Murray Language Academy

2014-2015 Fourth Quarter Newsletter

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

We appreciate all your support in the third quarter and look forward to the continued collaborative

efforts between school and home.

Please keep in mind that the information below is pertinent to the entire school year:

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) uniform grading scale A = 90 – 100%, B = 80 – 89%,

C = 70 – 79%, D = 60 – 69%, F = 59% and below

Homework: Monday through Friday, 30 minutes of assignments and 30 minutes of reading.

Students are expected to complete missed assignments because of absence within two days.

Murray Language Academy follows the CPS Code of Conduct. Please read and discuss with

your child our behavioral expectations in school.

Families are expected to view our Second Grade Blog at the beginning of each week. Families

without access to the internet can visit Murray’s library. Also, a copy of the Second Grade Blog

is always displayed outside of rooms 103 and 106 for your convenience.

There are numerous opportunities to be active participants in your child’s class. Share a talent,

assist in class or chaperone a field trip. Please consider yourself of member of your child’s

teaching team.

Language Arts: Students will engage in meaningful interactive read alouds and discussions as a

foundation for listening and reading comprehension. Analysis of the texts will provide themes and

writing styles of various children’s authors and illustrators. Students will use notes from these

discussions to support their writing.

Through the Balanced Literacy Framework, we will explore:

- Reader’s response

- Note taking

- Illustrations as a means to communicate

- Students as authors/illustrators

- Expanding genre study to include poetry

- Research and analyze insects

Mathematics: For the fourth quarter, we will continue to utilize The University of Chicago

Everyday mathematics program. Please check skills listed weekly on the Second Grade Blog to support

your child’s learning:

Use addition and subtraction to solve 1-step problems

Model 1-step problems involving addition and subtraction

Know all sums of two 1-digit numbers automatically

Express an even number as a sum of two equal addends

Find the total number of objects in a rectangular array

Express the number of objects in an array as a sum of equal addends

Understand 3-digit place value

Represent whole numbers as hundreds, tens and ones

Count by 5s, 10s, and 100s

Read and write number names

Read and write numbers in expanded form

Record comparisons using > , < , = (relational symbols)

Add within 100 fluently

Subtract within 100 fluently

Add multi-digit numbers using models and strategies

Subtract multi-digit numbers using models and strategies

Measure the length of an object

Measure to determine how much one object is than another

Partition shapes into equal squares

Describe equal shares using fraction words

Describe the whole as a number of shares

Recognize that equal shares of a shape need not have the same shape

Check whether answers to problems make sense

Solve problems in more than one way

Create mathematical representations using numbers, words, pictures, symbols, gestures, tables,

graphs, and concrete objects

Make sense of the representations students and others use

Model real-world situations using graphs, drawings, tables, symbols, numbers, diagrams and

other representations

Use mathematical models to solve problems and answer questions

Science: We are excited to implement our science program with the highly respected curriculum from

the Full Option Science System (FOSS) program. FOSS offers a variety of hands-on explorations that

encourages scientific thinking. For the fourth quarter, we will continue investigating the insect unit. In

addition, we will utilize a program entitled Harcourt School Publishers Illinois Science as a supplement.

We will integrate science with social studies and fine arts by focusing on the earth’s natural resources.

Concepts Insects need air, water, and space. Insects have characteristic structures and behaviors. The life cycle of the beetle is egg, larva, pupa, and adult, which produces eggs. Draw conclusions about the ways natural resources used. Identify air, water, rocks, soil, plants, and animals as natural resources. Describe ways people use natural resources. Observe how objects decompose. Describe the causes and effects of pollution. Identify ways that resources are wasted. Know ways people can cause positive and negative changes to the environment. Plan an investigation to make something useful from used things. Identify ways to protect natural resources. Know ways people can cause positive changes to the environment. Know the parts of a plant

Know how plants differ from other plants

Know plant life cycles

Skills

Observe mealworms, butterflies, and crickets as they metamorphose through incomplete (3

stages: eggs, nymphs, and adults) and complete (4 stages: eggs, larvae, pupae, and adults) over

time. Describe and record changes in structure and behavior over time of mealworms, butterflies, and

crickets. Observe plants to understand how stems carry water.

Identify the main parts of plants and describe their structural characteristics.

Identify sunlight, air, water, and nutrients from soil as things plants need to grow.

Compare and describe the structural characteristics of different plants.

Attitudes

Accepting that a range of results is valid. Valuing the importance of simple scientific tools. Experience some of the great diversity of forms in the animal kingdom. Become familiar with some of the life sequences that different types of insects exhibit (simple

and complete metamorphosis).

Observe the similarities and differences in the larvae, pupae, and adults of insects that go through

complete metamorphosis.

Observe the behaviors of insects at different stages of their life cycle.

Provide for the needs of insects (air, water, food, and space).

Acquire the vocabulary associated with insect life.

Social Science:

Identify continents and oceans

Understand how we use natural resources, the importance of natural resources, and how we care

for natural resources.

Recognize the importance of knowing the past to predict the future.

Follow steps for making a prediction.

Trace the history of El Paso, Texas.

Explain how local people and events have influenced local community history.

Describe changes in a community over time.

Explain how one event can cause another.

Analyze the effects of change.

Recognize that history is a series of causes and effects.

Explain the significance of various national holidays.

Compare early Native American groups.

Sequence early American history.

Identify places that remind us of our history.

Learn about the past from a history map.

Draw maps to show places and routes.

Identify contributions of historical figures who have influenced the community, state, and

nation.

Read a grid.

Use a map grid to locate places on the map.

Draw a map grid of a familiar place.

Understand that cultures and civilizations existed in ancient times.

Identify contributions made by ancient Egyptians, Chinese, and Native Americans.

Trace the history of writing.

Explain how diagrams are used.

Read a cross-section diagram of a pyramid.

Identify and explain the significance of various community, state, and national memorials such

as Mount Rushmore.

Obtain information about a topic using a variety of visual sources.

Understand the relationship between: goods and services, producers and consumers, and work

and income.

Anh Tuan Hoang and LuAnn Lawson