Math: We took the Unit 2 test on Monday. I as very pleased with everyones performance on the test. It is so exciting to see such growth and mastery of skills. The test came home with your child today. Please look over it with your child, sign and rerun to school. The last page of the test was not graded- it was a challenge. We have begun Unit 3 which includes telling time, counting money and continued number patterns and strategies. I did mention in a previous email that a couple home links had example problems in the family note that were beyond second grade skill level. These problems are not expected to be completed by the kids- they are just examples for parents. Everyone continues to show growth in their facts test scores. I will be adding some links to websites that have fun math facts practice activities.
Reading: In Readers Workshop we are learning that readers don't just read the words, they think about the story- ask questions, predict, make connections, have feelings... We have learned how to track our thinking as we read by writing down our thoughts on post-its. Your child brought home an example of this on a paper with 6 boxes. They "tracked" their thinking as I read Chester's Way. Ask your child to retell you the story in their own words. We have also been practicing reading with fluency. Ask your child what a fluent reader sounds like.
Writing: We have worked hard to focus our writing on a small moment- not a big watermelon, but rather a watermelon seed. We have worked on writing catchy beginning and excited endings. We are working especially hard on revising and editing. This is a hard process for most because we like to be done after we write the first draft. Everyone has worked very hard these past two months and are excited to finally celebrate our hard work. As you may have noticed, I listed our 1st Authors Celebration on the October calendar as tomorrow, Saturday Oct. 24th (oops!). It was meant to be today, but we needed a couple extra days to publish. SO our celebration will take place on Tuesday. The kids are excited to be publishing their 1st piece as a second grader. They will now officially be authors, as their piece will be displayed in our classroom library.
Spelling: We have one more set of words focusing on the vowel sounds. This week the short and long vowel review will the focus. The words will come home Monday, but the test will not be until Mon. Nov 2.
Science: We have moved from balancing objects to experimenting and observing spinning objects. We created tops and zoomers. Ask your child what a zoomer is. Also ask, what does a top or zoomer need to be set in motion (force).
Character Development:
We have read a couple books this week and watching a short video on Brainpopjr. about Bullying. We are discussing strategies we can use if someone is bullying or being unkind: ignore, walk away, use your words to express you feelings and tell them to stop, be friendly back or make a joke out of the put-down. We also talked about the difference between tattling and reporting. You are reporting if you or someone else is being hurt- with words or physically. You are tattling if you are trying to get someone in trouble. We continue to drop leaves from our Fall tree bulletin board everyday when kind words are being used. We keep track throughout the day when someone in our class uses a kind word: please, thank you, I'm sorry. Are you okay?, You're welcome...
Reminders:
No School Thursday and Friday
Write back to your child in their TGIF Journal (it's sent home every Friday- return the journal by the following Friday))
Please sign your child's assignment notebook everyday
Please help your child return the book and bookbag everyday
Please help your child return the math home links every morning.
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