Themes, Concepts and Objectives for December 5-9

Reading- This week in reading we will learn about first and third person points of view as well as reviewing the parts of a story (beginning, middle and end). Our Theme 7 test will be given on Friday, December 9th.

 Spelling-  Our pattern is au/ al this week. The final spelling test for 2011 will be given on Friday, December 9th!

Cougar Reading- We will practice the comprehension skill of synthesizing as we read various Caldecott winning stories such as Fly Away Home and  Smoky Night. Students synthesize as they read by constantly monitoring for understanding and adding on to that understanding as more of the plot in a story is revealed.

Math- This week we will continue adding two-digit numbers, adding on a number line, and adding more than two numbers.

Social Studies-  We will spend this week learning about maps. We will review some concepts such as legends, symbols and the compass rose and introduce skills such as identifying the 7 continents, 5 oceans and various landforms on earth.

Themes, Concepts and Objectives for November 28th- December 2nd

Reading- This week we will begin Theme 8 by listening to an autobiograpy of Ben Franklin and reading our featured story Robot-Cat. We will  practice sythesizing, a comprehension strategy in which the students examine how their understanding of the story changes as it is being read for the first time.

Spelling-  We will practice /au/ and /aw/ this week.

Cougar Reading-  Our focus is on nouns and verbs this week. We will learn about possessive nouns and identify verbs this week.

Math- In math we will practice adding groups of tens and ones and learn how to regroup.

Writing-  This week we will write a Christmas story as well as learning the parts of a letter.

Science- We will conclude our unit on Plants and Animals this week as we study life cycles.

Themes, Concepts and Objectives for November 14-18

Reading- We will complete theme 6 this week as we re-read  the personal narative Route 66, the story of a family who travels from California to Illinois on Route 66, and  the stops they make along the way to view interesting landmarks. We will  build upon this theme by doing a mini research project on a state of our choice, record information in a booklet and create an informative post card describing our state and reporting various facts.

Spelling- This week we will analyze and practice words with the /oo/ and /ew/ spelling patterns. Look for your child's individualized list to come home on Monday.

Cougar Reading- Students will be transported with Jack and Annie in their Magic Tree House as we read Thanksgiving on Thursday by Mary Pope Osborne. We will utilize the comprehension skills of inferring, comparing and contrasting and questioning to deepen our understanding of the story as the novel is read aloud this week.

Math- Mental math strategies for subtraction will be introduced and practiced this week in Topic 7.

Writing-   Effective organization in writing is the objective this week.  We will address the concepts of inviting introductions, sequencing of events and a strong conclusion this week as we write a post card.

Cougar Math- We will build upon mental math subtraction strategies by practicing Greg Tang's Smart Subtract worksheets in class.

Concpets, Themes and Objectives for November 7-11

Reading- This week we will be learning about cross country travel in our shared reading book Route 66.  As we read we will use Fix-Up strategies to self-monitor for understanding. Good readers need to be trained on how to decode and decipher unknown words and meanings in a text.

Cougar Reading- We will explore the meaning of the word "pilgrim" this week as the novel Molly's Pilgrim is read aloud to the students this week. We will also talk about character traits and identify positive negative traits of characters in a text.

Math- We will  learn and practice stragtegies that help us to mentally add two-digit numbers.

Writing-    We will brainstorm ideas on how a turkey could avoid becoming Thanksgiving dinner, then take our favorite idea and turn it into a first person narative from the perspective of a turkey.

Science-  We will begin the final chapter in our Plant and Animal Science Unit this week as we learn about food webs and food chains in various environments around the world.

Concepts, Themes and Objectives for October 31-Nov 4th

Reading-  This week in reading we will have fun with noisy words as we identify onomatopoeia words such as "boom", "crash", "buzz". We will also perform major surgery on words as we learn about contractions. Our little doctor's in training will contract words such as "did not" to make "didn't" and "she will" to make "she'll". We will take our Theme 5 Reading test on Thursday, November 3rd.

Spelling- We will study the following spelling patterns:-eer, -ear, -air. Test Friday, November 4th.

Cougar Reading- Students will continue to practice the comprehension strategy of inferring this week as we read given passages and use the text and our own experineces to draw conclusions.

Math- We will begin out week by reviewing Topic 5 concepts and take our math test on Tuesday, November 1st. Next we will move into Topic 6 where we will use base ten blocks and cubes and a 100 chart to solve for 2 digit addition problems with and without regrouping.

Writing- This week we will focus on Ideas in writing. We will explore questions such as do we stick to one topic when writing. Do we write for a purpose?

Science-  Ask your second grader if they can describe how animals adapt to live in their environments. They are sure to impress you with all they have learned during our Adaptation Lessons. This week we will review concepts and vocabulary and take a Science test on Thursday, November 3rd.

Cougar Math- We will practice Greg Tang's Making 10 math strategy this week.

Themes, Concepts and Objectives for October 24-28

Reading- We will begin our new theme Where People Live this week reading the selections ACity Is and Where Is Kitty? Our comprehension strategy is making inferences. Good readers infer by using pre-existing knowledge to enhance the meaning of what they are reading. You can reinforce this stragety at home by asking questions such as: "Why did you think that would happen?" or "How do you think the character feels?"

In small reading groups we will be shifting students accordingly to ensure that they are being instructed at the appropriate level. Be sure to ask you second grader about reading groups. They may have a new teacher instructing them or different classmates in their group.

Spelling- We will study r-controlled vowels this week as we practice the "ir" and "ur" spelling pattern in class. Individualized lists will come home on Monday and the spelling test will be on Friday, October 28th.

Cougar Reading- We will introduce proper nouns this week and create a class reference list of capitalization rules.

Math- We are working on place value to 100, odd and even numbers, and greater than less than in EnVision Math this week.  In class, we are beginning to work in small groups where we focus on extending or reteaching concepts as necessary. 

Writing- Problems and Solutions is our concept for the week. Each day we will listen to a story and then practice retelling it by identifying the problem and solution. We will end our week by writing our own story and having a classmate identify the problem and solution within the story.

Science-  This week we will learn about animal habitats and animal adaptations in science. We will define words, and create a colorful brochure of animals from all over the world.

Cougar Math- In math we will introduce and practice the concept of rounding to the nearest 10 and 100. We will also extend upon our current math unit as we create place value cities and towns  in class.

Themes, Concepts and Objectives

Reading- In reading this week we are identifying the main idea and supporting details in our expository text ( non-fiction) selection Super Sun Science. We are also conducting running records and benchmark assessments on students to measure for growth. Your child's small reading group may change in the next few weeks as we shuffle students accordingly in order to instruct them at their individual reading level.

Spelling- R-controlled vowels /ar/ and /or/ will be studied this week. Test THURSDAY, October 13th !!!

Cougar Reading- We will combine grammar instruction with  a spooky Halloween twist as we learn about nouns and adjectives this week. Don't be surprised if your child comes home home talking about wicked witches, haunted houses or terrifying tombstones!!!!

Math- Topic 4 will conclude this week with a Math assessment on Tuesday and the presentation of our Array Projects. Please look in your child's folder for information about the Array project due Wednesday, October 12th.

Writing- We will focus on descriptive and interesting writing as we construct FOR SALE advertisements for a haunted house.

Science-   Students will review the parts of a plant, identify environments and adaptations of various plants and learn about MEAT EATING plants such as the venus flytrap and the pitcher plant.

Themes, Concepts and Objectives for October 3-7

Reading- Theme Four begins on Monday and we will be reading Maui and The Sun and Super Sun Science as we practice the comprehension skill of determining importance. Good readers learn to identify the main idea of a text and it's supporting ideas.

Spelling- Long /u/ spelling patterns /ui/ and /ue/ will be practiced this week.

Cougar Reading- The second graders will go a little batty this week as we reinforce the comprehension strategies: visualizing , asking questions and determing importance as we read several non-fiction books about bats.

Math- Topic 4 explores the concept of arrays. We will be modeling rows and columns and learning how to count them. For example 4 rows of 5 make 20. Look out for an at home array project to be done for homework. It's coming your way soon!!

Writing-  We will be focusing on main ideas and details this week as we write about a witch and a haunted  house for sale.

Science- We will begin a unit on plants this week. We will learn about the parts of a plant and discover different environments in which plants grow.

Concepts, Themes and Objectives for the Week of September 26-30

Reading- We will conclude Theme 3 this week by rereading the selection The Missing Moon Mystery and The Moon a poem by R. L. Stephenson. We will take our theme test on Friday, September 30th.  Reading groups are in full swing and the students are doing a great job balancing their independent work and  small group time. Your child meets with their reading group teacher for 15 minutes daily where they participate in activities such as oral and choral reading, asking and answering comprehension questions and reinforcing the comprehension skills being taught being in whole group reading. So far we have covered making connections, visualizing and asking questions. I encourgage you to practice these comprehension strategies when reading with your child at home.

Spelling-  This week we will practice the long /o/ spelling patterns /oa/ and /ow/. Your child's individualized list will come home on Monday. Please note that your child's list of words may vary in difficulty from week to week. We give a pre-test each Friday to determine which spelling list will best suit your child.

Cougar Reading- We will make text to text connections while reading the stories Zoom Broom and Piggie Pie  and  Tub-Boo-Boo by Margie Palantini.

Math- We will continue to learn about subtraction strategies this week in math. Our Topic 3 test will be given on Friday, September 30th.

Writing- We will review story elements: setting, character, problem, events and conclusion as we write a story about a scarecrow this week.

Social Studies- Our unit on citizenship will conclude this week as we learn about important landmarks in our country and what they symbolize. We will reflect on what it means to be a good citizen and establish ways that we can practice citizenship in our country, community, and classroom.

Themes, Objectives and Concepts for the week of September 19th

Reading- Theme Three blasts off this week with a short non-fiction story by Isaac Asimov Why Does The Moon Change Shape followed by the fiction piece Tbe Moon Mystery.  We will learn about the phases of the moon as we practice the the comprehension skill asking questions.  Good readers stop to question, reflect and process information as they read.

Spelling- This week we will practice long /e/ spelling pattens /ee/ and /ea/.  Your child's individualized spelling list will come home on Monday in their home folders.

Cougar Reading- We will build upon our knowledge of moon phases this week by creating a model of moon phases. Also, we will practice identifying and writing statements and questions about the moon this week.

Math- Topic 2 test on additon strategies will take place on Tuesday, September 20th and on Wednesday, September 21st we will begin Topic 3 subtractions strategies.

Writing- We will learn about story elements and write a short personal narrative.

Social Studies-  In honor of Constitution Day we will participate in a history lesson about the founding of our country and then explore what it means to be a good citizen in our country , community, and school.

Concepts, Themes and Objectives for September 12-16th

Reading- This week we will conclude our Family Time Theme by rereading the selection Hello Paty.  As we read, we are concentrating on creating images in our mind and discussing how visualizing the story deepens comprehension and make us better readers.

Small group reading begins this week! Each second grader has been benchmarked and placed in groups based on their reading ability. Reading groups will meet 4-5 days a week for approximately 15 minutes.  Some students will be switching classes for their group, and working with Miss Davis, Mrs. Smith or Mrs. Dolan. Be sure to ask your child about reading groups this week.

Cougar Reading-  We will be reading a variety of 9/11 themed literature this week as we define words such as "hero" and "bravery".

Math- Addition Strategies is our current math topic. So far we have reviewed +0,+1,+2, doubles, and doubles + 1 facts. This week we will learn the commutative property of addition (4+5=5+4), and add three digits to find a sum. We will also introduce Smart Sums by Greg Tang this week, a program designed to help kids mater single digit digit addition using the make 10 strategy.

Science- Our nutrition unit will conclude this week with our Five Food Group Banquet. Please be sure to send in a ziploc bags of meat or eggs to be shared on Friday with the whole second grade.

Themes, Concepts and Objectives for the week of August 29th-September 2nd

Reading-  In Rigby, our theme is Families of the Past. This week we will finish up learning how to make connections and will have our theme test on Wednesday. Our new theme will be Our Family and will focus on creating images as well as precise listening

Cougar Reading- Grammar is our focus this week as we identify subjects and predicates in a sentence.

Writing- We have been reviewing the basics of printing and practicing legible writing. Last week we practices the straight lines, circles, and slants. This week we will practice printing letters with a focus on correct letter formation and size.

Math-  This week in math we will be continuing to practice addition and subtraction sentences, fact families and how they are ‘related’. Our math test over topic one will be Thursday.

Spelling- We are working on vowel consonant e. I have attached a copy of all three lists for next week. Remember to practice every night!

Science- We will continue our nutrition unit and learn about Little D and all the Royal Nutrition family. Each night your child should be able to tell you one new good eating habit they learned.

Themes, Concepts and Objectives for the week of August 22nd-26th

Reading- Our first theme is entitled Stories From Our Past and we kicked it off by listening to a read aloud story, My Great Aunt Arizona, and will continue with other theme related titles such as the book Asha's Attic and the poem Soda Shop. Our first comprehension skill is "making connections". We do that by comparing the events in our literature selections to events in our own lives.

Spelling-  On Friday, your student took a spelling pre-test. Their spelling words for this week will be determined by the pre-tests results and they will study words that are tailored to their ability. Look for your child's list in their Home folder on Monday.

Cougar Reading- This week we will study the art of writing a sentence! Captial letter, periods, question marks and complete vs. incomplete thoughts will be introduced, studied and practiced.

Math-  We will write and solve subtraction number sentences, solve subtraction word problems as well as study how additon and subtraction problems can make fact families.

Writing- Students will practice printing upper case and lower case letters as well as reviewing the writing process as we participate in writing a  whole class story.

Science: Your child is about to embark on a nutrition expedition as we learn about the five food groups with a colorful dragon named Little D and a cast of healthy characters!

Cougar Math- Addition and subtraction concepts will be extended or retaught as necessary with the use of  educational and fun math games in the classroom.

Welcome Second Graders!

We will spend the first week of school getting to know each other and establishing classroom rules and routines. It's going to be a great year!

 Below you will find the concepts and themes for this upcoming week.

Literacy Based Activities:
We will enjoy the literature selections Spider School, First Day Jitters, and Miss Nelson Is Missing and participate in many fun activites such as Marshmallow Toes, Space Invaders and the Toothpaste Squeeze. Be sure to ask your child what they did in school each day. You are sure to hear some interesting tales.


Math Activities:
We are excited to begin using the Envisions Math Series. We will spend time acquainting ourselves with our new math manipulatives and receive training on how to use and care for them. We will also introduce math vocab words "add", "sum" and "join" as we solve addition facts.

Camp-Learned- A- Lot Is A Huge Success!

This week we read ghost stories, made scientific s'mores, created t-shirt bags and listened to  camping stories about some of our favorite characters such as Arthur, Tacky and Henry and Mudge. We reviewed a a myriad of math skills as we rotated through the five second grade classrooms this week. Ask your child about "fishing" with Mrs. Dolan and creating candy clocks with me.

The Camp-Learned-A-Lot fun continues next week. On Monday we will shop at the Camp store and on Tuesday we will conclude the festivites with our Cookout & Camp Sing Along beginning at 11:00 a.m.

Tents will be taken down on Tuesday after the cookout.  I would greatly appreciate it if a few volunteers would help take down and pack up the tents.  Thank you in advance for your time and help.

Camp Begins!

Our classroom has been transformed into a campground. All desks and chairs have been moved out of the classroom and in their place six tents have been pitched. Special thanks to Mr. Mike Kresin for helping the second grade team assemble the tents!

Over the next 6 school days we will review and reinforce second grade concepts and themes during Camp-Learned-A-Lot. It's going to be a blast!

Thanks so much for making this week possible. The donations of tents for the classroom and toys for the camp store are greatly appreciated.

Don't forget to send in a medium or large t-shirt on Monday for a camp craft!!

Concepts and Themes for May 9-13

Reading- We will complete our reading theme Earning and Saving this week. We will concentrate on the comprehension strategy of identifying cause and effect and learn about metaphors. We will also review and practice the skill of finding the main idea and supporting details in our texts. In small group, we will complete our final book and end the week with benchmarking. Final theme test will be given on Friday, May 13th.

Spelling- We will review base words and suffixes this week as we spell words with -ful and -ly. Final Spelling Test to be given on Friday, May 13th.

Writing-  Last week we wrote narratives that included the story elements of characters, setting, problem, climax and solution. This week we will edit those stories and write final copies. We will also learn about adjectives.

Cougar Time-  We will review various comprehension strategies as we read picture books this week.

Math-  Reading a Graph and Probability are this weeks objectives

Social Studies- This week we will continue our unit on Economics as we do learn about producers and consumers. We will also read Alexander Who Used To Be Rick Last Sunday and participate in various activities that teach about earning, saving and spending.

Concepts and Themes for May 2-6, 2011

Reading- We will read the selections Round and Round The Money Goes  and Seeds of Fortunes. We will reinforce the comphension skill of cause and effect and identify story elements, define the term "folktale" and identify dialogue in text.

Spelling-  This week will spell and define words with the prefix -un.

Writing- We will examine given stories and identify story elements and the rising and falling action of plot. Then we will use the writing process to write our own story with a strong beginning, middle and end.

Cougar Time- We will reinforce our reading and writing skills for this week by using graphic organizers to identify story elements and plot. We will also identifly dialoge in a given text and create dialogue for our own characters.

Math- Mulitplying by zero, Identifying multiples of 2,3,4,and 5, and measuring weight in metric untis

Social Studies- Economics is our new unit! We will define and give examples of  the following words: needs, wants, goods, services , producers and consumers.

Concepts and Themes for the Week of April 25-29

Reading- This week in reading we will complete our theme Every Drop Counts. We will highlight the text features of captions and indexes, as well as practicing the comprehension strategy of pausing and reflecting on information we've read.

Writing- In writing we will review simple vs. compound sentences and use joining words such as "and", "but", "or" and "so".

Cougar Time- We will define the words homophones and homonyms this week and brainstorm examples of each. Also, we will create a class joke book full of homophone and homonym word play.

Math- Making change for $1.00, Dividing by 2, and Finding Area of a Rectangle

Science- Students will review the Scientific Method and apply these steps as we conduct various experiments this week.

Concepts and Themes For April 18- April 22

Reading- Our new theme Every Drop Counts partners nicely with the celebration of Earth Day this week. We will read the selections Gugu's House and Splash and practice the comprehension strategy of pausing and reflecting on what we've read as a means for enhancing understanding.

Spelling- This week we will learn the long and short vowel rules for adding -ing to the end of verbs. If the word has a short vowel such as "run" you double the next consonant and spell "running". In long vowel words such as "drive" you drop the "e" and add "ing" to spell "driving".

Writing- We will practice the skill of editing this week as we write various Earth Day themed assignments.

CougarTime- We will learn about character traits this week as we read excerpts from Junie B. Jones novels and some fractured fairy tales. We will learn the difference between flat character and round characters and use graphic organizers to analyze, compare and contrast various characters.

Math- Multiplying by four, Surveying for Data and creating a graph

Science- This week we will begin our unit on the Scientific Method. We will define words,  learn procedures and conduct an experiment!

Themes and Concepts for the Week of April 11-15

Reading- This week we will continue to work on the skill of summarizing text as we reread the selection Grandma's Ring. We will also review the term "character" and discuss the character traits of Maria, the main character of our story.

Writing- This week we will apply our knowledge of "cause" and "effect" as we write about severe weather and weather safety procedures. We will also depict our knowledge of the water cycle by creating a humorous diary of a water droplet.

Cougar Time- We will expand our vocabularies this week as we learn about synonyms and antonyms.

Math-  Arrays, Time to the Quater Hour, & Translation, Reflection and Rotation

Science- We will define the words "evaporation", "condensation" and "precipatation", observe what happens as salt water evaporates and even sing a song while learning about the water cycle this week.

Concepts and Themes for April 4-8

Reading- We will begin the theme The Wonderful Changes of Water by reading aloud the selections The Snowflake: A Water Cycle Story and Grandma's Ring. Our comprehension focus will spotlight the skill of summarizing a story by picking out the main idea and supporting details. In reading groups we will reinforce these skills by  writing informative reports and creating diaramas.

Spelling- This week we will teach the rule "change the "y" to "i" and add -er or -est".

Writing- This week we will review the word "publishing" as we write  humorous stories about a class trip that gets ruined by a hurricane. We will also learn the word "presentation" as we ready our stories to be shared by adding text features such as: illustrations, title, and headings.

Cougar Time- Identifying "cause" and "effect" in given text examples is our skill for this week.

Math- Perpendicular Lines and Subtracting three-digit numbers

Science- We will introduce types of clouds, identify clouds in the sky and make a cotton ball rain in class this week!

Concepts For March 28-April 1

Reading- We will complete the second half of our To Market To Market them this week by partner reading the selection A Breakfast Story Big Book, analyzing the text to determine Author's Purpose as well as the main idea and supporting details of the selection. Benchmarking is complete and the students have been regrouped for reading. New groups begin on Monday so you can expect to see Reading homework this coming weekend.

Writing- This week we will learn the process for writing a report and will write an informational paragraph on severe weather. We will also have a little fun writing jokes in honor of April Fool's Day.

Cougar Time-  This week your child will be comparing and contrasting bats and rats, vikings and pirates and bmx bikes. We will stretch our thinking skills and enhance our abilities to comprehend.

Math- New this week: Right Angles, Area of a shape, and Acting out, Drawing and Writing number sentences for Equal Groups

Science-  The second grade is beginning a 3 week Weather Unit studying Types of Weather, Clouds and The Water Cycle. We will identify the four types of weather this week and  learn  about hurricanes, tornadoes and thunderstorms as well as the safety tips that go with each type of severe weather.

Concepts and Themes For March 21-25th

Reading- I will complete benchmarking early this week and regroup the students for reading groups. We will also begin Theme 12 and read the selections Emma and The Silk Train and Breakfast Story. Our comprehension skill will focus on Main Idea and supporting details.

Writing-We will learn about possessive nouns as well as focusing on sentence structure, fluency and flow.

Cougar Time- This week we will reinforce the comprehension skill of main idea and supporting details by reading several nonfiction pieces and discussing their various elements.

Math-  Writing Mixed Numbers and Creating a Bar Graph with a scale of 2

Social Studies- We will complete our study of Plains Indians this week by writing a narative, learning about the Wichita Indians and touring the Museum of History in Topeka.

Concepts and Themes For March 7-10

Reading- This week we will be Reading the novel Flat Stanley and partcipate in various reading and comprehension activites. Most reading groups will not meet this week because I will be taking time to progress monitor various students and regroup students as needed. Please continue reading at home each evening for at least 20 minutes a night with your child and don't forget to fill out your reading log.

Writing- In class we will complete the five paraghaph hero essay that we began last week. We will also contine to practice and lean new cursive lower case letters.

Cougar Time- Last week we introduced base words, suffixes and prefixes. We will continue to study how we use suffixes and prefixes in writing and examine some of the spelling rules that accompany them.

Math- Three Digit Addition and Multiplication

Social Studies- We will continue to learn about the Plains Indians customs and people. We will view an interesting video and simulate a Naming Ceremony in class

Concepts and Themes For The Week of February 28-March 4

Spelling- This week we will practice with silent letter /k/ and /w/ when we study the /kn/ and /wr/ spelling patterns. Your child's individualized list will be sent home on Monday, February 28th.

Reading- We will identify similies in the poem Break of Day and practice making up our own similies in class. We will also reread the selection The Watermelon Contest and identify elements of humor in the book. We  will continue to discuss Author's Purpose and identify texts that were written to entertain and texts that are written to inform.  Theme 11 test will be given on Friday, March 4th.

Writing- This week we will begin writing  a five paragraph essay about someone whom we feel is a hero.

Cougar Time- This week we will identify base words and learn how prefixes and suffixes change their meanings.

Math- Telling Time to the Minute, Counting quarter, dimes and pennies, Adding three digit numbers

Social Studies- We will continue to learn about the life and customs of the Plains Indians by learning about  how the Indians hunted buffalo and the many uses for buffalo body parts. We will also learn how to construct a tipi and make a model of a tipi complete with Native American symbols. Lastly, we will make a Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting the differences and similiarities between the Easter Plains Indians and the Western Plains Indians.

Concepts and Themes For The Week

Spelling- This week we will be studying contractions. Your child's individualized list will be sent home on Tuesday, February 22nd.

Reading- We will begin Theme 11 On The Farm by reading the titles Rice Is Nice and The Great Watermelon Contest. The comprehension strategy of focus is identifying the author's purpose. With each selection we will determine what the author's purpose was for writing the book. Did they write it to inform or entertain the reader?

Writing- This week we will use pronouns in writing, practice editing a rough draft, and use a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast.

Cougar Time- This week we will use Venn Diagrams to compare and contrast famous women in history

Math- Multiplying x1 and x100, Perimeter, Graphing

Social Studies- We will introduce the Plains Indians this week and learn about the geography of the land in which they lived, the types of homes they had, how they communitcated and the importance of the buffalo.