We certainly lucked out with the weather for our field trip this week! The kiddos were amazing, and we had so much fun!
We are busy working on our biome research. Many students are wrapping up the research portion of the project and moving on to writing an informational piece about their biome. As well, they have two options for showcasing their learning once their writing is complete; a dodecahedron ball, or a glogster project they create. We are wrapping up our final math unit this week. Students will learn how to expand and trade-first when subtracting. This is an introduction lesson to subtraction with borrowing, and always a fun one! As well we will review place value and equivalent money. The students will begin their end of the year assessment for Math on Friday. A few big reminders this week: On Monday, June 11th we will have our rescheduled school-wide read-a-thon celebration in the afternoon. I encourage you to send in a beach towel or blanket, as we will be reading on the grass. As well, you may want to apply bug spray or sunscreen. Children are allowed to bring a hat or sunglasses if they like. On Thursday, June 14th we will participate in field day. Please apply bug spray and sunscreen to your child. As well, you may want to send in an extra water bottle this day. PLEASE HAVE STUDENTS WEAR THE CLASS SHIRTS THEY WERE GIVEN ON THE DAY OF THE FIELD TRIP. On Thursday, June 21st we will have our end of the year celebration from 9:45-10:30. I have a special craft planned for the celebration (we will make picture frames for a class photo) and have some treats. Look for a sign-up genius to come via email if you would like to send in a snack. You are welcome to join us, but please know that our end of the year party is very low key. All students react to change differently, and the last day of school can be quite stressful for some! Upcoming dates: Monday, June 11th: School-wide read-a-thon celebration Thursday, June 14th: Field day Thursday, June 21st: End of the year celebration – 9:45-10:30 EARLY RELEASE AT 12:00, Report Cards Come Home
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We had another wonderful week in Second Grade! This week we had Mrs. Champman from the NH Audobon Society visit our classroom. She helped deepen our understanding about the ways in which seeds travel, and the impact animals have on seed dispersal.
This will be our last full week of Wonders. We will explore the question, where can your imagination take you? Our spelling pattern this week will be r controlled syllables, as in the word pattern. As well, we will revisit the reading comprehension strategy point of view. We will begin our final mathematics unit this week. In this unit, we will explore the concepts of equal shares. This lays the foundation for students to understand division as they move to third grade. As well, I will introduce students to a more efficient strategy for subtracting larger numbers. A few big reminders this week: On Monday, June 4th we will have our school-wide read-a-thon celebration in the afternoon. I encourage you to send in a beach towel or blanket, as we will be reading on the grass. As well, you may want to apply bug spray or sunscreen. Children are allowed to bring a hat or sunglasses if they like. On Thursday, June 7th we will head to Squam Lake for our field trip. There are not any special items you need to pack with your child beyond a lunch and snack. There is not an option for purchasing lunch there. I would encourage you to have your child dress in layers, wear comfortable shoes, and apply bug spray. As a reminder, we will return to school at approximately 4:00. Please arrange for transportation at that time. Upcoming dates: Monday, June 4th: School-wide read-a-thon celebration Thursday, June 7th: Field Trip to Squam Lake I hope you enjoyed the long holiday weekend with your family! We are still full steam ahead in our Wonders reading program. This week in the Wonders reading program we answer the question, “What can myths teach us?” The students loved our work with myths when we explored them in our folk tale unity, so I am sure they will be excited! We will practice identifying the theme in a story, focusing on the moral or lesson. As well, we will review similes. Our spelling pattern this week will be open and closed syllables. In Math next week we will wrap up our work with arrays. The students are making great progress with this skill. I continue to remind students that arrays are equal groups, represented by pictures, lines, x's or other objects.....but the key is that the groups must be equal. We will take the end of unit 8 math assessment on Thursday and Friday. As well, we will begin to work on our final research project. Students will have the chance to pick a biome they are interested in. The students will conduct research, write and informational piece, and design their own blog. We continue our focus on plants this week, as we grow grass heads! The students are learning that plant stems move to find sunlight and will grow a grass head (think chia pet) that has hair going in a direction of their choosing. The key is that they must apply their understanding of the plant/sunlight relationship to be successful! Thank you for joining us at Open House. The students were so proud to share their hard work, you could see the pride shine through.
We will move on from our folk tale unit this week. We will jump back into Wonders as we explore the question; Why is teamwork important? As we read, I am looking to see that students can now summarize a story independently by pulling out key details as they read. Our spelling pattern this week with focus on consonant-le words, and there will be a spelling test this week! We will shift our focus this week to explore dividing shapes into equal groups, looking at arrays (rows of the same number of objects), and equal groups. This work is very important as it lays the foundation for multiplicative reasoning (including multiplication and division). Some students my struggle with the visual-spatial reasoning that is required for these tasks, Feel free to help them along if they are struggling. Great tasks to improve this skill are puzzles and origami-both help improve visual-spatial reasoning. We will continue with our learning about plants this week, continuing to explore the needs of plants. We will rework our mystery from last week; Do trees eat dirt? Our seeds went astray this week and we will need to redo this experiment! Upcoming dates: Thursday, May 24th: Community Meeting Friday, May 25th: Squam Lake permission slips due Thursday, June 7th: Field Trip to Squam Lake We had busy week preparing for Open House. We look forward to seeing you on Thursday at 5:30 for our student showcase. You will have a chance to see in-class projects, as well as our Artist in Residence work.
We will continue to work on folk tales this week. We are wrapping up our study with tall tales. We will learn about Paul Bunyan and John Henry. Our spelling pattern this week with focus on consonant-le words. We continue to focus on geometric ideas this week. We will look more closely at quadrilaterals, and work on applying our knowledge as we solve a mathematical problem about building a garden. As well, students will be introduced to partitioning (dividing) shapes in to even groups. We will continue with our learning about plants this week, moving beyond seeds to explore the needs of plants. They will work through a mystery that asks; Do trees eat dirt? At the same time, students are continuing researching shifting to animal habitats as we work to bring our science learning full circle this year. Upcoming dates: May 17th – R/1/2 Open House 5:30/ Squam Lake permission slips come home We had an amazing week back from break. We were busy building and painting our landform islands, researching plants, and learning how to create digital posters. As well, we worked with our Artist in Residence on Friday, dying cloth for wish flags. We will spend our second day with the Artist tomorrow, Monday May 7th.
We will continue to work on folk tales this week. The students were highly interested in myths that involved the Greek gods. They couldn't believe that people once thought these stories to be true. This week we will learn about fables and legends as we explore classic stories. We will continue with our spelling and grammar work, so look for a spelling list that focuses on magic e syllables. The students did an amazing job on their unit 7 math assessment. We will finish up the last few questions tomorrow before moving on to Unit 8-focusing on geometry. Next week students will learn about shape attributes, or features. We will play a game similar to go fish that helps students build their shape vocabulary. We will begin a new unit on plants this week, learning how seeds can be transported from one location to another. They will work through a mystery that asks, how did that tree get there? At the same time, students are researching plants and their life cycles, habitats, and the products they make . We will have a special guest speaker at the end of the month who will help us learn more about seed transportation. I look forward to meeting with so many of you on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss your child's progress! Let me know if you need to make any changes to your planned conference. Upcoming dates: May 7th- Artist in Residence May 17th – R/1/2 Open House 5:30 I hope everyone enjoyed a week away from school. I am looking forward to seeing the students tomorrow!
We will take a step away from our traditional reading program for the next few weeks as we focus on our artist in residence work. Next week students will be introduced to folk tales, as this will be the connecting thread through the integrated arts during our open house. We will spend time reading and comparing multiple forms of folk tales over the next three weeks, from fairy tales to tall tales. We will continue with our spelling and grammar work, so look for a spelling list that focuses on open and closed syllables this week. Throughout our work before break it was clear that the students needed to spend additional time with measurement and data. We will review this work at the beginning of the week, and then take our assessment at the end of the week. These extra few days should help solidify these concepts for the students. Any additional measuring you can do at home would be extremely helpful! Students have completed their landform research and are now moving into building a model of an island. The island will include 3 landforms they have researched. As we wait for the salt dough to dry, we will jump into our learning about plants and pollinators. Students will complete investigations about seeds and how they travel. As well, they will have the chance to further research a plant species they find interesting. I look forward to meeting with so many of you this week to discuss your child's progress! Let me know if you need to make any changes to your planned conference. Upcoming dates: April 30th- Artist in Residence Work begins May 17th – R/1/2 Open House 5:30 We will wrap up some loose ends this week before April Vacation.
This week in our reading program, Wonders, we will take our Unit 5 reading assessment. This will be the second full reading assessment the students will take. In the assessment, students will be asked to read two stories and answer questions, both multiple choice and written response. As well, they will be asked to compare the two stories, and use evidence from the text to support their thinking. Finally, we will check in on their vocabulary and phonics skills. I have broken up the assessment into smaller parts, and we will complete a small amount each day. Due to our assessment, there will not be a spelling test next week. The rulers, tape measures, and meter sticks are out in our classroom. We have been busy measuring all sorts of things in the classroom and comparing actual measurements to our estimates. As well, we have identified personal references for an inch, foot, and yard. Next week we will look more heavily at data, as the students compare a bar graph to a line plot, using data they collect from their arm span length and standing jump lengths. It is a nice tie between measurement and data. As we move further into our research, we will begin to shift our writing focus from opinion writing to informational writing. Students are hard at work creating a salt dough island that showcases three of the landforms they have been researching. Accompanying the islands will be an informational writing piece that highlights the important features of the landforms. As well, they will have the chance to showcase their work to the first-grade students, which is always so much fun. You will have a chance to see their work at the open house coming up in about a month. Upcoming dates: April 13th – Report Cards go home April 18th – School Board Meeting 6:30 PTA meeting April 20th- School spirit day, crazy outfit/hair April 23-27 – Spring Recess, no school We are full steam ahead with learning as we move into land form research and projects.
This week in our reading program, Wonders, we will explore the question- Why are rules important? While reading, we will practice the odd spellings of short e, like the ea in bread. We will revisit the skill of cause and effect as we read. The students did an impressive job on their Unit 6 Assessment! I am so proud of how hard they worked to master these new concepts. We have now begun our new unit of learning on measurement. Students will explore both US customary measurement, as well as metric measurement. Any additional practice in measuring at home would be wonderful. We will use rulers, tape measures, yard sticks, and meter sticks in the classroom. Additionally, students are learning about collecting and analyzing data. We will measure standing jumps and arm spans before plotting the data as a bar graph and a line plot. Students will answer questions about the data and create a question that could be answered using the data. Interpreting data is an important skill in grade two and can be tricky for kiddos at times. We will turn our writing focus to research in the coming weeks. Students will learn more about informational writing beyond a simple "how-to" story. They will work to present an opening, supply relevant details, and write a closing sentence. This work will accompany our land form islands we will create in the classroom. Upcoming dates: April 13th – Report Cards go home April 18th – School Board Meeting 6:30 PTA meeting April 20th- School spirit day, crazy outfit/hair April 23-27 – Spring Recess, no school Another great week under our belts. It is hard to believe that it is already the month of April. It feels as if the school year is flying by!
This week in our reading program, Wonders, we will explore the question- How can we protect the Earth? While reading, we will practice the sound /aw/ as in saw. We will revisit the skill of problem and solution as we discuss plot. The students will take their Unit 6 Assessment this week. I am so proud of how hard they had been working to master these new concepts. We have had lots of added practice in the classroom, and the students are right on track. In Unit 7 we switch gears to further explore We will celebrate our opinion writing this week, taking time to share our pieces with our classmates. The students have been hard a work writing opinion pieces to you about something they want or want to do. These are always my favorite writing pieces of the year, and I look forward to sharing them with you during our conferences. We are reflecting on our erosion learning this week, and I am asking students to apply all that they have learned through a mock challenge they will solve as a team. From here we will move into our landform research and projects, all which will be completed in school. Upcoming dates: April 1st – R/1 Parent Information Night 6:00pm April 4th – Quarter 3 grades close April 5th – Community Meeting |
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