April 30-May14

Reading/Writing: We have been working hard reading poems through an author's eyes and then writing our own poems in writer's workshop. Poem in My pocket was a great success. The kids practiced their favorite poem and then read them with great fluency to anyone who asked (teachers, 5th graders, other 2nd graders)
Math: We finished our unit on money and place value- our toughest yet. The tests went home on Thursday. We have started Unit 11 - we are revisiting and solidifying double digit subtraction. Please refer to the 11-3 Home link family for an example on how to do Everyday Math Trade First Subtraction. Your child may be able to teach you too!
Science: We have had fun experimenting with air. We have seen that air takes up space, air resistance slows down objects when falling and air pressure can cause pop ups and make water fountains. Ask your child about the water fountain, tug of war and parachutes.
Social Studies: We continue to study communities- types (urban, suburban, rural), needs and wants, goods and services, community workers. We finished our study of communities with the Junior Achievement program Mrs. Chase led. Thank you to her for all her hard work-we learned a lot and fun!
Upcoming Events:
Poetry Cafe- Fri May 7 2:45
Camp Minikani-Tues May 11
First Stage-Wed May 12
Black Light Show/Fine Arts Fair- After School Thurs May 27
Elm Grove Village Hall- Tues June 1st

April 16-April 30

Hello Families! I hope everyone had a wonderful spring break! We are in the final stretch of the school year: quarter 4. We are working hard to learn everything a second grader needs to know. We are even talking about what it is like to be third graders- good listeners, read the directions very carefully, double check our own work, edit, being more responsible.

Reading: We started exploring poetry in reading. We are learning how to read poems using the author's clues like line breaks and bold words. Poetry is a outlet to practice good fluency-expression, rate, intonation. This past week we also made inferences about poems- what is happening in the poem that the text and pictures only hint at. The kids have been reading a lot of poems. Next week they will choose their favorite and practice...practice...ppractice for an upcoming school day 2nd grade calls Poem in My Pocket Day. The students will have their well practiced favorite poem in their pocket and teachers and other students will ask them to read their poem. It is a great way to practice fluency and speaking skills.

Writing: We have started our Poetry Unit (Mrs. Dahms' favorite writing unit because she is always amazed at how creative and imaginative the poems are that her second graders write!)We have started to look at the world through a poet's eyes-observing details and seeings things a different way. I continue to encourage the kids to bring their memo pads home and back to school so that they can jot down any notes for poems.

Math: We are finishing up Unit 10 this coming week: Place Value and Money. We have been doing a lot of shopping and making change in math. We've also learned how to represent money in dollar and cent notation- anything under 10 cents is still a little tricky- $0.05.

Science: We just started our Air and Weather unit. We explored air and discovered that it takes up space, we can feel it and it can move objects. We also learned that it is one of the three forms of matter: gas. Ask your child how he/she experimented with air.

Social Studies: We continue to study communities. Our field trip to the Ye Olde School House was so fun! We noticed the change from suburban to rural on the way to West Bend. I think the kids were taken aback when the teacher scolded them right when they got off the bus. Each child got a name tag with the name of a real student who attended the school a long time ago. This was their name the rest of the day. Ask your child what their name was and what was their favorite part of the trip.

Other News:

• Conferences will be next week Monday and Wednesday.
• The Book fair will be open Mon-Thurs of next week.
• Poetry Cafe will be Fri May 5th at 2:45- Families are welcome