What a fabulous group of students we have in the 4/5 classroom this year!

We enjoyed creating our get-to-know-me project: The Next American Idols. The students and teachers created album covers and song titles based on their own favorite hobbies, interests, colors, etc. Andy brought in some of his rare albums as models and shared the music with us on a portable record player. Most students had not seen a record album or turntable before! The projects are beautifully displayed in our classroom. Please come and check them out!

Our Houghton Mifflin language arts program and Columbia Writing Project provide a thorough language arts experience for the children. We’re excited this year to integrate science and writing whenever possible. You may have noticed that our weekly spelling words are going back and forth between science vocabulary and traditional spelling words. The students did a fantastic job on their first portfolio writing piece, comparing and contrasting plant and animal cells after having read about them, illustrated them in great detail and observed them under the microscope. Wow!

Our Houghton Mifflin science curriculum for the first part of the year focuses on The Life Processes: Cells, Plant Systems and Traits of Living Things. Weekly nature walks supplement our classroom experience. We have collected, analyzed and classified leaves and sketched interesting discoveries in our naturalists’ journals. On Tuesday afternoons, Mrs. Corkum and Mrs. Elia will be conducting a science lesson together, further integrating the two curricula. This upcoming Friday, Miss Anne will also be doing leaf studies in art class with the children. What a connection!

The first Pinecroft Pal Picnic of the year was a huge hit! Notes and letters have been “mailed” back and forth between the two classrooms, generating lots of excitement and anticipation! We look forward to many more activities together throughout the year.

We’re so impressed by the Wheaton intern “crew” working at Pinecroft. They bring a variety of majors and areas of expertise to our students, from math to music to Spanish and more. Phys. Ed. teachers, James and Chris, bring the right mix of enthusiasm and good sportsmanship to our weekly gym class.

Don’t hesitate to email us with any questions or comments. We’re off to a great start!

Fall Edition 2009
2-3 Classroom
Curriculum Guide

For parents who wonder what our week is like, here’s a brief overview.

Reading: We will be reading every day, using the Houghton Mifflin Reading series as a basal text. Vocabulary Works, Wordly Wise (grade 3), Phonics (grade 2), and SRA (Power Builders) are the supplementary materials, along with Following Directions and Analogies: Concept Connections. The Reading/Thinking Skills workbook will be used for a homework assignment, usually on Mondays. In addition I will be reading a chapter book orally to the class daily to increase vocabulary recognition and listening skills, as well as for enjoyment.

Spelling: A list a week will be covered from the Houghton Mifflin Reading series. A pre-test will be given on Mondays (Tuesdays in holiday weeks) and only words misspelled will be retested on Fridays. Any child with a perfect score will not need retesting, but will be required to do language exercises using those words.

Writing: The students will write on a topic every week with instruction on sentence structure, grammar, main idea, and details. The reading series is our guide.

Language: A specific grammar lesson, from the reading series, will be introduced and worked on weekly. We are covering recognition of sentences, the different types of sentences, identifying the subject or naming parts and predicates or action parts, as well as capitalization and punctuation, at this time.

Mathematics: We work from the D.C. Health Mathematics books. There will be a daily lesson, teacher-directed, with practice exercises. Second graders will do an extra word problem lesson each week, while third graders will be introduced to Mindbenders, problems using deductive reasoning skills.

Handwriting: We use the Zaner-Bloser method. Second graders will be introduced to cursive eventually and third graders will review and practice their skills.

Social Studies: The curriculum this year is based on Kids, Customs, and Cultures to introduce the ways of living in different countries around the world. We’ll read, view videos, do activities, sample food, and practice some words in a different language. Canada, Germany, Egypt, Japan, New Zealand and Chile are the countries in this unit. There will be a geography component to this as well. We will also do an integrated unit on Antarctica and the penguins in the winter. A separate map skills lesson is also done each week.

Science: The Houghton Mifflin Science program Book A: How Living Things Function will be our guide through the fall, studying plants and animals. Currently we have worked on the process skills necessary to be a scientist. We conducted an experiment to answer the question “Is the bean seed alive?” Hopefully, you received the bean seeds last week and can transplant them, if viable.

Spanish: Mrs. Arcand will introduce vocabulary and conversational Spanish to each grade level once a week on Tuesdays with homework assignments due on Fridays. Any study assignments should carry into the next week.

Music: Andy Solberg will teach each grade weekly on the recorder (grades 2, 3, 4, 5) and conduct a singing session as well. Thursday is music day when every child should bring a recorder and music folder to school, along with the Practice Sheet signed by a parent.

Art: Ms. Anne West teaches each grade on Fridays and coordinates projects with class curriculum.

Physical Education: Each classroom will have a weekly outdoor, structured session. Sneakers and outdoor clothing are a must! Our class is assigned Wednesday mornings from 10:00 -10:45. Indoor lessons will be conducted during inclement weather.

Homework: Homework is assigned Monday through Thursday. You have probably already seen the folder with the assignment paper inside. Homework is your child’s responsibility. Each child should be able to complete the assignments independently, but will need helpers to study effectively for Spelling and Spanish, and for Math fact review (always a good thing even if not specifically assigned).

It’s going to be an exciting year!