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Dear Families: We've been busy getting back into school mode this week after our February vacation. The students have been great at getting serious about learning, as well as helping me get acclimated after two weeks away from our room. Thank you guys and girls! In reading workshop we have started to write in Reading Response Journals (RRJ). Each day we have worked together to model different things that we could write about. The children write their responses in the form of a letter to me and I respond to their writing with a letter of my own. We write about our reading, connections, favorite parts, and questions we may have. So far I have been really impressed with the effort shown on this assignment. Each student writes one time a week and can choose which day he or she would like to write. Everyone needs to do one response by Friday. In writing we continue to work with poetry. We set up a poetry museum in our room and have been trying to look at the everyday objects in it with "poet's eyes". We have been jotting down some vivid mental images that we think of. We have discussed the difference between scientist notes and poet notes. Ask your son or daughter about how this is going so far. We have many poets already! These kids are so creative and I learn from them every day! We finished our math unit on fractions today. What a challenging experience for students and families! Thank you for helping your son or daughter. This is certainly a beginning skill and the students are not expected to have mastered every component to fractions at this time. The students will be seeing fractions over the next couple years as well. If you have the Family Math Games Kit handy, the Everyday Math Deck of cards has fractions on one side, which are really helpful for comparing fractions. Your family could also play "Fraction Top It" if you would like. Also, remember that the yellow family letter that goes home at the beginning of each unit has the answers to the Home Links for that unit. These answers can be helpful in helping your child with homework if he or she is stuck. Thank you for your flexibility with the homework this week. Because we took our time with a couple math lessons, I switched some of the assignments outlined on the homework sheet so that the kids would be more ready for the assignments when they went home. Sincerely, Megan Zottoli-Breen February 3, 2006 Dear Families: We did it! We made our goal of 100 cans of corn. We are so excited. Thank you so much for helping the food pantry and allowing us to meet our goal. We will have a school presentation on Thursday, February 16 at 2:00 in the gym. Each class will showcase their item and present a food pantry representative with a certificate of accomplishment. We will also sing a song, The Hundredth Day of School as a school. Some classes still need cereal, carrots, peaches, and cans of sauce if you have extra you would like to donate. Next week is our Second Grade Concert. It is on Wednesday, February 8 at 6:00 p.m. Please have students report to our classroom at 5:45 to put on costumes. Each child has made an apron in art. Students are invited to wear an apron from home or the one that he or she made in class. Each student also has a chef's hat to wear. These hats are in our classroom. February 14th is Valentine's Day. We will have a class party at 2:00 that day where children will exchange cards. I sent home a class list last week. If you need another, please let me know. If anyone would like to contribute a special snack or juice, please sign up and return the slip below. Next Friday, February 10 we will make our Valentine bags or boxes. If your child would like to decorate a box, please send in a shoebox sized box. I have lunch bags that students can decorate if they would rather. If you would like to come help us design our boxes and bags, feel free to stop by on the 10th at 2:00. We would love to see you! We continue to study and explore topics in weather. In the next few weeks we will be making some weather tools. We could use some glass jars with wide necks if you have any that you do not need. Thanks for all of your support! Megan Zottoli-Breen
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I would like to bring ___________________________________________________ to the Valentine's party. January 13, 2006 Dear Families: There is never a dull moment when it is Friday the thirteenth and almost a full moon! Today also concludes our first five day week in quite a while. Hooray! In math we began to explore double digit subtraction using the "trades first" method. We have used base ten blocks to help us understand what is going on when we subtract. Please refer to the Unit 6 family letter to know more about "trades first". (The letter went home on yellow paper late last week.) More information will also go home with a Home Link early next week. Again, feel free to expose your child to other ways of subtracting. Please be sure to take a moment to familiarize yourself with "trades first" so that you can support your child with the way we are currently subtracting in school. Thanks! We have completed The End of the Beginning, the district wide book that students from pre-K through grade 12 are reading. We laughed quite a bit at the simplicity of Avon the snail and Edward the ant. Ask your son or daughter what he or she thought about the book. There will be a district wide book celebration in March. In writing we read Owl Moon by Jane Yolan and we wrote mental images associated with the story. We used our five senses to describe walking in the snow at night. We took some of our images and tried to put them into a poetic format. We have been helping each other add more details to our poetry. The students have been very patient with this process. It is tough to go from writing complete sentences with capitalization and punctuation to writing in a freer way with fewer rules. Some of the students refuse to do it! We have also used watercolors to illustrate our poem. Thank you for the corn donations. We have around 30 cans so far! Fabulous. The students enjoy figuring out how many more we need to gather to meet our class goal. We still have about a month to go. Enjoy your weekend. I will see everyone next Tuesday. January 6, 2006
Dear Families: Happy New Year! I hope you all had a nice holiday. It has been fun hearing about all of the kids' adventures at morning meeting time and in their journals. We've had a great week back. We have slowed down our pace and have focused on taking our time with reading, writing, and math to get back into the swing of things. Soon we will begin to study weather and read and write more poetry. We have talked about how important it is to read each day. With the busy days before break, the students were not as diligent about bringing home their book bags. I do encourage them to bring their books home to read, but some do say they have one they are reading at home. That is fine with me as long as they do have "just right" books that they enjoy reading. It is still important that book bags come to school each day so that we can use books for reading groups. Now that the students are reading more of a variety and longer books than last year, they may not need to trade books quite as often. Please know that the students are given times each day to trade books or choose books and read independently. Remind your son or daughter to switch books if you notice he or she needs some new selections. We have also discussed how reading is the single most important thing that we can do to become better students. I reminded the class that the weekly reading log is a required activity. Some students faithfully pass in the log each week. Some students are slipping in this area. Please know that in third grade students will also be asked to record on a reading log. Although students may not have time to read a lot each night or may have nights that families are busy, it is important to encourage reading and recording when possible. Thanks for your reading support! I know it is important to families as well. In math we completed our unit on Geometry with a lesson on symmetry. Now we are working with addition and subtraction computation and number stories. We learned a new math game called "Fermi, Pico, Bagels". We love it! It is good for place value and logic. I attached the directions in case you would like to play with your family. It comes from the book, Family Math. Our class could use some tissues and extra snacks if your family has any you would like to donate. Please see the attached notice about an upcoming school wide food drive to celebrate our 100th day of school which is coming in February. Our class is in charge of corn. Enjoy your weekend! December 19, 2005 Dear Families: This month has been one 4 day week after another with these Friday storms! Please remember we don't have school this Friday so we can start our holiday break. We will return to school on Tuesday, January 3. We have been busy wrapping up our formal learning about Native Americans. We have focused on many tribes across the United States. The students read about the tribes, found where that specific tribe lives in the country, and made vocabulary cards that tell about some of the things specific to that tribe. They also have made a quick project to remind themselves about one significant thing about that tribe. We have focused on such skills as: reading for meaning, finding bold faced words, comparing and contrasting, and following directions. We have also been "Cruising the Continents". Your son or daughter's suitcase will be going home shortly with a packet of information from each nation we visited, plus a small souvenir to remember their trip to that place. Ask your child to tell you more about it! Also you may want to take a moment to quiz your child to see if he or she can remember which country is on what continent. This can be confusing for younger learners. Thank you for your assistance with our International Food Festival which is scheduled for Wednesday at 1:45. We couldn't do it without you! If you are still thinking about sending in an item, we could use juice, bowls, and a couple more paper table cloths. On Thursday, to celebrate the coming holidays, we will have an informal holiday snack and holiday team spelling bee (which the kids love!) I will provide the snack. If families have something they'd like to share, please feel free to send it in, but do not go out of your way. Thursday is busy. We will be singing as a school community at 2:00, and we do not have a lot of time allotted in our day for a large affair. Also, we are having the food fest on Wednesday and everyone has been so helpful with the preparations for that. Hope everyone is relaxing this busy time of year! Megan December 2, 2005 Dear Families: This morning we had the treat of a visit from Chewonki Foundation who taught us more about owls. We focused on owls that live in our state of Maine, but we also learned about others as well. We saw a slide presentation an then we got to view three live owls! It was so exciting. Ask your child to tell you more. They were an excellent audience! Today report cards go home. Please let me know if you need more information. This is the time of year I like to send personal goals home for each student. I am working on these goals and aim to send them home next week. We have discussed "fact power" in second grade. Currently we are also working on "spelling power". We are revisiting the 100 first grade words and seeing if we can spell them. These are the ones on our word wall. Knowing how to spell these words on our own will provide us with more writing power. I will be sending home an individual list of words for your child to practice from time to time. We will reassess later this year. We will also look at spelling the second hundred words as well. December is a busy month here at Central. Next Friday, December 9 we are walking over to Berwick Estates to visit the senior citizens and sing some holiday songs. Mrs. Smith will be accompanying us to help us with the music. We will leave Central at 1:45, visit from 2-2:30, and return to school for dismissal. I have walking permission slips for each child. If you would like to join us, please meet us at our classroom at 1:45. In case of snow, we will go on the 16th. Starting on the 12th, we will be "Cruising the Continents". We will travel to the other first and second grade classrooms on our team to learn more about 6 nations. There will be more information in the near future. We will hold a culminating feast on Wednesday, December 21. We will be looking for volunteers to cook a dish or come in to help at the event. We will also have a class holiday special event on that Thursday, December 22. We still need to discuss what we would like to do. (I'm trying not to mention the holidays too early. The kids are so excited already!) I will let you know more when I know. We would love to have you. November 18, 2005 Dear Families: We have been juggling many topics the past week. We have continued to learn about Laudholm Farm and local habitats by working on a Field Trip Journal created by Laudholm. We also have been working on our nonfiction animal books with our partners. We have researched what it looks like, where it lives, and what it eats. We have also practiced creating nonfiction elements such as labeled diagrams and captions for the pictures we draw. We practiced writing captions for the photographs taken that day. We have also specifically been studying owls through read alouds, fact sheets and worksheet activities. Today we dissected owl pellets and tried to determine what our owls ate. We continue to enjoy Poppy each morning. Next week we will begin to study different Native American tribes in the United States through simple readings, literature, games, and activities. We will kick off our study by traveling to other classrooms to hear a story and play a game. Students have been doing great at bringing in homework and keeping up on assignments this week. I hold each student accountable for completing work and doing his or her best. I have been helping students at recess accomplish this as well as asking students to redo work that lacks effort. Thanks for helping me encourage these good study skills at home. These students are so smart and are making wonderful progress. I continue to encourage each student to "show me what they know". We have school next Monday and Tuesday. There will be no official homework. I may send home unfinished class work on Monday night for students who may need to complete work. We have Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off for Thanksgiving break. Enjoy! When we return to school the following Monday, it is gym, day 3. Please remind your child to wear his or her sneakers. Happy Thanksgiving! November 4, 2005 Dear Families: What an exciting, whirl-wind week with Halloween and changing our clocks to standard time! In reading we have been using our "vivid mental images" to help describe what we see in our minds when we hear stories and poetry. We have illustrated some poems to express the "movie in our minds". It is fun and interesting to see how some students see one thing and another will see something totally different! In science we wrapped up our study on the human body. Today we bring home our life sized body that has some of our parts on it. We examined our chicken bones in vinegar. We are now studying habitats and animals that we will see at Laudholm Farm next Tuesday, November 8. Remember that we will be going rain or shine, so please dress for the weather since it is an outside field trip. The more layers the better. If you have not returned the permission slip to school, please do so on Monday so that all the children can go. In writing we have been working on adding more details to our writing by using caret marks and "spider legs". "Spider legs" are strips of paper we attach to the side of our writing to give us more room to add more sentences to clarify or make our stories more interesting. We have been looking at eachothers' writing to make suggestions and point out strengths. Remember that next Friday is Veteran's Day and we will not have school. Have a wonderful fall weekend. I heard it is going to be a nice one.
Sincerely, Megan Zottoli-Breen October 28, 2005 Dear Families: Just a reminder that field trip money and permission slips are now due for our trip to Laudholm Farm on Tuesday, November 8. I will let chaperones know on Monday if we can take you on this trip. Thank you so much for offering. We really appreciate it! This week I have cracked down on homework. Many students are not turning it in or turning it in late. Students are encouraged to come to the classroom in the morning if they are having trouble or need time to do their homework. I have begun to take away recess time to get the homework done for the repeat forgetters. Reading logs are due each Friday. Thanks for your help with the homework! Good study habits now will pay off for years to come. This week in math we learned about Magic Squares and Ben Franklin who created them. Magic Squares have 9 boxes, like a tic tac toe grid. Each direction, when added, equals 15. Attached to this letter I've included directions on how to make your own in case your family is interested. This week in science we have been studying our skeletal system. We will wrap up our study of the body next week. We have been learning names for various bones. Ask your son or daughter about our bone experiments this week. Also this week we took a moment to take tribute to Rosa Parks, who passed away on Monday. We read a book about her life and discussed her contributions to the civil rights movement. Have a great weekend! Be safe! Mrs. Zottoli-Breen October 21, 2005 Dear Families: Brr! It was cold this morning! Fall is definitely here! We have successfully completed our first paperclip chain. It touched the ground earlier this week. As a reward for good behavior, we will watch a short movie and have an ice cream treat next Friday, October 28. The students decided that this is what they would like to do. In math we have continue to practice our facts and review Everyday Math concepts such as What is My Rule? , name collection boxes, and frames and arrows problems, which also help us, remember our facts and build number sense. We will start unit 3 on Monday, which includes place value, money, and time. Look for the yellow family letter on Monday to add to your math home folders to help you with the upcoming unit. This week we studied the digestive system. We role-played the different parts so that we would understand what happens to food in our body. We read mini books and made a digestion poster too. We continue to read and write each day. Students are beginning to finish their first books. They are writing more and more in their journals, and we wrote messages to bus driver Bob for Bus Driver Appreciation Week. Thank you for coming to conferences! I did get a little behind again and I apologize! If I have seen you for a conference without your child, you know my news about having a baby. I am excited to be a mom. My baby is due at the end of March. I feel great and anticipate being in the classroom up until the due date. I told the children this morning and I nearly cried they were so sweet and cute about my news. They gave me a round of applause! A lot had questions and many said "Congratulations!" What a special group of kids. Thank you.
Have a great weekend. I think it is rain free! October 14, 2005 Dear Families: Although a dreary week we have been able to go outside each day for some fresh air. Hooray! Please remember to send your child to school with a sweater or coat each day. It has been cool outside, as well as in our classroom. In reading we have been using our schema (background knowledge) to make connections to our reading, focusing on nonfiction books. Ask your son or daughter to make connections to his or her reading when reading at home. In math we continue to work with fact power and knowing our facts. We have also been using scales to practice weighing objects and making predictions. In writing we are working on our own books. We also made talk bubbles to accompany our photos from the fire station. Take a look at them in the hall outside the room. We discussed Columbus Day and read books from European and Taino Indian perspectives. We talked about what Columbus accomplished and how the Europeans and the Indians viewed the "first contact". Thank you for coming to parent-teacher conferences on Wednesday. Sorry I got a little backed up near the end. I'm looking forward to seeing the second set of parents next week! Have a nice weekend. I'll see everyone for a five day week next week! Megan |
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