Updates, Tuesday Harvest Festival and Counting/Adding Money

It was so nice to be back in school on Thursday.  Due to the power outage and the short week, the homework packet that went home Thursday is not due until Tuesday, November 26th.  We will have a spelling test and a Wordly Wise test on Tuesday.  Also in the Monday Mailers was a confirmation time and date for your Parent-Teacher Conference.  Please checkout the blog sidebar "Upcoming Events" for more calendar items such as giving tree, hygiene kit donations and 2nd grade music concert dates.

Social Studies - History of Thanksgiving & notable Native Americans
In reading and in Social Studies, we have been learning about the history of Thanksgiving and notable Native Americans.  As a way to end our unit study, we will have a harvest festival complete with popcorn and juice as we compare the Charlie Brown video version of the Mayflower's voyage to the Scholastic video's version.  We will look specifically on the influence of Samoset and Squanto.  If you want to donate a snack for the "festival" please feel free.  I will make sure we have the popcorn and juice for the event ~ which is enough, so there is no pressure to donate.

Scholastic Book Fair
Last Thursday, we visited the book fair to list items for a wish list.  Students can bring money in on Monday or Tuesday to make purchases during the day.  You can also stop by to shop during your Monday evening parent-teacher conference.  The book fair will close for the season at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, November 26th, so you will want to plan ahead if your conference is Tuesday evening.

Math and Money
As we finish Chapter 4 in Think Math we will review the money portion by adding mixed value coins. Students should understand the value of a penny, nickel, dime, quarter, and half dollar.  They should also be able to add a variety of coins together.  We have been playing games such as Race to a Dollar and Scoot as a way to practice adding coins quickly.  Please practice this at home by having your child add the change in their pocket, piggy bank, coin jar, car console or where ever it is that you keep change.  You can also give them a total (such as 97 cents) and ask them to draw it for you using the fewest amount of coins.