Week of December 9th-13th

Curriculum News & Information

During our last two weeks of the semester, we will spend some time taking a look at some of our favorite Christmas stories.  We will especially be discussing ones that focus on kindness and compassion during this holiday season.  This ties in nicely with our recent discussion about building bridges between people and how to build strong relationships.  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 some  insight on how to use more vivid words in their daily writing.

As we wrap up our study of the 7 Continents, we will be exploring the little known continent of Antarctica.   Students will learn a bit about the continent that very few people have had the opportunity to visit.  In Science we will continue our exploration of a variety of habitats.  In Math, we will be spending some more time working with subtracting 2-digit numbers, graphs, as well as continuing to practice those very important addition facts!

 

Spelling:    short      core      sport      report     port      escort     horse      fork     north      storm      torch       acorn

 

Announcements & Reminders

December 12th The Emden Elementary Christmas Program will be Thursday, December 12th at 6:30 at the high school building in Hartsburg.  We will be practicing 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 6:15 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!

 

December 19th & 20th– 2:00 Dismissal

December 21st-January 6th No School/ Christmas Break

January 7th– School Resumes

 

 

Thank you!

 

Mrs. Amy Johnson

Week of December 2nd-6th

Curriculum News

    As we get back into the “swing of things” after our Thanksgiving break, we will be taking a closer look at a number of beautiful and very famous bridges.  We will study the different types of bridges and listen to some fun and entertaining stories for children that happen to take place around these famous sites.  With the holiday season quickly approaching, our focus towards the end of the week will be about ways to be more kind and giving to one another.  We will look at some other short stories that focus on this and how we can all do a better job of spreading joy and kindness to others all year long!  Some of our writing activities will go along with this same topic.  It will give us the opportunity to share and discuss some of our most favorite traditions that we enjoy during this festive time of year.

During our Math time, we will be working with gathering and using data as well as to use this information in a number of different types of graphs.   This next week will give us the opportunity to explore our sixth continent- Oceania/Australia.  Students will not have a map assignment this week but instead will get the opportunity to take a closer look at some maps of this region together and will get a bit more acquainted with “The Land Down Under”- the country of Australia.  Students have been doing very well with their work while covering the seven continents and have learned many fascinating things about each of these amazing places!

 

Spelling  Words  

germ      verb      herd      clerk     nerve    serve     fern     verse    after    dinner    letter     finger

 

Reminders/Announcements: 

*December 4th– 2:00 Dismissal

*Elementary Christmas Program will be Thursday, December 12th at 6:30 at the high school.

*Students should be in the high school cafeteria no later than 6:15 so that we can snap a few  

  pictures and get everyone lined up for the program!

 

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Mrs. Amy Johnson

November 18th-22nd & November 25th, 26th

Curriculum News & Information

With the very short week that we have the week of Thanksgiving, we will NOT be having a spelling test.  The words which are given below are words for the week of November 18thth-November 22nd.  Next week during our Literacy/Reading time, we will be taking a look at the concept of Main Idea and Details as we begin our look at a new unit called “Building Bridges”.   We will be learning a bit more about different types of bridges as well as the story behind some of these iconic structures.   During our two days before Thanksgiving, we will be taking a closer look at the history behind our beloved Thanksgiving holiday.  This will include some stories which we will look at during our Literacy block, as well as several lessons in the afternoon during our usual Social Studies time.  This will hopefully help students become more aware and appreciative of why this day is so special in our country.

For our Math Instruction time we will be working on identifying even and odd numbers and beginning our exploration of graphs and how we can use them in our daily lives.  During our Science time, we will be starting to take a look at our Earth’s Surface, beginning with the importance and many uses of both plants and water which are both vital to Earth’s continued existence.  Our work with cursive handwriting will also continue, as students are adding more and more cursive letters to their repertoire!

 

Spelling Words Nov. 18th-22nd

Spelling    grew      stew     chew     drew      few      brew     knew     review      curfew     dew     nephew     crew

 

Announcements & Reminders

November 26th– Beginning at 2:00 that afternoon,  Grandparents are invited to join us for a special Thanksgiving Celebration.  Students will present a special program for the Grandparents followed by some time to visit with each other.  We hope that many can attend this special afternoon so that our students can show these very special people how grateful they are to have them in their life!

 

*No school November 27th– December 1st  in observance of Thanksgiving!  I hope that everyone has a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving with their family and friends!

 

Mrs. Amy Johnson

Week of November 11th-15th

Curriculum News

his past week has given us the opportunity to better understand and learn a bit more about bats.  Students were assigned a particular kind of bat and do a bit of research about them.  They have been working very hard on this special project and have also seen that bats are not really animals to be feared but appreciated for what they do for the ecosystem in which they are found.  This next week we will continue a bit more with our exploration of the “Wild West” as we learn a bit more about this time period in our country’s history.

As we continue to explore the 7 continents, we will get the opportunity to learn about the fascinating continent of Asia.  During our study of Asia, we will turn our attention to the amazing country of China and learn a bit more about its history and culture.  Students always enjoy getting the opportunity to learn about different places found around the globe!

Students have been doing very well with their Reading Logs as well.  It is always great to see students’ enthusiasm towards reading shining through and this will only help recognize those that put in the extra time and effort to do some extra reading at home!  Great work students!!!

 

Spelling  Words

head     bread     dead     sweat     deaf    spread     weather     thread    health    bear    pear     wear

 

Reminders/Announcements: 

*No School Monday, November 11th in observance of Veteran’s Day.

*On Tuesday, November 26st Grandparents are invited to the grade school at 2:00 for some fun Thanksgiving inspired activities in the gym!  We look forward to seeing everyone on that day!

*No School November 27th-December 1st – Thanksgiving break!

 

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Johnson

Week of November 4th-8th

Curriculum News

   With all of the extra festivities that took place this last week we are running a bit behind with our topics.  We will still be studying bats a bit more closely and will work on completing a book about them to help us remember some of the important details that we have covered over the past week.  This will be during our Science time and some of our Literacy Block as we continue to take a closer look at both fiction and nonfiction stories that include bats.  During our Math time we will be continuing to work with 2-digit subtraction with regrouping as we were barely able to look at examples of this challenging skill.

As we continue to explore the 7 continents, we will continue to learn about the  continent of Europe and many of its amazing features.  We will also be learning a bit about the beautiful and fascinating country of Italy.

Reading Logs will be passed out on Monday.  Please encourage your child to get in about 10 minutes of reading each day (60 minutes total per week) and return it signed on the following Monday!

 

Spelling  Words

chill       fall       stall      thrill       bill      shell      swell      still      small    smell     dwell      grill

 

Reminders/Announcements: 

*Time changes this Sunday!  Set your clocks back one hour!  We get one extra hour of sleep!!

*On Thursday, November 7th, there will be a Veteran’s Day Program in the Emden gym starting at 1:00 PM. 

*There is no school on Monday, November 11th in observance of Veteran’s Day.

*Grandparents are invited to visit on November 26th at 2:00 for a special Thanksgiving Program!

 

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Johnson

 

 

 

Week of October 28th-November 1st

Curriculum News

   While we will still be studying the “Wild West” for a while, this week we will take a short break to look at some fun Halloween stories as well as take some time to study an often misunderstood creature- bats!  As we continue to work on more skills that will help us become better writers, we will focus more on using Main Idea and Detail sentences to help us compose better paragraphs and stories.  This will definitely be a fun-filled week that is jam packed full of learning!

During our Social Studies time in the afternoons we will be continuing with our exploration of our amazing planet.  This week we will turn our focus to the continent of Europe and will also spend some time focusing on the fascinating country of Italy.      In Math we will be working with subtracting 2-digit numbers, as this is a very necessary skill to master before moving onto more challenging concepts.

Starting the week of November 4th, , students will be asked to complete a weekly reading log to track the number of minutes read outside of the classroom.  Students are given a goal that should be easily attained.  They are to read 60 minutes within a week’s time.  Papers will be passed out each Monday and are asked to be returned the following Monday.  We will keep track of those that are successfully meeting this goal and they will get a chance at the end of each month to either eat lunch with me or get a homework pass to get out of one assignment.  I know that there are some amazing readers who will meet this goal with no problem and want to provide an incentive for those who always work hard and are responsible enough to turn in this paper each week.  If the paper is misplaced you can always write down the number of minutes read and sign the paper for proof of completion as well.   I am doing this to teach students responsibility and to encourage any bit of extra reading time that they can find in their everyday lives!

 

Spelling  Words

mean     clean      peak     dream     beach      team     neat     seat     repeat     least     treat     leap

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Reminders/Announcements: 

*October 30th–  11:36 Dismissal

* October 31st – Halloween parade @ 1:00 with parties to follow

                                                                                                                              (Turn over please)

*Next week is also Red Ribbon Week, which emphasizes the importance of saying “No to Drugs!”  Each day will have a theme and students are asked to dress up if possible.  Below are the themes for each day!

 

Monday- Wear Red

Tuesday- Nerd Day-Dress Smart

Wednesday- Sports Day/ Dress in your favorite sports attire

Thursday-Costume Day/ Wear your Halloween costume

Friday-Pajama Day

 

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Johnson

 

 

 

Week of October 21st-25th

Curriculum News & Information

During our morning literacy time, we will continue our discussion of the “Wild West”.  We will start out by taking a look at a few more tall tales from this time in our country’s history and then will turn our attention to a Magic Tree House book about the “Wild West”.  Students will get a better idea of what life would have been like as pioneers and cowboys explored this new territory back in the middle 1800’s.  Our Language Arts/Writing time will be spent working on adjectives and using more in our own writing to help enhance our work.

Second graders will also be learning a bit more about our 7 continents.  Each week we will focus on one continent at a time.  We will take a look at some maps to help them become more familiar with some of the fascinating places found around the world.  One day of that week we will spend some time getting to know a particular country found within each continent and hopefully better understand their culture and lifestyle.  The world is such an amazing place to study and explore!!!

Our upcoming C.A.T.C.H. curriculum lesson will focus on choosing more “Go foods than slow foods and more slow foods than whoa foods”!  This will hopefully help us all make better choices to help us stay strong and healthy for many years to come!

 

Spelling      blue     true     clue     glue    argue     duel      fuel      flew     grew    chew     threw     crew

 

Reminders/Upcoming Dates

3oth– 11:30 Dismissal

31st  Halloween Day Parade (weather permitting) on Thursday, the 31st  at 1:00 PM.  If it rains, students will parade around the gym several times.  Following the parade, parties are in classrooms for most of the afternoon!  Students may wear their costumes to school that day as long as it is not too distracting to them during the school day.  If you do not want your child to wear them to school, we will allow time for them to change or add things to their costume before the parade.

 

Have a great weekend!

 

Mrs. Johnson

Week of October 15th-18th

Curriculum News
This week we will kick off our study of the “Wild West” during our Reading/Literacy Block by first getting a bit more familiar with what life was like during this time in America’s history. Students will learn a bit about some of the fictional characters that we all have heard of such as Paul Bunyan and John Henry. By the end of this week students will be more familiar with some of the tall tales that were developed and shared throughout this particular time period. Students will also be working on writing some “Super Sentences” about the “Wild West” as we continue to develop our ability to add more detail to our writing which creates a much more interesting story!
We will be continuing our study of a variety of habitats as we compare the Ocean, Rainforest, and Desert habitats and discuss their importance in the sustainability of the world. During our Social Studies time we will begin our unit on the 7 Continents. The first week will give us a chance to compare the difference between countries and continents and get students familiar with the location and size of all of the continents. Students will get a chance over the next several weeks to learn a bit about each of the 7 continents individually as we take a look at each one more closely! This is always a fun unit to explore and gives us the opportunity to be introduced to some amazing cultures and people from around the world! In Math we will be starting to work with 2-digit subtraction problems. We have so many important skills and concepts to cover!!! I am already looking forward to next week!!!

Spelling Words
nurse curve turn burn curl purse fur church hurt blurt surf curb

Reminders/Announcements:
* October 31st is the Halloween Parade and classroom party. The parade starts at 1:00 with parties following immediately afterwards. Students are asked to avoid wearing costumes to school that would be too frightening for our younger students and to avoid things that resemble guns or knives. These rules are in place so that our younger students are not frightened on this fun-filled day! Thank you for your cooperation with this!

Have a great weekend!
Mrs. Johnson

Week of October 7th-11th

This next week we will be wrapping up our unit on Biographies and Inventors.  We have already learned a lot about how some of the everyday things that we rely on “came to be”!  This week we will learn about some more examples and will take some time to do a bit of research on some very well-known inventors who have used their creativity and ingenuity to help make our lives much, much easier.

   During our Social Studies time we will continue our work with maps as we explore several different types of landforms found around our country as well as the world.  We will also be talking a bit about “Go, Slow, & Whoa” foods as we refresh our memory of why it is important to try to avoid those very tasty and tempting “Whoa” foods as much as possible.  This will take place as we continue to kick off our CATCH program which highlights the importance of doing our best to stay healthy. 

  During our Math time, we will continue our work with adding 2-digit numbers with regrouping.  We have already spent quite a bit of time practicing this in class and will get some more work in on this very important skill!  There is so much to cover this week in spite of our shortened time together!

 

Spelling   

loud    sound found   shout count mouth   ground house brown growl    crown town

 

Reminders/Announcements:  

*Parent/Teacher Conferences are Wednesday (Oct. 9th) and Thursday (Oct. 10thth) from 3:30-7:00.  I look forward to meeting with everyone!!!

*No school on Friday, October 11th and Monday, October 14th because of conferences and Columbus Day!

*Halloween Parade & Parties- October 31st @ 1:00 PM!

*If you are sending a note to school that needs to be turned into the office, please be sure to put a date at the top.  This helps us keep track of when notes were turned in and what is going on each day. Thank you for your help with this!

 

Have a great weekend!

 

Week of September 30th- October 4th

Curriculum News & Information

With another busy week under “our belt”, we are moving into a week filled with many important skills and topics to cover.  This week during our reading/literacy block we will continue our work with nonfiction writing and reading by taking a closer look at some biographies written about some very curious and influential people.  Students will learn about some of the people throughout our history who helped invent or create some of the things in our world that we come across every day.  Students will also be doing a little research on some of these important people and create some interesting papers to display so that others can learn about them as well!

During our math time, we will continue to work on 2-digit addition but will be moving on to some more challenging problems.   We will look at problems that require regrouping or carrying a 1.  I am confident that this group will do well after some repeated practice in class!  The Ocean Habitat will continue to be an important topic during our time that is allotted for Science.  We will be taking a closer look at the various levels of the ocean and the different types of living things found in each one of them.   During our social studies time we will continue our work with maps and get a better understanding of the various types of communities and neighborhoods that can be found around us!

 

Spelling Words:

 

gold      colt     fold    mold     told     sold      bolt       jolt      pole      told     role     whole

 

Reminders & Important Dates:

October 9th & 10th– Parent/Teacher Conferences 3:30-7:00 PM

October 11th & 14th– No School

 

Have a great weekend!

 

Mrs. Johnson