December Update

It's hard to believe there are only 10 more days until winter break! 

Here is a rundown of what the kids are up to:

We just finished the Moon Unit for science and we will start social studies on Monday.  This unit is called, "Let's Go Shopping".  The students will be learning about how people use the environment, how goods and services are produced and delivered, and what good shoppers do.  It's a pretty interesting unit. 

The kids worked hard yesterday in the computer lab typing friendly letters.  They will be learning about invitations and writing their own. 

The students have been reading lots of fairy tales and we have focused on character analysis.  We will continue with this skill through next week. 

Have a wonderful weekend! 

Start of Quarter 2

Quarter 2 has begun! 


Writing: We start our new writing unit on friendly letters this week.

Reading: We are focusing on determining importance and identifying the theme.

Science: The Moon Unit will begin on Wednesday.

My Math Class: We started learning about fractions today.  

I look forward to meeting with all of you at conferences next week! 

Scholastic Orders

On Friday, I sent home Scholastic order forms and a letter about how to order online.  The activation code on the letter is incorrect as it changed and I was unaware of the change.  If you would like to order online the NEW activation code is HXNQ7.

You can also click this link to take you to the page: Scholastic 
You can still send in your order and money with your child and I will order them for you. 

Thanks! 

End of Q1

It's hard to believe the 1st quarter is just about done.  

I will begin benchmarking students on their reading levels whenever school is open up again! 

In writing, the kids are finishing their second personal narrative.  Our next writing unit will be friendly letters.  

We are wrapping up the Soil unit and we will teach health for a few days next week.  

In my math class, we are beginning to review for the quarterly math assessment that will cover all of the standards the students learned this quarter.  


I hope everyone stays safe during the storm! 

Great news!

My Donors Choose project, SShhh We're Reading was funded! This means my students will be receiving lots of new books to use during guided reading and for Read to Self! I'm so excited! 

We are just about ready to start the final copies of the personal narratives. The students have spent a lot of time editing and revising their writing.  We will continue to work on narrative writing for the next few weeks.  

We wrapped up Social Studies today and the soil unit for science begins next week. 

The Latest

I want to start off this post by saying how much I love my class this year! We have had a great month of school. 

I have created a new project through Donors Choose! I am requesting leveled readers for the students to read during the Daily 5. I received two donations so far and only have $157 more to go! To view my project, click here Sshhh We're Reading

Reading: Mrs. Lewis, (my awesome reading co-teacher)  and I began reading groups this past week.  All of the students will meet with both of us for reading group throughout the year. We are continuing to practice our stamina for Read to Self, Read to Someone, and Work on Word Work during Daily 5.  The next two elements are Work on Writing and Listen to Reading.

Writing:  We are beginning to complete organizers for our personal narratives and will start our rough drafts next.

Have a nice weekend. 

September Happenings

Here's what we have been up to in 2nd grade!

Reading: We are still learning components of the Daily 5.  We have been practicing our stamina for Read to Self, Read to Someone, and Word Work.  

Spelling: Words Their Way spelling homework began this week.  Each night they must choose a sort to complete.  If the sort doesn't have a written component, I ask that a parent/guardian signs in their spelling journals what sort they completed.  Thank you for your support with their homework! 

Social Studies: The students have been learning about what a community is and the different types of communities.  

Math:  Math teachers were assigned and math class started this past Monday.  That means math homework is coming home every night other than Friday. 

Writing: We just began the Personal Narrative writing unit.  We spent time in the immersion phase of the unit where we read lots of personal narratives.  Next week, the students will began generating ideas for their personal narratives.  

Enjoy this beautiful weekend and go Ravens! 

A Great First Week!

We had a successful first week in 2nd grade!  We spent some time this week getting to know one another and I've enjoyed learning about each child in my class.  I have an awesome group of kids and I am excited about this school year! 

The kiddos have been busy taking a math pretest for the past couple of days.  I am so impressed with how hard they have worked on it.  

Their first homework assignment is to bring in a "Me-Bag" by Tuesday.  They can bring a few items that are special to them to share with the class. 

Back to School Night is this Tuesday 9/4 from 6-8pm.  I look forward to meeting with you.

Enjoy Labor Day Weekend! 

Welcome to 2nd Grade!

I am so excited to start the 2012-2013 school year!  I look forward to getting to know your children.  I will update the blog every few weeks with information about what my class is learning and will share news and reminders.  Let's have a great school year!

Hello May!

Writing:  The kids will continue to research their animal through books and the internet.  We will start our rough drafts this week. 

Spelling: Spelling is back after a 2 week break. I'm sure my students have missed it :)

Math: My class is working hard at learning division.  We have covered some pretty tough concepts the past two weeks.  Please review three digit by one digit multiplication and long division this week.  We will cover some algebra objectives (function tables and missing number equations) before our test. The students will take their post-test this Thursday. Next week we will start decimals. 

Field Trip Reminder:  We will be going to the zoo this Friday! We will leave around 9-9:15. Please make sure your child has a paper bag lunch and is dressed appropriately for the weather that day. We are very excited for this trip :) 



 

The Latest

Next week the students will take the SAT 10 testing.  Today, the students took a practice test to get prepared for the test.  

We have started our next writing unit, which is research reports.  We will be learning about features of non-fiction books and about research.  Next week the students will begin researching animals of their choice.  This will tie in nicely with our trip to the Zoo on May 4th! 

My math class learned the traditional algorithm of multiplication today.  We will start long division later this week.  

In social studies, the children are learning about community leaders and community problems. 


Happy Monday! 

4th Quarter

I hope everyone is enjoying Spring Break!

A little recap on what the kids were up to these last few weeks: 

At the end of the 3rd quarter, the students worked hard to write book reviews.  The students first wrote book reviews on a book of their choice and recorded themselves reading the review into the computer program, Pixie.  For their second round of book reviews, we did an author study on Tomie dePaola. After reading several of his books the kids chose their favorite book to review.  

In reading groups, the students read novels and had literature discussion circles! The students asked questions to one another and had conversations about the story. 


Plans for when we return:

Reading: The students will make inferences while reading their reading group books. 


Writing: We will share the book reviews with one another.  The students will start on their research reports. 


Math: The first unit of the quarter will be multiplication and division.  The students will learn how to multiply a two or three-digit number with regrouping. They will learn more than one way to multiply.  Here are some methods they kids will learn:
- Using base ten blocks as a visual representation. 
 - Partitioning method: where they will break the numbers down in a variety of ways. 
- Traditional algorithm to multiply. 

March

Spring seems to be here early this year! I hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful weather.  

My class is hard at work on writing book reviews.  They wrote their first book review this week on a book of their choice that they read. On Monday, they will be using the computer program Pixie to record themselves reading their book reviews and drawing a picture to go along with it.  
When we are finished with these book reviews we will then start our author study unit on Tomie dePaolo! The students will be reading lots of his books then writing a book review on the book of their choice.  They are working hard at being more independent writers, especially with revising and editing their writing.


This coming week, we will be starting novel discussion circles.  We will be focusing on asking big questions about the novels and having discussions in reading group.  I am excited to get this started with them and I think it will be very rewarding for the students!

In social studies, we are learning about how and why communities change.  The students have spent the last couple lessons deciding whether to tear down or fix old buildings in a community.  They are working in cooperative groups to plan a new community!

In math, the kids are in the middle of the measurement unit.  We just finished learning about perimeter and area and next week it's on to conversions and time! 

Happy Spring!

 

Mid February Update

Quarter 3 is almost half way over and Interims will be sent home next week. 

Writing- We will begin our Book Review writing unit next week. This is one of my favorite writing genres to teach.  We will be reading and reviewing lots of books over the next couple of weeks.   

Reading- The students will be reading informational texts and finding the main-idea. 

Health- We will finish our Dental Health Unit on Monday and will then learn about pollution. 

Math- My math class took their Geometry Unit Test on Friday and Measurement will start on Monday.  We will start learning about standard and metric units of linear measurement, using rulers and yard sticks, and determining the appropriate unit of measurement. 

February Update

Writing: We began the Poster/Advertisement Unit last week.  The kids are working on posters for dental health, persuading others to take care of their teeth.  We will continue this unit for a couple more weeks.  

Reading: Our skill for the week is making connections and identifying story elements.  

Math: We are still working hard on the geometry unit.  Our concepts for this week include angles, congruency vs. similarity, and line symmetry.

Science: The kids are really enjoying the Interactions unit! We have been exploring different interactions and learning about the best ways to make iced tea and keep it cold.   

Start of Quarter 3!

It's hard to believe the third quarter is here.  Here is the outlook for this coming week:

Reading:  The students will be learning about making inferences while reading folk tales and fables.

Writing:  We will be doing a Winter writing activity based upon the book, Snowmen at Night.   We will also complete a sequence writing activity.  The following week we will start our persuasive posters.  

Grammar:  We will continue learning about contractions and as always using correct spelling, punctuation, and capitalization in our writing. 

Math:  Tuesday and Wednesday my math class will take the Quarter 2 math assessment.  This will cover all the concepts they learned throughout the quarter.  We will then begin geometry! Please look at the Parent Preview Sheets for quarter 3 that I will send home next week.  

Science:  We will start our next science unit, Interactions on Tuesday.  This unit will last approximately 3 weeks.  


Quarter Behavior Celebration:  On Friday, the quarterly celebration will happen! It is based off the show Amazing Race.  Students who have had 0 office referrals or less than 2 problem solving logs can attend.  


Stay warm and GO RAVENS!

Happy New Year!

Here are some updates on what the kiddos are up to this week:

Writing- The students have been learning about what makes a good fact book and they are now ready to create their own.  All this week the students will be researching a state to create a fact book.  States were chosen at random from a bag.  Be sure to ask them what interesting facts they have learned about their state!

Reading- The comprehension strategy this week is asking questions and the focus is finding facts/opinions.  We learned a lot of interesting facts today in a book about Lizards.  

Grammar- The grammar focus is contractions.

Math- We finished the probability objectives and are now onto revisiting algebra.  The students will have to find missing numbers, missing operations, and missing equality signs in equations as well as identifying expressions.

We are in huge need of tissues and hand sanitizer.  With cold/flu season well underway we are flying through both.  Any donation is greatly appreciated!!

Have a lovely week!