Week 2

Good afternoon!

Here's what's on the agenda for this week:

Literature: We are continuing Charlotte's Web. We will introduce new vocabulary on Monday and then continue reading chapters 4-6 Tuesday-Thursday. Reading homework is still to read for 20 minutes each night! I will be sending home leveled readers in another week. For now, read something fun at home!

Spalding: We will begin Spelling words this week! If not do not have your pink Spalding book at school yet, please bring it in tomorrow!! (The school is also selling them in the front office until they run out!) We will introduce 10 words each day (Monday-Wednesday), and then practice all 30 of them on Thursday. These will be tested on Friday. I also like to give bonus words that are related to what we are studying in history or science. Another component of my spelling tests is a dictation part, where I will give 1 or 2 sentences using several of the spelling words from the week. For this first week, I will only do 1 sentence, but they need to include all of the components of a sentence: capitalization, proper spacing, and punctuation!

Words for the week:
1. became            11. glass              21. would    (hint: "oh you lucky duck" for order)
2. brother             12. party              22. could
3. rain                  13. upon              23. should
4. keep                 14. two                24. any
5. start                  15. twin               25. many
6. mail                  16. twice             26. city
7. male                 17. twelve           27. only
8. female              18. twenty           28. where
9. eye                    19. between        29. week
10. I                      20. they               30. weak

WWE (Writing With Ease): narration exercises, copy work, and dictation

Grammar: We will begin a new curriculum, Shurley English, this week! We will be learning about what makes up a good sentence and learning the differences between antonyms and synonyms.

Touch Pebbles: Our first experience with Touch Pebbles was a good one! On Friday we sat in a circle and learned how a Socratic seminar works. We set up some ground rules for running the discussion (ie. not interrupting), and it went pretty well! Our next Touch Pebbles text is called "The Judge," a tale from West Africa.

Idiom of the Week: "Don't judge a book by its cover!" (continued)

Poem: Bed in Summer (continued - this week: memorize stanza 2)

Math: We are working on place value with hundreds and comparing numbers within 1000. We will be reviewing the terms "greater than" and "less than". We have a little Math Test on Tuesday! The "Test 1B" will be sent home as homework on Monday as practice and to study.

History: We will finish up our continent/ocean posters from Friday. Then we will discuss the differences between maps and globes and talk about when one might be more useful than another. We will also learn about landforms and how they are represented on maps!

Science: We are beginning a unit on seasons!

NOTE: We have CURRICULUM NIGHT this week! This will be an opportunity to learn more about our curriculum we have in place (Shurley Grammar, Bauer's Writing With Ease, Core Knowledge, Spalding, Singapore, etc.). For K-2, it will take place this Thursday, August 20th. However, it is a parents only event. Below is the schedule:

Curriculum Night Schedule

6:00-6:25	Welcome and opening remarks by Mr. Gillingham and Ms. Pantalena
	A-L	M-Z
6:30-7:10	Homeroom	Specials in MPR
7:15-7:55	Specials in MPR	Homeroom

Hope to see you all there!

Have a wonderful week!! :)