A Weekly Newsletter for Students and Parents

January 9, 2012

          We had a great week back to school!  It is a good time to refresh any school supplies- please ask your students what supplies they may need.  Glue, “J” tablet, and binder paper (wide-ruled notebook) are the supplies that are usually gone around this time of year.   This week, we will be working on writing a persuasive essay and will be practicing the skill of cause and effect while reading “Officer Buckle and Gloria”.  In math, we will be starting a big unit on measurement.   If any of you use standard or non-standard measurement in your job (volume, capacity, measurement, etc.), and would like to come share with the class, we would love to have you!  I think that students sometime have trouble connecting how often we “measure” in real life. Thanks!

          The students have new AR goals set!  Please remember that reading for 20 minutes each night is part of their homework!  Thanks!

          NEWSFLASH!!  Some of you may have heard about the infamous 2^nd grade book reports.  They’re here!  Starting this week, students will be required to do a book report each Wednesday night (except for the occasional project weeks).  Please do not stress about this- there is a rubric for the students to follow when writing a book report.  In the beginning, we basically want the children to identify the main characters, setting, problem, solution, beginning, middle, and end in a fiction story.  Then the students need to be able to retell that information using complete sentences.  As the year progresses, we will expect more details about the text.   If students read a non-fiction book, they will need to write 6 facts that they learned in complete sentences.  They can do the book report on any book they have at home or a library book and can use any paper that you have at home to write the report. 

Spelling: (compound words)

cannot                   pancake                 maybe                   baseball       playground

someone               myself                   classroom             sunshine      outside

upon                     nothing                  into                       inside           nobody

everywhere            airport                   backstroke            chickpea      earmuff       

                                                                                      *Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Vocabulary:

obeys                    safety                    attention                buddy

station                   speech                  shocked                enormous

Homework:

Monday:  Word Problem sheet

Tuesday:  Cause and Effect practice

Wednesday: Book Report (see rubric that will come home Wednesday)

Every night:  Study and read!  Math Facts test Friday 1/13.