Dear Families,
The Community Heroes Meet and Greet is just around the corner. This past week the students worked on writing reports using the information that was learned during the interview. Each report includes a topic sentence, a body, and a closing sentence. Also this week, students were busily designing and creating their projects. Although each child has teacher guidance, projects are completed independently. As teachers, we are here to help with the process, which could include being a sounding board while brainstorming or organizing ideas, help with creating “to-do” lists, or strategies to manage time. Each child is incharge of crafting their own project, allowing them to feel a sense of ownership and pride with the final product. The children are very excited to share the reports and various projects with you on March 8th. All of the heroes have been invited back to Friends Academy to attend the Meet and Greet. We know each hero is trying their best to make it, however busy schedules and work commitments might get in the way of a few heroes being able to attend. We have had a discussion with the class about how we will honor each hero whether or not they can make it. Each student is very excited and proud to share what he or she has learned! A few things to keep in mind in preparation for the day….
If you have any questions concerning this event, please do not hesitate to ask. We look forward to seeing you on March 8th at the Community Heroes Meet and Greet! Warmly, Angela and Brigid Dear Families,
The students have been excited to interview a community hero in order to learn about their chosen job. They are almost finished with the interviews and are now looking forward to sharing what they have learned. Please save the date of Thursday, March 8th from 8:30-9:30, to attend our Community Hero Meet and Greet. It will be during this time that the students will be able to share with you what they have researched and learned about their hero. Over the next few weeks, students will be turning their research into a report and creating a project to present their information. This project offers students a choice in how they share the information they have acquired. We have developed a list (below) of possible projects. Although the students will be working under the guidance of a teacher, the goal is for the project to be completed independently. We have spent time on Thursday considering the planning and steps necessary for each type of project. Your child has brought their idea home to share with you. Please discuss with your child the project choice that they have made. We ask that you sign the form which was brought home on Thursday. Please sign the form and have your child return it to school by Tuesday. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to ask. Project choices:
Valentine’s Day Second grade will be celebrating Valentine’s Day on Wednesday, February 14th in the classroom. If your child would like to bring in valentines, we ask that they have one for each member of their class. Students may also make a card for the other second grade class. Again, we just ask that if they do, they make one for each member of the class. Making Valentines is optional. We do ask for families to refrain from sending in candy. Thank you to the room parents and volunteers for planning our upcoming celebration! Student-Led Conferences Student Led-Conferences will be held on the afternoon of Wednesday, 2/14 and all day Friday, 2/16. Your child will attend a portion of the conference to share their work, reflect on their strengths and set goals for the remainder of the year. Students spent time this past week preparing for these conferences. Each child reviewed their conference form from the fall to develop goals for the remainder of the year. They also looked through their Learning Portfolio to identify pieces of work to share with you. These pieces have been hand picked by each child because your child feels like they represent a strength or reflects growth that has been made. I’m looking forward to meeting with each family. Please let me know if you are unsure of your conference time. These next few weeks are busy but it is a very exciting time in second grade! Language Arts *Spelling Unit 16 with a focus on long a spellings ay - usually at the end of words and ai - usually in the middle of words adding suffixes ly and ful to words * Children did a fantastic job speaking and presenting at all-school meeting on Wednesday. They also delivered their thank you letters to their FA helpers. *Read Aloud - "Trouble According to Humphrey" - children completed a prediction page on what would happen next *Reflect and organize portfolios - children looked through their portfolios to see growth and choose work to share at parent-teacher conferences Students and I will be conferencing to revisit goals, look through work, and assess growth and set new goals *LAM - children continue to choose a language arts activity during reading group and conferencing time. We have spent a good amount of time on the writing process and publishing stories. *Reading TIME magazine *Reading Journal - children write a summary about what they have read independently MATH *Children were invited to bring in a jar to estimate. Anything the size of a loaf of bread or smaller. We've had a nice variety of estimation containers. Our second graders are fantastic at estimating and they love this activity. Thank you to those that have contributed. *Practice and games with multiplication by 10s, 5s, and 2s. *Measurement - measuring with a meter *comparing measurements: building A is 65 meters; building B is 32 meters. Which building is taller? How much taller? Vocabulary: meter, width, meter, length, unit, height, more, less, taller, tallest, shorter, shortest, longer, longest, centimeter Social Studies Community Hero Project: *Children have been busy conducting interviews and taking notes with their community Heroes. Our class has enjoyed meeting all the visitors we've had so far. After completing the interview, children bring their hero into the classroom to introduce them. So far, we've met a veterinarian, judge, teacher/assistant principal, an educational coordinator, representative from United Way, a representative from Gifts to Give, and more to come * More information about this project moving forward will come home next week. Pajamas, Hot Cocoa, and Games made for a fun Friday Afternoon
Dear Families, Second graders have been busily preparing for our Community Heroes Meet and Greet on Thursday, March 8th from 8:30-9:30. This project is rewarding, fun and essential to the children’s learning. Through this process, students are discovering the ability to develop guiding questions, seek answers through interviews, record information, produce and present products based on their research and, then, evaluate those products and processes through the use of rubrics, discussions and observations. Each second grader has created guiding questions for an interview, which will help them discover the importance of a job within our local community. With the help of parents and fellow faculty members, Brigid and I have been contacting people in our community for our students to interview. Since we are working around the schedules of our heroes, some interviews are still being scheduled while some have already occurred. This week a firefighter, illustrator, judge, a Gifts to Give staff member, surgeon, and a lawyer were interviewed by second graders. We will continue with the interviews over the next few weeks. The goal is to have each person who has been interviewed return for our Community Heroes Meet and Greet on Thursday, March 8th. The children and I have discussed that the people they are interviewing have busy schedules and may not be able to come back for the meet and greet. In the event that a person cannot attend, I will ensure that the person and their job will be appropriately showcased. We hope that your family can attend this event to learn about the heroes that the children have interviewed. The second grade FA Helper’s presentation is just a few days away. The presentation will be on Wednesday, January 31st during All-School Meeting. We hope that you will be able to come and learn about all of the FA Helpers that we value here at Friends Academy. Below are a few curriculum highlights: Math
Language Arts/Spelling
*Gifts to Give: We had a wonderful trip to Gifts to Give and children were able to learn about how this organization impacts our local community. Children received an orientation and tour, and were able to serve through a variety of jobs: sorting toys, cleaning toys, and packaging sets of Matchbox and Hotwheels cars. When we returned to school, the children completed a reflection about their experience. Language Arts: * Spelling Unit 14 focusing on the er, ir, ur spelling in words reviewing spelling multi-syllabic words, adding ing, ed, and s to words *Children began to prepare for our FA Helper Presentation by writing out the words they will speak at the All-School Meeting The format included their interviewee's job title and one thing they learned from interviewing their helper. *We listed Community "Heroes' as children brainstormed a list of jobs that impact the local community. After creating a list together. The children listed their three top choices of the "heroes" that they would like to interview and why. We might be reaching out to you to link us with some local resources while we begin our search to locate a variety of people that would be willing to come to Friends Academy to be interviewed by a second grader in order for them to learn more about these jobs and roles in our community. More information to follow. *Lexia Core 5 *Daily Oral Language - practice editing written work This week children worked on possessive nouns, subject/verb agreement, capitalizing, and punctuation. Math:
*Practice skip counting by 2s and 5s for multiplication * Focused on the (group) X (items) = (total) - children worked on deciphering the group from the number of items in a group *Used dot paper to solve multiplication problems and word problems: with a focus on 5s The dot paper is used with the amount of dots going across the rows as the item number. The number of dots going down the column is the amount of groups in a multiplication problem. *Used known multiplication facts to solve unknown - for example: if we know 4 x 5 = 20 we use this knowledge to solve 6 x 5 - understanding that we are just adding two more sets of 5 *Learned about related facts: 4 x 5 = 20 AND 5 x 4 = 20 * Math Spinning Game - for practice with multiplying groups of 5 Planting an Amaryllis - Ms. Caynon presented the class with this gift before the break so that we could watch the flower bloom. Thank you, Ms. Caynon! Language Arts: * Children learned about the format of a letter and wrote a "thank you letter" to their FA helper. Children will present these letters at their All-school meeting presentation on Wednesday, January 31st. *Looking for Evidence: Children read an article about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and needed to back into the passage to highlight the information that was the proof in the text for answering specific questions. *Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We read Martin's Big Words by Doreen Rappaport Children then wrote about their dreams for themselves, their family, and the world *Heros and important Qualities We discussed the important qualities of a hero in the community. The FA Bees were highlighted and it was easy to connect these personality traits back to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr as well. After brainstorming these attributes, children were partnered up and read a book about a historical figure. They then listed 4 qualities of a hero that they feel the person they researched possessed. *Be Respectful: While we are always discussing and focusing on all the FA bees, we are highlighting the FA BEE be respectful this month. We discussed and wrote ways to be respectful in the community and as a friend. * 2017 Reflections and 2018 Goals Children reflected on the past year and set goals for the new year. Children illustrated themselves with their FA Helper. Their work is now hanging in the hallway outside our classroom. Math: *Practice skip counting by 2s and 5s for multiplication * Focused on the (group) X (items) = (total) - children worked on deciphering the group from the number of items in a group *Used dot paper to solve multiplication problems and word problems: The dot paper is used with the amount of dots going across the rows as the item number. The number of dots going down the column is the amount of groups in a multiplication problem. *Used known multiplication facts to solve unknown - for example: if we know 4 x 5 = 20 we use this knowledge to solve 6 x 5 - understanding that we are just adding two more sets of 5 *Learned about related facts: 4 x 5 = 20 AND 5 x 4 = 20 * Math Games Thank you for reading the newsletter.
Please be sure to check out the IMPORTANT DATES page. A SNOWY DAY CALLS FOR SNOW BALL GREETING! Language Arts: *Spelling - focus on vowel combinations for long vowels: long a: a- consonant-e, ai, ay long e - e-consonant-e, ee, ea, long i - i-consonant-e, igh, y after a one syllable word long u - u-consonant-e long o - o-consonant-e, oa, ow /z/ sound spelled s and z Reviewed * long e sound is spelled with a y at the end of a multisyllabic word *Gentle Cindy for g and c *Continued writing process for writing stories *Language Arts Menu *Completed a written reflection about the process of interviewing an FA helper. With a goal of using the question as part of the answer and writing in completed sentences. some questions: What was your favorite part of the process? - My favorite part of the process was... What was the most challenging part? The most challenging part of the process was... What is one thing that you learned? Ask your child for more information of their reflection Read Aloud: "Trouble According to Humphrey" by Betty G. Birney Independent reading time - focus on reading journal Children are reminded to log the books they read independently in class and write a few sentences about what they read in their reading journal. Discussed organizing written work into paragraphs Adjectives: describing words - practiced identifying and listing Math: Children continued working with multiplication and division Real world multiplication and division problems - Children practiced solving real world problems using multiplication and division sentences. * Multiplication: Multiplying as counting equal groups *Using equal groups and repeated addition *Making multiplication sentences *Making multiplication stories *Divide to share equally *Divide by repeated subtraction of equal groups Community:
Children worked in small groups to plan out and construct their community. They started with a list of buildings that they considered most important to their community along with 1 recreational building. For each building they listed, the children had to write a sentence to explain why it was important. They then drew a sketch of their design. This week, the construction has begun and will continue into next week. Language Arts: *Spelling - focus on "Gentle Cindy" soft g and soft c when followed by a e, i, or y - as in cent, ginger, cellar, gymnastics *review floss words * long e sound is spelled with a y at the end of a multisyllabic word *Children finished final drafts of their FA Helper Report and Illustrated a picture of them with their "helper." *Continued writing process for writing stories *Completed a written reflection about the process of interviewing an FA helper. With a goal of using the question as part of the answer and writing in completed sentences. some questions: What was your favorite part of the process? - My favorite part of the process was... What was the most challenging part? The most challenging part of the process was... What is one thing that you learned? Ask your child for more information of their reflection Read Aloud: "Trouble According to Humphrey" by Betty G. Birney Independent reading time - focus on reading journal Children are reminded to log the books they read independently in class and write a few sentences about what they read in their reading journal. Math: * Multiplication: Multiplying as counting equal groups *Using equal groups and repeated addition *Making multiplication sentences *Making multiplication stories *Divide to share equally *Divide by repeated subtraction of equal groups Community:
As part of our discussions about community, we brainstormed and listed what makes a community. Children will be working in small groups to plan, sketch out a plan, and work as a team to build a community from recycled materials. Children are encouraged to bring recycled boxes from home the size of a shoe box or smaller. Each group will construct a community from 6 to 8 boxes. They will work on it over the next couple of weeks and are quite excited about this. This week children visited Mr. Murdock's classroom to practice a song that they will be performing at the Winterfest on Wednesday, Dec. 20th at 10:30. The song is Home is Home and 2nd graders will be preforming this song with a few other grades. Note: Children will be dismissed at 12:00 on the day of the WINTERFEST to begin their winter break. Book Exchange: A blue sheet came home on Friday explaining a book exchange that we will be having in class on Dec. 20th. If your child chooses to participate, please keep in mind that you do not need to purchase a new book. Children can choose a "gently used" book from home that they would like to pass on to a friend. We ask that you have the book wrapped in newspaper or plain paper and that you send it to school by Tuesday, Dec. 19th. We look forward to this fun activity with the children. On Thursday, December 14th, second graders will be taking a field trip to Gifts to Give in Acushnet, Massachusetts. Students will have another opportunity to visit the organization and expand upon their knowledge of local heroism and acts of kindness. The goal is for the children to understand that giving back to the community is something that they can do even as seven and eight year olds. We will be leaving at 9:30 in the morning and returning prior to lunch. Students will have a quick snack before leaving for Gifts to Give. Gifts to Give is allowing us to bring along four chaperones. We are looking for two chaperones from each class. Please email me if you are interested. A few things that we've been up to... Language Arts and Spelling: *FA Helper Interview and Report - children continue the process working towards editing and completing their final draft. *Spelling Unit 9 - focused on vowel-consonant-e words and /f/ spelled as ph *Read Aloud - Finished "School Days According to Humphrey" *Discussed what makes a community and interdependence - We explained the role that Gifts to Give plays in the local community. We shared our plans to serve at Gifts to Give on our field trip and learn more about what the organization does for the community. *Weekend News - Journal writing Math: *Bar modeling for comparing sets - We applied this to the drastic temperature change between Tuesday and Wednesday. *Bar modeling - for 2 step addition and subtraction problems *Review of Bar modeling - 1 and 2 step addition and subtraction problems Author Marc Tyler Nobleman gave a wonderful presentation at school on Tuesday. Math: *Introduced Bar modeling for solving addition and subtraction problems *Use bar models to solve addition and subtraction word problems *Apply the inverse operation of subtraction and addition Spelling: *Open and closed syllables *spelling multisyllabic words *long e sound at the end of a multisyllabic word is usually spelled with a y continued practice with previous rules such as long spelling right after short vowel *gentle cindy to practice with the soft c and soft g sound when followed by an e, i, or y Language Arts: * Children continued to work on the writing process for publishing a story *Language Arts Menu - author's choice, spelling practice, reading *Book Clubs *Reflection Journals for independent, book club, and shared reading Outside Snapshots... This Week children also had their first constellation group meeting. Constellations are mixed age groupings. The goal of constellations is to allow children and adults to create relationships and get to know others in the community that they wouldn't otherwise have the opportunity to get to know. On Tuesday, November 21st, the children will be running the Turkey Trot with their constellation group. The Turkey Trot takes place from 1:30 to 3:00 on the Hockey Field. Parents are welcome to join, and children may be dismissed from the field, after the Turkey Trot. Please be sure to remind your child to check out with the teacher. Social Studies: Our through line for second grade is the importance of individuals as part of a community. The children began the year thinking about our classroom community and the importance of each individual. Children conducted an interview to learn about a peer in Ms. Conlon's classroom. This week we discussed the importance of the different roles of people who work at Friends Academy and the importance of their roles in making our school run. Each child chose an FA helper, a position other than teachers, at school. This week children conducted interviews with their selected FA Helper. Next week we will continue to work towards taking the information gathered through interviewing and turning that into a report that will be displayed outside of the second grade classrooms. |