News of the Week

We had a great week in second grade!

We are busy learning about communities in social studies. We learned about our place in the world. From smallest to largest, we live in a home, neighborhood, community, town, state, country, continent and the planet Earth.

In math we are learning about the 200 chart that we will be using in math this year. We also learned about numberlines and how they are the same and different from our 200 chart. We are learning to use our 200 chart to solve problems with bigger numbers than first grade. Of course we know that there are lots of ways to solve problems without a 200 chart. Ask your child about some of the ways we solved problems in class.

In language arts we read the book, How I Became a Pirate. Afterwards we made periscopes out of paper and searched the room for objects to describe. We played an I Spy game that involved the students giving good descriptions to their friends about an object. Next we made an I Spy book of classroom items. Each child wrote one page. You will be able to see the book at conferences!

In language arts we also read the first story in our Treasures book and wrote an extended response to answer a question about the story. We did this together. The students will be working on these all year.

Our Daily Five is up and running! Starting on Monday, students will be able to make a choice about which Daily Five they want to do at each Daily Five time. The Daily Five choices are "Read to Self," "Read to Someone," "Listen to Reading," and "Word Work."

There are a few supplies that we could use in the classroom if you are able to provide them. These were up at Curriculum Night and were not chosen by other parents. Thank you!
2 hole punches
sticky velcro dots
red copy paper
red cardstock
3 yards denim fabric
8 pack vis-a-vis markers

Read to Someone

Hello! One of our Daily Five is Read to Someone. We have been learning this week exactly how to do that! The first thing that we learned is that we need to sit EEKK - Elbow, Elbow, Knee, Knee. That way both people can read along with the story.

We learned that we need to get started reading right away, keep our eyes on the book, and stay in one spot. Each pair picks the spot that they want to read and away they go!

Each person gets a chance to read. Another very important thing that we learned is that we need to stop every once in a while to Check for Understanding.

Read to Someone is lots of fun! Don't you wish you were in second grade again?!?

It was so wonderful to see so many parents at Curriculum Night! Second grade is certainly different than first grade! If you were not able to be at Curriculum Night, the information went home with your child. Please be sure to read it all carefully and let me know if you have any questions!

Reminders:
*Our first spelling list will be going home on Monday. The test will be on Friday.
*Reading logs were sent home in the Curriculum Night folders. Reading logs started last Friday and are due back on Friday.
*Your child's first Oral Language Speech is Friday! All the information is in the Curriculum Night folders.

Math time!

Today we worked on math word problems.
We worked in pairs to solve the problems.

It was important that we knew how we got the answers and didn't just have the answer.

We worked wherever we felt comfortable....on the floor

...or at desks.
When we were finished with our partner work, we came back together as a class. We discussed all the different ways to solve the problems.
The students did an AWESOME job!
It's amazing what great thinkers they are!


Don't forget!!!
This Wednesday is Curriculum Night from 6:30-8:00!!
I look forward to seeing all of you there!!

It was a hot one!

Wow! We were hot in Room 36 on Thursday and Friday! With no air conditioning and 26 bodies in one room it was stifling! We kept our water bottles on our desks and cooled off by working in the library and cafeteria on Thursday. I'm happy to see that the forecast for next week is much cooler!

This week we learned how to pick good books to read. We learned that although we might be really interested in a book, it may not be a good fit for us. Even though our best friend might love the book, it may not be a good fit for us. We learned to check if we understood what we were reading and if we knew most of the words in the book. If those two things were true and we were interested in the book and had a reason to read it, then it was a good fit for us! We will revisit this lesson often throughout the year. It is a lesson that we started to learn in first grade!

We also had the chance to share our summer memory object with the class. The class asked each student questions about the memory. Then we wrote about our summer memory. This writing will be put in our portfolio as a sample of the first writing for second grade.

We started greeting each other every day. We form a circle and do different greetings to acknowledge everyone in the class. This is a great way for the class to feel a togetherness as a group. We talk a lot about being a classroom family. Our daily greeting is one way that we show that we care about each other. Ask your child about our greeting time!

Picture Day is Friday! For the first time in years, I was able to get a slot for pictures before recess! I'm sure that has something to do with the fact that we have the last recess/lunch!!

Enjoy a fabulous Labor Day weekend with your child! I'm looking forward to next week!