May 11, 2018

Dear Families,

We had a busy week! Here are a couple of highlights from the week and upcoming events.

Thursday, May 17th                Unit 8 Math Test

Friday, May 18th         Celebration of Learning (schedule below)

                                    1:15-2:00 3rd and 4th Grade Classrooms

     2:10-2:35 Community Circle

     2:45-3:30 K, 1st and 2nd Grade Classrooms 

Friday, May 25^th         2^nd Grade Field Trip to Greenfield Village 
Monday, May 28th: No school, Memorial Day
Tuesday, May 29th: All School Field Trip, Henry Ford Museum

Reading and Writing:  Next week we'll finish up one of our persuasive/opinion writing pieces, the book review. Students will have an opportunity to choose a book to review and persuade others to read it also.

Math:     This week we continued working on Unit 8 which is a Geometry Unit. It got a little more difficult as we learned about 3D shapes, how to partition rectangles, and arrays.  

Our unit 8 math test will be Thursday, May 17th.  Be sure to use the at home review and other resources sent home to study!

polygons            Polygons               quadrilaterals                  parallelogram   

Here are the IXL skills for Unit 8:

1.    T.1Name the two-dimensional shape

2.    T.2Select two-dimensional shapes

3.    T.3Count sides and vertices

4.    T.4Compare sides and vertices

5.    T.5Flip, turn, and slide

6.    T.6Identify congruent shapes

7.    T.7Symmetry

8.       U.1Name the three-dimensional shape

9.    U.2Select three-dimensional shapes

10. U.3Count vertices, edges, and faces

11.  U.4Compare vertices, edges, and faces

12. U.5Identify faces of three-dimensional shapes

13. U.6Identify shapes traced from solids

14. U.7Shapes of everyday objects I

15. U.8Shapes of everyday objects II

16.    Y.1Count equal groups

17. Y.2Identify multiplication sentences for equal groups

18. Y.3Write multiplication sentences for equal groups

19. Y.4Relate addition and multiplication for equal groups

20.Y.5Write multiplication sentences for arrays

Science: We spent Wednesday morning cleaning up our garden areas in the courtyard. We are asking for donations of trays of flowers such as marigolds or petunias, and garden decor to put out in our courtyard. We had fun making our "green houses" and starting to observe our seeds grow!  We also did a fun Mystery Science activity where groups of students got to name and make grassheads.  The students can't wait to see our grasshead's hair grow and are excited to show you everything at Celebration of Learning on Friday! 

Have a great weekend!
The Second Grade Teachers

May 4, 2018

Dear Families,
We had a great week. We enjoyed spending time at recess in the sunshine and warmth, finally! We're looking forward to some fun springtime activities!

Monday, May 7th:    NWEA TESTING Math

Tuesday, May 8th:     NWEA TESTING for Reading

Friday, May 18th         Celebration of Learning (schedule below)

                                    1:15-2:00 3rd and 4th Grade Classrooms

     2:10-2:35 Community Circle

     2:45-3:30 K, 1st and 2nd Grade Classrooms 

Friday, May 25^th         2^nd Grade Field Trip to Greenfield Village (Be sure to send in your permission slips and money).
Monday, May 28th: No school, Memorial Day
Tuesday, May 29th: All School Field Trip, Henry Ford Museum

Reading : This week we continued to learn about various genres and their characteristics.  We learned about myths, fairy tales, fables and tall tales. 
Writing: We tried out a new thinking routine called Tug of War using a book called "Old Henry," about a man who didn't follow traditional expectations of behavior and we shared our opinions about this behavior, while explaining our reasoning. This helped to prepare us for our persuasive/opinion writing which will be a book review. 

Old Henry

Math:     This week we began working on Unit 8 which is a Geometry Unit. We had fun learning about quadrilaterals, parallel and perpendicular lines, angles, vertices, edges, faces, and polygons. 

polygons            Polygons               quadrilaterals                  parallelogram   

Here are the IXL skills for Unit 8:

1.    T.1Name the two-dimensional shape

2.    T.2Select two-dimensional shapes

3.    T.3Count sides and vertices

4.    T.4Compare sides and vertices

5.    T.5Flip, turn, and slide

6.    T.6Identify congruent shapes

7.    T.7Symmetry

8.       U.1Name the three-dimensional shape

9.    U.2Select three-dimensional shapes

10. U.3Count vertices, edges, and faces

11.  U.4Compare vertices, edges, and faces

12. U.5Identify faces of three-dimensional shapes

13. U.6Identify shapes traced from solids

14. U.7Shapes of everyday objects I

15. U.8Shapes of everyday objects II

16.    Y.1Count equal groups

17. Y.2Identify multiplication sentences for equal groups

18. Y.3Write multiplication sentences for equal groups

19. Y.4Relate addition and multiplication for equal groups

20.Y.5Write multiplication sentences for arrays

Science: We had fun observing seeds and finding the embryo, seed coat and cotyledon!  We planted our seeds and put them in our greenhouse and under our plant lab lights. We're looking forward to learning about taking care of our seedlings. We had a great time learning about worms and observed and completed a thinking routine called "See, Think, Wonder." We explored and read about worms so that we know how they help our plants to grow. Some of us changed our opinions about worms because we learned how they help our gardens! 

Have a great weekend!
The Second Grade Teachers

April 27, 2018

Dear Families,

Here are a few highlights from our week together:

Important dates:

Monday, April 30th 2nd Grade Bake Sale- BRING 12-24 individually wrapped baked goods for your child to sell THIS MONDAY (see previous emails for further clarification)

Monday, May 7th:    NWEA TESTING Math

Tuesday, May 8th:     NWEA TESTING for Reading

Friday, May 18th         Celebration of Learning (schedule below)

                                    1:15-2:00 3rd and 4th Grade Classrooms

     2:10-2:35 Community Circle

     2:45-3:30 K, 1st and 2nd Grade Classrooms 

Friday, May 25^th         2^nd Grade Field Trip to Greenfield Village (more info to come next week)

Reading: This week we learned about various genres and their characteristics.  We'll continue to learn about myths, fairytales, fables and tall tales. 

Writing:  This week we finished up our nonfiction books and can't wait to share them with you!

Math:   This week we took a break from the math book and added a mini unit on fractions.  Fractions are a difficult, but much needed skill that 2^nd graders should be exposed to.  Next week, we will start our next unit of study on geometry/shapes.  Please keep a look out for the “at-home review” and keep it in a safe spot to practice throughout the unit (and especially right before the test).  We have attached both the homelinks and at home review here for you!

Here are the IXL skills for Unit 8:

1.    T.1Name the two-dimensional shape

2.    T.2Select two-dimensional shapes

3.    T.3Count sides and vertices

4.    T.4Compare sides and vertices

5.    T.5Flip, turn, and slide

6.    T.6Identify congruent shapes

7.    T.7Symmetry

8.       U.1Name the three-dimensional shape

9.    U.2Select three-dimensional shapes

10. U.3Count vertices, edges, and faces

11.  U.4Compare vertices, edges, and faces

12. U.5Identify faces of three-dimensional shapes

13. U.6Identify shapes traced from solids

14. U.7Shapes of everyday objects I

15. U.8Shapes of everyday objects II

16.    Y.1Count equal groups

17. Y.2Identify multiplication sentences for equal groups

18. Y.3Write multiplication sentences for equal groups

19. Y.4Relate addition and multiplication for equal groups

20.Y.5Write multiplication sentences for arrays

Social Studies: This week we continued learning about goods, services, needs, wants, bartering, producers, consumers, scarcity and opportunity cost.  We also worked on our posters which we will use for our bake sale on Monday.  Please do not forget to send 12-24 individually wrapped baked goods for your child to sell on Monday.  Also, please send $2 for your child to purchase his/her baked goods of his/her choice.  Part of the proceeds will help to fund part of our field trip.

April 22, 2018

Dear Families,

Here are a few highlights from our week together:

Important dates:

Tuesday, April 24th Family Fun Night basket donations due

Wednesday, April 25th Red Wings Assembly- Everyone wear red!

Friday, April 27th       Family Fun Night 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm Paradise Park

Monday, April 30th 2nd Grade Bake Sale- details coming soon!

Friday, May 18th      Celebration of Learning (schedule below)

                                  1:15-2:00 3rd and 4th Grade Classrooms

   2:10-2:35 Community Circle

   2:45-3:30 K, 1st and 2nd Grade Classrooms   

   

Reading: This week we learned about author's purpose. Students practiced reading different articles and deciding why the author wrote that piece. Ask your child about what each letter stands for in our Author's Purpose acronym, PIE!

Writing:  This week we continued to read and and write nonfiction.  Students used their paraphrasing to finish writing, revised and edited and created their own non fiction book on their topic!

Math:   This week we finished up unit 7, taking the unit 7 test on Wednesday and took the unit 8 pre-test on Thursday. Skills for unit 8, homelinks and the at home review will be sent home after we complete our mini unit on fractions next week!

Social Studies: This week we continued learning about Democracy and Government. Students learned about their responsibility to vote, discussed the three branches of government and learned about a few of our famous presidents. Next week, we will begin our Economics unit. In this unit we will be having a bake sale to teach students about producers, consumers, goods, services, scarcity and opportunity cost. Please keep an eye out for an email coming soon with more details!

Family Fun Night: Come join fellow Deerfield Families for our annual Family Fun Night Friday,  April 27th from 6-9pm at Paradise Park! Order forms came home before break, so make sure you turn in your forms soon. Advanced purchase is required (parent packages are optional.) Deadline to order April 16th.

• This year, the event will be held at Paradise Park in Novi. There are many Paradise Park activities for the WHOLE FAMILY plus Deerfield’s traditional cupcake walk, face painting and Mehndi art. Additionally, there will be a raffle held in the Pavilion, which includes baskets from popular local vendors as well as each classroom.
• Raffle - we will be having our favorite classroom baskets! Please send any donations ASAP. Thanks!
• Parents please note: this is NOT a drop-off event. Every child must be accompanied by an adult over the age of 18.
• Volunteers needed to assist to make this event possible please follow this link to sign up.
• http://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B094BA5A928A64-volunteers

Our basket is All About Gardening. If you can, please donate new, unopened gardening items to add to our basket!

Have a great weekend!

The Second Grade Teachers