McCain and Obama

Here are some of the answers to the Social Studies questions your Beacon will be bringing home to ask you tonight for homework.

1.How old is Senator John McCain? 71

2.How old is Senator Barack Obama? 47

3.If McCain wins the November election, he will be 72 when he takes the oath of office. Will he be the oldest first term president? (Yes)

4.Who is taller, McCain or Obama? (Obama at 6'2" to John McCain's 5'9")

5.Which candidate graduated from Harvard Law School and which one graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and became a naval aviator? Obama and McCain in that order.

Those are all the answers I can give you. It really wouldn't be fair to give you any more, so you are on your own! Your Beacon has many more important questions about the upcoming presidential election. The answers will all go home with them tonight. Happy homework!

9/24/08 Weekly Update

Beacons’ Classroom
Grade 2
Seabury School
Tacoma, WA
Tamara Sloan Ritchie-Betsy Gellert

9/24/08


Here’s What’s Going on the Beacon’s World!

Writer’s Workshop:
We have begun learning about the "Trait of Ideas". We practiced deciding what ideas are interesting, common knowledge or irrelevant to a given topic. Students were also introduced to rubric rating scale of 1-5 with “1”just beginning to incorporate the trait into writing and “5 “ showing mastery. We read examples of actual student writing that fit into these ratings and students got to judge for themselves and practice rating each piece for its ideas.
We also began the editing process called, “D.O.L.” or Daily Oral Language. The students are given sentences with mistakes and we edit them together.

Reading:
One portion of our comprehensive Reading program is the SRA program. This week, students have begun doing SRA reading cards which focus on reading strategies, comprehension and vocabulary. Each child works at their own reading level. Another component of our Reading Program is novel reading groups which will start in a few weeks. More information about which novel your child will read will be coming soon.

Math:
The Dragons: This group is working on place value to 10,000 along with comparing and rounding larger numbers and problem solving.
The Blue Bunnies: This group has completed the first chapter (way to go!)and they are now learning to apply different strategies to addition concepts.
Science:
We have launched our unit on states of matter. It sounds like you all had a great time on your scavenger hunt for solids, liquids and gases! Thank all of you for signing up for supplies! Monday and Tuesday we will investigate the properties of solids and being making rock candy!


Social Studies:

Starting tomorrow, students will be hot on the election trail. We will be learning all sorts of interesting facts about our Republican and Democratic presidential nominees. Next week we will learn about their running mates. Be looking for homework which will ask you, the parent, if you can answer some interesting facts about these candidates, as in "How tall is Obama and how tall is McCain? How old are they? etc. So, brush up on the answers before your Beacon brings home the homework assignment tomorrow.

Homework:
We hope homework is going smoothly. Students have been doing a fantastic job on their homework and turning it in. We are VERY proud of them! We strive to go over your child's homework with him/her and then to pass the papers back. Our goal is to have the week's worth of homework papers go home to you in the Thursday folder. Be looking for them tomorrow!

Spelling: Spelling tests will be every Thursday, which is tomorrow. Students will receive next week's words tomorrow.

Reading Logs: Reading logs will be due every Friday. Students will be required to read at least 100 minutes a week. We know how busy life can get some days. We will leave it to your families’ schedule and discretion when those minutes get read. Some students might spend a few minutes on weeknights and longer on weekends. 100 minutes a week is slightly less than 15 minutes a day, the lower end of the scale for recommended reading. Of course, a child is welcome to read as much as they like. Reading log minutes can be reading alone, being read to, reading to a younger sibling or friend, anything that is reading!


A child can ask questions that a wise man cannot answer. ~Author Unknown

Looking forward to another exciting week at Seabury,

Tamara and Betsy

Update Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Don't forget...............Picture day is this Friday, September 19th.

Beacons’ Classroom
Grade 2
Seabury School
Tacoma, WA
Tamara Sloan Ritchie-Betsy Gellert

9/17/08


Here’s What’s Going on the Beacons' World!


The students are settling into the routine of class work, specialists and homework.

Writer’s Workshop:
Students are beginning to get many ideas onto paper. We have begun sharing these ideas with our “Author’s Chair” format. We select 3-4 students per day to share their written work. The other students then listen for something specific in the writing (such as ideas or word choice) then they offer positive feedback. Most students are chomping at the bit to share their writing ,but for those that aren’t quite ready please bear in mind that they are never forced! Their "Author's Chair" day will come when they are ready to share, and we all are looking forward to that day.

Reading:
Students are finishing the written portion of the reading assessments and beginning work on reading skills.

Math:
You should have been informed about your child’s placement in math. We have two groups: The Dragons and the Blue Bunnies.

The Dragons: This group is working on Algebraic patterns within place value.
The Blue Bunnies: This group is working on place value, estimation, problem solving, comparison symbols and patterns.


Science:
Students are conducting experiments that illustrate the concepts that air has weight and air has pressure. We made balloon scales this week and next week we’ll be setting up stations where students can do different experiments involving air pressure.

We’ll be needing several 2 liter plastic bottles. If you have any empties in your house could you send them in with your child on Monday? Thank you!

Social Studies:

We have begun our election coverage. Students are becoming aware of the political parties and the candidates who are running for office. We are learning about the history of the American flag and the symbols behind the design. The history of the flag from George Washington and Betsy Ross, to the the War of 1812 and Francis Scott Key have been explored in great depth these past days. Lots of fun learning about our country's past as we can learn about our country's political future.

Homework:
We hope homework is going smoothly. Students have been doing a fantastic job on their homework and turning it in on time. We are very proud of our Beacons' progress.


Reading Logs:

Reading logs will be due every Thursday. Students will be required to read at least 100 minutes a week. We know how busy life can get some days. We will leave it to your families’ schedule and discretion when those minutes get read. Some students might spend a few minutes on weeknights and longer on weekends. 100 minutes a week is slightly less than 15 minutes a day, the lower end of the scale for recommended reading. Of course, a child is welcome to read as much as they like. Reading log minutes can be reading alone, being read to, reading to a younger sibling or friend, anything that is reading! Parents are asked to initial the reading time line in the reading logs.

Spelling:
Spelling tests will be every Friday. Students will bring home their first spelling list tomorrow. Their tests will be every Thursday.


I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework. ~Lily Tomlin as "Edith Ann"

Looking forward to another exciting week at Seabury,

Tamara and Betsy

Update, September 10, 2008

Here’s What’s Going on the Beacon’s World!

This week marks the first week of true academic work. We have started Math groups, Writer’s Workshop, Science and Social Studies. We are still completing spelling and reading assessments. Formal Reading and Spelling instruction will begin next week.


Writer’s Workshop:
We have begun the process of Writer’s Workshop this week. This workshop is a format we’ll use all year as we learn about and incorporate the “6 Traits of Writing”. The students will be spending time on these traits one at a time at first and eventually they will use all of them in their daily writing. They include: Ideas, Word Choice, Sentence Fluency, Organization, Voice, and Conventions (spelling, capitalization, punctuation).
To start the writing process, the workshop approach is very informal at first, allowing students to get words on the page without fear of “getting it wrong.” As the year progresses students will learn the editing process and apply it to many forms of writing.

Reading:
Students are currently being assessed for correct placement in reading. They are doing the DRA, or Direct Reading Assessment, with Seabury’s wonderful aide, Mrs. Smith, and doing some informal reading with both Mrs. Ritchie and Mrs. Gellert.

Math:

We have completed math assessments and have formed two math groups in our class, both of which are at accelerated pace. The groups will vote on names for themselves and we’ll inform you of your child’s placement in this week’s Thursday packet.

Science:
We will spend the first three weeks learning about Air Science. Students will participate in several interactive experiments as they learn about the qualities of air. Building on the concepts of air will launch us into our formal trimester study of the states of matter.

Homework:
Today will be the first day of homework! Look for our “official homework policy” in Thursday’s packet and in an email. Please view the following blog entry regarding our homework policy.

Reading Logs:
Reading logs will be due every Friday. Students will be required to read at least 100 minutes a week. We know how busy life can get some days. We will leave it to your families’ schedule and discretion when those minutes get read. Some students might spend a few minutes on weeknights and longer on weekends. 100 minutes a week is slightly less than 15 minutes a day, the lower end of the scale for recommended reading. Of course, a child is welcome to read as much as they like. Reading log minutes can be reading alone, being read to, reading to a younger sibling or friend, anything that is reading!

Spelling:
Spelling tests will be every Friday. We are still assessing for spelling groups. Students will bring home their first spelling list in two weeks.


Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself. ~John Dewey

We are looking forward to another exciting week at Seabury,

Tamara and Betsy

Homework Policy

When will I get some homework??

The Beacons have been chomping at the bit for homework to begin. Homework officially begins today and we will continue until the end of the year. First, Mrs. Ritchie and I would like to explain our homework policy to help avoid any confusion and to make our expectations clear:

Most recent studies have shown that homework that is overly elaborate and/or repetitive squashes the student’s love of learning and interest in the subject matter. This is especially true for gifted students. Specifically, studies have shown that any gains in achievement that homework may facilitate are undone if the student spends more than 1 hour per night on homework.

Thus, our policy is to keep homework minimal and meaningful. Homework should never take more than 20 minutes per subject, per night, and most assignments will take 5-10 minutes. In addition, students will never have more than two homework assignments per night, plus reading. Any long-term, ongoing projects, such as Science projects, book reports etc. may or may not be included in the nightly assignments; but it is our intention that students never work for more than 40 minutes in a night on homework.

Mrs. Ritchie and I do not ever want to overload students with too much homework in a night. Our intention for the year is to designate no more than two 20 minute homework assignments as their homework total. There will hardly ever be any homework over the weekend. Our Reading Logs are an ongoing yearly activitiy and do not count towards each evening's two designated subject homework activities.

Reading Logs: Reading logs will be due every Friday. Students will be required to read at least 100 minutes a week. We know how busy life can get some days. We will leave it to your families’ schedule and discretion when those minutes get read. Some students might spend a few minutes on weeknights and longer on weekends. 100 minutes a week is slightly less than 15 minutes a day, the lower end of the scale for recommended reading. Of course, a child is welcome to read as much as they like. Reading log minutes can be reading alone, being read to, reading to a younger sibling or friend, anything that is reading!

A couple notes:

If your child is struggling with a particular assignment, please let us know! Students don’t generally volunteer that they had trouble with an assignment last night and if the assignment comes back completed and looking good, with no note from you, we can only assume all was well. It is vital information for us to know if your child is struggling on a homework assignment, or if your child simply does not understand a portion of the homework. Please just draw a line on the homework paper after 20 minutes and initial it. A policy of, “Work until it’s done, no matter what,” can be much more damaging than helpful. Our expectation is that your child consistently turn in his or her homework which is completed to the best of his or her ability within the honest effort of the 20 minute time frame.

If your family has activities coming up on a particular night that you believe will preclude homework, then we need to hear it directly from you, the parent, preferably sooner rather than later. If something came up last night and your child didn't get a chance to do his or her homework through no fault of his or her own, please send us an email or write us a note. Either way, we need to hear it from you. One of our goals is to help build responsibility in your student and turning in the homework on time is an excellent life skill in responsibility.

We hope that this clears up any questions you might have about what homework will be like this year. If you have further questions, please let us know.

Tuesday, Sept. 9th Math Groups

Hard to believe that school started only one week ago today! We are pleased to report that without exception, all of the Beacons are settled into the routine of school.

There have been lots of exciting activities going on in the Beacons' classroom this week. One of the most exciting items is that we have completed our math assessments. As you may know , Seabury has adopted a new math curriculum called Math Connects. Math Connects is a research-based program that is aligned with national math standards and appeals to a wide array of learning styles. As a staff, we’re very excited about it because we believe it will be an excellent program for our students.

Over the past week, we have been conducting our first assessments with our students. We will use these assessments and our collective prior knowledge of the students’ abilities to form our first math groups that will meet on Wednesday. Math Connects is a very different program from Everyday Math and the other curricula we have used in the past, and you may find that your child is grouped differently that s/he was last year. Some important points to note:

As a school, we are constantly assessing your child, formally and informally. We will be grouping the students according to our preliminary assessments, but these groups will be flexible. If, as we begin to work, it is evident that a student would be better placed in another group, we will not hesitate to move that student. Similarly, as we continue to work throughout the year, we will be pretesting and compacting as needed in the same way we always have to make sure that your child gets what he or she needs. If your child is moving at a different rate than most of the other students in the group and would be a better fit in another group, we will be moving your child.

Math is a subject where we group by ability rather than by age or maturity. Your child may/or may not be with children of her/his same age. We are all looking forward to the start of our math groups tomorrow!

Our Special Friend

Our Self Portraits

Whew! Have we had a busy 3 days of school. We have worked very hard on our reading, writing and math. Our focus this week has been on learning the routine, getting to know the new teachers and students and especially working on the cards, letters and the book that our class has made to honor Mr. H. at tomorrow's memorial. As Mrs. Wollum mentioned in her last e-mail, this is a time for the students to say good-bye. Mrs. Ritchie and I are very proud of our Beacons for their maturity and their ability to share their feelings in such a beautiful way. We treasure the memory of Mr. H. He will live on in our hearts forever.

Today we also made our self portraits. All the Beacons are phenomenal artists. These portraits were made without using a mirror. In this way, they truly "mirror" your child's reflection of himself or herself. You will get a kick out of them. We love this class!!Here they are, our 2008-2009 Beacons' class!

Our 1st day of class photo, September 2,2008

Here we are...The 2008-2009 Beacons!

Our first day of school class photo

Our goofy faces photo. Oh, we are sooo cute!

The First Day of School,September 2, 2008

WOW! Did we ever have a wonderful first day of school. Here are a few photos of the smiles which started our day and continued throughout until the end of school. It was such a beautiful day that we decided to eat outside. Yummy!