January 27, 2017

Hello Families,

We had a fabulous week! Everyone had a great time "sharpening their saws!"

Important dates:​

·        Saturday, February 11^th: Jump Rope for Heart

·        Tuesday, February 14th : Valentine's Exchange and Ice Cream Sundaes

·        Wednesday, February 15^th: Science Fair 6-8 pm

·        Monday, February 20^th-Wednesday, February 22: Midwinter Break, NO SCHOOL

Reading:

This past week we continued to work with our Book Clubs. Students are becoming more independent at leading their book clubs while focusing on these strategies: Questioning, Monitoring and Clarifying, Predicting, and Summarizing. We're working on having conversations about our books, and thinking about connections and the themes or messages of our books.

Word Work: 

​We began working on our Wordly Wise Books. We're learning the routine and the expectations for working with the book. This workbook is quite challenging, but really helps with learning and using new vocabulary.  

Writing: 

This week, we continued to work on completing our realistic fiction stories. We learned how published authors end their stories and tried to use some ideas from our Mentor Texts to help us with our endings. We revised by adding more details and edited, getting our stories ready for publication. Students worked together to find "Smart Hearts" (smart author tricks) and used a check list to review their writing pieces. Next week we'll begin publishing.

Math: 

In math, we continued to work on unit 5. Please continue to practice counting change.  If you are following along with the Home links, we completed lessons 5.4-5.8.  We had a lot of fun this week learning about elapsed time using an open number line! Ask your child to show you. We also use open number lines to take short cuts when adding. Also, you may notice  a new "practice math" page that we're using to warm up our brains before starting our daily math lessons. This worksheet introduces new concepts so don't be alarmed if you see something new that hasn't been taught in our math unit. This is supplemental computation and we check it together and learn the new concepts together each day.

​Social Studies:​ 

During Social Studies, we continued learning about the past. We are so appreciative of the Grandparent letters that we've been receiving! We are having so much fun reading about the past, as well as looking at all of the wonderful pictures! We also have been having fun with the artifacts that were loaned to us from a local museum, learning about their uses. Ask your child about some of the artifacts that they've seen.

Character Trait of the Month:   Responsibility

Please look over your Responsibility Grid and  continue to talk about these traits at home and we will do the same here at school! 

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Have a great weekend!

January 20, 2017

Hello Families,

Thank you to the wonderful grandparents who have started to write to us about the past! We are grateful for their wonderful memories and stories! We had a wonderful, short week in school! Here are some highlights from our week.

Important dates:​

·  Friday, January 27th: Half Day of School, Sharpen the Saw Day—if you have not already done so, please make sure you sign your child up for a different event in each time slot

·        Saturday, February 11^th: Jump Rope for Heart

·        Wednesday, February 15^th: Science Fair 6-8pm

·        Monday, February 20^th-Wednesday, February 22: Midwinter Break, NO SCHOOL

Reading:

This past week we continued to work on our book club strategies and did a close reading about snow. Last week, we taught the students Reciprocal Teaching. During our book clubs, we go through the process of Reciprocal Teaching, which is when we focus on the following reading strategies: Questioning, Monitor and Clarify, Predicting, and Summarizing. Students learned about book club expectations and modeled what it should look like/sound like during that time. This week we also learned about a new Thinking Routine called "Peel the Fruit." We finished our book, "Josefina Story Quilt" and thought deeply about the connections and the theme of the book. Next week we will begin our book clubs and use Peel the Fruit to help us to think about our reading. 

Word Work: 

​Students are excited about starting their challenging Wordly Wise books next week. This book focuses on vocabulary and building stamina for reading long passages.

Writing: 

This week, we continued to work on our new realistic fiction piece and answered prompts in our writing packets.  We really focused on starting off our stories with an exciting lead. We used mentor texts to discover how published authors started off their books as inspiration in our own writing. We will be using this piece to help us mark our next report card coming soon! Ask your child about the story he/she started.

Math: 

In math, we continued to work on unit 5. We spent a great deal of time showing our students how to make change using a 100s chart. Ask them to show you how they can do this! If you are following along with the Homelinks, we completed lessons 5.3-5.5. 

It would greatly help your child if you would work with him/her on making change at home.  Here are some example problems for you:

·         Mary bought a muffin for 32 cents. She paid the cashier 50 cents. How much change?

·         Jeff bought a muffin for $1.32.  He paid the cashier $5.  How much change?

We teach the children to count up on a number grid which really helps give the students a visual.  You can find free number grids online! Thanks for your help at home.

​Social Studies:​ 

During Social Studies, we continued learning about the past. We were lucky enough to have a guest speaker from the our Historical Commission come in and talk to us about our city's  past. Ask your child what their favorite part of the presentation was and something they learned! 

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We have started receiving letters from grandparents and they are absolutely wonderful! Please thank them for helping us to learn about the past from real experts!

Character Trait of the Month:   Responsibility

The homework was sent home and is also attached for you. Please continue to talk about these traits at home and we will do the same here at school! 

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Have a great weekend!

The Second Grade Teachers

Snow Day!

Snowday!

Click on the link above to hear the book, "Snow Day!" by Lester Laminack. This is one of my favorite books! Blog about your day!

 

January 15, 2017

Dear Families,

 

Please click on the link below to see a great video from Kid President:

 

Kid President: Martin Luther King

 

We had a fabulous week in school! Here are some highlights from our week.

 

Important dates:​

·  Monday, January 9th: Students/Staff Return from Break

·  Tuesday, January 10th: Jump Rope for Heart Kick-off

·  Monday, January 16th: No School MLK Day

·  Thursday, January 19th: Multicultural Night @ 6:00 pm

·  Friday, January 27th: Half Day of School, Sharpen the Saw Day

 

                                                     Our Classroom Trolls
 

Reading:

This past week we taught the students Reciprocal Teaching. This is a format which gives students a framework to hold a book club in a small group.  We modeled the procedure in class with the whole group.  During Reciprocal teaching,  we focus on the following reading strategies: Questioning, Monitor and Clarify, Predicting, and Summarizing.    We will start book clubs during teacher time starting next week.

 

Word Work: 

​This week we worked on reviewing some of the word patterns that we've been focusing on throughout our long vowel pattern study.  Stay tuned, as we will soon begin “Wordly Wise”.  This is a program which helps students expand his/her vocabulary which is used in the upper grades, as well.

 

Writing: This week, we worked on our realistic fiction pieces.  The students were given a checklist to follow when writing his/her story.  We will be using this piece to help us mark our next report card coming soon! Ask your child about the story he/she started.

 

Math: We are in the process of sending home our math journal 1 which includes units 1 through 4.  Please be sure to read the attached school note on the math journal.  We also started unit 5 this past week and completed through lesson 3 if you are following along with the homelinks.  One important skill in this unit is making change. This is very difficult especially if your child doesn't know how to count change. It would be beneficial to practice counting change and counting back change at home.

 Counting Change Math Games

 

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  Here are some example problems for you:

 

Mary bought a muffin for 32 cents. She paid the cashier 50 cents. How much change?

Jeff bought a muffin for $1.32.  He paid the cashier $5.  How much change?

We teach the children to count up on a number grid which really helps give the students a visual.  You can find free number grids online! Thanks for your help at home.

We'll keep practicing at school also!

​Social Studies:​ We started our next social studies unit which is "How do communities change?" We will be focusing on the following questions: 

How do historians study the past?

 

How can an individual impact history?

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How do communities change over time?
 

We had some interesting artifacts that we looked at last week, ask your child about them. We have a special guest coming in next week to help us to learn about our community's past!

 

​Also, we are asking your child's grandparent to write him/her a letter to  about the past (see letter that was sent home on Friday in your child's folder).  We would like your child's grandparent to write and send the letter to YOUR CHILD'S TEACHER HERE AT SCHOOL by Friday, January 27th so that we may share them with the students.  We will return the letters after our unit so you can save them for a keepsake.

 

Character Trait of the Month:   Responsibility

The homework was sent home earlier in the week and is also attached for you. Please continue to talk about these traits at home and we will do the same here at school! 

  Inside recess!

 

Winter Gear: Please be sure to label snow pants, boots, and coats with your child's name. We know this is hard to believe, but many children don't recognize their own clothing!  We also have about 15 pairs of black boots!

 

 

 More math games!

 

Have a great weekend!

The Second Grade Teachers