Dear Families,

My wish came true. The weather was absolutely perfect for our field trip! We were able to participate in several activities on our trip to Cottonwood Farm which included: farm animals, a corn maze, a hayride, pumpkin patch, farm history lesson and more. If you would like to visit the farm again this, fall, your child can gain a free entrance pass with his/her wristband. For more information see the following website: http://www.cottonwoodfarms.com

I wish you all a beautiful weekend. Enjoy all of the fall colors!!!! 

Reading:
Assessment on Tuesday - Please encourage your child to read this week's story and vocabulary power.

This week your child has been reading The Enormous Turnip by Alexei Tolstoy. In this Russian folktale, a man plants a turnip that grows so large he can’t pull it out of the ground. He calls on other people and animals to pull up the turnip.
 

Focus Skill: Sequence

Vocabulary Power:
enormous-very large
granddaughter-a daughter of one’s son or daughter grew-became larger
planted-put in the ground to grow
strong-powerful
turnip-a kind of root vegetable

School-Home Connection: You might enjoy reading these folktales with your child: Peter and the Wolf retold by Michele Lemieux; The Baker’s Dozen by Heather Forest; The Little Red Hen by Byron Barton

[Interactive Blog Link: Right-hand column - Reading Target Skills_Story Elements_Cinderella_Sequence]
   

[Interactive Blog Link: Right-hand column - Reading Target Skills_Sequence]

May Watts LMC Reading Incentive Program:
Mrs. May, our LMC Director, has our Reading Incentive Program up and running for the year! The 2nd Grade Team is asking each student to read for 300 minutes per month (10 minutes each night).

Once your child has recorded his/her reading minutes, I am able to see the progress report. So far, the students in 2BR have read a total of  403 minutes in one week! I'm hoping to see a class goal of 7500+ minutes each month this school year. We CAN do it!!!!!!!

Please read Mrs. May's blog for details:
[Mrs. May's Blog Link: Left-hand column - Specials Teachers Blogs_Mrs. May, LMC]
For easy access to electronically record your reading minutes see:
[Link: Left-hand column - Record Reading Minutes Electronically-May Watts Reads] 

Math:


This week your child took the Unit 2 Math Quiz. This will come home on Tuesday for your review. The Unit 2 Assessment will be on Friday.
  

[Interactive Blog Link: Right-hand column - Math Practice Sites_Everyday Math Resources_Unit 2]

[Interactive Blog Link: Right-hand column - Math Practice Sites_Telling Time]

Grammar:

This week we learned about common and proper nouns. Common nouns are any person, place or thing and are not capitalized. Proper nouns are the name of a specific person, place or thing and they are capitalized.

[Interactive Blog Link: Right-hand column - Grammar_Nouns: Common and Proper

Science:


This week we began our Unit of Study about The Water Cycle. We discussed what we already know about water and some of the things we want to know. In the next several weeks we will be performing several different experiments to find out the answers to our questions. The essential questions of this unit include:

1. What are the stages of the water cycle?
2. What is evaporation?
3. What is condensation?
4. What is precipitation?
5. What is accumulation?
6. How do these stages work together in the water cycle?  

  [Interactive Blog Link: Right-hand column - Science and Social Studies_Water Cycle]