Curriculum News & Information

This weekly blog will actually contain information for two rather short weeks.  Next week we will only be in attendance Monday through Wednesday with early (2:00) dismissals on both Tuesday and Wednesday.  Because of that and the fact that we will be going to the Arlee Theater in Mason City on Tuesday morning, we will have little time to cover too many academics.  With the very fast approaching holiday, we will mostly be spending time taking part in some Christmas activities in the classroom when we are actually in the classroom.  Our Math time will be spent going over graphs and some story problems that pertain to the Christmas season!  Our Reading/Literacy time will be spent enjoying some fun and festive Christmas stories and will include some writing which will go along with our reading and discussions.

The week when we return from Christmas break, students will only be in attendance Wednesday through Friday.  Because of this we will be doing a lot of lessons that review material learned in the month of December as well as discussing their hopes for the New Year!  When we resume, we will also pick back up with our study of the 7 Continents, focusing on the continent of Asia and its many fascinating places.  We will also resume our discussion of Bridges but will take a look at “Building Bridges Among Unlikely Friends” by looking at some children’s stories which focus on the importance of friendship and how to strengthen those relationships for the New Year.

 

* There will be no Spelling Test in second grade until the week of January 9^th-13!  Instead we will be practicing some words that go along with the special holidays which we are celebrating at this time of year!

 

Announcements & Reminders

On Tuesday, December 20^th the entire grade school will be visiting the Arlee Theater in Mason City to see the movie Trolls, thanks to the HCC who are covering expenses for this fun event!  This will be first thing in the morning so please make sure students are here on time!  There are early dismissals on both Tuesday (20^th) and Wednesday (21^st) of next week.  Then students are on Christmas break until January 4^th!  Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year!

 

Thank you!

Mrs. Amy Johnson

 

Curriculum News & Information

We will be continuing to work with the concept of Building Bridges during our Reading/Literacy time this week.  This will not only allow us to look at a variety of stories that tell about the building of the famous Brooklyn Bridge in New York City but will also give us the opportunity to discuss ways to “Build Bridges” with each other.  During the Christmas Season it is important to remind everyone about the importance of showing compassion and kindness towards one another.  Our writing time will be spent focusing on personal narratives about some of our Christmas traditions as well as other skills that will only build upon our current writing skills.  We will also be taking a look at synonyms and antonyms which will help give students insight on how to use more vivid words in their daily writing.

As we continue with our study of the 7 Continents, we will be exploring the fascinating continent of Europe and will be looking more closely at the rich history and culture of Italy.  Since the holidays are near, we will also take a look at how the people of Italy celebrate Christmas and compare this to our own Christmas festivities! It is always fun to explore some of the other traditions found around the world!   In Science we will continue our exploration of ways to take care of the environment and begin to look more closely at the Earth’s surface in general.  As we move past the study of telling time in Math, we will begin our unit on studying data using a variety of graphs and tables.  We will be revisiting the topic of time occasionally and I do ask that you continue to work with your child on this very important skill!

Spelling:    try        kind        hand       again       fast        past        last        blast       contrast       cast       data         record

Challenge Words:       picture                science

Announcements & Reminders

The Emden Elementary Christmas Program will be Thursday, December 15^th at 6:30 at the high school building in Hartsburg.  We will be having a practice that morning at the high school building to prepare and walk through everything one time before the big performance.  Students are asked to be there at least by 6:20 so that we can get lined up and seated before the program begins!  This is always such a fun evening and helps get everyone into the Christmas Spirit!

Thank you!

Mrs. Amy Johnson

Curriculum News & Information

This week during our literacy time, we will be starting our new unit on Building Bridges With Unlikely Friends.  This will not only give us the opportunity to work on discussing differences and building relationships with people who we might not normally consider as friends, but also a chance to take a closer look at the many different types of bridges that we find around the world.  Students will be able to understand the many challenges that come along with building these amazing structures as well as appreciate the added beauty that they add to our surroundings!  This will be another exciting adventure as we explore this topic for the next several weeks.  Going along with that, students will continue to work on the many ways to add key details to sentences and stories to help them become even better writers!  Just ask your child about what “Super Sentences” are….they should be able to give you an idea of what they are and how they add a lot to any piece of writing!

During Social Studies we will continue with our 7 Continent Study.  So far we have taken a look at North America and learned a bit more about our neighbor to the south-Mexico.  This upcoming week we will be taking a look at South America and exploring the beauty and culture of Brazil.  Students always enjoy learning about these faraway places and gain a better understanding of the vastness and beauty of our planet!  In Science we will be continuing to take a look at the various classifications of animals and see how they are linked together in our environment by food chains!  We will also be continuing to work with the concept of Telling Time in math, as we look at some problems involving adding time and subtracting time to solve real-life problems.

 

*We are back to studying those spelling words after a week off!

Spelling    land      different     home     move      bump    stump     clump    stamp     clamp     camp       guess      predict

Challenge Words:       question            experiment

 

Announcements & Reminders

We are not doing Show & Tell in the month of December.  This is because of the many extra activities that are taking place and the fewer number of days available this month!  The holiday season is definitely upon us!

 

Mrs. Amy Johnson