Mystery Hangout- Connecting With Others

We're Connected!
Have you heard about our Mystery Hangout this week?  A Mystery Hangout is when two classes connect and play a guessing game to figure out where in the world the other students are from.  This past Tuesday we connected with a group of 2nd graders from Wisconsin.  Students used blank maps, geography-type questioning, and the process of elimination to guess the location.  Learning about directions and borders sure helped!  Our students asked questions, answered questions, and were even complimented on their most excellent behavior and enthusiasm! We plan to do more this year!

We played Rock, Paper, Scissors with the other class to see which class would go first.

We took turns asking questions to see if we could guess where the other class was.  

Multiplying by Two

Here are a few resources to help your child work on their multiplication facts with 2.

Multiply by 2 Song

Silly Songs 2's Song

2s Multiplication Flashcards (Printable)

Multiplication Games

Looking Ahead Week of October 2, 2017

Looking Ahead 

Week of October 2, 2017

ELA:  We will be working with nonfiction text.  We will be learning how to formulate questions that help aid in comprehension.  We will also set goals for reading counts.  

Math:  We will be wrapping up Module 1.  We will be working with multiplication and division in the context of word problems.  Please start reviewing the 2s and 3s facts with your child. We will begin fluency testing for these soon.  It is our goal that your child can answer without assistance (counting on fingers, drawing, etc.) all basic multiplication facts through 12x12 by the end of the year. 

Social Studies:  We will begin a new unit on Native Americans in South Carolina.

Science:  We will review what we know about grasslands. We will have a test on grasslands on Thursday.

Week In Review September 25-29

We had an awesome week!  Check out what we were learning:

ELA:  We dug deeper into our writers' notebooks, using the strategies of brainstorming and mapping to come up with ideas for writing narratives.  We also reviewed the importance of choosing descriptive words to make our writing better.  We began learning how to use a thesaurus as well.

Math:  We continued working with multiplication and division.  Students are learning a lot of strategies to help them solve word problems.  Ask them how count-by models, tape diagrams, and equations can help solve problems and/or prove answers.

Social Studies:  We wrapped up our learning about South Carolina Regions.  

Science:   We learned more about adaptations in the grasslands for both plants and animals.  We will have a test on the grassland habitat on Thursday, October 5.

Getting Ready for the Regions Test

Next Friday, your child will have a social studies test on the South Carolina regions.  We have been learning about these regions in a variety of ways. We have taken notes, we have worked with maps, and we have looked a pictures from each region.  Look below for tips on how to prepare for this test.

Test Tips

• Your child should have a social studies notebook.  We write notes in this, we glue maps, and we place essentially anything related to what we are learning in this notebook. Your child will be encouraged to take this notebook home daily.
• Our textbook is helpful. However, please view this as a supplement to our learning.  The notebook will have a more condensed version of what was learned. However, it is still good to look through for clarication.
• Use Study Stack for a review.  We will visit this website in class, but you can support at home with a few minutes a day.
• I will provide a Study Buddy for your child to use as a guide of what this test will assess.  It is a broad set of terms that is needed.

South Carolina Regions Study Buddy

Students will be responsible to know the following things about South Carolina’s 6 regions:

• Location of each region
• Location of all 4 river systems
• Physical Features vs. Human Features
• Climate, physical features, natural resources, cities/towns and economy of all 6 regions
• Population Distribution (what does this term mean?)

Week in Review September 18-22

We have had a busy week!  Check out what we've been up to!

ELA:  We learned about adjectives and began to notice their effects on writing and our ability as readers to visualize what is being read.  We also worked with prefixes and suffixes.  
Math:  We worked with the Commutative and Distributive Properties of Multiplication.  We also used different strategies to tackle word problems.
Science:  We learned about various roles in the grassland ecosytem.
Social Studies:  We continued learning about South Carolina regions.

Looking Ahead Week of September 25, 2017

Week of September 25, 2017

**Friday will be a half day with 11:30 dismissal.  Please see form in email to tell me how your child will be going home.**

ELA:  On Monday, we will participate in a District Wide Writing Assessment. This provides information about how your child reads text independently, how he or she analyzes what is read, and how he or she responds thoughtfully in writing to a prompt about the reading.  This is not a test students can necessarily study for at this time of year.  This is to see where they are and then use this as a means for instruction.

We will also continue our study of prefixes and suffixes.  We will work with narrative process writing.  

Math:  We will  continue to work with multiplication and division and begin to use strategies to memorize facts. We will have a quiz on lessons 11-13 on Thursday, September 28.

Social Studies:  We will reviewing what we have learned about South Carolina regions.  Our regions test will be on Friday, September 29.  Please see post "How to Prepare for the Regions Test" for tips.  

Science:  We will  be wrapping up our learning about the Grasslands.

Study Stack for Regions Test

Have you ever heard of Study Stack?  This is a free online tool that we like to use to study for tests, especially in science and social studies.  It provides interactive flashcards, practices, and games to help students become more familiar with vocabulary associated with content.  Use this link to help your child prepare for our upcoming Regions test on Friday, September 29.  

Study Stack for Regions Test

Attention Military Families

Attention Military Gator Families!

Did you know?

Both LCEL and LCEU each have over 100 military connected families! Because of our high Military student population, each campus has received individual grants through the Department of Defense. These grants enable our school to participate in professional development opportunities to help our faculty and staff better serve our student's academic and social/emotional needs. We are also able to provide our classrooms with technology, books, and other resources through this grant.

Sign your child up for our Military Kids Group!

LCE’s military kids support groups are designed to address the specific needs of students with an active duty parent.  We focus on topics such as deployments, frequent family moves, transitioning into new schools, making friends, and more. These support groups meet once a month, during the school day and are led by the school counselors, Mrs. Skinner (upper) and Mrs. Boyleston (lower). If you would like your child to participate and are not yet signed up, please use the links below to sign up at each campus.

*If your child was previously enrolled in the military kids groups, they will be included this year as well.

Lower Campus Sign Up

Upper Campus Sign Up

If you have trouble with the link you may email your counselor directly at 

Jskinner@richland2.org or Kboyleston@richland2.org.

Quizlet for Multiplication

Try this link for extra practice with vocabulary associated with multiplication problems. 

Quizlet for Multiplication

Transportation Changes

Transportation Changes

Sometimes it is necessary to change your child's typical mode of transportation in the afternoon.  If you know about this in advance, you can write this in their agenda or you can email me at scomisky@richland2.org.  If I see it, I will email you to confirm.  

If you need to change transportation for that same day, please write a note in your child's agenda book and call our front office at 681-3360 (dial 0).  Oftentimes, I am unable to see email until after our school day has ended, so I do not want to miss your instructions.  

With safety in mind, if I haven't received a notice of change, I will send your child home via their normal way.

Thank you so much!  

Looking Ahead Week of September 18

Looking Ahead 

Week of September 18

ELA:  We will continue to work with prefixes and suffixes to learn new words.  We will work with dictionary skills as well as synonyms and antonyms.  We will work to build our author's notebook and begin writing multiple small pieces to build our writing stamina.

Math:  We will continue with Module 1, learning about the commutative and distributive properties of multiplication.

Science:  We will learn about various roles within the grasslands (producers, consumers, decomposers, omnivores, carnivores, and herbivores).  We will also learn about food chains and food webs.

Social Studies:  We will wrap up our learning about the regions of South Carolina and begin learning about the major river systems.

A Week in Review September 11-15

A Week in Review

September 11-15

ELA:  This week, we have been reading Stone Soup. We have been working within the folktale genre and have been digging deeper to analyze the text.  We have also learned about the strategy of visualizing, which is making a picture in your head of what you are reading.

Math:  We continued learning about the relationship between multiplication and division and began describing what the answer in each problem really means.

Social Studies:  We began learning about the regions of South Carolina.

Science:  We learned about the characteristics and adaptations of animals and plants within the grassland ecosystem.  

Stone Soup Read Aloud Online

Use this link for a read aloud of our story this week, Stone Soup!

Stone Soup Online Read Aloud

Quizlet for Stone Soup Vocabulary

Use this to practice the vocabulary from Stone Soup!

Quizlet for Stone Soup

Looking Ahead Week of September 11 UPDATED

Looking Ahead
Week of Sept. 11

ELA:  We will continue looking at folktales while also adding in a study of narrative elements such as characters, setting, problem, solution, and theme.  We will work with prefixes and suffixes.  We will begin working within the writing process.  We will have a test on our current reading book story, Stone Soup, on Monday.

Math:  We will continue learning about the relationship between multiplication and division.  We will have a quiz on lessons 4-6 on Friday.

Social Studies:  We will begin learning about the six regions of South Carolina (Blue Ridge, Piedmont, Sandhills, Inner Coastal Plain, Outer Coastal Plain, and Coastal Zone).

Science:  We will continue learning about grasslands.  Within this study we will learn about producers, consumers, and decomposers.  We will also learn about plant and animal adaptations.

A Week in Review September 4-8 UPDATED

A Week in Review

September 4-8

ELA-  This week we have been learning about folktales as well as how to use the strategy of visualizing to help create meaning.  We have been developing good habits to follow during independent reading as well.  We also completed MAP Reading testing.  Results will be shared with you soon.  We also began reading and analyzing Stone Soup.  We will have a test on this story on Thursday.

Math-  We worked to learn how multiplication and division is related.  Students are working to "show" how they know and answer.  Sometimes this can be challenging, especially if we genuinely know the answer.  Being able to explain and show

"why" provides a solid foundation for upper level math.  Now would be a good time to start reviewing the 2's and 3's times tables.  The goal in 3rd grade would be to have fluency (or memory) of the times tables through the 10s facts.  My personal goal is to have them fluent through the 12s , because that is an expectation in 4th grade.  We will have a quiz on lessons 4-6 on Friday.    

Social Studies-  We reviewed South Carolina geography. We also began learning about human and physical features of South Carolina. We began learning about each region of the state.

Science-  We began our habitat unit.  We learned about the difference between habitats, environments, and ecosystems.  We began our expert study of grasslands.