Happy Labor Day Weekend!
It's been a productive week in 2nd grade. We had our first full Spalding week, recited "The Year" & got to witness what happens when we made mixtures (sand & water, rice & water) & solutions (sugar + water = sugar water, salt + water = salt water).
Classroom Reminders
- There is no school on Monday, September 1st. It is an R&R weekend, so no homework was assigned. Students, however, are always encouraged to read! We don't need to see the reading bookmark filled out for Fri/Weekend or Monday, though.
-Wednesday, September 3rd is Spalding & Singapore Curriculum Night for any interested parents. Mrs. Campbell will be discussing Spalding phonics if you want to learn more about how we teach it in the classroom, what the marking means & how to help at home with phonograms/spelling homework from 5:30-6:15. Mrs. Curtis will be speaking to our Singapore math curriculum for 2nd-5th grade from 6:15-7. Topics include word problems, bar models, the importance of fact memorization & how you can best support at home. Please RSVP at https://forms.gle/6vecYWZRDupgRwBN6
-From the Health Office: Reminder parents/guardians that the week of September 8 through September 12 is hearing and vision screening. If your student needs vision aids such as glasses, PLEASE send your student to school with these, particularly during this week. We want to eliminate any false vision screening fails.
-Progress notices are letters from your child's teacher outlining any academic areas that are below grade level benchmarks & suggested action steps to support their development in these areas. We will be sending them out by next Wednesday via email. If you do not receive a notice, your child is academically on level and you'll get the more detailed report card checklist at the conclusion of quarter 1 grades. We'll also have parent/teacher conferences at that time to review data points & discuss individual academic and social goals appropriate for your child's unique needs. Our criteria for receiving a progress notice this first quarter are students who:
- are currently not at our M reading level goal (keeping in mind that our end of quarter 1 goal is N for all students)
- scored yellow (below) or red (well below) on the national Dibels reading assessment
- are likely to get a 1 or 2 on their report card for phonogram knowledge
- have struggled on our math check ups and/or displaying underdeveloped number sense from classroom practice
Conversation Starters from Week 5 Content
- Who are the three main gods from the Hindu religion? (Vishnu-the preserver, Brahma-the creator & Shiva-the destroyer)
- What is another name for the Festival of Lights? (Diwali)
- Is pouring milk into cereal a mixture or solution? (Mixture -- both items can be separated...unless it gets really soggy because it was left out on the counter and in that case, it should be immediately tossed down the drain!)
- How do you know that one ten equals ten ones (or one hundred = ten tens)? Can you prove it?
- How's your poetry recitation go? What do you think went well? How could you improve for next time?
- What did you enjoy most from The Boxcar Children? Would you like to continue reading more from the series? (If so, we have plenty of the series represented in our classroom libraries. They are rated as level O books, which is above the current benchmark, but we'll allow it as an extra book choice since they are now invested in the characters)
Week 6 Academics
Poetry: Our next poem is much shorter that our first. It's called "The Secret" by Anonymous. Recitations will occur the week of September 8th. You'll see the rubric from "The Year" come home in the Tuesday folder with our comments & notes, but it was not recorded for a grade. We will, however, take a grade for "The Secret".
Grammar/Writing: We'll use "The Secret" poem as source material for copywork & dictations. We're also super excited to be learning about exclamatory sentences! Yay for sentences with strong feelings!
Literature: Students finished The Boxcar Children. We'll switch over to Sarah, Plain & Tall. Please send in that copy on Tuesday if you haven't already. Reading groups may be starting up for your classroom -- be on the lookout for a sign up from classroom parents.
Spalding: A shortened list of 20 works lies ahead due to the holiday on Monday.
Math: We're continuing to add with renaming. We'll build up to adding two 3-digit numbers with regrouping in one or more place values. Students will take a check up/quiz on Wednesday.
History: Our study of Ancient India continues with a look at the story of Buddha & a explore major events for the ancient society using a timeline.
Science: We're wrapping up our study of states of matter. We'll review together in class on Tuesday by playing a Jeopardy game & filling out a study guide together. The quiz will be on Thursday. The quiz will be mostly multiple choice with one short answer -- everything comes from the study guide.
We hope you have a lovely R&R (restful & relaxing) holiday weekend. We look forward to seeing your scholars on Tuesday morning.
-The Second Grade Teaching Team
