Reading Can Introduce You to Some Real Characters!

Dear Parents:

What a wonderful bunch of "characters" we had at Town Meeting this morning! It was such fun to see and try to guess the characters from many of our favorite books and to meet new ones that we now want to read about! The children did a great job introducing their characters in our classroom, telling us about them, and enticing us to want to read the book that their character is from. They also read their favorite parts with such wonderful voice inflection! I wish you all could have been here! Enjoy the pictures!

Also, please remember to send in a towel for your child to sit or lay upon during our Drop Everything And Read time on Wednesday!

Now, a look at this week!

Reading/Language Arts: Our phonics focus is on long vowel u. The letter u followed by a consonant and the letter e can stand for the /yoo/ sound, the sound at the beginning of use. It can also stand for the /oo/ sound in the middle of words such as tune. We'll also learn about verbs, what a person, thing, or animal does. Our word wall (or high frequency) words are clear, color, kinds, good-bye, hair, only, and toes. Our anthology story this week is a nonfiction piece on animals. We will be using a new graphic organizer (three column chart) to help us keep track of what we read. We will also be learning that information is often arranged in alphabetical order in books and on websites. Alphabetizing can help us find information. Therefore, we will also be practicing our alphabetizing skills. If you haven't already, take the opportunity to have your child alphabetize the word cards he/she brought home last week!

Writing Workshop: During our Craft of Revision unit this week, we will practice revising by "taking away" from our story. The children will also learn what their role is in a revision conference.

Math: We will finish Unit 6 this week. We will be work on extensions for the "What's My Rule?" routine which include finding missing input numbers, introduce digital time, and introduce and take a scavenger hunt in "My Reference Book". This is a book that the children will be using in both first and second grades during math time.

Science/Social Studies: This week, in our study of America, we will be learning about important landmarks and symbols such as Mount Rushmore, the Statue of Liberty, the American flag, and the Bald Eagle.

Volunteers this week:

• Tuesday - Art - Mai Nguyen (12:05)
  
• Thursday - Library Check-out - Julie Piper and Molly Camp - 2:05
• Friday - Math Game - Julie Piper (9:00)
• Friday - Parent Reader - Liz Jack (2:15)
  

Other Important Reminders/Dates/Information:

Reading Week is this week!

• Monday - Today was our Character Day!
  
• Tuesday - Visiting illustrator - Frank Remkiewicz
• Wednesday - "Drop Everything and Read" - Please send a towel in for your child to sit or lay upon during this time.
  
• Thursday - Community Author - our own second grade teacher, Danielle Cameron, will share stories that she has written.
• Friday - Oldie Goldie Book Sale - Please send in books NOW! A box is in the hallway just outside of our classroom.
  

Field Day will be Friday, 3/11. More information will be coming soon!

Spring Break will be 3/14 - 3/18.

That's all for now!
Susan and Beth

Week of February 22 -25

Dear Parents,

I hope you are enjoying the long weekend! Since next week will be another shortened week at school, I am sending this blog out early to help you be prepared for next week. Today the faculty worked hard on many aspects of our curriculum and discussed pertinent business. One of the many items discussed was the dress code and many violations that have taken place. With the cold weather that we have had, many of us let some dress code violations slide. However, beginning next week, the dress code will be strictly enforced across the lower school. The dress code is attached to the homework calendar that your child will be bringing home on Tuesday. I REALLY don't want to be the "shoe police" or the "sock police", so please read and go over it with your child. Also, keep in mind that your child has grown in many ways since school began. Not only academically and socially, but physically as well! Check to make sure that all pieces of their uniform still fit. It is uncomfortable to wear shoes that are too small and very difficult to try to tuck in a shirt if pants are too tight. Thank you so much for your cooperation!

Reading/Language Arts: Our phonics focus is on the consonants /s/ c; and /j/ g, dge. We'll also work on contractions 's, n't, and 'll. Our word wall (or high frequency) words are become, busy, eyes, high, listen, remembered, talk, and visitor. This week, we will not only continue to work on the comprehension strategy of drawing conclusions, but on making inferences as well. Sometimes an author will try to tell readers something without actually saying it. When this happens, readers make inferences or make guesses about the story, using what is happening in the story and what they already know. Our anthology story this week is a mystery which will provide great practice in both of these comprehension strategies. Our grammar focus will be on those troublesome words with multiple meanings.

Writing Workshop: The children are really enjoying our new unit of study, The Craft of Revision. Ask your child about some of the revision strategies we have been practicing for making our stories better.

Math: This week we will introduce the centimeter in metric measure, practice measuring lines and objects to the nearest centimeter, count coins including quarters, and review "What's My Rule?" routines.

Science/Social Studies: This week, in our study of America, we will continue to learn about important people in the history of our country as well as our current president. We'll also take some time to think about what we would do if we were president!

The pictures on the blog this week are from the Science Teach-in on "matter" last week. Thank you to Kristen Danielson for all of her hard work in planning such a terrific afternoon! And thank you to John Sun for coming in to volunteer his time to "teach" as well!

Volunteers this week:

• Tuesday - Art - Kristen Danielson (12:05)
  
• Thursday - Library Check-out - Ailsa Hudson and Liz Jack - 2:05
• Friday - Math Game - Valerie Pillot (9:00)
• Friday - Parent Reader - Sarah Bernstein (2:15) - after Luke's birthday celebration!
  

Other Important Reminders/Dates/Information:

President's Day is Monday, 2/21. There is no school for students or faculty!
Spirit Day is Friday, 2/25 - Children may wear Shorecrest Charger Spirit wear!

Reading Week will take place Monday, 2/28 - Friday, 3/4

• Monday - Dress as your favorite book character and share book in class - Pick your book now and be thinking about who your favorite character is!
• Tuesday - Visiting illustrator - Frank Remkiewicz
• Wednesday - "Drop Everything and Read" - Please send a towel in for your child to sit or lay upon during this time.
  
• Thursday - Community Author - our own second grade teacher, Danielle Cameron, will share stories that she has written.
• Friday - Oldie Goldie Book Sale - You may start sending in books now to donate! A box is in the hallway just outside of our classroom.
  

Field Day will be Friday, 3/11. More information will be coming soon!

Spring Break will be 3/14 - 3/18.

That's all for now! Enjoy the weekend and I will see you next week!
Susan

Happy Valentine's Day!

Wow! Room 1-4 was "party central" today! We began the day celebrating Dexter's birthday and finished the day with our Valentine's party! Thank you to all of the parents that came to help us party! This is always one of the favorite days of the year for the children! Enjoy some of the pictures that we took!

The ECC/Lower Division Cookout is tomorrow! This is a fundraiser put on for Relay for Life by both the Administrative Team and Team Green Eyes (Mrs. Owen's team)! We will be preparing lunch (hot dog, drink, and dessert) for all ECC/LD students. Parents are welcome to come and have lunch with your child to support this worthy cause! Suggested donation is $5.00 per person. Sage Dining will not be available so your child may bring a sack lunch from home in the alternative.

Believe it or not, we are also focused on learning in 1-4! Here is a look at what we are doing this week:

Reading/Language Arts: Our spelling strategy is again on the long vowel/silent e. This week's words will focus on the long /o/ sound with the silent e as in "rose". Our phonograms are -ose, -oke, -one, and -ole. Our word wall (or high frequency) words are brown, city, hello, loudly, love, and, pulled . Our comprehension strategies will be on learning to draw conclusions. Authors do not always tell readers every small detail about a story. Sometimes readers must use clues to figure things out. We will also be reminding ourselves that good readers ask themselves questions as they read to help understand the story better. Our grammar focus will be on using describing words that end with -er to compare two things and -est to compare three or more things.

Math: We will be introducing fact triangles which help children see the relationship between addition and subtraction. Fact triangles are a great tool for practicing math facts within the fact families. We will also be using the Facts Table for subtraction.

Writing Workshop: We are into our new unit of study this week, The Craft of Revision. In this unit, we will learn strategies for making our stories better. Last week, we introduced tools a writer can use to insert new text into the midst of a draft. We will practice using these tools as the study continues. This week we will also talk about other reasons that writers review, such as to show characters talking by adding dialogue.

Science/Social Studies: This week, in our study of America, we are learning about important people in the history of our country. We will be learning about the father of our country, George Washington, and president Abraham Lincoln. As the unit continues, we will also learn little facts about each of our great 50 states!

Volunteers this week:

• Tuesday - Art - Chris Chen - 12:05
• Thursday - Library Check-out - Valerie Pillot and Kristen Danielson - 2:05
  

Other Important Reminders/Dates/Information:

Hot dog lunch is tomorrow!
Science Teach-in is this Wednesday, 2/16, from 1:00 - 2:30.
Professional Development Day is this Friday 2/18. There is no school for students!
President's Day is next Monday, 2/21. There is no school for students or faculty!
Spirit Day is next Friday, 2/25 - Children may wear Shorecrest Charger Spirit wear!
Reading Week will take place Monday, 2/28 - Friday, 3/4 - More info will be coming soon!
Oldie Goldie Book Sale will be Friday, 3/4. Start collecting your books now to donate!
Field Day will be Friday, 3/11. More information will be coming soon!
Spring Break will be 3/14 - 3/18.

IMPORTANT ONLINE RE-ENROLLMENT INFORMATION:
We are excited to announce that we are moving to an online re-enrollment process! This will allow you to complete your enrollment contract online, as well as make payments online. We believe that this will save you time and effort.

You will no longer need to complete lengthy paperwork, as student information will be pre-populated on each student's individual enrollment form. Once the enrollment contract is submitted online, you will be able to print a copy of the contract for your records.

In addition, we are pleased to offer you an easy, secure online payment system to make electronic payments of tuition deposits, tuition refund plan payments, tuition, and donation payments. This convenient alternative for families will allow you to make electronic payments by e-check or credit card (Master Card, American Express or Discover only).

A convenience fee of 2.75% will be charged if you use a credit card; however, there is no fee for using e-check, which is a direct debit to your bank account.

Happy Valentine's Day!
Susan and Beth

We Love Our Grandparents and Special Friends!

Dear Parents:

We are somewhat back to a normal routine at school after a busy week of special days last week! It was wonderful meeting all of the wonderful grandparents and special friends on Friday. The children absolutely LOVE having them visit and see all that they do during their school day! Please enjoy the snapshots!

Here's a look at what we have in store for this week:

Reading/Language Arts: Our spelling strategy is again on the long vowel/silent e. This week's words will focus on the long /i/ sound with the silent e as in "line". /We will be reviewing the digraphs qu /kw/ and wh /hw/. Our word wall (or high frequency) words are because, light, right, those, and walked. Our comprehension focus will be reviewing problem/solution. Our grammar focus will be on using describing words to tell about "feelings".

Math: We will be exploring patterns in sums of two dice, introducing the Addition/Subtraction Facts Table, using name-collection boxes to help us come up with equivalent names for numbers, and introducing addition/subtraction fact families.

Writing Workshop: We have invited Mrs. Hensler's third grade class to join us for our writing celebration tomorrow! We so enjoyed working with them on our joint Charlotte's Web project in the fall that we decided that we would love to share our published pieces with them. The third graders will be writing notes to the children about what they like about their writing. We have been talking and thinking a lot about what makes our writing easy or hard to read. Ask your child what makes their writing easy or hard to read and remind them to think about that when they are writing at home. We also begin our new unit of study this week, The Craft of Revision.

Science/Social Studies: Look for your child's pocket book and other projects on the Solar System to come home in the green bag today. Celebrate with your child all that they learned and worked hard on! This week we are getting ready for Valentine's Day. This always proves to be a favorite holiday with the children! This week, we also begin our study of America. We will be learning about important symbols, landmarks, and people in the history of our great country!

Volunteers this week:

• Tuesday - Art - Ailsa Hudson - 12:05
• Friday - Math Game - Emily Golden - 9:00
• Friday - Parent Reader - Mindy Artze - 2:15

Other Important Reminders/Dates/Information:

Conference Day is Thursday! No school for students!
Valentine's Party is Monday, 2/14, at 1:45 p.m. - All parents are welcome to join us!
Science Teach-in is Wednesday, 2/16, 1:00 - 2:30
Professional Development Day, Friday 2/18 - No school for students!
President's Day - Monday, 2/21 - No school for students or faculty!
Spirit Day - Friday, 2/25 - Children may wear Shorecrest Charger Spirit wear!
Reading Week - Monday, 2/28 - Friday, 3/4 - More information will be coming soon!
Oldie Goldie Book Sale - Friday, 3/4 - Start collecting your books now to donate!
Field Day - Friday, 3/11 - More information will be coming soon!
Spring Break - 3/14 - 3/18

IMPORTANT ONLINE RE-ENROLLMENT INFORMATION:
We are excited to announce that we are moving to an online re-enrollment process! This will allow you to complete your enrollment contract online, as well as make payments online. We believe that this will save you time and effort.

You will no longer need to complete lengthy paperwork, as student information will be pre-populated on each student's individual enrollment form. Once the enrollment contract is submitted online, you will be able to print a copy of the contract for your records.

In addition, we are pleased to offer you an easy, secure online payment system to make electronic payments of tuition deposits, tuition refund plan payments, tuition, and donation payments. This convenient alternative for families will allow you to make electronic payments by e-check or credit card (Master Card, American Express or Discover only).

A convenience fee of 2.75% will be charged if you use a credit card; however, there is no fee for using e-check, which is a direct debit to your bank account. You will be receiving further information the week of February 16.

Until next time!
Susan and Beth