Themes, Concepts and Objectives for October 1-5

Cougar Reading- This week we will enjoy stories by the hilarious author Margie Palantini as we read Zoom Broom, Piggie Pie, Broom Mates and Tub-boo-boo together in class. We will practice asking and asnwering literal and inferential questions as we read and LAUGH at these wonderful stories this week.

Reading- Last week we read The Phases of the Moon by Isaac Asimov and learned all about lunar phases of the moon. This week we will read the fantasy story The Marvelous  Moon Mystery and participate in two hands-on activties where we analyze the impact of craters falling into moon sand and create a moon phase diagram with oreo cookies. We wil conclude our theme on Friday, October 5th when we take our third theme test.

Math-  This week we will conclude our topic on Fact Families and will take a test on Thursday, October 4th and then begin our new Topic on place value on Friday.

Cougar Math- We will practice, practice, practice math fact this week as we play various games and get ready for our topic test.

Science- This week we will begin learning about plants and the habitats of various plants.

Writing- We are continuing to work on the trait of writing. This week we will write sentences about an object that is special to us and create an informative paragraph.

Themes, Concepts and Objectives for September 17-21

Cougar Reading- This week we will practice the strategy of creating images by imagining a purple dog and drawing and sharing it with classmates. We will also reinforce what we've learned about writing good sentences by reviewing subjects and predicates and punctuation as we create an alphabet sentence book.

Reading-  In whole group reading we will analyze the text feature of maps as we locate given areas in California and Mexico using our reading selection Hello, I'm Paty. We will also compare and contrast ourselves with "Paty" the main character in our story. We will conclude our Theme this week when we take the Theme 2 test on Friday the 21st.

Math- We will review and practice the subtraction strategies we have been learning in Topic 2 and take a math test on Wednesday, September 19th. We will than move to a new Topic where we will learn about fact familes. Every student should be practicing math facts using the xtra math website. It is important for students to memorize their math facts! It's the foundation they need to successfully proceed on to new and challenging concepts.

Cougar Math- We will participate in math games and projects that enable us to drill and practice math facts, such as creating  fact family trees and using virtual dice to create and solve math facts.

Science- The week we will conclude out Nutrition Unit by planning healthy meals, smart snacks, reading a hilarious story by Dav Pilkey called Dragon Gets By and participating in our Royal Banquet Feast!

Writing- In Writing we are learning to stick to given topics in our writing. We will practice this concept as we read The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown and write our "important" story.

Themes, Topics and Objectives for September 10-14

Cougar Reading- This week we will read three very powerful stories Mariette on The High Wire ,The Man Who Walked Between The Towers and Heroes of 911.  We will practice the reading strategy of making connections as we discuss this literature in class.

Reading- Autobiographies will be introduced this week as we read Hello Paty  and the words "rely", "role" and "member" will be defined.  Small group reading will begin this week. Be sure to ask you second grader about their new reading groups.

Math- Subtraction strategies and fact practice will take place this week.

Science- We will continue to have a royal good time learning about healthy eating and basic nutrition with the help of Little D the dragon and Queen Anna Banana. Watch for information to come regarding our culminating theme project The Royal Banquet.

Writing- We will continue to practice modeling good sentence structure with subjects, predicates and end punctuation. We will also write a mini report about a special family member.

Themes, Topics and Objectives for September 4-7

Cougar Reading- We will  participate in a short grammar unit this week as we  identify subjects  and preciates in given sentences.

Reading- We will continue making personal and text to text connections this week as we reread the selection Asha In The Attic and enjoy a poem about an old fashioned soda shop. Our first theme test will be given this week. Benchmarking has begun! Every child will be given an individual reading test to determine their placement in small reading groups. Also, DIBELS testing will be done on Tuesday the 4th.

Spelling- Short vowels words will be studied and assessed this week. Your child took a pre-test on Friday and  has been placed in one of three spelling groups next week. Look for your child's list to come home on Tuesday. Our first spelling test will be given on Friday, September 7th. (It will be a practice test and will not count)

Math- The students are practicing addition facts and will focus on the strategy of making 10s to add this week. Our first math test will take place on Friday, September 7th.

Science-  We will continue learning about the five food groups in class. This week we will write a vegetable riddle with the help of Princess Peapod and learn about fruits with Queen Anna Banana. We are learning so much from these royal characters and having a blast! Students can color in extra bubbles on their bubble chart everyday this week for bringing in healthy snacks.

Writing-  The Writing Process will be introduced this week and we will spend time learning about the first step in the process: Prewriting.