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
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Happy holidays and a leap into the new year!
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
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
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)
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