Friendly Reminders:
Field Trip Friday coming up THIS Friday, April 25. We are going to Salem to the bug museum and then (weather allowing), a bug hunt at a nearby park.
Please send back your child's spring pictures, or money, or a combination of the two. They can be dropped off in the office or turned in with homework.
Next Week Preview:
Continue MAP testing. We got the bulk of it done, and students will now be wrapping up here and there as possible.
Preparation for our field trip on Friday. We will be learning about insects that are helpful and harmful; you will know all about Oregon's pests!
The end is in sight for Saxon 3 students! I have winnowed out a few lessons we don't need to touch on, but we will still need to combine a few lessons to make the course fit in the days we have left in the school year. I will do my best to keep homework to the usual amount.
Some of the ways we MAY do this:
- Only do circled sides on mixed homework pages.
- Two lessons covered in class, but only one lesson's homework assigned.
- More "optional" or "bonus" homework given; children and families may choose to do more if there is time or if your child needs extra practice. I remind students that I assign it as optional, but they don't get to argue with you about it!
- A bit more homework over the weekends.
- More fact practice sheets (as these should be pretty fast) and fewer mixed review homework sheets.
Saxon is designed for a five-day school week, so every grade finds ways to make it through the entire course by the end of the year. In the upper grades, they usually do this by doubling the lesson on Thursdays.
Week in Review:
Saxon Math:
Subtracting across zeros (500 - 435); subtracting with regrouping; x3 times table; AND MORE (I just can't remember it all right now).
Riggs:
Content-area words related to honeybees and insects. Thursday's words were all spring-related! Your child acted them all out and knows what "unencumbered" means (we were looking for a HARD bonus word! If you are unencumbered, it is easier to frolic, romp, and have a rumpus with all of your spring time energy!).
Core Knowledge:
We studied social insects in general, and honeybees specifically. Your second grader should be able to tell you:
- Social means to live and work together
- Some examples of social insects are ants, bees, wasps, and termites
- What life is like in a beehive (who is there, what their jobs are) and some cool facts about honey
Second graders were worker bees and built honey comb in our classroom. They learned that quality is important, and if something isn't good enough yet, that doesn't mean they are no good.
We also did a little experiment on ants with sugar. We will follow up on that experiment when the rain stops.
Other:
Mad Science came for a fun assembly about water conservation and a review of the water cycle. We also decorated paper bags for an Albertson's Earth Day celebration. Second graders came up with an excellent list of ways we can help the Earth.
We started our last chapter book of the year: Ramona Quimby, Age 8, which chronicles the third grade year of one of my favorite characters ever by one of my favorite authors ever. Second graders are enjoying the story and getting some ideas of what third grade might be like (there is some worry and trepidation about moving on to be with the bigger kids).
Thank you, Mrs. Brown, for loaning second grade a camera! We are back in business for pictures!
I also updated the Civil Rights post with some pictures of our Civil Rights leaders portraits, in case you haven't seen them yet.
