Mrs. LeVine

Dear Parents, 

     Last week in math we started Unit 12 “Year End Reviews and Extensions.”   We reviewed time equivalences, calendar facts, and read clocks in different ways.  We also discussed how to read a timeline and added events to a timeline.  On Friday, we worked together to solve the Open Response problem from the Unit 11 test.   This week we will continue to review multiplication and division facts, focusing on fact families.  We will read, create, and interpret graphs that compare the speed of animals and people.  We will also organize data to find the median (middle number) and mode (the most common number).  The students will take their last timed test of second grade on Friday!

     Last week we had our Many Moments Author’s Celebration.  This week we will be starting a Poetry Unit.  Although there isn’t much time left in the year, I wanted to give the students a chance to work on this great unit!  This week we will practice looking at everyday objects in new ways; using our poet’s eyes. We will talk about the importance of line breaks when writing poetry and that the students should write about topics that are meaningful.  Finally, we will discuss that (just like when writing stories) we can show strong feelings in poetry by using “show, not tell.”

     In science, we will finish our Insects unit.  Last week the students continued to observe their mealworms and noticed many changes in their behaviors and appearance.  The students took a quiz on the different needs of a mealworms (the larva stage) compared to a pupa. This week we will discuss the adult stage of a mealworm.

Notes and Reminders:

• Please check around the house for any library books that belong to Ray School or Room 207. 
• End of the Year Calendar:

June 10: Latin Gala (in the evening)
June 15: Music Fest Assembly
June 16: Ray School Picnic (a note will be sent home next week with details about the picnic)
June 17: No School
June 18: Last day of school; 9-10 AM

 Questions to ask at home:

• What does it mean to use your “poet’s eyes?” Give an example.
• Practice multiplication and division fact families using the Fact Triangles that have been sent home as Home Links. (5 x 2 = 10, 2 x 5 = 10, 10 ÷ 2 = 5, 10 ÷ 5 = 2)
• Practice finding the median and mode of a set of data.    2, 5, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10…the median (middle) = 6 and the mode = 5.
• What is happening in the book Because of Winn-Dixie?

Homework:

Dear Parents, 

     Last week in math we took our time finishing Unit 11.  The students continued working on multiplication and division fact families and they started multiplication books.  They took Unit 11 test on Friday.  This week we will start the last math unit of 2^nd grade: Unit 12 “Year End Reviews and Extensions”.   This week we will review time equivalences and calendar facts, and review reading clocks in different ways (for example: 8:30 also can be read as half-past 8).  We will also discuss how to read a timeline and add our own events to a timeline.  On Friday, we will work together to solve the Open Response problem from the Unit 11 test.

     This week we will finally have our Many Moments Author’s Celebration!  The students will look over the Many Moments grading sheet (rubric) on Tuesday and Wednesday and finish up their stories.  The celebration will be Thursday afternoon. 

     In science, we will continue our Insects unit.  Last Thursday we set our butterflies free.  On Friday, we completed a chart that followed these insects through their larva stage (caterpillars), pupa stage (chrysalis) and their adult stage (butterflies). The students will continue to observe their mealworms and keep records of the changes in their behaviors and appearance.  Last week we noticed that many of our mealworms (the larva stage) changed into their pupa stage.  One student already has an adult!

 Notes and Reminders:

• Thank you very much to Tayen’s mom, Julian’s mom and Lila’s mom for joining us on our trip last week to the Forest Preserve!
• Now that it is getting warm, I recommend that you send a water bottle to school with your student.
• Mrs. Schmidt, the Latin teacher, sent home a purple note last week regarding the Latin Gala.  If your child would like to participate please complete the form and turn them in no later than this Thursday, June 3^rd.
• The BOOK TRADE is this Friday, June 4^th.  Students can bring the books that they would like to sell to the library this week between 8:30 and 9:00.  They will receive Book Bucks, which they can use to buy new books at the Book Trade.

 Questions to ask at home:

• Practice multiplication and division fact families using the Triangles that have been sent home as Home Links. (5 x 2 = 10, 2 x 5 = 10, 10 ÷ 2 = 5, 10 ÷ 5 = 2)
• Ask questions like- what is another name for 2:30? (half past 2) …5:15? (quarter after 5) …6:45?  (quarter to 7)
• What Many Moments story are you going to share for the Author’s Celebration?
• What is happening in the book Because of Winn-Dixie?

 Homework:

Dear Parents, 

     Last week in math we solved division number stories and learned number models for these stories.  We started practicing multiplication facts, starting with multiplying by 2, 5, and 10.  The students flew through these facts and were able to practice solving all of the multiplication facts up to 10!  We also discussed the relationship between multiplication and division through fact families. This week we will take our time finishing Unit 11.  We will play a Multiplication Version of Beat the Calculator.  The students will continue working on multiplication and division fact families and they will start multiplication books.  They will take the Unit 11 test on Friday.  A review sheet will be stent home on Wednesday.  It is not due (and won’t be checked) until Friday.

     In Writing Workshop, the students will continue writing their Many Moments stories.  Most students have one Many Moments story finished and are working on their second story.  When all of the students have finished writing their stories, we will have our next Author’s Celebration!

     In science, we will continue our Insects unit.  Over the coming weeks, the students will observe their mealworms and caterpillars and keep records of the changes in their behaviors and appearance.  Last week we noticed that many of our caterpillars (the larva stage) changed to chrysalis (the pupa stage.)  We look forward to watching them change into adults!

Passport Check:

• There is no passport check this week. 
• Please let me know if you would like to present to the students.

Notes and Reminders:

• We have another field trip this Thursday, May 27^th.  The students must bring a lunch to eat on the trip.  If you have not done so already, please sign and return the permission slip for this trip no later than Tuesday.  Remember, the number of chaperones for this trip is unlimited!  However, please tell me before the trip if you would like to join us!
• Please sign and return only the bottom portion of your child’s midterm if you have not done so yet.
• Now that it is getting warm, I recommend that you send a water bottle to school with your student.

Questions to ask at home:

• How do you play Beat the Calculator?
• Practice equal group problems like: There are 5 boxes. Each box has 6 crayons.  How many crayons are there altogether?
• Practice equal sharing problems with “remainders” like: 4 students share 17 books equally.  How many books does each student get? How many are left over?
• What Many Moments story are you going to share for the Author’s Celebration?
• What observations did you make about your mealworm or caterpillar this week?

Homework:

Dear Parents, 

     Last week in math we started Unit 11 “Whole Number Operations Revisited.”  We reviewed finding estimates for money and added coin and bill combinations in number stories. We also reviewed making change by counting up or subtracting.  We solved comparison number stories with money, and practiced subtraction that requires “trading.”  Finally, we practiced finding the total number of items in equal groups by multiplying!  This week we will solve division number stories and learn number models for division stories.  We will start practicing multiplication facts, focusing on facts with 2, 5, and 10.  We will also discuss the relationship between multiplication and division through fact families.

     In Writing Workshop, the students continued to use a “Many Moments” organizer to write a 2, 3, or 4 page story.  We also looked at a book by Donald Crews, who uses sound effect words in his stories to make them interesting and exciting.  This week the students will finish writing their Many Moments stories.  When all of the students have finished writing their stories, we will have our next Author’s Celebration!

     This week in phonics we will start forming plurals for words that end in -y.  We will discuss that the final ‘y’ changes to an ‘i’, and then we add -es.  For example: one lady; three ladies.  If we have enough time after our field trip on Thursday, the students will play a game using the homophones that we discussed last week.

     In science, we will continue our Insects unit.  Over the coming weeks, the students will observe their mealworms and caterpillars and keep records of the changes in its behaviors and appearance.

Passport Check:

• There is no passport check this week.
• Please let me know if you would like to present to the students.

Notes and Reminders:

• We have a field trip this Thursday, May 20^th.  The students must bring a lunch to eat at school when we return from the trip.  If you have not done so already, please sign and return the permission slip for this trip no later than Tuesday.  Thank you!
• We also have a trip next Thursday, May 27^th.   The number of chaperones for this trip is unlimited!  However, please tell me before the trip if you would like to join us!
• Midterm reports will be sent home this week.  Please sign and return only the bottom portion.

Questions to ask at home:

• Practice equal group problems like: There are 5 boxes. Each box has 6 crayons.  How many crayons are there altogether?
• Practice equal sharing problems with “remainders” like: 4 students share 17 books equally.  How many books does each student get? How many are left over?
• Practice multiplication and division facts using fact families.  (What are the four facts for 3, 4, and 12?) 3 x 4=12,  4 x 3=12, 12 ÷ 4=3, 12 ÷ 3=4
• What observations did you make about your mealworm or caterpillar this week?

Homework:

Dear Parents, 

     Last week we finished Unit 10.   The students made place-value tools (a flip chart) to practice place-value concepts to the ten-thousands.  We also learned how to use parentheses in number operations.  For example, in the problem (10 + 3) – 6 = 7 the students must add the numbers in the parentheses first before subtracting. This week we will start Unit 11 “Whole Number Operations Revisited.”  We will review finding estimates for money and calculating values of coin and bill combinations in number stories. We will also review making change by counting up or subtracting.  We will solve comparison number stories with money, and practice subtraction that requires “trading.”  Finally, we will practice finding the total number of items in equal groups by multiplying! 

     In Writing Workshop, we continued our Authors as Mentors unit.  The students started planning stories using a “Many Moments” organizer.  We discussed that we use these organizers to plan 2 or 3 page stories with a common idea (a thread) running through to hold all of the moments together. (I sent home copies of the Many Moments and the Tiny Ideas organizers last week.)  This week the students will continue using the “Many Moments” organizer.  We will look at books by new authors such as Donald Crews who uses sound effect words in his stories to make them interesting and exciting.

     In science, we started our final science unit: Insects!  Last week the students observed a cricket.  This week we will observe mealworms and caterpillars.

Passport Check:

• Thank you to Mr. Rydel, who taught us about Poland last week.
• A new map is coming home with this week’s target countries: Poland and Spain.

Notes and Reminders:

• Ray School’s union members are organizing a march to Representative Currie and Senator Raoul’s offices tomorrow May 11^th at 4:00. We will meet in front of Ray School.  Please join us!
• We have two upcoming field trips: May 20^th and May 27^th. Please sign and return both permissions slips as soon as possible. 
• We are in need of a few supplies for the last few weeks of school: a few rolls of paper towels, hand wipes, and some recess snacks.  Thank you!

Questions to ask at home:

• Practice making estimates for prices that you see in a store, magazine, newspaper, etc.
• Practice equal group problems like: There are 5 boxes. Each box has 6 crayons.  How many crayons are there altogether?
• What is one observation you made about your mealworm this week?
• What are some examples of homophones?  (hi and high, no and know, I and eye…) 

Homework: 

Dear Parents, 

     Last week in math we practiced making estimates in our heads when “buying” two items. We found the exact cost of these items, using a calculator. We learned how to make exact change by counting up from the cost to the amount paid.  We also reviewed place value and connected place value in base 10 blocks with place value in money.  This week we will finish Unit 10!  The Unit Review will be sent home for homework on Tuesday; it is due on Thursday, the day of the test.  On Monday, we will make a place-value tool (a flip chart) to help us understand the place value of 5-digit numbers.  We will use this tool to practice place-value concepts to the ten-thousands.  On Wednesday, we will begin the use of parentheses in number operations.  For example, in the problem (10 + 3) – 6 = ? the students must add the numbers in the parentheses first before subtracting: (10 + 3) – 6 = 7.  On Thursday, the students will take the Unit 10 test. 

     In Writing Workshop, we continued our Authors as Mentors unit.  The students continued planning stories in their “tiny notebooks.”  We discovered two new writing devices: ellipses (dot, dot, dot) and comeback lines. The students were encouraged to use these writing techniques in some of their stories.  This week we will discuss how to write “Many Moments” stories.  We will discuss that although these are 2 or 3 page stories, they still have a common idea (a thread) running through to hold all of the moments together.  I will send home the two organizers that we have been using in school later this week.

     In phonics the students learned that before adding the endings -ed and -er to some words the final consonant gets doubled.  For example:  grab becomes grabbed and run becomes runner.  This week we will be discussing homophones: words that sound the same but are spelled differently.  For example: hi and high, new and knew, so and sew.

     In science, we finished our Balance and Weighing unit.  This week we will start our final science unit: Insects!

Passport Check:

• Thank you to Mrs. Macklin, who taught us about Arkansas last week.
• There will be no Passport Check this week.  A sign up sheet will be sent home for May.

Notes and Reminders:

• We are excited for our Guest Readers this week: Mr. Myers.
• Two permission slips were sent home last week.  Please sign and return them as soon as possible. 
• The students have a Response Log to finish this week.  It is due no later than Monday, May 10^th.
• We are in need of a few supplies for the last few weeks of school: a few rolls of paper towels, hand wipes, and some recess snacks.  Thank you!

Questions to ask at home:

• Ask questions like-What is the place-value of ‘5’ in the number 539?
• How would I solve this problem: (12-3) + 7= ?
• Which number is in the ten-thousand place in 10,456?  in 34,298?
• What are some examples of homophones?  (hi and high, no and know, I and eye…) 

Homework:

Dear Parents, 

     Last week in math we reviewed dollars-and-cents notation.  The students learned how to enter money amounts into a calculator, interpret calculator displays and use calculators to solve problems with money.  We also learned a very fun and very difficult game called “Pick-A-Coin.”  This week we will practice making estimates in our heads when “buying” two items. We will then find the exact cost of these items, using a calculator. We will learn how to make exact change by counting up from the cost to the amount paid.  We will also review place value using number models and connect place value in base 10 blocks with place value in money.

     This week in Writing Workshop, we will continue our Authors as Mentors unit.  The students will continue planning stories in their “tiny notebooks.”  They will use these notebooks to record ‘tiny’ ideas for future stories.  This week we will look at books written by Angela Johnson and discover two new writing devices: ellipses (dot, dot, dot) and comeback lines. The students will be encouraged to use these writing techniques in some of their stories.

     This week in phonics the students will learn that before adding -ed to form the past tense of some words, the final consonant gets doubled.  For example:  grab becomes grabbed and stop becomes stopped.  On Thursday, we will learn how to turn verbs into nouns by adding -er.  For some words (words with a short vowel sound) we must double the last letter before adding the -er. For example: run becomes runner and swim becomes swimmer.  In some cases, students just needed to add -er to words like teacher.

     In science, the students will finish making their bar graphs to show the weight of our 6 objects; a ball, cup, cylinder, spoon, wooden block and metal cube.

Passport Check:

• A United States map is being sent home today with week’s targets: Illinois, Arkansas, California and Washington.
• We are looking forward to a presentation this week focusing on Arkansas from Mrs. Macklin.

Notes and Reminders:

• Ray School is hosting a blood drive TODAY, Monday April 26^th, until 6 PM in Room 411.
• We are excited for our Guest Readers this week: Mrs. Pickens.  She read us the entire Pippi Longstocking chapter book!
• Thank you to everyone who came to Report Card Pick Up last week.  It was a pleasure talking to all of you about your wonderful children.

Questions to ask at home:

• Ask questions like-What is the estimate amount for $2.39? $0.69?  $1.49?
• If I pay with a $5, how much change would I get back for an item that costs $4.17?
• Why do writers use … (dot, dot, dot)?
• Have you been able to use come back lines in any of your stories?

Homework:

Dear Parents, 

     Last week in math we started Unit 10, “Decimals and Place Value.”  This week we will review estimation and dollars-and-cents notation.  We will discuss different names for a dollar, dime and a penny.  The students will also learn how to enter money amounts into a calculator and interpret calculator displays.  On Thursday, we will use calculators to solve problems with money.  This week we will also learn a fun game based called “Pick-A-Coin” that is full of strategy and decisions!

     Last week we started our fifth writing unit: Authors as Mentors.  The students received “tiny notebooks.”  They will use these notebooks to record ‘tiny’ ideas for future stories.  This week we will continue to discuss the focus of our stories.  We will look at books written by Angela Johnson and discover two new writing devices: ellipses (dot, dot, dot) and comeback lines. The students will be encouraged to use these writing techniques in some of their stories.

     In science, the students used their Equal Arm Balances to find the weight of our 6 objects: a ball, cup, cylinder, spoon, wooden block and metal cube.  This week the students will make bar graphs to show the weight of these objects.

Passport Check:

• There will be no passport check this week.
• Thank you to Tayen’s dad who taught us a lot about Western Samoa last week!

Notes and Reminders:

• This week is the Ray School Book Fair!  We will be browsing the Book Fair on Tuesday.  Books will be available for purchase on Wednesday (during Report Card Pick Up) and on Thursday.
• Don’t forget to sign up for Report Card Pick Up, which is this Wednesday, April 21^st.  Sign up sheets are inside the front doors.
• Thank you to the parents who were able to come to our Author’s Celebration last Tuesday.  The students were excited to share their hard work with our friends and families.
• Thank you to Elvis and Van’s mom and dad and Tayen’s dad who joined us on our field trip this morning.  We saw a wonderful string quartet play Classical, Romantic and 20^th century music.

Questions to ask at home:

• Ask questions like-What is the estimate amount for $2.39? $0.69?  $1.49?
• How do you play Pick A Coin?
• How do you enter money amounts into a calculator?  Why does it look different?
• Have you written any writing ideas in your tiny notebook?
• Have you been able to use ellipses or come back lines in any of your stories?

Homework:

Dear Parents, 

     Before break we discussed accuracy when measuring and using the fractions 1/16, 1/8, ¼ and ½ when measuring with inches and 1/10 and ½ when measuring with centimeters.  We started to explore the idea of perimeter, the distance around a shape. We discussed measuring longer distances with miles and kilometers and we solved problems involving road maps.  This week we will start to discuss area, the amount of square units inside a shape.  We will also learn about capacity: gallons, quarts, pints, and cups. 

     Last week during writing workshop the students worked to see how much writing they could get done in one day.  A copy of what they were able to write on 3-23 will be sent home this week, with a self reflection that the students completed on 3-24.  At the end of the week, the students chose their favorite piece of writing to share for our next writing celebration.  The piece that they chose should have as many of the revision skills that we have learned as possible, at least 4.  The plan is that our Authors Celebration will be this Thursday.  However, we may move it to next week if the students need more time to revise and publish their work.

     In science the students used Equal Arm Balances to compare the weight of different objects.  This week the students will use their balances to put 6 objects in order from lightest to heaviest.

Passport Check:

• A new map is coming home with this week’s target: Korea.  The map also has the rest of the countries that the students have studied as a review. 
• Thank you to Jaylynn’s brother who taught us about Korea before spring break!
• A sign up sheet for April presentations was sent home before break.  Thank you again to everyone who has already presented.

Notes and Reminders:

• Ray School Festival is this Thursday, April 8^th.
• There is no school this Friday, April 9^th.
•   It’s hard to believe, but this week marks the end of the 3^rd quarter!  Report Card Pick Up will be in a few weeks, on April 21^st. 
• Are there any parents willing to sharpen some pencils at home?  We have hundreds of pencils, but none of them are sharpened.  Thanks. J

Questions to ask at home:

• Practice measuring things around the house using inches and centimeters.
• What is the difference between area and perimeter?
• How many cups in a pint?  cups in a gallon?  cups in a quart? pints in a quart?
• What types of revising did you do to improve your story for the Authors Celebration? (a strong lead, dialogue, show not tell, a close in ending, writing flaps, taking away…)
• What are the two sounds that “c” makes at the beginning of a word? (carrot, cents) What are the two sounds that “g” makes?  (germ, gorilla)

Homework:

Dear Parents, 

     Last week in math we reviewed the concepts from Unit 8 and the students took the Unit 8 Test.  On Wednesday, we started Unit 9 “Measurement.”  We discussed using “nonstandard” and “standard” units of measure.  We measured objects using yards, meters, inches, feet, centimeters and decimeters.  This week we will start an “equivalent measures” chart in our room, with the metric (meters, decimeters, and centimeters) and US systems (yards, feet, and inches.)  We will also discuss accuracy when measuring.  We will discuss using the fractions 1/16, 1/8, ¼ and ½ when measuring with inches and 1/10 when measuring with centimeters.  We will begin to explore the idea of perimeter, the distance around a shape. We will discuss measuring longer distances with miles and kilometers and we will solve problems involving road maps. 

     Last week during writing workshop we discussed how to use partners when revising.  We also discussed that the students can revise their stories by changing its genre; turning a story into a poem, turning a letter into a song.  Finally, we discussed how to use authors and the books in our classroom library to help us when revising.  This week the students will see how much writing they can get done in one day.  We will also start preparing for our Revision Writing Celebration, which will be right after spring break.

     In science, the students will use their Equal Arm Balances to compare the weight of different objects.  We will compare the objects using > (heavier than), < (lighter than), and = (equal to.)

Passport Check:

• We are looking forward to a Passport Presentations from Mrs. Wolcott, focusing on the state of Washington.
• There will be no map check this week.
• A sign up sheet for April will be coming home at the end of the week.  Thank you to everyone who has presented so far.  The students have learned so much!

Notes and Reminders:

• I’m sure I don’t have to remind you, but next week is spring break!!! J
• Ray School Festival will be on Thursday, April 8^th.
• There will be no school on Friday, April 9^th.

Questions to ask at home:

• Practice measuring things around the house using inches and centimeters.
• Ask questions like- how many inches in a foot?  Centimeters in a meter?
• When would we use miles or kilometers to measure a distance instead of inches and centimeters?
• Make comparisons about the weight of objects you find in your house.  Which is lighter?  Which is heavier?

Homework:

Dear Parents, 

     Last week in math we explored fractions.  We used fractions to name parts of collections and discussed equivalent fractions. We learned how to use fraction cards to play two games: Equivalent Fractions and Fraction Top It.  The students also created and solved number stories involving fractions.  This week we will review the concepts from Unit 8 on Monday and the students will take the Unit 8 Test on Tuesday.  On Wednesday, we will start Unit 9 “Measurement.”  We will discuss using “nonstandard” units of measure, and measure objects using yards and meters.  On Thursday we will review measuring with inches, feet, centimeters and decimeters.  On Friday, the students will take their weekly timed tests and we will work together to solve the Unit 8 Open Response question.

     Last week during writing workshop we made sure to check the endings of our small moments and shared examples of strong endings.  We also discussed revising while we are writing; we don’t have to just revise old stories, we can also revise as we are writing new stories. This week we will discuss how to use partners when revising.  We will discuss that the students can revise their stories by changing its genre; turning a story into a poem, turning a letter into a song.  Finally, we will discuss how to use authors and the books in our classroom library to help us when revising.

Passport Check:

• A new map is coming home with this week’s targets: Japan and the Philippines.
• We are looking forward to two Passport Presentations this week!  Daisy’s mom will be presenting on Japan and Joden’s mom will be presenting on the Philippines!
• Thank you to Mr. Karlstrom, Livia’s dad, who taught us about Sweden last week

Notes and Reminders:

• On Wednesday, we will be meeting Jana Laiz, who wrote “A Free Woman on God’s Earth, The True Story of Elizabeth “Mumbet” Freeman, The Slave Who Won Her Freedom.”  It is a wonderful book and we can’t wait to meet her!
• The students’ 3^rd quarter midterm reports were sent home last week.  Please sign the bottom portion and return it to school if you have not done so yet.
• We have a field trip next Monday, March 22^nd.  Permission slips must be returned this week.

Questions to ask at home:

• Make up fraction number stories like: There are 7 students.  3 of the students went to lunch. What fractions of the students are at lunch? (3 / 7)  What fraction of the students are not at lunch? (4 / 7 )
• What are examples of nonstandard units of measure?  (books, students, fingers, pencils…)
• What do you want to ask Jana Laiz when we meet her on Wednesday?

Homework:

Dear Parents, 

     Last week in math we started Unit 8 “Fractions.”  We reviewed the basic concepts of fractions and used fractions to name parts of collections.  This week we will continue to explore fractions.  We will use fractions to name parts of collections and discuss equivalent fractions, for example ½ = 3/6. We will learn how to use fraction cards to further explore equivalent fractions and to compare fractions.  On Thursday, the students will create and solve number stories involving fractions.  These lessons end our short fractions unit!  The Unit 8 test will be next Tuesday, March 16^th.  The review sheet will be sent home on Thursday.  It is not due until Tuesday, the day of the test.

    Last week during writing workshop we discussed our goals as the students and I meet for writing conferences.  We also discussed “showing not telling” when the students write.  On Friday, the students took an inventory of what they have completed during writing time in February.  This inventory will be sent home this week.  This week we will check the endings of the students’ small moments and share examples of strong endings.  We will also discuss revising while we are writing; we don’t have to just revise old stories, we can also revise as we are writing new stories.

     Last week in science the students will balance a beam with cubes by only changing the position of the fulcrum under the beam, not the position of the cubes on the beam.  This week the students will build Equal Arm Balances.

Homework: