I can't believe it's November already! The weather is starting to feel that way. Please be sure you send your child into school with appropriate clothing for outside recess.
Important dates:
*Thursday, November 7 is an early release day with dismissal at 12:30.
* Monday, November 11, there is no school.
* Wednesday, November 27, is an early release day with dismissal at 12:00. Please note the different dismissal time.
* Thursday and Friday, November 28 and 29, there is no school for the Thanksgiving break.
* Homework expectations: reading nightly, Xtramath at least 2 times a week, reading response 1x a week on the computer, and Fundations and math worksheet for practice.
What's been happening in room 235?
It's been a busy week getting ready for conferences!
In writing, we've been working hard to edit/revise and rewrite our narrative stories to share with you when we meet.
In literacy, we worked on finding the problem and solution to the story. In small groups, we've also started working on character traits. Character traits are words to describe a character's personality or qualities...versus describing what they look like or what they like to do. We also started an author study on James Marshall. We will be looking at story elements, characters, and writing opinion pieces.
In math, we've been working with different Kathy Richardson activities to focus on place value. We've also started working on describing tens and ones within larger numbers. We also counted the pumpkin seeds we scooped out last week. We used our estimation skills to determine how many we thought were in there. Then we counted by 10s as a class and adjusted our thinking as we counted higher and higher!
In social studies, we've focused on U.S. landmarks and landforms.
In science, we observed our moldy pumpkin! It was very gross and the students LOVED it!
Ask your child to name 1 landmark and 1 landform from the United States.
Ask your child to tell you 1 way to make a narrative story more exciting!
Ask your child what cheer words are and if they remember the cheer for "again" or "sure".
Ask your child how many pumpkin seeds there really were. You'd be amazed!
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Birthday Guest Reader
A child's birthday is so important...especially in 2nd grade! We have had no birthdays yet in the classroom but starting next month, we have many coming up! Although we do not have parties with food, etc., I always encourage parents to come in and read on the morning or end of day of their child's birthday. The reader can be a parent, family member, sibling in another class, etc. The students love this and I usually ask parents to keep it a surprise! Choose a favorite book that you and your child love and read it to the class to start their birthday off right!
When your child's birthday is coming up, please send me an email and set up a time to come in read!
Friday, October 25, 2013
Weekly Update 10/25/13
Can you believe October will be over in a week? We'll be in November before we know it!
* Conferences begin next week and continue into the following week! I'm really looking forward to it and don't forget that your child be attending as well. They are very proud of their work and want to share it with you. If your conference is scheduled after 3:15, you may need to wait till conference time before coming in as the door will be locked. I will walk the previous conference out and then I can let you in. Thank you for your cooperation.
* Homework is going really well overall! Students are working on the work and completing it fully. Many students are completing Xtramath twice a week and that is great! If you're not doing Xtramath, please be sure to be practicing facts in another way (such as flashcards, using dominoes, etc.). Also, the reading log is to be completed 1x a week online. Please plan accordingly to have it completed. If you have difficulty for some reason, please send a response in an email instead. The students are told each week what the prompt is and should be able to do it in an email. The prompt will be posted and students should complete the prompt Monday-Thursday based on the book they are reading that day.
In literacy, we've been working on identifying the problem and solution of the story (we read Lon Po Po, a Chinese fairy tale) and we also focused on comparing characters and describing them (Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters, an African Cinderella story). In Fundations, we've worked on the sound of /ed/ and suffixes. Next week, we'll focus on unit 4 trick words. You can find these trick words on my website. The more practice the better! We've also been working on our conference reflections during reading and writing times. It's so important for students to be able to reflect on what they've been working hard on and what they still need help with. In writing, we continue to look at our stories, revise and add details, and focus on what we really want to the reader to read and understand about our small moment story. They're just about ready to be shared with you at conferences! We will be meeting with our buddies in a few weeks to share with them as well. The students are truly becoming wonderful writers! We have also been writing to our pen pals! It's very exciting and I will be mailing them all this weekend! Hopefully, we'll receive letters from them by Thanksgiving.
In math, we continue to focus on number stories, addition and subtraction strategies, as well as doing hands on activities that help reinforce these skills. On Friday, we took the unit 2 math test and we will look at it altogether during conferences. Next week, we'll begin unit 3 focusing on place value. We continue to do "Plus Time" during our RTI blocks. Students are working in groups that are right where they are with numbers. Students are switching classes and working with other students as well as other teachers. So far it's going great and we're all excited about it!
In social studies, we completed the "Me on the Map" project and are moving into the United States, landmarks, and landforms. For science, we observed a pumpkin focusing on describing words and detailed illustrations, estimated the number of seeds, and we will count them next week to see if we're right.
I hope everyone enjoys the last weekend in October!
Any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to let me know!
* Conferences begin next week and continue into the following week! I'm really looking forward to it and don't forget that your child be attending as well. They are very proud of their work and want to share it with you. If your conference is scheduled after 3:15, you may need to wait till conference time before coming in as the door will be locked. I will walk the previous conference out and then I can let you in. Thank you for your cooperation.
* Homework is going really well overall! Students are working on the work and completing it fully. Many students are completing Xtramath twice a week and that is great! If you're not doing Xtramath, please be sure to be practicing facts in another way (such as flashcards, using dominoes, etc.). Also, the reading log is to be completed 1x a week online. Please plan accordingly to have it completed. If you have difficulty for some reason, please send a response in an email instead. The students are told each week what the prompt is and should be able to do it in an email. The prompt will be posted and students should complete the prompt Monday-Thursday based on the book they are reading that day.
In literacy, we've been working on identifying the problem and solution of the story (we read Lon Po Po, a Chinese fairy tale) and we also focused on comparing characters and describing them (Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters, an African Cinderella story). In Fundations, we've worked on the sound of /ed/ and suffixes. Next week, we'll focus on unit 4 trick words. You can find these trick words on my website. The more practice the better! We've also been working on our conference reflections during reading and writing times. It's so important for students to be able to reflect on what they've been working hard on and what they still need help with. In writing, we continue to look at our stories, revise and add details, and focus on what we really want to the reader to read and understand about our small moment story. They're just about ready to be shared with you at conferences! We will be meeting with our buddies in a few weeks to share with them as well. The students are truly becoming wonderful writers! We have also been writing to our pen pals! It's very exciting and I will be mailing them all this weekend! Hopefully, we'll receive letters from them by Thanksgiving.
In math, we continue to focus on number stories, addition and subtraction strategies, as well as doing hands on activities that help reinforce these skills. On Friday, we took the unit 2 math test and we will look at it altogether during conferences. Next week, we'll begin unit 3 focusing on place value. We continue to do "Plus Time" during our RTI blocks. Students are working in groups that are right where they are with numbers. Students are switching classes and working with other students as well as other teachers. So far it's going great and we're all excited about it!
In social studies, we completed the "Me on the Map" project and are moving into the United States, landmarks, and landforms. For science, we observed a pumpkin focusing on describing words and detailed illustrations, estimated the number of seeds, and we will count them next week to see if we're right.
I hope everyone enjoys the last weekend in October!
Any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to let me know!
Monday, October 21, 2013
Scholastic Book Orders
Hi Families,
Going home today are 2 flyers for Scholastic book orders. They make great gifts for the holidays the students love getting new books! They are affordable and appropriate for 2nd graders. You can also choose from any catalogue online. If you'd like to order you can do so at scholastic.com/reading club and then books will ship to me when I submit the order. Our classroom activation code is: H6JBB. When parents buy books, we get points which I then use to buy more books for the classroom.
The closing date is Thursday, October 31.
Going home today are 2 flyers for Scholastic book orders. They make great gifts for the holidays the students love getting new books! They are affordable and appropriate for 2nd graders. You can also choose from any catalogue online. If you'd like to order you can do so at scholastic.com/reading club and then books will ship to me when I submit the order. Our classroom activation code is: H6JBB. When parents buy books, we get points which I then use to buy more books for the classroom.
The closing date is Thursday, October 31.
Friday, October 18, 2013
Weekly Update 10/18/13
I hope everyone had a nice long weekend! We enjoyed the weekend by walking the neighborhood and enjoying the nice weather, visiting with friends, and making homemade applesauce. It was a great fall weekend. Many of your children had wonderful stories to tell as well!
*Important information:
Homework has been going well...students have been doing great with the reading response online! I'm so impressed and told them so! I know it can take awhile having them type or tell you what to type but by the end of the year they become pros at both responding and using the online format! Continue monitoring your child's homework and assisting if needed. However, if you do help, please write a note to let me know so I can review it again during the school day.
What's been happening this week?
In literacy, we've been working on making predictions as we read. Making predictions before and during reading helps us understand the story line and characters better because we're thinking more about the text and what could happen next. We've made predictions and evaluated whether they came true and why or why not. During writing workshop, we've been working on editing and adding more. We used Jane Yolen's book Owl Moon, to observe writing skills she used to make the reader become engaged in the story and tried some of it in our own books.
Ask your child what "Thinking, talking, and feeling" means.
In math, we've been working on addition and subtraction fact families. The better we know number combinations that go together, the more easier we can solve addition and subtraction equations. The fact triangles that came home this week are a great way to practice!
Ask your child what the fact family for 4, 6, and 10 would be.
In social studies, we worked more on the continents and oceans and began a "Me on the Map" project.
On Friday, we started writing to our NY pen pals! We are all very excited about this new adventure! In the past, the students have been very engaged and really enjoyed this activity over the year. They love learning about their pen pals and writing about themselves and what we're doing in our classroom!
Have a great weekend!
*Important information:
Homework has been going well...students have been doing great with the reading response online! I'm so impressed and told them so! I know it can take awhile having them type or tell you what to type but by the end of the year they become pros at both responding and using the online format! Continue monitoring your child's homework and assisting if needed. However, if you do help, please write a note to let me know so I can review it again during the school day.
What's been happening this week?
In literacy, we've been working on making predictions as we read. Making predictions before and during reading helps us understand the story line and characters better because we're thinking more about the text and what could happen next. We've made predictions and evaluated whether they came true and why or why not. During writing workshop, we've been working on editing and adding more. We used Jane Yolen's book Owl Moon, to observe writing skills she used to make the reader become engaged in the story and tried some of it in our own books.
Ask your child what "Thinking, talking, and feeling" means.
In math, we've been working on addition and subtraction fact families. The better we know number combinations that go together, the more easier we can solve addition and subtraction equations. The fact triangles that came home this week are a great way to practice!
Ask your child what the fact family for 4, 6, and 10 would be.
In social studies, we worked more on the continents and oceans and began a "Me on the Map" project.
On Friday, we started writing to our NY pen pals! We are all very excited about this new adventure! In the past, the students have been very engaged and really enjoyed this activity over the year. They love learning about their pen pals and writing about themselves and what we're doing in our classroom!
Have a great weekend!
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Weekly Update 10/11/13
Even with a half day this week...we've been very busy! We met our buddies for the all school assembly, started math groups, and had pajama day!
* There is no school on Monday, October 14, for Columbus Day.
* Students should be working on Xtramath ( or other fact practice) 2x a week, read 20 minutes, and write an online reading response 1x a week. I check these at the end of the week to see the students' progress.
* Starting next week, students will have 1 math sheet and 1 Fundations (phonics) sheet for homework. These should be review and your child should be able to complete them independently. If they have a great deal of difficulty, please write a note at the top so I am aware. If you help them, add a note as well.
What's been happening in room 235?
Literacy - We've been working on making meaningful connections to stories we hear and read independently. We have been using our own just right books to make connections that help us understand how the characters are feeling or why they did something, to make predictions, and understand the information we read. In Fundations, we've worked on glued sounds, trick words (done, goes, and pretty), and vowel teams. In writing workshop, we began using a student narrative checklist to help us focus our work. Students completed the checklist based on their stories as they are right now and after they've edited their work, they will complete the checklist again. This helps students have goals for their writing and helps lead them in the right direction for a strong narrative.
**Ask your child what a meaningful connection is.
Math - Doubles, doubles, doubles! We've worked quite a bit with doubles facts this week. The better students know their doubles, the better they can use those facts to solve others (ex. doubles plus 1 or doubles minus 1). We also began story problems and made sure we had equations and labels for each problem. Next week, we'll be working on fact families. The better students know the fact family, the easier addition and subtraction will be.
** Ask your child some doubles facts and see how quick they can be.
Math groups have started and it's very exciting for everyone! Two times a week, students among all four 2nd grades, are getting extra math practice in each of our rooms. Students will work with one of the 2nd grade teachers or Ms. Paollilo (our math interventionist) on various math skills. Mixing the students up in each classroom allows students to work with others who are focused on the same math need or number. We're going to try this for awhile and see how it goes. So far, students are excited about switching and the benefit for them will be great!
Social Studies - "Me on the Map" has been our focus this week. We learned about continents and oceans and where we are on the map. We talked about cities, counties, states, countries, continents, and planets. The students have been very interested in geography and I'm thrilled we're off to a great start with the social studies unit.
**Ask your child what continent, state, and city we live in.
* There is no school on Monday, October 14, for Columbus Day.
* Students should be working on Xtramath ( or other fact practice) 2x a week, read 20 minutes, and write an online reading response 1x a week. I check these at the end of the week to see the students' progress.
* Starting next week, students will have 1 math sheet and 1 Fundations (phonics) sheet for homework. These should be review and your child should be able to complete them independently. If they have a great deal of difficulty, please write a note at the top so I am aware. If you help them, add a note as well.
What's been happening in room 235?
Literacy - We've been working on making meaningful connections to stories we hear and read independently. We have been using our own just right books to make connections that help us understand how the characters are feeling or why they did something, to make predictions, and understand the information we read. In Fundations, we've worked on glued sounds, trick words (done, goes, and pretty), and vowel teams. In writing workshop, we began using a student narrative checklist to help us focus our work. Students completed the checklist based on their stories as they are right now and after they've edited their work, they will complete the checklist again. This helps students have goals for their writing and helps lead them in the right direction for a strong narrative.
**Ask your child what a meaningful connection is.
Math - Doubles, doubles, doubles! We've worked quite a bit with doubles facts this week. The better students know their doubles, the better they can use those facts to solve others (ex. doubles plus 1 or doubles minus 1). We also began story problems and made sure we had equations and labels for each problem. Next week, we'll be working on fact families. The better students know the fact family, the easier addition and subtraction will be.
** Ask your child some doubles facts and see how quick they can be.
Math groups have started and it's very exciting for everyone! Two times a week, students among all four 2nd grades, are getting extra math practice in each of our rooms. Students will work with one of the 2nd grade teachers or Ms. Paollilo (our math interventionist) on various math skills. Mixing the students up in each classroom allows students to work with others who are focused on the same math need or number. We're going to try this for awhile and see how it goes. So far, students are excited about switching and the benefit for them will be great!
Social Studies - "Me on the Map" has been our focus this week. We learned about continents and oceans and where we are on the map. We talked about cities, counties, states, countries, continents, and planets. The students have been very interested in geography and I'm thrilled we're off to a great start with the social studies unit.
**Ask your child what continent, state, and city we live in.
Reading Response Update
Dear Families,
I checked tonight the reading responses that are complete. Please be sure to complete the reading response. The reading response online is tied directly to the skill we are working on in class. It is due for tomorrow and each Friday. Students have all week to complete it and if there is technical difficulties, please let me know.
Directions are in a post below if needed.
Thanks for your cooperation with this!
I checked tonight the reading responses that are complete. Please be sure to complete the reading response. The reading response online is tied directly to the skill we are working on in class. It is due for tomorrow and each Friday. Students have all week to complete it and if there is technical difficulties, please let me know.
Directions are in a post below if needed.
Thanks for your cooperation with this!
Monday, October 7, 2013
Don't forget to sign up for Fall conferences! This will be a conference for you and your child so please schedule a time that both of you can attend. The students are very proud of their work and want to share it with you!
www.SignUpGenius.com/go/10C0A4EA8A928A20-deking
www.SignUpGenius.com/go/10C0A4EA8A928A20-deking
Friday, October 4, 2013
Weekly Update 10/4/13
**Fall conference sign up is ready to go on SignUp Genius. Please see other post for more information.
**Homework this week has been Xtramath (or other fact practice) at least 2x a week and reading for 20 minutes or more each night. Starting next week, students will be doing Xtramath, reading 10 minutes, and completing a reading response online 1 night during the week. Please see the other post as well for more information.
**Next Thursday, October 10, is an early release day with dismissal at 12:30. This is a teacher professional development training in writing.
**ASCA starts next week. If your child is taking ASCA classes, please send a note in to let me know. I do receive a list but like to double check parent information to be sure. Also, if there is a time your child will not be going to ASCA as planned, please send a note in as well.
What's been happening this week?
In literacy, we've gotten reading groups up and running and started focusing on activating our schema/background knowledge on topics to help us understand the story. If we know a lot about butterflies...reading a non-fiction book will be easier for us. If we've taken a long ride in a car vacation, we can use our schema to help us understand how the characters are feeling when they are taking a long trip. We will continue our work next week and learn about making meaningful connections to the stories. We focused on bonus letters and glued sounds in Fundations. In writing, we've been focusing on grammar areas such as complete thoughts/sentences, punctuation, and asking versus telling sentences. We also worked on adding to our stories by writing about our five senses. We also began using a checklist to be sure our work has everything needed to be a GREAT story! The checklists will help guide my teaching as well as their growth as writers, particularly during writing conferences.
In math, we've been learning how to complete Xtramath on the computer, use doubles facts to solve addition problems, work with cubes to find number combinations to numbers 6 through 10, and solved number stories. We also took an addition fact test to see where we are. Students will take this a few times this year to see their growth.
In social studies, we've been learning the names of the continents and oceans. Some first questions were "What is a continent?" and "How many oceans are there?" We have a lot of work to do around this and will continue learning about map skills and begin the United States next week. One morning message, asked students to list places they've been out of the country...I was amazed the number of fantastic places we've been!
We met with our 3rd grade buddies today too! Students talked about what they had in common and what was different. We will sit with our buddies at the all school meeting next week.
Ask you child...
* How does schema help you understand the story?
* What is a meaningful connection versus a regular connection?
* How can you make your story more interesting to the reader?
* What is a doubles fact?
* Who is their buddy and what do they have in common?
Fall Conferences
November will be coming up fairly fast! To make things as easy as possible, I have created an online conference sign up through SignUp Genius. If you haven't used the website before and have any questions or concerns about signing up, please let me know! I can walk you through it step by step if needed. This will be a conference for you and your child so please schedule a time that both of you can attend. The students are very proud of their work and want to share it with you!
www.SignUpGenius.com/go/10C0A4EA8A928A20-deking
www.SignUpGenius.com/go/10C0A4EA8A928A20-deking
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Reading Response
Dear families,
We'll be starting something new as part of the nightly reading. I am expecting students to write a response 1 time a week on the computer.
* One night they will read and write their response on my web page for to read.
* The response question may differ week to week depending on what we are learning about in reading workshop. Please read the response before reading as students may need to respond before reading (ex. making a prediction).
* On the night they read and respond online, they will type their answers. This may be very slow at first and you may help them in the beginning, but I assure you...as time goes on they get very quick!
* You may choose which night to complete the response (at least 1 night but students can do as many as they'd like).
* As part of the Common Core standards, students are expected to respond more in writing and with guidance and support from adults, use a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing.
* This will be something that I will check each week. I love seeing what they come up with!
* We will start this the week of October 8th.
Start at my website...
http://www2.newton.k12.ma.us/~megan_deking/?OpenItemURL=S03FBB287
*Click on 'Reading Response Form' and be sure to click submit when done.
Let me know if you have any questions!
If you have trouble accessing technology, please let me know and we'll make other arrangements.
We'll be starting something new as part of the nightly reading. I am expecting students to write a response 1 time a week on the computer.
* One night they will read and write their response on my web page for to read.
* The response question may differ week to week depending on what we are learning about in reading workshop. Please read the response before reading as students may need to respond before reading (ex. making a prediction).
* On the night they read and respond online, they will type their answers. This may be very slow at first and you may help them in the beginning, but I assure you...as time goes on they get very quick!
* You may choose which night to complete the response (at least 1 night but students can do as many as they'd like).
* As part of the Common Core standards, students are expected to respond more in writing and with guidance and support from adults, use a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing.
* This will be something that I will check each week. I love seeing what they come up with!
* We will start this the week of October 8th.
Start at my website...
http://www2.newton.k12.ma.us/~megan_deking/?OpenItemURL=S03FBB287
*Click on 'Reading Response Form' and be sure to click submit when done.
Let me know if you have any questions!
If you have trouble accessing technology, please let me know and we'll make other arrangements.
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