October 14, 2019

It is hard to believe we are heading into the third week of October! The cold weather is approaching. Please be sure your child comes to school with a jacket or sweatshirt to wear out to recess, as we go outside everyday.

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 at the end of this 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.

During writing, the children are continuing to work on their personal narrative stories. The children are learning how to edit and revise their stories so they can write a final draft. They are also beginning to write creative, descriptive monster stories. The students will have fun designing and writing about their own monsters!


On Wednesday your child will be bringing home a homework assignment titled “Looking Back” Please help your child find a photo of a recent special event/ moment from their life to use for this assignment. Please help them attach this photo to the homework sheet, then help them use the homework sheet to brainstorm all about the photo. The students will use the photo and brainstorming sheet to write the first draft of their next personal narrative story. It is always so much fun to see all the wonderful pictures the children bring in! This homework assignment is due back on Friday, October 18th. There will be no other homework next week.

Daily 5 is up and running and the children are doing a wonderful job! In our small reading groups we have been focusing on predicting, making connections and retelling strategies. Over the next few weeks we will focus on 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.


During science the children have visited the desert, rainforest and the pond habitats! While visiting these three habitats we have learned all about the animals and plants that live in each habitat and what they need to survive. We have also discussed how the plants and animals in these three habitats depend on each other to survive. The children did a great job writing a BLOG about their visit to the rainforest, enjoyed playing trivia during their visit to the desert, and wrote letters to landowners persuading them about the importance of preserving the pond habitats. Next week we will visit the ocean habitat and collect and share data like scientists. During the week of October 21st the students will break into groups and conduct research on three of the habitats with the library media specialist. As a conclusion to this amazing science unit each student will create a shoebox diorama on the habitat of their choice. If you have not sent in a shoebox for your child please send one in by next week.


Our first class celebration, the Harvest Party, will be on Thursday, October 31st. Mrs. Frazier, Mrs. Siano, and myself have worked together to organize the celebrations for us this year. If you have any questions or concerns about the parties please me contact me. Thank you so much for all the donations that have come in to help support our classroom parties! It is always a wonderful time for the children!


Thanks for all you do I hope you had a wonderful long weekend!


October 15th- No School Professional Development