We Are Book Reviewers!

Here are some photos from our Author's Celebration on December 3rd. After lots of hard work, we published a book review of one of our favorite books. We got to split up among all three second grades to share our reviews. The second grade teachers were VERY impressed with the quality of all the book reviews. Make sure your child reads you their review (everyone took theirs home on Friday) Please return the reviews to school ASAP so we can showcase them in our classroom. *Sorry about the poor photo quality!

Class Toasts to Our Success

Sharing our book reviews with other second graders

November 19-December 10

Hello Families! This my last blog post until I return from maternity leave. My due date is Dec 11. If baby doesn't come early, my last day will be Dec 10. Michelle Schlessler will be my long term substitute; she is absolutely fabulous. I feel very confident leaving our 22 second graders in her hands. She will be shadowing me when we return from Thanksgiving week and we'll have planning time together. She is very excited to come to our class after just finishing a long term position at Dixon. I am excited for everyone to meet her!
*This is our friend Cameron's last week, as his family is moving to Ohio. We are all sad we're losing a classmate, but know we will still keep in touch with our friend. We send our best wishes with Cameron and his family!
*I will see everyone at conferences within the next week. I'm looking forward to talking with everyone!
Here is what we have been doing in the classroom and where we are going:
Reading: We are focusing on thinking as readers. This week we have been making predictions before we read and throughout the book. We will also talk about visualizing, asking questions and making connections in the month of December. I encourage the kids to "Climb into a Good Book"- don't just read the words, but think about the story.
Writing: We are officially published authors. Everyone chose their favorite small moment to publish. Now we have become book reviewers. We have been reading book reviews to help us write our own review based on a favorite book. I have been so excited about the writing I have been reading. We will publish our reviews in a class book that the kids will be able to take home and share. We will begin writing friendly letters in Dec which will lead into Jan. Then we venture into writing research reports. It will be a fun couple of months!
Math: We just started Unit 4: Addition and Subtraction. In this unit, we will be using multiple strategies to add double digit numbers. Please refer to the Family letter in the homelinks to help support your child in adding. Ask your child what strategies they know: use a number grid, open number line, add tens and then the ones (Partial sums algorithm). It is very important for your child to understand place value (one, tens, hundreds) when they add. The strategies listed above help them to develop skills to mentally add numbers quickly.
Social Studies: We started our first unit on Maps and Globes. We will begin reading maps and coordinate grids, identifying continents and oceans, and learning cardinal directions.
Cog-at Testing: In second grade, we give a standardized, fill in the bubble, test. See the letter sent home today for more information. The testing will be the week after Thanksgiving Tues-Thurs in the morning. It is very important that your child come to school on time with full bellies from breakfast to give them energy and stamina for the test.
Other News:
We have a field trip to see My Son Pinocchio at 1st Stage on Dec 21. The permission slip and fee is due back at school on Dec 7.

Rollerskating to explore Balance and Motion in science

Jayanna won the limbo!

November 5-19

Hello Families! It's November- Wow! Our 1st quarter in second grade is complete today, Fri. Nov 5th. Time really does fly! I am looking forward to meeting with everyone for conferences in the upcoming weeks.

Reading: We have been immersed in story element discussion the past couple of weeks: characters, setting and problem/solution. Ask your child to discuss the story elements of the books they read at home. This study will lead into retelling- a very important skill that is hard for many second graders. To give a good retell, a reader should say who the characters are, what the setting is, what the problem is (if there is one) then tell the events of the story in order (first, next, then, last). I encourage you to have your child retell a story or chapter when they are reading at home.

Writing: We are Author's of Small Moments! We had our Author's Celebration on Tuesday to celebrate all of the hard work we have been doing as writers. Everyone has been working to write a small moment- ask your child: "What is a small moment?"(True story from your life, lots of details, a small moment from your life stretched across the page) We have also worked on writing beginnings that hook the reader and exciting endings. We agreed that "Then I went home" or "Then I went to bed" was not and exciting ending. The piece your child published is coming home today in their reading bag. Please return it to school on Monday.

Spelling: This is just a reminder that the spelling packet sent home on Mondays should be returned on Fridays- except the word sort at the bottom of the green sheet. The word sort should be cut and and completed at home throughout the week.

Math: We started Unit 3 this week: Time, Money and Place Value. Counting money, making change and telling time are tricky concepts for most second graders. Please support your child at home with these skills. Keep the clock your child made for homelink 3-2 in a safe place. Give him/her a time to show you on the clock while you're making dinner, ask him/her to tell you what time it will be in 2 and half hours...Also, practice counting coins at home. If your child is ready for making change, play store..."buy" something from your child the cashier- have him/her give you change for $1, $5, $10...

Science: We have completed our first science unit: Balance and Motion. Our class had fun exploring how things move. I think building roller coasters was a favorite. Ask your child how to make a successful roller coaster (The marble and track need to start high and end low). We will begin a social studies unit on Maps and Globes and then return to science in the New Year with Plants.

Classroom Community: Our class filled the pebble jar again! We earn pebbles for following school rules and working together. This time, we earned lunch in the classroom. It was a big hit. On Wednesday, everyone brought their lunch into the classroom and we enjoyed a nice, calm lunch with our friends!

*We are still working as a class to follow directions the first time and attentively listen to teachers and classmates (bodies facing the speaker, eyes on the speaker, mouth closed)

Other News:

*Our roller skating field trip in next Wed, Nov. 10. Please borrow a helmet for your child if they do not have one already!

*Birthday Treats: Please refer to the list of approved birthday treats/ingredients when planning your child's treat. To be safe for all kids, we need to follow the approved list and bring in the ingredient labels so that I know it can be safely eaten by all kids. If you need another copy of the list, please ask me.

*Our Fall Festival was a success! Thank you all families who donated items and/or time to the party! The kids had a great time!

October 22- November 5

Hello Families! I am happy to announce that we have found a fabulous long term substitute teacher to fill my shoes while I am on maternity leave. Her name is Michelle Schlesser and she is currently filling a long term sub position in 4th grade in the district. After interviewing her, I knew that she would be the perfect fit to step in and seamlessly transition as the facilitator of your child's continued growth and development in second grade. Michelle will get to know the kids and classroom routines by shadowing me for a couple days before I leave. If you have any questions, please let me know. We can also talk at conferences. FYI I am due Dec 11 and plan to return in early March.

Reading: We are all working on our own personal reading goal in reader's workshop. We have also started talking about Story Elements. This week, we have been discussing character traits and using examples from the book to support our ideas. We will then explore story setting and then problem and solution. We are also working on retelling a story with details, listing events in sequential order.
Writing: We have been writing small moments in writer's workshop. Small Moments are seed stories from our lives stretched across the pages with lots of details. We have been working on organizing our stories, writing beginnings that hook readers, adding feelings and writing exciting endings. We will begin to revise and edit our favorite piece to be published for our Author's Celebration.
*Note: There's a change in the Author's Celebration date- it will now be Tuesday Nov 2
Math: We just took the Unit 2 test in math. We are now moving on to Place Value, Time, Money. Unit 2 focused a lot on adding and subtracting strategies to help students use mental strategies and increase fact power. Please continue to practice math facts at home using the fact triangles and links from the blog to practice websites.
Science: We have been exploring motion in science through spinning and rolling. We learned that objects need a force to be set in motion. Ask your child which type of spinners spun the fastest and which rolling wheels rolled the fastest and furthest (The ones with more mass)
Other News:
*Field Trip Fee and Permission slip is due Tues. Oct 26
*Thank you for all the donations for Mrs. Dahms store. The store will open for the first time next week. Students earn pennies for completing homework on time, having materials ready and making good choices. Students then exchange their pennies for nickels, dimes or quarters to be used at Mrs. Dahms store which opens at the end of every month.

*No School Thursday and Friday

October 8-October 22

Hello Families! We have been working hard in 2nd grade on following our school rules and classroom social contract. We have agreed as a class that the areas in most need of improvement are Attentive Listening and Following Directions. While we are working on those two areas, we agreed that we do a good job of using polite words, cooperating, keeping hands, feet and body to self and trying our best. We did just fill our pebble jar this week. Our class earned lunch outside. We had a beautiful day on Thursday to sit outside and enjoy being with our classmates!

Reading: We have been working hard to enhance our fluency as readers (reading with a talking voice, reading punctuation, reading with expression and reading dialogue) This week we talked about the strategies reader's use to figure out words (skip and come back, think does it make sense, find chunks you know, use pictures for clues, look through teh whole word- beginning, middle and end). Next week we will start leaving thinking tracks in our books and studying character traits.

Writing: Our author's Celebration was huge success. We were able to share our favorite favorite writing piece and then toast our success with a glass of juice. We were able to celebrate our first piece as second grade authors. We have now started writing small moments/personal narratives. We are taking a small moment from our loves and stretching it across the pages with lots of details.

Spelling: Another little change for spelling next week: You will get the green sheet with the pattern and high frequency words and the sort on Mondays still. However, now it will be stapled to 2 practice sheets. Please cut out the sort to do at home (this does not need to be returned to school). The rest of the staples packet, including the top part of the green sheet will be due on Fridays. Thank you for being so flexible.

Math: We are in the middle of our 2nd math unit: Addition and Subtraction Facts. We are working very hard on improving our fact power- knowing facts automatically. We have been learning shortcuts like the +9 shortcut (think +10 then take away one), think doubles plus 1 (if you know the double 6+6 then 6+7 is 6 doubled plus one)... We have also started our addition timed tests this week. We will do 3min addition timed tests once a week for the 1st quarter. Then we'll move into subtraction second quarter. You can see your child's 1st timed test along with the second grade expectations for the year in your child's red folder.

Science: As scientists we finished exploring balancing and have moved on to exploring the motion of spinning. We made a version of tops. These helped us discover that everything needs a force to be set in motion. We also learned that the spinners that spun the fastest and the longest had the most mass.

Other News: The October/November Scholastic orders were sent home today. All online orders and checks will due next week Friday.

*Starting Monday, students will start to earn pennies in the classroom that can be saved to exchange for bigger coins to shop at Mrs. Dahms Store. The store will open once a month and the kids will be able shop. If you have any items at home that are not used anymore that you would like to contribute to the store, I would really appreciate it.

*We finished our read alouds Magic Tree House Dark Day in the Deep Sea and Nate the Great and the Haunted House. Ask your child to retell both stories to you.

September 24-October 1

Hello Families!

Reading: Our reader's workshop is in full swing. We have learned what independent read and buddy should look like and sound like. We've had lots of practice and are able to take full advantage of our reading time. Next week, we will be reading in small groups, conferencing with Mrs. Dahms and choosing a personal reading goal to work towards.

Writing: Next week we will celebrate our writing as 2nd graders with an Author's Celebration. We have been working on Reading Like a Writer- Gathering ideas from books we have read. We will chose a piece to publish, then revise and edit. It will be a wonderful celebration as 2nd grade authors. We will begin a unit writing Small Moments next (take a small moment from our life and turn it into a story using lots of details and voice.)

Math: We are concluding our first math unit: Numbers and Review. The test is on Monday. Everyone should have brought home a review for the test with sample questions. A review will be sent home before every test in 2nd grade. The reviews do not have to be returned to school. It's just for practice. The Homelink book was sent home for the first time this week. Please see the inside cover for a list Homelink procedures. The chart in the back of the book is for me to keep track of completed Homework. Thank you to all families for helping your child return the MRB books and Homelink books to school the next day! The MRB will not be sent home the rest of the year; however there is an interactive online version for all families to access at everydaymathonline.com.

Spelling: Unit 1 will start on Monday. You will see a Spelling sheet come home every Monday with the spelling pattern, a list of high frequency words to be memorized and then a word pattern sort your child should cut and sort at home (this does not need to be sent to school). There will not be list of words to study with the spelling pattern, rather kids should practice and learn the pattern so that he/she can apply it to create any word with the pattern. I will add several websites to the blog that will be great resources for studying the spelling patterns.

Science: We have experimenting with balance. Ask your child how he/she got a pencil to balance on a popsicle stick (tied a wire to pencil and used clothespins as counterweights) Ask your child to draw you a picture. We also created mobiles with paper clips, straws, rubber bands and notecards. It was a challenge to get the mobile to balance.

Social Studies: As a community of learners, we created our social contract. Here are the expectations we all agreed upon:

Attentive Listening (eyes and body on speaker, mouth closed)

Respect all teachers, students and materials

Use kind words: Please, Thank you, I'm sorry, You're welcome

Cooperate

Be Safe: Keep hands and body to yourself

Always try your best

*We all signed the contract and agreed to follow the contract even when nobody is watching!

Other News:
*Thank you to all volunteers- I really appreciate anything you are able to do for our classroom!

*Our class filled the pebble jar last week (Pebbles are added when the class meets challenges, collectively follows directions or when students are "caught" using kind words or being good friends. The class earned the reward of snack outside. We had fun eating snack and reading the next chapter in The Magic Tree House book: Dark Day in the Deep Sea