WEEK OF OUR FAMOUS AMERICAN WAX MUSEUM! March 25 - 27

Wow!  We are almost to Spring Break!  This is a short and busy week.  

READING:
This week we will not have a main story or bag books since our main focus is on our Wax Museum.  Please take the opportunity to have your child practice his/her speech every night and polish anything that needs to be polished.  Remember - he/she will be asked to say the speech multiple times and need to speak clearly and slowly enough for the visitor to understand!

MATH:
We will continue our measurement unit this week.  However we will shift our focus to measuring in metric units.  (centimeters and meters)  There will be a bit of homework that will focus on practicing measuring in this different system.

SCIENCE:
The students have been working on a small project in school.  We will close our unit on Matter this week.

SPELLING:
NO SPELLING THIS WEEK!

FINAL NOTES CONCERNING THE WAX MUSEUM:

FAMOUS AMERICAN WAX MUSEUM REMINDERS

On Wednesday, March 27^th @ 1:30 (no sooner) our annual 2^nd Grade Famous American Wax Museum will be presented by the students in our room.  Remember all 2^nd grade classrooms will also have their museums open for you to visit as well.  Please bring extra change or dollars to activate each Famous American you visit.  The students have done so well to memorize such difficult speeches.  I am certain you will be as impressed as I have been.  (All money goes toward funding our field trip to the Raleigh Science Museum on May 7^th)

Tuesday, March 26^th – Students should bring in the poster they have prepared for the occasion.  It must have the Famous American’s name, the dates when he/she lived/ and an accurate picture of the American (drawn or printed).  Any other information that pertains to the character is welcome as well.  I need these Tuesday so that I can set the room up for Wednesday’s big event.

(Also, this is board game day/snack day in the afternoon)

Wednesday, March 27^th – Students should bring in the outfits they will change into on a hanger.  Any other items he/she may use as a display should also be brought in on Wednesday morning.  We will use the morning to set up the desks.  Then, I am hoping on using the cafeteria for our special classes etc.  We will return later to change and do final preparations for your arrival!

After the event, you are welcome to take your child home.  This may prove easier since each child will have plenty of “stuff” to take back home. 

I look forward to seeing each of you on Wednesday.   Make certain you bring your cameras (phones now) to take pictures.  Any copies that I could have would be great – just e-mail them to my address.  scabascango@neusecharterschool.org

See you then!

March 18 - 22

We're Almost There!

Only about 1.5 weeks until Spring Break!  

YEAH!

FUN SMALL SPRING CELEBRATION ON TUESDAY, MARCH 26th.

Since next week is VERY busy with our wax museum on Wednesday and Thursday's half day filled with music, Spanish, and Library, I'd like to have a special snack on Tuesday afternoon (March 26th).  If you would be willing to donate cookies or goody bags for this day, let me know.  I would also like to allow the students to bring in a board game to play in the afternoon.

What's Happening this week:

READING:

We are officially finished with Freckle Juice.  I will be sending home the graded test along with the response booklet the students did in class.  I think you will enjoy reading your child's personal opinions concerning the book.  I think we all enjoyed this fun novel.  

This week we will be finishing up MATTER in science so we will focus on a non-fiction science text concerning matter this week.  There will not be a test on Friday. 

We will also be reviewing Common Nouns, Proper Nouns as well as Plural Nouns this week.

Small Groups:

We will have our final non-fiction bag books to take home this week.  You may have noticed that the texts have been getting a bit more difficult.  Encourage your child to read even if you need to "tag team" read.  I have been impressed by the students' ability to focus and fluently read these difficult texts.  

Again this week I will be sending home the text as a take home test.  It is due Friday.

MATH:

Monday we will finish up our 3rd Quarter math assessment.  I will share the results by the beginning of next week.

Starting Tuesday we will begin to look into measurement.  We will start with the inch/foot and move into investigating the centimeter/meter next week.  The students will need to bring their ruler back and forth to and from school in order to to their nightly homework.

SCIENCE:

This will be our final week for our Matter Unit.  We will explore a fun experiment that deals with comparing the mass of liquids as well as explore a fun experiment that looks into the behavior of gas in a closed container.  We will end our week with an imaginative writing assignment that asks the students to create a new form of matter.  It should prove to be a potentially messy, but fun week.

SPELLING:

Words Their Way

Finally,

FAMOUS WAX MUSEUM  

MARCH 27th @ 1:30

Students must:

1.  Memorize Speech to recite multiple times

2.  "Become" the Famous American he/she has researched by dressing up as the character.

3.  Provide a simple poster board to attach to desk that has:

                     a.  The name of the Famous American

                     b.  The Dates this American lived

                     c.  An accurate picture of the Famous American

                     d.  Any special information or pictures that will help educate our visitors about your

                          Famous American

DUE TUESDAY, MARCH 26th

MARCH 11 - 15

WHAT'S HAPPENING THIS WEEK?

WELCOME WARMER WEATHER!

I don't know about you, but I am EXTREMELY excited to finally see some warm weather.  YEAH!

READING:

This week we will be finishing up Freckle Juice by Judy Blume with some story analysis.  We will have a cumulative test on Friday. (It shouldn't be too difficult especially if the students have read the book and done their comprehension questions.)

We also will continue with Cause and Effect.

SMALL GROUPS:

Bag books.  This week the test will be take home due to the larger Freckle Juice test on Friday.  

The A-Z Reading take home test will be in the bags and are due by Friday.

MATH:

This week we will review for our 3rd Quarter Math Assessment which will begin on Friday.  This assessment will cover the following items:

STORY PROBLEMS
TIME

ADDITION WITH REGROUPING
SUBTRACTION WITH REGROUPING

MISSING ADDENDS

ARRAYS

If your child has had difficulty with any of these items, please take the time to review them before Friday.

SCIENCE:

We will be finishing up our unit on Matter.  This week we will do a few experiments concerning the changes of the states of matter.  There will not be a test or a project since our Famous American Wax 

Museum is right around the corner.

SPELLING:

WORDS THEIR WAY

Note: HOMEWORK on WEDNESDAY:

STUDENTS MAY EITHER:

Write 10 sentences or write their words in ABC order.

FUN FRIDAY:

Since St. Patrick's Day falls on the weekend, we will have a fun project Friday afternoon revolving around the legend of Leprechauns.  I will also be sharing some books concerning the history of the holiday throughout the week.

Finally,

FAMOUS WAX MUSEUM  

MARCH 27th @ 1:30

Students must:

1.  Memorize Speech to recite multiple times

2.  "Become" the Famous American he/she has researched by dressing up as the character.

3.  Provide a simple poster board to attach to desk that has:

                     a.  The name of the Famous American

                     b.  The Dates this American lived

                     c.  An accurate picture of the Famous American

                     d.  Any special information or pictures that will help educate our visitors about your

                          Famous American

DUE TUESDAY, MARCH 26th

HOMEWORK:

Math:       Nightly worksheets and/or study for Friday's test. (Especially the story problems)

Reading:  Read Bag Book at least 3X 's.  Write in Reading Log.  Take home test due Friday.

Spelling:   Nightly Homework.  Parents MUST check over.

PRACTICE SPEECH NIGHTLY

CONTINUE TO THINK ABOUT COSTUME/ BEGIN WORK ON POSTER BOARD

March 4-6

THE WEEK AT A GLANCE:

Thank you so much for all your support toward the May family.  It has been great to see generosity in action.  The collection box will still be in the office if you would like to donate.  Thank you again.

THIS WEEK IN 2ND GRADE:

READING:
FRECKLE JUICE by Judy Blume
We will continue to read this fun book this week and should work our way through the end.  On Friday we will do a project revolving around each main character.

VOCABULARY WORDS:

ambulance     manners     vinegar     mayonnaise     mistake     formula

CAUSE vs. EFFECT will also be a topic in our reading this week.

SMALL GROUPS:

Your child will be bringing home another bag book this week about some type of animal.  Please read this book at least three times during the week in preparation for the quiz on Friday.  I usually can tell which students have put efforts toward reading.  

Those that don't do not do well on Friday's reading quiz.

SPELLING:

WORDS THEIR WAY:  

MATH:
This week we will be working on perfecting our subtraction with regrouping as well as venture into looking at multiplication arrays:  There will be a quiz on Friday.

SCIENCE:
MATTER -

We will ponder the following questions:

1.  How can you describe a gas?

2.  How are solids, liquids, and gases alike?

3.  How does a solid change into a liquid?

FAMOUS AMERICAN SPEECHES:

DUE MONDAY!

Now it is time to start memorizing!  The wax museum is coming soon.  Please keep a copy at home to work on a few times during the week.  We will also be working on them here at school.  Also, as far as a backdrop, I have decided to make a poster board backdrop an option.  I think it would look great, but it would probably need to be the three-fold sturdy poster boards which are a bit pricey.  If you and your child would like to add a back drop poster board with pictures and information about your famous American - that is up to you. 

 All students must have some type of costume to represent who they are and should have 8-10 sentence speech memorized.

WAX MUSEUM  MARCH 27th @ 1:30 PM  Bring your coins!