Last week we enjoyed a lovely walk to the Historic Campus to see Lab Arts. We watched a high school performance of Fractured Fairytales, listened to some Middle Schoolers and the 5th Grade Choir sing, and enjoyed the amazing artwork that filled Upper Kovler Gym. A highlight of the trip was playing at Pebbles Playground which hasn't changed since most of our second graders were in Kindergarten. If you didn't get a change to got to Lab Arts, the second graders' "Exquisite Corpses" are on currently display on the second floor of ESH.
5th GRADE BAKE SALE TOMORROW
Tomorrow we will walk over to the Historic Campus after lunch for the annual 5th Grade Bake Sale. Items cost 50¢ and up. So that there is enough for everyone, we ask that children purchase no more than 3 or 4 items. This limit may change once we see what's available. Children will be able to eat one treat at school and take the rest home. $2.00-$3.00 should be plenty for a couple of treats. All the proceeds go to charities that the 5th Graders have yet to vote on. Children are welcome to donate their change or any other amount. It's a wonderful way to spread the kindness! Thank you for supporting this Lab School tradition. The 5th Graders are eager to welcome us to the Historic Campus!
YEARBOOK ORDERS DUE THIS FRIDAY
We are excited to announce the 2014-2015 Earl Shapiro Hall Yearbooks are ready to order! Teachers and parent volunteers have worked together to capture the energy and joy at Earl Shapiro Hall, and the finished product is wonderful!
Yearbooks are $20 each and payment will be billed through FACTS. Orders are due by Friday, APRIL 17, 2015. If you are placing orders for children in different homerooms, please fill out one form per child. Yearbooks will be delivered to Earl Shapiro Hall in early June.
Please click this link to submit your order.
If you have any questions, please contact Carolyn in the primary school office (773-702-4543).
LEARN ABOUT THIRD GRADE
A 2nd-3rd Grade Transitions Meeting will be held on Thursday, April 30th, in Cafe Lab (Historic Campus) .There you will have the chance to meet Principal Anglin, third grade teachers and the Learning and Counseling team. You will also have a chance to see the renovated Blaine Hall, which isn't quite the same space you may remember if your child attended Nursery and Kindergarten at Lab. Recently, third grade teachers toured our classroom to catch a glimpse of life in second grade. Their visit inspired a meeting between second and third grade teachers. We met together earlier this week to discuss how to best help students and families transition to third grade and a new building. We hope you can attend the very important Transitions Meeting. It's a wonderful opportunity for you to get your questions answered. This is a parents-only event.
NATIONAL POETRY MONTH
April is National Poetry Month. All month, we will be reading, writing and celebrating poetry. All of ESH is joining in! Be sure to stop by the Lobby to see the poetry installation. Ours is behind the piano. You will also notice poems hung all around the school in blue frames. We invite you and your second grader to stop and read the poems, delight in the words and the lovely pictures drawn by children in our school.
We have learned that a poet writes from his/her heart and sees the world with a poet's eye. Poets look at the world in new, unique, surprising and interesting ways. The most ordinary object, like a pencil sharpener, can become magical and the imagery leaves a lasting impression or feeling for the reader. Poets find poetry hiding everywhere and often in surprising places. We encourage the children to see if they too can find poetry "hiding." If you stop by our classroom, you will see a wonderful, imaginative list of where poetry hides. You will also see your second grader's heart map.
Words are the poet's tools and because poems are often short, they must choose carefully. As we have read poems, we have learned about verbs, adjectives, synonyms, antonyms. We have also explored similes and have used the reading comprehension strategies of visualization and inferring to help us make sense of a poem and to create a "picture in our heads."
We have learned how poets make line breaks to give their poem a rhythm or music. Poems are meant to be read out loud. Next week, children may volunteer to be our Poet of the Day. They may read or recite a poem for us. We hope your child will choose to participate! Reading poetry also helps with children's fluency skills.
The children have been writing their own poems and we can't wait to share them with you. We have quite an amazing class of young poets! Be sure to ask your child about Diamante poems, Acrostic poems and Haiku.
On April 30th, we will conclude our study of poetry with National Poem in Your Pocket Day. For this event, each child will choose a favorite, short poem written by a favorite poet or perhaps one they've written themselves. If your child finds a poem at home, please make a copy of it or send the book into school and we will make a copy. We invite you to celebrate Poem in Your Pocket Day and have a poem ready to share with your child on the 30th. Happy poem hunting!
5th GRADE BAKE SALE TOMORROW
Tomorrow we will walk over to the Historic Campus after lunch for the annual 5th Grade Bake Sale. Items cost 50¢ and up. So that there is enough for everyone, we ask that children purchase no more than 3 or 4 items. This limit may change once we see what's available. Children will be able to eat one treat at school and take the rest home. $2.00-$3.00 should be plenty for a couple of treats. All the proceeds go to charities that the 5th Graders have yet to vote on. Children are welcome to donate their change or any other amount. It's a wonderful way to spread the kindness! Thank you for supporting this Lab School tradition. The 5th Graders are eager to welcome us to the Historic Campus!
YEARBOOK ORDERS DUE THIS FRIDAY
We are excited to announce the 2014-2015 Earl Shapiro Hall Yearbooks are ready to order! Teachers and parent volunteers have worked together to capture the energy and joy at Earl Shapiro Hall, and the finished product is wonderful!
Yearbooks are $20 each and payment will be billed through FACTS. Orders are due by Friday, APRIL 17, 2015. If you are placing orders for children in different homerooms, please fill out one form per child. Yearbooks will be delivered to Earl Shapiro Hall in early June.
Please click this link to submit your order.
If you have any questions, please contact Carolyn in the primary school office (773-702-4543).
LEARN ABOUT THIRD GRADE
A 2nd-3rd Grade Transitions Meeting will be held on Thursday, April 30th, in Cafe Lab (Historic Campus) .There you will have the chance to meet Principal Anglin, third grade teachers and the Learning and Counseling team. You will also have a chance to see the renovated Blaine Hall, which isn't quite the same space you may remember if your child attended Nursery and Kindergarten at Lab. Recently, third grade teachers toured our classroom to catch a glimpse of life in second grade. Their visit inspired a meeting between second and third grade teachers. We met together earlier this week to discuss how to best help students and families transition to third grade and a new building. We hope you can attend the very important Transitions Meeting. It's a wonderful opportunity for you to get your questions answered. This is a parents-only event.
NATIONAL POETRY MONTH
April is National Poetry Month. All month, we will be reading, writing and celebrating poetry. All of ESH is joining in! Be sure to stop by the Lobby to see the poetry installation. Ours is behind the piano. You will also notice poems hung all around the school in blue frames. We invite you and your second grader to stop and read the poems, delight in the words and the lovely pictures drawn by children in our school.
We have learned that a poet writes from his/her heart and sees the world with a poet's eye. Poets look at the world in new, unique, surprising and interesting ways. The most ordinary object, like a pencil sharpener, can become magical and the imagery leaves a lasting impression or feeling for the reader. Poets find poetry hiding everywhere and often in surprising places. We encourage the children to see if they too can find poetry "hiding." If you stop by our classroom, you will see a wonderful, imaginative list of where poetry hides. You will also see your second grader's heart map.
Words are the poet's tools and because poems are often short, they must choose carefully. As we have read poems, we have learned about verbs, adjectives, synonyms, antonyms. We have also explored similes and have used the reading comprehension strategies of visualization and inferring to help us make sense of a poem and to create a "picture in our heads."
We have learned how poets make line breaks to give their poem a rhythm or music. Poems are meant to be read out loud. Next week, children may volunteer to be our Poet of the Day. They may read or recite a poem for us. We hope your child will choose to participate! Reading poetry also helps with children's fluency skills.
The children have been writing their own poems and we can't wait to share them with you. We have quite an amazing class of young poets! Be sure to ask your child about Diamante poems, Acrostic poems and Haiku.
On April 30th, we will conclude our study of poetry with National Poem in Your Pocket Day. For this event, each child will choose a favorite, short poem written by a favorite poet or perhaps one they've written themselves. If your child finds a poem at home, please make a copy of it or send the book into school and we will make a copy. We invite you to celebrate Poem in Your Pocket Day and have a poem ready to share with your child on the 30th. Happy poem hunting!
MATH
In math, we have been working on double and triple-digit and subtraction problems. We have mainly focused on the regrouping (borrowing) algorithm that we call Trade First. We have taught the children to start in the ones place and then move on to the tens place, etc. Children need to look at the ones place to determine if the amount is enough to subtract. If it is not, they need to borrow (or trade a ten for 10 ones or a hundred for 10 tens). Many children pick up on this strategy quickly and can memorize the steps. We, however, also want children to understand the problem conceptually. We use special blocks called Base Ten Blocks that include ones, tens and hundreds. By manipulating these blocks, children learn place value and we can easily model subtraction problems.
To challenge students, we are working with bigger numbers and with problems that have zeros in the minuend (top number) so that children have to borrow more than once. We encourage your child to continue practicing both single-digit addition and subtraction facts are home to build fluency and automaticity. Just 5 minutes a day can help! Happy calculating!
In math, we have been working on double and triple-digit and subtraction problems. We have mainly focused on the regrouping (borrowing) algorithm that we call Trade First. We have taught the children to start in the ones place and then move on to the tens place, etc. Children need to look at the ones place to determine if the amount is enough to subtract. If it is not, they need to borrow (or trade a ten for 10 ones or a hundred for 10 tens). Many children pick up on this strategy quickly and can memorize the steps. We, however, also want children to understand the problem conceptually. We use special blocks called Base Ten Blocks that include ones, tens and hundreds. By manipulating these blocks, children learn place value and we can easily model subtraction problems.
To challenge students, we are working with bigger numbers and with problems that have zeros in the minuend (top number) so that children have to borrow more than once. We encourage your child to continue practicing both single-digit addition and subtraction facts are home to build fluency and automaticity. Just 5 minutes a day can help! Happy calculating!
THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN
We finished the book The One and Only Ivan and our field trip to Lifeline Theater brought the story to life. We all loved the story and despite some sad and serious parts, it had a wonderful ending - a true tale of friendship and kindness! The book was inspired by the life of a real gorilla named Ivan who lived for 27 years at the Tacoma, Washington Mall. In 1995, because of protests and the support of his fans, he was relocated to the Atlanta Zoo where he lived out the rest of his life. Ivan died in 2012 at the age of 50+ years old. Katherine Applegate also wrote a nonfiction picture book about Ivan called Ivan: The Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla. It's a great book if you have little ones at home who'd also like to learn about Ivan. Here is a video of Ivan from the zoo:
We finished the book The One and Only Ivan and our field trip to Lifeline Theater brought the story to life. We all loved the story and despite some sad and serious parts, it had a wonderful ending - a true tale of friendship and kindness! The book was inspired by the life of a real gorilla named Ivan who lived for 27 years at the Tacoma, Washington Mall. In 1995, because of protests and the support of his fans, he was relocated to the Atlanta Zoo where he lived out the rest of his life. Ivan died in 2012 at the age of 50+ years old. Katherine Applegate also wrote a nonfiction picture book about Ivan called Ivan: The Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla. It's a great book if you have little ones at home who'd also like to learn about Ivan. Here is a video of Ivan from the zoo:
The One and Only Ivan also had a lovely connection to our poetry study. The author, Katherine Applegate, gave Ivan such a poetic voice and the children noticed several times that his words sounded like poetry. The children wrote down adjectives to describe Ivan and the big "word cloud" that you see here to the right is displayed outside of our classroom.
SCHOLASTIC BOOK ORDER
Last Friday, we sent home a new Scholastic Book Club Order. These orders will be due on Monday, April 19th. Please remember that we only take online orders. NO CHECKS please.
Shop Online: scholastic.com/readingclub
One-Time Class Activation Code: L7MMV
We'd like to wish a Happy April Birthday to Katie, Marcus and Jack!
Be sure to ask your favorite second grade about our funny new read aloud, Marty Maguire, by Kate Messner.
Last Friday, we sent home a new Scholastic Book Club Order. These orders will be due on Monday, April 19th. Please remember that we only take online orders. NO CHECKS please.
Shop Online: scholastic.com/readingclub
One-Time Class Activation Code: L7MMV
We'd like to wish a Happy April Birthday to Katie, Marcus and Jack!
Be sure to ask your favorite second grade about our funny new read aloud, Marty Maguire, by Kate Messner.