Weekly Update 2/29

I hope you had a wonderful weekend. We have a lot to look forward to in Second Grade this week!

Our math time will be spent doing some hands-on exploration activities where the kids will explore arrays using geoboards, constructing shapes only using rectangles and triangles, and measuring objects to the nearest inch. We will also be taking our Unit 6 Math Assessment and a Cumulative Assessment that will review concepts up until this point in the year.

Last week we traveled from North America to Europe and spent some time learning about Europe as a whole. This week, we will focus our learning on the country of Italy. The students will learn about Italy's culture and famous places.

During our Guided Reading groups this week (and most likely next week), we will be reading "twin-texts." Which are a set of two books focusing on the same topic but one is fiction and the other is non-fiction. After reading the two books, the students will use a Venn-Diagram to compare and contrast.

On Monday we will be going to Living Lab at Day School. Our field trip aligns with our upcoming Earth's Surfaces unit and the children will be investigating beach erosion. We will be leaving Robinson at 10:50 and will return around 12:30. The kids will have their regular snack and lunch at Robinson. We will be going rain or shine, so please help your child dress accordingly. 

Friday, March 4th is our Second Grade Performance- Dr. Seuss, We Love You! We hope that you can join us at 1:45 in the cafeteria.  You are welcome to take your child home with you after the show. We just ask that you meet your child in their classroom and sign them out with your child's teacher. The students have been working very hard and they can't wait to show off their hard work and to SHINE on stage!!

**Thanks to all of you who signed up for parent-teacher conferences using our new online sign-ups.  The online sign-ups closed on Friday afternoon.  If you didn't have a chance to sign up, I will assign you a time according to the time slots that have not been filled.  If you would prefer not to have a conference at this time, please just let me know.

Weekly Update 2/22

I hope you all enjoyed the week off from school and got to spend some quality time with your families and friends.  It’s always nice to have a little extra time at home to refresh!  I want to make sure to thank Shelly Newark for running the Valentine’s party for our class, as well as all of the other parents who came to help out and/or provided snacks or paper goods.  I’m sorry I had to miss it, but I heard that it was a lot of fun!

I look forward to seeing the children on Monday.  Here is a look at what’s planned for the week ahead…

Our rehearsals will continue for the upcoming Dr. Seuss show.  We have 3 practices planned for the week, and the actual performance will be next Friday, March 4^th.  The kids were excited to learn what parts they would play in the performance, and I’m sure you’re already hearing the songs being sung at home!

During reading time this week we’ll be finishing up some loose ends from before vacation.  I’ll meet with a few remaining kids to assess their reading progress in preparation for our upcoming conferences.  In addition, groups will be finishing up their visualization activities they began last week. 

In math we’ll be teaching the Partial-Sums Addition Method to combine two and three digit numbers together.  This method should look very familiar, as it is most like the traditional way of adding multiple-digit numbers together. We’ll also begin looking at subtraction with base 10 blocks as a way of understanding subtraction before we get into subtraction using regrouping (or borrowing).

Our travels around the world will bring us to the continent of Europe this week!  On Tuesday we’ll “leave” Mexico and “fly” to the beautiful city of Rome.  We’ll spend this week learning more about the continent as a whole, and next week we’ll focus in more on Italy.

**Please note that the Reading Log questions this week are based on non-fiction books.  Please make sure your child chooses at least 1 non-fiction book to read for their Reading Log so that they’ll be able to answer the questions on the back.  Thank you!!

**Online sign-ups for conferences begins on Monday.  Please follow the instructions sent home with your child.  If you have any questions, feel free contact the front office or myself.  I’m excited to try out this new system for scheduling conferences!

Update

My last post stated that we would be celebrating the 100th day of school this Thursday.  However, since we had the snow day on Monday this pushes the 100th day back to Friday.  We also have a music practice for Dr. Seuss and our Valentine Party that day- should be lots of fun!

The children can bring in their Valentine's anytime between now and Friday.

Thank you!

Weekly Update 2/8

It's hard to believe that this is the last week of Term 2. We will also be celebrating the 100th Day of School on Thursday!

With the term coming to a close, the students will be completing a couple language arts based assessments. Our writing time this week will be spent doing the Term 2 Writing Prompt. The students will have a chance to show us all they have learned about opinion writing. Also, each child will be given a Developmental Reading Assessment to check in on their reading progress.

In math this week we will be continuing with Unit 6. Students will solve two-step number stories, learn how to make ball-park estimates, and begin to understand a new addition strategy called "partial-sums." 

We will also have plenty of time for fun! We are still in the continent of North America and focusing on the country of Mexico. The students will create their scrapbook page and have the opportunity to make a Mexican craft.

Our second grade performance rehearsals will continue this week. The kids are doing a great job learning the songs and are eagerly awaiting their special parts.

On Friday, we will have our Valentine's Day party! I hope you received the list of classmates names to help with making valentines. This is by no means a requirement, but if your child does decide to give out valentines, we ask that they give one to every child in the class. It is a Robinson policy that valentine's don't include food. Thank you for your cooperation.

Friendly Reminders: 

Second Grade School Store Tuesday, February 9th 

Early Release on Wednesday, February 10th - Professional Development

I hope you have a wonderful and relaxing February vacation! I look forward to seeing the children on the 22nd and hearing all about their week!