November/December Updates

It was wonderful meeting with all of you last week and sharing what your child has been working on!  Read on for curriculum updates, and make sure to mark your calendars with the important dates! As always, let me know if you have questions.  Have a great week and a safe and wonderful fall break!

Math
We have wrapped up our study of strategies for adding 2-digit and 3-digt numbers, and are currently working on strategies for subtracting large numbers (with and without regrouping).  During this unit, we will also review both single-step and two-step word problems.

What can we do at home?
Continue to work with your child on basic subtraction facts to build fluency. Encourage your child to explore the subtraction games on Blackboard under Unit 2.  If you haven't already, check out Fruit Splat!  Level 7 includes subtraction with regrouping.

Reading Street
This is the last week of our unit on exploration.  This week, students are studying consonant digraphs (sh, ch, th, wh) and discussing the ways exploration can be used to find answers.  Our genre this week is drama, and we are using the story "The Strongest One" to practice identifying facts and details in a passage.  Our next 5-week unit is called "Working Together".  In this unit, students will study both narrative and expository text to learn about influential partnerships in history, as well as reasons that it's important to work together.

What can we do at home?
Allow your child to access IStation at home.  Go to the public library and check out a biography about an historical figure who worked with others to solve problems.  Continue reading together each night.

Writing
We will continue our narrative writing unit until winter break begins.  For the next few weeks, we will focus more on bringing characters in a narrative to life and using strong words to help readers picture a story.

What can we do at home?
Encourage your child to write for fun at home!  Practice editing and revising to improve writing.  Give your child time to explore the keyboarding games on Blackboard.

Science/Social Studies
We are wrapping up our study of landforms and erosion this week with a problem-solving activity on Mystery Science.  We have also been fortunate to have a volunteer from the community, Tyler Lindquist, visit our class to teach about goods, services, and communities this week.  After fall break, we will begin our next social studies unit. During this unit, 2nd graders will be comparing life long ago with life now.  Our culminating activity will be our next global challenge...the 2017 Gingerbread STEM challenge!  I will soon be sending out information about donations you can make to help with this project, so keep an eye out!

What can we do at home?
Ask your child what he or she has been learning from our Junior Achievement volunteer this week!

Upcoming Dates...Mark Your Calendars!

November 8-9                 Parent Teacher Conferences

November 9-10               No School

November 22-24             Fall Break

November 29                  Birthday Breakfast - Happy Birthday, Linkan!

December 18                   Gingerbread STEM - Many volunteers will be needed!  Contact me if you're          
                                         interested!

December 22-January 3  Winter Break