As 2012 draws to a close, I reflect on how hard your 2nd graders have worked during this first half of the year and how proud I am of all their progress! Right now, I am planning on my last work day before Baby Williams makes his grand appearance being this coming Thursday, December 20. If he decides to dawdle a bit, I will be back at Langston Hughes from January 2-January 4, but don't anticipate returning after that until the first or second week of March. I will certainly miss seeing all of my students during those two months...their smiles, hugs, curious questions, and sweet comments. Students are welcome to e-mail me, send letters, or write stories for me to read when I return. They are going to be in wonderful hands with Mr. Koerner and Mrs. Heck!
I am not sure how dedicated I will be in getting our blog updated for the next couple of months...my understanding is that a baby can take up quite a bit of time and energy! Here's a brief overview of our curriculum for the winter. If you have any questions about things that are coming up while I am away I know that Kathy Rathbun, Brenda Hatesohl, and Karen Johnson will be great resources and will be happy to help you.
January/February Math:
* Graphs/data
* Comparison story problems
* Shapes
* Subtraction with grouping
* Continuation of math break-out groups
January/February Health and Science:
* Medicine and Drugs
* Weather
January/February Social Studies:
* Kansas Day/Kansas symbols
* Martin Luther King Junior
* Presidents
January/February reading, writing, and language arts:
* Reading groups
* Mid-year testing
* Shel Silverstein author study
* Mr. Popper's Penguins
* Continuation of spelling
* Poetry writing and comprehension unit
Other:
* I will not be sending out Scholastic book orders in January and February.
* Please touch base with Dale Koerner if you would be interested in helping him out with any needs that come up while I am away (supplies, extra clerical support, etc.) I know he would appreciate the assistance, especially when Kansas Day rolls around!
* If you are scheduled to come in and volunteer during January or February, please plan to come in even though I am away, even if it is just to support Dale with the lesson he is teaching on that day.
* In the past, I have worked with students to make Valentine holders for Valentine's Day in the classroom. I thought it would be fun, this year, to let students make their own at home and bring them in. This is such a creative group! A note about this will be coming home at the beginning of February, so please watch for it.
* I will plan to check e-mails when possible while on maternity leave, but please limit questions that are in need of immediate attention, as I won't be checking often. If an emergency or urgent question comes up, please forward it to the office or another 2nd grade teacher.
* This isn't related to 2nd grade at all but I, along with our school's wellness committee, are beginning to prepare for this spring's annual Fitness Fair. If you would be interested in helping in some way with this (either as a medical professional or a parent volunteer), please let me know. We can always use help, ideas for booths, or donations.
* Thank you, as always, for all that you do!
Upcoming Dates:
* December 20 - Second grade Reindeer Day, winter parties at 3:00, pajama day
* December 21-January 1 - Winter Break
* January 2 - Back to school
* January 21 - No school - Martin Luther King Jr. Day
* January 22 - Science fair
* January 29 - Kansas Day celebration
* January 30 - Birthday Breakfast
* February 8 - No school
* February 13&14 - Conferences - I plan to be there if possible, but will contact everyone in January to let you know for sure
* February 15 - No school
* February 27 - Birthday Breakfast
* March 18-22 - Spring Break
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Thursday, November 1, 2012
End of first trimester!
I am looking forward to seeing all of you next week! I have so much to share about the progress that has been made in 2nd grade during this past trimester. It's hard to believe that we are rolling into 2nd trimester now! Here's where we are headed next in our classroom:
In math, students were assessed this week on parallel lines, quadrilaterals, parallelograms, and the properties of shapes. Next week, we will begin Math Expressions Unit 4. In this unit, students will look at ways to add numbers up to 200. This is a longer unit in which many skills are taught. Please keep an eye out for handouts and homework pieces that will come home detailing the expectations during this unit. Thank you for your consistency in helping support your child at home during homework time. Homework assignments continue to be an extremely valuable tool in our class for facilitating "math talk".
1st trimester reading assessments were completed this week, and it appears that students have learned many reading skills since the beginning of the year. At conferences I will plan to go over reading levels, decoding and fluency expectations, comprehension expectations, and activities to help you support your child at home. If there are other specific resources you would like to see pertaining to your child's reading level, please contact me early next week so that I can have some items pulled out. During our language block, our class is also studying the author Janell Cannon, who wrote books such as Stellaluna, Crickwing, Pinduli, and Verdi. Her books are being used in our class to expose students to word choice in writing, as she is known for her wonderful use of descriptive language. Students are also using her books to work with cause and effect in narrative texts, story mapping narrative texts, and making connections between expository and narrative writing. If you have not already done so, please check your child's folder for a fun activity to do at home that ties in with the book Crickwing. I would love to have these creative projects back in time to display them at conferences.
In writing, students have been practicing the use of the writing process to produce technical writing pieces and descriptive paragraphs. I will have several work samples to share with you next week. Students had so much fun yesterday hosting their 5th grade book buddies to work on our technical writing project, "How to Draw a Monster". It was a great way to kick off Halloween at Langston Hughes!
I am sure that you have been hearing many fun health facts from your 2nd graders over the past few weeks! They have been very engaged learning about the body systems, caring for their eyes and ears, reading product labels and advertisements wisely, and staying clean and healthy. This evening, your child brought home a letter on bright pink paper letting you know about a collaborative project our class will be doing next week to wrap up our study of the human body. Each child is responsible for bringing in an item or two to contribute to his or her group's project. If you are unable to provide the item your child chose, please let me know and I will be happy to contact someone else in the group. This isn't meant to be a financial burden or something time-consuming for you to worry about this weekend...most of the items chosen were things that you probably have at home already. Feel free to contact me with any questions.
We have been lucky to find some time over the past couple of weeks to focus on some fun activities that tie in with our curriculum! This week, we took a day to learn about bats and how their ears and methods for hearing are different from our's. Students learned the word "echolocation", made bat finger puppets to act out Janell Cannon's book Stellaluna, and decorated our classroom for Halloween with some creative bats of their own. We were able to host Cameron's mom, Dr. Vaughn, last week to talk with the class about the body systems. Students were fascinated with some of the things that she brought! Everyone really enjoyed the Halloween parade and party yesterday....thanks to all of you who helped plan that; it was wonderful!
During the month of November, I will be incorporating the theme of pumpkins into our curriculum. Students will decorate the room with stained glass pumpkins, use the writing process to write a descriptive piece on pumpkins, and learn to make "pumpkin pie in a bag" as we conclude our first major Social Studies unit on the history of the United States. Students will read and write historical fiction pieces during this study. We will, of course, also take some time next week to learn about the election process and how our government works. November is going to be an exciting month, indeed! December will be here before we know it. It is starting to sink in that I will soon be missing my 2nd graders a lot during the months of January and February!
As we are wrapping up the trimester and beginning several new things, we will be taking a break from the spelling curriculum until the Wednesday after conferences. We will use our spelling time to do some lessons on contractions, possessive nouns, and to review basic writing conventions such as capitalization and punctuation. To give you time to enjoy the family turkeys, Crickwing project, and locating materials for our body system project, I also won't be giving any math homework next week.
There will be no school tomorrow, November 2, due to our teacher recording and reporting day. There will also be no school next Thursday and Friday. I hope that you enjoy this time having your children at home. Have a wonderful weekend and, as always, thank you for your support and all that you do.
In math, students were assessed this week on parallel lines, quadrilaterals, parallelograms, and the properties of shapes. Next week, we will begin Math Expressions Unit 4. In this unit, students will look at ways to add numbers up to 200. This is a longer unit in which many skills are taught. Please keep an eye out for handouts and homework pieces that will come home detailing the expectations during this unit. Thank you for your consistency in helping support your child at home during homework time. Homework assignments continue to be an extremely valuable tool in our class for facilitating "math talk".
1st trimester reading assessments were completed this week, and it appears that students have learned many reading skills since the beginning of the year. At conferences I will plan to go over reading levels, decoding and fluency expectations, comprehension expectations, and activities to help you support your child at home. If there are other specific resources you would like to see pertaining to your child's reading level, please contact me early next week so that I can have some items pulled out. During our language block, our class is also studying the author Janell Cannon, who wrote books such as Stellaluna, Crickwing, Pinduli, and Verdi. Her books are being used in our class to expose students to word choice in writing, as she is known for her wonderful use of descriptive language. Students are also using her books to work with cause and effect in narrative texts, story mapping narrative texts, and making connections between expository and narrative writing. If you have not already done so, please check your child's folder for a fun activity to do at home that ties in with the book Crickwing. I would love to have these creative projects back in time to display them at conferences.
In writing, students have been practicing the use of the writing process to produce technical writing pieces and descriptive paragraphs. I will have several work samples to share with you next week. Students had so much fun yesterday hosting their 5th grade book buddies to work on our technical writing project, "How to Draw a Monster". It was a great way to kick off Halloween at Langston Hughes!
I am sure that you have been hearing many fun health facts from your 2nd graders over the past few weeks! They have been very engaged learning about the body systems, caring for their eyes and ears, reading product labels and advertisements wisely, and staying clean and healthy. This evening, your child brought home a letter on bright pink paper letting you know about a collaborative project our class will be doing next week to wrap up our study of the human body. Each child is responsible for bringing in an item or two to contribute to his or her group's project. If you are unable to provide the item your child chose, please let me know and I will be happy to contact someone else in the group. This isn't meant to be a financial burden or something time-consuming for you to worry about this weekend...most of the items chosen were things that you probably have at home already. Feel free to contact me with any questions.
We have been lucky to find some time over the past couple of weeks to focus on some fun activities that tie in with our curriculum! This week, we took a day to learn about bats and how their ears and methods for hearing are different from our's. Students learned the word "echolocation", made bat finger puppets to act out Janell Cannon's book Stellaluna, and decorated our classroom for Halloween with some creative bats of their own. We were able to host Cameron's mom, Dr. Vaughn, last week to talk with the class about the body systems. Students were fascinated with some of the things that she brought! Everyone really enjoyed the Halloween parade and party yesterday....thanks to all of you who helped plan that; it was wonderful!
During the month of November, I will be incorporating the theme of pumpkins into our curriculum. Students will decorate the room with stained glass pumpkins, use the writing process to write a descriptive piece on pumpkins, and learn to make "pumpkin pie in a bag" as we conclude our first major Social Studies unit on the history of the United States. Students will read and write historical fiction pieces during this study. We will, of course, also take some time next week to learn about the election process and how our government works. November is going to be an exciting month, indeed! December will be here before we know it. It is starting to sink in that I will soon be missing my 2nd graders a lot during the months of January and February!
As we are wrapping up the trimester and beginning several new things, we will be taking a break from the spelling curriculum until the Wednesday after conferences. We will use our spelling time to do some lessons on contractions, possessive nouns, and to review basic writing conventions such as capitalization and punctuation. To give you time to enjoy the family turkeys, Crickwing project, and locating materials for our body system project, I also won't be giving any math homework next week.
There will be no school tomorrow, November 2, due to our teacher recording and reporting day. There will also be no school next Thursday and Friday. I hope that you enjoy this time having your children at home. Have a wonderful weekend and, as always, thank you for your support and all that you do.
Friday, September 28, 2012
Fabulous Fall!
I can't believe that autumn is upon us already! Our class is entering the fall season with great expectations of fun curriculum that is coming up...read on to see what we're up to!
In math this week, we have been working on our first geometry mini-unit. During this unit, students have studied the properties of different shapes and practiced measuring the sides and perimeters of the shapes. We will be wrapping up this short unit on Tuesday and beginning our next main unit on Wednesday. Unit 3 involves looking at the many different types of story problems. We will be focusing not only on basic addition and subtraction story problems, but also on comparison problems, missing partner problems, 2-step story problems, and problems with hidden or extra information. In the weeks ahead, as you work on homework with your child, please encourage him or her to "think like a teacher" and "look for clues like a detective". In class, we will be spending a lot of time, not only on answering story problems, but on explaining problems in a way that proves understanding and searching for key words and clues in problems. The goal is for students to deepen their understanding of these problems in a way that will help him or her with other problem-solving situations during the school year and beyond. Let me know, as always, if you have any questions.
I am excited to report that this first week of reading groups was a success! Hopefully you saw a book or two come home with your child for extra practice. As we get further into the school year, most 2nd grade students will be bringing home written activities to go with their reading books. 2nd grade is a big transition year, with more of a focus on detailed writing about reading. Please encourage your child to read with expression, use strategies to decode difficult words, and to re-tell information with details. Let me know if you need help coming up with ideas to challenge your young reader at home! Thank you to all of those who have been sending in weekly spelling homework with your child. Students who regularly practice spelling words correctly have a much easier time incorporating strong spelling strategies into everyday writing, which is the goal. I have many fun, printable spelling practice activities at school and would be happy to pass them on to you, if you are looking for ideas.
Now that we are more than a month into the school year, we are gearing up to start some exciting writing projects! Starting next week, Mrs. Fredrickson will be working with our class to launch our first research project of the year. This year's 2nd grade students will be teaming up to make a "Haunted Zoo" display in the library that is full of creepy creatures! During the course of this project, students will be working hard on developing sentence-writing skills, researching using non-fiction text, putting information into their own words, and editing and revising their work. I can't wait to see the display when it is completed!
Thank you for helping your child study for this week's first science test! I will be looking over the butterfly/moth tests this weekend and will let your child know his or her score early next week. We are now entering our next major health unit. During this unit, students will be learning about the different body systems. We will be doing several experiments and projects and will wrap up the unit, of course, with the skeletal system just in time for Halloween! Be sure to take some time this weekend to have your child teach you about the digestive system. We had a lot of fun this afternoon with a couple of science experiments to tie in with this body system. This would also be a good time, if your child gets some computer time at home, to check out some of the health links to the right of this blog post. The Kids' Health website has tons of great videos about the body systems, games, word searches, and more.
As we prepare for Halloween in our classroom, we will be finding time for some seasonal projects and activities. Over the next few weeks, your child will learn about bats and echolocation, the skeleton, and how to write a descriptive paragraph about pumpkins using the five senses. We will be looking for some parents to donate an item or two for these projects. Please see the accompanying e-mail if you would like to help out.
As always, thank you for all that you do! Your children have been such a pleasure to work with, and I really appreciate their willingness to help me out in the classroom during this exciting time in my family's life. We are in for an exciting year in 2nd grade! Please make note of the following dates in your calendars, and have a wonderful weekend!
October 2 - Family Bingo Night
October 3 - Walk/Bike to school day (many teachers, including myself, will be out and about in the surrounding neighborhoods that morning, so be sure to look for us!)
October 19 - No school - Professional development
October 24 - October birthday breakfast (we will avoid the last Wednesday this month, due to Halloween)
October 31 - Halloween parade and party...information to come soon
November 2 - No school
November 7-8 - Conferences...I can't wait to meet with all of you!
November 9 - No School
November 21-23 - Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy these days with your family.
* Please remember to sign your child's behavior calendar each night to let me know that you were able to take a moment to look through your child's daily folder...this is the only way for your child to earn stars on his or her behavior charts at school. Please encourage your child to keep track of behavior calendars. Starting in October, there will be consequences for students who routinely lose their calendars, leave their folders at school, or forget to get their calendars signed or initialed by an adult at home.
* We have library check-out each Tuesday.
* One piece of spelling homework is due each week between Wednesday and the following Tuesday.
* Fridays at Langston Hughes are Bobcat Blue days.
In math this week, we have been working on our first geometry mini-unit. During this unit, students have studied the properties of different shapes and practiced measuring the sides and perimeters of the shapes. We will be wrapping up this short unit on Tuesday and beginning our next main unit on Wednesday. Unit 3 involves looking at the many different types of story problems. We will be focusing not only on basic addition and subtraction story problems, but also on comparison problems, missing partner problems, 2-step story problems, and problems with hidden or extra information. In the weeks ahead, as you work on homework with your child, please encourage him or her to "think like a teacher" and "look for clues like a detective". In class, we will be spending a lot of time, not only on answering story problems, but on explaining problems in a way that proves understanding and searching for key words and clues in problems. The goal is for students to deepen their understanding of these problems in a way that will help him or her with other problem-solving situations during the school year and beyond. Let me know, as always, if you have any questions.
I am excited to report that this first week of reading groups was a success! Hopefully you saw a book or two come home with your child for extra practice. As we get further into the school year, most 2nd grade students will be bringing home written activities to go with their reading books. 2nd grade is a big transition year, with more of a focus on detailed writing about reading. Please encourage your child to read with expression, use strategies to decode difficult words, and to re-tell information with details. Let me know if you need help coming up with ideas to challenge your young reader at home! Thank you to all of those who have been sending in weekly spelling homework with your child. Students who regularly practice spelling words correctly have a much easier time incorporating strong spelling strategies into everyday writing, which is the goal. I have many fun, printable spelling practice activities at school and would be happy to pass them on to you, if you are looking for ideas.
Now that we are more than a month into the school year, we are gearing up to start some exciting writing projects! Starting next week, Mrs. Fredrickson will be working with our class to launch our first research project of the year. This year's 2nd grade students will be teaming up to make a "Haunted Zoo" display in the library that is full of creepy creatures! During the course of this project, students will be working hard on developing sentence-writing skills, researching using non-fiction text, putting information into their own words, and editing and revising their work. I can't wait to see the display when it is completed!
Thank you for helping your child study for this week's first science test! I will be looking over the butterfly/moth tests this weekend and will let your child know his or her score early next week. We are now entering our next major health unit. During this unit, students will be learning about the different body systems. We will be doing several experiments and projects and will wrap up the unit, of course, with the skeletal system just in time for Halloween! Be sure to take some time this weekend to have your child teach you about the digestive system. We had a lot of fun this afternoon with a couple of science experiments to tie in with this body system. This would also be a good time, if your child gets some computer time at home, to check out some of the health links to the right of this blog post. The Kids' Health website has tons of great videos about the body systems, games, word searches, and more.
As we prepare for Halloween in our classroom, we will be finding time for some seasonal projects and activities. Over the next few weeks, your child will learn about bats and echolocation, the skeleton, and how to write a descriptive paragraph about pumpkins using the five senses. We will be looking for some parents to donate an item or two for these projects. Please see the accompanying e-mail if you would like to help out.
As always, thank you for all that you do! Your children have been such a pleasure to work with, and I really appreciate their willingness to help me out in the classroom during this exciting time in my family's life. We are in for an exciting year in 2nd grade! Please make note of the following dates in your calendars, and have a wonderful weekend!
October 2 - Family Bingo Night
October 3 - Walk/Bike to school day (many teachers, including myself, will be out and about in the surrounding neighborhoods that morning, so be sure to look for us!)
October 19 - No school - Professional development
October 24 - October birthday breakfast (we will avoid the last Wednesday this month, due to Halloween)
October 31 - Halloween parade and party...information to come soon
November 2 - No school
November 7-8 - Conferences...I can't wait to meet with all of you!
November 9 - No School
November 21-23 - Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy these days with your family.
* Please remember to sign your child's behavior calendar each night to let me know that you were able to take a moment to look through your child's daily folder...this is the only way for your child to earn stars on his or her behavior charts at school. Please encourage your child to keep track of behavior calendars. Starting in October, there will be consequences for students who routinely lose their calendars, leave their folders at school, or forget to get their calendars signed or initialed by an adult at home.
* We have library check-out each Tuesday.
* One piece of spelling homework is due each week between Wednesday and the following Tuesday.
* Fridays at Langston Hughes are Bobcat Blue days.
Thursday, September 6, 2012
September News
I hope that you all enjoyed a long, relaxing Labor Day weekend! As always, we have been very busy in 2nd grade. Here's what's going on!
In math, students continue working on basic number sense with addition and subtraction facts, missing partner problems, story problems, counting change, and additional money problems. This year, your child will learn many strategies for solving various types of problems. Thank you for your continued support with homework at home as your child teaches you these many strategies! We started our math break-out groups last week. Students have really enjoyed working on math activities at their instructional level.
During our language block, we are currently working on a study of fairy tales. We have been looking at many traditional fairy tales (as well as some non-traditional versions!) and working on various comprehension activities with them. So far, we have reviewed comparing and contrasting two different stories, story mapping, goal mapping, and writing about opinions. During this time, 2nd graders are also learning how to write friendly letters and continue practicing sentence structure. Please look for your child's first spelling list to come home next Monday. Students will be tested on Friday.
Reading testing is finishing up this week and next. We hope to start our guided reading groups the week of September 17. Please e-mail or call if you would like information about your child's reading level for the beginning of the year.
I'm sure you have heard all about the special guests in our classroom...Monarch butterfly larvae! It has been so fun observing the different stages of the Monarch life cycle. We are now waiting, in eager anticipation, for adult butterflies to emerge from our 11 chrysalises. During this unit students are learning how to classify insects, identify the body parts of different insects, differentiate moths from butterflies, make careful observations, and read and write about butterflies. Our next health unit (beginning in two weeks) will be on the human body and its many systems.
Thank you for remembering to check and sign your child's calendar each night. I appreciate all that you do to support our classroom!
Please make note of the important dates below. Have a wonderful weekend!
September 7 - Grandparents' Day
September 11 - Library check-out (all Tuesdays)
September 12 - Reading MAP test (selected 2nd grade students only)
September 19 - Math MAP test (all 2nd grade students)
September 21 - Butterfly assessment
September 26 - Birthday breakfast (Suyash, Gavin, Chance, Cameron)
In math, students continue working on basic number sense with addition and subtraction facts, missing partner problems, story problems, counting change, and additional money problems. This year, your child will learn many strategies for solving various types of problems. Thank you for your continued support with homework at home as your child teaches you these many strategies! We started our math break-out groups last week. Students have really enjoyed working on math activities at their instructional level.
During our language block, we are currently working on a study of fairy tales. We have been looking at many traditional fairy tales (as well as some non-traditional versions!) and working on various comprehension activities with them. So far, we have reviewed comparing and contrasting two different stories, story mapping, goal mapping, and writing about opinions. During this time, 2nd graders are also learning how to write friendly letters and continue practicing sentence structure. Please look for your child's first spelling list to come home next Monday. Students will be tested on Friday.
Reading testing is finishing up this week and next. We hope to start our guided reading groups the week of September 17. Please e-mail or call if you would like information about your child's reading level for the beginning of the year.
I'm sure you have heard all about the special guests in our classroom...Monarch butterfly larvae! It has been so fun observing the different stages of the Monarch life cycle. We are now waiting, in eager anticipation, for adult butterflies to emerge from our 11 chrysalises. During this unit students are learning how to classify insects, identify the body parts of different insects, differentiate moths from butterflies, make careful observations, and read and write about butterflies. Our next health unit (beginning in two weeks) will be on the human body and its many systems.
Thank you for remembering to check and sign your child's calendar each night. I appreciate all that you do to support our classroom!
Please make note of the important dates below. Have a wonderful weekend!
September 7 - Grandparents' Day
September 11 - Library check-out (all Tuesdays)
September 12 - Reading MAP test (selected 2nd grade students only)
September 19 - Math MAP test (all 2nd grade students)
September 21 - Butterfly assessment
September 26 - Birthday breakfast (Suyash, Gavin, Chance, Cameron)
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Back to school!
It was so nice to meet you all of you last night at the Supply Drop! I have heard such wonderful things about your children from their first grade teachers, and am excited for a great year here in 2nd grade!
As we kick off the year, I want to make you aware of a few small announcements. We will spend time next next Thursday, August 23, looking closely at classroom procedures, expectations, etc. at Curriculum Night. The presentation will start at 6:00 in our classroom. As some of you have requested, I will have a sign-up sheet for volunteering and a needs list available on that night.
Starting tomorrow, your child will be bringing home a behavior calendar each night. Please be sure to initial this calendar each night to let me know that you have had the chance to look through your child's information. Starting next week, students will be able to earn rewards for consistently having their calendars signed and ready to go each morning.
Thank you so much to those of you who volunteered to send items in for our 2nd grade kick-off watermelon celebration this Friday. I will send you an e-mail in the next couple of days to let you know what time we will need the items.
Please look over the following dates and let me know if you have any questions. I look forward to working with all of you this year!
August 15 - First day of school
August 23 - Parent Curriculum Night - 6:00-7:00
August 29 - Birthday breakfast for August birthdays
September 2 & 3 - No school
September 7 - Grandparents' Day - 2:45
As we kick off the year, I want to make you aware of a few small announcements. We will spend time next next Thursday, August 23, looking closely at classroom procedures, expectations, etc. at Curriculum Night. The presentation will start at 6:00 in our classroom. As some of you have requested, I will have a sign-up sheet for volunteering and a needs list available on that night.
Starting tomorrow, your child will be bringing home a behavior calendar each night. Please be sure to initial this calendar each night to let me know that you have had the chance to look through your child's information. Starting next week, students will be able to earn rewards for consistently having their calendars signed and ready to go each morning.
Thank you so much to those of you who volunteered to send items in for our 2nd grade kick-off watermelon celebration this Friday. I will send you an e-mail in the next couple of days to let you know what time we will need the items.
Please look over the following dates and let me know if you have any questions. I look forward to working with all of you this year!
August 15 - First day of school
August 23 - Parent Curriculum Night - 6:00-7:00
August 29 - Birthday breakfast for August birthdays
September 2 & 3 - No school
September 7 - Grandparents' Day - 2:45
Thursday, May 3, 2012
End of the year!
I can't believe that I am sitting down to write my lost class blog post of the year! The past few months have really flown by. I look forward to a great end to the year, and hope that your 3rd grade students will come back to say "hello" next fall!
In math, we are currently working on an introduction to multiplication and division. Multiplication is being taught as repeated addition, and division as repeated subtraction. Students are working on comparision language such as "equal shares", "twice", "double", and "half". Thank you for your continued support with homework.
Reading groups have ended for the year to make time for reading assessments. This year, for the first time at Langston Hughes, 2nd graders will be participating in reading MAPS testing. We will also be looking at reading fluency and comprehension through DIBELS testing. If you are in need of reading ideas to keep your child practicing over the summer, please let me know and I would happy to provide you with some resources. As a whole group during our language block, we are doing different comprehension activities with read-alouds and partner reads. We will end the year with an author study on Bernard Waber. Be sure to check out some of his wonderful books!
In writing, students are working on an animal reasearch project with a partner. We are using this time to review the writing process. Students began the project with note-taking, and are now working on rough drafts, editing, and revising. Next week we will begin final drafts and will also learn about constructing a table of contents, index, and glossary.
Rather than continuing our spelling groups through the end of the year, we will be doing some whole group word work activities including plural rules, apostrophes and commas, and the 2nd grade sight word list. Let me know if you would like a copy of that list.
We have been lucky this week to have a volunteer from the bank named Mr. Lindquist in our classroom. He is our Junior Achievement volunteer for this year and is doing a wondeful job teaching students about money, communities, and production of goods.
In science, we continue our unit on herps (amphibians and reptiles). Students have learned about the similarities and differences between these groups of animals and are now looking at specific types of both. We will be testing on this unit in about a week and a half, and then will end the year with a fun mini-unit on animal adaptations.
Thanks, as always, for your continued support this year. I have enjoyed working with your children and am so proud of the progress they have made!
Upcoming Dates:
May 10 - Wetlands trip. Please return the permission slip you will receive today in your child's folder.
May 11 - Field Day
May 14-May 18 - Teach the Class week - forms are due tomorrow (May 4).
May 18 - School talent show
May 23 - Birthday Breakfast
May 24 - Last day of school! Have a great summer!
In math, we are currently working on an introduction to multiplication and division. Multiplication is being taught as repeated addition, and division as repeated subtraction. Students are working on comparision language such as "equal shares", "twice", "double", and "half". Thank you for your continued support with homework.
Reading groups have ended for the year to make time for reading assessments. This year, for the first time at Langston Hughes, 2nd graders will be participating in reading MAPS testing. We will also be looking at reading fluency and comprehension through DIBELS testing. If you are in need of reading ideas to keep your child practicing over the summer, please let me know and I would happy to provide you with some resources. As a whole group during our language block, we are doing different comprehension activities with read-alouds and partner reads. We will end the year with an author study on Bernard Waber. Be sure to check out some of his wonderful books!
In writing, students are working on an animal reasearch project with a partner. We are using this time to review the writing process. Students began the project with note-taking, and are now working on rough drafts, editing, and revising. Next week we will begin final drafts and will also learn about constructing a table of contents, index, and glossary.
Rather than continuing our spelling groups through the end of the year, we will be doing some whole group word work activities including plural rules, apostrophes and commas, and the 2nd grade sight word list. Let me know if you would like a copy of that list.
We have been lucky this week to have a volunteer from the bank named Mr. Lindquist in our classroom. He is our Junior Achievement volunteer for this year and is doing a wondeful job teaching students about money, communities, and production of goods.
In science, we continue our unit on herps (amphibians and reptiles). Students have learned about the similarities and differences between these groups of animals and are now looking at specific types of both. We will be testing on this unit in about a week and a half, and then will end the year with a fun mini-unit on animal adaptations.
Thanks, as always, for your continued support this year. I have enjoyed working with your children and am so proud of the progress they have made!
Upcoming Dates:
May 10 - Wetlands trip. Please return the permission slip you will receive today in your child's folder.
May 11 - Field Day
May 14-May 18 - Teach the Class week - forms are due tomorrow (May 4).
May 18 - School talent show
May 23 - Birthday Breakfast
May 24 - Last day of school! Have a great summer!
Monday, April 9, 2012
April showers bring May flowers!
Can you believe that we are almost halfway through the month of April? It seems that this year has just flown by! I have really enjoyed working with your 2nd graders, and can't wait to hear about the exciting time they will have in 3rd grade in just a few short months!
In math right now, we are working on place value with 3-digit numbers. During this unit, students are learning different strategies for adding and subtracting larger numbers, as well as working with place value and money. Students continue to practice counting mixed groups of coins, and are beginning to make change from $5.00 and $10.00 bills.
Guided reading groups will end on April 24. We will then spend the last weeks of school doing assessments and reading comprehension activities as a whole group. Our current read-aloud is "Hello, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle!". We will wrap up the school year with author studies on Bernard Waber and William Steig.
We are getting ready to start some research! In the next week in our classroom, students will do a mini-research project on a country. This will lead into our biggest writing project of the year...animal research! Now would be a great time to start checking out some non-fiction books at home and working with your child on using the index and glossary, locating information, and putting information in your own words.
Students will be tested on the continents at the end of this week. Rather than a study guide, your child will be bringing home a "travel pack" of information tomorrow. Please have him or her share with you souvenirs and maps from the seven continents we have visited. On the geography test, students will need to label the 7 continents and 4 oceans on a map, as well as tell one or two interesting facts about each continent and identify four different landforms.
Next week in science, we will be beginning our unit on herps (amphibians and reptiles). During this unit, second graders will learn the difference between amphibians and reptiles and study the characteristics of lizards, snakes, turtles, crocodilians, salamanders, and frogs/toads.
Upcoming important dates for April:
April 12 - 2nd grade field trip to the Lied Center
April 17 - 2nd grade music program
April 24 - Family Fun, Food, and Fitness night
April 25 - Birthday Breakfast
April 26 - Kansas City Zoo field trip
April 27 - No school
In math right now, we are working on place value with 3-digit numbers. During this unit, students are learning different strategies for adding and subtracting larger numbers, as well as working with place value and money. Students continue to practice counting mixed groups of coins, and are beginning to make change from $5.00 and $10.00 bills.
Guided reading groups will end on April 24. We will then spend the last weeks of school doing assessments and reading comprehension activities as a whole group. Our current read-aloud is "Hello, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle!". We will wrap up the school year with author studies on Bernard Waber and William Steig.
We are getting ready to start some research! In the next week in our classroom, students will do a mini-research project on a country. This will lead into our biggest writing project of the year...animal research! Now would be a great time to start checking out some non-fiction books at home and working with your child on using the index and glossary, locating information, and putting information in your own words.
Students will be tested on the continents at the end of this week. Rather than a study guide, your child will be bringing home a "travel pack" of information tomorrow. Please have him or her share with you souvenirs and maps from the seven continents we have visited. On the geography test, students will need to label the 7 continents and 4 oceans on a map, as well as tell one or two interesting facts about each continent and identify four different landforms.
Next week in science, we will be beginning our unit on herps (amphibians and reptiles). During this unit, second graders will learn the difference between amphibians and reptiles and study the characteristics of lizards, snakes, turtles, crocodilians, salamanders, and frogs/toads.
Upcoming important dates for April:
April 12 - 2nd grade field trip to the Lied Center
April 17 - 2nd grade music program
April 24 - Family Fun, Food, and Fitness night
April 25 - Birthday Breakfast
April 26 - Kansas City Zoo field trip
April 27 - No school
Monday, March 5, 2012
March is here!
As March begins, students are gearing up for all kinds of fun and exciting new learning opportunities! Here is what we are currently studying in our class.
In math, we are wrapping up Unit 9. In this unit, students worked with counting coins and making change, as well as many strategies for subtracting two and three digit numbers...both with and without ungrouping. The test for this unit will be on Wednesday. On Thursday, we will begin Unit 10. This is a shorter unit in which students will learn about geometry. Specifically, they will be learning about slides, flips, and turns. This unit will be followed by one on 3-digit addition and subtracction.
During our language block, we have just wrapped up our study of homophones and homographs. Students did an excellent job working with words that sound the same but are spelled differently and words that are spelled the same but have different meanings. Beginning this week, we will be spending some time working with alphabetical order and the use of dictionaries. As our read aloud, we are reading a biography written about Dr. Suess. We enjoyed celebrating his birthday last Friday! We will begin reading Flat Stanley this week as well. During writing time, we will be reviewing some types of writing that we have learned this year and introducing some of the 6 traits.
Did you know that 2nd grade is going on a trip? We are beginning our trip around the world! This week, students are studying the purpose of maps, as well as the types of landforms. Next week, we will be packing our bags and start travelling to all of the seven continents. At each continent students will be learning about culture, history, landmarks, etc. They will also be receiving a special regional snack at each continent! This unit is a lot of fun. If you have special knowledge about a continent and would like to send in some visuals, lend some books, give a short presentation, etc...let me know!
Upcoming dates:
Spring break: March 19-23
Birthday breakfast: March 28
Lied Center: April 12
Family Fun, Food, and Fitness Event: April 24
Kansas City Zoo: April 26 (this is a tentative date...I will let you know when it's set in stone. You might be thinking about whether or not you would like to volunteer for this trip!)
In math, we are wrapping up Unit 9. In this unit, students worked with counting coins and making change, as well as many strategies for subtracting two and three digit numbers...both with and without ungrouping. The test for this unit will be on Wednesday. On Thursday, we will begin Unit 10. This is a shorter unit in which students will learn about geometry. Specifically, they will be learning about slides, flips, and turns. This unit will be followed by one on 3-digit addition and subtracction.
During our language block, we have just wrapped up our study of homophones and homographs. Students did an excellent job working with words that sound the same but are spelled differently and words that are spelled the same but have different meanings. Beginning this week, we will be spending some time working with alphabetical order and the use of dictionaries. As our read aloud, we are reading a biography written about Dr. Suess. We enjoyed celebrating his birthday last Friday! We will begin reading Flat Stanley this week as well. During writing time, we will be reviewing some types of writing that we have learned this year and introducing some of the 6 traits.
Did you know that 2nd grade is going on a trip? We are beginning our trip around the world! This week, students are studying the purpose of maps, as well as the types of landforms. Next week, we will be packing our bags and start travelling to all of the seven continents. At each continent students will be learning about culture, history, landmarks, etc. They will also be receiving a special regional snack at each continent! This unit is a lot of fun. If you have special knowledge about a continent and would like to send in some visuals, lend some books, give a short presentation, etc...let me know!
Upcoming dates:
Spring break: March 19-23
Birthday breakfast: March 28
Lied Center: April 12
Family Fun, Food, and Fitness Event: April 24
Kansas City Zoo: April 26 (this is a tentative date...I will let you know when it's set in stone. You might be thinking about whether or not you would like to volunteer for this trip!)
Friday, February 3, 2012
End of 2nd trimester
Happy Friday!
As always, we have been very busy in 2nd grade here at Langston Hughes! Students are working hard and learning many new things. Here's what's going on in our classroom!
In math, we are currently working on a mini-unit on geometry. Students are learning about quadrilaterals, parallelograms, and midpoints. Next week, we will begin our next major unit...subtracting two-digit numbers with and without re-grouping. At the beginning of the unit, students will also be working on counting money. Now would be a GREAT time to play some money games or count some spare change at home.
In science, we are wrapping up our unit on weather. The test on this unit will be next Thursday. Students will be expected to show understanding of the water cycle, the types of precipitation, cloud types, seasons, and tools used for measuring weather. Please keep an eye out for a study guide next Tuesday or Wednesday. We will kick off our next trimester with some Social Studies! Students will be learning more about our past, including information about several presidents. In March, we will begin our tour of the world during which students will explore mapping, landforms, continents, and different cultures. I will be providing information about our Flat Stanley geography project at conferences.
After a couple of weeks of assessing, we have restarted guided reading groups! Many changes were made, and I can't wait to share your child's progress with you. During our language block we continue our study of poetry. We have enjoyed sitting down and reading many types of poems together, and our class has come up with some really great and creative poems of our own! There are some awesome poetry links to the right of this post...check them out! At the conclusion of our poetry unit, we will take some time to look at the authors Tomie DePaulo and Shel Silverstein. Our current read-aloud is Mr. Popper's Penguins.
Special Announcements:
The book fair is next week! I will not be sending home a Scholastic book order this month, so this is your chance to stock up on great book deals! To promote this event, students are invited to wear pajamas on Monday, Hawaiian shirts on Tuesday, and to dress like a favorite book character Wednesday. Don't forget to come to the pancake feed Tuesday night from 5:00-7:00. If you will be unable to attend, your child is welcome to purchase books during the school day.
Thank you to those of you who have already confirmed your conference spot! If you have not yet returned your green form, please do so as soon as you can or send me an e-mail.
I look forward to seeing all you soon! Have a great weekend!
As always, we have been very busy in 2nd grade here at Langston Hughes! Students are working hard and learning many new things. Here's what's going on in our classroom!
In math, we are currently working on a mini-unit on geometry. Students are learning about quadrilaterals, parallelograms, and midpoints. Next week, we will begin our next major unit...subtracting two-digit numbers with and without re-grouping. At the beginning of the unit, students will also be working on counting money. Now would be a GREAT time to play some money games or count some spare change at home.
In science, we are wrapping up our unit on weather. The test on this unit will be next Thursday. Students will be expected to show understanding of the water cycle, the types of precipitation, cloud types, seasons, and tools used for measuring weather. Please keep an eye out for a study guide next Tuesday or Wednesday. We will kick off our next trimester with some Social Studies! Students will be learning more about our past, including information about several presidents. In March, we will begin our tour of the world during which students will explore mapping, landforms, continents, and different cultures. I will be providing information about our Flat Stanley geography project at conferences.
After a couple of weeks of assessing, we have restarted guided reading groups! Many changes were made, and I can't wait to share your child's progress with you. During our language block we continue our study of poetry. We have enjoyed sitting down and reading many types of poems together, and our class has come up with some really great and creative poems of our own! There are some awesome poetry links to the right of this post...check them out! At the conclusion of our poetry unit, we will take some time to look at the authors Tomie DePaulo and Shel Silverstein. Our current read-aloud is Mr. Popper's Penguins.
Special Announcements:
The book fair is next week! I will not be sending home a Scholastic book order this month, so this is your chance to stock up on great book deals! To promote this event, students are invited to wear pajamas on Monday, Hawaiian shirts on Tuesday, and to dress like a favorite book character Wednesday. Don't forget to come to the pancake feed Tuesday night from 5:00-7:00. If you will be unable to attend, your child is welcome to purchase books during the school day.
Thank you to those of you who have already confirmed your conference spot! If you have not yet returned your green form, please do so as soon as you can or send me an e-mail.
I look forward to seeing all you soon! Have a great weekend!
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Happy new year!
It has been wonderful getting back into our 2nd grade routine. I hope that you all had a terrific holiday season with your family. Here's what's going on in our classroom!
In math, students are learning about different types of graphs in unit 7. During the course of this unit students will learn about picture graphs, bar graphs, line graphs, and circle graphs. They will practice gathering, showing, and interpreting data. We also continue to work on using basic addition and subtraction facts accurately and efficiently.
In science, we have begun our unit on weather. I will admit...it has been nice having our first days of weather observation be mild and sunny! It has been a beautiful winter so far. During this unit, students will learn about the different types of clouds, the water cycle, storms, precipitation, and what it means to be a meteorologist. There are a couple of great weather links in our link bar to the right...check them out with your child if you get a chance.
We will be taking the next couple of weeks off from reading groups in order to assess reading level. I should have some good information to share with you at conferences. During our language block, students are doing various reading comprehension activities. We are currently reading the classic "Mr. Popper's Penguins". In writing, students are working on poetry writing. Over the next few weeks we will cover couplets, cinquains, acrostic poems, shape poems, and free verse poems. We are also incorporating poetry into our reading activities with comprehension and fluency practice.
I look forward to seeing you all at conferences in just a few short weeks! It's hard to believe that we are nearly through another trimester. Enjoy the rest of your long weekend!
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