Weekly Update 12/9

I hope that you had a fantastic week! It's hard to believe that we only have 2 weeks until Winter Vacation! We had a very busy week in Second Grade.

During our reading blocks, the kids enjoyed reading Non-fiction texts. We continued to discuss the non-fiction text features (glossary, index, captions, labels, diagrams, heading, etc.) The kids also had the opportunity to begin thinking about main idea and supporting details. This is a concept that is ongoing for second graders and will be discussed several times throughout the year during reading groups with both fiction and non-fiction texts.

We began a VERY exciting writing project as well this week. We received a package from Santa with a "Help Wanted Ad" asking for kids to write a letter as to why they would be a perfect Elf to go help Santa in his toy making workshop. The excitement in the classroom was thrilling! We discussed character traits and the students had time to explore a list of traits and to pick the ones that they felt best described them and would be appealing to Santa. After picking their character traits, the students spent time working on a graphic organizer to support their chosen character traits. Next, the students began to write their letters to Santa!

In math this week we worked with place value and expanded form to compare 3-digit numbers. The children also had the opportunity to do another practice Open Response where they had to make sense of a 3-digit number represented by base-10 blocks by making trades or counting. Then as a class we analyzed explanations and drawing, and children revised their work.

Our Science unit "Materials and their Uses" is going very well! The kids are really starting to ask scientific questions and conduct investigations to "solve" their questions. Our first lesson this week had the children design bridges that were both strong and waterproof using various materials.The children did a "strength" test and a "waterproof" test and then created their bridges based upon what they learned during the testing lesson.  Our second lesson this week was about how materials can be reused. The children had a blast exploring materials and trying to make "extreme designs" with the materials. For example: the children used popsicle sticks to create structures that were either extremely big or small. Please see some of the attached pictures of the designs that the children created.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Upcoming Dates:
December 22nd- Winter Holiday Party
December 23rd- Early Release- beginning of Winter Vacation

 Our strong and waterproof bridges!!!!

Reusing materials to make "extreme designs!" 

Weekly Update 11/18

I hope you are enjoying these beautiful fall temperatures this weekend!  I feel like the past two weeks have really flown by.  I'm happy to share some of the things your child has been working on…

We took a break from reading groups so that I could meet individually with the students to assess their reading progress.  All children are making great gains, and I look forward to talking to you more about this during our conferences next week.

As I read individually with students I wanted to have meaningful, engaging activities for the rest of the class to be doing during Daily 5.  One of those activities included a writing piece where they were convincing people to eat something other than turkey for Thanksgiving! These came out very cute and will be hung up for you to see during conferences.  I also introduced “Read to Someone” as a choice during Daily 5.  This allowed the students to read with a buddy during 1 round of Daily 5.  We discussed what this might look and sound look, as well as how to pick a good learning partner.  Although we are still fine-tuning this activity, “Read to Someone” has turned out to be a popular choice!

The past two weeks in math have been a continuation of Unit 3.  In this unit, more fact strategies were developed, with a focus on strategies for solving subtraction facts.  We learned a few games and routines to help support the development of fluency with addition and subtraction within 20. We were lucky to have some parents in on Friday to play some of these games with us!  The plan is to finish up this unit before the Thanksgiving break so we are ready to start fresh on Unit 4 when we return on November 28^th.

Our writing times have been spent continuing Personal Narrative writing.  Most kids have two complete, edited stories.  We also did a writing prompt where the children were asked to write a Personal Narrative story about a time they had fun. They worked on these stories independently so that we could use them to help assess where the children are in their understanding of all the components and processes involved in this type of writing.  

We are in the process of beginning our next science unit, Materials and Their Uses.  I hope the children will enjoy this unit as much as they enjoyed the Plant and Animal Survival Unit! The first lesson focused on the different types of materials objects are made of, the properties of the materials, and classifying the materials by their properties. Next we will discuss liquids and solids and how they differ.

I look forward to speaking with you next week during our parent/teacher conferences.  Below are some important upcoming dates…

• November 21st: 2-Hour Delay- Parent Teacher Conferences
• November 22nd: No School- Parent Teacher Conferences
• November 23rd: Race for Education Fundraiser
• November 23rd: Early Release (No PM Kindergarten)
• November 24th-November 25th: Thanksgiving Break: No School

A Look at What the Kids had to Say About This Week

Melanie- My favorite part of the week was reading to a friend during Daily Five. 

Rosalie- I enjoyed learning about properties.

Alexis- My favorite part of the week was science!

Nick- This week I learned how to "Read to Someone."

Nicole- My favorite part of the week was going to the Book Fair. 

Annabelle- I likes learning about science. 

Sangeeta- I really liked learning in math this week. 

Brielle- My favorite part of the week was writing. 

Allyson- I liked visiting the Book Fair. 

Raine- I really enjoyed learning about materials. 

Simra- This week I learned how to play 20 Questions during science. 

Elizabeth- I really enjoyed learning about "Read to Someone." 

Patrick- My favorite part was harvesting carrots from our school garden. 

Sohana- In art we made cute cats, it was so much fun. 

Malcolm- I liked watching brainpop videos about bones.

Saathvik- This week I learned the "Going Through 10" strategy. 

Mary- I liked learning about money in math. 

Weekly Update 11/4

We had a very busy and fun week in the classroom! The week started out with an exciting Harvest Party which was organized and run by our fabulous Room Moms! The kids had a great time making paper puppets, enjoying a yummy snack, and pumpkin bowling! The kids costumes were amazing as well! We are looking forward to our next classroom party, the Winter Party in December.

This week our reading groups focused on reading fictional text and discussing literary elements including: character, setting, problem, and solution. Next week I will begin doing reading assessments in preparation for parent teacher conferences and the end of Term 1.

Math this week focused on subtraction strategies such as: counting back, counting up, and subtracting 0 and 1. The kids also enjoyed playing a game called Salute. Ask them about it, as it's a great game to play at home to practice their math facts!

During writing this week the children worked on revising and editing their personal narrative stories. The children learned about starting sentences in various ways and having a variety of sentence lengths in their stories to make the writing sound more interesting. I also introduced an editing strategy called CUPS. This acronym helps the kids remember the most important parts of editing- Capitalization, Usage, Punctuation, and Spelling. The kids are really doing an excellent job with their personal narrative stories!

We wrapped up our Plant and Animal Survival unit in Science. The kids learned about the final habitat which was the Ocean Habitat. We also spend some time reviewing all of the habitats for the assessment which will be next week.

Overall, it was a great week in Second Grade! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Upcoming Dates:
- Monday, November 7th at 3:30 Online Conference Sign-up begins
- No School November 8th for Professional Development
- No School November 11th for Veteran's Day
- Friday, November 18th- Mismatched Clothes Spirit Day
- Monday, November 21st is a Two Hour Delay for Parent Teacher Conferences
- No School Tuesday, November 22nd for Parent Teacher Conferences
- Wednesday, November 23rd Race for Education
- Wednesday, November 23rd Early Release for Thanksgiving Break
- No School November 24th and 25th for Thanksgiving

Weekly Update 10/21

I can't believe we're nearing the end of October already!  I'm looking forward to our first class party on Monday, October 31^st. Children may bring their costumes to school if they'd like to wear them for the party.  Please have your child bring their costume instead of wearing it to school (in a bag marked with their name).  I will give them ample time to change before the party begins.

During the week we were very busy with Daily 5, math groups, writing our personal narrative stories, and exploring our science concepts.  We took a “Rainforest trek” by following a series of short video clips that were narrated by a tour guide.  After the trek the students wrote a blog detailing some of their favorite aspects of the trek. I was very impressed with what they learned through this experience.  I hope you had a chance to read their blogs. They were returned to them at the end of the week.  Our next lesson focused on the desert habitat. Ask your child to tell you about the “Jeopardy” game we played to explore this habitat more deeply!

Thank you for sending in the photographs for the “Looking Back” writing assignment.  This week we began our stories. The students have learned to use an opening, write the events in chronological order using transition words, and to have an ending to wrap up their stories. I am also asking the students to begin revising and editing their stories for word choice, capitals, and correct spelling of high frequency words. I'm very excited about the stories they are writing and the children are eager to share them with their classmates next week.

Math groups continue to go well.  We've added in a new technology component. The children are using a program called Dreambox. This is a program that is directly linked to the common core standards. It is an adaptive program that tailors to your child as they work. This allows children who need a challenge to work at a level that is appropriate for them. It also gives kids more time with the concepts they are having more difficulty with. The goal is that the students work on this program 15-20 minutes, 3 times a week. We will provide them the time and resources they need here at school.  We ask that the children don't use this program at home at this time so that we can closely monitor their progress and usage time.  Thank you for your understanding!

Here is what the kids had to say about the week:

Sangeeta- This week I learned about the rainforest habitat.

Sohana- I really enjoyed making a new friend this week. 

Sofia- My favorite part of the week was writing my "Looking Back" personal narrative. 

Raine- This week I learned that a spider monkey's baby hangs from her body. 

Melanie- My favorite part of the week was getting ready for Star Student. 

Annabelle- I really enjoyed learning about spelling because it helps my brain. 

Malcolm- My favorite part of the week was the spelling word search. 

Nicole- I really liked making the guidance posters. 

Saathvik- I enjoyed writing a pumpkin acrostic poem. 

Allyson- I learned a new math game called "Name that Number." 

Sujit- This week I learned how to make a new friend. 

Weekly Update 10/14

A look at what the kids enjoyed this week:

Nicole- I really liked the Community Meeting.
Omkar- My favorite part of the week was using the field guides during our rainforest trek.
Simra- I really enjoyed learning about Dreambox which is a math computer program.
Raine- I enjoyed doing math rotations.
Patrick- My favorite part of the week was when I went to the assembly.
Melanie- I liked writing my personal narrative story.
Allyson- My favorite part of the week was when Mr. Lacoste read Kindness is Cooler Mrs Ruler to our class.
Sofia- This week I learned about nature.
Sangeeta- I liked the new writing sheet that has us check for capitals and spelling.
Annabelle- I really enjoyed learning about the animals in the rainforest.
Elizabeth- My favorite part of the week was my Star Student time.
Malcolm- This week I learned about habitats.
Mary- I learned about math and how you do number grid puzzles.
Saathvik- I liked writing my personal narrative story which is a story about your life.
Rosalie- My favorite part of the week was Wellness because we got to play basketball.
Brielle- The best part of the week was Math and Daily Five.
Caitlin- My favorite part of the week was learning that there is jaguars in the rainforest.
Alexis- The best part was starting Dreambox which is a fun new math computer game.
Sujit- This week I learned about the things in the rainforest trek.
Tanner- My favorite part of the week was playing catch with Mr. Lacoste during recess.
Nick- I really liked reading books in library.
Sohana- My favorite part of the week was Mr. Lacoste reading our Care to Read book.

Weekly Update 10/7

We had a great week last week! It started off with a trip to the Living Lab on Monday. The kids had so much fun and learned about plant and animal survival. The students learned about frogs and the various types of feet that they have depending on where they live. We also had fun exploring the Reed Brook and even saw a real frog! The kids had the opportunity to take on the role of either a plant or animal. They found out how the needs of their plant or animal are met by other brook plants and animals. We are excited to go back for another visit in the spring.

Speaking of science, in the classroom we did a lesson on how plants and animals depend on one another. The kids had a blast working together in small groups to create their own "hand pollinators." This was done with various materials, such as: plastic spoon, popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, clay, marbles, paper clips, etc. They even tested them and every groups worked!!! Nice work scientists!

In Math this week we focused on addition strategies. Some of which were: combinations of ten, doubles, near doubles, and making ten. It's exciting to see the children putting these strategies to use while playing games and doing various math activities.

We had a great first week with our reading groups! It's always so much fun to hear them all read! Most of the groups this week had the opportunity to read, discuss strategies for when they encounter difficult words, and to discuss the book through various oral comprehension strategies. Next week we will discuss making predictions before and during reading.

Here's what a couple students had to say about this week:

Melanie- My favorite part of the week was my birthday! I really enjoyed learning about bees. This week I learned that bees help flowers.

Nick- My favorite part of the week was Living Lab. I really enjoyed learning about habitats. The week I learned about living things and how they survive.

Upcoming Events: 
- No School on Monday, October 10th for Columbus Day
- Tuesday, October 11th is School Store for Grade Two

Weekly Update 10/3

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend with your families.  The past two weeks we have really settled into many of our routines, and we are working nicely as a classroom community.  Below are some highlights I’d like to share…

Daily 5 is off and running great!  The children now have 4 choices to make during our language arts blocks.  Those choices include:  Listen to Reading, Work on Words, Work on Writing, and Read to Self.  We are doing 3 “rounds” each day, each lasting 15-20 minutes.  It’s neat to see kids working on a variety of tasks independently for such a lengthy amount of time.  Now that we have our Daily 5 routines down we are excited to begin reading groups next week!

At this time they have 2 choices for Listen to Reading:  Raz- Kids and Tumble Books.  Hopefully you all received your login information for Raz-Kids.  This is a great program to use at home because it is tailored to your child’s reading level.  Also, the kids can use their Raz-Kids time towards their 15 minutes of reading.  Tumble Books is a free program offered through the JV Fletcher Library where children can listen to 100’s of picture books!  As long as you access the website through the library page http://www.westfordlibrary.org/pages/JVFletcherLibrary_JustforKids/index you can use the program without a username and password. 

In Social Studies we completed our Apples Economics Unit this week.  The children had several opportunities throughout this unit to work in groups and do some fun, interactive activities that helped them learn the concepts.  I hope your child enjoyed learning all about apples- what a fun way to start off the fall!!

We have been talking about Personal Narratives during our writing time.  We learned that these are true stories about things that have happened in our lives.  We have begun writing a personal narrative about a celebration as we learn about the structure of personal narrative.  After that the children will be able to write about other topics of their choice.

In Math we have begun our Guided Math rotations and it is going really well! The kids are excited to have 3 different activities during the math block. The various activities are: Teachers Choice, Technology, At Your Seat, Hands-On, and Math Facts. "Teachers Choice" is when small groups of kids working on a similar skill level meet with me. For "Technology" the kids have the choice of Prodigy Math, Games on the Everyday Math website, or various math apps. "At Your Seat" is typically math journal pages that reinforce the day's lesson. Finally, "Hands-On" is usually a math game that is part of the Everyday Math program. 

Over the next few weeks we will be turning our focus back to Science.  On Friday we started an investigation to see if plants need water and sunlight in order to survive. We will be watching our plants throughout the upcoming week. We are also lucky to have a chance to visit the Living Lab at the Day School on Monday to explore more about Plant and Animal Survival.  We will be taking a bus to get there. The permission slips were sent home at the end of the year.  I have already received a signed permission slip from everyone so we should be all set!  We may spend some time outside by the Reed Brook, so please keep an eye on the weather so that your child will be comfortable during the outside portion of our visit.

 Lastly, WEDNESDAY IS PICTURE DAY!!  Our picture time is at 10:15. 

Weekly Update 9/19

We had a great first full week in Second Grade! A few of our highlights were:

• Beginning our Apple Economics unit 
• Continuing to learn the components of Daily Five including "Listening to Reading"
• Building our reading stamina
• Began launching our Writer's Workshop
• Discussed CAFE (Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, and Expanding Vocabulary) strategies 
• Read more books by our author study-Kevin Henkes
• Our first Star Student 

Reminder that Monday, September 19th is Curriculum Night from 7:00-7:45. This is a night for parents only as we will spend time sharing the second grade curriculum and routines. If you're unable to make it, I will send home a folder with all the handouts on Tuesday with your child. 

I hope you have a wonderful week! 

Weekly Update 9/12

Week two was another great week here in second grade.  I hope your child enjoyed it as much as I did!  We accomplished all that we had set out to, including introducing one Daily 5 choice, beginning our new science unit, and getting writing and math routines going.

In the past I have used my BLOG to update you on what's to come in the following week.  However, starting this week I am going to use this forum to inform you of what we've already done in the classroom.  This will give me an opportunity to share photos of our classroom and students, as well as get the kids involved in helping me write the BLOG updates.  I hope you will find these types of updates informative and fun.

On that note, here are some photos from this past week I'd like to share:

We kicked off Daily 5 by introducing and practicing the "Read to Self" component.  The kids did a great job, increasing their "stamina" to stay on task and read quietly for up to 10 minutes by the end of the week!

The first science unit, Plant and Animal Survival, kicked off with some great discussion and a chance to take a nature walk to observe plants and animals around Robinson School.  Despite the heat, we were able to see quite a variety of living things.

Homework will begin this week. We will start with only the Spelling Tic-Tac-Toe and Reading Log. Your child will be expected to practice their spelling words at least three nights per week. The Spelling Tic-Tac-Toe sheet will have a variety of choices for your child to pick from in order to practice their words. Also, second graders are expected to read for at least 15 minutes per night. Your child will record what book they read and the number of minutes they read on their weekly Reading Log. There is also a place for parent initials. Both the Reading Log and Spelling Tic-Tac-Toe sheets should remain in your child's Take Home Folder all week and will be passed in on Fridays. Thank you for your help and support on homework. 

Just a reminder that Curriculum Night for 2nd Grade Parents will be on September 19th from 7:00-7:45pm.  

Have a great week.  I look forward to meeting you all very soon!

Curriculum Night

There is a TIME correction for our Second Grade Curriculum Night. It will still be on Monday, September 19th but the new time is from 7:00-7:45.  Sorry for the confusion. I hope to see you all there! 

Weekly Update 9/5

It was a pleasure meeting all of the children last week! I can already tell that it's going to be a great year! I hope you had a wonderful long weekend! We have a lot to look forward to this week. Here is a glance into what will be happening in your child's second grade classroom this week. Along with continuing to get to know one another, we will also begin establishing routines in many of our academic areas. 

We will spend most of our reading blocks reviewing the Daily Five structure. For those new to Robinson or those unfamiliar with Daily Five it is a literacy structure that allows for differentiation in the classroom and provides consistency. It is an integrated literacy instruction and classroom management system that is used during our literacy block. While I am working with small groups for Guided Reading, the other children have literacy “tasks” that include: Work on Words, Work on Writing, Read to Self, Read to Someone, and Listen to Reading. It takes a few weeks for me to assess all of the children and to determine their reading levels and while I am doing that, the children will build their stamina in each of the "task" areas. 

In math we will be continuing with Unit 1, which we began last week. This unit does a lot of review of concepts learned in first grade and allows time for us to establish math routines in the classroom. We will focus on number scrolls and number grids this week as tools to help us solve addition problems. 

I will also be assessing the children on the 100-second grade high frequency words. This is done periodically throughout the year to see what words your child needs to practice. These words will become part of their weekly spelling words that they will practice at school and home. 

This week we will begin our first science unit, which is "Plant and Animal Survival." The first lesson will focus on living and nonliving. The students will have an opportunity to take a nature walk and to classify and graph the items they see during our walk. 

Finally, we will also begin our first social studies unit on "Apple Economics." In the first lesson, the students will learn about the apple tree and the "goods" that come from the tree. 

As you can see, it's going to be a busy week!! :) 

Upcoming Dates:

• September 5th- No School for Labor Day
• Week of September 12th- Homework begins
• September 19th- Curriculum Night 6:00-6:45 for Second Grade parents 

            

Welcome to Second Grade

Welcome back! I will be your child's Second Grade teacher, Mrs. Frazier! I am excited for the first day of school- Tuesday, August 30th.

I am eager to get to know your child! I feel that our classroom is a great place to learn and have fun! In order to get to know me a little more, I am married and have 2 daughters named Kaitlyn (4 years old) and Hannah (3 years old). I love to spend time with my family, garden, go to the beach, and read. I have been teaching second grade at the Robinson School for 17 years and absolutely love it!

This blog will be a great resource for you throughout the year as I try to do weekly updates about what is happening in the classroom. I hope you consider following my blog by clicking on the "follow by email" link which will allow you to get an email notice when I post something to the blog.

I hope you and your child had a wonderful summer and I look forward to getting to know you throughout the year. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me at kfrazier@westfordk12.us

Talent Show

The weather is looking beautiful for tomorrow. Therefore, we will have the OUTDOOR portion of the Talent Show tomorrow, June 15th. This includes all sport talents such as: soccer, baseball, lacrosse, football, scooter tricks, skateboarding, etc...

Thursday, June 16th will be the INSIDE portion of the Talent Show. This will include: magic tricks, dances, singing, instruments, gymnastics, etc.

Just a friendly reminder that your child needs to bring the necessary equipment for their talent if they are participating. We will provide the following: piano, microphone, CD player, and gymnastics mats.

We are excited for this special Second Grade event!!! Thanks for your help and support!

Weekly Update 6/13

I can't believe that this is our last full week of school and my last weekly update! We have a TON to look forward to over the next 6 and a half days!!

This week we will be finishing up our Earth's Surfaces unit. The children will use the engineering design process to design, create, and test a solution to the problem of landslides. This is such a fun way for them to demonstrate their knowledge gained through this interactive unit.

We have been reading Fairy Tales and comparing and contrasting the various versions of each. This week the children will have the opportunity to write their own fairy tale!

On  Tuesday, we will be attending the Strings Concert. After the concert, the second grade students will stay to hear about the strings program at Crisafulli. The children will have the opportunity to be a part of the program in third grade if they choose. Please look for information to come home Tuesday or Wednesday.


We will also be having our Second Grade Talent Show on Wednesday and Thursday. This is completely voluntary and is just for fun!!! This is a show only for the Second Grade students.  We will have an outside talent day and an inside talent day.  We'll look at the weather Monday afternoon and let the kids know which day they will showcase their talent.  If your child is planning to participate, they will be required to bring all equipment that they may need for their talent. Also, safety equipment needs to be worn if necessary (ie. helmet, knee pads, elbow pads). Therefore, you may need to drive your child to school on the day they will perform if the equipment is too large for the bus.  We look forward to seeing the many talents our students possess!

The children will enjoy working on a Second Grade Memory book this week!!!

We are looking forwards to seeing you all at the Second Grade Super Star Celebration on Friday, June 17th at 2:15 in Room 7. The children are so excited to share their special projects with you. I hope that you received the letter last week about the special snack. If you are unable to attend, please feel free to send in the snack Friday morning. Thanks!

On June 20th, we will have our Bridging Ceremony. This will be an opportunity for students and staff to wish the Second Graders well. The Second Graders will have another opportunity to walk the trail and spent a little time on the Crisafulli playground with their Third Grade Buddies.

Our last day of school is Tuesday, June 21st which is an early release day. The students will be dismissed at 12:20.

Thank you for making this a fantastic year! I feel privileged to have worked with such supportive families. I hope you have a wonderful and relaxing summer. I will miss all of the children from this class but hope that they all come back to visit. Thanks again for a great year!

Weekly Update 6/6

Good morning!  Only 11 ½ days of school to go! Although we're nearing the final days of second grade, we still have a lot going on this week to keep the kids engaged and excited.

On Monday our friends from the JV Fletcher Library will be here to speak to the children about the Summer Reading program. This is always a lively presentation to get us excited about reading once school is out for the summer.

On Tuesday and Wednesday we look forward to hearing the country projects you've been working so hard on at home.  Each child will have the opportunity to present their project to the class and take questions from their classmates. We will leave the projects on display in the classroom until our big celebration on the 17^th. If there is something special/valuable that you would rather not leave on display at school, please let me know.

On Friday we will have our annual Move Up Day.  Second graders will be walking up to Crisafulli to spend a good portion of the day (10:30-1:30) with their third grade buddies.  The kids will have a chance to tour the third grade classrooms, eat lunch in the cafeteria, and even play on the Crisafulli playground.  It is always an enjoyable day for all!

We will get back to Reading this week by looking at fairy tales.  We'll have opportunities to read various versions of the same fairy tale.  Then, the children will compare and contrast the stories.

Finally, we will continue working on our Earth's Surfaces Unit.  We had fun last week looking at minerals and discussing how we use these minerals in our everyday lives.

Have a good week everyone!!

Weekly Update 5/31

Happy Memorial Day! I hope you all had a wonderful long weekend! I can't believe it's almost June!

We have a busy and fun week ahead! We are all looking forward to our first all day Robinson Field Day on Wednesday. For Field Day please have your child bring a water bottle labeled with their name. There will water filling stations to refill throughout the day. Please also have your child dress accordingly (sneakers and shorts). The children will be given a blue shirt to wear that they decorated especially for Field Day. Also, please don't forget to put sunscreen on your child. Children are allowed to wear hats and sunglasses if they wish. It's going to be such a FUN day! If you are scheduled to volunteer and would like to take your child home with you at the end of the day, there will be a sign out sheet in your child's classroom.

In terms of academics, even with only 3 weeks left of school there is still lots of learning to do! Our writing blocks will focus on finishing up the last details of our informational books. We will also be doing a personal narrative piece about Field Day at the end of the week.

In Math, we will be finishing up Unit 9. The last few lessons focus on solving number stories about 2 equal groups. The children will also skip count and add to solve problems involving multiples of 10 and 5. This will be an introduction to basic multiplication facts.

We are having a blast with our science unit, Earth's Surfaces. This week we will be examining rocks to determine what minerals they are made of. Students will also be able to identify things that make up soil and rocks. We will continue discussing natural resources and how people use them to meet their needs and wants. Finally, the children will do an experiment to discover how water effects the land.

Upcoming Events:
Monday, May 30th- No School for Memorial Day
Wednesday, June 1st- Field Day
Friday, June 3rd- Second Graders go to Crisafulli for 5th Grade Play

Weekly Update 5/23

Good morning!  We are entering our last full week of May today!  The warmer temperatures have been fantastic.  Here is a look at what we'll be doing this week.

We will begin a new Science unit this week!  This will be a study of “Earth's Surfaces.”  The lessons will be very hands-on.  The children will have opportunities to solve real-world problems through lots of fun experiments!

During our Reading blocks I will begin reading individually with students in order to assess their progress in reading since March.  I am seeing so much growth on a daily basis with all the children- it's so exciting!!

Our Writing time will be spent putting the finishing touches on our country books.  We will add a Table of Contents and a Works Cited Page to complete the books.  In addition, we will do some more personal narrative work during the remaining writing times.

Math this week focuses on a review on money.  We will review Equivalent Names for Money Amounts and try out an open response problem related to money.  The children will also be taking a district-wide math assessment, which looks at all of the skills learned this year in second grade.

Friday will be our JUMP ROPE FOR HEART culminating assembly.  We will celebrate all the donations we've received for the American Heart Association and have a chance to strengthen our own hearts as we all jump rope together as an entire school!

Have a great week!!

Day in Ghana

On Tuesday, We had our Day in Ghana presentation. The kids had a blast and learned so much about Africa!