October 26th-30th

I hope everyone had a fun filled Halloween !! It was so nice to see so many of you at our class party on Friday.  Here are some pictures from the party. Thank you to Dylan's mom for taking the photos.

Here are some things we worked on during the week.

Writing- This week in writing we focused our attention on adding details to our narratives. Students were given leaves and magnifying glasses to help us with the concept of "magnifying" and stretching out our small moments. Using the leaves and magnifying glasses students noticed small details in the leaves like the colors, veins, markings, size etc. We then talk about how we need to do the same with our narratives. Students learned they can focus in on their one small moment and write lots of details about it.

Reading- In reading we continued talking about what to add on our post it notes. We also spent some time this week talking about retells and what to include when giving your partner a retell. The main parts to a retell include:who are the main characters, what is the setting, what is the problem and solution, and then giving a description of the beginning, middle and end. We have also been talking about retell in our guided reading groups.

Math- We finished chapter 3 this week in math and our chapter test will be on Monday. This week we learned how to solve multiple step problems and thinking addition to 10 and addition to18 to help us subtract.

Social Studies- The tally is in and the chocolate chip cookie won! Students were treated to a chocolate chip cookie on Wednesday. :-) We also discussed goods and services and needs and wants this week. We watched two brain pop videos about these two topics to help us learn about the differences.

Spelling- There is no spelling this week. New spelling words will come home on Friday November 6th and the test will be on Thursday November 12th due to no school on the 11th in observance of Veteran's Day.

Don't forget:

1. Turn your clocks back one hour on Sunday.
2. A healthy snack for your child each day.
3. There is a half day of school on Tuesday November 3rd- Election Day. Dismissal will be at 12:10.

October 19 - 23

I apologize about this post being a couple days late. We had a very busy weekend and I did not have time to update. Here is a peek at what we did last week.

Writing- This week we continued working on our beginnings and middles of our narratives. I met with small groups of students to help them get started on their beginning. Students have done a great job thinking of their topics and the ideas they would like to write about. We also briefly started to talk about the end of our stories. We will look more closely at the end as well as adding more details to our narratives this week.

Reading- In reading we learned about thinking as we are reading. Students learned that they think about different things as they read. They may make predictions about what is going to happen next or they might make some connections to other books or themselves. They might ask questions as they are reading or come away learning something new. We talked about how it is helpful to write their thoughts down on a post it note during and after their reading to share with a partner. The students have done a nice job using the post it notes to make connections, predictions, questions they have etc.

Math- We started off the week with our chapter 2 test. Everyone did very well with this unit and it showed on their tests. We also started math stations last week. Everyone did a fine job rotating through the different stations. We began chapter 3 last week and should finish up this week. Chapter three is all about using our subtraction strategies to help us solve subtraction math problems.

Social Studies- This week in social studies we started a discussion on voting. We talked about what it means to vote. Together we completed a KWL chart on things they already knew about voting and things that they wanted to learn about voting. We watched a video of the book Duck For President which talked about the voting process. Also last week students learned about an election the class would have on their favorite kind of cookie- Milano or Chocolate Chip. We read some facts about each type of cookie and students voted on the cookie they would like to win. They all had a fun time with this lesson.

I hope everyone enjoyed the weekend. Thank you to everyone who has attended parent teacher conferences. It has been nice to share the progress your children are making each day.

Don't forget:

1. Wednesday October 28th is a half day for our last parent teacher conference. Dismissal will be at 11:45.

2. Our class Halloween party is scheduled for Friday October 30th at 2:30.

3. A healthy snack for your child each day.

Mrs. Salmonsen

October 12-16

Well it certainly is beginning to feel more like fall. This is my favorite time of year. I love the cooler weather, the colorful falling leaves and football on T.V.. As you can see our class is busy getting ready for Halloween!

Below are some of the things we worked on this week.

Writing- This was an exciting week in writing. Students began writing the beginning to their narrative. Before writing the beginning, students were given a writing booklet and across the top of the pages they jotted down ideas of what they would like to write. This helped them to map out their story and have a plan for how their story will go. Students shared their ideas with a partner and practiced telling their partner verbally their story. As students continue to work on their narratives, please ask them what they are writing about and help them to remember specific details from that time. We will continue to work on our narratives throughout the next few weeks.

Reading- This week we put all three literacy stations together- Read To Self, Read To Someone, and Listen To Reading. Students rotated throughout the week going to each station while I finished up some reading assessments. Students did a great job and have a great grasp on what is expected at each station. Next week I will begin pulling guided reading groups as students work through these stations.

Math- We finished chapter 2 on addition strategies. On Monday we will have our chapter review and test and then on Tuesday we will begin chapter 3 which is all about using subtraction strategies. Next week I will also begin my guided math groups. During these math groups students will be working in different stations. One station they will come to me for a small group instruction lesson, the other station is working independently on their independent practice booklet and the third station is practicing math facts through games and using the iPads. We practiced this station on Friday. Below are some pictures of the kiddos completing this station. This week we talked about adding three numbers, how to make 10, and some problem solving skills and strategies.

Spelling- This weeks word family is the AN family. Students will bring home their individualized spelling list to study over the weekend. Please take some time and help your child practice their spelling words. Our spelling test is on Wednesdays. They should practice the words that are in their own handwriting and are on the looseleaf sheet of paper.

Don't forget:

1. On October 22nd we have another half day for parent teacher conferences. We will dismiss students at 11:45.

2. A healthy snack for your child each day.

3. Our class Halloween party is scheduled for October 30th at 2:30. All parents are invited. Please contact Sarah Metcalfe or Julie Gilberg if you are interested in helping out.

October 2nd- October 9th

Happy October!  We continue to work hard in room 19.

Writing- This week in writing we spent some time talking about small moments. A small moment in one specific moment when something happened. It is not something that has happened over time. Small moments are like the seed of a watermelon. A watermelon is a much bigger topic like a family vacation. A seed topic is something very specific like going surfing at the beach while on vacation. Students talked with each other and decided whether or not their topics were seed topics or watermelon topics.

Reading- In reading this week we learned about the Listen To Reading station. At this station students will be using the iPads to listen to books. This week they listened to students using Bookflix. Bookflix can be accessed from the Hamagrael library webs page and is free to use. After listening to the story, students completed different activities based on what the story was about. We also began a discussion about what goes on a post it note during and after they are reading. We talked about connections and predictions as being two  types of strategies they can write on their post it note to help with their comprehension.

Math- We continued chapter 2 this week. This chapter is all about reviewing addition strategies to help us when we add. We started off by reviewing how to add 0, 1, and 2. We also reviewed our doubles facts and our doubles plus one or near doubles facts. For fun, students played addition bingo to help reinforce the concepts we learned this week.

Social Studies- Our Scholastic News this week was all about firefighters in a community. We specifically looked at the three types of communities there are- rural, urban, and suburban. Students compared this three types of communities and learned about what makes them the same and different. Students also worked on making a paper ice cream craft that labeled where we live starting with Earth and ending at their address.


Don't forget:

1. Friday is a half day for parent teacher conferences. Dismissal will be at 11:45. If you forgot your conference date and time please contact me and I would be happy to tell you when you are scheduled.

2. A healthy snack for your child each day.

Mrs. Salmonsen

Hello October

We have successfully completed our first month of school! I can't believe October is already here. It seems like yesterday I was meeting your children for the first time. This week was also our first full week of school since we started. We were very busy. Here is a little look at what we did this week.

Writing- This week students had the opportunity to share with one another their list of possible narrative topics. They enjoyed hearing about the different events and times in their friends lives. The following day the students chose their topic that they wanted to use to write their narrative. Students brainstormed some ideas of what they would like to write for the beginning, middle and end using a  story planner graphic organizer. We read Owl Moon and The Leaving Morning in their entirety and discussed why these books are considered a narrative and that both books focus in on one small moment.

Reading- Students were given ziplock bags this week and had the opportunity to pick books that are just right for them for independent reading time. We discussed the 3 finger rule. This will be helpful to students when choosing books in the classroom and in the library. The 3 finger rule means that when your child reads a page they should have less than 3 errors per page. If they have more than 3 errors on a page the book is too challenging. We also talked this week about making sure the books we read make sense to us and we are able to comprehend what we are reading. We talked about sometimes we can read all the words in the text but if we can't understand what we are reading, the book is also too challenging. Students know they have to find the right balance between knowing the words and understanding. We also talked about some stations the students will be completing while I am teaching guided reading groups. The two we talked about this week are Read To Self where students read independently Read To Someone where students read to a partner.

Math- In math we finished up chapter one with a lesson on problem solving. Students had to determine whether or not they needed to add or subtract after reading a math story problem. The next day we completed a math reteach page to help us prepare for our chapter 1 test. And on Wednesday students took their chapter 1 test. These were sent home last week. I was pleased with how everyone did. Next week we will start chapter 2.

Social Studies- This week we watched a geography powerpoint video about where we live. The powerpoint showed the students that while we live in a small community of Delmar it is part of something much bigger. We looked at the breakdown of where Delmar really is starting with Earth, North America, United States, New York, Albany County, Town of Bethlehem, and then where they live. We are in the process of making a craft to help us visualize this.

Spelling- The word family this week is the AB family. Please help your child study their spelling words to be prepared for the test on Wednesday.

I hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful weekend. Just a reminder as the weather is beginning to change and get cooler, please remember to send your child to school with a coat. It is still cool some days when the kiddos go out for recess and a sweatshirt is needed to keep them warm.

Don't forget:

1. A healthy snack for your child each day
2. Parent Teacher conferences are right around the corner. Please contact me if you forget your day and time or you need to reschedule.

September 21 - 25

It is hard to believe we have finished our third week of school. The students are starting to settle into our routine nicely. I hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful cooler weather. I know I am. :-) Here is a little peek at what we did this week.

Writing- This week we read The Best Story by Eileen Spinelli. This is a wonderful book when talking about writing from your heart. The little girl in the book wanted to write a story but could not decide what to write about. She learned that the best kind of stories come from your heart. We also talked about where writers get their ideas from. We looked at two master writers Jane Yolen who wrote Owl Moon and Angela Johnson who wrote The Leaving Morning. I read the first couple pages of each book and we talked about where these authors got their ideas from. We learned that these stories were meaningful and important to these authors because they wrote from their heart. We will use these two stories as a resource and mentor text when we write our own stories (narratives). As an extension to the books, I asked each student to think of happy, sad, scared times in their life. They filled out a graphic organizer to help them write down these times to help them begin to brainstorm possible narrative topics.

Reading- We are improving our reading stamina each day. This week we talked about what our reading workshop will look like. First I will teach a mini-lesson, then students will have independent silent reading to practice that skill, and then there will be some time for students to share. We also talked about some problems that may come up during independent reading like what happens if you have to use the bathroom or a friend is making noise and distracting you. Another thing we talked about is how to distinguish between a book that is too hard, just right or too easy and the three finger rule. A just right book is a book that you can read at a smooth pace,  the reading sounds like you are talking, and you can understand what you are reading. A book is too hard if the reading is choppy, hard to understand, the reader stopped many times to figure out unknown words and does not make sense.

Math- We continued unit 1 this week. We learned how to compare addition and subtraction, read stories about separating and read stories about comparing. We will work on some problem solving next week and then take our unit 1 test. We will then begin unit 2 towards the middle of next week. Also this week students took a placement test to help me learn some more information about them as math students.

Social Studies- On Monday we watched a Brainpop video on community helpers. We learned that there are many types of community helpers. The students were very eager and excited to share what types of community workers you all are! We also read a Scholastic News magazine about Johnny Appleseed.

Spelling- We started spelling this week. On Thursday the students took a pretest on the AG word family. After the pretest students marked which words they got wrong on the pretest. Then on Friday they used any of the words they got wrong on their pretest to put on their own individualized spelling list. Some of their words also came from a list of AG words the students thought of as a class. All students spelling lists came home today. They are all individualized and no two students have the same exact list. The students should study their spelling list which is on notebook paper and be prepared for their spelling test on Wednesday. Please feel free to email with any questions you may have.

Don't forget:

1. A healthy snack for your child each day.
2. School Pictures are Monday September 28th at 10:30.
3. Check your child's take home folder each day.
4. On September 29th at 9:10 we will have a class breakfast. All parents are invited!

Mrs. Salmonsen

September 15th - 18th

We got right down to business this week. We have started learning many new things in reading, writing, math and social studies. I hope everyone enjoyed the beautiful weather this week. It was so nice out, I could not resist taking the kiddos outside for a few minutes at the end of the day a couple days. Here are some of the things we worked on this week.

Writing- We started the week talking about things that we love. We made heart maps to go along with what we love. Students came up with so many things they love including family, pets, friends, school, sports etc. We also did a writing survey which helped me learn a little bit about themselves as  writers. Questions on the survey included: what is the best thing about writing, what is hard for you as a writer, what do you like to write, what have you written in the past, and then one thing they wanted me to know about themselves as a writer. This was very informative to me as we progress through our writing this year.

Reading- In reading we talked about our goals this year as a reader. Students answered the question  As A Reader I Want To….. and they listed their goal. They also drew a picture of themselves in their favorite reading spot. We spent some time talking about what we like about reading, what we don't like, what kinds of books we like to read and where we like to read. We also looked around our class library and found out where many of the books in the library are located. We talked about what reading workshop will look like in our classroom and we spent some time reading independently. We will work on our reading stamina throughout the year.

Math- Unit 1 is underway. This unit is all about understanding addition and subtraction. We played an addition game with a partner, learned how to write addition number sentences, read stories about joining two parts together as well as learned how to write subtraction number sentences. Math homework came home on Friday and is due back to school next Friday September 25th. If students finish their math before Friday, they may hand it in earlier.

Social Studies- We continued our talk about communities. We talked about the laws in a community and what happens when you break that law. We compared laws of a community to our classroom and school rules and if we break those rules there is a consequence. I read a few pages from Community A To Z.  We also watched a Brainpop video on schools in a community. On Friday we read a Scholastic News article titled Monkey Manners. Ask your child what kinds of manners monkeys have. They also went on a text feature hunt throughout the article to locate headings, captions, and titles.

Also this week we took our second spelling inventory. This was to test the students on the second set of second grade priority words. On Tuesday Darnell Douglas, our school guidance counselor, came in and did a lesson with the students on starting a new school year and what things we may be afraid of and what things we have overcome and are not afraid of anymore. It sure was a busy but productive week.

Don't forget:

1. A healthy snack for your child each day
2. Fall Family Picnic is this Sunday from 4-6.

Have a wonderful weekend,

Mrs. Salmonsen