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Our Second Grade Classroom
Community Hero Project:
Children continue to meet with their Community Heroes, interview them, and introduce them to the class. It has been exciting meeting so many wonderful people in our community. The children have done a fantastic job preparing for these interviews. We discussed the importance of being prepared for an interview with questions written and ready to go. We have some possible options in the works, but are still in search of an illustrator and art teacher if anyone has any suggestions. Hero Project Choice Paper - to be signed by parents. Friday a sheet will go home with your child that includes choices for presenting what they have learned for our Community Hero Event. Please read this over and have your child return it to school next Wednesday ( Feb. 13th) Field Trip to Stop and Shop: Speaking of part of our community, children learned the importance of a grocery store as a source for food as well as important things such as health, nutrition, and and how our choices impact the environment. Our field trip was enjoyable and educational. We discussed the impact of the store, local food sources, recycling, and plastic waste on our community and environment. Children learned about the food groups and healthy food choices. During our tour of the produce and deli section of the store, children tasted fruit and turkey. We learned a variety of things about how the store is run and many of the roles at the grocery store. We got behind the scenes tours of the recycling room, meat department, and even touched a lobster at the seafood department. Children saw food get packaged and labeled as well as the compressing machine for recycling. Children learned the importance of recycling (though they do show concern and commitment to this on a daily basis) and that a plastic water bottle will take over 1000 years to break down. Ask your child if they remember how many types of apples exist. Each child was also given a reusable Patriots shopping bag filled with goodies. And the trip wouldn't be complete without a visit from the robot, Marty. Enjoy the pictures below.
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This week, Community Hero Interviews began. We have more scheduled for next week. Children are enjoying meeting each hero and learning a bit about their job as they visit for their interview. Thank you for all of your help in connecting us to a variety of heroes in our community. Second Graders did a fantastic job presenting their research about FA Helpers. Thank you to Seema Valone for the great photos!
Here is another look at their hard work! Great job, 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 PLEASE Note - next week is a review week. There will be no spelling list going home for homework. *LAM - children continue to choose a language arts activity during conferencing time and reading groups. We have spent a good amount of time on the writing process and publishing stories. *Reading TIME magazine *Read Aloud: Children drew a picture and wrote a caption about a scene from our read aloud - Friendship According to Humphrey *Brainstormed, chose, highlighted, and wrote out 8 or more important questions for upcoming Community Hero Interviews I am in the process of scheduling interviews. I may reach out for more contacts. Community:Second graders have begun preparing for our Community Heroes Meet and Greet on Thursday, March 29th 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, I have been contacting people in our community for our students to interview. Since we are working around the schedules of our heroes, interviews are still being scheduled. 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 Friday, March 29th. 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, we 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. Children continued to practice for their FA Helper Presentation on stage with the microphone. The presentation will be on Wednesday, January 30th 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. Math:
*Practice skip counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s 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 Practiced the pattern of numbers (1-9) X 10 = _0 *Divide using related multiplication facts: * 7 x 5 = 35 * 5 x 7 = 35 * 35 ÷ 7 = 5 *35 ÷ 5 = 7 Children worked with similar problems to recognize the relation between problems. Practice with multiplication facts (2s, 5s, and 10s) at home and with the concept of the above related facts. Language Arts: *Book Clubs and Language Arts menu - children join with reading groups to read and discuss books. During LA rotation, they can work on any of the following depending on the day: Lexia, Raz Kids, Author's Choice, Writing a book, Spelling practice, etc. *Spelling - Chapter 14 focused on spellings ore, or and ar. Children have also practiced reciting and applying spelling rules from previous spelling lessons and units; putting spelling words in alphabetical order; editing spelling words in context; and using the "trace, copy, cover, away" method to practice personal spelling lists. *Writing - children continue in the writing process in beginning a new personal moment story from their writers' notebook which they then add detail to. *Handwriting *Making Posters for Game NightCommunity *Some children helped to create a poster for Game Night Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We read Martin's Big Words by Doreen Rappaport and discussed his impact and how inspires us to continue to make a positive impact on the world. Community *As a continuation of our study on communities, we have begun to talk about our local community and reflect on our discussion about heroes. We listed people who are in our surrounding communities and discussed how they are local heroes by positively impacting the community. We generated a list which includes a variety of jobs such as doctors, postal workers, police officers, etc. Children will once again carry out the interview process, this time, with a local hero. Children made a first, second, and third choice of one community hero that they would be interested in learning more about. They wrote one sentence explaining why they are interested in that particular job. We are in the process of assigning heroes and contacting people that fill these roles to set up interviews. These are the first few steps in what will end with our Community Heroes Event. Please mark your calendars for March 29th 8:30-9:30 when our second graders will present what they learned throughout this process. *I may be reaching out to you all for any contacts you might have for the list of community workers that children would like to interview. This would include their hero coming to school for a 15 minute interview and hopefully attending our Meet and Greet on Friday, March 29th from 8:30 to 9:30. I will be in touch with any contacts we are looking for. *Children have spent time practicing for their FA Helper Presentation that will take place at All-School Meeting on Wednesday, January 30th. We look forward to seeing you there. Math: In Math, we have been working on multiplication. Children started multiplying by twos and using skip counting and their fingers to multiply groups of two. We discussed that the multiplication sentence - 6X2= can be solved by counting skips groups of two on our fingers - 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12. We used this method as well as dot paper to figure out multiplication problems with 2s, then 5s, and finally 10s. Topics and Vocabulary: Multiplying 2 using skip counting and dot paper Multiplying 5 using skip counting and dot paper Multiplying 10 using skip counting and dot paper Using known multiplication facts to find new multiplication facts Identifying related multiplication facts: 5x4 =20 and 4x5=20 Solving multiplication word problems In the pictures below: Children voted on a special greeting and the "snowball" greeting was the one we did for today! Division with Unifix cubes Making bracelets with beads: some children made one for their FA Helper and others Student share Working on Lexia Language Arts:
*Winter Break Brainstorm List: Children reflected on their break and listed 4 moments or experiences which they could elaborate on in a writing piece. This will serve as an idea reference for upcoming stories. * Children met in reading groups and continued practicing independent reading with good-fit books. *Continued hearing the read aloud Friendship According to Humphrey *Letters Home - As a class we reflected about our week back at school. Children chose a couple of things to highlight in their letter to families. *Thank you Letters - After reviewing the format of a letter and shared writing of a thank you letter, children wrote a thank you letter to the Friends Academy Helper whom they interviewed. We reviewed the date, greeting, message, closing, and signature. Letters included a thank you and one part of the experience which they enjoyed. Second graders will present these letters to their helpers at the conclusion of our presentation on Wednesday, January 30th. They will also have a copy saved for their portfolio. *Children have been working on a variety of things during our language arts period: final draft of "thank you" letters, hero pieces, story writing, and the Language Arts Menu. Some children are finishing up their first publication and others are continuing with the writing process by beginning a new story. Children will use their Winter Break Brainstorm list as an optional idea bank for upcoming nonfiction stories. Spelling: *Unit 14: This week, our unit focuses on the ir, er, and ur and when to use each one. We are also reviewing such concepts as the doubling rule for a word that ends in a consonant-vowel-consonant; and dropping the e before adding ing or ed to a word that ends in a consonant e. Math: *Reviewing multiplication and division: How to multiply equal groups, repeated addition, share equally in division, divide equally using repeated subtraction Some examples: *understanding that 30 divided by 6 equal groups = 5 items in each group OR 30 - 5-5-5-5-5-5=0 *understanding that 6 equal groups of 5 items = 30. 5+5+5+5+5+5=30 Deciphering between these two operations can be a challenge. *Read, understand, and solve real-word multiplication and division problems Practicing these concepts at home is a great way to help solidify students' understanding and skills. Also completed. . . *Chapter Wrap up and Extra Practice *Assessment on Multiplication and Division on Friday *Next week we will begin our chapter on multiplication tables of 2s, 5s, and 10s. Community: *In order to prepare for the presentation of their work with their FA Helper research, children wrote what they will speak at the presentation. They reviewed their research and using a template filled in a couple of specific details which they will share at all-school meeting on January 30th. Children completed a final draft of these and practice reading them out loud. We will continue practice over the next couple of weeks. We hope you can join us on that morning. This Week...
Children practiced for their Winterfest Concert on Friday, December 21st. Rehearsals will continue this upcoming week. Language Arts: * Spelling review and practice; buddy studying; waterfall spelling practice *Daily Oral Language: children correct sentences with spelling and grammatical errors. This week we worked on punctuation to show possession, period, question mark, spelling, capital letters and correct verb usage. *Children worked on the writing process for publishing nonfiction personal stories. *Children worked on a paper that they started a couple of weeks ago which focused on the qualities of a hero. Children chose someone who inspires them and that they consider a personal hero while explaining why that person is a hero and how they possess the qualities of a good citizen. From there, children turned their thoughts into a paragraph using the paper as a guide. *Language Arts Menu Technology: * As a last step of the publishing process, children were given the option to draw a book cover or use the program KIDPIX to design their book cover. *Lexia Core 5 reading program *Raz Kids IXL - Math Program - focused on diagnosed practice and multiplication Math: vocabulary: multiply, times, group, item, repeated addition, multiplication sentence, multiplication story, share, divide, equal groups, division sentence, division sentence, repeated subtraction Multiplication and Division *making multiplication stories about pictures *using equal groups and repeated addition to multiply 5+5+5=15 and 3x5=15 *making multiplication sentences *dividing to share equally *Divide by repeated subtraction of equal groups 20- 5-5-5-5=0 and 20 ÷5 = 4 *practiced making equal groups of items and dividing items into equal groups using unifix cubes Language Arts:
* Journal writing - Weekend news - Children continue to work towards adding detail such as when, what, where, why, how, and who. *Story Maps - Children have been working on finding good fit books for independent reading time. Once they finish, they were asked to fill in a story map in their Reading Comprehension Journal. This focuses on character, setting (when and where), problem/goal, solution, and summary. *Continued the writing process (prewriting using a graphic organizer; rough draft; revising; editing; conferencing; publishing) for a nonfiction story. Children are excited to publish their stories creating a book cover designed on KIDPIX. *Language Arts Menu: children continue to rotate through a variety of language arts exercises in between working on their rough draft. Many children have enjoyed author's choice writing a letter, a booklet story, or poem. *Reading groups SPELLING: *This week focused on long vowel sounds and the variety of ways to spell them. We will not have a spelling list go home next week as it is a review week and we will practice spelling in class. MATH: *Focused on Bar modeling - Children are working on word problems and using the information to create a bar model to represent the problem which then helps them to determine whether the solution is reached by adding or subtracting. The bar can be a challenge, but they will continue to practice with this concept throughout the grades. *Chapter assessment on Bar Modeling - Will go home with children on Monday *Cumulative Review which reviewed concepts throughout the year: place value, addition, subtraction, greater than, less than, and other concepts. *Began working with multiplication: The concept of repeated addition and the relationship to multiplication: 5+5+5+5=20 is same as 4 groups of 5 = 20 or 4x5=20. Winterfest: *Children have been working on their songs for Winterfest which will take place in the commons on Friday, December 21 at 10:30 with a 12:00 dismissal time on that day. After that, we head off to winter break. After-school program will be available until 5:30 on Friday, Dec. 21st. Next week, children will begin rehearsals for WINTERFEST. NBSO PRESENTATION: Children enjoyed a humorous and educational presentation by the NEW BEDFORD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA The presentation linked the idea of recycling, reusing, and reducing plastic to music and how melodies can be reused, recycled, and repurposed. Ms. Walkowicz stressed that a composer would never through away a melody after just one use. She linked this to the importance of recycling or even repurposing plastic. All this was demonstrated with beautiful live instrumental performances. She gave the children wonderful ideas of how to repurpose plastic such as turning a water bottle into a bird feeder or a pot for a plant. One interesting connection to what we have been doing in class, was of the word inversion in music. Children learned that it is when you turn a melody upside down. We connected that to the inverse operation in math which we use to check our addition and subtraction. Language Arts: * Nonfiction Story: Children began the writing process for a nonfiction story about themselves. After having the process modeled first with a graphic organizer and then a first draft, children brainstormed and chose a personal story to write about. We will continue this process next week as children pre-write using a graphic organizer, write a rough draft, revise with a friends input, edit, conference with teacher, and publish. Children are excited to use the computer program KidPix art studio to design and type a book cover for their story. We are focusing on the importance of the process and doing our best work. *The Second Grade Friends Academy Helpers reports are posted outside of our classroom. Second graders will present some of what they learned about our FA community at All-School Meeting on Wednesday, January 30th. I hope you can make it. *After reading Superhero ABC by Bob McLeod, discussing the qualities of a good citizen, and connecting that to an everyday hero, children started prewriting about someone close to them that they consider an everyday hero. Spelling: *Focus on vowel consonant e for long vowel spelling and the soft c when followed by e, i, or y. Ask your child about Gentle Cindy who is posted in our room and reminds us of the soft g and c sounds. Perhaps they could try to draw a picture of her. Math: *Using bar modeling to work out Real-World Two-Step Problems *Using bar modeling to compare sets *Using the inverse operation to check computation One last FA Helper photo to enjoy.
A few things that we've been up to...
Matt Tavares gave a wonderful presentation at school on Thursday. Math: *Used bar models to solve addition and subtraction word problems * Bar modeling to compare sets *Apply the inverse operation of subtraction and addition Spelling: *Spelling Unit 9 - focused on vowel-consonant-e words and /f/ spelled as ph Also reviewed and practiced: *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 worked in their Language Arts Menu - which includes options such as author's choice, spelling practice, reading, Lexia Core 5, RazKids *Book Clubs - guided reading groups *FA Helper Interview and Report - children continue the process working towards editing and completing their final draft. *Author Reflection: Children wrote in their Writer's Notebook about Matt Tavares's presentation and what they learned and enjoyed. A huge thank you to all the parents that helped with our Halloween Celebration. The kids enjoyed creative and fun activities. Enjoy the photos. This week Language Arts: *Children filled out a reflection about their student-led conferences. *Children wrote interview questions for their FA Helper so they are prepared for interviews which are mostly scheduled for next week. *Recently, we discussed topics to write about. We brainstormed ideas. Children then filled out a web style graphic organizer focusing on a main topic and then supporting details. Children then wrote a first draft paragraph with a topic, supporting, and closing sentences. We then conferenced to edit drafts. Most children are either in the process of finishing up or have finished their final draft. These pieces will be added to the 2nd Grade Learning Portfolio. *Honesty- Today we read a book titled: A Days Work by Eve Bunting. It is about a grandfather that models honesty. We discussed the importance of honesty and then children wrote about a situation in which they could show honesty. They were thoughtful and reflective. Spelling:
Children worked on the spelling skill: Long spelling right after short vowel. We discussed how we use the following spellings directly after a short vowel: tch, ck, and gde. For example, we would spell batch with tch rather than ch because it is the /ch/ sound right after the short vowel a. we learned ch = tch as in ditch k = ck as in back j = dge as in judge Math: * We are finishing up the chapter on subtraction with and without regrouping. Children have learned and practice subtracting with regrouping in the ones, tens, ones and tens together, and regrouping across zeros. It is is tricky skill, but they're doing great. Any practice at home is beneficial. Next week, children will have a review of the chapter and then an assessment. |