It's so hard to believe that we are already well into the month of October! We have been very busy in our class, and your 2nd graders are working very hard.
I hope that your child has been sharing information and activities from his or her guided reading group with you. As we move toward new reading standards this year, we are spending more time within texts and different genres and working with many different objectives. We are taking a break from guided reading groups for the next couple of weeks to assess and update reading levels. I hope to have some useful data to share with you at conferences in a few weeks! During our language arts block, students continue to working on spelling and other basic conventions. We are also beginning a short unit on technical writing. During this unit, students will use the writing process to complete a how-to piece entitled "How to Draw a Monster".
We had our Unit 2 assessment in math earlier this week. I was so impressed the progress I saw in place value and 2-digit addition! If you are looking for a quick and easy way to practice math at home, now would be a great time to work on counting groups of mixed coins up to five dollars with your child. Today, we began our next math unit. Over the next couple of weeks, 2nd graders will be working on measurement (centimeters and inches) and shapes. Some vocabulary terms to look out for are right angle, quadrilateral, line segment, equal faces, trapezoid, and hexagon. If you are measuring things at home, try to get your child involved!
Some exciting things are going on in our health study right now! The 2nd grade team is teaching a new unit this year on the human body. We are incorporating technology and some pieces of great expository text with some fun projects and experiments on the body and the body systems. Last week, students took a close look at "The Magic School Bus: Inside the Human Body". As a class, we talked about key ideas and supporting details, as well as the organization of Joanna Cole's books and the use of diagrams in her stories. This week, we are starting a group project. Each small group has been assigned a body system. Today and tomorrow, groups will research online and in books and articles and practice taking notes. Next week, each group will collaboratively plan a 3-dimensional display of its assigned body system. Your child will bring home a note telling what materials he or she has volunteered to provide for the group (this could be things like yarn, clay, balloons, dry pasta, etc.) Groups will assemble a display, label it, and complete a small research paper. After the completion of this project, we will be diving into the book "Good Enough to Eat" and doing some experiments with food. There are some supplies we will need at that time. I will send out an e-mail when I have more information for you. Now would be a great time, if you have items at home that tie into our human body study, to send them in for your child to share with the class!
Please look over the important dates below and let me know if you have any questions. As always, thanks for all that you do!
October 31 - Halloween Celebration
November 1 - No School - Recording/Reporting
November 6-7 - Conferences
November 8 - No School
November 27-29 - Fall Recess...Happy Thanksgiving!
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Welcome to 2nd Grade!
It was so great seeing so many of you at Parent Information Night last week! It is going to be an exciting year with many changes and opportunities, and I am so happy to be working with such a wonderful group of supportive parents. If you were unable to attend Parent Information Night, please look through the folder your child brought home for information on classroom management, curriculum, celebrations, and more. Let me know if you have any questions.
We have kicked off our year with a Language Arts unit entitled "Building Bridges with Unlikely Friends". Many of the new KCCR standards will be covered in this unit. Students are learning about the differences between figurative and literal language, how authors often teach life lessons through their writing, and how to retell a story. During our writing time, students are working on sentence writing and the parts of a friendly letter. As we go through this unit, we are working with a 5th grade class in Richmond, Indiana through letters and e-mails. We are tying the standards in with several read-aloud books, including the works of Kevin Henkes (the author of Chrysanthemum) and Isabella Hatkoff (the young co-author of the Owen and Mzee books).
To begin the year in math, students are exploring equations, math strategies, and story problems. As we go deeper into strategies and math vocabulary this year, students will be doing a lot of practice with having math conversations and explaining their thinking in writing, pictures, and words. As we talked about last week, students are bringing home math homework a couple of times a week to use to facilitate math talk. Thank you for your help in getting this done. Remember....if it takes your child more than 20 minutes to do math homework, feel free to call it quits for the night and just send me a note letting me know.
Some very special visitors will be coming to stay in our classroom next week! Our Monarch butterfly larvae are scheduled to arrive on Tuesday. During this unit in science, 2nd graders are studying different life cycles, the traits of insects, and Monarch butterflies. We look forward to releasing some of our own Monarchs this fall!
I am looking over volunteer needs right now and will be sending out an e-mail soon to those of you who signed up to help in our classroom. Thank you for your patience as I try to get organized enough to put things like that together.
Have a great week! Thanks, as always, for all that you do.
We have kicked off our year with a Language Arts unit entitled "Building Bridges with Unlikely Friends". Many of the new KCCR standards will be covered in this unit. Students are learning about the differences between figurative and literal language, how authors often teach life lessons through their writing, and how to retell a story. During our writing time, students are working on sentence writing and the parts of a friendly letter. As we go through this unit, we are working with a 5th grade class in Richmond, Indiana through letters and e-mails. We are tying the standards in with several read-aloud books, including the works of Kevin Henkes (the author of Chrysanthemum) and Isabella Hatkoff (the young co-author of the Owen and Mzee books).
To begin the year in math, students are exploring equations, math strategies, and story problems. As we go deeper into strategies and math vocabulary this year, students will be doing a lot of practice with having math conversations and explaining their thinking in writing, pictures, and words. As we talked about last week, students are bringing home math homework a couple of times a week to use to facilitate math talk. Thank you for your help in getting this done. Remember....if it takes your child more than 20 minutes to do math homework, feel free to call it quits for the night and just send me a note letting me know.
Some very special visitors will be coming to stay in our classroom next week! Our Monarch butterfly larvae are scheduled to arrive on Tuesday. During this unit in science, 2nd graders are studying different life cycles, the traits of insects, and Monarch butterflies. We look forward to releasing some of our own Monarchs this fall!
I am looking over volunteer needs right now and will be sending out an e-mail soon to those of you who signed up to help in our classroom. Thank you for your patience as I try to get organized enough to put things like that together.
Have a great week! Thanks, as always, for all that you do.
Friday, April 5, 2013
Spring has (finally) sprung!
Happy Friday! I want to thank all of you for your patience, kindness, and understanding as I have adjusted to being back at school these past few weeks. It is difficult leaving Teddy each morning, but I have really enjoyed getting back into the swing of things and working with your 2nd graders again! I'm lucky to be working with such a great group of families this year! I'm sorry that our class blog hasn't been updated since I've been back. I'm still playing catch-up, but think I am almost there!
Mr. Koerner did an amazing job taking over while I was out in January and February. It was fun seeing all the work your students did with weather, poetry, presidents, Kansas symbols, and many other subject areas in my absence. We are now finishing up our trip around the world in Social Studies. Students are "visiting" the seven continents. At each stop we are investigating the land, culture, animals, location, and fun facts of that area. This afternoon we will visit South America, and will return home to North America on Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday and Thursday we will do some review activities, and students will be tested on this unit on Friday, April 12. For the test, students will be asked to label a blank map with the 7 continents and 4 oceans (there will be a word bank). They will also need to write down 2 or 3 facts they know about each continent and tell me a little about the landforms we have studied. Instead of a study guide, your child will be bringing home his or her "suitcase" early next week. Please take time to sit with your child and allow him or her to tell you all about our trip.
Our next major unit of study will be our study of amphibians and reptiles in science. To prepare for this unit, we had a special guest from Prairie Park Nature Center visit our pod this morning with some animal friends. During this unit, we will compare various amphibians and reptiles, look at the differences between species, and learn about animal adaptations.
In writing, students have been working on some small research projects to prepare for our next major writing project. 2nd graders will be working with partners to write a book about an assigned animal. We will be focusing on the writing process, taking notes, using text features, and the traits of good writing.
Our current author study is Mem Fox, who has tied in well with our Social Studies unit as she is from Australia. We also continue to read "SuperFudge". Our next big read-aloud will be "Judy Moody Saves the World".
In math, students are working on place value, adding 3-digit numbers with regrouping, and reading and writing numbers to to 1,000 and beyond. Thank you for your continued support with homework.
As always, thanks for all that you do to support our classroom. Please add the dates below to your calendar.
April 6 - Family Fun Run at YSI
April 16 - 2nd Grade Music Program
April 23 - Family Fitness Fair
April 25 - Kansas City Zoo
May 10 - Lied Center trip, Field Day
May 23 - Last day of school
Mr. Koerner did an amazing job taking over while I was out in January and February. It was fun seeing all the work your students did with weather, poetry, presidents, Kansas symbols, and many other subject areas in my absence. We are now finishing up our trip around the world in Social Studies. Students are "visiting" the seven continents. At each stop we are investigating the land, culture, animals, location, and fun facts of that area. This afternoon we will visit South America, and will return home to North America on Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday and Thursday we will do some review activities, and students will be tested on this unit on Friday, April 12. For the test, students will be asked to label a blank map with the 7 continents and 4 oceans (there will be a word bank). They will also need to write down 2 or 3 facts they know about each continent and tell me a little about the landforms we have studied. Instead of a study guide, your child will be bringing home his or her "suitcase" early next week. Please take time to sit with your child and allow him or her to tell you all about our trip.
Our next major unit of study will be our study of amphibians and reptiles in science. To prepare for this unit, we had a special guest from Prairie Park Nature Center visit our pod this morning with some animal friends. During this unit, we will compare various amphibians and reptiles, look at the differences between species, and learn about animal adaptations.
In writing, students have been working on some small research projects to prepare for our next major writing project. 2nd graders will be working with partners to write a book about an assigned animal. We will be focusing on the writing process, taking notes, using text features, and the traits of good writing.
Our current author study is Mem Fox, who has tied in well with our Social Studies unit as she is from Australia. We also continue to read "SuperFudge". Our next big read-aloud will be "Judy Moody Saves the World".
In math, students are working on place value, adding 3-digit numbers with regrouping, and reading and writing numbers to to 1,000 and beyond. Thank you for your continued support with homework.
As always, thanks for all that you do to support our classroom. Please add the dates below to your calendar.
April 6 - Family Fun Run at YSI
April 16 - 2nd Grade Music Program
April 23 - Family Fitness Fair
April 25 - Kansas City Zoo
May 10 - Lied Center trip, Field Day
May 23 - Last day of school
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