Thanksgiving

Calendar Math

This week we have added two elements to our Calendar Math routine. Each day we move the hands of our clock, exploring the concept of AM and PM. The idea that many of the AM hours correspond to dark, middle of the night hours can be confusing!! Also, we have stared to record the number of days that we have been in school using coins. We record the days three different ways using different combinations of coins. We are learning how to use the least amount of coins to record any given amount.

SBS Meeting

Once a month the students and teachers in the Sally Borden School come together to celebrate our connection, discuss different learning styles, and learn about successful adults that have learning differences. The seventh and eighth SBS students plan and lead these wonderful meetings. Check out the photos of our most recent SBS meeting!

Read Naturally

Our Read Naturally program is up and running! It is amazing to see the progress your children are making with their fluency through the guided practice this program provides. They have been enjoying graphing their cold versus hot reads on their own personal progress charts.

Upcoming Dates

No School: 11/25, 11/26, 11/27 (Thanksgiving Break)

Pizza Day: Tuesday, 12/1

Holiday Hope Gifts Due: Monday, 11/30

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

Friday the 13th!!

We had a wonderful week! Today we had the pleasure of watching the 5th and 6th graders perform Alice in Wonderland. They did an amazing job!

In Social Studies this week, the 2nd Graders began discussing industrial communities. Using a K-W-L, we brainstormed what we already know about industrial communities. Next week we will think about what we want to know. Among the things we know:

"They make things."

"Some factories smell funny."

"Assembly lines help."

"There are big machines."

The 3rd Graders finished salt dough maps of Mexico this week, complete with map keys and compass roses. Next week we will make and learn about traditional "God's Eyes" or "Ojo de Dios."

Children were very excited this week to be given their ipods!! We have started using them in conjunction with our Read Naturally program. Next week, children will be bringing them home to use for fluency practice. We will send more information home on Monday about how to use them.

Next Week - AuthorFest!!

In connection with AuthorFest, the Book Fair will be open for purchases in the Commons before school, after school, and during recess. On Monday and Tuesday during Library times, your children will be able to fill out "wish lists" for items they would like to purchase. We ask that you refrain from sending money into school with your child, but schedule a time to visit the Book Fair with them before or after school to make purchases.

Families are invited to join us at Friends Academy on Wednesday evening for a special presentation by Bill Harley! On Thursday the second graders will work with Nancy Cote, while the third graders will work with Bill Harley. Following this, there will be an AuthorFest Luncheon. If you would like to bring your child home after the luncheon, please send a dismissal note to school.

Have a great weekend!

Writing

The children in SBS Grades 2 and 3 have been busy at work during our Writer's Workshops this week. They have been writing and editing silly stories after studying the mentor texts, Dogs Don't Wear Sneakers by Laura Numeroff, Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin, and My Little Sister Ate One Hare by Bill Grossman. Here is a story that our class wrote together:

Cats don't do yoga. But one day Fuzzy the cat decided to give it a try. He saw a yoga mat

sitting by the window. No one was around, so Fuzzy scampered on over to it. Fuzzy brought

the mat next door to the YMCA where there was a yoga class going on. Fuzzy unrolled his mat

and joined right in. He did the "Downward Facing Dog" pose. He freaked out and ran to

his good friend Foofy's house!

in Framing Your Thoughts this week, we learned about the predicate of a sentence, and learned

how to diagram "bare bones" sentences.

We are especially proud of Dallas this week as he presented a book during Book Buzz at All School Meeting! Others were so impressed that they are busily writing their own Book Buzz submissions!

DATES TO REMEMBER:

*Wednesday, November 11th: No School (Veteran's Day)

*Wednesday, November 18th: An evening with Bill Harley

*Thursday, November 19th: Authorfest Day and Luncheon

(Please return your lunch order forms by 11/13th)

Halloween Parade!

Today our school was transformed by costume and decoration!! What a fabulous parade we had! We began by walking through the school, grade by grade, then filing outside, and finally parading into the Commons. The students had to guess the Faculty costume theme (Ice Cream Flavors) and then we finished with the "Monsters" song led by Mr. Bean. After the parade Second and Third Grades celebrated with their companion classes. Amazingly, all this happened by 9:30 AM! Please enjoy the photos, taken by our own Ean McGonigle.

This week students have been busy with Social Studies projects. The second grade continues to study Community. Last week the children had a wonderful field trip to Escobar's Farm and Corn Maze where they learned about rural community. After the visit, we learned about the letter writing process and worked on "thank you" letters for Farmer Escobar. In third grade, children worked on constructing salt dough maps of Mexico showing the topography of the country. In the weeks to come we will work on painting our maps, adding a map key, the oceans, and a compass rose.

Have a wonderful weekend, and a safe and festive Halloween!

Buddies

This week 3rd Graders partnered with 2nd Graders in our class and joined the 5th Grade for buddy time. Before buddying up, we had a class discussion about the article "Bullies Beware!" in the current issue of Time For Kids. As a group we talked about our experiences either being bullied or acting as a bully ourselves. We agreed that it is important to speak up if you see someone being bullied, even though it can be difficult to do so. Later, when we met with our 5th grade buddies, children discussed various bullying scenarios and how they might respond.

In reading groups this week 2nd Graders read Jamaica Tag Along by Juanita Havill. Students practiced making text-to-self connections, which is an important comprehension strategy. 3rd Graders read The Spooky Tail of Prewitt Peacock by Bill Peet and continued to practice the comprehension strategy of visualization.

Using the mentor text Miss Tizzy by Libba Moore Gray, students brainstormed friends in their lives that they could write about in their journals. Next week we will choose one of these friends to write a piece about.

Next week we are looking forward to meeting with you all during Parent-Teacher Conferences. We will spend about 25-30 minutes with parents and then invite your child to join us for about 10-15 minutes. We find this to be an empowering way to engage children in their own learning and involve them explicitly in the process of examining their learning journeys.

Please contact us if you have any questions!

Have a great weekend!

Lee and Megan

Social Studies

Second and Third Graders have been working in integrated groups with their companion classes on theme-based Social Studies projects. In Second Grade, students are involved in a year-long study of "Community." Currently we are learning about our classroom and school communities. Children are working on making a "bird's eye view" map of our classroom. Thus far, they have sketched maps and added key details. Soon children will use these sketches to complete maps on the computer, complete with compass roses that they have individually designed. In addition, students have chosen a member from the school community to interview about how they help Friends Academy.

The year-long theme in Third Grade is the study of "World Cultures." Children have been learning about world maps, continents, and oceans. To begin, each student was asked to complete a blank world map and fill in any continents that they knew. This proved to be quite difficult for many! Afterwards, students were given the opportunity to consult various maps and atlases to learn more. In small groups, children worked on creating collaborative world maps, labeling the continents, oceans, and adding a compass rose. Soon, we will begin to focus in on Mexico, its geography and placement. Students will have the opportunity to work in small groups to make flat maps of Mexico and then salt-dough maps to highlight the country's topography.

Writing

This week children worked hard to publish their first writing piece! Next week, we will have a chance to share our pieces with the group from our "Author's Chair."

Ask Us About . . .

*Our Constellation groups.

*Sharing during Meeting.

*Closed Syllables.

*What is means to "visualize."

*Number words.

Dates To Remember:

*No School: Monday, 10/12 (Columbus Day)

*Parent Conferences: 10/21 &10/23 (Please sign up if you have not done so already.)

Have a GREAT long weekend!!

Readers, writers, and mathematicians!

This week, 2nd and 3rd graders have been immersing themselves in independent reading activity. Books of all genres can be found tucked in bright red reading folders, cradled in hands as children get cozy on pillows, shared between friends, and held up at meeting time as suggestions for others to read. Children have learned how to find a "just right" book using our lettering system as well as some rules of thumb. If a book has five or more words that they cannot read and/or they have difficulty recalling what they just read, a book is likely too difficult for independent reading purposes. The process of picking a book can be truly empowering, as children assert their opinions and interests. Routinely, our class discusses what we are each reading independently--even the teachers! In addition, children have the opportunity to recommend a book that they have read to others.

In Writer's Workshop, children have been learning about the editing process. This week we edited our writing for for capitalization at the beginning of sentences, capitalization of proper nouns, and punctuation at the end of a sentence. Utilizing mentor text, we discussed how "sight" and "sound" words can add interest to our stories. Children reread their writing and added sight and sound words to their sentences. We all agreed it made them much more interesting to read and easier to visualize!

The concept of visualization is one that we are exploring in our reading groups as well. Children are noting how descriptive words and phrases in the text that we are reading can help us to create a mental image and visualize what is happening in the books we are reading. This exercise of "visualization" leads to greater comprehension.

In math we have been continuing to enjoy our cognitive activity "What's my rule?" and students have begun to lead this activity themselves. In addition we have been studying graphs and their usefulness in examining data. Next week we will do some surveys and graph our results.

Dates to Remember:

Tuesday, October 6th: Pizza Day!

Curriculum Overview Night

Wednesday, October 21st: Parent Conferences (after school)

Friday, October 23rd: Parent Conferences (No school for students)

Have a great weekend!