January 22- February 5

Hello Families! Checkout the new addition to the blog to the right. O am now posting the units we are currently studying in each subject area. If you have any ideas for the blog, please send them my way!

Reading: We have just begun focusing on fiction books again. I am encouraging kids to "Climb Into Books"- to really escape and feel like they are really in a new place with the characters. We have also been taking about story plot and events. We are using words like first, next, then and last to retell story events.


Writing: Our Flat Stanley's have been mailed. We are all spread around the United States, one of us even went to Thailand! We anxiously await the return of all our Flat Selves to hear about our adventures! We did finish our letter writing unit with a fun celebration. We have now started writing How To books. This unit compliments our Nonfiction Study in reading. We are enjoying teaching our readers how to do something. We are learning that it is very helpful to have a partner act out the steps in order to find areas where we need more detail to clear up any confusion. We will turn these books into slideshow presentations in KidPix in a couple weeks.



Math: We are close to finishing Unit 6. The test will be next Thursday (January 28). The kids are doing a great job with multiplication! Some were skeptical and afraid of the term, but when they found out it was simply repeated addition of equal groups, they thought it was simple! Looking to the near future, your kids will have home links with double digit subtraction- please do not teach them the borrowing algorithm yet. I will send home a reference to show you some of the strategies we have been learning in class.

Science: We have now planted brassica seeds and rye seeds which will grow into grass. It has been fun to observe the plant life cycle so far: seed-seedling-buds-flower. We will begin discussing how seeds travel: wind, animal, human. It has been an exciting unit so far.

Brassica Plants

Grass and Brassica under the growing lamp

SS: We are finishing up our unit on Mapping. We studied the continents and oceans, landmasses vs water, the equator, reading a map, map key and map grids.

Other News:

• No School Monday for kids
• The quarter officially ends today. Report cards will be sent home next week Friday
• 2nd Grade has raised almost $200 for The Milwaukee Rescue Mission by donating pennies and other change!
• We will be starting to learn keyboarding next week. Using small keyboards, called Alpha Smarts, the kids will practice correct typing skills.
• We are in need of glue sticks and pencils. If you are willing to donate extras for our class, that would be wonderful!
• Have a great weekend!

January 8-22

Hello Families!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday and New Year. It's 2010 already- yikes! The kids came back to school with a variety of emotions: excitement, fatigue, a little grumpiness...but as the day went on I think everybody was genuinely glad to be back at school with their friends. Now that the new year has begun, the end of quarter 2 is upon us and our first semester of second grade is nearly complete. We have a lot to do in the next couple of weeks (Quarter 2 ends Jan 22). Here is what we have been up to and where we are headed:

Reading: We are immersed in our Nonfiction Study. It has been so wonderful to see kids be excited about what they are reading and share their new learning with the class. We did complete a Nonfiction book club where kids were placed in small groups to study one topic and discuss. Now, the kids have choosen a new club to participate in. Ask your child what book club he/she is a part of and also ask what are some feautures of nonfiction.

Math: We just took our Unit 5 Test this week. You will see those in home folders on Monday- a couple of kids still need to finish. This was a harder test than other units. Remember, the white areas on the scoring sheet are expected to be mastered, while the gray areas are more guiding inofrmation for future learning. We are moving on to adding larger numbers, more than two numbers, Just a reminder: The Family Letter in the front of your child's home link packet, contains the answers to the home links. Recalling math facts is a standard on the reprot card. This quarter that score will reflect the subtraction facts tests. Second grade proficiancy is a 54 on the test.

Writing: Before winter break, we were able to celebrate as writer's the hard work we did in our letter writing unit. We had our Author's Celebration where every kid shared their favorite letter he/she published. It was a great success! We are officially ending our Letter writing unit with the Flat Stanley project. A note was sent home Wednesday asking parents to help your child find an address of a family member or friend who lives out of state. Along with the address, please send 1 stamp to school. We will be addressing envelopes and sending out Flat selves away on vacation. The project is inspired by The Flat Stanley book series.

SS and Science: We will be finsihing up or mapping unit before the end of the quarter. We did a lot of fun work in the computer lab with coordinate grids and cardinal directions. Ask your child what 4 directions are on a compass rose. In science, we just started our New Plants unit. We planted or first seeds: brassica. These seeds are specially designed to have a quick life cycle so school and students like us can observe all stages in a short amount of time. They are pretty cool. Ask your child what a plant needs to grow. Also, ask what types of everyday thinsg come from plants (We learned lots like gum, t-shirts, coffee...)

HELP:

We are in need of pencils and glue sticks. If you are willing to donate some to our classroom, that would be great! Thank you!

Reminders:

No School for kids Mon Jan 18 or Mon Jan 25

Flat Stanley address and 1 postage stamp by Monday