Weekly Update 9/28

We are going to have a busy week in Second Grade this week! Here's a look at what we will be doing. 

We are continuing to build our stamina during our Daily Five block by focusing on 3 rounds that consist of Read to Self, Word Work, and Work on Writing. We are eager to start our 4th component, which is Listen to Reading. While the students are engaged in their Daily Five blocks, I am going to continue pulling students one at a time to do their Fall reading assessment. Once assessments are done, we will be starting our Guided Reading groups. 

In Math this week, we will be taking a district-required assessment on Monday. Then, we will start Unit 2 in our Everyday Math program. In the first couple of lessons, the children will explore place-value concepts as they play the Exchange Game with money and practice grouping by 10s using $1, $10, and $100 bills. The students will also have more exposure to writing and solving addition number stories. 

Some of our Painted Lady butterflies have emerged!!! The kids are thrilled! We will spend time this week learning about the butterfly’s body parts and their functions as well as reviewing the 4 stages of the butterfly’s life cycle. Be sure to ask your child what the word "metamorphosis" means! 

During our writing blocks this week, we will be starting our Personal Narrative unit by discussing "What is a personal narrative?" Along with looking at the structure of this form of writing, we will reinforce this concept during our Read-Aloud time by reading examples of personal narrative stories. 

Our class will have its first visit to the Living Lab at Day School on Wednesday, September 30th. We will be leaving Robinson at 10:15 and will be bused over to the Living Lab. We will return to Robinson in time for lunch. There is no need to pack a special snack or lunch, as we will be at Robinson for both. 

We will also have our 2nd Guidance lesson this week with Mrs. Terrio. The kids are becoming great problem solvers! 

Weekly Update 9/21

I hope you had a wonderful weekend. Here is a look at what we will be doing in school this week. 

The kids are doing a great job with Daily Five and have really begun to build their stamina in both Read to Self and Work on Writing. We will continue with these components of the program and will continue to encourage "Good Fit" books by using the acronym I-PICK which stands for:

In Math this week, the students will skip count on calculators and number grids and look for place value patterns. We will also discuss the meaning of <, >, and = symbols and use the symbols to record comparisons of numbers, money amounts, and addition and subtraction number sentences. We will end the week doing our Unit 1 Assessment. 

Has your child been telling you about our caterpillars and the amazing transformations they are making? We will continue to watch and learn about our caterpillars as we eagerly wait for them to enter the third stage of their life cycle, the chrysalis. 

In writing, we will continue launching our writers workshop by focusing on using a topic web to start generating a piece of writing based on a topic of choice. In addition, the students will learn what they should do during a writing block if they finish a piece of writing (re-read the piece, add/change, illustrate, read to a friend, or start a new piece) and the tools that they can use to help them with their spelling. 

We will have our first Guidance lesson with Mrs. Terrio (Guidance Counselor) this week. Please ask your child about these lessons and the problem solving strategies they are learning to apply when they encounter a social conflict. 

For homework this week, we will add in two nights of math homework in addition to the Reading Log and the Spelling Tic-Tac-Toe. Your child will have a math Home Link on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. Most math lessons have a Home Link and those will be sent home daily.

Upcoming Events:

Curriculum Night- Monday, September 21st 6:00-6:45pm (2nd Grade) 

Robinson Community Picnic- Friday, September 25th 4:00-7:00pm

First Living Lab trip- September 29th

I hope to see/meet you at Curriculum Night! 

Weekly Update 9/14

We are looking forward to our first 5-day week of the school year.  The weather looks beautiful, so it should be an enjoyable week for outdoor recess and indoor learning! 

Homework this week will be the Reading Log and Spelling.  On Monday the children will come home with a 12-word spelling list to practice.  They should practice these words at least 3 times during the week and return the paper back to school on Friday.  Each Friday they will have a spelling check-in of their 12 words. 

If your child needs to be excused from homework due to religious obligations this week, please let me know

We introduced the first component, Read to Self, of “Daily 5” last week.  The children learned what it looks and sounds like to “Read to Self” in our classroom, and we practiced building our stamina.  This week we will introduce and practice the second component of Daily 5, Work on Writing. 

The children were thrilled to get caterpillars last week so we could begin watching the life cycle of the butterfly.  They each had the opportunity to set up a habitat for the caterpillar and observe the caterpillar moving and eating.  This week we’ll talk more about the parts of the caterpillar and the function of each part.  We might also witness some exciting changes happening throughout the week!

Math will consist of more review (money, number grid patterns, skip counting, equivalent names), as well as establishing and practicing daily routines.

Please note that Wednesday, September 16^th, is an early release day.  Dismissal is at 12:20.  No lunch will be served that day, so please send in a large snack for your child to enjoy in the morning.  Please also let me know if your child’s dismissal plans will be different that day.

Weekly Update 9/7

Welcome back!  I hope you had a relaxing long weekend.  Our first week of school was a success.  We are all getting to know each other better and settling in to our new routines.  This week we will begin to get to know the children as learners by doing various activities. 

First, we will do a pre-assessment of the 2^nd Grade 100 High Frequency Words.  We will spread this spelling check-in over 3 days as to not overwhelm the students.  This information will be used to help tailor our spelling instruction for the first term.

Next, the children will be introduced to their Writing Journals.  Each morning they will have an opportunity to write a short (3-5 sentences) entry to their teacher.  The topic of this entry is their choice and ranges from telling us what they ate for breakfast to recounting an exciting swimming meet they recently participated in!  This is a great way to for kids to practice writing and work on spelling and punctuation.

We began our first Author Study last week, Kevin Henkes.  We like to spend this time of year doing a lot of reading aloud to the students.  This is a great way to model fluency and reading with expression. It is also an opportunity for us to introduce literature to the children that they might not pick up on their own.  We look forward to sharing more of Kevin Henkes’ stories with the children this week.

We are excited to begin Science this week!  Our first unit focuses on life cycles, specifically those of the butterfly and the apple tree.  We are lucky to get live caterpillars for this unit so the students can watch the life cycle of the butterfly right before their eyes!!

Lastly, in math we are just getting into the first unit of study.  We will be using the Everyday Mathematics program this year.  In this first unit we are establishing math routines, reviewing math concepts learned in first grade, and playing lots of fun, engaging math games!

It looks like it’s going to be another very hot week.  Please continue to send in water bottles labeled with your child’s name.  We will do our best to keep cool and provide breaks when needed.

Upcoming Dates:

- September 16th Early Release for Professional Development

- September 21st Curriculum Night (Second Grade is 6-6:45)