THANK YOU!

Dear Parents and Families,

I just wanted to send out a sincere THANK YOU for thinking of me and my family at the holidays this year.  It is my pleasure to spend my days teaching and learning from your children!  Your kindness and generosity are so appreciated! 

Students have asked if there is homework over Winter Break!  Although I don't assign written homework, I do suggest that students READ throughout the break.  This could be a chapter book on their own, reading a picture book to a younger cousin or even listening to a book on tape with the family on a road trip (which my family will be doing this year on our way Up North).  If you or your child is looking for additional homework, Lexia, DreamBox, EverydayMath Online and Hour of Code are all accessible using their Clever badge. 

Thank you again for everything.  Happy Holidays and we'll see everyone in 2020!

Extra Practice at Home

Lately, I have gotten several requests from parents about ways that they can continue to support their child's improvement at home.  I have created a list of resources that I hope will be helpful to you!  None of these are required, but they will all provide extra practice that can be done at home.  Check out these resources if you're looking for ways your child can work at home to improve!

·      English/Language Arts:

o   Online

§  Lexia: Students can use the badge inside their Homework folder (or their gmail login) to log into Clever, then select Lexia Core 5.  This program provides reading and word study support in a variety of ways.

§  Reading A to Z (Raz Kids):  Students can use the badge inside their Homework folder (or their gmail login) to log into Clever, then select Learning A to Z.  This program provides reading and word study support in a variety of ways. 

o   Read and write:  Any reading/writing practice that students do helps them improve.  Students can read aloud or silently, alone or with you.  After they read, you can discuss the book with them, asking them to summarize what happened, predict what might happen next and make connections to the book.  This might mean asking what the book reminded them of and making a connection to another book or something personal.  For example, I Survived the Great Chicago Fire might remind me of my family vacation to Chicago last summer and I Survived Pearl Harbor.  Students can write new and interesting words in a journal as they read and you can help them look up their meanings and usage.  Students can also write responses to the discussion questions listed above to practice writing.  Writing a sentence or two about each book they read in a notebook summarizing key events or describing characters is great!  For more information about finding books at your child’s instructional reading level, see this blog post: https://mrssawin.blogspot.com/2018/10/leveled-book-list.html

o   Reading Response Homework:  The homework that students are asked to complete each week will provide opportunities to practice reading and writing.  Each week, there is a “big question” to focus on which is related to the kinds of skills students are learning at school.  You can work with your child to read and edit his/her work to improve writing skills.  Look for correct grammar, punctuation and spelling and make sure the response answers the “big question”.

·      Math:

o   Online

  Dream Box: Students can use the badge inside their Homework folder (or their gmail login) to log into Clever, then select Dream Box.  This program provides math support in a variety of ways.

§  McGraw Hill/Everyday Math: Students can use the badge inside their Homework folder (or their gmail login) to log into Clever, then select McGraw Hill.  This program is provided by our Math book company and provides games and practice tools.  You can also print homework and find more information about the lessons we are doing in class.  The Student Reference Book provides definitions and the eTools have fraction circles, Base-10 Blocks and more. 

§  Khan Academy: This free website provides extra practice and enrichment opportunities by grade level or skill.  You can find more information at https://www.khanacademy.org/

o   Fact Practice:  Many 4^th graders are still working on mastering their basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts.  Practicing these out loud together, with flashcards or in writing is great to improve fact fluency. 

o   Everyday Math Homelink:  Completing each night’s math Homelink will help practice the skills which we have worked on that day.  By the time these Homelinks come home, your child has seen this concept three times already: once in my lesson, once in a small group and once in independent practice.  This last practice should help solidify the skills at home.

Partial Products--Helpful Video

Students will study a multiplication strategy called Partial Products Algorithm this week.  I will require that students show mastery of this strategy before they move on to traditional multiplication.

If you're looking to assist your child, you can check out the following video for an explanation of the strategy.  Just remember anytime your child brings home homework, he/she has seen the concept twice already, in our lesson and independent practice.  Please encourage your child to explain the strategy to you, or reach out to me for extra assistance if necessary.

Thanks!

http://everydaymath.uchicago.edu/teaching-topics/computation/mult-part-prod/

Market Day in 2nd grade

Next Tuesday (12/17) 2nd grade classes are hosting a Market Day!  Students are selling handcrafted items that make great gifts for family and friends.  All items are $1-$3.  Proceeds will be given to the Ronald McDonald House in Ann Arbor.  Students have been learning about economics in their social studies unit, all with the goal of raising money for those in need.  

Our class will be attending the market to support our Reading Buddies, so feel free to send in a few dollars with your child!  There will be stress relief balls, painted pots, bookmarks, origami keychains, candy grams, and more! 

Week of 12/9

Here's what we'll be doing this week of school in each subject!

• Reader's Workshop:  We will focus on the research that authors do before writing their books.  We'll also be completing another word study cycle.

• Math:  We will start Unit 4 with our study of extended multiplication facts, making estimates, partitioning rectangles and converting units of liquid measure.

• Writing:  We will continue our Biography unit, writing and editing and revising our paragraphs.

• Social Studies: We will continue Economics Unit, with lessons on scarcity, supply and demand.

• Science: We will participate in Hour of Code this week, a national activity promoting computer coding with kids all around the country! 

• Team Building:  We'll meet with our Reading Buddies and share books!  We'll also be talking about ways to resolve conflicts with friends.

Reading Response Homework

Starting this week, students will be completing an additional weekly homework assignment.  On Fridays, students will receive a Reading Response Homework packet which will be due the following Friday.  There will be a detailed instruction sheet on the front of the packet that details all the instructions.

Students will use a book they're reading at home to answer the Big Question in the form of a paragraph.  They'll start by completing a paragraph template (either the Basic or Elaborated format--pick one, not both!) and then write their paragraph.  We use these templates in writing in class, so students should be familiar with them!  After their paragraph has been written, they can edit/revise it. In fact, they'll get an extra point if an adult at home signs that he/she has helped to do this.  Just make sure I can tell which paragraph is their final draft.

Since students have a week to do this assignment, ON TIME submissions should occur.  In fact, most students are even able to complete this assignment on time, even when they are absent.  In the case of a late assignment, one point will be deducted from the first day the assignment is late.  If the assignment is not received by the second late day (i.e. the following Tuesday), two points will be deducted from the score.  After that, the student will receive a 0/10 on the assignment, except in cases of sickness or other excused absence.

Your child will receive the first of these assignments THIS FRIDAY, the 6th and it will be due December 13th! 

Week of 12/2

Here's what we'll be doing on our first week of school in each subject!

• Reader's Workshop:  We will focus on what author's do to make our books interesting.  We'll also choose Words to Learn from our reading or writing to study in Word Study this week.

• Math:  We will complete our study of Unit 3, comparing decimals.  Then we'll review and take our Unit 3 test and Unit 4 Pre-test.

• Writing:  We will continue our Biography unit, writing and editing and revising our paragraphs.

• Social Studies: We will start our Economics Unit, with lessons on scarcity.

• Science: We will continue our Woven Wind unit, a cooperative unit with UM Engineering students about renewable energy.  

• Team Building:  We'll meet with our Reading Buddies and talk about "soft and scratchy" words to use with our friends.

Spanish Website

I wanted to share a link to our fantastic Spanish teacher, Profe Peplinski's site.  If you want to access it:

https://peplinskispanish.weebly.com/

I'll also add a link on the main class page to access it!