Week of September 26th

Students did very well on their Topic 2 Assessments. Arrays are always a crowd-pleaser! Topic 3 is learning to Add Within 100 using various strategies. One strategy we learned was using a hundreds chart. You would start at a number and as you move down from the number, the number increases by 10. As you move to the right from the number, the number increases by 1.

Our stories this week were about Caring for Animals. In one story, Jack had to care for a horse on his farm. The care included waking up at 5 a.m. to feed the horse, cleaning the stalls and coming back in the afternoon after homework to give the horse a snack. In Lola & Tiva, Tiva really wanted a pet dog but instead she got a pet rhino! Lola was in need of a friend as her mother was blind and unable to keep her safe from predators. Tiva became that friend and meet her needs including feeding her 5 1-gallon bottles a day and teaching her to wallow in the mud.

We finished up our Friendly Letters and will start to talk about Personal Narratives next week. In FUNdations the next two weeks, we will be working on suffixes including -s, -es, -ed, -ing, -er and -est. Also for grammar, we will practice using quotation marks. Once quotation marks are taught, student use them "EVERYWHERE".

We have finished up our Social Studies Government unit for now. Next, we will start the Science unit of Force & Motion. We have already brainstormed what force and motion is. A lot of Star Wars examples:) We also tried using our play-doh to determine the best shapes to make objects move. We will have a field trip to the library to learn more next week.

A few items...
* We have a field trip to the library on Wednesday, October 5th at 9 a.m. If you are interested in going, we have a few spots for adults. Just email me and let me know. If you are driving with us, we will leave at 8:50 and be back around 10:30 or you can just meet us there at 9. Either way, let me know!

* We will miss the W.O.W. walking on Wednesday due to our field trip but will walk at some point during the day. I will also pass out the W.O.W. shirt after the field trip.

* To celebrate Homecoming, next week is Spirit Week. Here are the daily themes:
Monday: Hat Day
Tuesday: Favorite Sports Team- Any team from professional, college to your own team:)
Wednesday: W.O.W. Shirt- I will be handing this out after our field trip
Thursday: Beach Day- Wear summer wear like sunglasses, flip-flops, etc.
Friday: Avon Lake Day- Wear Shoremen or Gold/Maroon

* If you haven't, please sign-up for conferences.

Thanks,
Marissa Wilhelm

Week of September 19th

Our "egg pets" activity was very fun and a bit smelly! Our reading essential question of the week was How can a pet be an important friend? During the day, we had to ensure we cared for our pets including sharing our snacks and including them in our learning. When it was time to go, some shed tears but the pet have been given to an "animal shelter"! In Finding Cal, a boy writes in a diary all of his thoughts and feelings about getting a new dog. In Not Norman, a boy had a pet fish who he feels is not a great pet so he decides to trade him in for a better pet. But before he gets the chance he realizes that Norman is a good friend who listens to him, protects him and makes him laugh. All character traits you look for in a friend! Our friendly letters are one step closer to being ready to be mailed! Final copies next week!

In math, we will be taking Topic 2 Assessment on Tuesday, September 27th. This weekend students will bringing home the Practice Assessment which they took independently and has been graded. So this weekend, if you could look over the assessment with your child and and review the missed questions. For those students who need additional help, I attached a blank copy that I would suggest completing together using the original corrected one as an answer key. Monday will be another day of review before we test on Tuesday.

MAP testing is complete. I was very impressed with how hard students work and that they took their time. These scores will be shared at conferences. Conferences are on Thursday, October 13th. Click HERE to sign-up. If you need more information, click HERE.

Next Week...
* Marcos Pizza Night is Tuesday, September 27th. Go to www.marcos.com to place your order. Don't forget to click on Redwood Elementary under "Fundraisers". Redwood earns money back on each ONLINE order and we have the possibility to win the school challenge and a grant of $10,000!

* Picture Day is on Wednesday, September 28th. The ID Number for online purchases/orders is WP066055Y0.

Thanks,
Marissa Wilhelm 

Week of September 12th

Students worked extremely hard this week on their Math MAP assessments! This year we took them in the classroom using Chrome books. Every student worked hard and took there time to ensure they were doing their best. Next Thursday, we will complete the Reading MAP assessment and I am expecting the same work ethic!

We have completed our first math assessment of 2nd grade! Thank you all for completing the review sheet with your child. All-in-all, we did well on the assessment. We will review question 2 together as a whole group to better understand the answer. I will also pull students to review a few other key questions that they will continue to see and need to be able to understand and answer. The assessment came/will come home with students on Friday. Even with the Topic Assessment and MAP Math test, we jumped right into Topic 2. Topic 2 is Working With Equal Groups. The essential questions for the topic are How can you show even and odd numbers? How do arrays relate to repeated addition facts? The first two lessons are on even and odd numbers. While most students can identify or state an even or odd number, we are working to understand why they are even or odd. We made a street with even houses on one side (these houses all look the same and are equal to each other) and odd houses on the other (these houses are all different and some look out of place!). Next week, we will continue on with arrays and repeated addition. This is a quick, quick chapter so look for information next week about the Topic 2 assessment. We may be doing somethings a bit different but I will let you know.

Our Wonders Reading essential question of the week was How are families around the world the same and different? We read two realistic fiction stories about this topic: Maria Visits Brazil and The Red Lollipop. We had some great conversations about The Red Lollipop as in the story the girl must take her baby sister to a friend's birthday party. Some students said that they would have NONE of that! Also, the mother held the girl responsible when her SISTER took her sucker and she reacted in angry. So far I have really enjoyed the lessons hidden in the stories and how the students discuss and react.Vocabulary in the stories included language, invited, scurry, aside and plead. We demonstrated our best pleading. No wonder pleading can get you somewhere sometimes! In Maria Visits Brazil, Maria dances in a parade. Students visualized what they thought the dances would look like and then demonstrated some of their moves! We ended with a non-fiction story that provided 4 examples of items that ALL families have: homes, food, language and celebrations. While all families have these, they look different in every family.

We are continuing on our friendly letter. Slowly but surely. Friday, we celebrated Constitution Day by learning and remembering the document that laid the foundation for our country. We are also completing a Civics packet where we have learned the 5 W's of being a citizen including EVERYBODY can be a good citizen who tries to make people happy in the community, school and home either by themselves or with others. We learned to even be a good citizen if you think nobody is watching. Topic 2 Of FUNdations is Bonus Letters which is doubling the letters f, l or s if they are the last letter of a one syllable closed work like ball, mess and puff.

Important Information:

* Students should be doing these activities for homework:
   1. Read for 15 minutes weekly and initial in the front of planner
   2. Raz-Kids for 30 minutes a week (can be part of above reading)
   3. 3 assignments on Xtramath a week
* If you have not yet, please make sure to send in a check for $38 for school fees.
* Reading MAP test will be this Thursday, September 22nd. 

Thanks,

Marissa Wilhelm

Week of September 5th

While Labor Day on Monday may have been the unofficial day of summer, we had some summer weather temperatures this week! Yet we worked hard and accomplished a lot in 4 days! Friday morning we took a few moments to remember September 11th and all of those who were lost and affected by the tragedy. We have much to be grateful for!

In Wonders, we continued with our essential question of How do friends depend on each other? In one story we learned about Little Flap depending on his friends to encourage him and support him. He may have been scared but with his friends by his side, he became brave and tried something new! Our second story of the week, Help! A Story of Friendship taught us a good lesson about gossip and how what others tell us can make us think things we shouldn't! Also a poem Crayons taught us that a broken crayon can be great so you can share with a friend:) Our writing is tied throughout the reading program as we focused this week of writing traits and using text evidence from the illustrations and words. We are also working on a friendly letter which when we are complete, we hope to send in the mail!

I sent an email earlier today that we have completed Topic One in math. Students are bringing home a review that must be completed by Tuesday, September 13th. We will review Monday and Tuesday and take the test on Wednesday. Topic 2 is a fun and short topic where we will learn about using arrays for multiplication!

Social studies continued this week as we learned more about rules and responsibilities. We learned about different responsibilities of individuals at school. Next Friday, we will be celebrating Constitution Day. We wrapped up our FUNdations unit on digraphs. This is a review of a 1st grade skill. Next week, we will continue to review Bonus Letters and Glued Sounds. Did your child tell you that we had some fun and played tic-tac-toe on our desks using dry erase markers?!?

A Few items:

* We have Math MAP assessments on Thursday, September 15th so make sure students have a good night sleep and a good breakfast. This year we will be testing in our rooms using Chrome books.

* Picture Day is Wednesday, September 28th. Order forms and information is coming home with students today.

* If you are looking for a safe snack to share for a birthday, click here.

* Walk On Wednesdays will be back in the month of October! More information will be coming but here are the days and themes:

        * 10/5 – Wear new WOW shirt

* 10/12 – Crazy Hat

* 10/19 – Cleveland Sports Day

* 10/26 – Invite a friend and donate a pair of lightly used shoes

Thanks so much,

Marissa Wilhelm 

Week of August 29th

First full 5 day week complete with a 3 day weekend to recover!

We finished our Wonders Start Smart program with the Meet the Artist story which was a nonfiction story about 2nd graders who had special talents that were celebrated with a Arts Festival at school. We then compared this story with Lion and the Mouse. While the stories were very different, a common theme was that everyone can have special talents. On Friday, we started Unit One: Friends and Family- How do families and friends learn, grow, and help one another? Next week, we will continue with the story of Little Flap Learns to Fly. Our target skills will be visualize and key details.

We have officially started learning about writing a friendly. We started by seeing some letters and reading some books with letters in them. Then we learned the 5 parts of a friendly letter- heading, greeting, body, closing and signature. We practiced writing our first names in cursive for our signature. After, that is was brainstorming time with a graphic organizer. Next week, we will start first draft.

In math, we learned 4 strategies to help with learning our addition facts. They are
1. Flip Flop Facts (5+4=9, 4+5=9)
2. Doubles and Near Doubles (If 6+6=12 then 7+6= 13)
3. Make a Ten
4. Addition Facts Patterns (1+9=10, 2 +8=10, 3+7=10)

Vocabulary that we worked on included : an equation, addends- the parts of the addition of equation and sum- the answer to an addition equation. The next few lessons of the unit are subtraction strategies. As of now, next Friday students will be bringing home a review for the Topic One test. Look for more information next week.

In social studies we continued to discuss rules and responsibilities. The class rules that we have created are:
1. Listen when others are talking
2. Follow directions quickly
3. Show respect to others and our school
4. Keep hands, feet, and objects to yourself
5. Work quietly and safely
We discussed how we have different rules and responsibilities in different places too.

Things to Know:

* Next Friday, September 9th is Red, White and Blue Day as we remember September 11th.

* Here is a Color Copy of the Spirit Wear- Items and Form

It was a BUSY week so enjoy the long weekend and we will see you on Tuesday!
Marissa Wilhelm