Gearing up for a WONDERFUL week!

I hope everyone is enjoying their beautiful Labor Day! The weather is PERFECT!

I have two requests
1) If you have any old magazines that you wouldn't mind donating to our class, we would appreciate it! We specifically need magazines with pictures of foods for our health planner. We will use magazines all year long, so we welcome any that you are ready to discard!

2) Also, I was wondering if anyone would be willing to help with some cutting and stuffing of class projects. I occasionally have papers that need to be cut and then put into baggies for activities our class will be doing. If this sounds like something you could help out with, please let me know. I will supply all materials and give an example of a completed project, so it is EASY for you! I appreciate any help! :)

I also have a project that I am borrowing from another teacher. It is called Mystery Reader. Please see the letter below:
Mystery Reader Parent Note

I hope you are able to help us with this fun mystery! I know the class will love seeing who the visitor is on Fridays! :)

Here is a run-down of what we will be studying this week:

Reading: We will be looking at non-fiction conventions (headings, pictures, captions, maps, labels) in our story this week. Students will be reading "Tools" from our basal.
Here are our vocabulary words:

1. tools- things that help you do work
2. world- the Earth and everything in it
3. fix- to repair something that is broken
4. clean- not dirty
5. farm- to grow food or animals to eat or sell
6. write- to make letters or works with a pen or pencil
7. easier- less hard to understand than something else
8. use- put something into the action that it was meant for


Please work with your child on making a sentence using the word. Some students are still giving definitions on the test!


We will also be working on author's purpose. It's as easy as P.I.E: Persuade, Inform, and Entertain!


Spelling- Our focus will be on initial blends of ch, sh, gr, and the silent 'e' at the end of a word (cut becomes cute).
Here are our spelling words:


1. child
2. chin
3. chip
4. shape
5. ship
6. shut
7. use
8. world
9. grade
10. write
11. clean
12. many
13. work

Be sure to check out Spelling City. You can play games and take practice tests. You can find the list by clicking here:Spelling City

Language- the four types of sentences- Declarative (telling), interrogative (asking), imperative (commands), and exclamatory (excitement). I hope your child has told you all about Debbie Declarative, Igor Interrogative, and Iman Imperative. We will be reviewing all of these types of sentences and will have our last visitor, Xavier Exclamatory visit us this week, too! Students will be assessed on Imperative and Exclamatory as one assessment and over all four types of sentences for another! Overall, students are doing very well with this skill. There will be homework about the sentence types and vocabulary words to be completed every night. Students need to turn this in on Friday.

Writing- We will continue with our "What Makes a Good Friend?" writing-
We will also be making thank you cards for our community heroes. We will be celebrating our police officers and fire fighters on Friday in remembrance of 9/11.

Math- word problems- We will learning how to solve word problems such as result unknown and change unknown.
Here are some examples of result unknown problems:

There were 14 rabbits in the garden. 5 more rabbits joined them to eat the lettuce. How many rabbits are in the garden now? 14 + 5 = ?
15 cars were parked in the parking lot when we went in to the store. 10 cars left while we were shopping. How many cars are in the parking lot now? 15 - 10 = ?

Here are some examples of change unknown problems:

There were 12 birds in the tree. Some more birds joined them and now there are 16 birds in the tree. How many birds flew into the tree? 12 + ? = 16
There were 24 Cokes in the box this morning. Scott took some Cokes in his lunch. Now there are only 19 Cokes in the box. How many Cokes did Scott take in his lunch? 24 - ? = 19

We will continue with this next week when we add start unknown to the types of word problems. Word problems are typically a very difficult skill for second graders. Please help your child each night with their homework. They CAN use calculators. That is one strategy for solving word problems. I encourage students to find other ways to solve problems before resorting to the calculator. They can use their 100 chart, draw a picture, use base 10 block pictures, use manipulatives, or use a math equation.

Don't forget to have your child practice math facts at Xtramath.org.

Planner- We will be learning about the five food groups and how they help our body grow. We will also have some real visitors come this week! Cody Daily, manager of Legends Gym, will be talking with 2nd grade on Tuesday morning. He will be talking about exercise and its importance in fitness. On Wednesday, Christie Anderson, manager of the TASD food services, will be discussing how to make healthier food choices.

Last, don't forget about Grandparent's Day on Thursday, September 8 from 8:15-10:30. I look forward to meeting many grandparents!

Alisha Stevens