Post 14

Thank you to all who have signed up and donated materials for our special project next week! We still need some materials. Please click on the sign up genius below if you are willing to donate. Thanks!  

IMPORTANT DATES:

December 23, 2016: On the last day before vacation,the second grade will be engaging in a special project and we still need your help with procuring materials. Please visit our sign-up if you would be willing to donate. Thanks!! http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0a4ea8a928a20-2ndgrade

December 26-January 2: NO SCHOOL - December recess - School resumes on Tuesday, 1/3


REMINDERS: 

Wow words:  Please continue to help your child gather new words each week and bring them in on Wow Word Wednesday. Here are links to an online dictionary (Merriam Webster for kids - Word Central) and our wow word worksheet in case you need a new one. This is an ongoing reminder for the year. Please make acquiring new words part of your home routine.

CURRICULUM UPDATE:

In reading we: 

• Worked in our research groups. We will be presenting our learning to the class next week.
• Practiced visualizing (making a picture/movie in our minds) as we read.  

At home, you could have your child draw a part of a book they are reading to show you the picture in their minds.   

In Fundations (Word Study) we: 

• Practiced breaking up multisyllablic words into parts. 
• Learned to use the suffixes -less, -ful, -ness, -ment, -able, -en and -ish.
• Trick words once, often, always, knew, know, against   

At home, Please refer to the Unit 5 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 reading and forming multisyllabic words from 2 closed syllables and working with our new suffixes.   

In writing we: 

• Continued writing informational books.  

At home, ask your child about the book s/he is writing. Ask what the different chapters are about. Have them tell you what information s/he is including in each chapter. Feel free to make suggestions of other ideas to add as well! 

In math we:

• Continued our practice in solving double digit math equations using an open number line. If you have not already read our math practices section of our website to learn about how this will be taught in second grade, please check it out. We ask that you DO NOT teach borrow and carry at this point because we want students to work with their place value understanding and not simply apply an algorithm. 

Next week, we will work on addition and subtraction in the context of number stories. We will work on the three-read strategy to help us comprehend what the stories are asking us. You will see this strategy used in your child's homework next week.

 

At home, help your child to apply their understanding of adding double digit numbers to real-life situations, such as when adding money.  

In Social Studies we:

• Began our study of Mexico. Early this week, we flew to Mexico, taking off on Memorial-Spaulding Airlines from Logan and landing in Mexico City. We viewed an in-flight movie about Mexico on the way.
• Wrote about what we know and want to know about Mexico.
• Watched a Brainpop video about Mexico and recalled some facts on our Mexico fact page in our travel journals.

Next week, we will explore maps and the geography of Mexico.

At home, talk with your child about what they are learning about Mexico. 

Have a great weekend!  

Post 13

IMPORTANT DATES:

December 23, 2016: On the last day before vacation,the second grade will be engaging in a special project and we need your help with procuring materials. Please visit our sign-up if you would be willing to donate. Thanks!! http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0a4ea8a928a20-2ndgrade

December 26-January 2: NO SCHOOL - December recess - School resumes on Tuesday, 1/3



REMINDERS: 

Wow words: Please continue to help your child gather new words each week and bring them in on Wow Word Wednesday. Here are links to an online dictionary (Merriam Webster for kids - Word Central) and our wow word worksheet in case you need a new one.

CURRICULUM UPDATE:

In reading we: 

• Worked in our research groups.
• Engaged in book talks about books dealing with friendship and inclusion.  

At home, ask your child what inclusion means to them.   

In Fundations (Word Study) we: 

• Practiced breaking up multisyllablic words into parts.    

At home, Please refer to the Unit 5 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 reading and forming multisyllabic words from 2 closed syllables.   

In writing we: 

• Began writing informational books.  

At home, help your child think about topics in which they are experts. Talk with them about the different parts of their topic that they could write about. These parts will become their chapters.

In math we:

• Continued work on our project-based math unit called Measuring for the Art Show. We used the open number line to solve problems requiring double digit addition. Please refer to the math practices section of our website to learn about how this will be taught in second grade and how we would like you teach teach your child at home.  

In Social Studies we:

• finished our study of the United States. We talked about jazz and the foods we eat the US, determining that even though there are typical American foods, we don't all eat these foods. We culminated by writing a poem about America.

Here it is:

America is…

Independent

Awesome

A free country

Beautiful

A melting pot

School

Fun

A democracy

A place to learn

The 3^rd largest country

A community

50 states

A part of the world

Freedom

A good place to live

A strong army

America is my home.

• Next week, we are off to Mexico!

Enjoy your weekend!  

Post 12

IMPORTANT DATES:

December 8, 2016: 12:30 dismissal

December 26-January 2: NO SCHOOL - December recess - School resumes on Tuesday, 1/3 


REMINDERS: 

Wow words: Please continue to help your child gather new words each week and bring them in on Wow Word Wednesday. Here are links to an online dictionary (Merriam Webster for kids - Word Central) and our wow word worksheet in case you need a new one.

CURRICULUM UPDATE:

In reading we: 

• Read The School Mouse by Dick King Smith, My Mouth is a Volcano by Julia Cook and The 4th of July Story by Alice Dagliesch. 
• Worked on summarizing while reading to increase comprehension.  

At home, ask your child to tell you about what s/he is reading. Who are his/her favorite characters in the stories. What does s/he like about these characters?    

In Fundations (Word Study) we: 

• Practiced reading and writing words with the the suffixes -s, -es, -ing, -ed, -er and -est.   
• Trick words: sure, use, used 

At home, Please refer to the Unit 5 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 wrap up unit 4 and move on to unit 5, in which we will begin reading and forming multisyllabic words from 2 closed syllables.   

In writing we: 

• Finished our small moments unit!  

At home, help your child think about topics in which they are experts, as we will begin our informational writing unit next week.

In math we:

• Began a project-based math unit called Measuring for the Art Show. This unit focuses on the development of the open number line model within the context of measurement. Next week, we will begin using the open number line to solve problems requiring double digit addition. Please refer to the math practices section of our website to learn about how this will be taught in second grade and how we would like you teach teach your child at home. 

In Social Studies we:

• continued our work in our United States unit by learning about Independence Day, local and national landmarks, various landforms in our country and after reading Me on The Map, we used google earth to see our specific place on the map, starting in our classroom at Memorial-Spaulding and ending with our galaxy.

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 finish up our U.S. unit and begin our trip to Mexico!

Have a great weekend!