Week of Nov. 29th

Hello and welcome back. I hope you and your children had a fantastic Thanksgiving break, as I did. We are now rested and ready to finish off 2010 with a bang. This week we begin our trip to Europe and your child will be given a country to research and present to the class. More information is coming your way tomorrow, so please be on the lookout for this. Our International Festival will be on Thursday, Dec. 16th at 1:00-2:40, which our Second Grade Reps. are planning and coordinating. Countries represented at our festival will be France, Italy, China, Mexico, Peru, Australia, Pakistan and South America. If you would like to participate or share some expertise, please contact Lisa Hahn or myself in the next few days.

Here is our week at a glance. We are currently collecting gifts for the Holiday Gift Drive for Marina, Liam and Landon. Please wrap and label each gift with the Family number and Child's name. A post it or peel away label on the gift with gift content is helpful. On Friday, Dec. 10, the students will carry the gifts to the gym to be sorted by family. Thanks for your generosity for this family in need.

Parent Reader - Hutch C.
Current Events - Tuesday: Lauren W, Jonathan; Wednesday:McIntosh, Brenna; Thursday:Samuel, Julia; Friday:Kendall, Abby

Language Arts
* Phonics - long vowel e/ey, y; inflections -ed, -es (y to i)
* Spelling - chimney, nobody, breezy, twenty, keyhole, valley, money, hungry, donkey, speedy, picture, question, favorite, minute, especially
* Reading - At Play:Long Ago and Today by Lynnette R. Brent
* Fluency - Good readers pay attention to punctuation. They pause when they come to a comma, a period, a question mark, or an exclamation mark
* Comprehension - Author's Purpose
* Vocabulary - recently, housed, official, nominate, recreation, leisurely, ramble, archaic
* Grammar - Singular Possessive Nouns
* Writer's Workshop - Writing for Readers: Teaching Skills and Strategies

Mathematics - Unit 4
* Temperature changes and reading a thermometer
* Using estimation to solve problems for which an exact answer is not necessary
* Help develop strategies for adding 2-digit numbers mentally; calculating the total cost of two items; making change for whole-dollar amounts up to $100
* Exploring length, area and attributes

Social Studies
* Europe (location and basic facts)
* Country research

Science
* Harvest our garden
* Changes: A dissolving race: warm and cold water
Comparing the temperature of two cups of water and reflecting on other factors they have investigated, students expand their understanding of the process of dissolving.

CHANGE IN SHOW CLOTHING

Dear Parents,

If you haven't already heard, there was a change in show clothing this year and the students will be required to wear denim bottoms (jean shorts, shirt or pants) for both our dress-rehearsal tomorrow (Nov. 18th) and our program on Friday (Nov. 19th). I apologize in advance for this last minute change and thank you for your accommodation. If your child doesn't have denim they can wear, please send them in their regular Shorecrest uniform bottoms.

We are looking forward to seeing you on Friday. You are in for a special treat.

Kind regards,

Ms. O'Mullane
momullane@shorecrest.org

Student Information Required

Dear Parents,

Just a reminder that we need a student information form completed for each child attending Shorecrest. Please fill out the form electronically, save the file using your child's first and last name, and send it via e-mail to forms@shorecrest.org. The form can be downloaded from the Parents Page on our Online Community, http://www.shorecrest.org/?page=ParentsPage.

If you have any problems using the online form, please contact Judy Roberge at jroberge@shorecrest.org or (727) 456-7513.

Thank you.

Week of Nov. 15

This week the focus will be on practicing for our Second Grade Show and our mornings will be spent rehearsal in the theater. As I mentioned to the students this morning, hard work will pay off when they are up their on the stage, singing, dancing and reciting their poems for you. Our afternoon's will be spent working on activities related to Thanksgiving and we will begin our new math unit, which relates to Addition and Subtraction. Please be on the lookout for the Family Letter, which will explain in more detail what the new math unit entails. Tuesday is our library day and please have your child return their books on time so they will be able to check out books to read over the Thanksgiving break.

Thanks for all who have helped prepare for this week's show, particularly our Grade Level Representatives, Chris F. and Heidi J. Thanks so much, ladies. I also want to thank all who helped paint the t-shirts with the students and sent in supplies for our stage. It is going to be a fantastic show.

We will continue with our Current Events each day. The following students' will be sharing this week: Tuesday - Lauren W. , Jonathan; Wednesday - McIntosh, Brenna; Thursday - Samuel, Julia; Friday - Kendall, Abby.

I have given the students a list of Fall Words to practice this week for spelling. If your child missed words from last week's quiz, have them practice these again for our quiz on Friday (which we will do after our show).

I will see you all on Friday and wish you a safe and happy Thanksgiving. Please continue to give your child lots of opportunities to read and write over this period.

Week of Nov. 8

What a great week ahead, with making soup on Monday (using vegetables from our garden), going to the Book Fare on Tuesday, as well as having a visit from the Picture Lady/Gentleman, performing at Poetry in the Park on Wednesday, painting our show t-shirts on Wednesday and Thursday, and practicing our poems, dances and song in between.

Here is our week at a glance. Remember that Poetry in the Park begins at 8:30am on Wednesday and we are looking forward to seeing you there. Remember that the students will need to dress in a yellow, green or red t-shirt with their uniform bottoms for our performance.

Please also send in empty large soda bottles that we will be using to make our terrariums out of.

Current Events - Tuesday- Hailey, Channing; Wednesday - Shaherzad, Aidan; Thursday - Rylan, Zaynab, Lauren E, Gage

Showcase - Jonathan

Language Arts - Theme 3
* Phonics: Digraphs /ch, tch, sh and syllable pattern VCCV
* Spelling: shape, show, then, shadow, bathtub, starfish, matchbox, sandwich, thankful, eighth, themselves, someone, without, follow, direction, written
* Reading: Jamaica Louise James by Amy Hest
* Fluency: Good readers pay attention to punctuation marks to help them make sense of what they read
* Comprehension: Author's Purpose
* Robust Vocabulary: filthy, fellow, executive, beautifying, renowned, kin, original adorn
* Grammar: Abbreviations
* Writer's Workshop: Poetry

Please continue giving your child opportunities to read and write at home.

Mathematics - Unit 3 (Review and Progress Check) and Unit 4 (Addition and Subtraction)
* Review and progress check
* Unit 4 - Change to More Number Stories

Social Studies
South America and preparing for our Second Grade Show

Science
Garden project and making a terrarium

Week of Nov. 1

What a terrific Fall Festival! It was fantastic seeing you all and of course one of the highlights for me was watching the children parade in their costumes. Gage's mom took some terrific photos and I will post these soon.

Poetry in the Park is fast approaching (Wed. Nov. 10) and so is our Second Grade Program (Nov. 19). We will be busy over the next weeks preparing for these events. Your child should continue to practice the poems at home for easy memorization.

On Friday morning, the students will get the chance to hear the author, Sharon Robinson, speak, as well as watch the production of Henry and Ramona in the afternoon.

Here is our week at a glance.

Parent Reader - Lyman Dukes
Current Events - Tuesday - Lauren W, Jonathan; Wednesday - McIntosh, Brenna; Thursday - Samuel, Julia; Friday - Kendall, Abby
Showcase - Brenna

Language Arts (Review)
* Phonics - long vowel (i/ie, igh), long vowel a/ai, ay, r-controlled vowel ar, long vowel o/oo, ow
* Spelling - yellow, snowflake, sailboat, carload, window, float, shadow, loaf, loaves, below, quite, special, believe, brought, impossible, barnyard, starlight, carpet, artist, market, spark, shark, garden, march, dart, winter, third, street, between, enough, mailbox, highway, daytime, raindrop, crayon, chased, waist, brain, gaze, spray, our, before, because, eight, October, mighty, sunlight, lie, sightsee, frightened, high, nightstand, lightning, weeknight, fight, straight, brother, learn, cheer, caught, lose
* Reading - A Trip to the Fire Station (Readers' Theatre)
* Fluency - Review intonation and expression
* Comprehension - Review making predictions, using prior knowledge, story plot and structure
* Robust Vocabulary - minor, previous, priorities, extinguish, hazard, efficient, instantly, drench
* Grammar - Review nouns, singular and plural nouns, proper nouns and more proper nouns
* Writing Workshop - Poetry

Mathematics - Unit 3
* Solving Frames-and-Arrows problems having two cubes
* Making change by counting up from the cost of an item to the amount tendered
* Solving multi-step problems for amounts under $1.00 and making change using nickels, dimes, and quarters
* Review of unit 3

Social Studies
* South America
* Animals that live in South America (research)

Science
* Plants
* Mixing solids and liquids