September 23-October 7

Balancing Crayfish on Our Fingers

Hello everyone! It was nice to see some of you at Elm Grove Park last night! Now that we are almost 1 month into school, we are starting to get into a nice routine and understand classroom and school expectations. I really enjoy working with this group of second graders; they are kind, hard workers and each brings their own unique personality to the community. I look forward to a great year!

Here is how we are keeping busy:

Reading: We have finished our first unit on Establishing Good Habits and will now begin Reader's Use Strategies and Story Elements. Reading groups will also begin this week. You will see your child's reading bag come home the first week of October. Please help your child take responsibility for bringing the book in the bag back to school everyday. The books he/she will bring home should sound like easy reads- we are bringing home mostly books that we have read in group and will reread them to family at home to help strengthen our reading fluency.

Writing: We have been talking about many ways that writers get ideas for their stories: people/animals they love, places they love, something that frightens them, their imaginations, special memories, everyday life... Each kid received a small memo pad to keep track of their ideas for writing throughout the year. We will finish our short unit on Launching Writer's Workshop this week. We'll have a small Author's Celebration for kids only on Fri 9/30) (We'll invite families in twice during the year for our celebration). We will then begin our unit on Small Moments (writing about a small moment in time from their life- stretching out the moments to include lots of details and feelings)

Math: We will have our first math assessment on Wed 9/28. Homelinks came home for the first time on Thursday. As a reminder, all the answers are in the Family Letter in the front of the homelinks packet. Please check your child's work every night. The homelink packet will stay in your child's folder until the end of the unit. I will check for completeness and give the homelink a stamp every morning.

Spelling: Since this is such a new process for the kids, it is taking us a while to feel good about spelling routines. Please let me know if you have questions about the homework. Everyone should have received a list of highlighted words your child misspelled on our preassessments. Please use these words to practice at home.

SS: We worked in groups in develop our own communities using butcher paper and our own drawings of buildings. We made sure to include many different types of homes, places where people work, play and make decisions.

Science: This week we used our knowledge of balance point and counterweights to set an isosceles triangle and arch to balance on a popsicle stick in many different ways.

Show and Share: On the last Friday of every month, we will have Show and Share in the morning. The kids can bring in 1 item to share with the class. We will take this opportunity to work on speaking and listening in a group. For the September Show and Share day (9/30), kids from Mrs. K's class asked if they could bring in a Me Bag (a bag filled with lots of stuff representing them). I thought that was a fine idea so that's what we'll do for this Friday. This is an optional activity.

Ye Olde School House: Our field trip to the 1920's one room schoolhouse will be on Monday Oct. 17. The information and permission was sent home in Friday folders. This is a fabulous trip. I encourage everyone to look over the suggestions for attire and lunches. This will be my 4th year taking this trip. I can say it is most fun when everyone dresses authentically. You can look at past blog postings to get ideas (check May 2011 and April 2010)

Reminders:

*Bring in an art smock if your child does not have one already

*Our school rule is that all toys stay at home- we have some kids bringing in toys and playing with them in the classroom. It becomes an issue if the child loses the toy at school- it's hard for him/her to concentrate on anything during class if their toy gets lost. So please help remind your child not to bring toys to school.

*Birthday Treats- please send anything necessary to distribute your child's treat along with the treat i.e napkins, cutting utensil (or precut), plate. I will work on getting extras for me to keep in the classroom.

*It would be helpful if every child had a water bottle at school. It helps eliminate the need to take breaks throughout the day to leave the classroom and get a drink.

*We are starting MAP testing on Monday at 9:00. Then we are scheduled Tues. at 11:00 and Thurs. at 1:00. This will be a new experience for everybody. Please make sure your child is well rested and eats breakfast everyday, but especially on on our testing days.

Ask your child:

• What is the new book Mrs. Dahms is reading aloud?
• What does it mean to Check for Understanding?
• What time is it?- make sure you have an analogue clock around
• What did your class earn a PAW slip for?
• How many baseballs are in the "Catching Compliments" glove?

2011-2012 School Year!

Welcome To Second Grade

Hello Families! We have a wonderful first couple weeks of second grade! Our days have been filled with getting to know each other, working together, building a community of learners and building good habits as learners. Please notice on the right sidebar I will update what we are studying, keep our specials schedule and update the assignment notebook every week (so if your child ever forgets to bring it home- check the blog) I will post every other week so please look for my reminder email when I make a new post. Enjoy!

Reading: We have been talking about our reading identites- what our favorite book is and why, our favorite place to read, our favorite reading memory, our favorite type of book and what we read other than books. We have also started practicing Reader's Workshop procedures: how to take care of books and how to choose just right books. We'll continue to do lots of practicing independent read, buddy read, rotating, conferencing, making reading goals, shopping for books and making entries in our Reader Response Journal before we fully dive into reader's workshop at the end of September.

Writing: We have been working on lots of fun activities, including a Me Poem and Summer Was Awesome- a class ABC book. Starting Monday, we will share our writing collages and talk about where writers get ideas. This will begin our Launching Writer's Workshop mini unit. After we feel comfortable as writers, we will begin our 1st major unit: Small Moments. Writers will be expected to have an organized piece of writing, with a clear idea, good beginning and ending, interesting words and some voice. We will always conclude each unit with an Author's Celebration. Parents will be invited 2x a year to join us for our celebrations.

Spelling: The spelling will begin next week, so the first test will be Fri. Sept 16. Your child will bring home a small packet of skill sheets to practice as homework, along with 6 personal words. The completed packet will always be due on Friday. The personal words come from each child's personal misspelled words on the pretests we took and words mispelled in their daily writing. So your child may know how to spell the word when, but is misspelling it in his/her daily writing. Now when will be added to that child's personal words.

Math: We started our 1st math unit: Numbers and Routines. It is basically a review chapter highlighting: calendars, telling time, number lines, counting coins and addition strategies. You will see a couple corrected Math Journal pages come home for the first few weeks because our student journals are not in yet. Once the Journals are in, most of the class work will be done in them so you will not see them come home. Math Homelinks begin in lesson 1-11- we will most likely complete this lesson on Thurs. Sept 22. So theer will not be any formal math homework until then. You can begin practicing math facts, telling time and counting coins at home.

Science: We will start our first science unit: Balance and Motion, this coming week.

Social Studies: We'll begin our first unit in social studies: Communities. We'll learn about urban, suburban and rural communities, as well as, what components make up every community: a place to live, work, play and make decisions.

Book Orders: Scholastic book orders were due today. If you are still interested in ordering, you can order online at scholastic.com/bookclubs. Enter our class code: GQM3K

Volunteers: I am meeting with our room parents this week Wed. If you indicated you were interested in volunteering, you will be contacted soon. Thank you in advance for volunteering!

Reminders:

*Writing Collage is due Mon.

*Family Contact Info (half sheet of white paper from PIN) is due ASAP

*Sign up for Surpirse Reader (the schedule is in the email)

Ask your child:

*What is your class number?

*What is the pebble jar?

*What does attentive listening mean?

*What book is Mrs. Dahms reading aloud to the class? (Magic Tree House Afternoon on the Amazon)