Time Flies

                                                                                            February 23, 2015

Dear Parents,

Even though it was a short week due to President's Day on Monday; the students of Room 5 managed to have a full week of learning.

Math
This week in math we were busy working on time concepts.  Students worked on telling time to the nearest five minute interval on analog clocks.  We worked on telling the time a few different ways, for example you can call 3:40, 40 minutes past 3, 40 minutes after 3, or 20 minutes to 4. 

The time on these clocks could be read as...

...12:40.

...40 minutes past 12.

...40 minutes after 12.

...20 minutes to 1.

...10:10.

...10 minutes past 10.

...10 minutes after 10.

I encourage you to periodically ask your child to tell the time and ask them to tell you the time another way.

Students also worked on writing out a daily schedule that included various activities with a time listed which was labeled A.M. or P.M.  Students were able to pick the day for which they wanted write their schedule.  I noticed through this assignment that Room 5 has some very busy students with many different after school activities.

Our lessons on telling time will end this coming week but we will continue to practice this concept daily.

Homework
Mon.     IXL Q.4  Time Words--O'Clock, Half, and Quarter
Tues.    Practice Test B
Wed.     IXL G.8 Ways to Make a Number Using Addition
Thurs.   IXL I.1 Add Multiples of 100

Writing
This week in writing students completed the rough draft of their narrative that focused on the organization trait.  Students used a editing/revising sheet to do some self editing and revising with a focus on organization and conventions.  They had to read their narrative and determine if it included a Bold Beginning, Mighty Middle, and an Excellent Ending.  Students also analyzed their narrative for conventions (CUPS) capital letters, word usage, punctuation, and spelling.
Projects
I am pleased to say that all matter experiments have been completed!!  It was a week filled with heating and cooling everything from Legos to marshmellows.  Students were busy completing the "results" and "conclusion" portions of their lab reports.   This week students will be finishing up their lab reports.  Then they will present their findings to the class. 

We will be starting a new project shortly that will on the topic of Earth's Systems.  More information on our new project next week. 

Language
We finished our work with reflexive pronouns.  Throughout the week students also reviewed all the parts of speech that we have learned so far.  These parts of speech include nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, and reflexive pronouns.  We also reviewed irregular plural nouns.  

Don't forget about Math Night this Thursday, February 26th from 6:00-8:00 P.M.  I hope to see many parents and students there!!

The weeks are passing so quickly.  It's hard to believe that in a few more weeks we will be closing in on the end of the 3rd quarter and getting ready for conferences.  Wishing time would slow down a bit but it marches on.  Have a great week!!

Sincerely,
Anne Bloomfield

Now a few words from Mrs. Jackson...

February 23, 2015

What a busy week we had last week!  We have spent the past month learning about, reviewing and assessing our ability to compare and contrast important points made by two texts on the same topic, how images contribute to and clarify a text, and how to determine the meaning of words relevant to grade level topic area text.  Almost all of us have mastered these concepts, so we will be moving on to the last few standards that we have left for this quarter.

We have spent some time during this past month during our Guided Reading groups reading articles about an animal, identifying specific information about a certain part of this animal (what they look like, where they live, enemies and protection, what they eat, etc.) and then taking notes on this area in order to gather enough information to write a 1 paragraph on each section.  This information will be compiled into a complete  5- paragraph essay about this animal.  This week we will spend time finishing this process in our small groups so that next week each student can do this process of reading, note-taking and writing a 5-paragraph essay on their own during their independent work time in our daily 5 rotations.  

In connection to this small group work, we will spend our whole-group mini-lessons looking at the reasons that authors use to support their specific points in a text.  Using examples from these same articles, we will review facts and opinions, identify whether authors use mostly facts or opinions to support their points and decipher between their use of facts and opinions.

Our word family this week will be the “out” family.  

As you may have noticed last week, most students began reading new chapter books.  In many groups, we are reading a certain book series, so the books may look the same, but they are the 2nd or 3rd in the same series.  Students are also bringing home nightly questions with their reading in preparation for 3rd grade where they will be expected to answer questions about everything that they read for class.  Please encourage them to use specific details and evidence from the text to support their answers as well as complete sentences that restate the question.

I hope you have a fabulous Sunday!  See you Thursday at Math Night!  

Sincerely,

Mrs. Jackson

Happy Valentine's Day

                                                                                                           February 16, 2015

Dear Parents,

Happy Valentine's Day and Happy President's Day!  Did you all have a great weekend??  Between Valentine’s Day, President’s Day, and the unseasonably warm weather, it was a fantastic long weekend!!  I hope everyone had some wonderful adventures over this long weekend!!
Math 
Students got a BIG surprise on Monday morning, they walked into the classroom to see a new arrangement because Room 5 is now rocking a 10 feet by 10 feet 100's grid on the floor.  Students have had so much fun this week using it for number sense activities.  I am very thankful to Mr. Lewis (8th grade) for helping me lay it out and put it down.  It has been so worth the effort and the space it takes up.  To be honest with you I don't know how I have taught all year without it!!

Students placing numbers on the 100's grid

Besides using the 100's grid, the students of Room 5 finished up our unit on fractions.  Students completed their fraction ordering and comparing posters.  We made a whole with 2 or more fractions with the same denominator.  Students also placed fractions on a number line.  

We took our Fraction Unit Assessment on Wednesday and finished the week with practicing a Performance Task called Half and Half.   Performance Task gives students the opportunity to apply information to a task.  We will be doing more of this kind of work allow students to be able to show what they know in a higher level way.




Math Homework for next week...
Tues.    IXL Q.3 Reading Clocks
Wed.    Practice Test B
Thurs.  No Homework (assessment)  
Writing

Orally sharing their "quick sketch".

More oral practice before writing.

Students continued working on the writing trait of organization.  They used a "quick sketch" to help them organize their narrative.  Students have spent time using their "quick sketch" to retell their narrative orally several times.  This oral practice is so important to support the writing process.  So far students have written the beginning and middle parts of their narratives.  It's exciting to see these young writers grow!!


Language
Our language time did not go as planned this week.  We are still working on reflexive pronouns.  My hope is this week we will assess on pronouns and revisit some of the areas of language that have been troublesome for students (collective nouns and irregular plural nouns).
Projects
We should be finishing up our science experiments this week.  Teams of students will complete testing their matter by cooling and heating.  Students are experimenting to see if these changes are reversible or irreversible.  After completing the experiments, students will complete their lab reports.

Heating up milk.

Heated milk forms a skin.

  Our Ice Cream Party
As you know we started our week off (Monday afternoon) with the class earned ice cream party.  Each student recieved a vanilla ice cream cup and could add to it chocolate and/or carmel sauce, whipped cream, and a cherry on top!!  Room 5 is working towards their next reward party--cupcake decorating party.  I can't wait for the students to earn the next party.

A few words from Mrs. Jackson...

February 17-19

What a beautiful Monday!  I hope you all had a chance to get outside this weekend and spend time as a family.  

This week we will focus on comparing two different articles on George Washington and Abraham Lincoln as well as discussing and answering questions about the historical information included in these articles.  We will also get back to our traditional Daily Five Rotation where students are given choice about what they would like to write rather than assigned a writing piece (such as Prefix Pets or Valentine’s Stories).  

We finally finished out Prefix Pets last week with a little (A LOT OF) help from Mrs. Goings. Students will be sharing their Prefix Pets with the entire class (they love to share their work).  Please ask your child about their own Prefix Pet.  These Prefix Pets will be posted in the hall after Tuesday this week for you to see if you happen to stop by.  

All of our groups are reading chapter books of some sort or another. Please ask your child nightly to tell you what is going on in their book to encourage their comprehension of longer pieces.  They will also be bringing home questions nightly to gear them toward thinking more while they read. I am enjoying your children as they grow and mature.  Our book discussions have taken on new depth.  I am also appreciative that all of my 2nd graders are reading nightly!  Thank you for making that nightly commitment.

This week there will be no Spelling, since we have such a short week.  Enjoy!

Sincerely,

Kristen Jackson

I Scream, You Scream, We all Scream for ICE CREAM!!

                                                                                                                  February 9, 2015

Dear Parents,

It was an exciting week in Room 5!  The students have been working very hard on attentive listening and transitions that are quick and quiet.  They have been earning the letters to spell the out ICE CREAM PARTY.  Well on Thursday afternoon the class earned the Y and they were able to keep it for the rest of the day.  So Monday afternoon, the students will enjoy their ice cream party reward!

Here's more about last week!!

Math

All students have a "big number".  Students work on this "big number" weekly.  Your child's "big number" is determined by the highest number that they know all the facts (both addition and subtraction) for.  Throughout the week students meet by their "big number" group to practice the facts.  This practice is done with activities within the their "big number" box.  Every Thursday students take 

Working on number bonds for their "big number".

Another "big number" activity, BANG!

timed test.  Their goal is to complete 50 mixed problems on their "big number" sheet beating their previous time.  When they are able to complete this in 2 minutes and 30 seconds or less, they move to the next number.  All students are working hard to beat their times!!

Aside from working on our "big numbers", the students of Room 5 went deeper into fractions.  Students spent time reading and writing fractions.  We learned that the denominator is the bottom number of a fraction and it tells the total equal pieces in the whole.  The top number of a fraction is called the numerator and it tells about part of the whole.

The other big concept that students worked on was comparing and ordering unit fractions.  A unit fraction is a fraction that has 1 as the denominator.  As we explored with fraction strips that ranged from 1/2 to 1/12, students were able to make the connection that the larger the number in the denominator of the fraction means the smaller in size of the actual fraction piece.  Because this is a difficult concept for students to grasp we are using fraction strips and circles to make math posters showing the ordering of fractions and comparing fractions.

Labeling unit fractions for our fraction posters.

Here's the homework for this week...
Mon.         Practice Test B
Tues.        IXL U.8  Order Fractions With Like Numerators
Wed.         IXL U.10 Fractions Equivalent to Whole Numbers
Thurs.       No Homework (Happy Valentine's Day and President's Day)

Don't forget about Oasis Academy's Math Night coming up on Feb. 26th from 6:00-8:00 pm.

Writing

Organization is the writing trait the writer's of Room 5 have been working on this past week.  Students have learned about "Bold Beginnings", "Mighty Middles", and "Excellent Endings".  We know that a narrative that is well organized is easy for readers to read and understand.  Room 5's writers are learning the importance of writing narratives that have a beginning that will hook the reader, the middle should have details that are connected with transition words or phrases, and the ending should hold the narrative together.  

Language 

Pronouns are the new part of speech we are working on.  This week we reviewed pronouns that included I, he, she, it, we, they, us, you, and them.  Students were introduced to reflexive pronouns.  Reflexive pronouns are pronouns that refer back the the subject.  Reflexive pronouns all end with self (singular) or selves (plural) and include myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, and themselves.  

Projects    

Lab partners discussing their upcoming experiment.

The Scientists in Room 5 were busy this week.  We worked through an experiment to determine whether water goes through reversible or irreversible changes when cooled and heated.  After finding that the changes water goes through are reversible, as a class we listed items that we might want to test by heating and cooling.  I must say the list includes some very interesting items everything from a tooth to marsh mellows.  From the list students picked the top four items they would want to test.  I was able to partner students by their top items to test.

Typing lab reports

The lab partners then discussed how they would test their item and started typing their lab reports.  It has been so interesting to watch students work together in this scientific endeavor.  I can hardly wait to see how the experiments work out!!

As you can see we are always busy in Room 5.  I know our week will be great.  Here's wishing all the Oasis families a wonderful week and a fabulous long weekend.  

Sincerely,
Anne Bloomfield


Here's what the students of Room 5 will be doing in reading this week!!

February 9-12

Windy Weekend!  

I hope you survived the wind!  I had to drive to Fernley 3 times this weekend, and my trip on Friday was definitely the worst one I had to make!  

We will spend another week during our mini-lessons focusing on finding the meanings of unknown words.  This week we will also continue doing research with our animal magazine articles in our small guided reading groups.  We have been retrieving, analyzing, sorting and writing information about where animals live, what they look like, what they eat, and interesting facts.  We will finish this work in our small groups, so that next week we can research our own article independently during Work on Writing.  Some of us will also be starting to read new chapter books, since we are just finishing the ones we have been reading.  During these next chapter books, we will be answering 2-3 questions nightly specifically related to information in the book.  These questions will help us work on bettering our comprehension strategies.  

This week students will also have a variety of Valentine’s books to share with one another during Read to Someone or to read independently during Read to Self.  

We will also all finally complete our work with prefixes and suffixes as we finish our Prefix Pets.  Our Word Family this week will contain words using “oil”.  

Have a wonderful week and a happy heart day with your families next Saturday!  I heard that Middle School dance was charming, sweet and joyous.  That’s why we love Oasis!    

Sincerely,

Kristen Jackson

Fabulous February

                                                                                              February 2, 2015

Dear Parents,

I can't believe I just changed the calendar pieces from January to February!!  How can we be done with the first calendar month of the year???

Math 
Students finished up with the measurement unit this week and we moved on to fractions.  On Tuesday students spent some time just exploring colored paper plates that had been cut into halves and quarters.  It was very interesting to watch and listen as students manipulated the pieces.

2/4 and 1/2

4 quarters make a whole

2 halves make a whole

Students also spent time partitioning squares into fourths.  The mathematicians of Room 5 discovered that a square can partitioned several ways.

Partitioning squares into quarters

How many ways can a square be divided into fourths?

Finally students folded strips of paper into halves, thirds, and fourths.  Students practiced writing fractions using numbers (1/2, 1/3, 1/4) and words (one half, one third, one fourth).  Through this exercise, students also compared halves, thirds, and fourths.

Mark your calendar,  Oasis Academy will be hosted a Math Night on February 26th from 6:00-8:00 pm.  More details to come!!!

Homework
Mon.--   IXL U.4 Which Shape Illustrates the Fraction?
Tues.--  Workbook pgs. 105-106
Wed.--   IXL U.7 Compare Fractions Using Models
Thurs.-- IXL U.9 Fraction Models Equivalent to Whole Numbers.


Writing
In writing students finished writing their narratives focused on the idea trait.  I got to conference with more students on their narratives.  It's exciting to see how students make revisions through the conference conversations.  I love seeing students add rich details to their ideas.  They are making their writing come alive!!

Students were also introduced to the trait of organization.  This will be our focus for the next week.  Bold beginnings, mighty middles, and excellent endings will be what students will be practicing.
Language
In language we reviewed and tested on adverbs.  Our work with adverbs and all the other parts of speech we have studied this year will continue as we go through and identify the parts of speech within sentences every week.

Projects
Changing matter has been the focus of our projects.  We have be exploring reversible and irreversible changes in matter.  We are looking at the changes that happen when matter in heated or cooled.  Students have been practicing using a lab report template on their Chrome Books.  This lab report will be what students will be using when they write up the report on the solid they choose to test.

Guess we don’t have to wait for the Groundhog to let us know if spring will be early (although my east coast family and friends would beg to differ).  It seems we are in the middle of experiencing an early spring.  Hopefully you will be able to enjoy some of these unseasonably warm temperatures this week.

Sincerely,

Anne Bloomfield

Here's the reading information from Mrs. Jackson...

Superbowl Sunday!  (or not so super for some of us)

Sorry that this blog is coming to you a bit later than usual.  I got carried away with the Super Bowl.

This week we will really delve into the various strategies that  enable us to find out the meanings of unknown words. (We can use picture cues, look for smaller familiar words within more complex words, continue reading for more information, reread a passage and/or use context clues.)  We will be finding some more complex words this week in a variety of different books related to Groundhog’s Day.  It is always so fun to pull out theme related books once a year.

We did discuss ways to find the meaning of unknown vocabulary words a bit last week in our Guided Reading groups, but we spent most of our time examining diagrams.  Last Thursday, we completed a small assessment on our diagram studies; this week on Thursday we will complete another small assessment on finding the meaning of unknown words. These weekly assessments are touching upon various standards that will be covered on this quarter’s progress reports.  

We will also be finishing our work with Prefixes and Suffixes each creating a “Prefix Pet” and studying the “ink” word family.  Our “Prefix Pets” should be posted outside our room later this week if you happen to be in the building.

I appreciate the flexibility of Mrs. Dodge and Mrs. Goings who are able to continue volunteering  even with our schedule change as well as the addition of our new volunteer, Mrs. Henning. Thank you!

Please contact me if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Kristen Jackson

Measuring Up!!

Dear Parents,

Room 5 has had another BUSY week!!  This short week was filled with lots of learning.  

Math
In math we continued our work in measuring.  We moved from measuring in metric units (meters and centimeters) to using the English units of measure.  These units included yards, feet, and inches.  Throughout the week we spent time estimating, measuring, and drawing lines to specific measurements.  Measurement was also the focus of our word problems this week.

Drawing lines in inches.

Yes, students did draw the lines on their tables!

Homework
Monday--Word Problem Worksheet
Tuesday--IXL U.2 Halves, Thirds, and Fourths
Wednesday--IXL U.3 Identify the Fraction
Thursday--No homework (Assessment)

Writing
In writing the authors of Room 5 continued our focus on the writing trait of Ideas.  Students reviewed their narrowed and focused idea.  We discussed the importance of bringing our idea to life with interesting details that are related to our topic.  Students listened to the story, All the Places to Love by Patricia Mac Lachlan.  This story was read to students the first time with me just reading the main story line.  I then read it again, this time reading the entire book with all it's rich details.  The power of interesting, related details was very evident from this activity.  With all this information, students finally started writing on their chosen topic with a focus on ideas.  I can't wait to start conferencing with students on this writing!

Language
Our work with adverbs continued.  Students are getting better at identifying and classifying adverbs by if they are telling when, how, or where.  Over the week students practiced through a whole class physical sort.  Students were given a card with an adverb.  They then went to a designated place in the classroom based on whether their adverb told when, how, or where.  Students then completed the sort on paper.  Students will be testing on adverbs this coming week.

Projects
Our work in projects continued this week with reviewing information on gas and exploring the properties of liquid.  Students are working on a matter book, which will be completed this coming week.

The Scientists in Room 5 exploring the the properties of liquids.

Students have enjoyed the switch to projects focused on Science.  The week ahead will be filled with more matter investigations.

Community Service
Our Community Service Teacher, Mrs. Sheldon is amazing.  The students have been creating art for the Senior Center. They have also been making projects that go along with the Meals on Wheels delivery.  Each project focuses on a fun, silly holiday.  This week students were preparing goodies for National Puzzle Day which is on January 29th!

Students putting together "Winter" artwork for the Senior Center!

Puzzle Piece creations!!

Here's wishing everyone a great week, I know I'm looking forward to it!!

Sincerely,
Anne Bloomfield

Here is the reading information from Mrs. Jackson.

Hello to all my second grade parents!

This weekend I attended a wonderful training with Mrs. Loop and Mrs. Marsh.  I learned strategies to use with informational text and different ways to organize informative writing.  Did you know that when we read on the internet, over 90% of what we read iis informational text?  Also, as we all know, most middle, high school and college texts are all informative.  Research says that we need to spend 50% of our time in the classroom with informative text and 50% with fiction text.  This will enable our young learners to be ready for the reading they will be required to do in the future.  Our classroom includes both types of literature.  I have noticed that during independent reading time, most students choose to read informative text versus narrative text.  

I also learned about the use of visual literacy in the classroom!  Visual literacy includes examining, discussing, critically analyzing and learning through the use of visual images.  It turn out that we have 1,000,000 optical nerves attached to our brains and only 30,000 auditory ones.  This shows the importance of images as well as text in our learning and cognitive growth. This ties right into what we have been doing. We have been reviewing the way that pictures, captions and headings to understand that each feature gives us new information.  This week we will learn from diagrams (within this, I will include some of my new learning about visual features in general).  All of this learning has been while utilizing informative texts on animals.  Our small group animal research will continue this Thursday.  

We will also be discussing and utilizing different strategies to find out the meanings of unknown words.  We will learn how to reread text, how to read ahead and reviewing the use of the glossary.  

We will continue reviewing prefixes and suffixes and our Word Family this week will contain words using “old”.  

It is hard to believe that it is the end of January.  Where is that snow?  

I am looking forward to a fun week full of learning and growing this week.

Sincerely,

Kristen Jackson

Week of January 20th

Dear Parents,

With the long Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday weekend, I hope you found some time to have some fun family adventures.  The weeks are so busy, it is really nice to have an extra day once in awhile.  I was fortunate enough to take my son skiing for his first time and my first time in about 12 years.  It was so much fun to revisit a sport and to share it with my son.  I very much looking forward to many more skiing days.  

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words.  I'm very excited to mention that I have finally taken the time to figure out how to post pictures to my blog.  So hopefully every week, I'll have some some photos to go along with my descriptions of the week's activities.

Math
Our work with measurement continued with measuring using centimeters.  As we have been measuring, students are taking the time to make estimates before taking the actual measurement.  I must say students are doing a great job with the estimations!!  They are really thinking about the units of measure we have used so far (meters and centimeters) and making very reasonable estimations. This tends to be a difficult concept for 2nd graders, but these kiddos are rocking it!

Measuring in nonstandard units (paper clips)

Measuring in centimeters.

                                                  

                                                     

                             Students learned how to measure curved lines.  They explored a few different strategies and finally were given a different tool (a cloth tape measure) to help them measure curved lines. They were able to practice this by measuring body parts such as their wrist, ankles, elbows, knees, and head (see picture above).  Our work with measurement will continue next week with inches, feet, and yards.
Homework
Mon.         No School
Tues.        IXL S.3 Which Customary Unit of Length is Appropriate?
Wed.         IXL S.2 Measure Using an Inch Ruler
Thurs.       Worksheet Test B

Writing

In writing the students of Room 5 are beginning to work on narratives.  Our focus for the past week has been in the writing trait of Ideas.  Students have decided on a topic that they will be writing on and we have worked on narrowing down that topic so that our writing will be very specific and concise .  For example a broad topic might be "fishing".  This topic could be narrowed down to the time a student went fishing and caught more fish than anyone else in the family.  

Language

Our time in language focused on adverbs.  We have studied adjectives and students understand that adjectives describe nouns.  Adverbs are a little bit trickier.  We are learning that adverbs can describes a verb, adjective, or another adverb.  They describe WHEN, HOW, and WHERE.  So far students have watched a School House Rock video, read and discussed an Adverb Poem, and we have been listing adverbs on a Tree Map to display in our room as a resource.  This week will continue to review and identify adverbs within sentences.

Projects
With the new semester, students started working in science for Project time.  Students have been working through the Scientific Method as we have been learning about the properties of matter.  This past we have completed experiments proving that gas takes up space and liquids take on the shape of it's container.  Eventually student scientists will be designing and demonstrating their own experiment focused on the reversible or irreversible changes that occur when matter is heated or cooled.

Here's a few words from Mrs. Jackson...

2nd Grade

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!

January 18, 2015

Welcome back from your long weekend!  

This quarter in our Reading block we are learning how take notes about a specific animal using a non-fiction article.  We begin by activating our schema (or prior knowledge) about this animal.  We then read our article, confirming the information that we’d previously believed to be true (as well as clearing up any misconceptions we might have had).  After this, we take new notes focusing on specific areas including: diet, lifestyle, physical characteristics and interesting facts.

Right now, we are doing this together in small groups, but students will do this individually as this quarter progresses. This week in our mini lessons we will be learning how readers gather additional information about a topic by reviewing the diagrams in a text

We will not have a new Word Family this week since it is a short week.

You may also notice that your child is bringing home new books as part of their nightly assigned reading.   These books were just recently purchased with the money that our school raised from the Scholastic Book Fair this fall!  Thank you for your support and for the brand new books-how exciting for us all!

Also, on a side note:  Due to student educational needs, Mrs. Bloomfield and myself are making a schedule change.  Currently we start our day with the 2nd grade class in math (8:15-9:35 am).  Starting on Tuesday, January 20th, 2nd grade students will be in reading from 8:15-9:35 am and math from 9:55-11:30 am.  

I am excited to have your child for Reading at the very beginning of the day.

Please feel free to contact me anytime.  Thanks for your support!