February 19, 2017

Hello Families,

 

We had another wonderful week with your children. A very special thank you to the parent volunteers on Valentine’s Day. The kids loved eating their sundaes!

 

Here is an update on what’s been happening in our team:

 

Important dates:​

·         Monday, February 20th: Mid-Winter Break Begins

·         Thursday, February 23rd: Students Return from Mid-Winter Break

·         Thursday, March 9^th: All School Field Trip (more info to come late on)

Reminders:

If you haven’t returned the empty report card envelope, please do so as soon as possible.  Grandparent letters were returned home with your child. Please check folders so these don't get lost and  can be kept as a special keepsake.

 

Reading:

This past week we worked on a thinking routine called, “BHH”. The B stands for: book (where students retell the main details from a story), H stands for head (what did this story make you think about or what did you notice while reading), and the other H stands for heart (what did this story make you feel, was there a powerful statement?). This strategy really helps our readers connect with the text and comprehend their reading. This week's article was about Helen Keller. Students had a chance to share their thinking on Seesaw, while trying out the BHH strategy. We also worked on a Scholastic News article. Expectations are increasing for the completion of these learning assignments. Last week's focus was nonfiction text features. Please look these over next week and review expectations for quality. I'm getting picky about spelling, punctuation, and thoughtful, evidence based answers!

 

Word Work: 

​We are continuing to work in our Wordly Wise Books. This was our fourth week working on this, so our expectations are growing. Most students are becoming independent with the assignments in this book.

 

Writing: 

Everyone finished their Realistic Fiction books! Next week, we'll complete our All About the Author pages and share our books with each other and blog a little! After that,  we will begin paragraph writing, along with book and movie reviews!

 

Math: 

This week, we began unit 6, and taught lessons 6.1-6.3. These lessons focused on interpreting number stories with the use of diagrams. Also, we will be rechecking a few of the skills the students missed on the 23rd and 24^th of this month.  If your child missed a particular math skill on the unit 5 test, please practice at home so your child is ready to get rechecked for the next report card. Please refer to the at home review to practice the problems with your child at home. Story problems are one of the most difficult math concepts and children need lots of practice identifying the problem. We'll practice many of these over the next few weeks. Please practice at home.

 

IXL SKILLS FOR UNIT 6

E.12, E. 18, E.20, G.9, G.14-- Addition Word Problems 

F.10, H.9, J.5-- Subtraction Word Problems 

Section M--Place Value

Section R--picture and bar graphs only 

 

Homelinks and the At Home Review were sent home earlier this week/last week.

 

Social Studies:​ 

  We  took some time to dive into our citizenship unit, where we started to discuss our community service project for March. The second graders have decided that they would like to help animals for their project. We found a wonderful shelter to donate to, called the TLC Animal Sanctuary. Check out their website for more information on this shelter. http://www.tlcanimalsanctuary.com/home.html The students had a chance to connect to the shelter on a more personal level, when one of their volunteers came to speak with the kids about what they do there. She even brought in some really cute animals for us to learn about! Please take a look at the tan note that was sent home, as well as the pamphlet from TLC Sanctuary. We're excited about helping this Animal Rescue Group! We will be sending home more information about our community service project idea, needs and volunteer opportunities soon. Thank you in advance for your help and support!

 

Reminder: Fleece Fabric needed for our Service Project!

 

Earlier in the week we had another visitor, named Obie. Obie is a therapy dog that works in the Novi area. Our students had the opportunity to learn about ways that Obie helps others and how he is a good citizen in our community. It was another wonderful way to get inspired to help animals, after seeing how much they can help us.

 

Character Trait of the Month:   Citizenship—perfect for our community service month!

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

 

​As next week is a shortened week, we will not be sending a newsletter. Have a great midwinter break!

The Second Grade Teachers