March 19-Spring Break

Hello Families! We have been busy in second grade. Here is what we have been up to and where we are going:
Reading: We have been working very hard thinking about the books we are reading. We have been inferring unknown words, the author's message and predicting events. We have just begun character book clubs on Friday. Every kid has a character they will about and infer character traits based on what they read. Ask your child which character they are studying.
Writing: We will be finishing our Author's as Mentors study and publishing stories right before spring break. We have studied authors like Angela Johnson, Donald Crews, Ezra Jack Keats and Cynthia Rylant. We have learned many ways to make our own writing better: using ellipses, comeback lines, lots of details, the time of day and sound words. I have been so excited about the amazing stories I have been reading this month!
Math: We are finishing up our measurement unit. The test is on Monday. We will jump right into Unit 10- studying money and place value. Keep working on facts at home. I have some good improvement over the last couple of weeks. As a reminder, proficiency is a score of 54 on both the addition and subtraction tests. *If anyone happens to have an old bath scale (non digital) that they are not using, please consider donating it to our classroom. We need it for some measurement and upcoming lessons. Thanks!
Social Studies: We began our final unit:Communities. We have started discussing needs vs wants and goods/services. We'll start discussing the three types of communities: urban, suburban, and rural. After spring break, your child will be asked to build a small building that would fit one of the communities. Look for a more detailed letter after spring break.
Other News:
*Our field trip to the Ye Olde School House is Mon. April 12- the first day after spring break. We will have a phone reminder sent to that everyone can remember their lunch and special attire.
*Mr. Saunders has been a joining our class for a half hour on Tuesdays to talk with us about friendship and peer interaction. This week he talked about what to do in times of conflict: walk away, reason, ignore. I have seen the kids applying the techniques at recess.
*We are short pencils- if anyone would like to donate plain yellow pencils to our classroom, it would be greatly appreciated!

March 5- March 19

Hello Families! We had a wonderful couple of weeks. Last week, we had our Author's Celebration for our How To Book unit. Everyone published their How To books as a slideshow on the computer. I will make them available to view on the class website before spring break. We went to the Domes on Thursday. We also made our biography presentations last Friday. Enjoy all the pictures!
Reading: We finished our biography unit. It was very interesting to learn new facts about people like Abraham Lincoln, Houdini, Hank Aaron, Harriett Tubman, George Washington, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. We have now moved back into fiction. We are talking about making inferences while we read (using clues from the author, both pictures and words, to draw conclusions). We read Where the Wild Things Are and made lots of inferences. Ask your child to share some inferences we made.
Math: We took our Unit 8 test on Fractions this week. Please review, sign and return the test to school. This was the hardest test we have taken in second grade. We will continue to study fractions and have an opportunity to master the skills. We will be starting a new unit on Measurement. We continue to work on double digit subtraction-trade first.
Science/SS: We took our Plant unit test this week. It was a fun unit. Ask your child to share own of their favorite planting experiences. Look for the Plant Unit test to come home.
Spelling: The past few spelling lists have been very tough. I just want to remind you that the spelling pattern words are meant to expose kids to patterns and give me information for further teaching and are not expected to be mastered. The 5 high frequency words are expected to be mastered every week.
Writing: Everyone received a mini notepad to use to jot ideas from other authors, from our own lives and make plans to use to grow into stories. The kids are allowed to bring them home and write ideas down. Please help your child remember to return the notepads to school. We will be using the notepads for our Poetry unit in April as well.
Other News:
*We will be going on a wonderful field trip to the Ye Olde School House in April. It will compliment our Social Studies unit on Communities. It is recommended that the kids wear traditional school clothes and carry their lunch in a bucket/basket. We will be going on the field trip the day we return from spring break: Monday April
*Captain Question has retired- I am just having a hard time keeping up with it. I encourage you and your child to use the sites on the blog to play learning games together.