Week of January 3, 2007
What Makes Day and Night, was written by former elementary school science teacher Franklin M. Branley. This nonfiction selection explains how the rotation of the earth allows us to have day and night every twenty-four hours. It includes a simple experiment, using a lamp or flashlight, you may want to try at home.
Your child can review and practice the vocabulary words and definitions for What Makes Day and Night by clicking the Java Games link in the Quia activities section. It may be helpful to print out the list of terms (vocabulary words and meanings) from the game choices page so your child can refer to them as needed during practice. Once your child can easily match the words and definitions, have him/her try playing the Columns Game where vocabulary words are used in the context of sentences.
I have changed the order of the stories we will read as we complete Theme 3 of our books. We will switch When the Wind Stops and What Makes Day and Night. Since this is only a three-day school week, I will use the selection What Makes Day and Night to ease the children back into our reading class routine, but I do not plan to grade either the vocabulary quiz or comprehension test on Friday.
Have some fun with the Useful links section at the bottom of the Class Page. It features hyperlinks to other sites that contain background materials and enrichment activities that go along with this week's story. These links are provided as an extra opportunity for fun and learning for you and your second grader. Before using the Crayola.com site, you'll have to register (it's free) or login with your password if you have previously created a username for the web site. I think it is well worth the time it takes to register on Crayola's site because it has tons of art & crafts activities, and I link to it often for various enrichment activities throughout the year. Once you have registered or logged in, just click where it says 'click here', and you'll be directed right to the activity that correlates with our story What Makes Day and Night.
Double Bonus Activity: Click on the link after the ***stars*** in the Useful links section at the bottom of the Class Page. Find the four phases of the moon (lunar phases) pictured on the site. Write down the name of the phase in which the moon cannot be seen from Earth, or click 'printable version' and bring Ms. Pellarin the printout with the correct picture circled. You will receive a small prize for correctly naming the moon phase. You can earn an extra prize if you can also tell Ms. Pellarin the date on which that phase will occur in January (Hint: There are a couple links that will give you this information below, but you'll have to find them on your own since they aren't ***starred***).
