Hensley's Happenings
News from Miss Hensley's Class
September 20, 2019
News and Information
Homecoming Week
Oak Hill Golden Eagles vs. Mississinewa Indians
We will be participating in dress-up days the week of Homecoming!
Monday, Sept. 23 - Favorite Disney or Cartoon Character Day
Tuesday, Sept. 24 - Favorite Team Jersey Day
Wednesday, Sept. 25 - Crazy Socks Day
Thursday, Sept. 26 - Crazy Blue & Gold Day
Friday, Sept. 27 - School Color or Homecoming Shirt Day
(Converse: Black, Sweetser: Purple, Swayzee: Royal Blue)
Oak Hill Golden Eagles vs. Mississinewa Indians, Friday, Sept. 27, @ 7 pm
Social Studies Test
I sent home a study guide today for our test Wednesday. I hope you can find a few minutes to help your child review each night. If they know the study guide, they will do well on the test. If your child attends POWER the study guide is for your information only.
WOW! As I was reading back through this newsletter I can see now why all of us are exhausted by the end of each day! We are truly doing 2nd grade work now and it can be difficult for the students as we guide (or sometimes push, pull and drag ! ) them through new and difficult material. Thank you for helping your child get to bed at a decent hour as many nights as possible and for helping them stay healthy with good meals!
Refocuses
Please make sure you sign your child's refocus and have them return it to me the next day.
Jackets Needed!
It tends to get a little chilly at times in our classroom. Your child is welcome to bring a sweatshirt or jacket to leave at school in the closet so they'll have something to wear if they get cold.
If you’d like to sit with your child at lunch we’d love to have you. Lunch begins at 11:50 a.m. If you wish to eat the school lunch, please call the office to order a tray.
Homework
Your child's nightly homework: Read 20 minutes every night!
Your child will not have homework this year unless:
1. They are absent and make up work for the day will be sent home.
2. They are falling behind on Rocket Math facts, at which time I will send a letter to inform you there will be homework until they catch up and/ or meet the expected level.
Reading
We worked hard this week to analyze characters, summarize the beginning, middle and end of the story and also learned about idioms. All in addition to practicing fluency, vocabulary and reading with expression!
Looking for some ways to help your child with reading?
Check out this link to activities that will help develop and strengthen those early reading skills that are necessary for good readers. They are pretty easy and quick activities that you can do with the 4 areas of reading: phonological awareness, phonics, fluency and reading comprehension.
Math
We started Lesson 6 solving 2 step word problems. These may be problems that involve addition, subtraction or both within the same problem using numbers under 20.
Here are the practice pages from our book
https://teacher-toolbox.com/dam/jcr:d1ae3e2f-049d-4b9d-bd6e-5b8194ca216c/CC-2017-IN2M-RI-SE-L06.pdf
What is iReady
Your child may come home talking about iReady. This is the online portion of our math curriculum. Every morning, students are required to do no less than 10 minutes of work on their iReady account. During that time, they are working on skills at their own level . That level and those particular skills were determined by the iReady diagnostic assessment they completed at the beginning of the year. By working on skills that THEY need, we are filling in any gaps that may have occurred in earlier grades and solidifying skills they need to be successful in 2nd grade, as well as future grades.
I am sending home a sheet that explains how to log in to iReady at home. This is a great activity for them to do for extra math practice, and if they miss school they will be able to make up the minutes they missed. The Ready Math curriculum says that students who complete less than 45 minutes per week are most likely not going to be as successful as those who do. Please feel free to have them log in at home and work on the green skills.
Rocket Math Facts Goals- all students should be at the following levels by:
Beginning of October: Level M of Addition facts
End of December: Level Z of Addition facts
English and Writing
We started a new unit on personal narrative writing. We will be focusing on the steps of the writing process while writing in the personal narrative genre- that means the story really happened to us!
- SHOWING NOT TELLING when you write. Instead of saying "I felt sick." You could say, " I clenched my stomach and bent forward right before I lost my lunch." This helps the reader make a better picture in their mind while reading your piece.
- Using transition words to keep our story in sequence: first, next, then, last, etc.
- writing a rough draft
- adding facts and details
- editing and revising
- using a rubric to make our writing the best it can be
- publishing our work
English skills: reviewing unit 1 to prepare for next week's test
Spelling Words
Pretest -Wednesday
Final test- Friday
tack lick jack stack stuck
luck pack tick rock buck
chick lock shack sock chicken
bucket thick trick packed clock
Homework Help and Hints!
Memorizing math facts is an essential skill in 2nd grade. By the end of the year we would like all second grade students to have met their 2 minute goal in addition and subtraction. Everyone has a different goal based on writing speed. We write that goal at the bottom of our paper each day if you are interested in their 1 minute goal. Friday's we do a the 2 minute test to check their progress. That goal is also written at the bottom of the paper.
Every child is working at their own pace through the addition facts and 3 new facts are introduced in each level. You can help at home by printing flashcards from the web for free (Google printable flashcards) or buy some, or make some of your own. The new facts are listed at the top of the fact sheet you see on Monday- Thursday nights. Those 3 new facts + the ones from previous levels are included so that they don't forget the previous levels. We practice daily here at school, but an extra 5 minutes each night would make those levels go more quickly!
Once your child accomplishes level Z in addition, they will have to pass 95 out of 100 addition problems in 5 minutes. Once they can do that, they move on to subtraction.
Data Binders- Look for them Monday !
Important Events
September
23 Otis Spunkmeyer Kick-off
October
4 End of 1st nine weeks
8 Skating Party 6-8 pm
11 Report Cards Posted to Skyward
18 Fall Party 8:15-9:00
21-25 Fall Break
Contact Me
Email: staciehe@ohusc.k12.in.us
Website: https://sites.google.com/ohusc.k12.in.us/staciehensley/home
Location: 600 E Walnut St, Converse, IN, United States
Phone: 765-395-3341
Twitter: @staciehensley26