Weekly Update 12/12

I hope you had a fantastic week. It's hard to believe we only have two weeks left until winter break. Below are some of the things happening in our classroom...


During our reading blocks, the kids enjoyed reading Non-fiction texts. We continued to discuss the non-fiction text features (glossary, index, captions, labels, diagrams, heading, etc.) The kids also had the opportunity to begin thinking about main idea and supporting details. This is a concept that is ongoing for second graders and will be discussed several times throughout the year during reading groups with both fiction and non-fiction texts.

We began a VERY exciting writing project as well this week. We received a package from Santa with a "Help Wanted Ad" asking for kids to write a letter as to why they would be a perfect Elf to go help Santa in his toy making workshop. The excitement in the classroom was thrilling! We discussed character traits and the students had time to explore a list of traits and to pick the ones that they felt best described them and would be appealing to Santa. After picking their character traits, the students spent time working on a graphic organizer to support their chosen character traits. Next, the students began to write their letters to Santa!


In math this week we worked with place value and expanded form to compare 3-digit numbers. The children also had the opportunity to do another practice Open Response where they had to make sense of a 3-digit number represented by base-10 blocks by making trades or counting. Then as a class we analyzed explanations and drawing, and children revised their work.

Our Science unit "Materials and their Uses" is going very well! The kids are really starting to ask scientific questions and conduct investigations to "solve" their questions. One lesson explored liquids. Groups were given various containers and they were asked to predict and then test which container could hold the most water. They did a great job working together to determine how much each could hold. We had some really rich conversations of how to be sure we were measuring accurately and the importance of repeating tasks to ensure accuracy.























This week also had the children designing bridges that were both strong and waterproof using various materials. The children did a "strength" test and a "waterproof" test and then created their bridges based upon what they learned during the testing lesson. Some bridges are still in process, but all groups will have an opportunity to share their designs this week in front of the class.

As I prepare my home and celebrate the season with my family, I am really enjoying reading all the wonderful Holiday Tradition stories the children worked on at home with you last week!! It’s neat to hear how different families celebrate.

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend!

Upcoming Dates:

December 16th- Report Cards Available for Viewing at 4:00pm
December 22nd- Winter Holiday Party
December 23rd- Early Release (12:20)- beginning of Winter Vacation
January 3rd- School Resumes

Weekly Update 11/21

I hope you are enjoying these beautiful fall temperatures this weekend! I feel like the past two weeks have really flown by. Iím happy to share some of the things your child has been working on…

We took a break from reading groups so that I could meet individually with the students to assess their reading progress. All children are making great gains, and I look forward to talking to more about this during our conferences next week.

As I read individually with students I wanted to have meaningful, engaging activities for the rest of the class to be doing during Daily 5. One of those activities included a writing piece where they were convincing people to eat something other than turkey for Thanksgiving! These came out very cute and will be hung up for you to see during conferences. I also introduced “Read to Someone” as a choice during Daily 5. This allowed the students to read with a buddy during 1 round of Daily 5. We discussed what this might look and sound look, as well as how to pick a good learning partner. Although we are still fine-tuning this activity, “Read to Someone” has turned out to be a popular choice!

                                           

   

The past two weeks in math have been a continuation of Unit 3. In this unit, more fact strategies were developed, with a focus on strategies for solving subtraction facts. We learned a few games and routines to help support the development of fluency with addition and subtraction within 20. We were lucky to have some parents in on Friday to play some of these games with us! The plan is to finish up this unit before the Thanksgiving break so we are ready to start fresh on Unit 4 when we return on November 28th.

Our writing times have been spent continuing Personal Narrative writing. Most kids have two complete, edited stories. We also did a writing prompt where the children were asked to write a Personal Narrative story about a time they had fun. They worked on these stories independently so that we could use them to help assess where the children are in their understanding of all the components and processes involved in this type of writing.

We are in the process of beginning our next science unit, Materials and Their Uses. I hope the children will enjoy this unit as much as they enjoyed the Plant and Animal Survival Unit!

I look forward to speaking with you next week during our parent/teacher conferences. Below are some important upcoming dates…


November 21st: 2-Hour Delay- Parent Teacher Conferences
November 22nd: No School- Parent Teacher Conferences
November 23rd: Race for Education Fundraiser
November 23rd: Early Release (No PM Kindergarten)
November 24th-November 25th: Thanksgiving Break: No School 

Here's what some of the kids said about this week:

"This week I learned about Veteran's Day"

                           -Daniel

"My favorite part of the week was when I found carrots outside in the school garden."

                          -Ava

"My favorite part of the week was shopping at the book fair."

                          -Allison

"This week I learned how to bowl in Wellness."

                          -Griffen

Weekly Update 11/7

We had a very busy and fun week in the classroom! The week started out with an exciting Harvest Party, which was organized and run by our fabulous Room Mom, Debbie Porthouse! The kids had a great time making a skeleton craft, enjoying a yummy snack, and playing a mummy wrap game! The kids costumes were amazing as well! We are looking forward to our next classroom party, the Winter Party in December.
















This week our reading groups focused on reading fictional text and discussing literary elements including: character, setting, problem, and solution. Next week I will begin doing reading assessments in preparation for parent teacher conferences and the end of Term 1.


Math this week focused on subtraction strategies such as: counting back, counting up, and subtracting 0 and 1. The kids also enjoyed playing 2 new games called Salute and Subtraction Top-It. Ask them about these games, as they are great games to play at home to practice their math facts! You can find the directions by logging onto your child’s Everyday Math Account. Their login information is in their Take Home Folders inside one of the plastic sleeves. Once you login, click on the Everyday Math book image to enter the site.


During writing this week the children worked on revising and editing their personal narrative stories. The children learned about starting sentences in various ways and having a variety of sentence lengths in their stories to make the writing sound more interesting. They have also been editing their stories to check for capitals and punctuation, as well as correctly spelled high frequency words. The kids are really doing an excellent job with their personal narrative stories!


We wrapped up our Plant and Animal Survival unit in Science. The kids learned about the final habitat, which was the Ocean Habitat. We also spend some time reviewing all of the habitats for the assessment that will be given this coming week.


Overall, it was a great week in Second Grade! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!


Upcoming Dates:
- Monday, November 7th at 3:30 Online Conference Sign-up begins
- No School November 8th for Professional Development
- No School November 11th for Veteran's Day
- Friday, November 18th- Mismatched Clothes Spirit Day
- Monday, November 21st is a Two Hour Delay for Parent Teacher Conferences
- No School Tuesday, November 22nd for Parent Teacher Conferences
- Wednesday, November 23rd Race for Education
- Wednesday, November 23rd Early Release for Thanksgiving Break
- No School November 24th and 25th for Thanksgiving


Here is what the kids had to say:

“My favorite part of the week was that I got to be Star of the Week.”
- Dylan


“My favorite part of the week was the Halloween Party because we made skeletons.”
- Troy


“This week I learned the Mummy Wrap game.”
- Yuvraj


“My favorite part of the week was that we got 3 new ipads for our classroom.”
- Raushan


“This week I learned that sea stars can live 150 feet under the water.”
- Josie

October 24th, 2016

I can’t believe we’re nearing the end of October already!  I’m looking forward to our first class party on Monday, October 31^st.  Our Harvest Party will be at 2:00.  Children may bring their costumes to school if they’d like to wear them for the party.  Please have your child bring their costume instead of wear of it.  I will give them ample to time to change before the party begins. 

During the week we were very busy with Daily 5, math groups, writing our personal narrative stories, and exploring our science concepts.  We took a “Rainforest trek” by following a series of short video clips that were narrated by a tour guide.  After the trek the students wrote a blog detailing some of their favorite aspects of the trek.  I was very impressed with what they learned through this experience.  I hope you had a chance to read their blogs.  They were returned to them at the end of the week.  Our next lesson focused on the desert habitat.  Ask your child to tell you about the “Jeopardy” game we played to explore this habitat more deeply!

Thank you for sending in the photographs for the “Looking Back” writing assignment.  Most children are finishing their first personal narrative story about a celebration.  We will begin writing about our photographs next week. 

Math groups continue to go well.  We added in a new technology component last week.  Most children are using a program called Symphony Math.  This is a program that is directly linked to the common core standards.  It is an adaptive program that tailors to your child as they work. This allows children who need a challenge to work at a level that is appropriate for them.  It also gives kids more time with the concepts they are having more difficulty with.  The goal is that the students work on this program 15-20 minutes, 3 times a week.  We will provide them the time and resources they need here at school.  We ask that the children don’t use this program at home at this time so that we can closely monitor their progress and usage time.  Thank you!

**Some children used Symphony Math in first grade.  Those children were given access to a similar program called Dreambox for second grade.

Here is what the kids had to say about the week…

“My favorite part of the week was reading The Magic Pumpkin story in library,”

                        - Sarah

“My favorite part of the week was going on a rainforest trek.  I also liked listening to a read aloud about a haunted hayride.”

                        - Aashrith

“This week I learned how to make a night sky with owls in art.”

                        - Katelyn

“My favorite part of the week was writing my science blog.”

                        - Elise

October 17, 2016

What a beautiful weekend! I’m loving these warm fall temperatures.  We had a short, but busy week. 

We were lucky enough to have Mr. LaCoste read a class to our suite on Friday about kindness.

Here is what some of the kids thought was memorable about school these past few days…

“My favorite part of the week was playing Prodigy math.”

                                    - Luke

“This week I learned that turn around facts don’t work for subtraction.”

-       Naavya

“This week I learned how to draw an owl sitting on a branch in art.”

-       Madison

“My favorite part of the week was Read to Self because I read interesting books.”

-       Aditi

“My favorite part of the week was listening to rainforest animals.”

                                    - Vineeth

October 10th

We had a great week last week! It started off with a trip to the Living Lab on Monday. The kids had so much fun and learned about plant and animal survival. The students learned about frogs and the various types of feet that they have depending on where they live. We also had fun exploring the Reed Brook. The kids had the opportunity to take on the role of either a plant or animal. They found out how the needs of their plant or animal are met by other brook plants and animals. We are excited to go back for another visit in the spring. 

Speaking of science, in the classroom we did a lesson on how plants and animals depend on one another. The kids had a blast working together in small groups to create their own "hand pollinators." This was done with various materials, such as: plastic spoon, popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, clay, marbles, paper clips, etc. They even tested them and every group’s worked!!! Nice work scientists! 

In Math we have begun our Guided Math rotations and it is going really well! The kids are excited to have 3 different activities during the math block. The various activities are: Teachers Choice, Technology, At Your Seat, Hands-On, and Math Facts. "Teachers Choice" is when small groups of kids working on a similar skill level meet with me. For "Technology" the kids have the choice of Prodigy Math, Games on the Everyday Math website, or various math apps. "At Your Seat" is typically math journal pages that reinforce the day's lesson. Finally, "Hands-On" is usually a math game that is part of the Everyday Math program. 

This week we focused on addition strategies. Some of which were: combinations of ten, doubles, near doubles, and making ten. It's exciting to see the children putting these strategies to use while playing games and doing various math activities. 

We had a great first week with our reading groups! It's always so much fun to hear them all read! Most of the groups this week had the opportunity to read, discuss strategies for when they encounter difficult words, and to discuss the book through various oral comprehension strategies. Next week we will discuss making predictions before and during reading. 

Here's what the kids had to say about this week:

“My favorite part of the week was Science.  It was really fun.  We got to invent stuff.”

-       Ava S.

“This week I learned some adding strategies.”

-       Avalee P.

“This week I learned about a new frog.”

-       Ian B.

“My favorite part of the week was picture day and Living Lab.”

                                     - Brandon P.

Upcoming Events: 

- No School on Monday, October 10th for Columbus Day 

- Tuesday, October 11th is School Store for Grade Two