Mrs. Ballnik's Second Grade

Classroom News from
Mrs. Ballnik’s Class My email is ballnic@dearbornschools.org
Friday, November 10, 2017
Important Days to Remember
Gym on Tuesday-Please remember to wear tennis shoes and bendable clothes (not jeans or slip on shoes).
Parent/Teacher Conferences are November 9, 15 and 16. Thank-you for sending back if you could come to the Parent/Teacher conference. The first report card is handed out at the conferences. I send a reminder on the day before your conference, also.
PLANNER
Please bring them every day.
FRIDAY SPELLING TESTS
Every Friday there will be a spelling test. Please practice every day with your child so that they will do well on the Friday Spelling test. Corrected tests are sent home on Monday for you to sign and send back to show me that you know the score.
We started to put the 16th word on the spelling test to challenge the students that get the spelling test correct every week. It is just for fun and no one is required to study these extra credit words. They come home in a worksheet each week, that we go over. They are not meant to be second grade level words and we would usually learn to read them and understand them, but not spell them.

MATH MATH MATH MATH MATH
I will share the Unit 2 test with you at parent conferences. You can also request that I send home the test for you to sign and return. I am very happy with most of the class’ scores. Thank-you for helping your child with math and working on homework concepts at home.
Our new Unit 3 will be on time to the five minutes and money. Please make sure that your child knows the name and value of the coins, penny, nickel, dime and quarter. They will be adding (skip counting) by 1’s, 5’s and 10’s. They also need to read base ten block pictures and write the up to 3 digit numbers.
Science
Our next unit is Earth Science and covers explorations that help us learn that Earth events can occur quickly (landslides, etc.) or slowly (erosion that carves rivers, canyons, etc.) We will be making observations and discussing landforms and bodies of water. Please point these out as you drive.
Social Studies- .
Our new unit is on Geography and is called Communities Where we Live. We will be using maps in this unit. We have been making a First Thanksgiving report that includes discussion about how and why the pilgrims came to America. This includes maps of their voyage.

Writing
We will write an informational report about the first Thanksgiving. This will be while we learn about this time and write our own play about the first Thanksgiving.
There will be a Thanksgiving Play in our classroom on November 21st, probably at 11:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. for about 25 minutes or so. Please come to one, because it is the same play.
Your child should have chosen his/her part and has been writing what that character might say. We will make simple paper hat costumes and scenery. Then we will put the play on for parents and friends. Again, this date will probably be November 21st, which is the last day before Thanksgiving vacation. Please come to either the morning or afternoon performance, if you can. The students will work hard to create a play. This helps them in all the school subject areas and usually is what students come back to tell me that they remember about second grade with me.
Reading- Read, Read, Read!
BOOK BAGS! Please observe how your child does with these books. Every book at level 18 (the level for second grade entry) for example, may not be read easily depending on the words. Please ask your child to write a list of the words that they do not know, so you can work on them.
Please keep them in the bag and count the books, so they do not get lost. I will trade out the books every other week or so. Students should reread books until they are smooth and fluent when reading. Students record on their log when they read.

BOOK IT CALENDARS
Please mark on the November calendars each day that you read. You should read every day.

Congratulations to Nour Akkouch for being the Star of the Week!

Have a great weekend with your wonderful child!