Post 11

Dear Families,

Next week, we will be discussing Thanksgiving in our classrooms with special attention given in our lessons to the themes of kindness and gratitude. We'd like your help in making snack time on Wednesday, November 23rd, extra special as we head into the Thanksgiving break. To help with this, please include a note to your child with their snack and include the many reasons you are thankful for your child.  

-- Your Second Grade Teachers

Book Fair Thanks

Thank you to all who donated books to our classroom from the book fair. It is so wonderful to have such a kind and thoughtful group of children and families in our class. We will enjoy these books this year and in the years to come. Thanks again!! 

Ralph Masiello

Author and illustrator, Ralph Masiello, visited our classroom yesterday. He was very entertaining and the students enjoyed learning about the book making process with him. They also enjoyed drawing with him. This program was brought to our classroom by the Creative Arts and Sciences Committee, who were also responsible for last week's school-wide presentation by Tanglewood Marionettes. We would love to have some of his books for our classroom. If you are willing to purchase and donate one of these books to our class, here is a link to our wish list.

Less messy snacks

Thank you to those who have made a special effort to send your child in with less messy snacks to eat during our reading time. Both our books and I am grateful! 

IMPORTANT DATES:

November 23rd: 12:00 dismissal (This is one of 2 early release days at noon (not 12:30) during the school year. The other is on the last day of school. There is no extended day or ASCA on these days. Please plan accordingly.)

November 24-25: Thanksgiving Break - NO SCHOOL 

December 1st from 6:30-8:30: Responsive Home Workshop - The Social and Emotional Learning Department of the Newton Public Schools will be sponsoring Responsive Home Workshops for families to help you create a calm, supportive and encouraging environment at home. This workshop goes hand in hand with the Responsive Classroom work that we are doing in the classroom. I attended the workshop on November 7th and would highly recommend it!  

REMINDERS: 

Homework: Homework will continue to be sent home each Monday, should be completed one day at a time throughout the week (days are written on the bottom of each page) and should be returned on Fridays. On Thursday nights, there is dictation that parents need to help with, as you will dictate sounds, words and sentences and your child will write them. The sheet that you will read and the recording sheet are both in the packet. Here is a link to an article about ways to help your child with homework at home for some tips on how to manage homework at home. 

Wow words: Thank you for your increased participation with this! Many children came in with words to share and our sharing was quite rich! Please continue to make it part of your daily routine. Each Wednesday in our class is Wow Word Wednesday. Our Wednesday morning work is to write and decorate a Wow Word and we need your help with this. During the week, as you are reading and talking with your child, there will be words that are new to him/her. I encourage your children to inquire about these unfamiliar words and I would like you to do the same, as this is one way your child can be in control of his/her own learning. These new vocabulary words are wow words - words that they can teach the class so that we are all increasing our vocabulary! Please help your child to learn what these wow words mean (Here is a link to Merriam Webster for kids - Word Central). If it is helpful to your child to help learn these words, s/he can jot them down on the Wow Word worksheet in our child's folder. If your child encounters many wow words each week, feel free to have him/her write them on the sheet, but they will pick 1 word to teach us each week. Here is a link to the wow word worksheet in case you need a new one.

Home Toys: Please remind your children to leave all home toys, phones, trading cards, etc. at home. They can be a distraction to our learning and are best left at home.

CURRICULUM UPDATE:

In reading we: 

• Read The School Mouse by Dick King Smith and Time for Kids about ugly vegetables.
• Worked on understanding story elements (setting, characters, plot, problem and resolution) in stories read aloud and stories we are reading independently.  

At home, continue to have books talks with your child. Also, ask them about ugly vegetables. What is the problem with these ugly vegetables and what are some possible solutions. Also, continue to discuss rich vocabulary that you find in the books you are reading. Have your child record these on their wow word worksheet and see if you can use some of these words in your daily conversations.  

In Fundations (Word Study) we: 

• Practiced reading and writing words with the the suffixes -s, -es, -ing, -ed, -er and -est.   
• Trick words: again, animal, please 

At home, Please refer to the Unit 4 family letter to learn how you can support our word study work at home. Also, look though the fundations - word study section on my website. There, you will find all of the first and second grade trick words. If your child needs practice with these words, please practice through activities such as playing bingo, memory or through reviewing them on flashcards. Here is a link to a great website with different sight word games that you might like to try. Finally, please check your child's homework each night with them to see if they are grasping the fundations concepts that they are practicing. If they are not, please let me know by writing down your observations on the back of the homework sheet, but also feel free to help teach them concepts they are not grasping. 

Next week, we will continue our work in unit 4, which focuses on the suffixes -s, -es, -ed, -ing, -er and -est. We will learn that -ed may sound like /ed/ as in rented, /d/ as in banged, and /t/ as in fished. We will also learn more vowel teams. 

In writing we: 

• Continued our work on writing small moment stories. We are working to complete our current stories, choose our favorite and begin revising it to publish.  

At home, help your child think about topics in which they are experts, as we will begin our informational writing unit after the Thanksgiving break.

In math we:

• Defined data as "information," collected, represented, and read it using charts and graphs.
• Learned to make picture graphs and bar graphs.
• Practiced working with place value.
• Learned about counting on or counting up to make change within one dollar.

After the Thanksgiving break, we will begin a project-based unit called Measuring For the Art Show.

At home, continue to work on fact fluency, money, time and place value. You can use games, such as Math Facts Basketball on ABCYa.com (and other great games on this site) If your child needs practice with these concepts, please check them out. 

In Social Studies we:

• Discussed what we know and want to know about the United States.
• Learned about some US Symbols, with particular focus on our flag.

Throughout this unit, we will focus on what life is like in the United States as a basis for future comparisons with Mexico, China and Ghana. We will talk about art and culture (with a particular focus on Jazz), food, important places, important landforms, sports in our culture and national celebrations. We will also discuss world geography and landforms. Engaging in discussions about any of these topics as they naturally come up would be a great connection between home and school. 

Next week, we will discuss Thanksgiving.

In Open Circle we:

• Discussed and practiced the six steps to problem solving. In this framework, we think of a traffic signal. Red = Stop. Yellow = Think. Green = Go. In problem solvin, we do the same three things the traffic signal tells us.

RED reminds us to STOP:

• Calm down.
• Identify the problem.

YELLOW reminds us to THINK and be careful:

• Decide on a positive goal.
• Think of several solutions.
• Evaluate the solutions.

GREEN tells us to GO:

• Make a plan and try it.

Next week, I will send home these steps for you to put up at home, so that you can use this same problem solving process outside of school.

Have a great weekend!  

Post 10

IMPORTANT DATES:

December 1st from 6:30-8:30: Responsive Home Workshop - The Social and Emotional Learning Department of the Newton Public Schools will be sponsoring Responsive Home Workshops for families to help you create a calm, supportive and encouraging environment at home. This workshop goes hand in hand with the Responsive Classroom work that we are doing in the classroom. I attended the workshop on November 7th and would highly recommend it!  

November 11th: Veteran's Day - NO SCHOOL 

November 17th: Ralph Masiello, a local children's book author and illustrator, will be presenting to the second grade classrooms. Here is his website if you would like to check him out!

November 23rd: 12:00 dismissal (This is one of 2 early release days at noon (not 12:30) during the school year. The other is on the last day of school. There is no extended day or ASCA on these days. Please plan accordingly.)

November 24-25: Thanksgiving Break - NO SCHOOL 

NEW NOTICES:

Tanglewood Marionettes: Today we had a CASC presentation from the Tanglewood Marionettes. They performed The Dragon King. In our discussion after the performance, your children discussed how they were "dumbstruck" by how amazing the performance was and how their bodies felt like they were actually part of the performance. Ask your child about it! 

REMINDERS: 

Homework: Homework will continue to be sent home each Monday, should be completed one day at a time throughout the week (days are written on the bottom of each page) and should be returned on Fridays. On Thursday nights, there is dictation that parents need to help with, as you will dictate sounds, words and sentences and your child will write them. The sheet that you will read and the recording sheet are both in the packet. Here is a link to an article about ways to help your child with homework at home for some tips on how to manage homework at home. 

Wow words: Thank you for your increased participation with this! Many children came in with words to share and our sharing was quite rich! Please continue to make it part of your daily routine. Each Wednesday in our class is Wow Word Wednesday. Our Wednesday morning work is to write and decorate a Wow Word and we need your help with this. During the week, as you are reading and talking with your child, there will be words that are new to him/her. I encourage your children to inquire about these unfamiliar words and I would like you to do the same, as this is one way your child can be in control of his/her own learning. These new vocabulary words are wow words - words that they can teach the class so that we are all increasing our vocabulary! Please help your child to learn what these wow words mean (Here is a link to Merriam Webster for kids - Word Central). If it is helpful to your child to help learn these words, s/he can jot them down on the Wow Word worksheet in our child's folder. If your child encounters many wow words each week, feel free to have him/her write them on the sheet, but they will pick 1 word to teach us each week. Here is a link to the wow word worksheet in case you need a new one.

Home Toys: Please remind your children to leave all home toys, phones, trading cards, etc. at home. They can be a distraction to our learning and are best left at home.

Snack: We have combined our 2 snack times into one that falls in the middle of our morning. During this time, kids are reading and eating. Please try to send snacks that are clean while eating, such as a piece of fruit or a cheese stick. Greasy or crumbly snacks, such as chips or baked goods, can ruin our books. Also, please remind your children that there is no food sharing in school. Thanks! 

CURRICULUM UPDATE:

In reading we: 

• Read The School Mouse by Dick King Smith, Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun by Maria Dismondy and Time for Kids about Veteran's Day.
• Continued practicing making connections (text-to-self, text-to-text and text-to-world) to help us comprehend a text. We discussed how meaningful connections can help us make predictions, understand how a character felt or understand why a character did something.  

At home, continue to have books talks with your child. If you have already had your conference, please use the red bookmark or the white sheet about reading that you received for question ideas. Also, as you are reading, "think aloud" to help them notice you using the same strategies that they are learning at school, such as activating prior knowledge about a topic or making connections to a text. Say things like, "This reminds me of the time..." or "This reminds me of the part in The Cricket in Times Square when..." Also, please discuss rich vocabulary that you find in the books you are reading. Have your child record these on their wow word worksheet and see if you can use some of these words in your daily conversations.  

Next week, we will discuss story elements (setting, characters, plot, problem and resolution).  

In Fundations (Word Study) we: 

• Practiced reading and writing words with the closed syllable exceptions and began reviewing vowel teams.   
• Trick words: pretty, done, goes

At home, Please refer to the  Unit 4 family letter to learn how you can support our word study work at home. Also, look though the fundations - word study section on my website. There, you will find all of the first and second grade trick words. If your child needs practice with these words, please practice through activities such as playing bingo, memory or through reviewing them on flashcards. Here is a link to a great website with different sight word games that you might like to try.

Next week, we will begin unit 4, which focuses on the suffixes -s, -es, -ed and -ing. We will learn that -ed may sound like /ed/ as in rented, /d/ as in banged, and /t/ as in fished. We will also learn more vowel teams. 

In writing we: 

• Continued our work on writing small moment stories. We continued playing with our stories to add strong beginnings and more details. We are using Owl Moon by Jane Yolen and The Leaving Morning by Angela Johnson as our guides.  

At home, continue to support your child's use of his/her tiny topic notebook. Here is the bit on tiny topic notebooks from the previous blogs if you need a refresher: We are learning that authors often get their ideas from events that occur in their lives. To help us remember meaningful moments in our lives, we each received a tiny topic notebook. These notebooks will go to and from school in your child's folder and are a place for your child to jot down meaningful moments that s/he may want to turn into a Small Moment story for writing. If you notice a meaningful moment, please note it with your child. You could say something like, "That was such a meaningful moment. That would make a great Small Moment story." and suggest that s/he jot it on the tiny topic notebook.

Next week, we will continue our work on small moment stories.

In math we:

• continued our unit on place value, money and time. 
• Used base-10 blocks to show various 2 and 3 digit numbers.
• Practiced buying items with coins in different ways.
• Practiced reading and writing times to the nearest quarter hour.

At home, continue to work on fact fluency. You can use games, such as Math Facts Basketball on ABCYa.com. They also have games connected to our current unit on money, time and place value. If your child needs practice with these concepts, please check them out. 

In Social Studies we:

• Read Grace For President, Duck For President, and My Teacher For President. With each book, we evaluated whether we thought the candidates would make a good president. We then held a mock election. Grace won!  
• Read If I Were President and each child wrote about what they would do if s/he were president.

At home, discuss the election with your child if they are curious about it. With this election, there has been strong rhetoric that students may pick up at home or in school and may have questions about what it means for their place in the world. If you find it helpful, here is a link to an article that many of the classrooms in our school used to help frame our discussions following the election.

Have a great long weekend!  

Post 9

IMPORTANT DATES:

November 7th: Our book fair preview - We will be previewing the school book fair on 11/7. After our preview, your child should come home with a written or mental list of books that s/he would be interested in purchasing at our book fair. 

November 7 or December 1st from 6:30-8:30: Responsive Home Workshop - The Social and Emotional Learning Department of the Newton Public Schools will be sponsoring Responsive Home Workshops for families to help you create a calm, supportive and encouraging environment at home. This workshop goes hand in hand with the Responsive Classroom work that we are doing in the classroom. Although I have never attended one of these workshops, I have attended a week-long Responsive Classroom workshop with the presenter, Amy Kelly, and it was phenomenal! I am planning to put on my mom-hat and attend one of these workshops myself just to see what it is all about!  

November 9th from 2:15-2:45: Book fair classroom visit - This is our time to purchase books at the school book fair. If you and your child choose to purchase books at the book fair, please send in your child's money on this day in an envelope labeled with your child's name, my name (Ms. E-J) and book fair $. If you are able to join us during this time, it would be much appreciated! 

November 11th: Veteran's Day - NO SCHOOL 

November 23rd: 12:00 dismissal (This is one of 2 early release days at noon (not 12:30) during the school year. The other is on the last day of school. There is no extended day or ASCA on these days. Please plan accordingly.)

November 24-25: Thanksgiving Break - NO SCHOOL 

NEW NOTICES:

Library on 11/7: Due to the Book Fair, library will be held in our classroom this Monday. Please have your child keep their library books for another week, as we will not be going to the library. They should plan to return their books on 11/14. 

Home Toys: Please remind your children to leave all home toys, phones, trading cards, etc. at home. They can be a distraction to our learning and are best left at home.

Snack: We have combined our 2 snack times into one that falls in the middle of our morning. During this time, kids are reading and eating. Please try to send snacks that are clean while eating, such as a piece of fruit or a cheese stick. Greasy or crumbly snacks, such as chips, can ruin our books. Also, please remind your children that there is no food sharing in school. Thanks! 

REMINDERS: 

Homework: Homework will continue to be sent home each Monday, should be completed one day at a time throughout the week (days are written on the bottom of each page) and should be returned on Fridays. On Thursday nights, there is a dictation that parents need to help with as you will dictate sounds, words and sentences and your child will write them. This coming week, there is no Thursday homework due to the holiday on Friday, but please note this for future weeks. Here is a link to an article about ways to help your child with homework at home for some tips on how to manage homework at home. 

Wow words: Thank you for your increased participation with this! Many children came in with words to share and our sharing was quite rich! Please continue to make it part of your daily routine. Each Wednesday in our class is Wow Word Wednesday. Our Wednesday morning work is to write and decorate a Wow Word and we need your help with this. During the week, as you are reading and talking with your child, there will be words that are new to him/her. I encourage your children to inquire about these unfamiliar words and I would like you to do the same, as this is one way your child can be in control of his/her own learning. These new vocabulary words are wow words - words that they can teach the class so that we are all increasing our vocabulary! Please help your child to learn what these wow words mean (Here is a link to Merriam Webster for kids - Word Central). If it is helpful to your child to help learn these words, s/he can jot them down on the Wow Word worksheet in our child's folder. If your child encounters many wow words each week, feel free to have him/her write them on the sheet, but they will pick 1 word to teach us each week. Here is a link to the wow word worksheet in case you need a new one.

CURRICULUM UPDATE:

In reading we: 

• Read The School Mouse by Dick King Smith and Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst.
• Continued practicing making connections (text-to-self, text-to-text and text-to-world) to help us comprehend a text. 

At home, have books talks with your child. If you have already had your conference, please use the red bookmark or the white sheet about reading that you received for question ideas. Also, as you are reading, "think aloud" to help them notice you using the same strategies that they are learning at school, such as activating prior knowledge about a topic or making connections to a text. Say things like, "This reminds me of the time..." or "This reminds me of the part in The Cricket in Times Square when..." Also, please discuss rich vocabulary that you find in the books you are reading. Have your child record these on their wow word worksheet and see if you can use some of these words in your daily conversations.  

Next week, we will continue practicing making meaningful connections to help us comprehend texts. We will also begin reading more non-fiction texts.  

In Fundations (Word Study) we: 

• Learned the the closed syllable exceptions 
• Trick words: pretty, done, goes

At home, Please refer to the  Unit 3 family letter to learn how you can support our word study work at home. Also, look though the fundations - word study section on my website. There, you will find all of the first and second grade trick words. If your child needs practice with these words, please practice through activities such as playing bingo, memory or through reviewing them on flashcards.

Next week, we will continue practicing making words with the closed syllable exceptions and learn about vowel teams.

In writing we: 

• Continued our work on writing small moment stories. We continued playing with our stories to add details. We are using Owl Moon by Jane Yolen and The Leaving Morning by Angela Johnson as our guides.  

At home, continue to support your child's use of his/her tiny topic notebook. Here is the bit on tiny topic notebooks from the previous blogs if you need a refresher: We are learning that authors often get their ideas from events that occur in their lives. To help us remember meaningful moments in our lives, we each received a tiny topic notebook. These notebooks will go to and from school in your child's folder and are a place for your child to jot down meaningful moments that s/he may want to turn into a Small Moment story for writing. If you notice a meaningful moment, please note it with your child. You could say something like, "That was such a meaningful moment. That would make a great Small Moment story." and suggest that s/he jot it on the tiny topic notebook.

Next week, we will continue studying imagery, tension and literary language in Owl Moon by Jane Yolen and practice these techniques in our writing.

In math we:

• Practiced addition and subtraction facts through various games and activities
• Got into small groups and devised a method for organizing and counting all of the seeds in our pumpkins.
• Began our next unit on place value, money and time. 

At home, continue to work on fact fluency. You can use games, such as Math Facts Basketball on ABCYa.com. They also have games connected to the next unit on money, time and place value. If  your child needs practice with these concepts, please check them out. 

In Social Studies we:

• Began our unit on USA/Geography. Between now and the election, we will be discussing the president's role in our country and the voting process.

At home, talk to your child about the election. Here is a link to a site about talking to your child about the presidential election.

In Mindfulness we:

• Discussed the word generosity and talked about how when you are generous, it makes your heart feel good. 

At home, please try to use this word in your everyday vocabulary and note with your child times that you see him/her being generous.

Have a great weekend!