkins are to be returned to the school on OCTOBER 11TH. They will be judged and prizes will be awarded. (PM Kindergarten classes will bring their decorated pumpkins to school on Oct. 9th.)

READING
I will be finishing up the individual reading assessments this week. I will begin Guided Reading groups on October 18th. That is when I teach the students in small groups. We should be able to help the students make some good progress in their reading skills then.

We will work on Decoding the words - Accuracy, Fluency- reading with expression, speed and smoothness, and Comprehension - understanding what they read. I work with the groups on their own reading level. Each day we focus on different elements of reading based on the needs of these readers.

Math
We are trying to finish up our first block this week. We will continue our learning about the 100's number chart and using it for addition and subtraction. We are working on solidifying our understanding of Fact Families and Turn Around Facts (Commutative Property). When working with the Fact Families kids sometimes do something like this:
3+5=8
5+3=8 These are the Fact Family equations for 3, 5, and 8
8-5=3
8-3=5

8+3=5 This is what some children try but it is not a true fact. This is a great time to teach them the not equal sign ≠

8+3≠5

We will also be having a few more experiences with Data Collection and Graphing, skip counting patterns and writing story problems.

Please, keep working with your child on the math facts cards that I have sent home. I will be sending home another set, adding doubles, very soon. Also thanks for playing the math games with your child. It helps them learn in a fun way and will also help you see what they know and what they still need help with.

Vocabulary
We will be reading a book called "Possum's Harvest Moon". The vocabulary words we will work with are:
autumn
creature
harvest
snug
accomplished
conclude

Please try to use these words at home during the week and see if the students notice them.

SPELLING
This week is a most important week in spelling. Most of the children have learned the patterns of spelling with short vowels. This week we begin with long vowels. The first rule they learn is about the silent e. It is extremely important that they really understand this principle this week. Compare words with and without the silent e with them often during the week. Examples:
hid, becomes hide
hat becomes hate
bit becomes bite
not becomes note
twin becomes twine etc.

This week's keyword is "Pumpkins". Please write it on the top of your child's yellow tracking sheet for them to earn 3 tokens. Thanks for reading the blog and being interested in your child's education.

A Feel of Fall in the Air

2010-09-12T19:39:00.003-06:00

This week is Green Ribbon Week. A paper came home on Friday explaining the reason and the activities.

Also on Friday I sent home a yellow paper - it is the information about our Walking Field Trip to Wight's Fort Cemetery. It is also the permission slip for your child to participate. Consider it also as an invitation for you to participate in this fun activity. The bottom portion must be completed and returned to school by Wednesday September 15th.

Math
The students are learning to do a morning math starter. It both teaches and reviews all math skills through the year. We are also trying to gain a good basic understanding of some strategies for learning basic math facts. Please work with your child with the math facts cards that I sent home. I will send other sets of cards as I teach the strategies. They will get progressively more difficult.

During this week I will be having the students take a math pre-assessment test. Again I will be using this information to determine skills, needs and progress through the year.

Spelling
This week the students are studying words with consonant blends. These types of blends such as cl, cr, tr, bl, sl,... take the natural sounds of the consonants and blends them together. Please help your child study their spelling words each night.

Reading
I will begin this week to listen to individual children read. I am trying to assess their abilities and their needs. I am reading to them daily and we are doing some group shared reading. Remember to help them choose to read "just right books."

Vocabulary
We have read the book Mice Make Trouble. We are studying the meaning of 6 words from the book. This weeks words are:
contributed
assortment
inappropriate
orderly
concoct
civilized
They should be listening for these words being used at home, on tv, in movies, etc. If you can use any of them in your family conversations that would be wonderful.Before the week ends they should understand the meaning of these words. There will be a quiz on Friday.

Art
The children have made a Name Art cover for their portfolio and a tear art Watermelon. Ususlly there is an art project every 1-2 weeks.

Writing
The kids are in the process of writing pages for a class book that has rhymes for the song "Down By the Bay."
They are also writing about their summer vacation and doing a glyph tee shirt cover for their story.
We are learning about the basics of writing a sentence. They only need to remember 5 things.
1- a sentence must make sense
2- it must begin with a capital
3- it must have ending punctuation
4- they must use their best spelling, using resources I have provided
5- they must use their best handwriting

That brings me to an area of concern. About 1/2 of the students have good to very good handwriting. The other half of the students really need to follow the instruction I am giving them and work to improve their handwriting. I may be sending some individual notes to let you as parents and the students know specifically what things they can do to improve.

If your child does not know how to tie their shoes yet please continue working with them and help them to master this skill. Thanks!

This Friday we will do a special rotation with activities related to the study of rocks.

This week's keyword is: "Peach Cobbler" When you have read this blog, write the keyword on the top front of the yellow tracking sheet. Your child will receive 3 tokens for your interest in their education.

Some teachers use a weekly newsletter to communicate with parents. This is my effort to let you know what is happening in our class. Please let me know if it is helpful or not and what other kinds of information you would like. Comments can be left below but I think you have to have a Google account to comment.

Thanks for all you are doing to help your child be successful!! Thanks to all the parents who have and are volunteering to help me help your kids.

Book Orders

2010-09-06T20:52:00.002-06:00

I am sending home the book order catalogs and forms. You can fill in the form and send it and a check made out to Scholastic Book Clubs in an envelope to school. Or, you can place your order online with the information given to you at Back to School Night. Online orders earn $3.00 each for the class. We also earn 1-10 points per dollar spent with the September orders depending on the volume of the order. Points can be redeemed for classroom books.

The main reason I send these orders home is so that you can purchase books your child would like to read. However, your child should be reading books on their reading level or lower. If they are trying to read a book that is too hard for them they become frustrated. A lot of the books in these catalogs list the Guided Reading Level down near the price. Look for GRL: ____. Your child should know their GRL as I have listed it inside their spelling folders and they are trying to choose books in the classroom library on their level.

If you don’t know the reading level of a book a good rule of thumb to know if it is a “just right” book is the following: If your child misses or struggles with 5 words on one page of the book then the book is too difficult for them. If you take them to the library and they choose a book just have them read a page to you there in the library. If they miss 5 or more words on the page then it is a book you can read to them but they should choose an easier book for their independent reading. They should only be reading “Just Right Books” at home.

The due date for orders from these catalogs is next Tuesday September 14th.

Keyword: Scholastic Book Clubs (Print this on the top front of your child's yellow tracking sheet and they will be rewarded for your reading the blog.)

Welcome to 2nd Grade 2010-2011

2010-08-30T21:56:00.002-06:00

Dear Students and Parents,
Welcome to 2nd Grade at Elk Meadows Elementary. My name is Mrs. Liz Taylor and I am looking forward to getting to know my new students, and their parents. I hope you students have enjoyed a nice break from school and are now ready to get started learning again. I am excited to get to know all of you.

I am hoping we can use our class blog as a means of communication to help us all be aware of what is going on at school, what homework assignments are due and so we can also share some of the fine work of the students through this technology. I am hoping you will check this blog at least once or twice a week to stay current on what is going on.

You can contact me through my school email which is elizabeth.taylor@jordan.k12.ut.us or by phone at the school 801-446-3200, or just send a note to school on the back of your child's tracking sheet and I will return a note the same way.

My philosophy is to try to make school a place your child will enjoy coming to and then to help them learn those things that will help them build a strong foundation in math, literacy, writing, science and the other areas of whole child education. My first and most important rule is that we must always be honest. Next we must respect ourselves, others and the property or environment. Thirdly we need to do our best work.

I try to encourage the children through positive talk such as, "Your handwriting is much improved." , "I love how you are following the directions that I gave you." , "I appreciate how Joe is walking so quietly in the hall today," etc. I use a system of class points and individual tokens that the children earn by doing their work and following the rules. The tokens are used to buy things at the Token Store which is held about six to eight times during the year. The store is parent supported with donations of inexpensive items the children will enjoy buying. I usually need one volunteer to help run the store on those Token Store days. I would greatly appreciate your support for this activity as it truly is a wonderfully successful incentive program to encourage responsibility in the children both in their work and in their behavior.

It would be helpful if your child had the following items:
A pencil box - about 6" by 9" - with child’s name on it
A personal pencil sharpener with catch container for the sharpenings - with child’s name on it
A water bottle - with child’s name on it
A set of 12 colored pencils for finer coloring

The classroom temperature varies greatly - as fall approaches I would encourage you to send a jacket to school to stay here for the times when the room is too cool for your child.

Often I have students who brag about how they stay up until 11:00 at night. All of the research as well as common sense tells us that children of this age need nearly 10 hours of sleep a night or more. If they do not get this sleep their ability to learn and their behavior in the classroom is impaired. I can see it in individuals and in the class when they have not had enough sleep. I would encourage you to set up a family routine concerning homework and bedtime that will be the best for your child's health and education.

I see education as a three legged stool; the teacher, the student and the parents are the legs on the stool. Without any one of them the education is unbalanced and less than the strong foundation that each child deserves. Please be involved by helping your child with homework on a nightly basis. Then if you can please volunteer your time to help in our classroom either as a room mother, party helper, field trip volunteer, spelling volunteer, in the classroom on a regular basis or by doing things at home to help prepare materials. Any of the following donations would also be greatly appreciated:
boxes of facial tissue
Zip-Lock bags - snack or quart size
dry-erase markers

Mrs. Liz Taylor’s Class Schedule

8:30 -9:00 Starter activity/ Spiral Math Review/
Morning Message – Grammar and Conventions/
Business/Calendar
9:00-10:15 Math
10:15-11:30 Language Arts – (Vocabulary and Writing) or
(Guided Reading, Spelling and Centers)
11:30-12:15 Lunch
12:15-1:30 Language Arts – (Vocabulary and Writing) or
(Guided Reading, Spelling and Centers)

1:30-2:15 Rotations (Mon. – P.E., Tue. – Art, Wed. - music, Thur. - language arts extras)
Please make sure your child wears tennis shoes on Monday.
2:15-2:30 Recess
2:30-3:00 Unit time (science and social studies)
Thurs. – 5th grade Buddies
3:00-3:05 Clean up and home

Curriculum

Reading: Students will keep a reading response journal. They will read at least 15 minutes every school night and write at least 1-2 sentences telling how they connected with the book. The due date is on the cover of the journal.
Students will learn how to select a book that is just right for their reading ability.
We will focus on developing good strategies for accuracy, fluency, and comprehension in reading.

Spelling: We will begin spelling on Friday, September 3. The spelling lists will be comprised of frequently used words in the English language, word chunks, and sight words that are individually chosen for your child. Each week we will focus on a phonics principle and learn to spell words using that principle.
The list will come home on Friday so you have the weekend as well as Monday-Thursday morning to study the words.
Spelling tests will be given on Thursdays.

Math: We will continue working on basic math facts of addition and subtraction. I have a goal for each child to be fluent in these facts by the end of December. It is important that you work with your child to learn these. Basic facts are one digit plus one digit numbers and the subtraction fact that goes with it, for example: 9+9=18, 18-9=9.
Students will learn problem solving strategies as well as create some strategies of their own.
We will learn fractions, addition and subtraction with regrouping (some of us remember 'carrying' and 'borrowing'), measurement skills, time to the quarter hour, and geometry. A lot of work will be done in firming up the children’s’ number sense understanding.

Social Studies/Science: We will be studying rocks, plants, weather, life cycles, map skills, communities, cultures and citizenship.

Library: We will have library on Tuesday. Please make sure that your child has his/her book to turn in each Tuesday. I will allow the children to take home the library books, however if the books do not come back each week I will have them keep them at school. If they are not finished with the book they may renew it. Since more children are at school all at one time it is important to return the books promptly.

P.E. We will usually have PE on Mondays. Please make sure that your child has sturdy and comfortable shoes suitable for activities and that they wear them on Mondays.

Book Orders: From time to time we will send home a book order form. If you are interested, please return the form to school with your money. Please send checks only made out to Scholastic Books. The orders will be due on the Friday following the day they are sent home. I am sending information that will allow you to order the books and pay for them online. Each time an online order is placed we receive $3.00 in an account for me to purchase books for the classroom. If you have questions please email me.

The Blog- Instead of a weekly newsletter I put important information on the class blog. You can access it at: http://www.ltaylor2.blogspot.com/ I also provide links to important and helpful information on the blog. It can also be accessed through the grade pages on the school web page.

Volunteers: We love volunteers in our classroom. If you are interested in helping out in our class please sign up on the ½ sheet paper on your child’s desk with the dates and times you are available. We need volunteer to help with spelling tests, reading, math games, and home projects. The PTA has been telling us about 'Gold Medal Schools' and one of the goals of these schools is to have every parent donate at least 3 hours of volunteer work for the school.

The keyword or phrase is "I Love Math" - please write it on your child's yellow tracking sheet and they will be rewarded for your efforts to keep current with what is going on in class.

Please feel free to email me with any questions, or something I need to know about your child. I am here to be a help to you, educationally, as you raise your child.

elizabeth.taylor@jordan.k12.ut.us (the official school email)

2010-06-29T21:00:00.002-06:00

My, How They Have Grown!

We are at 2 1/2 days and counting. It will be both great to see them move on to third grade and sad to see them go. We have been having a great time making fish mobiles, coloring symmetrical butterflies, painting pet rocks, learning about the meaning of multiplication (using arrays and circles and stars) and enjoying making birthday books for our friends.

Tomorrow, Wednesday June 30th we will have field day from 9-11 am. We will have the Fantastic Falcon Award Assembly at 1:15 pm. The rest of the day will be spent doing math, writing and reading together.

Thursday we will clean and stack our desks then participate in water day from 11-11:30, have lunch, long recess to dry out, school wide video. (Remember to wear clothes that can get wet and will dry quickly. A big towel and a blanket, pillow and healthy snack for the movie.)

Friday we will be watching the 6th Grade/Faculty Softball Game, have recess, have a party with games and activities, token store, pizza and pop and a special treat and entertainment. We will then pass out the report cards and say our farewells.

It has been a real pleasure sharing my days with your children. They are a talkative, rambunctious bunch but I have grown to truly love them and respect their talents and differences. I will miss your children and their wonderful enthusiasm. Thank you for sharing them with me for a while.

Just 2 More Weeks

2010-06-20T14:54:00.011-06:00

What's Been Happening?
In the last few weeks we have read biographies and made posters about the people we read about. We have learned about autobiographies and read a book called "When I Was Young in the Mountains" by Cynthia Rylant. Now we have begun writing our own autobiographical books called, "When I Was Young". We have also read and learned about Tall Tales. We have been learning songs and practicing for our musical production. We completed our CRT testing and other class testing. We produced some fine chalk art with our 5th grade buddies and learned how to do some projects with origami. On the 10th we went on our field trip to Red Butte Gardens and had a lot of fun learning about plants and animals. We also participated in the bike rodeo and learned some great rules for safety. Last Thursday students shared their talents and I was quite impressed by the wide variety of talents. Students have also been working on finishing up goals for their Fantastic Falcon Awards. I am nearly finished with individual reading testing for the students. We have been very busy still learning and having fun.

What's Coming Up?

Our pet day is this Thursday June 24th. Parents or older sibling must bring the pets by 8:30 and stay to take them home after the Pet Show. Please help your child practice what they are going to say and do with the pet. This is meant to be an oral language experience for the students so please let them do the talking. You may prompt them if needed but it would be best to help them prepare beforehand. We will be seeing pets from other classes on Mon. Tue. and Wed. Each child needs to bring a fist sized rock to school on Tuesday so they can paint it as a Pet Rock.

Thursday we will have recess and Popsicles with our 5th grade Buddies.

We will be practicing our mini-musical "Stone Soup" this week to be prepared to put it on for parents, siblings, grandparents, etc on this Friday June 25th at 9:15 in the gym.

I still need parent helpers as the children's portfolios need to be put together and we still have some books to assemble for next year's students. I also need help taking down the bulletin board and general help with the students also.

SPELLING The spelling test on the second grade word wall will be on Thursday morning at about 10:30. The list was sent home last Thursday. These are words the students have practiced, been tested on and used all year. It is a list from the USOE of words that second graders should know by the end of the year. They will be asked to spell 25 words at random from the list. We will be doing class spelling bees preparing for the 2nd Grade Spelling Bee next week.

We are excited to see if our butterflies have emerged over the weekend. I am supposing some did and the others will emerge this week. After they have all emerged we will release them. It will be a happy-sad time.

Friday June 25th is the absolute last day to finish goals for the Fantastic Falcon Award.

Next Week - The Last Week

Monday June 28th - Tote Trays will be coming home to be cleaned. Some good cleaners are Goo Gone, SOS pads or cleanser. Please make sure all marks are removed. Leave number stickers on the tote trays. These tote trays cost over $7.00 each and must be reused. We appreciate your help in cleaning them and getting them ready for next year's students. They should be returned no later than Wednesday June 30th.

Tuesday June 29th - 2nd graders will trade autographs in the gym. In the afternoon we will have the Spelling Bee. (Parents are not invited due to lack of room.)

Wednesday June 30th - Return all tote trays. Field day 9 - 11. 3 parent helpers are needed. Fantastic Falcon Awards Assembly is at 1:15 in the gym.

Thursday July 1st - We will wash and clean the desks and chairs and stack them. The school sponsors a "Water Day" on this day. Students are encouraged to wear shorts and tee shirts that will dry quickly. (Not Denim.) They can wear flip flops or take their shoes off. (They cannot wear just swimsuits.) The sprinklers will be turned on from 11:00 - 11:30 for some water fun. The students can then eat their lunch and play outside while they dry off. Each child is encouraged to wear sunblock and bring a big towel. They can also bring a blanket and pillow and healthy snack to use in the classroom in the afternoon as we watch a school-wide movie.

Friday July 2nd - The students watch a softball game played by the faculty and the 6th graders. They have a recess and then we will be having a class party. It will be the final token store where the students can spend the tokens they have earned. The students are also working on earning points towards having pizza and pop and maybe ice cream at the party. They need to bring their backpack or a doubled grocery bag to put their purchases in to carry them home in.

Keyword - "Great Kids - Great Year"

In the midst of all of these activities we will be finishing our “When I Was Young” books, finish our reading for details activity with books about leaves, roots, flowers and seeds, read some class books just for fun, and work more on basic math facts and models of multiplication and division. We will review some of the vocabulary we have learned this year and use it in a writing assignment and maybe do some puzzle races and engineering competitions, (building with blocks). I also have a few art projects that we will work into our schedule when we can. We will keep busy and learning as much as we can until the last day.

Parents,

Thanks so much for your support this year as parents, and as parent volunteers. Thanks for supporting the token store with donations and for all you have done to help support your child, our class and me during this year. Keep them reading and thinking over the summer and have fun doing it.

Gratefully yours,
Mrs. Liz Taylor

Biographies and Autobiographies

2010-05-23T21:22:00.003-06:00

Reading

I have begun the individual Fountas and Pinnell reading tests with the students. This will give us an excellent picture of the progress they have made in Reading Level, Word Attack, Fluency, and Comprehension.

This week we will study the genre of Biography. Each student will read a biography and do some activities related to the book they read. I have biographies on many different reading levels. It would be wonderful if they also read some biographies from your family library or the public library at home this week.

Next week we will be moving on to Autobiographies. Each student will be writing a book of memories called "When I Was Young..." I am sending home a planning page for this writing assignment. Please help your child complete it and return it by Friday the 28th.

Math

We are completing our unit on measurement which includes perimeter and capacity.

We will be reviewing for the CRT testing. Some review will be oral, some will be on worksheets and some will be in game format. I really try to make this fun as we remember and use all the mathematics we have learned this year.

Spelling

This week we are working on comparisons using words with -er and -est such as bigger, biggest, happier, happiest, nicer, nicest Remember the spelling rules which are: Add -er or -est to show how one thing compares with another. Double the consonant and add -er or -est to words ending in a short vowel and one consonant. Change the y to i and add -er or -est to words that end in y. Add -r or -st to words that end in silent e to make the -er or -est ending.

The test will be on Thursday.

Vocabulary

We will be reading a book titled "Montezuma's Revenge". I forgot to bring home the list of vocabulary words so I will add them tomorrow.

Schedule

You may want to keep track of the following dates:
Tuesday May 25th Jumpathon must have $5.00 donation to go to the jumpathon
Monday May 31st Memorial Day - no school
Thursday June 10th Red Butte Garden Field Trip and PTA Carnival
Tuesday June 15th Bike Rodeo, must have a helmut to participate I need 2 volunteers to help, please (look for note)
Thursday June 17th Class Talent Show (look for note)
Thursday June 24th Class Pet Show 8:30 am on the blacktop parent must bring the pet and take it home right after the show. (look for note)
Friday June 25th 2nd Grade Mini-Musical "Stone Soup" 9:15 in gym parents etc. invited (look for notes)
Tuesday June 29th 2nd Grade Spelling Bee

Please return any Field Trip Notes ASAP

The keyword is "Biography"

I need to have a token store this week probably Thursday or Friday. I will need 1-2 parent volunteers to help. I would ask that if any of you parents are able I would appreciate any donations of toys, treats etc. for the token store. Send by Wednesday please.

Back on Track, Ready to Run to the Finish Line

2010-05-09T21:00:00.004-06:00

I hope you all had a nice off track time. We only have 8 weeks or 39 days left to enjoy our class camaraderie. We have a lot to learn yet and we will be reviewing to solidify many concepts we have already learned.

Spelling
This week and next week we will be immersed in contraction action. We will be learning about forming contractions with not, are and have this week. We will also be learning about contractions with is, will, am, would, had and has. Please reinforce with your child that the apostrophe shows where letters were left out as the contraction was formed.

Vocabulary
We will read a book called "Chato's Kitchen". It has some Spanish words in the story which forces the children to try to understand the words through context in the story. This is a good skill to learn for when they come upon any word they don't know in their reading. This week's vocabulary words are: vibrated, reassured, dumbfounded, cowered, suppressed, and dismayed.

If you can use any of these words in conversation with your child they can listen for them and mark on the vocabulary chart that they heard the word used.

Math
The students did very well on the fractions test on the section dealing with fractions of a geometric shape. Several students are still struggling with the concept of fractions of a set. We will be reviewing and reteaching this information. An example of this topic is: If I had six cupcakes and I ate 1/3 of them how many cupcakes did I eat? The first task is to make 3 equal groups out of the six cupcakes. If I made 3 equal groups each group would have 2 cupcakes. 2+2+2=6. If I ate one of the three equal groups then I would have eaten 2 cupcakes. 1/3 of 6 is 2.

We will also be working on measurement with standard and nonstandard measuring tools and I will give the students a broken ruler and see if they can use it to measure correctly. We will also learn about capacity. This deals with cups, pints, quarts, half-gallons, gallons etc. and their relationship to each other.

We are beginning our reviewing of math concepts for the CRT Testing. This testing will take place on June 7-9. Please make sure your child will be in school on those dates.

Reading
We will begin a study of literary genres. This week we will learn about Historical Fiction. Some of the children will just be involved in discussions and my reading to them. Other children have been reading a book about the San Francisco Earthquake. They will do some work related to this book and this genre.

Heads up - Next week we will be working with Biographies and learn about Autobiographies. The students will be having a writing assignment that if done well could be a treasure for them for the rest of their lives. I will be sending a paper home about this assignment soon. You will just have to help your child list 6 of their favorite childhood memories. They will use these memories to make their own book. This project is like a capstone project and I expect them to do their very best work.

Soon I will begin the Fountas and Pinnell reading tests which help me more specifically determine your child's true reading level. Your children have been making great progress in their reading skills this year.

Science
We will be continuing our work with Life Cycles for several weeks. We are primarily studying the life cycles of: butterflies, frogs, plants and chicks. We will be watching the development of butterflies in a few weeks and we will also take a field trip to Red Butte Garden on June 10th. We are looking forward to that fun time.

I will be going to my son's graduation from Law School so I will be gone from school Thursday - Monday, May 13th, 14th and 17th. Mrs. Emily Crane from third grade, an off track teacher will be their substitute.]

We will also be having two assemblies this week. One is the kick off assembly for the American Heart Association Jumpathon. The other assembly will be a concert by the Bingham Jazz Band.

This weeks keyword is "Historical Fiction". Please write it on your child's tracking sheet and they will be rewarded for your diligence in reading the blog.

Thanks for all you are doing to help your child succeed in school.

So Little Time, So Much To Do...

2010-04-18T22:02:00.003-06:00

Two and a half days and counting. We have a lot to accomplish in this time.

Spelling
We are learning a spelling principle this week which means that the students will have a spelling test on Wednesday the 21st. We are learning about using the "ed" ending to form words with the past tense. This will be changing a word from meaning something that is happening (present tense) to something that has happened (past tense). We will also be listening to the three sounds that are made by adding the "ed" ending to words.

Sometimes we hear /ed/ as in acted.
Sometimes we hear /t/ as in asked.
Sometimes we hear /d/ as in aimed.

We learn this principle so it is easier for us to remember spellings for these words. If we are using a past tense word and it ends with a /t/ sound it is still spelled with -ed.

Vocabulary
We will complete the unit started last week by completing the study of the words and having a test on those words. As a reminder the words are: anxious, dreaded, masterpiece, ruin, compassion and nurturing.

Math
We will have two math tests - one on fractions and the other on money.

Reading
I will finish testing the students with the PALS test this week.

Misc.
We will also be continuing our study of life cycles. We will be writing about rain and completing two birthday books. We will also do a couple of art projects.

This weeks keyword is "Hyacinthe". On Tuesday look for a note from me concerning things you can do with your child while they are off track that will help them continue their learning. Some will be to help them complete their "Fantastic Falcon Awards" and others will be to help firm up areas where they may need continued practice.

At the beginning of March your children brought Dr. Seuss books to school. One book that belonged to Evan is unaccounted for. The book is "A Fly Went By". Please look through your books at home and see if perchance it got taken home with your child's books. We would appreciate it if you would look for it.

Thanks for all you do to help your child succeed.

Back to the Blog...

2010-04-11T20:39:00.003-06:00

So sorry I have been offline for a time. Life happens! I hope all of the blog readers will come back and we can get you needed information through this method.

The keyword for this week is "FRACTIONS". Please read on for more information.

Vocabulary
On March 29th we read a book titled "The Great Kapok Tree". The vocabulary words from that book were: ancestors, lulled, slithered, wither, defenseless and intentions. I hope you have heard your child using or mentioning those words.

This last week we read the book "The Patchwork Quilt". The new vocabulary words are: anxious, dreaded, masterpiece, ruin, compassion, nurturing.

Spelling

Last week we worked on digraphs where two letters form a new sound not a blend of the two sounds. The digraph sounds are: sh, th, ch, wh, and ph.

This week we will be studying the differences between the "ing" and "ink" words. These are hard sounds for the children to distinguish. The hope is that this week they will begin listening better to how they say these words - leading to better spelling of these words. They will be tested on these words on Thursday April 15th.

They will also do one more spelling unit before we track off. They will be tested on those words on Wednesday April 21st.

Reading

The next week and a half I will be administering the PALS tests to your children individually. In this test they are asked to read lists of words. Depending on their success at that task they read a story selection and answer comprehension questions about the story. I also listen for fluency and expression and also time their fluency rate.

Science

We are studying life cycles. They will learn about the life cycles of frogs, butterflies and plants. We also learn about the relationship between plants and animals. This unit will continue when we return from off track.

PE

We have started learning about jumping rope. As you can imagine the children have a great variety of abilities. Some can jump fast and fluidly and others can hardly jump at all. This would be a great skill for them to practice while they are off track. We begin with basic, two legs together jumping while swinging the rope forward. We will progress to basic backwards jumping. Swinging the rope to one side then open to jump and a double swing to each side before opening to jump. We keep progressing with more difficult jumps. If the children practice most can become very proficient at jumping rope in second grade.

Math

We started our unit on fractions and will continue that study, hopefully completing it before we track off.

We began the unit by having the children (pretending they want the biggest piece possible) choose if they wanted 1/2, 1/3, 1/8, or 1/4. All but three members of the class chose 1/8. The other 3 choose 1/2. The children see the 8 and think it is the largest number and think it is the largest piece. This is a great beginning point to drive home the fact that the more equal pieces we break something into the smaller each piece has to be.

The students learn about halves, thirds and fourths. They learn about fractions of a shape (like 1/2 of a rectangle) and fractions of a set ( like 1/2 of a set of 12 balloons). The most difficult task is to understand fractions such as 1/3 of a group of 6. They have to first show three equal sized portions of the six (groups of 2,2,2) then note that 1/3 equals one of these three equal groups. So 1/3 of 6 = 2.

Please use the information I sent home last Friday to help you help your child as we study fractions.

Writing

Your children have been writing about spring. They have written a poem beginning with comparing spring to a color. These are on the bulletin board in the hall. The have also written about what they did on their spring break. This week they will write about rain and their memories of storms.

We have also been studying compound words, antonyms, synonyms, and a little about prefixes and suffixes.

Misc.

This week is the school Book Fair. You and your child can purchase books, before and after school and during lunch. Remember the Book Fair Diner - come eat with your child on Wednesday. At this point you would need to bring a lunch from home. You can just come during lunch and after your child has eaten you can go book shopping with them. This is a great opportunity as the book fair is a BUY ONE GET ONE FREE SALE.

Your children are creating cute umbrellas and will do another couple of art projects before we track off.

Please keep helping your child Read and Respond nightly. Please also help them complete and return homework by the next day. This is our final Reading Response Journal. When they come back on track the students will be doing mini-book reports weekly. Also, we need to turn in all Math Games before the children go off track. When we return the students will have paper math homework that will either go along with our study or help prepare them for the end of year testing.

Thanks for all you do to help your child be successful.
Keep up the good work.

Slow But Steady...

2010-02-22T20:17:00.008-07:00

Some things in life just take longer than you think they will.

Math and Vocabulary
We are still working on the data surveys and making graphs in math.
We are still working on the vocabulary words from last week and will test on them this week.

Spelling
This weeks spelling concentrates on the dipthongs of "oy and oi". As a general rule the "oy" is in the middle or at the end of words and the "oi" is in the middle or at the beginning of words. Examples: joy, boy, soy, loyal, royal oil, oink, boil, soil, foil, spoil.

SS
In Social Studies we are studying time lines. The children will be making time lines of their life and of an average day. We will touch on time lines of various historical events.

Writing
Right now we are really trying to improve our writing skills. Today the students edited some of my writing and some of their own writing. I am encouraging them to write more. As this applies to their "News of the Week" if they are normally writing one sentence I am asking them to write 3-4 sentences. If they are normally writing one paragraph I am asking them to write 2-4 paragraphs. We are also working on doing better at remembering correct use of capitals and punctuation and checking our own spelling. Some of the students handwriting has really improved since the beginning of the school year. Others are still in need of some real effort to improve their handwriting.

Africa Reports and Projects
I hope you are helping your child read about their Africa topic. If they will keep notes each night in the Note Journal that I sent home last week they should then be able to use those notes to write their report. Each day when the Journal is sent back to school with an entry in it they will be rewarded with a token. I am trying to encourage this so that the project doesn't get left until the last minute. I want it to be an enjoyable learning experience for the students.

Heads Up For Next Week
Next week we will celebrate Dr. Seuss's Birthday on Tuesday and our 100th Day of School on Thursday. If your child or your family have any Dr. Seuss books they can bring them to school on Monday. (Please make sure their name or your family name is in the books.) We will be trying to read 100 books in school next week as part of our 100th week celebration. I will read a few to the class, they will each read 3-4 books and they may even read to each other or to me for us to accomplish our goal. We will also do several other activities related to 100.

Our keyword for this week is "February Final Week". I hope that those of you who read this copy of the blog will find it informative and helpful. I would hope more of you would join us for the online version each week. Thanks for all you are each doing to help your child to be successful in school.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's back to school we go....

2010-02-15T23:06:00.002-07:00

Welcome back! I hope you all had a wonderful off track time. I now hope you are ready to learn, work, learn and have fun. This week's keyword is "Winter is Winding Down". Anyway I am hoping it is.

Spelling

Unit 16 Review of Short and Long Vowel Patterns

Short Vowels

a as in apple or bat

e as in elephant or met

i as in igloo or in

o as in octopus or on

u as in umbrella or under

CVC Consonant Vowel Consonant

CCVC, CCVCC, CVCC

Long Vowels

Vowels say their names – a, e, i, o, u

CVCe Consonant Vowel Consonant silent e

Vowel Teams – “When two vowels go walking the first one does the talking.” ai, ay, ee, ea, oa, ow, oe, ue,

Special rules – igh, ight, /u/ spelled ew

Other Vowel Sounds

ow, ou

Students will do several activities during the week where they will be given a list of words or words they find in a story. They will need to tell if the vowel sound is long or short and which of the above rules apply to the word. We will begin this study together as a class and then work for each student to become independent in this activity.

For example:

throat - long o - vowel team rule

chop - short o - CCVC

light - ling I - special rule “ight”

On Friday they will be given a list of words to do this with as a test. They will also be asked to spell 10 words that use a variety of these rules. You can practice with them at home on any words that follow these rules. They will not be given a specific list of words to learn. (memorize)

They will also be tested on these words: February, president, Valentines

One last note on the spelling - when they have a multi-syllable word such as "winter" - if they will break it into syllables the syllables follow the spelling rules or principles stated above. Example: winter has two syllables win-ter. The first syllable is a CVC pattern so the vowel is short. The second syllable has an r-controlled vowel "er". That is a principle we will be getting to soon.

Vocabulary

We will be reading a story called "Eat Your Vegetables". From it we will draw the vocabulary words:

ferocious

steadfast

lumbered

queasy

collaboration

relocate

This week we will also be learning about Presidents of the United States - particularly George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

Africa

Look for the packet of information about the Africa report and project. Be sure to send back the paper with your child's choices of topic on it ASAP, but at least by Friday. I will assign the topics from their choices so that we don't have 5 reports on elephants, etc. Each week a homework page will come home telling what needs to be done on the report that week. This will help your child pace their efforts so that they will finish the report and project on time.

The due date for projects and reports is Monday March 29th. If students are finished I would love to have some turned in on Wednesday - Friday March 24th - March 26th so that we will not need to rush to hear all of the reports.

Math

In math we will be studying data collection and graphing. We begin by studying attributes and how we can sort things by their attributes. Example: Which children have blonde hair, brown hair or black hair, etc. or how many sides a shape has. They will be writing their own survey question with choices and surveying other students. Then they will us tally marks, a pictograph and a bar graph to represent the data.

We may even sort spelling words by spelling principles and graph them which will help them with spelling and be practice for the math concepts we are learning.

Home Reading Minutes and RRJ

Because the children will be reading to learn about the subject of their report, that reading will count as their reading minutes. Please continue to record minutes read on the yellow tracking sheets. However, because the children will be using what they read to write a report I will not be requiring the Reading Response Journal for the next few weeks.

Please continue with other homework such as: any math homework pages that come home - please complete and return the next day, practicing spelling and math facts, and playing the math games which will be distributed on Friday.

Civil Rights for All

2010-01-19T22:23:00.003-07:00

Although Monday was the Martin Luther King holiday we are spending some time this week learning about him and his important and true words. He said something like, "Hate cannot conquer hate but love can conquer hate." We are learning a bit of history about slavery, the Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation, Civil Rights and how we should treat all people. We will also be doing some writing about what our dreams are and about Dr. King's big dream.

The keyword is "Freedom."

We are finishing up the vocabulary and math from last week. We will have a spelling test on Thursday. The spelling this week is that both "ou" and "ow" say /ou/ as in cloud and now. The students need to recognize when each one is used.

We will have a presentation to our class tomorrow by the Safe School Ambassadors from the school.

We are also finishing our unit on Healthy Lifestyles.

The students are to turn in their Math Games on Thursday. The Reading Response Journal will be collected on Friday. I will send home a fresh RRJ for students to use for makeup work for missed homework assignments.

I especially hope that all of the children will continue to read and record their minutes while they are off track. It is also important for them to work on Math Facts, Handwriting Books and memorizing how to write their name, address and phone number.

Have a great time off track. Look for more here on February 12th. I will look forward to seeing the kids again on February 16th.

Winter Learning Fun

2010-01-10T20:59:00.004-07:00

Last Friday we read a book called "The Big Snow". We looked at photographs of snowflakes taken by Snowflake Bentley. We had a snowball fight with wadded up papers - we had written three things about ourselves on our paper. The snowball fight got the papers all mixed up. Now we are reading the 'snowball' papers one at a time and trying to guess who it belongs to. We also made cool 'supposedly' symmetrical snowflakes with Q-tips and glue. Monday morning we will find out how they turned out. You could come by and see them hanging from our classroom ceiling.

This week we will be learning about penguins as well as other Antarctic and Arctic animals.

Reading
Using books about penguins and other animals we will learn about the differences between fiction and non-fiction, we will learn about cause and effect and we will each complete a mini-book report.

Spelling
We will be learning to spell words with the long u sound. Some of these words use "ue", "ew", or u(consonant)e to create the long u sound. We will also learn the differences in spelling and meaning of: to, too, and two.

Math
We are firming up our understanding of even and odd numbers and counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s. For example if there were 5 students in a room how many eyes would there be? How many legs would there be? How many toes would there be? etc.

Vocabulary
We have read the book "A Bad Case of STRIPES" by David Shannon. The vocabulary words we are learning are:
contagious
distraction
remedies
vanished
altered
perplexed

Healthy Lifestyles
Last week and this week we have been studying healthy lifestyles. We have learned about diseases. There are two main types of diseases - communicable and non-communicable. We have learned about some of the diseases in each of these categories. We have also learned about disease prevention through hand washing, good hygiene, nutrition, and exercise. This week we will also learn about avoiding tobacco, drugs and alcohol and more about nutrition and the food guide pyramid.

It seems to me that a good keyword for this week is "Penguins". I love it that they look so proper and polite in their tuxedo suits and I am amazed at what they go through to bring new penguins into existence. Both parents go through extreme hardship to help the egg then the chick to survive . Thanks for all you are doing as parents to nurture your little chicks and help them survive and grow. I care deeply for each of my students. They are sweet, wonderful children. This last week was a difficult one in our classroom. Not all but many of the students were wired and hyper on many occasions. They seemed to be talking out and not paying attention a LOT more than usual. I would appreciate it if you would talk to your child about the need to focus and try extra hard to listen when I am giving instruction and to be in control as to appropriate levels of noise in the classroom. Thank you for your efforts to help in this way. - Mrs. Taylor

Happy New Year! 2010

2010-01-03T21:20:00.003-07:00

Here is hoping you had a wonderful holiday break. One of the favorite activities at my house was playing "Scrabble" with all my grown up kids. So I thought "Scrabble" would be a great keyword for our post this week. I found that knowing a lot of second grade spelling words comes in very handy while playing this game.

THANKS - I offer my sincere thank you to all who gave me gifts this past month. I feel very blessed by your generous offerings of Christmas wishes to me. I especially feel honored to have the privilege of teaching your children. They are sweet and adorable. The variety of their skill levels presents some challenges to me as their teacher but I do honestly enjoy being with them and trying to meet their needs. Thank you again for your generosity.

MATH
We are still really working on a variety of ways to solve story problems with both addition and subtraction and with double-digit numbers. Students should continue to practice counting by 2s, 5s and 10s, and counting money. These are great activities for home practice along with practicing all basic math facts. We will also be doing some work with even and odd numbers this next week.

SPELLING
On December 22nd I sent home spelling lists for Unit 13 –
Spelling Principle – Long O spelling
• oa as in boat
• ow as in bow
• oe as in toe

The students will be tested on these words on this Thursday January 7th.

I will post again in the next couple of days to update on anything new that comes up when we return to school tomorrow. Remember to write the keyword on your child's tracking sheet so they are rewarded for your checking this site. Thanks for using this technology tool to help us keep in touch.

Back Among the Living - ready to teach!

2009-12-13T21:29:00.002-07:00

So sorry for not posting last week but the strep bacteria visited with me for a few days. I stayed home so as not to spread the germs.

We have been working on a few Christmas/Holiday projects. Several of the math and language arts papers we have worked on have also been holiday themed. It is fun for the children to have themed papers but they still contain significant academic learning concepts such as: abc order, contractions, graphing, writing, controlled coloring (eye/hand coordination and small muscle control) and spelling.

Those types of pages and learning experiences will continue the next week and a half as well as our regular spelling/phonics, math, reading, writing, vocabulary, P.E.and music.

Spelling

This week we are working on words with long i such as: I, i_e, and igh spellings. Their challenge words are: north, south, east, west, traditions, and reindeer.
In social studies we are working on map skills. That is the reason for some of the particular challenge words.

Vocabulary

Following our current theme of Christmas Around the World we will read the book "Everybody Cooks Rice" by Norah Dooley. The vocabulary words will be:
boarder
community
grumbling
gulped
appetizing
diversity
Our comprehension focus in the book will be to follow the changing setting.

Math

We will be doing an investigation to help the children see the reasoning behind the Commutative Property of Addition. We will work with number strings and the children will find that they can beat the calculator. The games "Close to 20" and "Beat the Calculator" in the math games concentrate on these skills.

We will revisit the Near Doubles (also called Doubles + 1 or Doubles - 1). These are the math facts such as 6 +7 which can be solved by doubling 6 which = 12 and then adding 1 more from the 7 to equal 13 or to double the 7 which = 14 and then subtracting 1, because the 6 is one less than 7, and this strategy also = 13.

We will review solving addition and subtraction story problems and related story problems. We will learn how to solve an addition problem with an unknown change such as:
"Kira had a bunch of 8 balloons. Sally gave her some more balloons. Then Kira had 11 balloons. How many balloons did Sally give to Kira?"
Though it is an addition problem 8 + __ = 11 it can be solved using subtraction. Example:
11 - __ = 8 or 11 - 8 = __

We have also really been concentrating on adding using tens and ones and have learned to draw pictures to represent base ten blocks which we can use to solve these problems. We have also related this to the 100's chart and are beginning to understand the process of using the chart as a tool for adding larger numbers.

Reading Tests

Because I was absent three days last week I am behind in my progress of testing the students on their reading skills. I am still hoping to complete that before we recess for the holidays. After the holidays I have a different reading test which will need to be done.

Thanks to those of you who are coming to share different cultures with the 2nd graders.

Reindeer grams will be sold during lunch each day this week. The child may purchase a reindeer gram for 50 cents. Their friend will receive one bag of goodies and tags wishing them a Merry Christmas from all the friends who purchased a gram for that child. The proceeds from this fun way to give gifts to friends at school will purchase a wish through the Make a Wish Foundation for a child named Zach who has leukemia.

The students have earned a reward for earning 100 points as a class. They have chosen to have a Readathon. It will be this Wednesday from 12:15 - 1:15. They may each bring a small blanket a pillow and a stuffed animal. They may bring a small healthy snack and a book or two to read if they would like. Following the readathon we will have rotations, recess and a 2nd grade song practice.

There will be no formal Christmas music program on an evening at the school this year. The children will participate in singing around the Christmas tree at 9:00 am on Wednesday December 23rd. Parents are invited to attend. You will sit in chairs around the perimiter of the gym. The students will sit in front of you and the tree will be in the center of the room. This means you probably should sit across the gym from your child's class. Each grade will present 2 musical numbers.

This week's keyword is "the Grinch".

Happy Thanksgiving... Wheeeeee... Here Comes That Holiday Feeling...

2009-11-29T22:01:00.004-07:00

I hope you had a fantastic Thanksgiving weekend!!

Spelling - This week we will be concentrating on three spellings of the long A sound:
a_e as in make
ai as in mail
ay as in may

Though the children have spent an entire week on the
a (consonant) (silent e) spelling, it is difficult for many of them to differentiate between the three different spelling patterns. So, this week we present them all together so the children have to focus on which pattern to use in each word.

Vocabulary - We will be reading the book, "Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse." Our vocabulary words are:
adventure
cautiously
envy
precious
fond
transform

Math - We didn't quite get the geometry unit finished last week so we will complete that first. The children will be learning how to order rectangles from biggest to smallest. They will learn about columns and rows within a rectangle array and finish up our study of symmetry. We will then move on to some problem solving with double digit numbers using strips of 10 stickers and single stickers as a model for our problems.

Reading - I will continue giving the Fountas and Pinnell reading assessments which need to be completed before the Christmas break and as possible meeting with reading groups to firm up some skills with decoding and comprehension.

Over the next few weeks we will be learning some holiday songs, doing some art projects and also using holiday themed activities in our regular learning processes for math, reading and writing. We will also be learning some map skills and hopefully learning about holiday customs in different countries. (Please remember to volunteer to share with us if you can.)

Remember the fabric strips for the holiday project and the Christmas Around the World dolls are due on Friday December 4th. Book orders are due on Monday Nov. 30 or Tuesday Dec. 1st would be fine also.

The keyword for this week is "Holly Jolly".

Have a great week but remember to help your child read and respond every night.

Welcome Back On Track...

2009-11-15T20:59:00.003-07:00

Fall or Winter... Hum...let me make up my mind...

I hope you had a fantastic fall off track time. This on track time is a little broken up with 1 and 1/2 weeks of school then Thanksgiving Holiday break, then 3 and 1/2 weeks of school before the Christmas Holiday break and finally 3 weeks of school in January before we go off track again for 3 weeks.

I am sending home several important items:
1- Your Child's School Pictures
2- Notice - If you need retakes on Pictures they on on Tuesday Nov. 17th that is this Tuesday
3- Book Order Catalogs - I am sending November and December catalogs. I would like to place the orders on Monday November 30th. This will ensure that orders arrive before Christmas. (If you want your book order to be a secret I can help facilitate that. Just place your order in an envelope and write "Mrs. Taylor SBO" on the envelope. {This is a signal to me that it is a Scholastic Book Order.} When the order arrives I will call you and let you arrange to pick up the order here at school.
4- Green Paper telling about the 2nd Grade Holiday Project. You will need to buy and cut fabric as per the instructions. It needs to be cut and put in a ziplock with your child's name on it and brought to school by Dec. 4th.
5- Blue Paper telling about guests (you or someone you know) coming to tell us about customs from another country or culture. If you want to participate please fill it out and return it ASAP.
6- Pink and White papers telling about the Doll Project. It is also due on Dec. 4th. Please send the dressed doll and the 1/4 size paper filled out about the doll.
7- The first part of the keyword is "Plymouth."

Math

This week and a half we will be doing a geometry unit. The children will be learning about 2D and 3D shapes. They will learn to describe the shapes with words such as sides, vertex, angles, right angle, faces, edges, polygon, quadralateral, rectangle, square, triangle, hexagon, parrallelogram, trapezoid, and symmetry. They will make a symmetrical turkey tail.

Spelling

The spelling lists were sent home on October 23rd. I really hope that your child practiced them some while off track. They are studying diagraphs which is when two letters form a new and distinct single sound. The diagraphs are ch, sh, th, ph, wh
There is a web site with a game about diagraphs at:
http://primarygames.com/see-n-spell/diagraphs
You may want to check it out and see if it is something you might want your child to use as a practice tool for working with diagraphs.

Vocabulary

We will use our vocabulary book, "Dear Mrs. LaRu," for not only vocabulary but also to study "story setting" and to help launch a writing unit on writing letters.
The vocabulary words are:
melodramatic
misconception
neglected
obedience
despair
persistent

Reading

I have put out my Thanksgiving books and of course the children always have access to all the books in the classroom which are on a level which they can read. I will be doing guided reading with the students but I will also be doing a District mandated reading test on each child between now and Christmas. I am hoping to test one child each day.

Please remember to help your child have access to books that are on the correct reading level. This will actually help them to improve their reading more quickly. They also need to remember to record all minutes read and to write in their Reading Response Journal each night.

Writing

Besides learning about the correct form for writing letters we will also be doing some writing about Thanksgiving. Each day the students will write a sentence about something they are thankful for in their Gratitude Journal.

Besides all these academic pursuits the children also participate in PE, Music, Computers, Library, Social Studies (Goods and Services is the topic this week.), and Art projects. We have several fun activities and projects for the children to participate in or make during the next week and a half.

The second part of the keyword is "Rock."

Remember the Spelling Test will be on Thursday morning and the Vocabulary Test will be on Friday morning.

Walking Field Trip to Wight's Fort Cemetery

2009-10-11T21:35:00.002-06:00

Last Friday the weather for this Thursday's walking field trip looked questionable. We made a decision to move the field trip to this Tuesday the 13th. I just checked the forecast and it now looks like Tuesday will be questionable and Thursday will be the better day. LOOK FOR A FLYER TO KNOW FOR SURE WHEN WE ARE GOING. Parent volunteers we hope you can still come whenever we are able to go.

The great thing about this field trip is that is is very enjoyable but has no costs involved. We are also able to adjust as needed for the weather. We hope you will bear with us and understand.

This week's keyword is in two parts. The first part you will find here and the second part you will have to look further for.
First Part "Columbus - "

Spelling

This is the third week working on silent e words. This week's words will be with the long o sound.

As you read with your child or when you are just talking with them you could check your child's understanding of the silent e principle by asking a couple of questions:
Is this vowel long or short?
If it is long what causes it to have it's long sound?
What would the word be if we added an e to the end of the word?
What would the word be if we took the ending e away?

If you see your child write a word like "want" as "wante" - ask them what the word is? Is the vowel long or short? What does the e do to the word? Why did they put the e at the end?

Math

The next two weeks we will be working on Fact Families. (We begin this with an activity called "House and Swamp". It also teaches the difference between the = and the not equal sign.) We will be building numbers with tens and ones, making a giant 100's chart, using base ten blocks, and learn math fact strategies (these are to help them know an easy way to figure out the addition or subtraction if they haven't memorized or have forgotten, the math fact.) If we have time we will also work with number strings and see if we are faster than a calculator. I am trying to help them build some basic skills that I see many of them are lacking at this point.

Vocabulary

We will be reading the book "The Principal's New Clothes". I left the word list at school but I know two of the words are: imposter and trickster. I will post the remainder of the words later. These are some fun words to be learning just before Halloween.

I hope you have been having fun seeing how the children are learning these new vocabulary words. It is exciting to see them understanding and using the words.

Miscellaneous

This week we will be doing some activities related to Columbus Day. Then we will do some activities related to harvesting. They will write a story about a scarecrow and make a neat project representing the life cycle of a pumpkin. We may also do a fun - "Snug as a Bug in the Leaves" project.

The second part is " - 1492"

The school will be sending a note telling you how you can sign up online for your Parent Teacher Conference appointment with me on either Wed. Oct. 21st or Thurs. Oct. 22nd. I am looking forward to meeting with each and every one of you to discuss your child's progress.

I hope to see some of you for the field trip.
Have a great week.

Great Weekend - Now Back to Work!

2009-10-04T21:59:00.002-06:00

I hope you all had a great weekend. It is nice to take a little break.

The weather is changing, and the growing season is done but we are just beginning the learning that needs to take place during second grade.

Last week we tasted apples, painted apples, and colored apples, wrote a poem about an apple, wrote an apple story, made a graph about apples and did apple math. Since it was a short week we took a break from routine and did some learning in a variety of areas with apples being our theme.

Spelling
This week we are back to working on hearing, reading, writing and spelling sometimes with short vowels and sometimes with long vowels that have been changed because a magic silent e has been added to the end of the word. This weeks words have long or short i. Please keep practicing the spelling words but even more importantly talk about and practice looking for when the silent e is there and when it isn't there. This concept is extremely important.

Vocabulary
This week we will be reading a book called "Possum's Harvest Moon". The vocabulary words we will focus on are:
autumn
creature
harvest
snug
accomplished
conclude

Please try to use these in your discussions and see if the children pick up on hearing the words and can tell you what they mean.

Math
The students have been practicing using the following strategies:
"Counting on" which is to only be used when adding 1, 2, or 3
"Combinations of 10" - knowing any two numbers that will equal 10
"Doubles" - such as 2+2, 6+6, 9+9, etc. Ask them to tell you the story about the magic pot.
Students needs to be studying their math facts that include these strategies. To show their competency they need to be able to answer each math fact in 3 seconds. At school the children have cards with these math facts on them. They also have two ziplock bags. One is labeled - "Got It!" and the other is labeled - "Still Working". If they can't give the answer to the fact within the 3 seconds it goes in the pile for the "Still Working" bag. If they can answer that quickly it goes in the "Got It!" bag.

Another great practice task is skip counting. They should be able to skip count by 10's, 5's, 3's and 2's. At school we have songs for the 3's. It is sung to the tune of "Are You Sleeping". 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30, 33.

This week the students will be writing their own Magic Pot Riddles and filling out function papers with doubling as the function.

Writing
I will be having a personal interview with each child in the next week or two to discuss strengths and weaknesses in their writing. With many of the students handwriting improvement is a great beginning to becoming a better writer.

For your information when I score the children's writing I am looking for 5 basics right now. They are:
Does the sentence or the story MAKE SENSE?
Is there HANDWRITING legible and improving?
Are there CAPITALS only in the correct places?
Are the words SPELLED CORRECTLY?
Is there CORRECT PUNCTUATION?

Homework
Thank you for helping your child make sure to read 15-20 minutes each night and to respond in their RRJ.

I hope you are enjoying playing the Math Games with your child. Please try to play the game several times during the week but only write in the Journal one time. Please help your child return the game on Thursday.

Keep up the good work on Spelling Practice and now please add Math Facts Practice as often as possible.

Thank you for helping to get the Math homework returned the following day after it is sent home.

(Several students have had classwork that has been sent home to COMPLETE AND RETURN. This is generally because your child is not staying on task to complete the work when assigned. Thank you for helping them learn responsibility and getting it back ASAP.)

Misc.

This week will be Red Ribbon Week where we learn about staying away from drugs and alcohol. Also a reminder that next week - Thursday the 15th will be the walking field trip to Wight's Fort Cemetery. And finally this weeks keyword is -"Harvest"

Have a Great Week!

It feels like fall

2009-09-21T21:16:00.007-06:00

Let's talk about independent reading at home. Each student should be reading for 15 - 20 minutes each night. This reading should be reading aloud to a parent or if needed to an older sibling. This one nightly activity will help increase your child's reading ability more than anything else you can do.

Our school district uses the Fountas and Pinnell "Guided Reading Levels". It is a way to rate books as to their difficulty. They are rated from A to Z with A being the easiest. During 2nd grade students should be reading on levels H to M. The goal is to have all 2nd graders reading on an L or M level by the end of the year. ( Right now our class has students reading on levels from A to N.) I have given you two links to lists of leveled books.

We talk about reading on three different levels. First is the child's Independent Reading Level. That is the level at which they can read independently with very few mistakes or struggles. At school I teach them the 5 finger rule, which means that a good way to see if a book is a "just right book" is to read one page - if you struggle with or miss 5 words or more it is too difficult for you. This is how easy their home reading books should be.

The second reading level is their Instructional Reading Level. This is the level at which I work with them as I am instructing them on learning to improve their reading.

The third level is their Frustrational Reading Level. This is the level at which the child gets frustrated because the text is too difficult for them. Too often this is the level at which children are trying to read at home. This causes them to become frustrated with reading and even say that they "hate reading."

Please help your child read at their Independent level when reading at home.

To help your child reach this goal you need to set a specific time and place where they read each day. When they have difficulty with reading you can help them best not by telling them the word but by reminding them of two or three clues they are being taught in class that will help them decode or figure out the word on their own. Some of these clues are: What would make sense in the story? Look at the picture. Does that give you a clue what the word might be? What sound does it start with? Are there any little words you know in the bigger word? Think again, what would make sense in the story that starts with that sound? Only give about 3 prompts then if they really can't figure it out tell them the word.

Vocabulary

Today we read a cute story called "Mice Make Trouble" by Becky Bloom. It is about a little boy who uses his sister's magical colored pencils and draws 6 wierd mice and a hedgehog on the wall. These creatures come alive and behave very badly. Our vocabulary words for the week are:
assortment
civilized
contributed
inappropriate
concoct
orderly

The children are to be listening for these words at home, either in their family conversation or in the media. They will be tested on these words on Friday.

Spelling

We will be working with Magic Silent e for the next 4 weeks. This is an extremely important concept for children to learn to help them be good spellers. This week we are working on silent e words that have a long a sound. Today I found that many of the children are having difficulty hearing and knowing the difference between the short and long sounds of the vowels. This is something you can work on at home. Of course the long vowels say their names a, e, i, o, u. The short sounds are the a as in apple, e as in elephant, i as in igloo, o as in octopus and u as in umbrella.

Today they were to sort their spelling words into columns of short vowels, long vowels and other. Tomorrow they will take words such as pal and change it to pale, can becomes cane, mad becomes made, hat becomes hate, cap becomes cape etc. You could ask them to spell made and mad and see if they know how to properly use the magic silent e.

Math

The children have learned to play "Collect 25 cents" and many went on to play "Collect 50 cents" and "Collect One Dollar."

They have also learned to play "+1 or +2 Bingo." This is helping them learn that in adding a great strategy is to count on if you are adding 1, 2 or 3 but if you are adding more than 3 there is a better strategy to use for that fact. They should be memorizing their doubles facts. 1+1, 2+2, 3+3, 4+4 etc. up to at least 11 + 11. Many can go further than that and it would be great if they learned doubles up to 20 + 20.

Tomorrow we will be having our first pocket day where they determine how many pockets are in the classroom. We are moving into comparison of numbers and more about combinations of numbers that will equal 10. They have played "Tens Go Fish" and "Concentrating on Tens". They will also start looking for more that two numbers to make ten.

Writing

They are finishing up a writing project based on the book "Quick As A Cricket." They are also learning about choosing a good, clear topic to write about.

Handwriting

We have some students with very good handwriting and some with very poor handwriting. Please encourage your child to really try to do their best work at all times. Doing your work well is more important than doing it fast and poorly.

I hope you all have a great week. The keyword for this week is: "Cooler Weather"

They are starting to get it -

2009-09-08T17:21:00.006-06:00

Sorry to be so slow in posting this week, "Life Happens!"

The first few weeks of school are partly for teaching routines: what we do, how we do it and when we do it. Some of the students are starting to get the routines. Yea! This is a good beginning. Some students are still struggling but if they keep trying they will not only get the routines but become great students.

Tuesday Sept. 8th, we made it through the whole day without having to move any students to lonely street (off by themselves) because of too much talking. I hope this is a trend.

Vocabulary

We are working on words from a book called, " Just Plain Fancy" by Patricia Palocco. It is about a peacock egg that got mixed up with the chicken eggs. The words we will focus on for vocabulary are:
peer
shun
exotic
gossiping
constantly
simplicity

The students mostly did very well on the last test.
We will take our time on this book and the test on these words will be next Friday, September 18th.

Spelling

This week we are continuing our study of Consonant Blends this time blends that have an "l". In consonant blends you say all the sounds of all the letters, you just blend them together.

Next week's spelling will be learning to spell words with onsets and rhimes - these are also called word families. The ones we will be working on are: -ack, -eck, -ick, -ock, -uck. Some of the words are: black, clock, truck, stick, and deck. We will learn a song called "The -ck, -ck, -ck Rap". It talks about the "Duck stuck in the muck." and "The black backpack hung on the rack."
Some of our challenge words come from our study of rocks.

Writing

We have been studying nouns, verbs and describing words. We learned that a sentence is a group of words that mean something. It has to make sense. The sentence must begin with a capital letter and end with punctuation. We also learned that a sentence must have a noun and a verb (Subject and Predicate). We took a simple sentence and added some details and it became an interesting sentence. (The dog ran.) (The fat little French Bulldog ran quickly through the grass.) The students also drew a treasure map of their house and yard and marked x'es where they had great or treasured memories. They then listed these treasured memories as ideas for their writings. They began a story about one of their treasured memories.

Math

We have started the learning process in the subjects of time, money, geometry, patterns, data and graphing and problem solving. The students have learned about the base ten number system that we use, open figures and polygons, rounding, estimating and measurement. The last two days they have been involved in figuring out if Bag X has _____ blocks are there enough for each student in the class to have one block. They have to answer questions like: Are there any leftovers? If so, how many? Are more blocks needed? If so, how many? They are always asked to show with numbers, pictures or words how they figured out their answers. "Good mathematicians always write about how they figured things out."

Misc.

The 5th grade buddies came and helped the students make giant sunflowers. Look for them in our hallway. We will be doing more sunflower activities. The students also have made a quilt about themselves. It is also in our hallway. And, our bulletin board has great stories the students have written about their summer vacation. The cover to the stories are glyphs about each student. This weeks keyword is: "sunflower."

Thanks to all who filled out the survey about using the blog. Fourteen responses would like an email linking you to the blog. Two wanted only emails with important information and two preferred printed notes. There was no response from only 3 parents. This weekend I will work on setting up the email list and send emails linking you to the blog. I will still send paper notes to those 5 who did not prefer this option. I'm hoping all will soon opt in to this great way to communicate. There will still be some notes from school especially for field trip. Look for one of these on Monday September 14th.

THANKS!

Thank you to all the parents who have signed on to volunteer in the classroom. Thanks also to Angie Brown for setting up the bolunteer schedule and calendar. It is a huge job to meet the needs of all these students and I truely appreciate all the help you give. Thanks also go to those parents who have sent in items for the classroom and for the token store. You are all awesome!

Vocabulary for the week

2009-09-01T22:43:00.006-06:00

The vocabulary words for the week are:
coincidence
recite
bitter
murmmer
loyal
sensitive
The children will be given a sentence and a choice of two of these words. They will need to choose the word that makes the sentence make sense. There will only be 6 questions. This first will give them a feel for what to expect in the future.

We have been talking about the words all week. They have especially been excited to tell us about things that happened that were coincidences. Try to use the vocabulary words in your house during the week. They get to put a mark by the word if they hear it or see it.

Tomorrow Will be September Morn

2009-08-31T21:47:00.005-06:00

Class Overview
We have written a couple of books as a class. One is taken from "A My Name is Alice." The children have had to use the first letter of their name in a short story, writing with alliteration. The other book is rhymes the students have made up that become verses of the song " Down By The Bay." They made up the rhymes with their 5th grade buddies. The children have written stories about their summer vacations and about their "First Day of Second Grade."
Some of the students are working very hard and others are struggling at staying on task. If a child continues to talk rather than do their work the are asked to move to "Lonely Street", which means their desk is moved away from the other students. If the problem persists over several days they have been put on a contract. Check the back of their tracking sheet everyday. If I have drawn smiley, straight or frowning faces there then they are on a contract because of their disruptive behavior. Please set up some consequences at home that your child knows about. Removing their favorite plaything or play activity is often a consequence that will help them realize that they need to change their school behavior to continue to enjoy that priviledge. Thanks for your help in this matter.

Spelling
This week the children are working on consonant blends with the letter r such as "cr" as in crash, "tr" as in trash, and "gr" as in grape. A blend is where two or more letters blend together to form a new sound. There are two types of spelling lists that were sent home on Friday.
If your child has a spelling list with words or groups of words circled they need to study all of the circled words. The challenge words will be given to all children. If they study and spell these correctly they get extra credit. If they miss them is does not harm their score.
If your child has 5 spelling words written on the top of their spelling list they are to study those 5 individualized words, the 5 spelling words on the left in the box, the Word Wall Word and the Challenge Words. They will be tested on 5 random words from the big box but if they have studied the spelling principle and the 5 Spelling Words they should be able to spell the words I choose to test them on.

Math
This week we are learning about the 100's Chart and how we can use it as a mathematical tool. We are learning how to represent a number in several ways such as: 11, eleven, 5+6=11, 12-1=11, 5+5+1=11, 1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1=11, etc. We will also be learning how to determine if there are enough cubes in a bag for the class.
Please help your child work on learning their basic math facts at home.

Reading
We are continuing the PALS testing. It should be completed by midweek. This is giving me an opportunity to listen to each child read and assess their skills and needs.

Writing
This week we will begin learning the first of the Six Traits of Writing - Ideas. We will draw a map of our yards and mark an X where we had a treasured experience. We will list these ideas for beginnings to our future writings. We will learn about formulating ideas and recognizing a main idea in others writings. We will also talk about conventions such as capitalization, spelling, punctuation and using our best handwriting.

Vocabulary
Today I read the class the book "Ruby the Copycat." We will learn the meaning of 6 important words in the story. The children will get to put a mark by the word on the chart if they can tell me about hearing it used at home or on t.v., etc. On Friday they will be tested on the meaning of the six words. The first word is coincidence. They will learn the other words tomorrow.

Volunteers
Angie Brown is our Room Mother. Her phone number is 415-9966. She is working hard to put together a calendar of volunteers to help in our classroom. I really appreciate all those who have just shown up to help. Each one of you is sorely needed as this year's class has some special needs of differentiated teaching to meet the needs of all the children. I am grateful to all who are willing to come in and help.
Thanks for ordering books and signing the Highlights signature page. These things help us get free books and materials for our classroom.

Special Item
When you have read this post have your child write the word "Special" on the back of their yellow tracking sheet. I will give them a 3 token for letting me know that you have read the Blog.

2nd Week of 2nd Grade

2009-08-24T20:26:00.014-06:00

Starters
Each morning the students will begin with a starter called "Math 4 Today". They will do 4 problems each day for the first four days of the week. This is the learning side of the paper. We correct these together and learn as we go. On Friday the students do the 10 problems on the back or assessment side of the page. This lets me know if they have learned the concepts taught during starters during the week. This is what is called a spiraling review. It will continue to bring up similar concepts but with increasing levels of difficulty as we go through the year. It is a very good teaching tool.

Math
This week I will assess the students number sense, addition and subtraction understanding. This will tell me what they already know and where there are weaknesses or holes in their understanding.

We are also exploring several of the math tools we will be using during the year: clocks, connecting cubes, base ten blocks, pattern blocks, number lines and the 100 chart. We will also learn some routines that we will revisit often involving telling time, the number of the day in school and this week or next we will do an activity called "How Many Pockets?"

When a page from our math book comes home marked "Homework" in red, as was sent home today, it needs to be completed and sent back the very next day. It is very helpful if parents correct this page by just marking a big "C" by all correct responses and an "X" by all incorrect responses. Thanks a bunch!

Guided Reading and Centers
We will not begin guided reading until I have completed required testing and also training the students to do independent work or centers while I work with leveled reading groups.

I began the PALS testing today. The children read lists of words that help me focus on what level to begin the reading tests for your child. Then I will have each child read to me and answer questions about the stories they read. I will also time their reading and determine their fluency.

Spelling - I am teaching the children activities that they do during centers to practice their spelling. Some of these activities are: LSCWC (Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check), Fix, Mix, Fix, Rainbow Spelling, Pyramid Spelling, Triangle Spelling, If I Can Spell ______ then I Can Spell _____ .

Writing - Each day during centers the children do one of the following writing activities: News of the Week, Handwriting Practice, Tongue Twister Book, All About Me Book and the 1000 Club.

Phonics - Each day the children do activities to help them really understand the spelling/phonics concept taught that week. Some of these activities are word sorts where the children sort their spelling words by designated criteria. This week they will sort their words by which short vowel is in each word. They will do this with pictures and words.
Please help your child practice the Consonants (C) and Vowels (V) (they know a song about these), and then they need to learn the phonics principle for the week: When a word has a CVC, CCVC, CVCC pattern the vowel has the short sound. The a sounds like the a in apple, the e sounds like the e in elephant, the i sounds like the i in igloo, the o sounds like the o in octopus and the u sounds like the u in umbrella.

Other Activities - We have been making some class books and doing some art activities during this time also.

Writing Workshop
Today we read the book "What Author's Do". We are learning the process of writing. It all begins with ideas. Writers start by thinking about ideas. We will be working on this first step this week.

Rotations
This week we learned the difference between rural, suburban and urban communities. The kids made flip books and drew pictures of each kind of community.

During rotations the students have experiences with music, math games, art, science and social studies.

Comprehension
We will work on the comprehension strategy of previewing a book before reading so that our mind begins to think about what the book might be about.

Busy Day
Tuesday is our busy day. We have PE from 9:15 to 10:00, Library is from 10:00 to 10:30 and Computer is from 12:15 to 1:00. We will fit in all the other good work around these activities.

Welcome to 2nd Grade

2009-08-17T08:00:00.002-06:00