Update 2/28

Here is a look at what is going on in Room 7:

During reading groups we have been spending time focusing on the main idea of a story. We have also been continuing to review predicting and retelling. The children will use these important skills to write a summary of the book they have read. During the next couple of weeks we will spend some time assessing students one on one to help us prepare for progress reports.

In writing we have been working hard finishing up our opinion unit. The children did a wonderful job reviewing restaurants, toys, movies, and places they love to visit.  They are excited that we will be using the Chromebooks to type our restaurant reviews. These typed reviews will be added to the students writing portfolios that will be sent home at the end of the year. Our next writing unit will be informational writing. Students will use the information they have provided from home along with library research to write informational paragraphs about a country that they have ancestors from. I can’t wait to hear about all the different countries and cultures represented in our classroom!

In social studies students are learning that everyone who lives is Massachusetts is not the same. We have discussed different reasons immigrants come to the United States by using the terms “push and pull factors.” We have also shared the important traditions and customs they may bring with them. As mentioned above, students will be researching information about the countries their ancestors came from. Each student will use that information to create a piece of a classroom quilt representing the various cultural backgrounds of the children in our class. 

In math we have one more week to finish up Unit 6, which focused on multi-step word problems, ballpark estimates, and partial sums. These are all skills we will continue to practice throughout the year.

Our next math unit will focus on whole number operations, measurement, and data. The children will practice finding differences between 2-digit numbers and multiples of 10 by playing a game called Hit the Target. We will also spend some time talking about adding multiple numbers in a logical way to make the problem easier. The children will be encouraged to look for "friendly numbers" which could be a multiple of 10 or a doubles fact.

Grade 2 has started rehearsing for our second grade musical. The students are working hard and doing a great job! We can't wait to welcome you to school for our performance on March 27 at 1:45.

Dates to remember:

·      Monday, March 2^nd-March 6^th Read Across America Week

·      Monday, March 2^nd- March 20^th Star Reader Program

·      Tuesday, March 3^rd No School Professional Development

·      Monday, March 9^th Grade 2 Field Trip to Concord Youth Theater to see Pinocchio

·      Friday, March 13^th Parent-teacher conference sign-up opens at 3pm

·      Friday, March 20^th Parent portal opens for parents to view progress reports

·      Monday, March 23^rd No School Parent-teacher conferences 2-8pm

·      Tuesday, March 24^th 2 hour delay parent- teacher conferences

• March 27th- Second Grade Performance at 1:45 

Update 1/31

This past Monday marked our halfway point in second grade- how exciting!  We've been working hard in school and have been learning many new things.  Unfortunately our school has been hit hard by the flu, strep, and other viruses.  We are doing our best to keep the classrooms clean and germ-free.  Thank you for keeping your child home if they are sick.  

Here is a look at what has been happening over the past two weeks...

We continue to use our content blocks to teach both science and social studies.  The students are really enjoying learning about the 7 continents in social studies.  So far we have visited 6 out of the 7 continents.  After reading about each continent the students have been answering some questions related to that continent.  We are keeping the questions in an Around The World folder which will come home when it is complete.  We have also had the opportunity to watch videos and/or slideshows to further our learning. Ask your child to tell you something they learned about each of the continents- I bet they will be excited to share their learning with you!

In science we are continuing our work with Earth's Surfaces.  After completing our landform models we did several experiments to show how wind and water change the shape of the land.  We learned that land surface is made of rock, sand, and soil, and these surfaces are constantly changing.  While some changes are fast (a landslide, a flood), some changes take 100s of years (such as waves crashing against rock to create a seaside cliff).  This week we had the opportunity to become engineers.  The students worked in groups to create something to prevent a landslide from reaching a road.  They used materials given to them to both prevent and stop the rocks, sand, and soil from falling.  They tested their models and discussed how they could improve their designs.  They were very invested and it was a lot of fun to hear their rich discussions.  

For writing time we are continuing our restaurant reviews.  We have discussed how to turn our graphic organizers into a complete and persuasive review.  The children were taught how to best start, as well as end, an opinion piece of writing.  We also learned about transition words and organizing the review in an understandable sequence.   Many students finished their restaurant piece this week and will be moving on to reviewing other things such as movies, books, video games, or toys.  

We finished up unit 5 this week in math and completed the Unit Assessment.  I will be sending it home early next week for you to review.  

I hope your child enjoyed the Great Kindness Challenge week at school.  I was very proud of the kind acts I saw happening throughout the week in the classroom.  At the end of each day I spoke individually with each child to hear about something kind they did either at school or at home.  Great job, second graders!

Upcoming Dates:

Wednesday, February 5th- 1/2 day for Professional Development  (dismissal at 12:20)

Friday, February 14th- Valentine's Day and Classroom Party

February 17-21st- No School for February Vacation

Update 1/17

It has been nice to get back into a regular classroom routine after the holidays. I love that we have a solid 6 weeks of learning between the Winter Break and February Vacation!

Over the past couple of weeks in math, we have spent some time wrapping up Unit 4 and doing our Mid-Year Assessment. We have also started Unit 5 which focuses on addition and subtraction strategies and using money to buy things at "pretend" stores. The next few lessons students will be using various diagrams to help them organize and solve number stories.

Our reading groups have been reading fictional texts and working on visualizing and making inferences while reading to help them with their comprehension. We continue to practice retelling and summarizing stories. We are currently using a summarizing strategy that asks the kids to answer the following: "Somebody, Wanted, But, So, Then." This helps them organize their thinking when summarizing longer texts.

The children have been very excited about our new "Opinion" writing unit! Together we created a list of things we have opinions on and discussed supportive vs. not supportive reasons. The students have also completed a graphic organizer for their first opinion piece which is a restaurant review. This is being modeled by creating a class review of the Robinson Cafeteria. Over the next month or so, the children will have the opportunity to write several different reviews. They may choose to review a movie, book, toy, place, game, etc.

Our content blocks have been a combination of both science and social studies. We have begun to learn about the 7 continents of the World. The students will be exposed to one continent per week for the next several weeks. We are currently on our 3rd continent. The hope is that this will give them a general overview of the world and the various cultures and geography.

Our science unit is called "Earth's Surface." The children have learned that the world is covered by 70% water and 30% land. We have also discussed some of the landforms found on earth's surface such as: mountains, valleys, rivers, ponds, streams, oceans, islands, etc. The children enjoyed creating these landforms out of clay and will be bringing home their 3-D models soon! In the next couple of lessons, the children will investigate how earth's surface changes with wind and water.

The Second Grade compassion project is well underway! The Robinson community has collected over 550 books so far! We will continue to collect books until January 31st. Our goal is to get to 1,000. I know we can do it!

Upcoming Dates:
January 20th- No School
Week of January 27th-31st- Great Kindness Challenge Week
February 5th- Early Release for Professional Development