Online Gradebook for Parents

This is a great tool that allows parents to see their student's attendance and grades along with progress reports and report cards. Please note, parents must come to the school to get log in information and will need to present a photo identification.
Grade Portal

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We can't wait to hear about your adventures over the winter break!

Welcome Back!

Thank you all for the gifts and greetings we received for the holidays. We hope that all of you have had a fun and restful holiday break. We are looking forward to seeing all of you back in school tomorrow ready to learn and have fun.

We are very excited to start a new unit in Reader's and Writer's Workshop. Over the course of the next six weeks, the students will investigate nonfiction text. There are many more varieties and variables of nonfiction than of fiction and in order for our students to read nonfiction successfully, they need to understand its various features and structures. This understanding will allow them to approach nonfiction text with purpose and confidence.

Along with the study of nonfiction text, the students will learn to write reports that include, descriptive information about a subject, explanations of how something works or behaves, and an analysis of how something is organized or classified.

Spelling and language practice will resume this week. Please read the homework sheet for specific details. There will be a quiz on this week's homework information this coming Friday. You may also access all of this week's schoolwork on our blog. Please feel free to post a comment.

Showtime!

Well kids, it's almost showtime. So your teachers put together a little song and a dance for you to get us all into the spirit. Now sit back and enjoy!

Singing Teachers

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Dancing Teachers

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Combinations Club News

This year, we will be focusing on becoming fluent with addition combinations up to 10+10. In second grade, students learn these combinations over the course of the year. Combination sets include:

• Make Ten - combinations of 10 with two numbers (ex.: 8 + 2)
• Plus 1 - any number plus one (ex.: 1 + 8)
• Plus 2 - any number plus two (ex.: 3 + 2)
• Doubles - any number plus itself (ex.: 5 + 5)
• Near Doubles - any number close to a double (ex.: 5 + 6)
• Plus 10 - any number added to 10 (ex.: 3 + 10)
• Plus 9 - any number added to 9 (ex.: 3 + 9)

Students will learn these combinations through frequent and repeated practice. In school, we will be playing various games that help students learn particular combinations. Students will play some of these games for homework, such as Plus 1 or 2 Bingo and Make 10.


We will also be using “Combinations Cards” to help students practice. In addition to using combinations frequently, students will focus on the numbers and relationships involved. That way, if students forget combinations, they can still solve the problem quickly and efficiently. For example, as a clue to help solve 5 + 8, your child might write, “think 5 + 5 + 3”.

When your child has mastered a set of Combinations Club cards, a new set will be sent home. Please add the new set of cards to the previous set of cards, and keep practicing. Write any clues on the front of the cards that may help remember the combinations. Along with that, your child will get to sign his/her name onto the Combinations Club Graffitti Wall. So go ahead and ask your child which brick he/she has signed thus far.

What's All This About Sorting Words

Sorting words as a way to learn how to spell might be new for some and for others, a routine assignment that has been practiced by your child since the beginning of the Kindergarten. We would like to share with you the hows and whys of sorting words in hopes that you will support your child at home with their word study.



WHAT IS IT
Word sorts are highly effective in teaching students to find patterns that make decoding easier. Word sorts are used extensively to teach concepts from elementary word families to more sophisticated language concepts. Word sort exercises enable students to more easily recognize word families, which helps in decoding new words with similar patterns. (Source http://www.literacyconnections.com/WordsTheirWay.php)

Students are engaged in hands-on learning activities involving a select group of words that follow certain spelling patterns, or rules. By analyzing and grouping these words in different ways, students should begin to develop an understanding of the rules of spelling for the English language.

HOMEWORK RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Demonstrate an ability to sort words into word families by identifying word patterns
2. Practice reading words in the word family sort accurately and fluently
3. Spell words in the word family sort correctly
4. Record your sorts
5. Find the patterns within the word by, first, finding the vowels. Look at the consonants around the vowels to identify patterns. For instance, this week’s pattern is CVC. (C = Consonant, V = Vowel, C = Consonant)
6. Word Chunks: Find the word chunk in your word (if there is one). If you can spell that word, what other words can you spell—using that same letter pattern? Write them down. Do this for each of your words. (e.g., “bat” – cat, hat, sat, acrobat)
7. Sort the words by phonics- short a, short e, etc.
8. Word Frames: Draw a letter frame around each letter in your word. Pay attention to the tall letters, short letters and letters with tails.
9. Acrostic Spelling: Write your words in one column. On the lines next to them, write words that start with each letter in your word. (For example: shoe = sale, hat, old, end)
10. Word Building: Take the root word of your word and add prefixes and/or suffixes to the word to build a new word. (For example: write: overwrite, writing, writer, writes, rewrite, etc.)
11. Make a set of flashcards to help study your words.
12. Write your words using one color for vowels and another color for consonants.
13. Write each word in special letters. (Bubbly, squiggly, block, etc.)
14. Write a letter to a friend using all of your words.
15. Write a rhyming word for each word.
16. Design a bookmark and write your list of words on the bookmark.
17. Write your words inside different shapes.
18. Classify words using parts of speech.
19. Put your words into question or exclamation sentences. (One word per sentence) Watch your punctuation!
20. Write each word neatly in cursive 2 times (Only after we have learned all the cursive letters
21. Write your words 3 times each
22. Write your words in alphabetical order
23. Write your words in reverse alphabetical order
24. Illustrate your words (write the word under the picture)
25. Divide your words into syllables
26. Rainbow write your words (please use colored pencils)
27. Get CREATIVE! Create a way to practice your words and bring us proof!

Happy sorting!

Open House

What an awesome open house we had this year. The turn out was fantastic and the students had a wonderful time showing off their work. Thank you for coming!
Mrs. Chant, Mrs. Wallace, & Ms. Hawas