December 7, 2018

Happy December! I hope you are all surviving and enjoying this busy and exciting time of the year! The energy is certainly felt in 2nd grade! :)

In second grade we have been very busy. We enjoyed an all school assembly last Friday where we kicked off the letter A in CARE which stands for Acceptance. Mr. LaCoste will be visiting our classroom next week to read our next Care to Read book which focuses on the concept of acceptance.

We have been enjoying our new social studies unit which is on Mapping Skills. The children have learned about the cardinal directions, map key, and how to "read" various maps. They are also beginning to learn about the names and location of the 7 continents and the 5 major oceans. These are skills that will lead us into our Around the World unit which we will begin the end of January.

Next week we are looking forward to starting our next science unit which is Materials and Their Uses. The children will have the opportunity to learn the various materials that objects can be made of and will investigate why certain materials are used for different objects.

In math the children have been learning about telling time on an analog clock. This can be a difficult concept for some, so we encourage you to reinforce this concept at home. This is an area that we will continue to review throughout the year. At this point, the expectation is that the children can tell time to the hour and half hour. The expectation for the END of the year is that they tell time to the 5 minute interval. We have also worked with place value. The children have built various numbers with base ten blocks. Also, the children have explored the value of each digit in a 3 digit number along with comparing which number is largest by looking at the value of each digit.

During reading, we have been enjoying some holiday books along fictional texts and talking about the character traits of the main characters in the book. We began this topic by doing an activity where the children brainstormed character traits that describe themselves. The children did a wonderful job reflecting upon their own personalities.

The character traits concept has also led us into a fun writing activity. We received a letter from Santa explaining that he was looking for some friends to help the elves at the North Pole. The children brainstormed the character traits that they felt Santa would be looking for and the reasons why those character traits would be important to Santa. Next, they will begin to write letters to Santa and create their own elves to be displayed in the classroom.

Upcoming Dates:

December 11th- Second Grade School Store

December 20th- Winter Party

December 22nd-January 1st- Winter Vacation

November 16, 2018

We are barely into fall and the winter chill is already in the air!  It's hard to believe we woke up to snow this morning.  I hope you enjoyed the extra time with family and friends over Veteran's Day weekend.  I wanted to provide a quick update about what's been going on in your child's 2nd grade classroom over the past two weeks.

Last week we were SO lucky to have 2 special events.  The first was a visit from author Salina Yoon.  She did a fabulous presentation for the students, and it was so exciting to meet a real, live author!!  We have several copies of her books in our classroom and the students can't seem to get enough of them.  It's great to see kids get excited about literature- Salina clearly had a positive influence on our students.

The second special event was our trip to the Concord Youth Theatre to see Willy Wonka.  What a great show!  It was neat to see a live show with kids as actors.  The best part of this theatre is that it's small- we filled the whole theatre with our 3 second grade classes!  This means every seat was close to the stage and we all felt like we had a front row seat.  If your child had a positive experience and you are interested in seeing other shows at Concord Youth Theatre, you can see what's up and coming by viewing their website:  http://concordyouththeatre.org/

We have been working hard to finish up projects and writing assignments in preparation for parent-teacher conferences on Monday and Tuesday.  The most exciting project we've been working on is our habitat dioramas.  We will be using the dioramas as a performance assessment to show what we've learned about Plant and Animal Survival.  This project will take the place of a written assessment that we've done in the past, and we are thrilled to see how the dioramas demonstrate what the students know!

For writing we have spent the last 2 weeks doing a fun turkey writing assignment where the children came up with an alternative to eating turkey for Thanksgiving.  The turkey projects will be up for you to see when you come into the classroom. The children also had an opportunity to record themselves reading their turkey stories aloud.  We created a QR code for each recording, so you will be able to hear your child's recording when you scan the code.  I look forward to showing you this project next week.  In addition, each child also wrote a personal narrative story about a time they had fun.  I will be sharing these with you at conferences as well.

Our math lessons have been focused on subtraction strategies such as: counting back, counting up, subtracting 0 and 1, and using what we know about Doubles Facts to help us subtract. 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.

Thank you for all that have signed up for Parent-Teacher Conferences during the week of November 19th.  I look forward to having the time to discuss your child's transition to second grade.

Please note that next week will be a short week for the children.  There is NO SCHOOL on Monday for parent/teacher conferences, we will have a half day (afternoon only) on Tuesday, and Wednesday is also a half day (morning only).  Our all-school Turkey Trot will take place on Wednesday around 10:00.  If you are still interested in donating to this Robinson fundraiser, please click on this link.  All funds go directly to Robinson students by helping to provide exciting enrichment and technology opportunities.

Upcoming Important Dates:

11/19- No School for Parent/Teacher Conferences
11/20- 2 Hour Delayed opening for Parent/Teacher Conferences
11/21- Early Release (12:20)
11/22 & 11/23- No School for the Thanksgiving Holiday
11/30- Grades Close for Term 1

November 2, 2018

Happy November!  As usual, we've been busy in 2nd Grade!

We had a wonderful time celebrating Halloween this week! The children enjoyed the Harvest Party and looked awesome in their costumes. Thank you to everyone who helped to make the party a success! We appreciate all of the donations and helpers! We look forward to our next classroom party, the Winter Party in December.

Over the past several weeks, we have been reading fictional texts during our Guided Reading groups and focused on story elements (characters, setting, problem, and solution) along with the 5 Finger Strategy to retell a story. Now, we are moving onto nonfiction texts. This past week the children worked on a KWLQ Chart. The K and W are completed before reading the text. The K stands for "What the children KNOW" about the topic. The W stands for "What they WANT to know" about the topic. Then after reading, the children complete the L which is "What they LEARNED" from reading the book, and the Q which is "QUESTIONS they still have" about the topic. We have also spent some time reviewing non-fiction text features (Glossary, Index, Headings, captions, labels, Table of Contents, diagrams, maps, etc..)

In Math, we have begun Unit 3. The focus of this unit is on addition and subtraction fact strategies. The students solved a practice open response problem using their own fact strategies. Then we discussed their drawings and explanations and the children had the opportunity to revise their work if needed. During another lesson, the children wrote subtraction number stories and generated related addition and subtraction facts. We also spent time discussing "fact families" by using dominos and fact triangles to explore how 3 digits become a "fact family."

We hope that your child is practicing their facts at home at least 2 nights per week. Suggestions for ways to practice are on the back of the weekly Homework Graph that is sent home every Monday. Thank you for your support with this as fact power really helps the children with their everyday math.

During our writing blocks, we have spent time continuing to work on the Looking Back personal narrative stories that the children brainstormed for at home. The children are doing an excellent job applying the learned structure of personal narrative stories. We are currently working on revising and editing their work. Their completed stories will become part of their writing portfolios that will be sent home at the end of the year.

Our Science unit on Plant and Animal Survival is coming to an end. We spent time exploring the Ocean Habitat and the children became experts on one ocean animal. Then the children presented their information to their classmates in order to learn more about various ocean animals. We are looking forward to doing some library research where the children will get to pick one of the habitats that we study to learn more about. Finally, our culminating activity will be to pick a habitat and create a diorama showing at least 1 plant and animal that lives there and show how a plant depends on an animal or how an animal depends on a plant. Thank you to everyone who has already sent in a shoe box. If you haven't already done so, please try to send in the boxes by November 7th. Thank you!

Parent teacher conferences are coming soon! The online sign-up will go live on November 6th at 3:30. Please watch for information to be coming home from the school office. I look forward to meeting with you to discuss the growth that your child has already made in Second Grade. 

We will be going to the Concord Youth Theatre next Thursday, November 8th. We will be leaving Robinson at 9:15 and will be back in time for our regular lunch. The children will be eating their morning snack on the bus. Therefore, we are asking that you send their snack in a separate bag from their lunch and in containers that can be thrown away. Thanks for your help! 

Upcoming Dates: 

November 7th- Author Salina Yoon visits Robinson 

November 8th- Field Trip to Concord Youth Theatre for Willie Wonka play 

November 12th- No School for Veteran's Day

November 19th- No School- Parent Teacher Conferences 

November 20th- 2 Hour Delay- Parent Teacher Conferences

November 21st- Early Release for Thanksgiving Break 

October 19, 2018

It is hard to believe it is almost the end of October and the cold weather is approaching. Please be sure your child comes to school with a jacket or sweatshirt to wear out to recess. We go outside every day it's not raining.

We have a lot to share about what's been happening in our classroom over the past two weeks...

In math, we are finishing up Unit 2, which focused on fact strategies. Near Doubles, Turn Around Facts, and the Making Ten strategy were some of the strategies we practiced. The children will continue to use these strategies while playing games during guided math and completing their math journal pages. The children will be taking the Unit 2 assessment next week. When the completed assessment comes home please be sure to sign and return it to school. In Unit 3, more fact strategies will be developed with a focus on solving subtraction facts.  Frequent practice of addition and subtraction facts will help second graders develop math confidence and fluency.  We are working towards automaticity of math facts up to 20 by the end of the year.  

 During our writing times, the children are working on their “Looking Back” stories. They are using the photos brought in from home and the brainstorming sheet to write the first draft of their stories. It has been so much fun seeing all the wonderful photos, and the stories are off to a great start! The children are also enjoying writing spooky or silly monster stories where they get to design their own monsters. Be sure to ask your child all about it.

Daily 5 is up and running and the children are doing a wonderful job! We are currently focusing on retelling and identifying important story elements (characters, setting, problem, solution). The children will be using the “five finger” strategy in small reading groups to identify the elements and retell stories. These are skills that we will practice throughout the school year.

This week in science our class "visited" the desert, the rainforest and the arctic! Next week we will delve deeper into each habitat to learn about the animals and plants that live in each habitat and what they need to survive. We will also discuss how the plants and animals in these three habitats depend on each other to survive. The children will write a blog about their visit to the rainforest, play trivia during their visit to the desert, and be scientific data collectors in the ocean habitat!

The second graders at Robinson will be participating in a school wide fall clean up. The second grade students will be cleaning up the Robifulli Trail, raking leaves, weeding, and planting bulbs. It will be so exciting in the spring to see the beautiful flowers bloom from the bulbs WE planted! This is a great way for the second graders to give back to our school community.

 Our first class celebration, the Harvest Party, will be on October 31st.  We are lucky to have Jessica Paxton helping to organize the celebrations for us this year.  If you have any questions about parties, please contact her (her contact info is on the Friendship List).  Thank you for all the donations that have already come in to help support our classroom parties. If you have not yet sent in a donation for the holiday parties there is still time. These donations will be used to pay for the crafts at each celebration.

 Thanks for all you do and have a wonderful weekend!

October 5, 2018

I hope your child is enjoying 2nd grade so far!  We have lots to share about what's been happening in our classroom over the past two weeks...


In math, we finished up Unit 1, which was a great review of skills the children learned in first grade. The children took their Unit 1 Assessment, which was sent home for you to review with your child. If you haven't sent it back signed, I would appreciate if you can do so. We also began Unit 2 which focuses on Fact Strategies. During our math sessions we have been talking about various addition strategies we can use when we don't know the answer to a fact automatically.  Some of the strategies we discussed were Near Doubles, Turn Around Facts, and the Making Ten strategy.  The idea is to use something we know (such as doubles) to help us solve an unknown fact.  The strategies are introduced quickly, so it's common for children to get a little mixed up at this point.  Over time we will go back to each of the strategies and practice them more in depth.  

During writing, the children are working on their first draft of their first personal narrative stories. We have spent time talking about ways to begin their stories. Some examples include: a detailed setting, quote, sound word, or a question. We also worked on writing the middle of their stories and making sure that they told the story in sequential order using transition words to help them move from one event to the next. Their stories are really coming out great! Next week we will talk about endings, revising and editing.  We also sent home a writing assignment for the children to work on at home next week.  This involves brainstorming a topic they can use in their next personal narrative story, which we will work on in the next few weeks.  Please look for this assignment in your child's folder.  It is due next Friday, October 12th.

We have really gotten into our Science Unit, which is called "Plant and Animal Survival".  We took a Nature Walk along the Robifulli trail to look for living things.  We are also conducting some fun experiments in the classroom related to plant survival.  While we know that plants need water, sunlight, and air to survive, we wanted to come up with some new ideas to see how they affect plant survival.  The kids were super creative and came up with some great ideas!  We voted and chose two experiments to try in class- Will the plant survive if we use colored water, instead of plain water? and Will the plant survive if we flip it upside down?  The children have made some great predictions, and in a few weeks we will have some evidence to prove whether or not our predictions were correct.  So exciting!

We also had a wonderful trip to the Living Lab.  The children had a chance to visit the Reed Brook and observe the plants and animals that live in that habitat. Inside we learned about various living things and how they depend on one another for survival. Each child was either a plant or animal that lives in the brook and they got to physically see how many living things they each depend on.  Finally, the kids got to learn about frogs and how they adapt to their environment. We learned about the various types of feet they have (webbed, digging, sticky) and how they use camouflage to help them survive in their habitat. We look forward to going back to the Living Lab in the Spring!

In Reading we have been meeting with our groups on a consistent basis now that all of our Daily 5 routines are in place.  This week we focused on the skill of Making Connections.  This is a strategy readers use to help comprehend the actions and/or feelings of the characters in the story.  If we can connect something in our own lives to what's happening in the story, then it helps us know how the character might be feeling or reacting so that we can then better understand the story.  This is an important comprehension skill we will practice throughout the year.  Our strategy focus next week will be identifying story elements (characters, setting, problem, solution).

Finally, our class is participating in a fun program called The Global Read Aloud.  Thousands of classrooms around the world are all reading the same book and connecting in various ways to discuss what we are reading.  The book is a chapter called A Boy Named Bat.  Our class made our first connection on Thursday with a first grade class in New Jersey.  I look forward to connecting with many more classes in the coming weeks.

Our first class celebration, the Harvest Party, will be on October 31st.  We are lucky to have Jessica Paxton helping to organize the celebrations for us this year.  If you have any questions about parties, please contact her (her contact info is on the Friendship List).  Thank you for all the donations that have already come in to help support our classroom parties.

Thanks for all you do and have a wonderful long weekend!

September 21, 2018

The past two weeks we have really settled into many of our routines, and we are working nicely as a classroom community.  Below are some highlights I’d like to share…

Daily 5 is off and running great!  The children now have 4 choices to make during our language arts blocks.  Those choices include:  Listen to Reading, Work on Words, Work on Writing, and Read to Self.  We are doing 3 “rounds” each day, each lasting 15-20 minutes.  It’s neat to see kids working on a variety of tasks independently for such a lengthy amount of time.  Now that we have our Daily 5 routines down we are excited to begin reading groups next week!

At this time they have 2 choices for Listen to Reading:  Raz- Kids and Epic.  Hopefully you all received your login information for Raz-Kids.  This is a great program to use at home because it is tailored to your child’s reading level.  Also, the kids can use their Raz-Kids time towards their 15 minutes of reading. Epic is another wonderful program that offers a variety of books for the kids to listen to, but is not geared towards their individual levels.

In Social Studies we completed our Apples Economics Unit this week.  The children had several opportunities throughout this unit to work in groups and do some fun, interactive activities that helped them learn the concepts.  I hope your child enjoyed learning all about apples- what a fun way to start off the fall!! Your child will be bringing home a vocabulary checker to help with the economics vocabulary that they will be assessed on Thursday, September 27th.

We have been talking about Personal Narratives during our writing time.  We learned that these are true stories about things that have happened in our lives.  We have begun writing a personal narrative of their choice as we learn about the structure of personal narrative.

In Math we are wrapping up Unit 1 and will begin Unit 2 next week. We are eager to begin our math rotations. 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 Dreambox, 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.

Over the next few weeks we will be starting our first science unit, Plant and Animal Survival.  We are also lucky to have a chance to visit the Living Lab at the Day School on Monday, September 24th to explore more about Plant and Animal Survival.  We will be taking a bus to get there. The permission slips were sent home at the end of the year.  I have already received a signed permission slip from everyone so we should be all set!  We may spend some time outside by the Reed Brook, so please keep an eye on the weather so that your child will be comfortable during the outside portion of our visit.

Upcoming Dates:
9/24- Living Lab (we will have regular snack and lunch at Robinson)
9/27- Economics Assessment
9/28- All school ALICE Drill
10/3- Picture Day

September 7, 2018

It was such a pleasure meeting all of the children last week! I can already tell that it's going to be a great year! I hope you had a wonderful long weekend. Despite the heat, we are keeping busy. Here is a glance into what has been happening in your child's second grade classroom these past two weeks. Along with continuing to get to know one another, we also began establishing routines in many of our academic areas.


We spent most of our reading blocks reviewing the Daily Five structure. For those new to Robinson or those unfamiliar with Daily Five it is a literacy structure that allows for differentiation in the classroom and provides consistency. It is an integrated literacy instruction and classroom management system that is used during our literacy block. While I am working with small groups for Guided Reading, the other children have literacy “tasks” that include: Work on Words, Work on Writing, Read to Self, Read to Someone, and Listen to Reading. It takes a few weeks for me to assess all of the children and to determine their reading levels and while I am doing that, the children will build their stamina in each of the "task" areas.


We kicked off Daily 5 this week by introducing and practicing the "Read to Self" component. The kids did a great job, increasing their "stamina" to stay on task and read quietly for up to 12 minutes by the end of the week!

In math we continued with with Unit 1, which we began last week. This unit does a lot of review of concepts learned in first grade and allows time for us to establish math routines in the classroom. We focused on number scrolls and number grids this week as tools to help us solve addition problems.

I also assessed the children on the 100-second grade high frequency words. This is done periodically throughout the year to see what words your child needs to practice. These words will become part of their weekly spelling words that they will practice at school and home.


"Star of the Week" was introduced to the children on Friday.  Each week one child will be chosen to be our "Star" for the week.  That child gets to bring in photos and other special items that tell about themselves.  We will display those items for the entire week, and the child will get to present their items to the class on Fridays.  This week I got to be the 'Star"!!  It was a fun way to demonstrate what "Star of the Week" might look and sound like.

Finally, we also began our first social studies unit on "Apple Economics." In the first lesson, the students learned about the apple tree and the "goods" that come from the tree.  In our next lesson we looked at some important vocabulary words (goods, services, consumer, producer, and community).  These are words that we will use a lot in the next few weeks through various in-class activities.


**Second Grade Homework starts next week! Please check your child's folder daily for homework assignments, beginning Monday, September 10th. We will start with only the Spelling Tic-Tac-Toe. Your child will be expected to practice their spelling words at least two nights per week. The Spelling Tic-Tac-Toe sheet will have a variety of choices for your child to pick from in order to practice their words. Also, second graders are expected to read for at least 15 minutes per night. Your child will not need to record what book they read, however we strongly encourage this routine for your child's enjoyment and/or extra practice.  The Spelling Tic-Tac-Toe sheets should remain in your child's Take Home Folder all week and will be passed in on Fridays. Thank you for your help and support on homework.

**Just a reminder that Curriculum Night for 2nd Grade Parents will be on September 17th from 7:00-7:45pm.

Welcome 2018

Hello and welcome to my classroom website/blog.  I am very excited to be your child's classroom teacher! We are going to have so much fun learning and growing together this year.  I’ve had a wonderful summer with my family.  I feel refreshed and ready to begin a new school year with you and your child. Here are a few pictures of my family from this summer.  We had a lot of fun spending time at the beach and having extra time to just hang out!

My hope is to post updates to my BLOG every other week letting you know what is happening in the classroom.  I also like to share websites, games, and links with you throughout the year that you might find helpful exploring at home with your child.

I will send an email letting you know when I have made a new post.  

Our first day of school will be on Tuesday, August 28th.  Second graders will meet their teachers in the gym.  We will spend the first few days of school getting to know one another, exploring our classroom, and discussing expectations and routines.

I look forward to getting to know your child! If at any point you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at jlongo@westfordk12.us.

June 15, 2018

I can't believe that the year is coming to an end and that we only have 4.5 days left. This is always such a bitter sweet time of the year as we begin to say good-bye. It has been a wonderful year and I have truly loved teaching every one of your children. Thank you for the support throughout the year. This is not good-bye, but see you soon! I always love when children come back to visit me.

We have been busy wrapping up a few end of the year assessments and finishing up our curriculum areas. The children have really enjoyed our Earth's Surfaces unit in Science. We went on a "virtual trip" to the beach and had the opportunity to put our knowledge of how water effects the surface of earth by being engineers trying to stop a landslide. The children were all successful with their designs and loved seeing them in action through our hands-on experiment.

The children did an excellent job on their culminating country projects and it was a pleasure listening to their presentations. I have the projects on display in our classroom and hallway. I intend on having them go home on Monday after our Second Grade Celebration.

We enjoyed meeting with Mrs. Kennely, the Principal at Crisafulli School. The children were able to ask questions about 3rd Grade which added to their excitement about the upcoming year.

The Dance Party was an amazing way to celebrate everyone's hard work and support of the Turkey Trot Fundraiser that we had in the Fall. The children sure do have some hidden dance moves that I wasn't aware of! :)

We are looking forward to our Second Grade Celebration on Monday, June 18th at 9:15. I hope that you are able to join us as the children will be sharing some of their work from throughout the school year. We will be asking parents to take home country projects along with the other items that your child shares at the end of the celebration.

We will also be having a Second Grade Talent show next week on Tuesday and Thursday. One day will be inside talents and the other will be outside talents. Therefore, we will let the children know on Monday which day will be each type of talent as we watch the weather closely to pick the best day for our outside time. This is a voluntary show and we have a sign-up sheet in our classroom. The children who participate are expected to bring their own equipment/supplies. We will be able to provide a CD player, microphone, gymnastics mat, and piano if your child's talent includes any of these supplies. We do ask that your child bring the necessary safety equipment as well, such as: helmet, knee pads, elbow pads, etc. This event is for the second grade students only and a great way for them to showcase their talents in a fun year end activity. 

Upcoming Dates:

June 18th 9:15-10:00 - Second Grade Celebration in Room 7

June 21st Move-Up Day

June 22nd- Last Day of School (Early Release)

I hope you all have a fun, relaxing, and safe SUMMER!!! Thanks again for a wonderful year!

June 1, 2018

The last few weeks have been a lot of fun in second grade, and we still have so much more to look forward to in the last 15 days of school!!

In terms of academics, there is still lots of learning to do! Our writing blocks have focused on finishing up the last details of our informational books. We also reviewed what a personal narrative story looks and sounds like. The students then worked on their final personal narrative writing piece about a special memory from 2nd grade.

In Math, we finished with our final unit- Unit 9. The last few lessons focused on solving number stories about 2 equal groups. The children also skip counted and added to solve problems involving multiples of 10 and 5. This was an introduction to basic multiplication facts.  Our Unit 9 assessment will be coming up early next week.  We will then begin reviewing all the math skills learned this year as we prepare for the End of Year Assessment.

Last week we began working on our last science unit of the year, Earth's Surfaces. We have been talking about the various types of land and water surfaces that cover our Earth. The students got to create some fun 3-D models of these surfaces. During the unit we will also be examining rocks to determine what minerals they are made of. Students will also be able to identify things that make up soil and rocks. We will continue discussing natural resources and how people use them to meet their needs and wants. Finally, the children will do an experiment to discover how water affects the land.

In Social Studies we "arrived" back in Westford from our Around the World travels today. All the second grade classes joined together on our pretend flight home. We got to watch "Rio" for our in-flight movie. This movie takes place in the Amazon and focuses on a special bird that is in danger of becoming extinct. We are putting the final touches on all of our Around the World projects. I hope you received the invitation to our Second Grade Celebration on June 18th. This is where the kids will have an opportunity to share all of this hard work with you.

We also had a wonderful Enrichment Program this past week called Day In Ghana. I'm sure your child told you about it or maybe came home singing and dancing! The children were very engaged in learning about the culture and daily life of those living in Ghana. Make sure you check out the adorable photos of the children participating in this program.

Finally, the kids were all looking forward to our Robinson Field Day last Wednesday. It was a BLAST!  I hope your child came home telling you all about the fun events we participated in throughout the day.

Have a great weekend and please note the important dates below:

June 8th: School Wide Dance Party

June 8th: Distance Learning Assignment #3 Due

June 13th: All School Science Presentation (Sponsored by PTO)

June 14th: Crisafulli 5th grade Orchestra Performs for 2nd Grade

June 18th: 2nd Grade Celebration 9:15-10:00

June 21st: Move-Up Day

June 22nd: Last Day of School: Early Release 12:20

May 20th

We sure have had a busy couple of weeks! 

The children have enjoyed two trips to Crisafulli School. One trip was to see the 5th Grade Chorus and the second trip was for the 5th Grade Play, Peter Pan. The children enjoyed the performances and loved having the opportunity to get to see Crisafulli. It has helped to spark extra excitement for 3rd Grade. We will be visiting Crisafulli again on June 21st for Move-Up Day. 

During our writing blocks, the children have continued working on their country books. The children are really grasping the concept of Informational Writing and doing a wonderful job turning their research notes into interesting paragraphs. They are eager to share them with you at our Second Grade Celebration. 

We are currently finishing up our Around the World unit for Social Studies. Our last destination was South America and the beautiful country of Brazil. The children have really enjoyed the unit and have learned so much about the world around them. We were VERY lucky to have Isabella's mom come into our classroom to teach us even more about Brazil, which is where she grew up.  The kids had great questions and we all really enjoyed hearing Mrs. Silva proudly talk about her country.  This week we will get to make some colorful Carnival masks for our Brazil craft!

Coming home on Monday will be a study guide for our upcoming Social Studies Assessment. The children will be asked to locate various mountains and rivers for each continent. They don't need to worry about the spelling of them, just the location. Please help your child practice with the study guide.  There will be no comprehension questions on the back of the reading log this week in order to give the kids more time to practice the rivers and mountains.  

We are looking forward to starting our next Science Unit which is called Earth's Surfaces. The children will explore what is on the Earth's Surface and how weather can change the earth's surface in small and big ways. 

In math, we are working our way through Unit 9 which is our last official unit of the year. The past couple of lessons have focused on fractions, measuring to the nearest half inch, place value, and a new subtraction strategy called "Expand and Trade." We are looking forward to the next few lessons that will review previously taught concepts in order to help the children prepare for their End of Year Assessment. 

**** Save the Date**** 

For: Second Grade Celebration

When: Monday, June 18th 9:15-10:00 

Where: Room 7 

Upcoming Dates:

May 21st- Social Studies Study Guide sent home 

May 23rd- Field Day

May 24th- Field Day Rain date

May 25th- Social Studies Assessment

May 25th- 3rd Distance Learning Folder will be sent home (Due date is June 8th) 

May 28th- No School for Memorial Day

May 4, 2018

It's hard to believe it's May already!  We have a packed month ahead of us, including some really fun trips to Crisafulli, an exciting enrichment program (Day in Ghana), and our all-school Field Day.  We are sure to really enjoy all of these special things and more this month!

We have been very busy since we returned from April break.  It was great to hear the many places children visited or the fun activities they participated in over the break.  Everyone had lots to share!

Here are some other highlights from the past two weeks...

During our Reading time we got back to reading some more fiction texts with our guided reading groups.  We discussed and practiced some of the skills we’ve talked about throughout the year.  Our discussions focused on vocabulary, predicting, and re-telling. 

We had a great couple of days doing ancestor research in the library.  The kids were really excited to begin looking at the books about their country.  Everyone had a chance to find information about some things they were wondering about their country (food, animals, holidays, famous landmarks).  Thank you to all the parents who have helped out so far- your support has been wonderful for the children. We have two more sessions planned in the library to research our next questions.  

This past week during our Writing time we began using the information we found in our research to write informational paragraphs.  We talked about how to begin a paragraph by indenting and using an introductory sentence.  Then, we demonstrated and practiced how to turn our notes into fluid sentences.  The children are doing so well.  I am very impressed at how quickly they are learning to write their paragraphs.  

We have spent the last 2 weeks learning about Antarctica.  What a fascinating place!  It's been fun to learn about what it's really like to be in Antarctica and discuss why no one actually lives there.  We also watched a video about penguins and did a lot of learning in the classroom about the different types of penguins all throughout the world.  Hopefully you're child has been coming home teaching you some new things about Antarctica!  Next week we will travel from the very cold continent of Antarctica to a MUCH different place, South America.  Sadly, this will be the last stop on our journey around the world.  We will spend the next 2 weeks learning about South America before making our final "flight" home.

The past 2 weeks in Math we completed unit 8 and began unit 9.  Our lessons looked at Equal Groups and Arrays (an introduction to how multiplication works).  We also reviewed what we’ve learned during this unit about 2-D and 3-D shapes, Polygons, and Equal Parts.  All of this work helped prepare the children for the Unit 8 Assessment, which we did on Monday and Tuesday.  During the rest of the week we began unit nine, which is all about equal shares (Fractions!).

Thank you so much for all of your generous donations to our Rainy Day Family Fun Basket.  Our basket is very full and looks awesome!  I hope to see many of you next Friday at the Family Fest at Crisafulli School where our basket will be raffled off to raise money for our school.  

The second Distance Learning folder came home with your child today.  Please check your child's backpack to make sure the folder got home.  Just like the previous assignment, you will have two weeks to complete the activities.  All folders are due back Friday, May 18th.  Have fun!  

April 6, 2018

Thank you for attending our 2nd Grade Performance, Artists Around the World! The kids worked very hard to prepare and were eager to share it with you. I was so impressed with their commitment and enthusiasm. Thanks to Mrs. Oliver for doing a wonderful job putting it all together.

In addition to being busy preparing for the performance, we have been busy in the classroom too.

The kids are doing such a great job with poetry. They have enjoyed writing some "template" poems where some of the words and structure were provided, but they had the opportunity to put their own creative spin on it. The children also wrote Shape Poems! It was amazing to see the different ideas the children came up with. Finally, we created a "Table of Contents" for our Poetry Books. Be on the lookout for these amazing books to be coming home soon!

During math, we finished up Unit 7 and have started Unit 8 which focuses on Geometry and Arrays. In this first couple of lessons, the children explored 2-and 3-dimensional shapes and their attributes. They enjoyed playing a game called "Shape Capture" where they used shape attributes to "capture" shapes. We also enjoyed building various polygons with straws and pipe-cleaners and comparing their attributes. Children learned many new vocabulary words to describe the shapes: vertices, angles, parallel sides, sides, faces, edges, and bases.

The children are continuing to enjoy our Around the World unit. We finished up our study on Europe  by learning about the famous places. The children enjoyed learning about Italy, the Colosseum, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and the infamous gondola rides. Now we are onto Africa!

A friendly reminder that the Ancestor Research sheet that was sent home this week is due back by Wednesday, April 11th. We will do our best to accommodate first choices, but sometimes a lack of age-appropriate materials may make that difficult. The children will use their research information to do our last type of writing, which is "Informational." Thank you for helping your child with this assignment!

Your child's Distance Learning Activities will be coming home April 13th. The children have 2 weeks to complete the assignment and it should take a total of 60-90 minutes but can be broken into segments. If you have any questions, please let me know.

Upcoming Dates

April 14-22nd April Vacation

April 27th- Due Date for Distance Learning Activities

March 23, 2018

Thank you all for meeting with me over the past few days to discuss the progress your child has made this term.  It's always great to have this time to share work and classroom observations with parents.   As always, thank you for all you do at home to support your child's learning!

Here is a look at what we have been up to over the past two weeks in room 7...

On our "trip" around the world, we visited one of my favorite destinations- Australia!  There are many interesting things to learn and see on this continent.  We looked at the continent in general, including its location, landscapes, climate, and people. The children also created their own colorful boomerangs, as well as beautiful scrapbook pages all about the Great Barrier Reef.

After all the days off for snow and professional days, we finally got back to some regular reading groups this past week.  It was great to get back into our routines and enjoy some good books together.  I continue to be impressed with how many minutes of reading the students are doing at home for our Star Reader program!!

Math this week looked at collecting data (Arm Spans and How Far We Can Jump) and representing that data on a line plot.  We also used the data to answer various questions, and explored more with Shape Attributes, Graphs, and Measurement.  We are getting really good at making estimates about length and measuring accurately using both centimeters and inches. 

The children are doing great with the poetry unit.  They have already written a cinquain poem, a few couplet poems, as well as 2 form poems ("I Like" and "I Meant To").  They are doing rough drafts and final copies of each to be included in their Poetry Notebooks that will come home at the end of the unit.

We have been spending extra time at school practicing for the upcoming second grade musical, Artists Around The World.  Please note the date of the performance for parents, as it has changed since I originally communicated to you about it in Februrary.  The new dates are below:

Wednesday, April 4th- School Performance
Friday, April 6th- Parent Performance at 1:45

One last reminder- there will be a half day this coming Friday, March 30th for the Easter Holiday.

Have a wonderful weekend!

March 4, 2018

I hope you had a wonderful February Vacation and that you had time to relax and enjoy the beautiful weather that we had!

The week before vacation, we had our Spring visit to the Living Lab at Norman E.Day School. The kids participated in an experiment on beach erosion and were able to test out their engineering skills by creating a plan to help stop beach erosion. After coming up with their plan, they were able to test it. Everyone's plan was a success!! We also enjoyed our 100th Day of School and our Valentine Parties.

This week, we have had a great time celebrating Dr. Seuss's birthday! The children's spirit has been wonderful! Thank you to everyone who helped to make this a fun week.

We have spent the past two weeks on the continent of Asia. The children have learned about the Asian culture and that Asia is the biggest continent.  We also learned that the Himalayan Mountains are there, which includes the biggest mountain in the world- Mount Everest, and that the biggest river is the Yangtze or Chang River.  We focused on the country of Japan during our visit to Asia. The children enjoyed making carp kites which are a symbol of Children's Day in Japan. Next week, we will be traveling to the beautiful continent of Australia!

Our writing times have been spent working on our Term 2 Writing Prompt. The children wrote a review of a place that they have visited. They did a wonderful job and I look forward to sharing them with you at Parent Teacher Conferences. Next week, we will begin our Poetry Unit, which is always so much fun!

In Math, we have finished Unit 6 by taking our Unit Assessment and a Cumulative Assessment. We are now working on Unit 7. The focus of this unit is on Whole Number Operations and Measurement and Data. This week we completed lessons 1 and 2. The children practiced finding differences between 2-digit numbers and multiples of 10. The children also solved a practice open response problem by applying place-value concepts and addition properties.

Due to the 2nd term ending soon, I spent time last week doing reading check-ins with each child. The information that I gathered will be shared with you at Parent Teacher Conferences. It's always wonderful to see the growth that the children are making in terms of their oral reading and comprehension.

We have begun our rehearsals for our upcoming Second Grade Performance, Artists Around the World! Please mark your calendars for April 6th, as our performance will be at 1:45 that day. The children are very excited and are working hard on learning the songs.  We are eager to find out the special parts that each child will have in the play during the upcoming week.

Finally, coming home with your child on Monday will be a Study Guide for our upcoming Continent and Ocean Assessment. Your child should cut out the names of the continents and oceans and practice their location by laying them on the provided map nightly.  Then they can check with the answer key to see if they did it correctly. I would suggest not having them glue them down so that they can practice nightly throughout the week.  The assessment will be on Friday, March 9th. 

Thank you and have a great week.

Upcoming Dates:

March 9th- Term 2 Ends

March 15th- Early Release for Professional Development

March 22nd- No School for Parent Teacher Conferences

March 23rd- 2 Hour Delay for Parent Teacher Conferences