Ms. Russell
Second Grade Newsletter
Chaparral School

October 19, 2009
Dear Room 6 Families,
First, let me thank Ms. Flock (Deanna’s mother) and Mrs. Kachlik for making the beautiful RUSSELL’S ROADRUNNER READERS banner that now hangs in our classroom. Be sure to come to the Chaparral Halloween parade so you can see the banner, held high, as it leads our class into the march.

MUSIC: Last week we started the study of Antonio Vivaldi. I hope you are exploring the Bach and Vivaldi composer portals on our classroom web site at home. You can learn a lot about the composer and his time, as well as have access to many audio recordings.

LANGUAGE ARTS: Each student needs to bring a small pumpkin to school by Wednesday. We will decorate and craft a story about our pumpkins. After we write and share the stories, we will use the pumpkins for a math project, using statistics. We also continue Henry and Mudge and the attendant skills.

POEM: Falling Leaves.

MATHEMATICS: Please continue math practice by playing games such as Addition Top It at home. Remember, the children will be tested on their math facts 0 - 12 soon. I will expect them to know all addition and subtraction combinations of 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12.

SHOELACE ALERT: Please work with your child on shoe-tying skills. Many of our students walk about with long, untied laces that are a danger to both themselves and others. Before your child comes to school, PLEASE make sure that shoe laces are tied in a SECURE double bow which will last through the day. My poor back is complaining about the numerous times each day I am stooping over to tie a child’s shoe, take out unwieldily knots, or bandaging bruised knees from a fall.

WEB SITES: Two terrific web sites you will want to access at home are:
An art web site called Art Zone that Mrs. Rivasplata will be using in the computer lab (www.nga.gov/kids), and Tumble Books (go to the Claremont Public Library web site and click on KIDS). The children will glean hours of enriched learning and fun.

R.I.S.E.: Progress reports are coming out in November. This is a heads-up on my expectations for R.I.S.E. reading for the first trimester. An E=4 or more returned R.I.S.E. sheets, a S=3, a P=2, and an N=1 or 0. These sheets must be handed to me on or before Monday, November 2.

SCIENCE: Today, Mrs. Holt will be bringing in science activities to demonstrate magnetism. What a great learning opportunity she is providing for the kids!
You will also notice that we are starting a Chaparral Garden Cookbook. Soon you will be asked to submit your favorite family recipe for a vegetable dish.

Please be sure to join us at the garden workday on Friday from 3:30 to 7:00. Any help will be greatly appreciated!

SOCIAL STUDIES: Speaking of learning opportunities... Mr. Hamm (Captain Hamm) will be visiting us on Tuesday to talk about fire safety. Thank you!

OTHER: On Thursday morning, the children will be having their vision and hearing screening.