Dear parents,

We had a successful field trip to the MFCU bank this morning.  The students were interested in all the recycled materials used  to construct the building.  This week we are working on the blue prints for the ecological school model.  Next week we will begin working on the actual model.  For this week of construction, we will need small boxes, paper towel tubes, duct tape, and any other items usable for a model building.  I will start collecting boxes and such this week. Thanks.

In math, this week we are reviewing concepts seen earlier in the year and piloting a new program called “Bridges.”

In literacy we are reading books in small groups I am calling “book clubs.”  We focus on comprehension through book talks.

Have a wonderful week and enjoy this beautiful weather!

Saludos,

Lynn

I’m back!  I had a wonderful trip with the MIS 8th graders to Mexico.  They learned a lot of Spanish, Mexican culture and local marine biology.

Sherry did a fantastic job teaching the class in my absence and I extend a heartfelt thank-you to her for her time and dedicaiton.

We have been talking about energy and sustainability in buildings.  We will continue to talk about that as well as begin our blueprints for the school design.

We have two field trips coming up.  We are going to the International Wildlife Film Festival this Friday and are meeting at the Bronze Fish between 8:45-9:00 am. 

The other is on Tuesday May 15th.  We will be taking a bus to the Missoula Federal Credit Union on Russel St. to tour the ecological features in the building.

We finished up the fractions unit this week and I will send home the assessment tomorrow.  Next week we will pilot a new math program called Bridges. We will continue this program for two weeks.

Have a great week.  I will fill you in about our new Math in Monday’s update.

Dear parents,

I am excited about my chaperone trip to Mexico with the MIS 8th graders this coming week.  We invite Sherry to step in to the class.  She has spent a great deal of time in our class recently and the kids know her well.    I anticipate an easy week with the routine continuing as normal.

Sherry will be continuing with our new PYP unit on ecological schools.  She will work on perimeter and area, as well as look at alternative energy.

In literacy,  the class will be doing reading and writing centers.  They will have reading homework once again as well as math homework almost every day.  In Math they will continue working on fractions.

I will return to school on Wednesday May 9th ready to finish up the school year with a bang!  Have a wonderful week.  Please email Sherry with any questions you may have regarding the class.

Thanks,

Lynn

Welcome to early summer!

There is no school this Friday and Monday April 30th.  We look forward to a 4 day weekend.

I hope everyone enjoyed the Earth day weekend.  Our kids did a great job presenting about pollution and made great connections throughout the unit.  Today we received a return letter from Governor Brian Schweitzer regarding the use of clean energy in Montana!  The class is excited to see their action making a difference.

This week we begin our final PYP unit of the year, which follows pollution wonderfully.  We focus on designing and creating models of ecological schools.  The central idea is:  Schools can be designed and organized to reduce the impact on the environment. Throughout this unit, we will be doing a lot of geometry.  We will learn how to create blue prints, looking at perimeter and area.  We will talk about a school’s needs and wants and the importance of building in sustainable ways.    The end result will be a 3-D model of the school, which we will have on display the last week of school.

I wanted to advise you that I will be gone on the EPI 8th grade trip to Mexico from April 30-May 7.  I will miss six days of school, but we invite Sherry.  She will be my sub.  She has been in the 2/3 team in Patricia’s class since December and has recently spent ample time in my room.  She knows the kids well.  Sherry is the perfect replacement for that week.

This week we have conferences.  Thank you to those of you who have come already.  Here is the schedule once more for the remainder of the week.

Tuesday April 24^th, 2012 (F)

Wednesday April 25^th, 2012 (A)

Thursday April 26^th, 2012 (B)

Welcome back to the blog!  We are up and running again.  This week we are finishing our persuasive letters in Spanish to Spanish speaking senators and governors around the country regarding pollution and the environment.  We are also finishing our projects and preparing them to present on Saturday.

The class will meet here at 10:00 am and then will go on a short lower Rattlesnake clean-up around the school.   I encourage them to bring plastic bags this week from home.  We want  to re-use and not generate more garbage by using new ones.

We will all meet back at school around 11:30 for our presentations.  There will be tables set up along the gym outside where both 2/3 classes will be presenting informally until 12:00 when the music jam begins.

Along with persuasive writing in literacy we focus on reading fluency and comprehension.  This week we are looking at interpreting text, trying to find the deeper message that the author is trying to tell us.

In math, this week we begin exploring fractions.  We continue to practice fact power and mental problem solving skills.

Reading homework will go home tomorrow.

Have a lovely week!  I look forward to seeing you on Saturday!

Dear parents,

We are deep into our pollution unit and the students are learning all about how it alters our environment.  We have focused on land and water pollution and will start looking at air pollution later this week.  Tomorrow we will do several science experiments on water, different liquids in water (contaminants and toxins), and garbage in water and what floats.  We will also look at the floatation of different garbage in fresh water and salt water.

On Thursday morning we will walk over to the Skaggs building for our air pollution presentation by Tony Ward (father of Ana Ward). 

In literacy this week we started our persuasive letter writing unit of study.  We are looking at different books that have letters written, discussing letter structure and process of persuasive writing.  Each day the students are writing different letters to practice this skill. To culminate this unit, the students will write letters to local and state legislature regarding pollution and what they would like to see happen to reduce it.

In math, both 2nd and 3rd grade groups focus on new concepts.  2nd graders are doing basic multiplication for the first time in class and we focus on the “repeated addition” concept to really embed understanding of what it means to multiply.

3rd graders focus on ‘factors’ of multiplication,or “multiples of.”  Tomorrow I will teach the first step in the Order of Operations, the parenthesis.

Please remember that this coming Sunday March 25th is the International Festival at the UM and is considered a family school day.  Your child will take home a passport on Friday that they will need to take with them on Sunday to the university.

Thank you for reading with your child this week, which deals with pollution.  Have a wonderful week!

Sincerely,

Lynn

Dear parents,

We are extremely excited about our new unit on pollution.  Learning about garbage is actually quite fascinating and we look forward to our trip to the Missoula Landfill tomorrow.  Thank you to those parents who have volunteered to go along.

We have been talking about the packaging problem analyzing our lunch boxes. We have been seeing how much (or how little) garbage we  generate from the food we bring to school.  I love how enthusiastic our students are about this subject.

On Wednesday we have a scheduled presentation from the Watershed Education Network.  This is the venue into water pollution.  They will show a model aquifer much like Missoula’s own, and how toxins filter through the ground to pollute our water.  Next week we will look at air pollution and will take another field trip to the air pollution lab at the University.  This will be next Thursday March 22nd.  We will walk to the University Skaggs building, have a presentation on air pollution and a tour of the labs and pollen collection center.  These permission slips will go home on Wednesday.

We are integrating both literacy and math with this unit.  It involves numbers, measuring, graphing as well as reading sources and writing about them.

A pollution reading will go home tomorrow for homework much like last week with a focus on cause and effect.

Have a wonderful week!

Dear parents,

This week we are transitioning out of our transportation unit and into our pollution unit.  The students are finishing their PowerPoint presentations that will then go home for your viewing.

The central idea for this unit is : Pollution alters our environment.  We will focus on land, water and air pollution, but start this week with land pollution.  We have many interactive activities planned, including a field trip to the Missoula landfill scheduled for next Tuesday.  Permission slips went home today.  We will pick up trash around the school this week, categorize what we find, graph it and then make an art mural with the garbage.  There will be writing components to this project as well.  Students will be reading about our planet and garbage/pollution in literacy.

For homework this week, everyone took home a packet.  The focus this week is fluency as they are to read the passage once each day and initial at the top.  However we are also focusing on reading comprehension.  They are to finish one section each day and return the finished packet on Friday.

We have two new university students that will be spending ample time in our class.  They are education/Spanish majors and are doing field experience.  Their names are Alysa and Casandra.  We are excited to have the extra help, their expertise and cultural input in our classrooms.

Have a lovely early March week.  I think we may be warming up outside!

Love, Lynn

Dear parents,

This week we are talking about how transportation is changing and what the different modes of transportation will look like in the future.  We are discussing the main reasons for change:

safety, globalization, energy and pollution and technology.

This week the students are finishing their PowerPoint presentations that will be sent home for your viewing.  They are also publishing their informational reports.

We will begin a new unit next week on pollution.  Again we will focus on land, air and water.  As a transition between the two, we plan on taking a field trip on Friday morning to Missoula in Motion.  They will look at the Mountain Line bus routes, talk about the different ways Missoulians get around and discuss the environmental impact of each.  The permission slips went home in the planner today.  They need to be signed and brought back tomorrow.

Also, I asked students to discuss what it means to be “aerodynamic.”  They are to spark conversation with you parents about the concept, as well as to look at what their chosen mode of transportation will look like in the future.

This week in literacy we focus on reading comprehension, making connections and predictions.  I have finished “James y el melocoton gigante” and the students LOVED it!  Now I am reading “Stone Fox y la carrera de trineos.”  The switch from fantasy to historical fiction is huge and the class is making the transition smoothly.

In math, we are making a length of day graph for February.  This is the concept of counting elapsed time.  It is a project that requires discussion and group work, and they are enjoying the challenge.

Remember to turn in the reading logs this Thursday.  It would help Laura immensely if you already had the minutes totaled for each category.

Have a lovely last week of February.
Love, Lynn

Dear parents,

I hope everyone had a relaxing and fun long weekend!

This week in school we focus on how transportation has changed through time.    We are writing informational reports and working on  PowerPoint presentations.

In literacy we continue to focus on various reading comprehension strategies.  I will finish reading aloud “James y el melocoton gigante” this week and the students will do an in-class book project.  I will then begin reading “Stone Fox” in Spanish.  I look forward to reading aloud this story because it is new to almost every student.  We will be able to discuss being devoted, caring and using dog sleds as a means of transportation.

In math, second grade is focusing on different strategies adding and subtracting larger numbers in applicable and authentic ways.  Third graders are delving deeper into line segments and geometry.  We continue focusing on multiplication fact memorization as well.

There are no more skating days so Fridays will be normal from now on.

Thank you for reading so much at home.  Together, this class is a reading machine!