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Our Second Grade Classroom
We had a busy week and enjoyed Portfolio Day, building communities, and a wonderful performance by "Cool Banana Wig." Enjoy the photos below.
Here are some of the things we have been up to. Spelling: In spelling children focused on the concept "when I see a consonant y, I drop the y and add an i es, or ed. Next week is a review week so we will work on it in the classroom. Children will not have a spelling list for homework. Math: In Math, we finished up the chapter on Money. We did a chapter review to go over concepts, and children had their assessment on the unit. Children are bringing home their assessments from this week in Friday Files. We worked on math games for money. This included Coin Memory and "Who Has." Children enjoyed playing these games which give them practice with coin values and adding change together. We also worked in partnerships with play coins to show different amounts. Chapter 12: This week we also began talking about fractions. Children are enthusiastic about working with fractions. Some of the vocabulary that we have discussed are: equal, unequal, whole, fraction, one-half, one-third, one-fourth, unit fraction, numerator, and denominator. Working with fractions and showing equal parts is a great way to exercise this concept at home. Next week we will be working on comparing fractions. Language Arts: We have worked on using KWL charts and global topics to write nonfiction writing. Children have been gathering information, listing what they have learned and some children have begun writing a draft report or poster to share what they have learned. We discussed options for opening sentences for such writing as well as educating the audience. When children complete one inquiry learning, they will be encouraged to start a new one. Other options: publishing personal stories poetry writing Children wrote thank you letters to Grandfriends, and we will be mailing them out next week. Building Communities: As we read "Trouble According to Humphrey" we have noticed several connections with the second grade class in the book including the focus on learning about communities. After brainstorming a list of buildings and things a community might have or need, children put themselves into groups which they will work with to build a model of a community out of recycled materials. I have started a collection of small boxes about the size of a cereal box or smaller. If you'd like to send some in from home, that would help children to build their town. Each group will create about 8 buildings. I look forward to seeing them work as a partnership and use their planning and creativity. A Note from Library: Next week will be the last week for children to check books out at the library. If you have any checked out books please have your child return them by the week of May 20th. As a bonus, Ms. McCullough is offering a small "prize" (in addition to the satisfying feeling of responsible behavior) for students who return all of their library materials by the time that summer vacation starts! :) Thank you SPRING CONCERT: On Thursday, May 23rd at 6:00 p.m., we will be presenting our annual Spring Concert, featuring performances by students in early childhood through grade five, plus our Band of Friends. The concert should last for about an hour and a quarter. Students should arrive at school by 5:45 and go directly to their classrooms. This is a "dress event" for students. Dress pants and shirts with collars (no coat and tie required), dresses, skirts, and blouses, or comparable dress attire are required for this special performance. Students who may be sitting on the stage to play instruments should wear slacks or leggings. Enjoy the weekend, and Happy Mother's Day! It is always a pleasure to share the day with Grandfriends. Children have been preparing for their visit by practicing reading their poem aloud, choosing activities from their Grandfriend Day Choice Menu, and gathering the supplies they would need.
Here is a glimpse of our morning with Grandfriends. I hope you enjoy the photos. Our Schedule: Greeting and Tour of classroom "Swap" greeting Poetry Readings Activities from Choice Menu: choices included - *Poetry writing *Interview your Grandfriend *Coin Exchange math game *Shopping math game *Top-It Math Game *Writing a personal narrative *Readers' Theater ...and more Language Arts:
We continued practice with parts of speech. We have discussed the meaning of verb (action verbs), adjectives, and nouns - both common and proper. Ask your child to tell you what each one means. We played an activity that required students to identify each word as one of the above. If it was a verb a group of children would act out the action word. *Children have also been exploring their poet’s ear through the opportunity to write poetry during language arts time. Writing poetry is another option children have when working with their Language Arts Choice Menu. One type of poetry we explored this week, is a Cinquain poem which consists of a specific arrangement of words and lines. We began this lesson with a review parts of speech: noun, adjective, and verb. Cinquain Poem Line 1: noun Line 2: 2 describing (adjectives) Line 3: 3 verbs (action or doing words) ending in ing Line 4: 4 words describing how you feel about the noun in line 1 Line 5: another word for the noun in line 1 Example: Tree Tall, Strong Standing, swaying, growing Beautiful art in nature Maple Inquiry Learning: When students are not in book club or immersed in writing workshop, they are doing a Language Arts Choice Menu. This balanced literacy approach allows for children to strengthen both their reading and writing skills during our language arts block. One option on the Language Arts Choice Menu is Inquiry. Inquiry allows the children to choose topics that they would like to learn more about and independently research the topics. Students document this process in a KWLH chart (What I Know, What I Want to Know? What I Have Learned, and How I Have Learned). Students then decide a way to showcase what they have learned to informally share with their classmates. Finally, students will complete a reflection on the entire process. This is an ongoing project therefore there is no due date. I have discussed with the class that it is better to complete one KWLH to the best of their ability than to complete many that reflect little or no effort. As a class, we discussed the goals and expectations of inquiry-based learning:
Math Practiced the following concepts:
Making Global Connections: We welcome presenters for contributions and helping us with our global studies. In the past, parents have shared about their ancestors and connections to various places on the map. Some topics that parents included last year were Brazilian dance called Capoeira, information about various countries and their flags, children's story books, landscape, common hobbies or interests, foods, etc. This Week, we have read the following books: *The Red Bicycle: The Extraordinary Story of One Ordinary Bicycle by Jude Isabella * Wangari’s Trees of Peace - A True Story from Africa By Jeanette Winter Children will continue to reflect on their learning, make connections using our 2nd grade world map, and are considering global topics for inquiry learning. Upcoming Events: Friday, May 3rd is Grandfriends’ Day. Dismissal will take place at 12:00. Please pack a snack and drink for your child on this day. Details regarding this event can be found on the FA website. Another event around the corner is the Spring Concert on Thursday, May 23rd (6:00 - 7:30). Please remember that this is a dress event. Dress pants and shirts with collars (no coat and tie required), dresses, skirts and blouses, or other comparable dress . Language Arts Persuasive writing: After the Kindness Club passed out flyers offering to make our classroom a glass or plastic glitter jar, we discussed the purpose and format of persuasive writing. I offered children the opportunity to write a persuasive letter or paragraph convincing me to request either a plastic or glass glitter jar from the Kindness Club. We discussed important components of the writing such as a topic sentence, stating points to support your preference, and closing up by bringing it all together and restating your suggestion in a closing sentence. After reading children's persuasive writing aloud, we decided to go with the glass jar. One second grader wrote a letter on behalf of our class, thanking the Kindness club for their offer and requesting a glass jar. On Friday, our jar was delivered. Second graders are beginning to use reader’s theater scripts during Book Club. We first began as a whole group reading the readers' theater Friends Around the World which taught about children from various places around the world. Sharing some of their favorite foods, interests, and other facts, characters taught about their culture and land. As a whole group, we discussed as a class how readers theater will help strengthen our second grade reading goals: decoding, comprehension, fluency (and expression), and stamina. Making predictions: After reading Trouble According to Humphrey, children predicted what would happen to two characters from the book. One character named, Miranda, was in danger of losing her classroom job as the animal keeper. Little does the the teacher, Mrs. Brisbane, know that Miranda was innocent and carried out all of her duties responsibly. Perhaps your child can tell you how and why she was in danger of losing her classroom job. Another child children made predictions about was Art. He had the opportunity to study and retake a spelling test that he did not do so well on. After making predictions about what would happen with both events, we read on to find out what happened. Children reflected on their predictions. This week, children will have the opportunity to "write a letter to a character from the book." I wonder...Will they choose to write to Mrs. Brisbane and let her know what really happened and that Miranda did nothing to lose her job? Math
In social studies, we began the week by looking at the world map and identifying the continents and oceans. The goal is for students to understand the difference between a town/city, state, country, and continent. We spent time looking at the world map in order to learn where the continents and oceans are located. This spring, we will continue discussing the topic of community and good citizenship with our focus on global citizens. The goal is for second graders to understand that the world is connected and there is only one planet. Through our discussions, readings, and visitors, students will understand that our actions can have a direct or indirect impact on other people around the world. The class created a list of “wants” and “needs” of an individual. The list of “wants” we realize can be quite extensive while the list of “needs” only had about four items on it (food, water, shelter, clothes). We discussed how food, water, shelter, clean air, and clothing are basic human rights that everyone should have access to, but everyone does not. Having this awareness allows the children to think about ways that they can help others on a global level. To help us understand the global world, we will be reading about individuals that are actively making a difference in the world. We will also begin the process of creating a bulletin board of any global connections and information that we learn about over the next few weeks. The board is a work in progress and will be added to the more we learn. To strengthen our understanding of the global community, we would love the student to be exposed to as many different countries and cultures as possible. Since we cannot travel the world, we would like like the world to come to us! If you or a family member would be interested in discussing a country of importance, please email me and we can set up a time for you to visit the class. Another way to get involved would be to share photos or read a story related to the country and culture that is meaningful to you. The more exposure the students have to different cultures, the better they will understand how the world is connected.
Spelling: *Spelling Unit 20 Focus : /oo/ sound as in zoo. Spelled: oo, u - consonant -e, and ew We discussed where we see each of these spellings such as beginning, middle, and end of words. We also practiced the ui for suit. We continue to practice other rules and skills such as breaking words into syllables in order to spell it correctly as well as looking to the base word for accurate spellings. Continued with the above lessons and completed the spelling assessment for this unit. Math: ROUNDING NUMBERS TO ESTIMATE: rounding numbers to the nearest ten using a number line rounding 2 digit and 3 digit numbers to the nearest ten marking numbers on a number line using rounding to estimate sums and differences using estimating to check that answers are reasonable Guests: This week, children met with Andrew Forsthoefel, author of the book Walking to Listen He spoke with children about his walk across America to hear people's stories and make human connections. His presentation offered ideas such as being a good listener, understanding that everyone has a perspective and story to share, and making connections with others. Lyn Hoopes, author, poet, and photographer, visited our class this week to talk about poetry. Children connected poetry to landscape photographs that inspired their weavings in art. You can see your children's art and poetry at Arts and Poetry Night on Thursday, April 25th at 6:00pm. Language Arts: *Poetry *KWL charts: Children learned how to choose a topic they are interested in learning about and fill out a KWL chart to help in researching. First children chose a topic then began with their chart. K: What I know about this subject W: What I want to know At this point before filling out the L portion of the chart, children were encouraged to use their Library class time to select a nonfiction book on their topic. Some children have begun reading to learn more in order to proceed to the L section on their chart: What I learned. Children will have the opportunity to write about their topic and explore with more inquiry learning in the future. *Reading poetry *Thank you Letters: Children wrote first and final draft thank you letters to their Community Heroes. Thank you for the Community Hero Event photos that you shared. Enjoy those, and snapshots of our days, below. Community Hero Meet and Greet:
The children did a wonderful job today singing and presenting all of the research and work they did for this project. Thank you all for your help and contributions in helping to make this event special. Throughout the week, children practiced their song on the stage, had a run-through setting up and presenting their projects, adding final touches, and reviewing facts learned. A special thank you to Mr. Felix, Mr. Bean, and Mrs. Cogliano for their special contributions and help as well as Ms. Lipman, Ms O'Brien, and Ms. Cooper for their help throughout the project. Guest Readers: Students from 7th Grade English class came to our class this week to share some of their own favorite stories. They read each story aloud and then shared some favorite book series while 2nd graders shared their own personal favorites. Thank you, Alden and Tyler, for sharing with us. Spelling: *Spelling Unit 20 Focus : /oo/ sound as in zoo. Spelled: oo, u - consonant -e, and ew We discussed where we see each of these spellings such as beginning, middle, and end of words. We also practiced the ui for suit. We continue to practice other rules and skills such as breaking words into syllables in order to spell it correctly as well as looking to the base word for accurate spellings. Math: *Continued to practice mental math techniques and strategies focusing on subtraction This week we discussed the following strategies- * STRATEGY EXAMPLE: Subtract tens from a three digit number mentally using the 'subtract 100 then add the extra tens' strategy. Example: 345 - 80 can be solved by First using 345 - 100 = 245 Next: 245 + 20 = 265 So, 345 -80 = 265 We used number bonds to discover different combinations that equal 100. For example, 100 = 80 + 20. This allowed children to see the difference of 20 that needs to be added after the 100 is subtracted in the example above. *STRATEGY EXAMPLE: Subtract hundreds from a 3 - digit number mentally using the 'subtract the hundreds' strategy. Example: 272 - 100 by separating the (hundreds from the tens and ones) 72 from the 200 to allow you to subtract (200 - 100) = 100 Then adding the (tens and ones) 72 back in 100 and 72 = 172 *Meaning of difference Sad to Say Good-Bye We have also learned that Olivia and Raymond will be starting at a new school next Monday. We are so sad to see them go and took some time this afternoon to give them a proper goodbye along with a booklet created by classmates filled with special memories and compliments. Raymond and Olivia, we wish you the best at your new school. Community:
Children have been working on their community projects. Whether students are painting, drawing, coloring, writing, building, or sculpting, each project is beginning to take shape. They are doing a great job and enjoying the process! Final reports are almost complete, and children have begun to design the cover for their Hero report using KID PIX. Once again, children carried out the steps of the writing process. This time with a little more confidence as many came up with their own closing sentence. Spelling: In spelling this week, we spent time working on rhyming with different word families such as "ang", "ing", "ong", and "ung". Children worked on putting words in alphabetical order and focused on some words that pertained to their hero using the Trace, Copy, Cover, Away - study method. Math: *Meaning of SUM - relate the term to the addition operation when working with word problems Understanding the sentence....Find the sum of 86 and 37...can be intimidating to the students, but we have spent some time practicing such examples. *Continued practice with bar modeling and word problems *Mental addition - add 3 digit numbers mentally with and without regrouping using a variety of strategies - add the ones strategy: 253 + 6= ? Add the 3 and 6 (ones) separately and then add that sum to the tens and hundreds = 3+6=9, so 250 +9 =259 -add ten then subtract the extra ones strategy: 128 + 4 = ? The idea is that it is easier to add ten. Know that 4 + 6 = 10 Add 10 to 128 - 128 + 10 = 138, subtract the extra 6 - 138 - 6 = 132 So, 128 + 4 = 132 We will continue to explore additional mental math strategies next week. Coin flip cup game - using two sided chips for practice with finding the sum of 10 in a variety of different combinations. Pictures are included below. Great job singing at All School Meeting, Charlotte! We have more performances by our second graders coming up soon. It was a pleasure to meet with each of you for Parent-Teacher Conferences. Last week, children spent time decorating Valentine's boxes and delivering Valentine's to each other. Thank you to our wonderful room parents and parent volunteers for making our Valentine's celebration a wonderful experience. Enjoy the photos below.
Community: *Children transferred interview questions into complete sentences in statement form. For example, they took a question and answer such as What are the tools you use (for your job)? Answer: hammer, truck, and nails and converted it into: The tools Mr. Jansen uses for his job are a hammer, nails, and a truck. This paper has served as a graphic organizer as children write their report. *Students also worked on first and second drafts this week. We will continue working on this next week as well. *Children worked on planning out the project portion of their Hero Study. They sketched out what their project would look like, and we will begin with dedicating time on creating these next week. Math: *In math, children worked on an assessment for both our chapter on measurement and a benchmark assessment. Homework - NEXT WEEK... * There will be no spelling homework for next week. Instead, I will be sending home an optional math packet with practice for solving word problems and some of the other math skills we have been working on in class. Feel free to keep it at home or send it back to school. I will also send home a small packet of some comprehension pages from children's reading journals. Again, please use these as you see fit. Children could write about a book they've read at home. |