This week in Wonders, the children will be learning about different features of animal habitats. We have spent a great amount of time on this in our Science learning already, and I am sure the students will enjoy being experts in their field. We will focus on the soft c and g sounds this week. Anytime the letters c or g are followed by an I, e, or y they make their soft sound. The soft c sound is /s/ and the soft g sound is /j/. Our spelling words will focus on this pattern for the week. As well, we will continue to work on main ideas and details. The students are progressing nicely in this area; it is exciting to see! As well, we will continue to learn about suffixes on words, and how the change the meaning of the word.
In Math this week, we will begin to study the relationship between addition and subtraction. Students will review fact families, and begin to learn strategies to help them become more fluent in their subtraction facts. I will send home their logins for connected this week. They can access the math games we use in school. It would be wonderful if they could logon and practice a game for about ten minutes per evening, to continue to build their automaticity with math facts. The additional exposure and practice will help them more quickly recall the facts.
We will begin to look at maps and mapping skills this week. We will learn about the seven continents, and work to zoom in on where our town is located on a map. We will work over the next few weeks to learn about map features, such as a cardinal rose, map keys, and following map directions. This will culminate with the students building a map of their own!
In writing this week, we will work on using temporal words (first, next, then, finally). These are important words that help transition a reader from one important ideas to the next within a story. We will become masters with these words before moving on to find alternative ways to write these words (such as- shortly after that, a bit later, etc.). Students will then begin to plan a piece of writing that includes these words.
December 9th- No School
December 23rd- Early Release
A week without Wonders! This week we will forgo our normal Wonders routine due to only having 2 ½ days of school. Instead we will focus in on one of my favorite Science topics; Matter. Students will explore the three states of matter (solid, liquid, and gas) learning about how some things change with heating and cooling. They will also learn the properties of these three states of matter and have a chance to experiment. We will turn cream into butter with our buddy class, cook an egg (a change that cannot be reversed) and melt ice. We will end our learning on Wednesday with a fun activity that displays all three states of matter (root beer floats). As well, we will make oobleck – a substance that defies all the rules.
In Math we will take our unit 2 assessment and review with math games. We will wrap up our story writing this week, and continue to focus on reflecting about the beginning of the year goals we have set. Many of the students have begun to meet or have met their goals. These students are setting new goals for themselves. As well, we will be writing from the point of view of a Pilgrim or Wampanoag child, telling about our first Thanksgiving.
As a reminder, Wednesday will be an early release day and school will end at 12:00.
I hope you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday.
This week in our wonders program we will explore the question, “What can animals in stories teach us?” Students will continue to work on making predictions before and during reading. As well, this week we will look at the skill of identifying the problem and solution within a story. This is like cause and effect, but in this text structure, our characters will take many steps to solve the problem. Some will be successful, and some will not. Keep an eye out for these story types as your read to your children. Ask them to:
1. Identify the problem
2. Tell you the steps the characters took to solve the problem
3. What the solution was
We will learn about the long u and short u sounds this week. Spelling work will return to normal this week. As well, we will begin to learn about open and closed syllable types. For more information about the six syllable types, check out the video below:
In Math this week, we will work to identify shape attributes (properties), and begin to explore multiple ways to build numbers. For instance, students may build the number 10 by adding 6+4, or they may add and subtract: 6+6-2. Students will work to add and subtract numbers as they play the game, Target Number. Directions to this game can be found here:
Most our learning in mathematics this week will be hands on, exploration based. We will review any challenging material before we take our end of the unit assessment next week.
We will continue our story writing this week, with a focus on showing how our characters feel, and not just telling how they feel. We will make our characters think, move, and feel this week during our writing block, staying focused on a small moment as we tell stories.
Finally, we will begin to explore heating and cooling this week. Students will work to learn about sources of heat, and will make predictions about what will happen to objects as they are heated and cooled. Specifically, students will learn that some objects when heated cannot be returned to their original state (think an egg), while others can (think ice being melted and refrozen).
It was wonderful to meet with all of you during our parent/teacher conferences this past week. We will meet again in the Spring, but feel free to reach out at any time! Report Cards will come home on Friday, November 18th. Please keep the copy of the report card, but sign and return the envelope to school.
11/16 – School Board Meeting, Library, 6:30
11/16 – PTA Meeting, Art Room, 7:00
11/18- Report Cards Go Home
11/23 – Early Release 12:00
11/24-11/25- Thanksgiving Recess, No School
Hello Second Grade Families!
We have a bit of a zig-zag week ahead, as there are two non-school days. Remember that school is closed on voting day as well as on Friday in honor of Veteran’s Day. Thank you to the many Veteran’s we have as parents in our classroom, I appreciate your service!
This will be a review week in reading, as we won’t have a full week of instruction. We will catch up on some of our stories, reviewing character, setting, and plot. As well, we will learn how to use text evidence (words from the story) to prove our answers. In reading groups we continue to practice making predictions before and during reading. We then go back to see if we can confirm our predictions.
Since this is not a typical Wonders week, I am sending home modified spelling this week. We will practice writing number words, an important skill as we explain our thinking in writing. There will still be a traditional spelling menu, but the words will all be number words this week.
In math, we will spend the majority of the week focused on even and odd numbers. We will sort dominoes with even and odd totals, review even and odd numbers in larger numerals, and look for patterns with these numbers. We will also build shapes using our geoboards.
In writing this week, the students will continue to develop a seed story. A seed story focuses on a small moment in time. I use the example of a watermelon to teach this idea. A watermelon story would be a topic, such as Christmas. A watermelon slice story would be a subtopic, such as Christmas Eve. A seed story would be a small moment, such as opening your favorite gift on Christmas morning. The students are progressing well with this skill, and we will continue to work on it this week.
As we zoom in on a small moment, we have much more space for descriptive words and voice in our story. We are working on showing our characters feelings instead of just telling them. For instance, instead of saying our character is surprised, a student would write: My eyes became huge. I could feel my mouth hanging open in disbelief. I could not have imagined this would happen.
Finally……Cuddles! We will be building our cage this week. I eagerly await the student permission slips that went home on Friday, so that our class pet can arrive. Feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.
Have a wonderful week!