Week of February 29th-March 4th

Curriculum News

Even though we had a full week of school, there were several things that we did not manage to get to.  We will be continuing with our discussion of the water cycle and weather.  This will give us the opportunity to look closer at some of the amazing and sometimes crazy weather that we experience on this planet.  During our Reading/Literacy Block, we will be moving on and starting a brand new unit called “Hand-Me-Down Tales From Around the World.  This week we will take a close look at a fun and colorful folktale from Cuba called, Martina the Beautiful Cockroach.  This will give us the opportunity to look at the beauty and culture of this island nation and explore some key elements of a folktale.  We will also be able to compare and contrast this story with two better known versions of this story.  During our Math time, we still be focusing on fractions and checking for understanding of this key concept before moving on to new skill.  During our writing and grammar time we will be working on using possessive nouns correctly as we work on some fun and creative stories that will tie in with St. Patrick’s Day.  Since we have just wrapped up our discussion of the 7 Continents, we will be getting back to some other important topics such as the idea of what producers and consumers are and discussing some of the numerous and very valuable resources that we get from Earth.

Spelling Words

Remember, no more challenge words!  All of the words given below will count on the test.  This week’s words are below:

bath      math       moth     sloth     breath    mouth     path     cloth     tooth      death      month     hour     minute     second     year      time

Announcements/Reminders

There is an early dismissal on Wednesday, March 2nd at 2:00.  Besides that it should be a rather calm week perfect for plenty of opportunities for learning!  If you take a look at the quote below you will be reminded of the importance of not only building up one’s mind but one’s spirit or character.  This group does really try day after day to go out of their way to “fill up each other’s bucket”.  Ask your child what that means!  Both they and you, the parents, should be commended for that!  Thank you for all of the support and encouragement that you provide at home on a daily basis!  It makes our job that much easier!

Quote for the Week: “Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of a true education.”- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr
Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Johnson

Week of February 22nd-26th

Curriculum News

With a full week of school, just think of all that we can accomplish!  Because we have recently wrapped up our introduction of all lower case cursive letters, we will be moving on to the upper case ones.  This means that very soon we will be using cursive on some assignments!  These students have some very neat handwriting!  During our morning Literacy Block, we will be looking at some poetry written by some very well-known writers, such as Langston Hughes.  This will also allow us to wrap up our discussion of the “Long Journey to Freedom” which students have really gotten involved with!  We will be wrapping up our work with Telling Time in math and move on to fractions!  Students have already had some work with this very important skill but this will give us the opportunity to get some extra practice!  During our Science time, we will be taking a look at the Water Cycle and why it is so important to our weather that we experience each day.  Another important unit that will soon be coming to a close is our study of the 7 Continents.  We have had the opportunity to learn a bit of geography and explore the culture of many fascinating places.  This next week we will be taking a look at the vast and quite desolate continent of Antarctica.  I’m sure what will be the most memorable is the sampling of food from a number of different countries, however we also gained a lot from taking the time to explore this amazing planet that we call home-Earth!

 

Spelling Words

Remember, no more challenge words!  All of the words given below will count on the test.  This week’s words are below:

graph     laugh    photograph    tough    rough    enough     telegraph    phonograph   trough    cough     glyph     classify    analyze    verify    answer     model

 

Announcements/Reminders

This next week is the last week that we are collecting coins/pennies for Leukemia/Lymphoma patients.  If students have banks that are getting full, have them bring the change to school in a sealed bag, as their banks seem to lose change quite easily.  The money is due by Friday, February 26th.  Also, keep reading 2nd grade!  This is definitely a group that loves to read and has shown me throughout the year by continuing to turn in their Weekly Reading Logs!  Keep it up!!!

 

Quote for the Week: Education breeds confidence.  Confidence breeds hope.  Hope breeds peace. – Confucius

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Johnson

 

 

Week of February 15th-19th

Curriculum News

A shorter week means more to accomplish in less time!  This week during our Reading time, we will continue our topic of “A Long Journey to Freedom” by taking a close look at Henry’s Freedom Box written by Ellen Levine.  This is a very dramatic story about a slave who mails himself to freedom.  Poor Henry Brown doesn’t even know how old he is, as no documents were kept concerning the birth of slaves.  Once he is grown, he decides to make a very brave move. He decides to mail himself to the North.  After an arduous journey in the crate, Henry finally has a birthday — his first day of freedom.  This story will help our students better understand the harsh, nearly impossible conditions that the American slaves had to endure and will hopefully help them value their own freedoms and rights that are so precious to us!  As our exploration of the 7 Continents continues, we will be learning a bit about Oceania/Australia.  We are on our sixth continent and have learned so much about some amazing places found on our planet!  During our Math time, we will be continuing our work with Telling Time.  These students are doing very well with this challenging concept!  We should also be wrapping up our lower-case cursive letters and be starting to learn some upper-case!  Soon they will be writing in cursive!  I have seen some beautiful handwriting from this group!  Our writing time will be spent on the correct development of solid paragraphs.  This will include the discussion of Main Idea/Detail sentences.  This will help us as we prepare to work on writing both Opinion and Informative Papers!

 

Spelling Words

Remember, no more challenge words!  All of the words given below will count on the test.  This week’s words are below:

thing   string    sing    bring    fling     ring    king    sting    wing    cling    sling   chart   identify    greater    smaller    different

 

Announcements/Reminders

There is no school on Monday, February 15th because of Presidents’ Day!  Also, the small cardboard banks that students received this week to gather change for Patients of Leukemia/Lymphoma should stay at home until the week of Feb. 22nd-26th.  What a great cause and it is always great to see what kind and giving spirits there are inside of our students here at Emden Elementary!  Way to go boys and girls!

 

Quote for the Week:  Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. – William Butler Yeats

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Johnson

Week of February 8th-12th

Curriculum News
As we approach the second full week of February, we are finding ourselves smack-dab in the middle of so many amazing new things to be learned! We are continuing with our “Long Journey to Freedom” unit during our reading/literacy time. This week we will be turning our attention to the topic of the Underground Railroad and take a look at the important role that Harriett Tubman played in the slaves escape to freedom. We will also be continuing to work on our Telling Time skills for several more days. Please take any opportunity to have your child practice at home with you as well! Students did an amazing job on their Animal Posters! It was also a great experience as students shared their findings with each other so that we can all learn something from each other’s hard work! Thank you for helping them with their research! Our exploration of the seven continents will continue this next week with the study of the fascinating continent of Africa. We will be focusing on the country of South Africa later in the week, as we take a closer look at the culture and beauty of this far-away land! Our Catch program continues as we look at healthy snack ideas and the importance of choosing more “Go foods than slow foods and more slow foods than whoa foods!” Students have this catchy phrase down and now we just need to put it to use!

Spelling Words
Remember, no more challenge words! All of the words given below will count on the test. This week’s words are below:

boxes   foxes   churches   dishes   couches   brushes   bushes   rushes   wishes   washes   dashes   fraction   whole   part   fair   share

Announcements/Reminders
There is an early dismissal at 11:30 on Friday, February 12th. We will also be celebrating Valentine’s Day that morning from 10:00-11:00 AM, so their Valentine’s Day Cards will need to be sent with them on Friday the 12th! Below is a list of names to make the card preparation a bit easier!

Class List: Ashton Aderman, Alayna Briggs, Celia Cross, Gabby Duvall, Ellie Klokkenga, Kennedy McCree, Mollie Perschall, Morgan Riggs, Peyton Swinford, Gracie Wilson
• We will be getting a new student on February 16th! His name is Ryan! We look forward to him joining our small group!

Quote for the Week: Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.- Nelson Mandela

Have a great weekend!
Mrs. Johnson