Kia Ora - October 30-Nov. 2

Kia Ora, is hello in Maori (New Zealand). My grandmother was from New Zealand, and so this greeting is close to my heart.

The Halloween Parade and Fall Festival will take place this Wednesday, October 31. Fall Festival will follow after the parade and we are asking that parents sign out their child in the classroom for Fall Festival. I will post the sign-out sheet on the classroom door.

The Book Fair will take place the week of November 5 in the Student Center. We will be previewing books at the beginning of next week and if you wish your child to purchase some books, please send you child will some money in a sealed envelope, or visit the fair with your child during our recess time (1:30-2:00) or at dismissal time.

The second graders are excited! This year the four classes are combining their talents for Poetry in the Park, which will take place on Thursday, November 8th at 8:30am. Please plan on coming to this annual event. The students sound fantastic and you are in for a treat. Boys will dress in black, to represent the spider, and the girls will dress in fun, brightly colored clothing, to represent the fly.

The children are also working hard to get ready for our Second Grade Program. Each child is responsible for making the flag of the country he/she has been assigned. This will be due on Thursday, November 1, along with a wire coat hanger. We also need brown paper grocery bags, clear/white gallon milk water bottles (no yellow) for creating the scenery and stuffed jungle type animals labeled with student names (animals can be brought in the week of the show). You should have received a note about this today.

We will also need volunteers to help the students paint their t-shirts on Monday, Nov. 5 and Tuesday Nov. 6, set up the stage the week of the show, and organize a snack for us to enjoy after the show. Please email me or Gina White if you are interested in helping us out.

Rosetta Lee will be presenting at 6:30 on November 8. SPA is sponsoring this event. Ms. Lee will be talking about identity formation.

School will be closed November 9th. It is a Professional Development Day.

I was so proud of of all those students who brought in a Current Event to share last week on our Open Week of sharing. Since this week is short, we will not begin Current Events again until the week of November 5. If your child has a news article that they would like to share this week, please have them practice at home and then bring this to school to share. Your child has a new Current Events calendar in their Take Home Folder, so please take a look so your child can be prepared to present.

Each Friday morning the students look forward to a parent reading to them. Thanks to all who signed up to read to us.

I wish you a wonderful week ahead.

Ms. O'Mullane

Konnichiwa - Week 9 - Oct. 22-26

Our greeting this week is Konnichiwa, which is the translation of hello from Japan. Fall is definitely in the air and this weather is just beautiful.

Picture re-take Day will take place on Tuesday, October 23rd. Students must return their photo package to have a retake. Students who were absent on Picture Day need to have their picture taken on this day.

The Halloween Parade and Fall Festival will take place on Wednesday, October 31. Fall Festival will follow after the parade and we are asking that parents sign out their child in the classroom for Fall Festival. I will have a sign-out sheet posted in class for you to sign your child out for the day.

The Book Fair will take place the week of November 5 in the Student Center. More details will be coming about this event.

Poetry in the Park will be on Thursday, November 8th at 8:30am. Please plan on coming to this annual event. You are in for a treat. Your child has a copy of The Spider and the Fly poem in their Take Home Folder. Please help them memorize their part.

Ident-a-kid will be here on Wednesday, January 23 and the Whole School Picture taken on Tuesday, January 29th.

Rosetta Lee will be presenting at 6:30 on November 8. SPA is sponsoring this event. Ms. Lee will be talking about identity formation.

School will be closed November 9th. It is a Professional Development Day.

Please keep Dawn Weinman and her family in your prayers and thoughts. Dawn (assistant head of Lower Division and Curriculum Dean) is in a critical condition in St Anthony's Hospital.

Kristin Leary will be our Parent Reader this Friday. This week is Open Week for Current Events. If your child has an article that they would like to share, please have them bring this in to share.

Here is what else is going on in our classroom.

Literacy
* Phonics - long o sound; ow, oa
* Spelling - yellow, snowflake, sailboat, window, carload, plus five high frequency words
* Vocabulary - brave, preparations, spectator, compete
* Story of the Week - Koala Lou by Mem Fox
* Reading Workshop - Readers can retell stories across their fingers using transition words such as first, then, next, after that, and finally; Readers help themselves when they get stuck retelling by using strategies  - touch a page and retell the big thing that is happening on each page; use the illustrations to remind themselves about what is happening in the story; skim the text; Readers make predictions by using the picture in their minds
* Writing Workshop - Introduction to Poetry
* Handwriting - Uu - down, travel up and back down; Ii - down and the dot comes second; Ee - start, hit the ball, run the bases and stop
* Grammar - Statements

Mathematics - Unit 2
* Review and progress check for Unit 2
* Unit 3 - Place Value, Money and Time - Review place value in 2-digit and 3-digit numbers

Social Studies - Antarctica
* The students and I will continue communicating with Ms. Ameilia in Antarctica. Last week we emailed Ms. Ameilia our questions and this week we will read her reply. I will post her answers on next week's blog
* The students will continue to gather facts about Antarctica in the hope of creating a A to Z book for our reading buddies. We will also look at glaciers and icebergs and make our own.

Science - Changes
Last week the students created a mixture of two solids. Building on their experience with mixing solids, whose parts are easily distinguishable, students now explore mixtures of a solid and a liquid. After observing three solids - gravel, toilet tissue, and kosher salt - and mixing each one with water, students discuss the changes they observe. As students compare the three mixtures, they conclude that although gravel does not change when mixed with water, tissue changes in texture and appearance, while salt disappears altogether.

Kwasindiswa - Week 8 - October 15-19

Kwasindiswa is hello from Tanzania. I hope you enjoyed your three day weekend and this beautiful fall weather. I still can't believe that it is already October and Fall Festival is just around the corner (October 31)). This time of year is one of our busiest times in second grade with getting ready for two performances: Poetry In the Park (Thursday, November 8); and our Second Grade Program (Friday, November 16 @8:30am) which take place about one week apart. Please continue helping your child practice the poems for these performances. Copies are in his/her Take Home Folder.

Box Tops and Cash for Trash: Congratulations to Second Grade for winning the competition for the most Box Tops collected. Please continue sending in items that help earn dollars for our school. A big thank you to all who have brought items in this year. Keep it up!

Picture Re-take Day: Picture Re-Take Day will take place on Tuesday, October 23. Students must return their photo package to have a re-take. Students who were absent on Picture Day need to have their picture taken.

Dancing Mat Typing: Students began keyboarding today in the computer lab and really had a lot of fun. Your child can also practice at home. Please visit: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/

Spirit Day: Every Friday is Spirit Day. Students may wear any shirt with a Shorecrest logo, specifically Shorecrest Spirit Wear, camp intramural or uniform shirts. These should be worn with uniform, Spirit Wear or denim bottoms.

Book Fair: The Book Fair will take place the week of November 5 in the Student Center.

All School Pep Rally: There will be an All School Pep Rally on Friday, October 19 at 1:45 in the Crisp Gym.

After School Programs and Athletics/Intramurals: Session One ends this week and Session Two will begin the week of October 29.

This week Nick, Stella D, Auggie, Jackie, Ainsley, Aidan, Victoria, Will and Isabella, will be presenting their Current Event.

Our Parent Reader this week will be Kim B. Thanks for sharing your love of reading with the students.

Here is our week at a glance.

Literacy
* Phonics - r-controlled vowel: ar
* Spelling - carpet, charge, harmful, artist, pardon, plus five high frequency words (recorded on the back of the homework log sheet
* Vocabulary Words - Your child should be able to read and know the meaning of: shrugged, stained, pumped, clearing; which are from our story of the week, Owl Moon
* Reading - Owl Moon by Jane Tolen
* Reading Workshop - The students' will learn to use their Reader's Tool Kit, e.g. flagging unfamiliar words, making predictions, flagging parts of the story they liked. I will be sending your child's own Reader's Tool Kit that they can use and keep at home, once they become more familiar with how to use it
* Writing Workshop - Publishing our small moment narratives. The students will edit, type and illustrate their story
* Handwriting - Magic c to d; Golly Gee! I turned c into g; writing sentences using punctuation marks

Mathematics - Unit 2
* Frames-and-arrows routines
* What's My Rule" Routines (identifying missing numbers in number pairs that are generated by a rule, and determining the rule used to generate number pairs
* Counting strategies for subtraction
* Shortcuts for harder subtraction facts

Science  - Changes

Students will use two solids to create and investigate a mixture


Social Studies - Antarctica
* Antarctica is covered in ice and snow all year round. Discussion: Would you like to live in a place like that? Why or why not? What would you need in order to survive in such a cold climate? Location of Antarctica
* During this unit, we will get to follow a real life scientist's adventure in Antarctica - Ms. Ameilia. We will email and follow her blog and possibly Skype. This week the students will pose questions that they have about Antarctica and email Ameilia. If you would like to check out her blog it is:
http://ameliashevenell.wordpress.com/

Shalom - Week 7 - October 8-11

Shalom and welcome. What a great time I had meeting with you at our recent Parent/Teacher conference. I hope you found the time we spent together informative and helpful. As I have mentioned before, it is such a pleasure coming to school each day and working with such an enthusiastic group of learners. Please keep exposing your child to good literature and have them read each day, as well as, practice addition and subtraction facts, telling the time, totaling coins, and practice weekly spelling and vocabulary words. Your partnership in educating your child is so important and I appreciate all your support.

This week is a four day school week for the students, so the students will have their spelling and vocabulary quiz on Thursday. Each child has their own set of high frequency words to practice. You will find these on the back of this week's homework log.

The Halloween Parade/Fall Festival will take place on Wednesday, October 31st. Fall Festival forms will be coming home this week. The parade will begin at 8:30 and be followed by Fall Festival.

Session 2 After School Programs and Athletics/Intramurals will begin the week of October 29.

Picture re-take day will take place on Tuesday, October 23. Students must return their photo package to have a re-take. Students who were absent on Picture Day need to have their picture taken.

Current Events - This week, Claire, Matthew, Noah, Stella DeFrain, Nicolas and Rose get to present. Please refer to the Current Events sharing calendar in your child's Take Home Folder.

Library day is Tuesday, and it is terrific that most students are remembering to return their library books on this day.

Picture Lady/Gentleman will begin this Tuesday, October 9th and the students and I can't wait to find out what artist will be presented to us.

Here are some themes/concepts covered in class this week. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at any time. Have a wonderful week.

Literacy
* Spelling - High frequency words (see your child's Homework Log for their individualized list)
* Stories of the Week - The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry; Christopher Columbus by Barbara deRubertis
* Vocabulary - ancestor, smoldering, ruin (n) and creatures (definitions are on the back of the Homework Log) -  students should practice reading and learning the meanings of these words
* Reading Workshop - Readers figure our tricky words by using all they know; Readers figure out the meaning of unfamiliar words by rereading tricky words and phrases aloud; Readers can retell stories across their fingers using transition words such as first, then, next, after that, and finally
* Grammar - A sentences ia a group of words that tells a complete thought.
* Writing Workshop - Editing and publish a small moment narrative
* Handwriting - Capital partners (c, o, s, v, w); letter t and magic c Bunny (change c to a)

Mathematics - Unit 2
* Subtraction from addition
* Fact families (up to and including 10)
* Exploring weights, scales and equal groups
* Review the concepts that a number can be named in many ways

Social Studies - North America
* Finish and share postcards from a famous North American Landmark

Science - Changes - Lesson 4 - Mixing and Separating Solids
Students will use two solids - kosher salt and gravel - to create and investigate a mixture

Have a wonderful week and enjoy your three day weekend together -

Ms. O'Mullane

Spanish Blog from Bennett Zamoff

Don't forget to check out Senor Zamoff's Spanish blog:

http://spanishchiquitos.blogspot.com/

Week 6 - Bonjour - October 1-5

Welcome to another week in second grade. I can't believe that it is already October and fall. Today the students wrote about their favorite thing about this time of year and most students wrote about Halloween, Thanksgiving and the cooler weather. It is a magical time of the year.

Our greeting for this week is Bonjour, which is hello in French. It is a four day school week for the students, with Thursday being a no school day, due to conferences. By now you would have received an email confirming your conference time. I am looking forward to our meeting. Please arrive a couple of minutes before your scheduled time so we can start on time.

Current Events continues this week. Auggie, Jackie, Ainsley, Aidan, Victoria, Will and Isabella are scheduled to share.

Library check-out is every Tuesday, so please remind your child to bring their books back on this day. This year the students are able to check out three books.

Thanks to all parents who have signed up for Parent Reader this year. We really look forward to this time. Our parent reader this week will be B. Burke.

This Friday, we will be planting plants in the garden and each child will need to bring in a pair pf gardening gloves to school. We will be planting at 1pm, if you would like to join us.

Just a reminder that Friday, October 12th is a Professional Development Day and no school for the students. Also, Fall Festival will be on Wednesday, October 31st. The students will be dismissed from the classroom to enjoy the festival. A note about the festival will be coming home soon.

Here is a glance at the main concepts covered in class this week.

Language Arts
* Phonics: long vowel i/ie, igh
* Spelling: high, lightning, tied, fright, mighty, plus five high frequency words
* Reading: Winners Never Quit! by Mia Hamm; Climb Your Mountain by Helen Thayer
* Vocabulary: techniques, specially, struggle, traction
* Reading Workshop: Readers: Readers figure out tricky words by using a variety of print strategies (Read through the whole word - beginning, middle, end; try different pronunciations; using all they know)

* Grammar: Review structuring a sentence
* Writing Workshop: Proofreading and editing a small moment story; publishing our landmark postcard (writing to a family member or friend)

Mathematics - Unit 2
* Turn around shortcut for addition and provide practice for a shortcut for addition facts that have 9 as an addend
* Explore and practice doubles plus 1 plus 2 facts
* Addition strategies that use doubles facts
* Subtraction from addition

Social Studies
* Landmarks of North America project. Students will publish their North American Landmark Postcard.

Science - Changes - Lesson 4 - Mixing and Separating Solids
Students will use two solids - kosher salt and gravel - to create and investigate a mixture

Have a wonderful week and I will see you on Thursday -

Marion O'Mullane