Weekly Update 4/25

Welcome back! I had a wonderful, relaxing vacation with my family. While I didn't get away, it was nice to have a change of pace and get outside in the beautiful weather. I hope you also had a chance to spend some time outdoors with friends and family.

Here are some highlights of what we have planned for this coming week in second grade…

During our Reading time we'll get back to reading some more fiction texts with our guided reading groups. We'll discuss and practice some of the skills we've talked about throughout the year.  Some of our discussions will focus on vocabulary, predicting, and re-telling. We will also revisit the reciprocal teaching strategy.

We had a great 1^st day of research the week before vacation. The kids were really excited to begin looking at the books about their country.  Everyone had a chance to find information about something they were wondering about. We also started using that information to write informational paragraphs during our Writing blocks. This week we'll head back to the library to research our next question. So fun!!

We'll be traveling from the very cold continent of Antarctica to a MUCH different place this week, Africa. Our Social Studies time will be spent learning about Arica's location, landmarks, animals, and land features.

This week in Math we'll complete unit 8. Our lessons will look at Equal Groups and Arrays (an introduction to how multiplication works).We'll also review what we've learned during this unit about 2-D and 3-D shapes, Polygons, and Equal Parts. All of this work will help prepare the children for the Unit 8 Assessment, which we will do next Monday.

I hope you have a great week! 

Friday, April 15th SPIRIT DAY!

In the spirit of spring and the start of the season for the Red Sox we are encouraging Robinson Students to wear their favorite baseball, softball, or other sports shirts, etc. We are looking forward to seeing everyone in their sports gear tomorrow! 

Day 1 of Reciprocal Teaching Strategy

Yesterday we spent time learning the roles of Reciprocal Teaching (questioner, predictor, clarifier, summarizer) by reading aloud the book Twinnies by Eve Bunting as a whole class. Then today, the first reading group gave it a try and they did great!!! It was impressive to hear the discussions these kiddos were having about the book. I will continue this strategy with the rest of the reading groups throughout the week. My hope is that groups will eventually be able to do this independently.

Weekly Update 4/11

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Hopefully the weather will start to warm up this week and finally feel like Spring!

Here's a look at what we will be doing in class this week.

During reading groups, we will continue to work on main idea and finding the supporting details from the text to back it up. The children will also learn a new reading strategy called reciprocal teaching. The children will be put into groups and assigned a role. The roles include predictor, questioner, clarifier, and summarizer. This is a strategy that helps promote reading comprehension. The children will be given an opportunity to try out each role during their reading groups.

We are excited to begin our country library research this week. The children will be picking their own "I Wonder..." question to research. They may choose to find out about the foods, schools, holidays, festivals, etc. After doing our first research session, the children will learn how to begin writing their first informational paragraph. It's amazing to see the work the children do on this special project!

In math this week, we will continue our Geometry unit. Our focus will be on using manipulatives to partition rectangles into same-size squares. The children will also solve number stories about equal groups using arrays to help them solve the problems.

We are enjoying our time in the coldest continent, Antarctica. The children will be writing facts that they have learned about Antarctica. We will also spend time learning about various types of penguins and the areas in which each type of penguin lives.

Reminders:
Tuesday, April 12th is school store for second grade
Wednesday, April 13th is an early release for professional development

Date Correction

School Store for Second Grade is NEXT Tuesday, April 12th.  Sorry about the confusion.

Australia Video

While in Australia, we spend a good amount of time talking about the Great Barrier Reef. This is a video I shared with the class last week to give an overview of coral reefs and especially the Great Barrier Reef. The kids enjoyed watching it!

Australia Video

Weekly Update 4/1

Happy Monday!  We made it through the long month of March and look forward to an April full of sunshine and warmth (hopefully!).  Here is a look at what we have planned for this week…

For writing time we will finish up and bind our poetry books. We'll then be moving on to an informational writing unit.  During this unit the children will be writing information about a country of their ancestry.  They will be doing research about topics that interest them most about their country of origin.  Thank you to all who have turned in their ancestry information. We would like those back for Tuesday so that the librarians can begin pulling books.

The children did a nice job over the past few weeks with paraphrasing. Reading time this week will be spent discussing Main Idea and details that support that main idea. We'll do some whole group and small group lessons to practice this comprehension skill.

We're moving on to our 5^th continent already in Social Studies- Antarctica! We'll get to know a bit about the continent during our lessons over the next few days. The coolest part about this continent is that no one actually lives there!! We will discuss why. In addition, we'll talk a lot about which animals inhabit Antarctica.

We got off to a great start last week on Unit 8 of our Everyday Math program. Please continue to reinforce the ideas of parallel sides and square corners with your child. These are newer concepts for some. Our lessons this week will continue to talk about 2-D shape attributes. We will also begin discussing 3-D shapes.

Important Reminders for this Week:

Tuesday, April 5^th is School Store for Grade 2

Thursday, April 7^th will be our first opportunity to walk the Robifulli Trail and meet our 3^rd Grade Buddies. We will be visiting Crisafulli to see the 5^th Grade Chorus perform. Please watch the weather so that the children are prepared for an outdoor walk (the performance is first thing in the morning).  Thank you!