Week of February 8
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
The unit 6 math open response and written assessment will be administered on Tuesday, 2/9, and Wednesday, 2/10 respectively. Please continue to refer to the review portion below to assist your child.
Students will not have school on 2/11, 2/12 and 2/15 due to a professional development day for staff, Lincoln’s birthday, and President’s day.
The PTO has chosen the theme for this year for Black History Month. It is “Extraordinary African-Americans throughout History.” The fair will be held Friday, February 26, 2010 beginning at 5:30 p.m. The second grade classes will focus on the Harlem Renaissance. The students will learn about art, music and literature from this period. We will collaborate with the fine arts teacher, Mr. Brown, to create paintings and learn music for a presentation the night of the fair. Room 106 will be turned into a Harlem Renaissance Salon during the fair. If you are able to volunteer with your child’s class, please let us know.
Language Arts:
Independent Reading (35-40 minutes at the beginning of each day)
Teachers administer the DIBELS and the Reading 3D Mid-year Benchmark tests each day during this time.
Differentiated Instruction:
- Administer the Mid-year Benchmark for Reading 3D.
- Writing Conferences
- Guided Reading
There will not be a spelling test for this short week.
Day 1:
Independent Reading
Morning meeting/morning message
Reading Skill: Making Connections
- Students listen to the author read the poem “Mommies” by Nikki Giovanni.
- Teachers guide and provide opportunities for students to make connections during the read aloud.
Writing: Contrasting Ordinary and Poetic Language
This session will point out that poets use comparisons and artful language to convey a sound, an image, an observation, an idea (almost anything!).
-Teachers think-aloud how to analyze the poem using clues given by the author. Explain the author’s intention of conveying her strong feelings through poetic language to capture the reader’s reactions.
- Students use the read-aloud as a model for their writing of poems, which convey strong feelings.
- Students compose a 6- to 8-line poem.
Day 2:
Independent Reading
Morning meeting/morning message
Reading Skill: Making Connections
- Students listen to the author read the poem “The Reason I Like Chocolate” by Nikki Giovanni.
- Teachers guide and provide opportunities for students to make connections during the read aloud.
Writing: Contrasting Ordinary and Poetic Language
This session will point out that poets use comparisons and artful language to convey a sound, an image, an observation, an idea (almost anything!)
- Students share knee-to-knee feelings evoked from the poem through the author’s use of poetic language.
- Teachers and students make diagram to show things/activities they like and what feelings are evoked by the events.
- Students compose a short free-verse poem using the diagram we created.
Day 3:
Independent Reading
Morning meeting/morning message
Reading Skill: Making Connections
- Students listen to the author read the poem “Trips” by Nikki Giovanni.
- Teachers guide and provide opportunities for students to make connections during the read aloud.
Writing: Stretching Out a Comparison (Sustaining a Metaphor)
This lesson teaches students that poets stay with and develop their comparisons.
- Students brainstorm personal experiences about how their perceptions of a given situation are different from those of their parents’. Students share knee-to-knee in pairs.
- Scribes chart students’ ideas as support for independent writing.
- Students write a short poem to describe their experiences.
Math:
6. 10 Division Stories
To guide students as they explore situations that require equal sharing or making equal groups of things
- Mental Math and Reflexes/Math Message
- Math Message Follow-Up (Whole-Class Activity)
- Modeling Equal-Sharing Number Stories (Whole-Class Activity)
- Modeling Equal-Grouping Number Stories (Whole-Class Activity)
- Solving Division Number Stories (Partner Activity)
Differentiate Instruction:
- Students work in assigned pairs solving division stories using counters.
- Readiness: Sharing Cookies Equally
Unit 6 Review:
- Write the time to the quarter hour.
- Solve a parts-and-total situation using a given diagram (e.g. M has 5 cookies, L has 3. How many total?)
- Complete the “What’s My Rule?” table.
- Use the >, <, and = symbols.
- Making ballpark estimates of exact answers (e.g. 57-29=? The ballpark estimate is 60-30=30)
- Solving problems by drawing arrays (e.g. 4 packages of pencils. 3 pencils in each package. How many pencils?)
- Solve a comparison situation using a given diagram (e.g. Jim is 12 years old, Anita is 4 years old. How much older is Jim?)
- Solving 2-digit subtraction problems by using the Trade-First algorithm (e.g. 51- 24=? Students should rewrite 51 as 4 longs and 11 cubes, then they can take away 2 longs and 4 cubes.)
Unit 6 Open Response
- Solve problems involving the addition and subtraction of 2-digit whole numbers.
- Write and solve number sentences involving addition and subtraction.
Unit 6 Written Assessment
Science
What Is an Environment?
Objectives & Reading Focus Skill:
- Draw conclusions about why animals live in certain places.
- Know that there are many different kinds of animals living in different environments.
- Understand that living things adapt to their environments in order to survive.
- Main Idea and Details
- Look for details about where animals and plants live.
Introduce the lesson by building on students’ prior knowledge. Read and discuss vocabulary. Students investigate to find out about how energy flows. They read and learn about environments.
Social Studies:
- Interactive Read Aloud: Abe Lincoln Remembers (Part 2) by Ann Turner
- Guide students to compare/contrast between Washington and Lincoln using a Venn diagram.
Thank you for your support.
Anh Tuan Hoang and LuAnn Lawson