FINALLY it feels like FALL!

October 8 - 12

Dates to Remember!

 

Book Fair

Bookfair will begin October 9th, 2012 and end Tuesday October 16th, 2012. My class will be shopping in the bookfair on Tuesday, October 9th. You may send money this day or you may visit the bookfair with your child before or after school. 

 

Thursday October 11th, 2012 4:00pm-7:30 pm is the Evening Family Event for the bookfair.



 http://bookfairs.scholastic.com/bookfairs/cptoolkit/homepage.do?method=homepage&url=neusecharterschool1
Monday, October 22nd NO SCHOOL! Teacher work day
Friday, October 26th Report Cards


Reading
This week's story is Turtle's Race with Beaver. It is a Folk Tale that discusses the benefits of sharing.  We will also be reviewing Contractions, the difference between Common  and Proper Nouns and learning about Plural Nouns.

Spelling
A new sort will be sent home on Monday this week. PLEASE keep your child's sort at home until Friday when we will glue it down on paper. I only need to see the orange spelling folder daily. Our Spelling test is still Fridays, make sure you are studying the words with your child all week!

Math
The class is doing very well with our multi-step addition and subtraction problems. They are becoming great math detectives!  We will take another week to work with these problems before we move on to our money unit. 

Writing
Students did a fantastic job on their descriptive paragraph Tree Maps this week!  We brainstormed some good topic sentences and used our five senses that will aid us in writing exciting, descriptive sentences about going to the state fair.  This week we will continue to add details to our sentences so readers will be able to visualize our writing.  We will create flow maps to provide sequence to our paragraphs.

 
Science
As the weather outside begins to change it is a perfect time to begin our Weather unit in the classroom!  This week we will learn all about the water cycle. 

Vocabulary Words
Keep studying these words, the test will be on Thursdays every week.  Here is a list of this week's words:

lodge

dam

buried

challenged

embarrassed

halfway

coax - gently talk someone into doing something

inhabit

conflict

resolve

startle

ramp

vacation

serape - shawl or blanket that people can wear over their shirts

 

 

I LOVE Fall in N.C. !!!

October 1 - 5

 

Dates to Remember!

 

Monday, October 1st Artist Series            Story Teller from Zimbabwe 9:00AM
Monday, October 22nd                             NO SCHOOL! Teacher work day
Friday, October 26th                                 Report Cards


Reading
This week's story is Ronald Morgan Goes to Bat.  It is a Realistic Fiction story that discusses the importance of teamwork and reaching a shared goal.  We will also be reviewing Nouns and learning about Contractions.

Spelling
A new sort will be sent home on Monday this week.  PLEASE keep your child's sort at home until Friday when we will glue it down on paper.  I only need to see the orange spelling folder daily.  Our Spelling test is still Fridays, make sure you are studying the words with your child all week!

Math
We will be looking at Word Problems this week.  I will teach students multi-step addition and subtraction problems.  These take a lot of thought, students will be challenged to work for their answers in a step-by-step fashion.  I am excited to see my eager group of learners tackle these problems!

Writing
This week we will focus on the descriptive paragraph.  We will take a good topic sentence about an exciting moment and add details that make others want to read our pieces.  We will also continue to work with transition words that show sequence and order in our writing.  We will learn to "go with the flow" as we use time order words like first, second, later, once, earlier, suddenly, last, and finally. 

Social Studies
On Thursday students will be assessed on their knowledge of where they are in the world.  We have already studied this and assembled booklets that remind us what planet, continent, country, state, county, and town we live in.  We loved looking at GoogleEarth in the classroom to find where in the world we are!

Vocabulary Words
I am so proud of my students for doing so well with these words, keep up the good work!

terrific
clutched
spirit
contribute
compete
recreation
deserve
mope
aloft
tinker
actuate

 

September 24 - 28

****SEVERE WEATHER CARPOOL PRACTICE RUN****

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25th

Please see the Neuse Charter School Website for a map of the Carpool Route that will be used in case of severe weather. We will have the students and parents practice this on Tuesday during our regular carpool time. Please be prepared.

 

PICTURE DAY!

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27th

DRESS YOUR BEST

If you need another picture form, please stop by the office.

 

READING
We will be reading the story, Tara and Tiree.  This is a true story based on two dogs who rescued their owner from certain death when he fell into icy waters. I think the students will truly enjoy this text. 

 

MATH

In Math this week we will be focusing on thinking about numbers as we add and subtract 10 more/10 less and 100 more/100 less. This is the next step in thinking about numbers as we have mastered Place (tens and hundreds place) and Value. Help your child at home by calling out 3 digit numbers and asking what would 10 more/less or 100 more/less be. Ex. 378…..10 more would be 388 and 100 more than 378 would be 478.  We will also continue working on ordering numbers. Keep up the good work with your Math Squares!  

 

SPELLING

New word sorts this week! Friday we will have our test.

 

 

REMINDERS

Please make certain you sign your child's progress report and send it back in. I will keep this on file.

Also, please look over, discuss, and sign your child's tests from last week. Take a minute to see if he/she understands the mistake (s) made. This is a great way to teach/re-teach so the students are ready to move forward with the next concept given at school.

IN HOUSE FIELD TRIP IN OCTOBER!

 

 

We will have an in house science weather field trip in October. The cost will be $3.00 per student. I will send home a permission slip with more details Monday.

 

 

 

 

September 17 - 21

**Please empty red take-home folders of all papers, sign any that need to be signed, and RETURN folders to school. 
**All Scholastic News orders will be due on 9/21.  The more orders we get, the more books we can order for our classroom! 
**We are in need of games and puzzles for our Fun Fridays, please donate if you can.  Also, small wrapped candy for our treat basket.  Thank you!

Reading
We will be reading the story, The Strongest One.  This story is about a little red ant that ventures out into the world to find out if he is the "strongest one."  This story incorporates the skill of realism and fantasy. 

Reading Groups
We will be working independently in Literacy based centers while small reading groups are running.  Each group is matched with students of similar reading comprehension and fluency rate.  I will be leading groups in a variety of short stories and novels to promote growth in each student’s independent reading range. Look for baggie books to come home this week.  Please read these books each night with your child for 15 - 20 minutes and record in their reading log.
Math
In Math, we will start learning to write numbers in word form and expanded form.  We will be building on what we learned last week with Place (ones, tens, hundreds) and Value (how much a digit is worth in a specific “place”) Keep up the good work with your Math Squares!  
Spelling
Great job working with your child this past week on the Words Their Way spelling!  Most of the class did very well on gluing their sorts and on their spelling test!  Please remember to read the directions carefully for each day of the homework and initial the notebook page in your child's spelling folder when it asks you to do so.

Writing
Details and super sentences are some of the important things we will be practicing this week in writing.  For Grammar, we will focus our attention on identifying nouns and reviewing correct punctuation.

Social Studies
We had a fantastic time learning about where we are on the planet with the help of GoogleEarth!  We will continue to learn which town, county, state, country, and continent we live on this week.  Remember to ask your child these questions, they get a little confused, but are working hard at learning. 

Homework
Reading Logs - continue to read for 15 to 20 minutes a night with your child. Some evenings I will send a baggie book home, on those nights you should read that book with your child.
Math Squares - I will send home a sheet of 4 math squares on Mondays. The whole sheet will be due on Friday.
Words Their Way Spelling - Word sorts will come home on Monday. Students will be tested on the spelling of the word, the sort, and using five of the words in a sentence. This test will be on Friday.

Tests
Thursdays:  Vocabulary (definitions will be in Reading notebooks, look for those to come home on Wednesdays)  (test will be definitions with word bank, this week I will require 5 sentences using words)
Fridays:  Spelling sort and spelling word tests and sentence correction test (spelling folders and Reading notebooks with sentences will come home on Thursdays)

This Week's Vocabulary Words
gnaws
narrator
dangerous
relatives
sturdy
delicate
inquire
exhibit
satisfaction
stun
genious
resist

September 10 - 14

Reading
We will be reading the story, A Walk in the Desert.  Our reading comprehension skill this week will be main idea and details.  The main idea is what the reading selection is mostly about.  The details support the main idea. When reading with your child, stop and ask them if they can identify the main idea in a paragraph they have just read. 

Math
We will continue to work on place value.  We will review place value models to 100, introduce the place of the underlined digit, and everyday we will become math detectives as we work on multiple-step word problems. 

Spelling
We will begin our Words Their Way Spelling on Monday.  I will be introducing spelling sorts to students on Monday.  You will see your child's orange spelling folder come home each night this week with a baggie full of spelling word sorts.  Directions for this homework will be included in the folder.

Writing
We will continue to perfect our sentences.  Being sure to include capital letters, correct punctuation, as well as a clear subject and predicate in every sentence we write.  Eventually, we will string these sentences together into a complete paragraph.

Social Studies
We will continue our study of maps. Students will use maps symbols to represent streets, roads, buildings, etc. This unit will conclude with an activity where small groups of students use a campus map to track down several treasure treats on the NCS campus!

Homework (I have simplified my homework for now, to give you time to adjust to the new spelling program)
Reading Logs - continue to read for 15 to 20 minutes a night with your child.  Some evenings I will send a baggie book home, on those nights you may read that book with your child. 
Math Squares - I will send home a sheet of 4 math squares on Mondays.  The whole sheet will be due on Friday.
Words Their Way Spelling - Word sorts will come home on Monday.  Students will be tested on the spelling of the word, the sort, and using five of the words in a sentence.  This test will be on Friday.

This Week's Vocabulary Words
desert
harsh
climate
cactus
coyote
arid
landform
precipitation
dunes
ledge
haven
discovery
forbidding


 

Fantastic first weeks!

The first two weeks of school have been fabulous!  All my students are so eager to learn and are working hard everyday.  I am so proud of each and every one of them!   

September 4 - 7

Reading Groups & Centers
On Wednesday of this week we will begin our small-leveled reading groups and centers.  Your child will meet with me and four to five other students who read at their level for 15 to 20 minutes.  After they have met with me they will be working at a center for the rest of our reading block time. 

Reading Logs will continue to be sent home in the blue homework folder each night.  Please read with your child each night and initial the log.

Spelling
We will begin Words Their Way Spelling on Monday of next week.  Students will be grouped into differentiated spelling groups. A letter explaining how to do this homework with your child will be stapled inside the orange spelling folder.  Both the folder and the baggie of words are to stay at home for homework each night. Please note: this week your child will bring home spelling words and homework from the basal book story we will be reading. 

Vocabulary
Each week we will be learning and defining new vocabulary words from our basal story.  These vocabulary words may also come from social studies, science, or math some weeks.  Students will write, define and use these words in sentences in their reading notebooks.  We will have a test on these words every Friday.

High Frequncy Words 
We will be learning a new set of high frequency words each week.  I will send home the entire list this week in your child's blue homework folder. These are words that don’t usually follow a spelling pattern and are seen very often in reading and writing.  Please review them often with your child.

Writing
This week we will focus on writing a complete sentence.  As well as answering the questions, who, what, when, where, and why to expand our sentences and make them more interesting.  Please note: on most Thursdays your child will bring home a rough writing draft.  Please work on the final draft with your child on these days to be turned in on the next day.

EnVision Math
This week we will begin with an overview of numbers 1 to 999, tens and ones, reading and writing numbers, and place value.  A math worksheet will go home each night and will review what we learned in class that day.

Social Studies
We will begin our study of maps.  Students will use maps symbols to represent streets, roads, buildings, etc.  This unit will conclude with an activity where small groups of students use a campus map to track down several treasure treats on the NCS campus!

Read Aloud
Adventures await us in every book we read!  For our teacher rread aloud we will begin Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown.  Stanley is a little boy who got smashed flat as a pancake.  He and his friends and family have many funny adventures together!  As k your child about the crazy things Stanley did each day.

Reminders

• Red Monday folders will be coming home on Tuesday, 9/4 of this week.  PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU REMOVE ALL PAPERS FROM THIS FOLDER AND SIGN AND RETURN THOSE PAPERS THAT REQUEST THIS.
• If you haven't already sent in the $10 for Time & Newsweek, please do so this week.
• All students need ear buds or ear phones for technology, please send them in with your child on Tuesday.
• All students must have a yellow Spanish notebook and folder, please send those in with your child on Tuesday.

Requests

• I have changed my mind on the use of tennis balls on the bottoms of our chairs.  The room is extremely noisy and echoes with the moving of chairs. 
• URGENT!  Please have your child bring in 4 tennis balls with (2) two inch cross-cuts in them on Tuesday.

TESTS THIS WEEK

Friday
Vocabulary-you will find these words defined in your child's Reading notebook
Sentences- these will be in your child's DLR folder
Spelling-words from Basal this week

Welcome to my 2nd grade blog!

Welcome parents!

Thank you for your patience as I get my blog started.  We have had a great first full week of school.  Reading and math assessments are finished, our schedule is FINALLY set, and I am looking forward to another week of learning with your children!  Please see the new schedule at the bottom of this page.  Also, please note that I will not begin small reading groups and centers until September 4th.  Words Their Way Spelling homework will not begin until September 10th. 

Volunteers Needed!
I will need two volunteers to come into my classroom next week, September 4th and 5th, Tuesday and Wednesday from 1:00 - 2:00 during our first days of centers and small reading groups.

 

HOMEWORK

Students are expected to complete homework daily.  Written homework will be given every day except Friday.

Homework will include the following:

SPELLING: Words Their Way spelling sorts

MATH:  A math worksheet will be sent home almost every night.  This will review what we covered in class

READING LOG: Students are expected to read for 15 – 20 minutes every night.  This may be done silently or your child may read aloud to you.  In 2^nd grade this year, we will be focusing on fluent oral reading.  Please record and initial your child’s reading log which can be found in his/her homework folder.     

COMMUNICATION FOLDERS

Your child will bring home a blue communication/homework folder every day. This folder will include:

• Behavior Log/Classroom Calendar
• Reading Log
• Homework sheets to be completed
• Spelling

This blue folder will be sent home daily and MUST come back to school each day with completed homework and behavior log signed.  You may send notes to me in this folder or you may email me at blord@neusecharterschool.org.

 

CLASSROOM BEHAVIOR

Student’s conduct will be graded daily (Green, Yellow, Purple, Red) and marked in your child’s daily homework and behavior blue folder.  Each color represents the following behavior:

GREEN:                Great day!

YELLOW:              Warning

PURPLE:               Note home to parents & student must complete a reflection sheet     

RED:                     Note and phone call to parents, conference (if needed)                       

*Students exhibiting severe behavior will be sent to the office.

Each day a Behavior Log will be marked according to the student’s behavior.  This Log must be initialed indicating that the parent has been informed of the child’s daily behavior.

POSITIVE REINFORCEMENTS

Classroom incentive charts:  each student will be given a classroom incentive chart, they will be given a star on their chart for good behavior, ten stars will allow them to go to the treasure box. 

 

Classroom cones:  each day I will give out two “way to go” cones to students I see following directions and making wise choices.  These students will receive a small piece of candy at the end of the day. 

TESTS

• Spelling tests will be given every Friday morning.  Spelling words will be sent home in your child’s daily homework folder each Monday.
• Reading comprehension tests will be given on MOST Fridays. 
• Weekly sentence correction tests will be given every Friday.  These sentences come from our daily language review folders.  Each morning students have two sentences to correct for punctuation, grammer, and capitalization errors.  We go over these as a class, I choose 3 - 5 for the test on Friday.     
• Math, science, and social studies tests will be given at different times during the year.

PARENT CONFERENCES

I am looking forward to conferencing with each of you during the 2^ndquarter of school. Please let me know if you would like to meet before that time please email me or send a note in the daily homework folder.

 

DONATIONS

 

Treasure box goodies

Wrapped candy

Sheet protectors

Construction paper

Paper towels

 

	MONDAY	TUESDAY	WEDNESDAY	THURSDAY	FRIDAY
	Morning Work	Morning Work	Morning Work	Morning Work	Morning Work
	8:00 – 8:45	8:00 – 8:45	8:00 – 8:45	8:00 – 8:45	8:00 – 8:45
	Math	Math	Math	Math	Math
	8:45 - 9:45	8:45 - 9:45	8:45 - 9:45	8:45 - 9:45	8:45 - 9:45
	Bathroom/Snack	Bathroom/Snack	Bathroom/Snack	Bathroom/Snack	Bathroom/Snack
	9:45 - 10:00	9:45 - 10:00	9:45 - 10:00	9:45 - 10:00	9:45 - 10:00
	TECHNOLOGY	LIBRARY	ART	LIBRARY	CHINESE
	10:05 - 10:50	10:05 - 10:50	10:05 - 10:50	10:05 - 10:50	10:05 - 10:50
	SPANISH	SPANISH	CHINESE	PE	MUSIC
	10:50 – 11:35	10:50 – 11:35	10:50 – 11:35	10:50 – 11:35	10:50 – 11:35
	LUNCH	LUNCH	LUNCH	LUNCH	LUNCH
	11:45 - 12:15	11:45 - 12:15	11:45 - 12:15	11:45 - 12:15	11:45 - 12:15
	Bathroom	Bathroom	Bathroom	Bathroom	Bathroom
	12:15 - 12:30	12:15 - 12:30	12:15 - 12:30	12:15 - 12:30	12:15 - 12:30
	Reading/Centers	Reading/Centers	Reading/Centers	Writing	Reading/Spelling Tests
	12:30- 2:00	12:30- 2:00	12:30- 2:00	12:30- 1:15	12:30- 1:30
	Bathroom	Bathroom	Bathroom	S.S./Science	S.S./Science
	2:00 - 2:10	2:00 - 2:10	2:00 - 2:10	1:15 - 2:00	1:30 - 2:00
	Recess	Recess	Recess	Bathroom	Bathroom
	2:10 - 2:40	2:10 - 2:40	2:10 - 2:40	2:00 - 2:10	2:00 - 2:10
	Pack Up/Conduct	Pack Up/Conduct	Pack Up/Conduct	Recess	Recess
	2:45 – 3:00	2:45 – 3:00	2:45 – 3:00	2:10 - 2:40	2:10 - 2:40
	Read Aloud	Read Aloud	Read Aloud	Pack Up/Conduct	Pack Up/Conduct
	3:00 -3:30	3:00 -3:30	3:00 -3:30	2:45 – 3:00	2:45 – 3:00
				Read Aloud	Read Aloud
				3:00 -3:30	3:00 -3:30