Dear Parents,

Welcome to our third week of the third quarter. I hope you all had a great three-day weekend. This is a bird’s eye view of our 21^st week:

LANGUAGE ARTS  

SPALDING – We will continue with our spelling list this week. Please, review homework as they come home. This week, we will have only two days of spelling.

List 1: know, no, were, where, there, here, dead, leave, early, close, close

List 2: flower, flour, nothing, ground, lead, led, lead, such, morning, however

READING – READING STRATEGY: In comprehension, students will learn cause and effect relationships. We will also continue to reinforce the importance of identifying main ideas and supporting details.

POETRY: Title: Our poem this month is “Smart” Author: Shel Silverstein.

This week week, we will focus on the literary elements. This poem will be memorized over the course of 5 weeks. (Each week students will work on one stanza, and build on to what they've learned in subsequent weeks.)

SAYING: Get up on the wrong side of the bed .We will appreciate it if you use it at home because children retain sayings when they engage in it through meaningful use.         

GRAMMAR/VOCABULARY – We will continue to practice all parts of speech.

WRITING – As we continue working on Writing With Ease, students will continue to develop narration, dictation and copy work skills.

LEVELED READERS - Please, encourage your scholars to take their readings seriously. Some students will begin reading chapter books this quarter. The goal is to phase all students into reading chapter books. All students will continue to do their reflective journals. For some, instead of writing the title of the text, they are expected to write the title of the chapter. Students are expected to hold on to chapter books for two weeks. We do not want them to rush through the books. We want them to form a habit of taking their time to digest the meaning behind every book they read.

MATH

We finally began using Books 2B in math. The students were so excited when they received their brand new books, but they realized after the first lesson that it’s a path through more learning. The first unit introduces mental Math. While students may assume this is easy Math, the goal is for them to solve problems mentally. If your child is not completing their workbook mentally, then they need a lot of practice with making 10 and 20s. Please, I will suggest we resume: http://gregtangmath.com/games

SCIENCE

This week, we will learn about life cycles, but the focus is on insects with complete metamorphosis and incomplete metamorphosis.

HISTORY

  In History, we will complete a review on Athens, Sparta, Olympics, and Persian Wars. Students will be tested on Thursday. They will begin the last part of Greece on Friday. They will learn about a symposium and some of Greek’s Great Thinkers.

VIRTUE OF THE MONTH - INTEGRITY

solidity and adherence to moral principle and character.

Walk tall in TRUTH

“One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised.”

- Chinua Achebe

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• We will continue with guided reading and Math groups this week. I look forward to seeing all our wonderful parent volunteers.
• Please, if you have any area of expertise that corresponds with what we are learning in any subject area, feel free to contact me about doing a presentation to the class.
• Second grade will have a Greek Festival on Friday, January 30^th.
• Our wish list is still active:

- Kleenex

- Sani hand wipes for kids

- Chapter books

Thank you for all you do to support our class!

Have a great week.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Toyin and Ms. Peterson