January 7, 2013
Happy New Year, Parents!
Wow! So much has happened since the last newsletter. I hope that you all enjoyed a nice Christmas and that 2013 has started out well for you. I would like to thank everyone involved in making our class Christmas party so nice for the boys and girls. They had a wonderful time.
Being a three-day week with daily delays, last week was very unusual. The students have VERY LITTLE graded work to bring home today. Still, we managed to get in some good review lessons and did some fun projects. Hopefully, this will be a normal week for us!
Now that the second semester is here, we will be getting into newer, more advanced material and skills. We will also be moving at a faster pace. I do believe the students are ready for this. I will continue to do my best to keep you informed about what we are working on and ways you can help your children at home if I feel help is needed. (I am in the process of creating a website for the classroom. One of my plans is to post links to learning/practice sites the kids can visit from home. Be watching for more news about this.)
Please, please, please be sure your children are faithfully doing their WEB reading homework and are bringing home good fit books. If your child is not bringing home good fit books, it is best to write a note to me on the conduct log sheet as I look at it daily. (I don’t check WEB sheets each day.) Also, encourage your child to keep chapter books until s/he finishes them unless s/he is not enjoying the book.
I have been thinking a lot about how proud each of you would be if you could see your children at work at school. If you would like to observe the class sometime, just let me know. Any days but Fridays would work. I would suggest you come at 7:55 a.m. and stay as long as you like until lunch at 12:15. I ask that you let me know a day ahead of your visit so that I can have a place for you and can fill you in on some procedures.
Here is the other news I have to share about our classroom:
In our Writing Block time, will be studying collective nouns which are names for groups of people, animals, and objects; such as gaggle of geese. We will be practicing our editing skills daily and doing some journaling.
During our Working With Words lessons, the students will practice on this week’s word wall words: down, power, ouch, found, and really. I will ask the boys and girls to spell other words with the –ow and -ou vowel chunks on the application portion of the test. I will also ask them to write the correct forms of some of our homophones (ex: new/knew). (Homophones will be on our tests for the remainder of the year as will spelling words with the affixes –ed,-ing, -s, -es, ies and-er. We practice these regularly in class.)
During the Reading Block the class will study the book The Mitten by Jan Brett. Our lessons will include work on story elements, vocabulary, fluency, sequencing, and recall.
I will meet with each student to set AR goals for the quarter this week.
The students will have math homework each weeknight. Our lessons will include learning to add three two-digit numbers, reading a thermometer to the nearest two degrees, using mental computation to subtract ten from a number, and measuring and drawing line segments to nearest half inch.
Other information I have to share…
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns about your child’s report card.
As long as the weather cooperates, next Tuesday will be Day 100. We will be doing several activities to celebrate and explore numbers. If you are willing to send items we need, let me know. I would greatly appreciate your help!
We will be going out to recess whenever possible. Please be sure your child has appropriate outerwear for going outside. Also, coats, scarves, hats, gloves, and mittens need to be labeled with your child’s name and “2-C.”
Some items we need in our classroom are: gallon-sized zip-loc baggies (without zippers), individually wrapped candies, brown paper lunch bags, colored plastic cups, and yellow #2 pencils.
I am sending home a Scholastic Book Club order form today. Orders need to be turned in by next Tuesday, January 15. If you are ordering online, use the code HYZG6.
Thanks for taking time to read ALL of this!
Have a wonderful week!
Sherri Caballero
sherri_caballero@hotmail.