October 27, 2017

Practicing telling time using an analog clock.

If your child is eager to have more opportunities to explore mathematics, please see the document below created by Tracy Arensberg while serving in the role of our Lower School Math Specialist:

Just like reading, we hope that math is a part of your child’s nightly routine. While there is an expectation of completing the math homework we send home, many children may also be eager for extensions and challenges beyond the assigned homework.  This is great, and we encourage you to foster this interest by engaging with your child around math whenever possible.  What follows are some ideas on how you might do this.

• Visit the All School Problem page!  Not only do I post problems here that are challenging, but there are also links to online resources, such as Bedtime Math and Illuminations, that can help you with ideas on ways extend your child’s thinking in math.

• Mathematize your home! Create graphs and charts for Halloween candy, lost teeth, and budgets for trips and projects.  Make plans for volumes and prices of pet food needed for durations of time. When you are doing math that is more sophisticated (taxes?) find ways to make that visible to your child. It is important that they see math as part of everyday life for adults.

• Use that commute time!  In the car you can toss mental math problems to your child that encourage efficient strategies and multiplicative thinking (such as skip counting).

• Play a game!  The logic, record keeping, and fact fluency involved in playing games can provide many math challenges and promote flexible thinking.  The game “24” is very powerful this way and also very portable.

• Worksheets?  While there are myriad worksheets available for download online, it can also be really enjoyable to make a quick worksheet that is customized for your child’s interest and abilities. She or he will love solving problems that you or a sibling create based on sports, pets, trips, or whatever.

In addition to these ideas you might consider after school options that emphasize math and engineering (such as Legos).  Also, don’t hesitate to contact me if you are looking for something specific to foster your child’s interest in math, I may be able to connect you with a resource or idea.

Using arrays to write addition and multiplication equations.

Kindergarten Buddies Taught us to Doodle and Sketch
This week during our buddy visit, our Kindergarten friends showed us how to "doodle". The children then went outdoors and either wrote or drew what they observed in special little sketchbooks.

What is happening in technology?

Kodable fun in Second Grade

If you haven't heard yet from your second grader we have started our programming unit during this technology rotation. We use Kodable to introduce students to programming. Kodable is more than just another coding game. Our lessons introduce new vocabulary such as: programmer, code, sequencing, debugging, constraints, looping, etc. I know that the students are very eager to play Kodable at home, so if you would like to download and unlock your student’s account you may do that. Please understand that we will be unlocking more levels during the school year for classroom lessons.

Happy coding!

Mrs. Thomas

Class Code:

Schilling: oesschilling

Link to Kodable for parents

Link to iOS app

Homework

This week's homework will be due Tuesday, 10/31.  Please note that homework will be due on Tuesday instead of Monday due to our field trip to the Oregon Humane Society. Teachers need the additional time to correct math homework.  

• Read for at least 15 minutes each night Monday through Friday (weekends are bonus) and fill in the reading log nightly
• Conduct the reading interview questions throughout the week (parents may help with the writing at the beginning of the year)
• Math Journal: pages 21-22

Next week:

Due to Halloween and conferences next week there will be no homework assigned. I encourage you to have your child continue to read 15 minutes a night to build stamina.

Fall Conferences

I am looking forward to meeting with you to discuss your child’s strengths, areas for growth and plans moving forward during fall conferences. I sent a conference reminder and a parent questionnaire in this week’s Wednesday Express.  I appreciate you taking the time to complete this questionnaire and returning it by Monday, October 30th.  An electronic copy of this form is available here. If you are unable to attend at the scheduled time, please let me know as soon as possible, so that another meeting time can be arranged.  The confidential information you share with your child’s teacher helps us to plan an informative and collaborative discussion.  The conference is a wonderful example of our Parent-Teacher Partnership.