Ms. Russell
Second Grade Newsletter
Chaparral School

October 12, 2009
Dear Room 6 Families,
ART: Our Art Masters lesson on Georgia O’Keefe was a great success! The chidden were introduced to artist’s crayons and watercolor pencils as they created O’Keefe-like flowers. Magnificent!

MUSIC: Our students have enjoyed listening to and learning about Johann Sebastian Bach. Now we are going to move from Germany to Italy to study Antonio Vivaldi. To learn more about this marvelous composer, please visit the Room 6 web site and click on the Composers link.

LANGUAGE ARTS: Our new theme is Nature Walk. This theme will include stories about the natural world and how it affects us individually and as a community. The objectives for this theme are: Reading Strategies (question, evaluate, monitor/clarify, phonics/decoding), Comprehension (compare and contrast, fact and opinion, categorize and classify), Vocabulary (compound words, antonyms, multiple meaning words), Grammar (telling sentences and questions, commands, exclamations), Writing (adding words to make a complete sentence, a paragraph with a main idea and details, descriptive writing), Study Skills (using dictionary guide words).
The first story in our new theme is Harry and Mudge and the Starry Night, written by Cynthia Rylant and illustrated by Sucie Stevenson. In this short chapter book, Henry, his dog, Mudge, and Henry’s parents take their annual camping trip to Big Bear Lake. In this selection, the children are introduced to the genre of realistic fiction. Here realistic characters and events come to life in a fictional plot.

POEM: In honor of all the wiggly-jiggly loose teeth in Room 6, we will memorize My Loose Tooth.

MATHEMATICS: As we are finishing Unit 1, we are discussing digits and place value. This being one of the major concepts taught in second grade, a little background may be helpful. Our numeration system is called the Hindu-Arabic numeration system. This system has the following attributes:
(1) It uses the ten digits 0 through 9.
(2) It uses groups of ten.
(3) Position tells the value of a digit.
(4) Each position to the left is ten times more than the one to its right. This is why we often use the term “place value”.
One of the BIG IDEAS in second grade is to help the children understand that numbers can be written in different ways and that we use groups of ten to name numbers. Although it is obvious to us as adults, it can be difficult for a young child to realize that 23 ones is the same as 2 tens and 3 ones, or 20 + 3. For example, a common counting error that many children make is, “twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, twenty-ten...”. Regrouping is key to understanding our numeration system. When adding two-digit numbers, breaking apart and adding by place value turns a complex calculation into a set of simpler calculations where all one needs to know is place value and basic facts. At this point, it is VERY important that you child have the number facts from 0-12 MEMORIZED. Individual flash cards should be made or purchased for each student to learn at home. There are also web sites that will download, free of charge, customized math flash cards. I would like all flash cards to be memorized by Monday, November 2. The students will be retested at that time. There will be a little prize for each student who has accomplished this goal.

SCHOOL PICTURES: The class pictures for Room 6 are scheduled for 10:02 on Tuesday morning. As you know, this is right after morning recess, so we will all do our best to stay “picture ready” during outdoor play.

OTHER: Note from your teacher. PLEASE, please, try not to take your child out of class during the day. I have had a number of calls from the office over the past few weeks where children are being released for the day and I have not had prior notice. When this happens, I need to stop the lesson I am working on with the children, shift those 23 students to an independent activity, change my focus to the one student who has just been excused, write out the assignment for the class work which will be missed, as well as the homework that needs to be assigned, then refocus the class on the lesson at hand after the student who has been excused heads off to the office. I understand that there are emergencies, but please try to keep all appointments before and after school OR give me a heads up and I can take care of these arrangements ahead of time. Thanks.