December/January Updates

Happy New Year!  I hope that you all had a wonderful and relaxing holiday.  I'm so excited to see my 2nd graders and to hear about the great adventures they had during the break!  Please read on for information about upcoming curriculum and, as always, feel free to call or e-mail with any questions.

Math: During our upcoming math unit, students will be reviewing the work we did this fall in adding 2-digit and 3-digit numbers, and using that knowledge of place value to practice subtracting larger numbers.  Students will be learning many strategies for subtracting large numbers.  When you see math homework during this unit, feel free to share other strategies you may know with your 2nd grader!  In this unit, we will also be going further with our study of money as students practicing counting mixed groups of coins higher than $1.00.

Reading Street: We will be continuing our Reading Street unit on working together.  During the next few weeks, students will be reading about and discussing the importance of working together to meet the needs of others.  Please watch for your next "Refrigerator Copy" to come home early next week.  It will include details about upcoming spelling words, comprehension strategies being studied, and new vocabulary words.  We will be taking a short break from reading groups so that I can get some mid-year reading testing underway.  We will not be doing a winter MAP test this year, but I will have Aimsweb scores to share with you at your conference in February.

Writer's Workshop: We are ready to get into our next writing unit!  We took some time away from our regular writing program to review narrative writing and to practice the writing process with the "Important Books" you received during the break as a gift from your child!  During the upcoming unit, students will be learning about technical (how-to) writing.  We will focus on the importance of giving detailed directions, using sequencing words, and using the scientific process to write lab reports.  This would be a great time to review our "How to Draw a Monster" project from earlier this year with your child.

Science/Social Studies:  For the month of January, we will be continuing our study of engineering/inventions.  Before the break, students presented their invention connection projects to the class.  There were so many creative inventions presented, and we had a lot of fun inviting our 5th grade book buddies down to view them!  For the next several weeks, we will be focusing on different types of bridges.  Students will learn the history behind the development of suspension bridges and will be comparing the uses of different types of bridges.  We will be doing several hands-on projects during which students build and test models of plank bridges and suspension bridges.  We will also be talking about forces that affect the structure of bridges, and this vocabulary of forces and motion will also tie in with our technical writing unit.

* Our regular homework schedule will resume this month...December was a bit crazy as we were wrapping so many things up at once!  Please remember...

Mondays - Students practice their spelling and vocabulary words at home in a creative and fun way.

Tuesdays - Students log into our Kidblog and respond to the posted question.

Wednesdays - Students complete a math sheet at home...they need these Thursday mornings for a collaborative activity in class.  

Thursdays - Students read for enjoyment for at least 20 minutes.  

Please make sure the following dates are on your calendars.  Have a GREAT week!  

January 18 - No School

January 27 - Birthday Breakfast - Happy birthday, Annie!

January 28 - Trip to the Lawrence Arts Center (no volunteers or payment required)

February 19 - No School

February 24 - Birthday Breakfast - Happy birthday, Chloe and Brady!  

February 24-25 - Conferences 

February 26 - No School

March 14-18 - Spring Break

March 29 - Langston Hughes Fitness Fair