Hi 2nd Grade Parents!
It was a shorter week, but we still were super productive. It's nice having classroom routines & procedures established and getting deeper into our units of study.
Classroom Reminders
-If your child received a progress note (sent to you as parents directly through email), please respond back with a confirmation that you've read and understood the outlined concerns.
-Hearing & vision screenings will occur this coming week. If your child has reading glasses, please make sure your son/daughter has them next week.
-The reading bookmarks have been in place now for a couple weeks. Instead of writing the book title in the agenda, we are looking for the student's bookmark to be filled out/signed instead. Their reading homework grade comes from their turned in reading bookmark on their swap day. If your child is reading a book from a series, please include the number or subtitle (for example, Magic Tree House #3 Mummies in the Morning or Boxcar Children #4 Mystery Ranch). Again, we are no longer needing to see the book title in the student's agenda.
-Perhaps you came in for 1-1 reading with scholars in 1st & 2nd grade. We're no longer doing that in 2nd. Instead, we're now transitioning to 'reading groups'. Twice a week, we invite parents in to read from our classroom literature book with a small group of students. Right now that book is 'Sarah, Plain & Tall.' If you sign up, you'll be asked to read with 5 students. The primary goal is reading through the chapter & then discuss a few comprehension questions together. Most parents opt to have each child read a page or two and model fluent reading at the beginning or end of the chapter. We'll provide you a copy of the book, the questions & a location/table in the school to read. You'll get your own kiddo (unless you don't want him/her) and 4 other well-behaved scholars. The remaining students read with us (either the teacher or TA) in the classroom. The students LOVE reading with you and they get so excited when we have parents readers. Links to sign up & join us are being (or have been) sent out by classroom parents.
Conversation Starters from Week 6 Content
-What were some of the adjectives you used to describe yourself when doing the 'Sarah, Plain & Tall' craft?
-Why don't we stack our addition numbers from left-to-right? (We need to make sure each place value is matched; sometimes we have a 3-digit number and a 2-digit number, so it's important to line up the tens place values & ones place value)
-What do making lanterns have to do with Buddha?
-What do Caleb & Anna think of Sarah? Do they want her to stay & become their new mother?
-How do you think you did on the math & science quizzes this week? (You'll find out via their Tuesday folders!) What did you find hard/challenging? How could you prepare differently next time?
Week 7 Academics
Poetry: Students were given a copy of our newest poem, "The Secret" on either Tuesday or Wednesday this week. It's a short poem & we've been practicing daily in the classroom. Recitations will occur either next Thursday or Friday, Sept 11th or 12th.
Grammar/Writing: We'll review the four types of sentences (declarative, imperative, interrogative & exclamatory) before moving onto our first part of speech -- nouns!
Literature: Continuing on in 'Sarah, Plain & Tall'. Students are working through a workbook as well to learn more about sequencing, setting, problem/solutions, character descriptions, letter writing & finding evidence to support their claims. You'll see that workbook come home after we complete the story.
Spalding: Back to a regular list of 30 total words. Thank you for helping reinforce neat Spalding handwriting at home!
Math: Addition with renaming continues! This time with addition in two place values and some even that involve regrouping +2 tens/hundreds instead of just our typical +1 ten/hundred. Students will take a check up quiz on Thursday as we prepare for our forthcoming Unit 2 test in week 8.
History: We'll close up our unit on Ancient India by learning about the Jataka tale and comparing it to a more familiar tale of Chicken Little. We'll also learn about King Asoka. Students will get a study guide on Wednesday to help prepare for a forthcoming assessment in week 8.
Science: Our next science unit is all about organisms. We'll start out discussing different types of plant habitats.
Happy Friday & weekend. Thanks for sharing your children with us. We adore them!
-The Second Grade Teaching Team
