Weekly Update 3/30

I hope you all had a nice weekend.  I am looking forward to starting a new month later this week.  Let's hope April finally brings us the spring weather we've been hoping for!  I also want to say a big THANK YOU to Mrs. Hall for covering our class on Friday so I could attend Miss Pauline's funeral. That was very thoughtful of you!

 

Here are some highlights for the week ahead...

Social Studies- Our "travels" will bring us to the awesome continent of Antarctica.  We'll discuss why so few people inhabit this continent, and of course we we'll learn all about penguins!  We will also begin a discussion about our ancestors this week as we prepare to study and write about a country of our origin.

Writing- we have just about completed our poetry unit, so we will be compiling our poems into a small book.  Your child will bring the books home to share with you, and we know you will be impressed with your second grade poet.  Some of our writing time will also be devoted to preparing for our next unit, informational (ancestor) writing.

Math- This will be our final week of measurement. Our focus will be on finding the area of rectangular figured by portioning and counting square centimeters or square inches. The students will also do a lesson on identifying appropriate units/tools used to make measurements. Then finally, the end of the week will be spent on telling time and focusing on am/pm and elapsed time.
 
Guided Reading- All groups are continuing to read non-fiction.  We are discussing non-fiction features, drawing conclusions, and summarizing/paraphrasing information in our own words.  All of this work will really help when the students begin to research the country of their ancestors during the 2nd week of April.

 

***please note that Friday will be an early release day.  Students will be dismissed at 12:20.

Weekly Update 3/23

I hope you enjoyed the Second Grade Performance! I thought the kids did a wonderful job! Here's a look at what we will be doing this week...

 

Reading
We will be finishing up our work on making conclusions with non-fiction texts. The kids are learning to make a conclusion and then to support their conclusion with facts/clues from the text.

 Writing

We are using this week to finish up our Poetry Unit. We will focus on alliteration to make their poetry more interesting.

 Math

We are starting Unit 9 in the Everyday Math program this week which focuses on Measurement. The kids will learn how to estimate and measure using standard and nonstandard units of measurement. They will develop an understanding of the importance of standard units (inches, centimeters, meters, and yards). The focus will be on measuring to the nearest inch or centimeter.

 

Social Studies
We are still in Australia this week! We will be learning about the Great Barrier Reef and the various Australian habitats.

 

** Our class has SNOWSHOEING on Tuesday, March 24th. Please send your child to school with their snow gear. 

  ** This is the last week for the Star Reader Program. I hope to see many slips passed in by Friday!

Weekly Update 3/16

We have a big week this week as we prepare for our second grade performance, “Kids are Kids the Whole World Round”.  I hope you can join us on Friday, March 20^th at 1:45 for the big show!  The kids will be wearing their red Robinson School t-shirts (or any other red t-shirt) for the performance.  Please have your child bring in his/her shirt by Wednesday to leave at school for Friday’s show.  Thank you!

 

In other news, in Social Studies we will continue our trip around the world by visiting the continent of Australia. We will have the next two weeks to spend time learning about the culture, land, and special features of this beautiful continent. 

For math we are still working on our fraction unit.  We hope to finish up this week by doing some fun, engaging projects that will help the children understand this difficult concept.

Our guided reading groups are continuing their work with reading and understanding non-fiction texts.  All groups will have opportunities to read non-fiction and respond in writing.

 

**Room 7 has completely run out of cleaning wipes.  If you can help out by donating some we would really appreciate it!**

School Store

This is a reminder that 2nd grade will have school store tomorrow, March 10th. 

Weekly Update 3/9

I'm looking forward to meeting with each of you this week.  Conferences are always such a great time to share your child's growth. 

Here is a look at what we will be doing this week....

 Reading

Our focus during Guided Reading this week will be on non-fiction. The groups will be reading about various topics and working on drawing conclusions from the text. We will also spend time reviewing the features of non-fiction. 

 

Writing
We will continue with our Poetry Unit. Your child will have the opportunity to write both an Acrostic Poem and a Cinquain Poem.

 

Math
This week's focus will be on fractions. The second grade expectation is that the kids are comfortable and can name the fractional parts 1/2, 1/3, 1/4. 

 

Social Studies 
We are enjoying our time in South America and will be learning about the country of Brazil this week. The students will enjoy writing a postcard from Brazil and decorating Brazilian Carnival masks. 

 

** Reminder that there is a delayed opening (2 hrs) on Wednesday the 11th, and no school on Thursday the 12th due to Parent Teacher Conferences.

 

 

Weekly Update 3/2

I hope you all had a nice weekend.  Below are some highlights for the upcoming week… 

- We will take our next “flight” from Europe to the exciting continent of South America! 

 

- On Tuesday our class will visit the Living Lab at the Day School with Mrs. Frazier’s class.  We already have signed permission slips from the beginning of the year, but please have your child dress appropriately for the weather that day. 

- Our writing focus will switch to poetry this week.  Over the next few weeks we’ll take a look at different types of poetry and try our hands at being poets ourselves!

- At the beginning of the week in math we will work on collecting data and creating line plots and bar graphs.  The children will then use graphs to answer questions and draw conclusions.  This will complete Unit 7 of our math program. The assessment for Unit 7 is scheduled for Thursday.

 

- We will have several music practices this week to prepare for our upcoming musical show on March 20^th.

****Look for information coming home about the Star Reader Program, which begins this week.  Please note that the children can use their reading log minutes towards their Star Reader minutes.