Week 8

Good evening!

As we draw to a close in quarter 1, I just want to thank you for a good start! I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know your children, and I look forward to watching them continue to grow this year. Thank you to those of you who have helped with math centers (especially Madison's mom!) and to those of you who have expressed interest in volunteering. We will be starting our Literature groups on October 20th with Boxcar Children, and I will need more volunteers!

I received the anonymous homework survey results and would like to be as accommodating as possible. Some people marked that homework is taking 75-90 minutes! Please reach out to me and let me know how I can help to bring this number down. I do realize that extracurricular activities are a big part of childhood, and second grade homework should only take 30-45 minutes.

I'm hoping that the Spalding homework is getting a little easier to understand for those of you who are new to Great Hearts (and that the informational night on Thursday helped). I will be reaching out to my new families regarding Spalding.

Literature: We are finishing up Charlotte's Web! We will be decorating a medal for Wilbur, as well as writing a eulogy for Charlotte. On Thursday is our Charlotte's Web festival! We will be setting up the football field to resemble a fair, similar to the one Wilbur goes to in the book. A big thank you in advance to those of you who have agreed to help out. We cannot wait for this event! The children are going to have so much fun!

Spalding: Since Friday begins Fall Break, there are only 20 words this week. I also want to take a WPR (written phonogram review) for a grade this week. Please practice phonograms 31-60. I will break them up and quiz 31-45 on Wednesday and 46-60 on Thursday.

For Wednesday: ou, oo, ch, ar, ay, ai, oy, oi, er, ir, ur, wor, ear, ng, ea

For Thursday: aw, au, or, ck, wh, ed, ew, ui, oa, gu, ph, ough, oe, ey, igh

New words: (Test on Thursday)
1. above      11. right
2. express   12. write
3. turn         13. wrote
4. lesson      14. date
5. half          15. road
6. father       16. rode
7. anything   17. ride
8. table         18. March
9. high          19. march
10. June        20. next

Writing: narration, copy work, and dictation exercises from The Jungle Book
Grammar: We're learning about adverbs! (If you haven't already, be sure to ask your child about the noun and verb jingles that we learned last week!)

Math: We have our chapter 4 (Unit 2) math test on Tuesday! (addition with renaming) After this, we are continuing our renaming process, but this week we are subtracting, rather than adding. We will be learning how to line the problems up vertically and borrow.

History: This week begins our Ancient India unit. We will begin with an introduction and look at its geography. Last year we learned about monotheistic religions, specifically Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. As we study Ancient India, we will get into a new culture and learn about the polytheistic religions of Hinduism and Buddhism. Please be prepared to continue these conversations at home, as we will redirect questions of faith to be answered by parents. :)

Science: We are beginning a new unit on the life cycle! This week will mainly focus on the word "cycle" and how nature works. We will discuss the age old question: What came first, the chicken or the egg?

Poetry: We have our poetry recitations this week for Something Told the Wild Geese by Rachel Field.

Miscellaneous: Please be on the look out for a Sign-up Genius coming later this week! I will be sending out an invitation for parent-teacher conference sign-ups. They will be held October 13-16 in the afternoons/evenings. I look forward to discussing quarter 1 checklists and your childrens' progress with each of you! :)