G'Day - January 28-Feb. 1

How lovely it was to meet the Grandparents and Special Friends of your children last Friday. The children were so happy to show their Grandparents and Special Friend's their work, classroom and school. I saw so many smiling faces in both the Grandparents, friends and students.

We are back into a full work week and it turns out to be a busy one.

Tomorrow morning the students will be engaged in various fun activities related to Australia (seeing it was Australian Day on the 26th and the continent we are visiting at the moment in social studies) and in the afternoon will gather with the rest of the Shorecrest community for a whole school photo and quick pep rally at 1:45. Please have your child dress in their green, gold or white colored spirit wear for this special occasion.

Current Event presenters this week will be: Claire and Matthew on Tuesday; Noah and Stella DeFrain on Wednesday; Nico and Rose on Thursday and Nick and Stella Davis on Friday.

Kristin L. will be our Parent Reader on Friday.

Other Important Dates to Mark on Your Calendar:
* The Used Uniform Sale - Tuesday, January 29 from 8am-1pm
* Spring Conferences - Thursday, Feb. 7
* President's Day - Monday. February 18
* Town Meeting Sharing - Tuesday, February 19
* Class Picture Day - Wednesday, February 26 in the Crisp Gym
* Relay for Life Cookout - Thursday, February 28 (a letter will be sent home with more information)
* Reading Week - March 19-22

Here is what else is going on in class.

Literacy
* Phonics - short vowel (e/ea)
* Spelling List - ahead, bread, healthy, spread, steady, breakfast, sweat, feather, treasure, ready
(plus five high frequency words if these have not been mastered yet)
* Vocabulary - impress, fib, charmer, champion
* Story of the Week - George and Martha (The Fibber) by James Marshall
* Grammar - Review punctuation to help add meaning to reading and writing
* Writing - Reading and researching an Australian symbol or topic of interest
* Handwriting - Sentence spacing, paragraph writing and the use of the apostrophe

Mathematics - Unit 5
* Exploring polygons
* Identify the names and the characteristics of various quadrangles
* Compare and contrast the characteristics of 3-D shapes
* Review partial-sums addition

Social Studies - Australia
The students will continue researching their topic of interest about Australia to present in class. They will become experts about their topic of interest through the research process.

Science - Plant Growth and Development
Students will measure and record their plant's height in centimeters on a graph. They will continue observing and recording notes in their plant journal.

IMPORTANT MESSAGE; We will be cleaning up the garden this Friday, so please have your child bring back their gardening gloves and an old t-shirt to put over the top of their uniform. We will also be picking green tomatoes to make fried green tomatoes with Mrs. Bell. This will be fun!

Message About Tomorrow, Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Shorecrest students, staff and faculty will gather for a whole school photo and quick pep rally tomorrow at 1:45pm. Please have your child dress in their green, gold or white colored spirit wear for this special occasion. GO CHARGERS!

January 22-25

Welcome to our 3.5 day week. I hope you enjoyed your long weekend. Yesterday we celebrated the birthday of Martin Luther King Junior and the difference he made in the lives of so many people. He was a man who stood for equality and braveness. He was a role model and an inspiration to many.

Last week the students learned a little about the life and work of Doctor King and the great leader he was. The students listed various character traits associated with Doctor King and compared it to traits associated with themselves. This work lead to us looking closely at the Shorecrest Honor Pledge, and ways we can be good role models.  As stated on the Shorecrest website, "Honor" has many meanings, and at Shorecrest, we emphasize those that place value on honesty, integrity, individual responsibility and on the development of relationships rooted in respect. The students also thought about their dream for a better world, which they brought home last Friday to share with you.

Some Important Dates to Mark on Your Calendar:
Ident-a-kid: Wednesday, January 23 in the Student Center
Grandparents and Special Friend's Day: Friday, January 25. There will be a noon dismissal on that day. Below is the approximate schedule for that morning:
8:30-9:00 - Continent Breakfast - Student Center
9:00-9:45 - Program in the Janet Root Theatre (Grandparent and Special Friends only. Ending time is approximate)
10:00-11:00 - Grandparents and/or Special Friends visit the classrooms and tour the campus
12:00 - Noon dismissal
Woodland Tales: Woodland Tales will be performing in the JRT on Wednesday, February 6 at 1:00 for grades 1-4
Spring Conference Day: Thursday, February 7
Professional Development Day: Friday, February 15. No school for the students on that day
Class Picture Day: Wednesday morning, February 26 in the Crisp Gym
Reading Week and Oldie Goldie Book Sale: Reading Week will take place the week of March 18-22 in honor or Mrs. Weinman. The Oldie Goldie Book Sale will be on Friday, March 22. Dedication of the playground in Mrs. Weinman's honor will be on Monday, March 23 at our Town Meeting
School Closed: President's Day, Monday, February 18
Our class shares at Town Meeting: Tuesday, February 19

No Current Events sharing this week, but we will start up again next Tuesday. Please check the January Calendar for more information.

IMPORTANT MESSAGE ABOUT THIS FRIDAY:
This Friday the students will be performing for the Grandparents and Special Friends and will be required to wear the following attire for the performance:

Girls: Green dress with Shorecrest logo. If your daughter does not have the green dress, she can wear the green polo (with Shorecrest logo) and khaki pants or skort

Boys: Green polo with Shorecrest logo and khaki pants/trousers

LITERACY - Review
* Please check the back of your child's homework log for spelling review words, which I will quiz on Friday
* I will continue assessing your child's reading level to share with you at our upcoming conference
* We will read books and write poems about Grandparents and Special Friends to coincide with Friday's celebration

MATHEMATICS - Unit 5
* Points and Line Segments
* Parallel and parallel line segments
* Exploring polygons, arrays and attributes

SOCIAL STUDIES - AUSTRALIA
Research chosen topic of interest related to Australia

SCIENCE - Plant Growth and Development
Students will continue watering and observing the growth of the brassica plant, which they planted last Friday

January 14-18

Welcome to another week in second grade. I am sure it will be another jam packed and fun one. Since returning from the break, the students are more motivated then ever to reach for their goals and be the best workers they can be. It is such a pleasure coming to school each day and working with them.

Spring Conferences are around the corner (Thursday, Feb. 7th) and you should have received an email by now confirming the time we will meet. I am looking forward to sharing the progress your child has made since our last formal conference in October and setting some goals for the remainder of the school year.

Current Events sharing will continue this week. Students sharing this week include on: Tuesday: Auggie, Jackie; Wednesday: Ainsley, Aidan; Thursday: Victoria, Will; Friday: Isabella.

Thanks for the support I know you have been giving your child to help them get ready to share.

This week your child will sit for their fourth math assessment and today you will receive a Math Home Link explaining the method for addition that focuses on place value. Please practice this method (the partial sums method) with your child at home, as I am doing here at school.

Other Important Dates to Remember:
Parent Reader - Friday, January 18: H. Coleman
Ident a Kid - Wednesday, January 23
Martin Luther King Jr Holiday (no school) - January 21
Grandparents and Special Friends Day (noon dismissal) - Friday, January 25
Oldie Goldie Book Sale: Friday, March 22
Town Meeting Presentation: Our class will share at Town Metting on Tuesday, February 19

Literacy
* Phonics: Diagraphs /f/ - gh, ph
* Spelling List 17: phone, tough, graph, enough, laugh, photo, cough, phoncs, trophy, rough
plus up to five high frequency words
* Vocabulary: cozy, mystery, stoke, enchanting
* Story of the Week: Mr. Putter and Tabby Write the Book by Cynthia Rylant
* Reading Workshop: Friendship Unit; Readers play close attention to how the friends in our books sound when they are talking to one another and we do this by listening in on the conversations that friends are having during good times and bad times. When friends are going through a bad time, readers notice how characters react. We picture in our minds how each friend behaves. The actions of each of our friends gives us insight into and lets up know more about the type of relationship that these friends have.
* Grammar: Review question and exclamation sentences; capitals in sentences; quotation marks
* Writing Workshop - Small Moment Narrative: Stretching ideas out over the pages
* Handwriting - f, q, paragraph practice, x, z

Mathematics - Unit 4 Review
We will be reviewing the concepts in Unit 4 and the students will sit for their math assessment on Wednesday.

Social Studies - Australia
We will watch a music video of I Still Call Australia Home to spark interest in the small continent on earth. The students will then brainstorm topics of interest that they will individually research and present  to the group in the next couple of weeks.

Science - Plant Growth and Development
Students will have the opportunity to reflect on how much they already know about plants and what they would like to learn. They are also asked to look closely at the outside of a bean seed, an exercise that introduces skills that will be developed throughout the unit: observing, recording and predicting.

Welcome Back! January 7-11, 2013

Happy New Year and welcome back. I hope you all had a wonderful break. As I write this blog, I think about how thankful I am to be working at Shorecrest and trying to make a difference in the lives of your children. I look forward to watching your children grow and develop over the next five months and try to make a difference in their lives.

I also want to thank you all again for your generous gifts and warm wishes leading up to the holiday period. It is such a pleasure working with your children and delight in seeing their enthusiasm for learning.

Here is our week at a glance. Please take note that Current Events sharing will begin this week. Students sharing this week include" Tuesday: Claire, Matthew; Wednesday: Noah, Stella DeFrain; Thursday: Nicolas, Rose; Friday: Nick and Stella Davis

Other Important Dates to Remember:

Parent Reader - Friday, January 11: White; January 18:, H. Coleman
Ident a Kid - Wednesday, January 23
Martin Luther King Jr Holiday (no school) - January 21
Grandparents and Special Friends Day (noon dismissal) - Friday, January 25
Oldie Goldie Book Sale: Friday, March 22

Here is our week at a glance.

Literacy
Phonics: change y to i and add es
Spelling Words: duty, duties, candy, candies, bunny, bunnies, fairy, fairies, pony, ponies, plus five high frequency words your child still needs to learn
Story of the Week: Horace and Morris But Mostly Dolores by James Howe
Vocabulary: decision, downhearted, friendship, discussion, exploring
Reading Workshop: We will begin our Friendship Unit: Examining Good Times and Bad Times. This is a thematic unit on friendship that encourages students to follow the friends in their series books through journeys consisting of good times and bad times. This is a way for the students to dig deeper into reading skills that promote the exploration of character relationshops.
Writing: Small Moment and conferring; New Year's reflection
Handwriting: Upper case and lower case letter: n, m, h, b

Mathematics - Unit 4
* Review ballpark estimates (rounding off numbers to the nearest ten)
* To introduce and practice the partial-sums addition algorithm
* Reviewing telling time
* Review Unit 4

Social Studies
An introduction to Australia/Oceania (the smallest continent in the world)

Science - Changes - Bubbles and FIzz: Observing a Chemical Reaction
Throughout the unit, students have observed some of the changes that occur when solids and liquids are  mixed and separated. They have also tested some methods for separating their mixtures into the original components. Now they have the opportunity to investigate some of the changes that can occur when solids and liquids react chemically with one another. In this lesson, students first observe what happens when they mix water with baking soda. Then they observe the visible chemical reaction that occurs when they mix vinegar and baking soda. By comparing these observations, students are introduced to the idea that some solids and liquids react with one another to form a new substance - in this case, a gas.