2A Homepage

2A NEWS JUNE 9, 2008

Dear Parents,

I can’t believe this is it, our last week of the 2007-2008 school year! I’m really going to miss this 2nd grade class. Each class has its own personality and charm and is truly special in its own way! It has been such a pleasure getting to know each and every child. Thank you for sharing your wonderful children with me and for all your kindness and support throughout the year. I hope you all have a fun and relaxing summer. God bless you.

A few notes…

* The children did a beautiful job sharing their book reports last week! It was easy to see all the hard work and creativity that went into the reports. Everyone picked up some great summer reading ideas! Thank you for all your at-home help and guidance.
* Don’t forget: Thursday is a noon dismissal day, and Friday we will dismiss around 10:00 after our closing Mass at 8:45. Thursday is a free dress day and children are asked to “dress up” for our final mass. We will return to class after Mass, retrieve our report cards and be on our way to a relaxing summer!
* The 2nd Grade Pool Party at Arbor Heights will begin at 1:00 and end promptly at 3:00 on Thursday! Pizza, juice and pool toys will be provided!
* http://www.internet4classrooms.com/grade_level_help.htm is a great resource for summer review in all subject areas. I’ve perused some of the math sights (the 3rd grade math is best for most kids to start with) and there are lots of great practice activities for addition and subtraction facts and more!
* Mrs. Harris’ Summer Reading Challenge is a terrific way to keep those 2nd grade reading skills sharp and growing! Participation is highly recommended!
* Be sure to keep those math facts sharp this summer as well as the 2/3-digit addition and subtraction! A problem a day helps keep the children on their way!
* FYI: You’ll find several graded assessments in your child’s folder today! Among them is their final paragraph assignment. They each chose their own topic and were asked to compose a clear and interesting paragraph. I am very pleased with their work! You’ll notice that one or two September writing assignments are paper clipped to the paragraph assignment. I think you’ll enjoy comparing the end of the year writing sample with the beginning of the year samples. Almost all children have learned paragraph structure and better sentence fluency. Others have greatly improved their spelling, grammar, punctuation and penmanship skills as well as how to use space and margins!

A peek at our week…

I’m sure our Poetry Café today will be considered one of the highlights this week. We hope you enjoyed the show! The children were thrilled about sharing their work with you and having one last experience on stage this year. I’m so proud of them as I know you are too.

This week we’ll finish up our last religion chapter, “Forever in Heaven,” work on a special Father’s Day card, explore a bit of cursive (very exciting), and finishing composing a paragraph/letter to the 3rd grade teachers. These letters are done every year and kept in a folder for their new teacher to review. The children are told to use this opportunity to show their upcoming teacher all the language arts skills they’ve learned in 2nd grade and to do their best (without assistance) in handwriting, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, etc…

We’ll also have a chance to finish up our applied math unit! We’ve got those marbles rolling in 2A and the children have had a chance to explore without too much chaos! Many have hypothesized that 1) Ramp height influences speed and distance 2) Marble mass affects the distance a marble will roll 3) Ramp length affects the distance a marble will roll. This week with our partners, we will continue to test these conjectures in a more formal manner and explore some basic principles of experimental design, including constants, variables, multiple trials and measuring outcomes. We’re also going learn about averaging and figure the average distances their marbles rolled in the 3 different experiments. Finally, the children will apply the theoretical and practical expertise they’ve developed over many days and design, build and test Mega-Marble Rolls! Each design is required to include a “trick” or two like getting marbles to roll uphill, turn corners or knock over targets of various sorts.

HOMEWORK

Monday Reading – At-Home Read Aloud
Tuesday Math – Home Connection #31/Mulitplication War
Wednesday Bring in a large paper grocery bag or two plastic grocery bags

That’s about it! Have a wonderful week!

Take care,

Juli Rangel

2A NEWS JUNE 2, 2008

Dear Parents,

Incredible! Only two more weeks left of 2nd grade! Thanks for helping your children rally and be “on their toes” for the next several days. We’ll be working hard at closing out our studies that will help us be our best for 3rd grade!

A few notes…

* We’ll see you all at 9:00 on 6/9 in the school hall for our Poetry Café! I need just a handful more of the RSVP’s! If you’ve misplaced it, just write me a note or email indicating whether 1, 2 or 0 parents can attend. Thank you!
* As I mentioned before, the children are looking forward to having a “Beatnik” look for the Poetry Café next Monday. Wearing all black was a favorite choice for beatniks, as well as berets. Khakis or jeans and black turtlenecks would work (or any other color turtleneck). Some children want to wear some groovy shades and bring bongos! Don’t worry too much about it; the children will be adorable no matter what they wear! 2nd graders may wear their “beatnik garb” all day or they can choose to bring in their uniform and change after the show. Parents are welcome to “dress-up” as well!
* Thank you Mrs. Lange for organizing the Poetry Café treats and volunteers! If you missed her email about donating “Café snacks,” please see the chart at the end of this newsletter that will guide you if you’re able to help out. Drinks and snacks can be sent in with your child first thing Monday morning.
* All library books are due now. Please bring in any HRS books ASAP. Thank you!
* FYI: Although we will continue our weekly language and spelling work, we will not have any more spelling tests.
* Book Reports are due today!
* Summer Birthdays – Some children like to share a treat with the class at lunch to celebrate his/her summer birthday. If you’d like to do this for your child, just let me know a date you’d like to send in some goodies, so I can make sure we don’t overdose with too many sweets on one day!

A peek at our week…

Math/Science – We’re going to “Get Those Marbles Rolling!” in an applied math unit. With cardboard ramps and marbles, we begin with some time to “mess around.” The informal experimentation that goes on during the first few lessons is essential for several reasons. One is to familiarize the children with the materials. Another is to establish a few ground rules. The third and most important reason for providing some “discovery time” is that children’s questions and hypotheses will evolve from their free play with the marbles. Questions that make for good math and good science must connect with firsthand experience. The children will soon measure the distances their marbles roll as they change ramp heights, the ramp lengths, and marble masses. Let the (controlled) chaos begin!! Later this week and next and after our initial exploration with the marbles and ramps, we will conduct a set of 3 marble roll experiments with our partners. We will explore some basic principles of experimental design, including constants, variables, multiple trials and measuring outcomes. We will test the following hypotheses: 1) Ramp height influences speed and distance 2) Marble mass affects the distance a marble will roll 3) Ramp length affects the distance a marble will roll.

Language Arts – In addition to Mrs. Cicero and I finishing up some final individual reading assessments this week, our class we’ll be working hard on preparing for next week’s Poetry Café! The Poetry Café is a great activity that allows the children to put their improved 2nd grade reading skills all together! We’ll continue our paragraph writing, enjoy 22 “Book-in-a-Bag” book report presentations, and take a closer look at multi-syllable words. We will learn the meaning of and some sign language for a few common prefixes and suffixes. Looking for familiar prefixes, roots, and suffixes helps us divide words in easier “chunks.”

Religion - We’ll start the final chapter, “Forever in Heaven,” in the unit called, “Living the Eucharist.” We’ll ask the question, what does God want for us? And we’ll try to understand that God wants everyone to be happy with him in heaven forever!

Social Studies/Health & Safety – We will review the concepts in the unit, “How Are Goods Made and Brought to Us?” and take a quiz. We’ll also continue with our health and safety lessons regarding personal safety, touching safety, seeking appropriate support when needed and being assertive when encountering bullying behavior.

HOMEWORK

Monday Reading – Read aloud fluency practice (at least 20 minutes)
Tuesday Science – Weekly Reader & Worksheet
Wednesday Math - Home Connection #32/Time & Story Problems
Thursday Language Arts – Words Parts: “Word Clowns” – Bring in the list of words you have created!

Last Name Starts With/Item to Contribute
B or C One dozen cookies
F or H Muffins or Bagels
L or M Sweet Bread (ie, banana, pumpkin) or Bagels
P or S One bottle Lemonade
W or Z One bottle of Apple juice

2A NEWS MAY 27, 2008

Dear Parents,

LOTS of important notes…

* We will start our week with a Faith Family meeting! The 8th graders will not be attending the meeting, so we’ll be involved in making memory books for them!
* On Wednesday, we will enjoy a special event! The Jr. High drama elective will perform the play, The Shoemaker and the Elves.
* Just a reminder: Book reports are due Monday, June 2nd. Please read the grading rubric carefully. We have been reviewing the requirements each week during class, and I’ve been stressing the importance of practicing the oral presentation several times in front of an audience at home. Be sure to get those timers out, in order to stay within the time limit. The children will NOT present the written portion of the report to the class.
* Just a few Odyssey Museum Field Trip forms needed as well as 2nd Grade Pool Party RSVP’s. Please send those in ASAP. Thank you!
* 2nd Grade Prayer Memorization update: Complete!
Still working on: _________________
* On Friday, we head out for our Seattle Seaport Tour and Odyssey Maritime Museum visit!
Please make sure your child has the following things Friday morning:

¸ A snack that is LABELED with his/her name. All snacks containers must be disposable. I will collect them first thing and pass them out on our walk from Pier 66 (museum) to Pier 55 (Harbor Tour), and we’ll dispose of the trash before we board the boat.
¸ Perfect uniform. (They may bring a change of clothes for later in the day if they would like to participate in the “Sport’s Day”.)
¸ If necessary, a raincoat for our walk
¸ A car seat?
¸ A lunch packed from home. As I mentioned before, we will not return in time for any hot lunches.
¸ A big breakfast is recommended since we’ll eat lunch later than usual!

The following families have volunteered to drive/chaperone:
Fosado, Larsen, Pisciotta, Scanlan, and Slee.

Please meet in the hall @ 8:50 for a 9:00 departure. Thank you!

* Tuesday is the last day I will need 2A volunteers! The children and I thank Mrs. Heidal, Mrs. Scanlan, Mrs. Slee, Mrs. Lange, Mrs. Cunningham and Mrs. Chun for all the time and terrific help you were able to give our classroom!
* Make sure your calendars are marked for 2A’s Poetry Café on June 9th from 9:00-10:00! You will find an “R.S.V.P. note” in your child’s folder later in the week. Please let us know by Tuesday, 6/3, if 1, 2 or 0 parents can attend. Because of the nature of this event, we respectfully ask that younger siblings do not attend this celebration. Thank you.
* Karri Lange, our wonderful room mom, is organizing a couple things for the Poetry Café. If you can help out with some baked goods or drink for the “Café” and/or if you can arrive early or stay late on the morning of 6/9 for set up/clean up, please email Karri at karrilange@comcast.net by Tuesday, June 3rd and she will get back to you. Thank you!
* Dress for the Poetry Café: With your help, the kids are hoping to have a “Beatnik” look on 6/9. Wearing all black was a favorite choice for beatniks, as well as berets. Khakis or jeans and black turtlenecks would work (or any other color turtleneck). Don’t worry too much about it; the children will be adorable no matter what they wear!

A peek at our week…

Religion –We’re in the midst of chapter 20/”Go Forth” and asking ourselves how we can bring the good news of Jesus to others! We’ll learn that Jesus commissioned his followers to continue his work on earth. We will ask ourselves, how can we bring the good news to others? We remember we carry out this mission because we are all part of the Mystical Body.

Reading/Language Arts – Our whole group stories this week are titled Splash and Down in the Sea: The Jellyfish. The latter is a nonfiction piece. Our target skill will be using organized text in graphic sources in order to gain information from our reading. We will continue with our paragraph writing! This week the children will pick their own topic and create a five-sentence paragraph that will entail ideas, organization, sentence fluency, careful word choice and careful editing. Our class poem is titled, Why Do I Have to Clean My Room? By Jack Prelutsky. FYI: The Spelling test will be on Friday, not Thursday as previously stated.

Spelling Words: to/two/too, by/buy,bye, week/weak,sun/son, bite/bit, catch/caught, choose/chose, think/thought, fly/flew, ride/rode, shake/shook
Challenge Words: homophone, identify, suggestion

Math – We are currently involved in our last set of Work Places this year! We’re using the robot glyphs we made a few weeks ago to review interpreting information and creating bar and pie graphs. We’re exploring fractions again while trying to divide up “fair shares” of “cookies,” investigating probability, and using our measuring skills as well as our double-digit addition and subtraction skills. This week we will start “shopping” for and solving each other’s story problems with our toy store theme. Next week, we start our integrated science and math unit, “Get Those Marbles Rolling!” Thanks again for all those T.P. & P.T. rolls you sent in over these past few months! We’ll use those to make cardboard ramps of different kinds to investigate some of the factors that cause marbles to roll farther and faster.

Health & Safety – This week will continue with several important lessons that will take us through to the end of the year. These lessons cover personal safety, touching safety, seeking appropriate support when needed and being assertive when encountering bullying behavior.

Social Studies - We will finish up our unit, “How Are Goods Made and Brought to Us?” and our focus on the Port of Seattle’s facilities, functions and trade. “Import detectives” will be working at home Wednesday as part of a homework assignment!

HOMEWORK

Tuesday Reading – Book Report!
Wednesday Social Studies – Import Detective work
Thursday Math – 3-Digit Addition & Subtraction
Spelling – Study for test tomorrow!

That’s about it! Have a great week!

Sincerely,

Juli Rangel

2A NEWS MAY 19, 2008

Dear Parents,

A few notes…
* CORRECTION! Our Poetry Cafe celebration is Monday, 6/9 at 9:00, not 6/4. Sorry!
* Any more Scholastic Book orders out there? I will send off the order tomorrow evening, so I will accept the last of the orders tomorrow.
* The 7th & 8th graders will lead us in a May celebration as we honor Mary, Tuesday at 2:00 in the church. Students are invited to bring their own rosaries tomorrow. Please join us if you can! Perfect uniform required.
* Field day is this Friday! 2nd grade is to come dressed in the color white. We’ll walk over to Hiawatha for a morning full of games, fun, and fellowship. Don’t forget, Friday is a noon dismissal day.
* 2nd Grade Pool Party! – Thank you to the many parents who were able to donate to the purchase of this terrific auction item! After our noon dismissal on June 12th, the children are invited for pizza and pool fun! Please remember we are reserving this special event for 2nd grade children only. Siblings will have to hear all about the fun later! Parents are required to stay with children that are not independent swimmers. We do need a headcount of children planning on attending and of parents who are interested in staying at the pool as chaperones. Please return the RSVP note that is coming home tomorrow. It would be greatly appreciated to have those RSVP’s back by Friday. Thank you!
* FYI: Our next spelling test will be on Thursday, May 29th.

A peek at our week…

Math – This week we will have a chance to create fun and challenging story problems within a toy store theme. We will work from pictures to words as we create scenes, figure out what problems to pose, and then write stories to support our picture problems. When our problems are complete, we will bring out and review the guidelines 2A complied in a previous unit for writing effective math solutions. Each child will solve one problem written by a classmate and then rate each other’s efforts and offer compliments and suggestions. With this kind of start, the children are more likely to “shop for problems” (move around 2A and randomly solve several other 2nd grade problems) more carefully next week.

Reading/Language Arts – Our whole group stories this week are titled Space Dreams and Man on the Moon. The latter is a non-fiction piece, which is always a nice change of pace. We will be working on the target skill of identifying the main idea. We will also review the use of pronouns like he, she, we and they and how they can take the place of nouns. This is particularly relevant to our writing when we are trying to use a variety of words when building strong sentences. Mrs. Cicero and I will also be conducting some final individual reading assessments this week, so the children will have opportunities to work independently in a “just right” chapter book. The children did a great job writing their “Bio Poems” last week! We’ve begun the processing of publishing them in the computer lab. We hope to share a few at the “Poetry Café.” If time permits, we will each write a Haiku poem, a 3 lined poem with a limited amount of syllables in each line in hopes of capturing the feeling of summer! For spelling, we will work with some more homophones and past tense irregular verbs. Our class poem is titled, “God is Our Guide.”

Spelling Words: to/two/too, by/buy,bye, week/weak,sun/son, bite/bit, catch/caught, choose/chose, think/thought, fly/flew, ride/rode, shake/shook
Challenge Words: homophone, identify, suggestion

Religion – We continue with our last unit this year titled, “Living the Eucharist.” This week we begin a new chapter called, “Go Forth!” We’ll learn that Jesus commissioned his followers to continue his work on earth. We will ask ourselves, how can we bring the good news to others? We remember we carry out this mission because we are all part of the Mystical Body.

Social Studies – We will round out our unit, “How Are Goods Made and Brought to Us?” by focusing on the Port of Seattle’s facilities, functions and trade. Our upcoming Port of Seattle/Odyssey Maritime Discovery Center Tour will be a wonderful enrichment opportunity to our study!

HOMEWORK - Keep working on math fact recall, strategies & speed. Books reports due 6/2.

Monday & Tuesday Reading – At Home Reading program (At least 20 min.)/Book Report Preparation
Wednesday Math – Home Connection #29/”The Gardener’s Friend Game”
Thursday Language/Spelling – Write a silly story using this week’s spelling words.

That’s about it. Have a super week and a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend!

Sincerely,

Juli Rangel

2A NEWS MAY 12, 2008

Dear Parents,

I hope everyone had a beautiful Mother’s Day! I know you’d all agree that the children’s 1st Solemn Communion on Saturday was a wonderful celebration! It was nice to see so many of you there and to celebrate this special sacrament as a group.

* Scholastic book orders are due on Monday, 5/19. Thanks!
* Just a reminder: Book reports are due Monday, June 2nd. Monday and Tuesday night’s homework will be “focus on book report nights.” Please reread the grading rubric carefully. Checking off each completed component on the rubric is excellent practice for the many assignments to come in 3rd- 8th grade! Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.
* Don’t forget! The 4th grade classes are having a bake sale during all lunches on Tuesday to raise money for the victims of the Myanmar cyclone. If your child would like to buy a special treat and help out, please pack some change with them!
* Make sure your calendars are marked for 2A’s 4th annual “Poetry Café!” If you have some beatnik garb, dig it out and join us on Monday, June 4th from 9:00-10:00 in the school hall. We’d like to share some original and published poetry!
* For those who would like to participate, we are now collected $1 donations for Elizabeth, our sister in Uganda.
* FYI: I need to fly to California later in the week to be with my mother who is experience some health issues. This Thursday and Friday, the children will be in the capable hands of Mrs. Karen Robel.
* Because of my absences this week, I will NOT need Thursday volunteers. Thank you.
* Just a few more Odyssey Museum/Harbor Tour field trip forms are needed for our visit on 5/30.
* Below you find an update on your child’s 2nd prayer memorization:
o Mass Responses complete/incomplete
o Morning Prayer complete/incomplete
o Act of Contrition complete/incomplete
*Please keep practicing!
* You can download copies of the above prayers from my HRS classroom website.

A peek at our week…

Reading/Language Arts – This week we will enjoy a mini, author study about the writer and illustrator, Tomie dePaola. For many folks, he is best known for his “Strega Nona” tales. We’ll have a chance to practice our reading skills by sharing three of his stories together. We will also begin to create some fun poetry about ourselves called “Bio Poems.” We hope to have them ready soon so we can publish them in the computer lab! Our class poem this week is called, “State Capitols.” Our spelling work will include practice and play with homophones and a look at words that end with –ace vs. -ase. We will realize that the –ace spelling is much more common. We’ll learn a memory sentence to help us spell the less common –ase words: I’m going to chase the case with the vase and then erase first base.

Spelling: place, face, space, grace, chase, case, vase, base, break/brake, here/hear, groan/grown, waist/waste

Math – We continue with our new unit, “Games, Graphs & Toys.” Because of our 1st Solemn Communion practice and the Talent show, we will play a bit of “catch-up” as I introduce some toy shopping problems that will help us begin the process of interpreting, solving and creating story problems, as well as introduce operations with money! We will work with toys that come in singles (1’s), boxes (10’s) and cases (100’s) that will provide a visual model for operating with 2- and 3-digit numbers. We will each have chance to survey our classmates to find out which toys are most popular. After we have collected our data in an organized fashion, we will use it to make decisions about what toy products to include in our up coming Toy Store Problems.

Social Studies – We continue to learn about “How Goods Are Made and Brought to Us.” Last week, the children enjoyed making Clown Maze games in an assembly line fashion. This week we’ll have a chance to participate in a transportation relay as they move Clown Maze games from the “factory” to the “store.” We’ll have planes, ships, trains and trucks moving all around the room! We’ll also learn more about the transportation and distribution of goods. We will work in pairs to choose a product to “produce” and decide how it will travel from the factory to stores.

Religion – We’ve begun our new unit called, “Living the Eucharist,” and we’ll finish up the chapter titled, “Share a Holy Meal” this week. We will also begin a focus on honoring the Virgin Mary and learning about the rosary. Children are invited to bring in fresh flowers for our prayer table and May altar.

HOMEWORK - Keep working on math fact recall, strategies & speed.

Monday & Tuesday Reading – At Home Reading program (At least 20 min.)/Book Report Preparation
Wednesday Math – Home Connection #28/”Fraction Races”
Thursday Social Studies - Weekly Reader & Worksheet
Spelling – Review words for spelling test

That’s about it. Have a super week!

Sincerely,

Juli Rangel

2A NEWS MAY 5, 2008

Dear Parents,

Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone! We resume our regular schedule today! We were able to complete the battery of ITBS tests last week. The kids were terrific. I was really proud of their positive attitude and perseverance!

A few notes…

* Don’t forget, Saturday, May 10th is the children’s 1st Solemn Communion! More detailed information from JoAnn Tobin will come home today or tomorrow. Plan on the children meeting around 9:30 on the church steps in order to get organized for the group photo, with Mass set to begin at 10:00. A reception in Lanigan will follow.
* I’ll begin testing Mass Response memorization this week. I’ll start with volunteers first!
* Important! With this newsletter, you will find the Book Report Project for 2A! This project will be due Monday, June 2nd. Reviewing the requirements and discussing a book choice will be tonight’s homework. Each child should have a book selected and approved by me by the end of the week.
* Our last Field Trip Permission Slip will be in your child’s folder today. We’re off to an Odyssey Museum/Seaport Tour on 5/30.
* Yee ha! The country-western style Talent Show is this Friday! K-3 students will perform in Act I starting at 9:00 in Lanigan. Act II, 4-8 students, will begin at 1:00. All HRS students are invited to join in the spirit and dress up on Friday!
* Thank you to all who shared their treasures with Elizabeth in Uganda last month! We were able to raise $20 to help our sister in Christ.

Reading/Language Arts – Our whole group stories this week are both titled “Stone Soup.” One is a traditional folktale, and the other is a fun reader’s theatre. We’ll perform the reader’s theatre in small groups for each other. We will work on our fluency skills and identifying the events in a plot as we better learn to recognize the beginning, middle and end of a story. We will also be listening to and learning more about figurative language as we work on writing and preparing a special Mother’s Day poem and card. Please check your child’s backpack this weekend if your child has forgotten about the card! We’ll also finish up our Pioneer Farm paragraphs, and our new class poem this week is titled “Peace in Not…”

Spelling Words: different, another, year, again, below, thought, important, enough, above, usually, several, really, course, learn, ready

Religion – We begin a new unit this week called, “Living the Eucharist.” We will focus on understanding the importance of receiving nourishment, how Jesus feeds his followers, the gift from Jesus of Holy Communion, and how the Church honors Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. We’ll review, discuss and role-play the importance of reverent behavior at Church and during Communion, and we’ll also make time to go over to the church and practice for our 1st Solemn Communion.

Math – We will begin our 10th and last set of Work Stations. As mentioned last week, these groups of activities provide opportunities to explore fractions and probability, make predictions, create, read and interpret graphs, measure length in centimeters and add and subtract double-digit numbers! This week we will also continue to build our problem solving skills by beginning the process of creating fun and challenging story problems within a toy store theme. We will work from pictures to words as we create scenes, figure out what problems to pose, and then write stories to support our picture problems.

Science/Social Studies – We will review Force, Magnets & Electricity together and wrap up this unit with a short quiz. We will also have a chance to start a new unit titled, “How Are Goods Made and Brought to Us?” We will learn how goods are produced and distributed.

All Kinds of Minds - Over the next couple of weeks, we will focus on the All Kinds of Minds principle: Strengthen strengths. We will discuss and highlight how each person has different areas of strengths. These areas can be called our “affinities.” Affinities are our special interests. We can have content affinities (things we like to know about) such as math, science, animals, nature, collecting, or enterprise/earning money, and Skill affinities (things we like to do) such as dance, sports, art, construction, bike riding or cooking. We will share our learning and our affinities on the school bulletin board in the main hall this month!

HOMEWORK

KEEP WORKING ON MASS RESPONSE MEMORIZATION & MATH FACTS!

Monday Reading – Carefully review & discuss book report requirements and book selection. Bring back parent signature tomorrow!
Tuesday Reading – Read aloud, fluency practice (at least 20 minutes)
Wednesday Math – Home Connection #27/”Twice as Big.”
Thursday Science – Weekly Reader and worksheet
Spelling – Study for spelling test & return “Sticky-Tricky” spelling and/or vocabulary work assignment!

That’s about it. Have a wonderful week!

Sincerely,

Juli Rangel

2A NEWS APRIL 29, 2008

Dear Parents,

Happy 7th week of Easter everyone! As we continue to celebrate the risen Christ, we will take time this week for the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS).

A few notes…

• Thank you again to all the parents who were able to drive and chaperone for our field trip last week. It was a long haul out to Enumclaw, but it was worth it!
• Because of ITBS testing…No spelling test or homework this week!
• Continue to practice our current “sticky-tricky” word list and/or work on your vocabulary words (due May 9th).
• Continue to work on quick, math fact recall and Mass response memorization. We will have an addition and subtraction “leftover” test this week, and I will begin testing Mass responses next week.
• FYI: Next Monday, your child will bring home detailed requirements for a Book Report Project for 2A! This project will be due Monday, June 2nd. Briefly, the children will select and read a “just right” chapter book approved by me, write a short summary report, create a fun, visual aid project, and then present their work to the class! Although the majority of the book report will be completed at home, I will be reviewing the requirements with the children over the next few weeks (i.e., writing a summary, writing with complete sentences, and “Book in a Bag” and bag decorations examples). I will encourage the children to make a book selection as soon as possible and begin reading!
• Important! Mark your calendars, because 2A is inviting you to second grade’s 4th annual “Poetry Café!” If you have some beatnik garb, dig it out and join us on Monday, June 9th from 9:00-10:00 in the school hall. We’d like to share some original and published poetry. We’re eager to hear those snapping fingers (vs. clapping hands) as signs of appreciation! We hope you can join us!

Aside from the ITBS testing, we will round out the week with the following…

We will continue to explore electricity, and work on solidifying 2/3-digit addition and subtraction. We’ll learn three new math activities that will appear in our next round of math work places. The first two, “Pick & Peek experiment,” and “Anything But 1” will allow us to explore probability as well as explore fractions, make predictions, create, read and interpret graphs and estimate, and the third, “Indy 500,” will give us opportunities to measure length in centimeters and add and subtract double-digit numbers! We’ll also have a chance to begin a descriptive paragraph about our wonderful Pioneer Farm/Ohop Indian Village field trip! This completed paragraph will be the first paragraph to be graded with our 2nd grade-writing rubric. Additionally, we will wrap up our religion unit, “Celebrating the Eucharist,” and learn about the Catholic Social Teaching principle: Call to Family, Community, and Participation. We will remember that community involvement is part of living our faith, and that we are sent to share God’s love with everyone. Lastly, we will share a new class poem this week titled “Lucky Trade” by Matthew L. Fredericks.

That’s about it. Have a nice week!

Sincerely,

Juli Rangel

2A NEWS APRIL 21, 2008

Dear Parents,

A few notes…
• Classroom volunteers have a couple of weeks off! Due to ITBS practice and testing, our field trip, a School Mass and an extra day off from school (4/28), our schedule is temporarily mixed up! I’d like to restart our volunteer schedule again the week of 5/5. Thank you.
• Friday is our field trip to Pioneer Farm and Ohop Indian Village! Please send your child to school prepared for cold weather. Depending on the forecast, the children may need all or some of the following:

1. WARM clothing, layers are good (kids may wear free dress)
2. Hat and gloves
3. A rain coat (no umbrellas please)
4. Appropriate shoes/boots suitable for rain and possible muddy walkways

And don’t forget…A sack/disposable lunch! Thank you.

Please put all the “extras” in a bag of some sort (grocery bags work well) with your child’s name labeled on it. This way they can easily transport their things to and from their carpool. Thank you.

Parents drivers, please meet in the 2nd grade hall by 8:25. We plan to head out at 8:30!

• We have a School Mass on Thursday. Perfect uniform is required. We’ll attend this Mass with our Faith Families!
• Don’t forget Monday, April 28th is a day off for HRS. Enjoy this Magazine Sales Drive Reward!
• Tuesday is class picture day (perfect uniform required) AND ITBS Testing begins. We will most likely finish testing on Monday, May 5th. Remember: Healthy breakfasts each day and plenty of rest each night can help children do their best!

• FYI: Our last field trip as been scheduled for May 30th. A trip to the Odyssey Museum and an Argosy Harbor Tour will enrich an upcoming social studies unit. The best news is the trip is FREE! Please be careful NOT to order hot lunch on this day. We will return to HRS close to 1:00 so we’ll miss the hot lunch service. Everyone will need to bring a lunch from home.

A peek at our week…

Reading/Language Arts: Over the next couple of weeks, we will have extra time to enjoy our individual chapter books, participate in small, guided reading groups, review important comprehension strategies and practice our fluency skills with short passage readings. We’ll continue to work on paragraph writing as well as reviewing, practicing and applying spelling rules. The children will also add their latest two published poems, “Easter” and “If I Were In Charge Of The World…” to their poetry binders. Our class poem this week is called “Table Manners.”

Spelling: We will not have a spelling test for a couple of weeks. As mentioned above, we will spend valuable time reviewing and applying introduced spelling rules. The 15 high-frequency words (“sticky trickies”) below will be part of a spelling test on Friday, May 9th. The “Sticky Tricky” spelling packet, coming home today, is also due on May 9th. For those students who would like an extra challenge, they may request a “vocabulary packet” to complete in addition to or in substitution of the “Sticky Tricky” packet.

Spelling Words: different, another, year, again, below, thought, important, enough, above, usually, several, really, course, learn, ready

Religion – This week we will finish our focus on the 2nd part of the mass, Liturgy of the Eucharist, with the chapter titled, “Remember Jesus’ Sacrifice.” We continue to learn how Jesus sacrificed himself for us, how at Mass we remember and give thanks for Jesus’ sacrifice, and that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist.

FYI: I’ll begin testing Mass Response memorization the week of May 5th.

Math – We continue to develop our traditional computation skills with 2/3 digit numbers. You’ll find a recent “check-up” quiz in your child’s folder today. FYI: In class we’re using the term “trade” more often than “borrowing & carrying” to describe when a unit needs to change “form” and go to another “house” to help complete the equation (i.e., often we trade ten 1’s units for one 10 unit and move next door when necessary or we may need to trade one 100’s unit for ten 10’s units and move next door). Also this week, we’ll finish up a lesson on fractions using paper chocolate bars and real granola bars, and we’ll explore probability with “Bug Spinner” experiments. While working in pairs, the children predict the results of 24 spins on the “half-and-half” spinner. Then they spin to see what really happens and graph the data. Class results are compiled on the board and discussed. The process is then repeated with a second spinner (a “3 quarters-and-1 quarter” spinner).

Science - We continue with our unit called, “Force, Magnets, and Electricity.” We will finish investigating magnets this week, and if time permits, begin some work with electricity. We will learn how electricity moves and that a circuit is a path that makes a complete circle. We will also explore and identify objects that are good and poor conductors of electricity.

HOMEWORK

Keep working on Mass Response memorization & Math Fact practice!

Monday Reading - Read Aloud/Fluency Practice (At least 20 minutes)
Tuesday Math – 2/3 Digit Addition/Subtraction
Wednesday Science/Language – Weekly Reader & Worksheet
Thursday Math – Home Connection #25/”How Much Does It Hold?””

That’s about it. Have an excellent week!

Sincerely,

Juli Rangel

2A NEWS APRIL 14, 2008

Dear Parents,

A few notes…
• You’ll find a Field Day permission slip in your child’s folder today! Please return it by Friday, 4/18.
• ITBS (Iowa Testing of Basic Skills) dates are as follows: Tuesday, 4/29-5/2 and most likely Monday, 5/5.

The actual total working test time in its entirety is about 5 1/2 hours. We will space out our test sessions over four to five days, and save the rest of week 5/5 for any necessary make-ups. We will work around our specialist classes so the children will have some nice built-in breaks. If you look at “2A’s Daily Schedule” that I handed out at Open House, you can see the specialist periods, which are preferable times to pull students out for appointments.
• Class photos will be taken on Tuesday, 4/29. Perfect uniform required!
• We continue to accept the children’s April donations for our Ugandan friend, Elizabeth. Thank you.
• Thank you to the following families who are able to assist with our Pioneer Farm trip on Friday 4/25: Bendzak, Fosado, Gants, Heidal, Slee
Please meet in the 2nd grade hall at 8:25. We will head out at 8:30!
• Don’t forget. Friday is a noon dismissal day. The Heart Auction set-up will begin this afternoon.

A peek at our week…

Reading/Language Arts – Our whole group stories this week are titled Yawning Dawn and Missing: One Stuffed Rabbit. Our target comprehension skill is making judgments – we’ll use what we know and what we’ve read to tell what we think about someone or something in a story. We will also learn about adverbs, words that tell about verbs and when, where, or how an action takes place. We’ll continue to work on paragraph writing as well as begin creating our own adaptations of “If I Were in charge of the World…” poems. Our class poem this week is titled, “Spring’s Magic,” and in spelling, we will focus on silent letters in common words.

Spelling Words: climb, thumb, sign, gnaw, know, knife, would, talk, wrong, write, whole, answer, sword
Challenge Words: adaptation, measure, specialist

Science – We’ll continue with our physical science unit, “Force, Magnets & Electricity” and spend a couple of days exploring magnets. We will identify when magnets attract and repel each other, what objects a magnet will attract, and through which objects a magnet will attract a paper clip!

Math – This week we begin a new chapter called “Games, Graphs & Toys.” This unit features several different mathematical strands – primarily computation, statistics, and probability – organized around the theme of toys and games. We start off listening to the story, Arthur’s Funny Money and keeping track of Arthur’s earnings and expenditures. We’re going to revisit glyphs too. You may remember that glyphs are simple pictures of figures whose parts represent information about a given subject. They are an alternative to a chart or table and are being used by doctors, astronomers, geologists and other scientists. Instead of Beetle Glyphs, we’re going to make Robot Glyphs that display information about ourselves like what’s our favorite place to play, favorite pet, favorite type of game. We will be measuring length and area to create our robots, and after we sort and compare them with our classmates we will create bar and pie graphs that will give us easy ways to see our collected information (data). We will also have a lesson with fractions. We will work on finding fractional parts of whole objects, paper “chocolate bars” and real granola bars, and fractional parts of sets.

Religion – We will finish up our chapter study of the Liturgy of the Word and begin a focus on the 2nd part of the mass, Liturgy of the Eucharist. Our new chapter is titled, “Remember Jesus’ Sacrifice.” We will focus on how Jesus sacrificed himself for us, how at Mass we remember and give thanks for Jesus’ sacrifice, and that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist.

HOMEWORK

Continue working on Mass Responses and Math Facts!

Monday Reading – Read aloud/Fluency Practice (at least 20 minutes)
Tuesday Math – Home Connection #24/Weight a minute!
Wednesday Spelling/Language – Write a silly paragraph using all 13 spelling words.
• Be sure to underline each spelling word and highlight the silent letter in each spelling word with a crayon
Thursday Math – Home Connection #26/Number Hunt – 100’s Chart

That’s about it. Have a super week!

Juli Rangel

2A NEWS APRIL 7, 2008

Dear Parents,

A few notes…
• I just need a couple more Pioneer Farm field trip forms & report card envelopes! Thank you for sending those in ASAP.
• FYI: We have a beautiful 1st Communion dress that was recently donated and is available for any family. It is marked, size 6. Please see or email me if interested.
• The St. Jude’s Mathathon is getting started. Please send in the permission slip if your child would like to participate!
• $1 April donations for Elizabeth in Uganda are now being accepted! Thank you.
• Don’t forget: Wednesday is a noon dismissal day. The HR staff will be involved in an in-service this afternoon.
• Math Fact Practice Information/Sheets – Two colored “practice” sheets will accompany this newsletter. You may want to keep these as masters to help your practice and review at home each week. There will no longer be “official” math fact homework, but your child can expect to take one of the timed tests each week, so continuing to work together towards quick recall is important. Thank you!
• PLEASE SAVE Corrected Math Fact Timed Tests!!! – Today you will find the “leftover” test we took on Friday, and you’ll notice a timestamp at the top of the paper. From now on, we will note the time of completion vs. number completed in 2:15 minutes. Saving these tests allows the children to note their improved speed each week, and help identify the “sticky-trickies,” which require extra practice.

Reading/Language Arts – In our anthologies, our whole group stories this week are titled, “Paul Goes to the Ball” and “The Rooster.” We will focus on the target skill: plot. Learning about the plot will help us remember a story by paying attention to what happens first, next and last. We’ll continue to improve our language writing skills as we try to avoid sentence fragments and run-ons and instead create strong and descriptive sentences! I’ll also introduce a writing rubric that will soon be used to evaluate our 2nd grade paragraphs. Our poem this week is called “If I Were In Charge of the World” by Judith Viorst, the author of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No good, Very Bad Day. We will be creating our own poems next week filled with thoughts about being in charge of the world!

Spelling Words: edge, bridge, dodge, fudge, plunge, cage, strange, missed, landed, fanned, left, slept
Challenge Words: memorization, physical, morpheme

Spelling Notes and Test: Our spelling words this week highlight when to use –dge vs.
-ge at the end of words (-dge is only used if a baby, short vowel is right before the /j/ sound). We’ll also remember that the suffix –ed is a sound unit (a phoneme) with three different sounds (/ed/, /d/, /t/), but more importantly, it is a meaning unit (a morpheme) that is used when we want to express past tense. In case of confusion when spelling and trying to spell words such as, planned (/d/) or kissed (/t/), we’ll take the /t/ or /d/ off the word and with what we have left—ask, “Can I plan?” “Can I kiss?” If yes, we’ll know to add the suffix –ed. This “quick trick” can help us differentiate the spelling of irregular past tense verbs such as slept, and bent. If we take the /t/ off the end of the word and ask ourselves, “Can I slep?” Or “Can I ben?,” we’ll know that the t is part of the root and not the suffix –ed that is meant to change the meaning of the word a bit. The spelling test will also include several “apply the rule” words and a dictation sentence.

Science - We will begin a physical science chapter called, “Force, Magnets & Electricity.” This week we will explore cause-and-effect relationships to better communicate what causes objects to move. We will identify ways to make things move (force) and describe how gravity affects objects.

Math – This week we’ll complete our “Branching Into Larger Numbers: Money & Place Value” unit with a focus on the standard algorithm of “borrowing and carrying” when adding or subtracting 2/3 digit numbers as well as some assessment. We’ll begin our 9th round of math work places that are meant to sharpen our number sense and computation skills with six partner-played activities. In our daily Number Corner this month, our calendar markers will help us learn more about 3-dimensional shapes, our magnetic tiles will help us explore perimeter, and the “Coin Collector” returns and serves as a springboard for shopping ($) problems!

Religion – This week we will focus on the 2nd part of the mass, Liturgy of the Word, with a chapter titled, “Remember Jesus’ Sacrifice.” We will focus on how Jesus sacrificed himself for us, how at Mass we remember and give thanks for Jesus’ sacrifice, and that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist.

HOMEWORK

Ongoing: Mass Response Memorization & Quick Recall of Math Facts

Monday Reading – Read Aloud (at least 20 minutes)
Tuesday Social Studies – Weekly Reader/”Earth Helpers” – Complete page 4 and “All About Earth Day” & Literacy Skills page
Religion – 1st Communion Sharing and Discussion (Keep at home and bring back on Thursday)
Wednesday Language/Spelling - Adding –ed to words
Religion – 1st Communion Sharing and Discussion
Thursday Math – Home Connection #23/”100 to 0 Race”
Spelling test tomorrow!

That’s about it. Have a terrific week!