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!