May 17: Author’s Tea @ 10:30 a.m.
May 22: Field Day in the afternoon (specific times TBD)
May 24: Last Day of School & Second Grade Picnic @ 11:00 a.m.
May 28: Progress Reports Released
END OF YEAR CELEBRATION/FAMILY PICNIC:
We will be celebrating our last day of second grade with a family picnic lunch. We are inviting families to join us for a picnic lunch at 11:00 a.m. Please bring a blanket if you would like and a sack lunch for you, your child and any other guests that will be joining. All students will be asked to bring a sack lunch for our picnic. This is such a fun opportunity for our second graders to invite their families to school and have lunch with them, however it also is a great reminder to model respectful and responsible behavior. We ask that students are sitting with their guests while eating lunch and not running around the picnic area. We will provide time for students to eat and then we will release students to their normal lunch recess time. Please look for more information coming home regarding our last day picnic.
LIBRARY BOOKS
Please make sure all library books are returned to school. The week of May 6-10 will be our last week of library.
CURRICULUM UPDATE:
MATH:
Students have been focusing on measurement as we work in Unit 6 of math workshop.
These are some of our focus points:
- Identifying contexts for measurement
- Identifying length and width
- Using nonstandard units to measure
- Considering the relationship between size of a unit and the number of units it takes to measure a length
- Identifying and labeling partial units
- Becoming familiar with the terms inches, feet, yards, centimeters, and meters as standard units of measure
- Comparing centimeters and inches
We are also moving into Unit 7 of math workshop where our focal points turn to foundations of multiplication.
- These are some of our focus points:
- Defining even and odd numbers
- Partners and teams
- How many floors and rooms
- Comparing different building with same size groups
- Even and odd sums
- Visualizing equal groups in the structure of arrays
We will finish the school year with Unit 8. We continue to build on their understanding of time to the quarter hour, money, and fact fluency.
HELPING YOUR CHILD WITH MATH
Helping your child with math: Click Here
Math Words and Ideas: Click Here
Investigations Game Center: Math Games
READING:
Reading has been a very exciting time in our classroom. We have had the opportunity to become part of a book series club where we have had time to read several books within a series. As readers we have been doing the following:
WRITING:
In writing, we spent time revisiting Narrative writing and adding to our writing in various ways that make our writing stronger both with ideas, words and conventions. We have also began our unit on Poetry. Students are not only reading poetry but noticing the writing craft of poetry. They are exploring the difference between ordinary and “poets’ eyes” to see the world and write poetry. As students explore this genre they with be learning:
SPELLING/WORD WORK:
It is so exciting to see the progress students have made in spelling. We appreciate your support with weekly spelling homework throughout the school year. Students have made strong progress in their understanding and application of spelling patterns. We will end our spelling word work the week before the last week of school. Please continue to encourage your child to spell second grade No Excuse words correctly consistently!
SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
We have been emerged into understanding and learning all about the different habitats; forest, rainforest, desert, ocean, wetlands, polar/artic and grasslands. Our field trip to Castlewood Canyon was such a special experience for us to learn more about one of our very own natural habitats! In class, we continue to explore how plants and animals use the resources in their habitats to survive. We will discuss the various adaptations plants and animals possess in each habitat. Students are in the process of selecting a habitat of interest to research and present their information in a culminating project.
April
Investigations Game Center: Math Games
READING:
Reading has been a very exciting time in our classroom. We have had the opportunity to become part of a book series club where we have had time to read several books within a series. As readers we have been doing the following:
- Collect information about the main characters
- Look closely at how characters respond to problems
- Noticing similarities in characters across the series
- Use what we know about our characters to make predictions
- Understand the relationships with other characters
- Looking at the author’s craft of writing
- How author’s use precise words
- How author’s use literary language to make ordinary extroadinary
- Understanding how the whole series will go
WRITING:
In writing, we spent time revisiting Narrative writing and adding to our writing in various ways that make our writing stronger both with ideas, words and conventions. We have also began our unit on Poetry. Students are not only reading poetry but noticing the writing craft of poetry. They are exploring the difference between ordinary and “poets’ eyes” to see the world and write poetry. As students explore this genre they with be learning:
- To choose topics which elicit strong emotion
- To make intentional choices with word choice
- To write poems that look and sound different than stories
- To use whitespace to get the reader to pause between sections
- To use repetitive language
- To use figurative language
- To use rhyme
- To experiment with line breaks
SPELLING/WORD WORK:
It is so exciting to see the progress students have made in spelling. We appreciate your support with weekly spelling homework throughout the school year. Students have made strong progress in their understanding and application of spelling patterns. We will end our spelling word work the week before the last week of school. Please continue to encourage your child to spell second grade No Excuse words correctly consistently!
SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
We have been emerged into understanding and learning all about the different habitats; forest, rainforest, desert, ocean, wetlands, polar/artic and grasslands. Our field trip to Castlewood Canyon was such a special experience for us to learn more about one of our very own natural habitats! In class, we continue to explore how plants and animals use the resources in their habitats to survive. We will discuss the various adaptations plants and animals possess in each habitat. Students are in the process of selecting a habitat of interest to research and present their information in a culminating project.
April
Upcoming Important Dates:
- April 19 No School
- April 21 Happy Easter
- April 22 Earth Day
- May 1 Field Trip to Castlewood Canyon
This is what is happening in SECOND GRADE:
MATH
Our studies will focus on place value this month as students decompose, compare, add, and subtract 3 digit numbers. Students are also refining their addition and subtraction strategies, including solving story problems, and working towards accurate and efficient strategies that can be generalized to greater numbers.
These are some of our focus points:
- Identifying the value of each number in a 3 digit number - in 354, the 3=300, 5=50, 4=4 ones
- Representing 3 digit numbers in expanded form - 354 is written as 300+50+4
- Comparing 3 digit numbers (>, <, =)
- Adding 10 or 100 and subtracting 10 or 100 from a given number and noticing the pattern / changes
- Noticing how the digit in the tens place changes when the addends in the ones place sum to greater than 10
- Relating single digit combinations (8+2=10) to multiple digit combinations (80+20=100)
- Solving 1 and 2 step story problems by visualizing and representing the problem
- Using different coins to find equivalent values
- Finding combinations of coins that equal $1.00
HELPING YOUR CHILD WITH MATH
Helping your child with math: Click Here
Math Words and Ideas: Click Here
Investigations Game Center: Math Games
WORD WORK/SPELLING
It is so exciting to see the progress students are making in their spelling. Please continue to support your child by making sure that his/her word sorts are practiced daily along with the 5 “No Excuse Words” and challenge word of the week.
Using the sorts throughout the week helps your child develop, concretely, the spelling pattern they are working on for the week.
SCIENCE
In science, we are learning about Habitats. In our studies, we will explore how plants and animals use the resources in their habitats to survive. We will discuss the various adaptations plants and animals possess in each habitat. Our field trip to Castlewood Canyon will be a perfect way to synthesize our learning.
WRITING
We are circling back around to Narrative Writing.
At this time in 2nd grade...
READING
In Unit 4 we are reading Books in a Series.
Our main learning is...
Upcoming Dates:
VALENTINE PARTY:
We will have our class Valentine party on Thursday, February 14th. Children are welcomed to create a Valentine’s Day Box to collect Valentines in. Please make sure that the opening on the box will fit a card with candy attached (if families chose to do that). If your child chooses to make a valentine for students in our class, please make sure that you bring one Valentine for every student in the class. A class list will be sent home. Please also be on the lookout for a party SignUp.
CURRICULUM UPDATE
READING:
We are wrapping up our Reading Unit Called Bigger Books Mean Amping Up Reading Power. During this Unit we built the following charts to anchor our thinking when reading:
We conclude this unit by launching Book Clubs. Students will understand club member behaviors. They will create a plan, set goals and work together to accomplish their goals.
WRITING:
Our writing unit is Opinion Writing. During this unit students will be writing letters to share ideas about books (opinions). By the end of the unit students will be able to:
Write about an opinion (likes or dislikes) and give reasons why
Have a good beginning in which you state your opinion and set reader up to expect the writing to convince them
We are wrapping up unit, Unit 3, How Many Tens? How Many Ones?. The focus of this unit is to continue to work on whole number operations, addition and subtraction up to 100, and place value.
HELPING YOUR CHILD WITH MATH
Helping your child with math: Click Here
Math Words and Ideas: Click Here
Investigations Game Center: Math Games
SCIENCE
In science, we continue our focus on Air and Weather:
IMPORTANT DATES:
January 18th: NO SCHOOL-Professional Development Day
January 21st: NO SCHOOL-Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
We are circling back around to Narrative Writing.
At this time in 2nd grade...
- Our writing skills are being honed to know exactly when to use punctuation and capitals and we are consistent.
- Our spelling is matching our letter sound pattern knowledge.
- Our writing is creative and neat.
READING
In Unit 4 we are reading Books in a Series.
Our main learning is...
- Studying characters in a series
- Making sound predictions
- Talking about and showing proof in the story
- Author’s craft
- Figurative language
- Sharing opinions of books and learning about debate
- Building stamina as a reader
Upcoming Dates:
- Friday February 1st- Sock Hop
- Thursday, February 7th @ 6:15 p.m.- 1st/2nd Grade Specials Program:
- February 11-14th-Wish Week & GRE Kindness Week
- Thursday February 14th: Valentine's Day Party @ 12:30-1:30 p.m.
- Friday February 15th: NO SCHOOL-PD DAY
- Monday February 18th: NO SCHOOL-President's Day
- Tuesday February 19th: Meteorologist Visit-Mike Nelson
VALENTINE PARTY:
We will have our class Valentine party on Thursday, February 14th. Children are welcomed to create a Valentine’s Day Box to collect Valentines in. Please make sure that the opening on the box will fit a card with candy attached (if families chose to do that). If your child chooses to make a valentine for students in our class, please make sure that you bring one Valentine for every student in the class. A class list will be sent home. Please also be on the lookout for a party SignUp.
CURRICULUM UPDATE
READING:
We are wrapping up our Reading Unit Called Bigger Books Mean Amping Up Reading Power. During this Unit we built the following charts to anchor our thinking when reading:
We conclude this unit by launching Book Clubs. Students will understand club member behaviors. They will create a plan, set goals and work together to accomplish their goals.
WRITING:
Our writing unit is Opinion Writing. During this unit students will be writing letters to share ideas about books (opinions). By the end of the unit students will be able to:
Write about an opinion (likes or dislikes) and give reasons why
Have a good beginning in which you state your opinion and set reader up to expect the writing to convince them
- Connect parts
- Have different parts, a lot of lines about each part
- Have at least two reasons
- Have an ending that reminds reader of your opinion
- Chose words that would make your reader agree with your opinion
- Conventions are a big emphasis in second grade as well:
- Capital at the beginning of each sentence
- Punctuation at the end of each sentence
We are wrapping up unit, Unit 3, How Many Tens? How Many Ones?. The focus of this unit is to continue to work on whole number operations, addition and subtraction up to 100, and place value.
- Using a place value model to represent a 2-digit number as tens and ones
- Finding as many combinations of a 2-digit number as possible, using only tens and ones
- Recognizing that different combinations of tens and ones for the same number are equivalent ie. 4 tens and 6 ones, are equivalent to 3 tens and 16 ones
- Identifying and using coin equivalencies to compose 2- digit numbers
- Determining the difference between a number and multiple of 10 up to 100
HELPING YOUR CHILD WITH MATH
Helping your child with math: Click Here
Math Words and Ideas: Click Here
Investigations Game Center: Math Games
SCIENCE
In science, we continue our focus on Air and Weather:
- Conducting weather experiments
- Observing changes in weather over time
- Becoming familiar with instruments meteorologists use to monitor weather conditions
- Exploring the various types of clouds and the the weather they bring
- Gaining an understanding of the water cycle
- Gaining an understanding of how weather and changing seasons impact people, animals, and plants
- Gathering and analyzing data on the weather in different locations and in different seasons
- Analyzing the ways severe weather contributes to catastrophic events (floods, wildfires, etc.)
- We are very excited for a visit from Meteorologist Mike Nelson on Tuesday, February 19th.
IMPORTANT DATES:
January 18th: NO SCHOOL-Professional Development Day
January 21st: NO SCHOOL-Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
CURRICULUM UPDATE:
READING:
In this next reading unit, a major focus is on reading fluency as they encounter longer texts. Students will focus on reading in phrases with appropriate expression, at a just right pace. Students will also pay attention to literary language in texts. They will notice when an author plays with words or uses comparisons. We will explore some poetry as we dig into literary language. As students encounter longer texts, it is important that they “hold on” to the different parts of the text so they are able to understand the book as a whole. Continuing to jot thoughts down on sticky notes, sharing ideas with a partner, and rereading are critical reading behaviors. Students will continue to set goals and monitor those goals.
WRITING
We will wrap up our Informational Writing Unit during the first two weeks of January, then move on to our Opinion Writing Unit. In this unit students will:
Form an opinion about a book
At least two reasons for the opinion, and write sentences to support each reason
Try to convince the reader of the opinion
Write an ending to remind readers of their opinion
As students edit their pieces, they should use correct punctuation, appropriate capitalization, and correct spelling of no excuse words and words from their weekly sorts.
MATH
Our study of place value, addition and subtraction has continued this month. Students and classrooms are diving into the hands-on practice of building and decomposing numbers through place value, utilizing addition and subtraction stories to combine, separate and compare.
Using a place value model to represent a 2-digit number as tens and ones
Finding as many combinations of a 2-digit number as possible, using only tens and ones
Recognizing that different combinations of tens and ones for the same number are equivalent ie. 4 tens and 6 ones, are equivalent to 3 tens and 16 ones
Identifying and using coin equivalencies to compose 2- digit numbers
Determining the difference between a number and multiple of 10 up to 100
HELPING YOUR CHILD WITH MATH
Helping your child with math: Click Here
Math Words and Ideas: Click Here
Investigations Game Center: Math Games
WORD WORK/SPELLING
READING:
In this next reading unit, a major focus is on reading fluency as they encounter longer texts. Students will focus on reading in phrases with appropriate expression, at a just right pace. Students will also pay attention to literary language in texts. They will notice when an author plays with words or uses comparisons. We will explore some poetry as we dig into literary language. As students encounter longer texts, it is important that they “hold on” to the different parts of the text so they are able to understand the book as a whole. Continuing to jot thoughts down on sticky notes, sharing ideas with a partner, and rereading are critical reading behaviors. Students will continue to set goals and monitor those goals.
WRITING
We will wrap up our Informational Writing Unit during the first two weeks of January, then move on to our Opinion Writing Unit. In this unit students will:
Form an opinion about a book
At least two reasons for the opinion, and write sentences to support each reason
Try to convince the reader of the opinion
Write an ending to remind readers of their opinion
As students edit their pieces, they should use correct punctuation, appropriate capitalization, and correct spelling of no excuse words and words from their weekly sorts.
MATH
Our study of place value, addition and subtraction has continued this month. Students and classrooms are diving into the hands-on practice of building and decomposing numbers through place value, utilizing addition and subtraction stories to combine, separate and compare.
Using a place value model to represent a 2-digit number as tens and ones
Finding as many combinations of a 2-digit number as possible, using only tens and ones
Recognizing that different combinations of tens and ones for the same number are equivalent ie. 4 tens and 6 ones, are equivalent to 3 tens and 16 ones
Identifying and using coin equivalencies to compose 2- digit numbers
Determining the difference between a number and multiple of 10 up to 100
HELPING YOUR CHILD WITH MATH
Helping your child with math: Click Here
Math Words and Ideas: Click Here
Investigations Game Center: Math Games
WORD WORK/SPELLING
It is so exciting to see the progress students are making in their spelling. Students were given a spelling inventory before Thanksgiving break and some students moved into different groups based on the results of their assessment, weekly spelling test scores, and spelling quizzes. Spelling groups were formed based on their understanding of spelling patterns. Please continue to support your child by making sure that their word sorts are practiced daily along with the 5 “No Excuse Words” and challenge word of the week. Using the sorts throughout the week helps your child develop the spelling pattern they are working on for the week.
SCIENCE & SOCIAL STUDIES
In science, wrapped up our learning on forces and motion and are moving on to weather. We will focus on:
Conducting weather experiments
Observing changes in weather over time
Becoming familiar with instruments meteorologists use to monitor weather conditions
Exploring the various types of clouds and the the weather they bring
Gaining an understanding of the water cycle
Gaining an understanding of how weather and changing seasons impact people, animals, and plants
Gathering and analyzing data on the weather in different locations and in different seasons
Analyzing the ways severe weather contributes to catastrophic events (floods, wildfires, etc.)
SCIENCE & SOCIAL STUDIES
In science, wrapped up our learning on forces and motion and are moving on to weather. We will focus on:
Conducting weather experiments
Observing changes in weather over time
Becoming familiar with instruments meteorologists use to monitor weather conditions
Exploring the various types of clouds and the the weather they bring
Gaining an understanding of the water cycle
Gaining an understanding of how weather and changing seasons impact people, animals, and plants
Gathering and analyzing data on the weather in different locations and in different seasons
Analyzing the ways severe weather contributes to catastrophic events (floods, wildfires, etc.)
