Week ending 1/27/17

Hello families!  January is closing up quickly and February will be here before we know it!  We are less than 10 days away from the 100th day of school.  I've added some additional websites/apps that are great for spelling, reading, math practice at home.  You can check them out on my Newton schools website.

Important information:

• Next Wednesday, February 1st is an early release day with dismissal at 12:30.   Please plan accordingly and don't forget there is no ASCA on early release days.  

3, 2, 1 things you should know about our week...

3 math activities we worked on were identifying and recognizing 3-D shapes in the classroom and real world, identifying attributes of quadrangles, and sorting polygons based on number of sides and number of angles.  

* Ask your child how many sides and angles a triangle, quadrangle, and hexagon have.  

2 writing skills we continue to work on as we finish publishing our informational books are editing for complete sentences and using the word wall to help spell words unfamiliar to us.  

* Ask your child what their topic is and to tell you 2 ideas they've written about.

1 whole class read aloud book, we're reading is Have You Filled a Bucket Today?  They class really enjoyed it.  We also introduced peer positive postcards to the class.  This is another way students can support each other, recognize others' efforts, and be mindful of how we're building a classroom community.
https://www.amazon.com/Have-Filled-Bucket-Today-Bucketfilling/dp/099609993X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1485545619&sr=1-1&keywords=have+you+filled+a+bucket+today

Last Week's Post (1/23/17)

Hi families!
I hope you all had a nice weekend!  I apologize for not posting this earlier this weekend but wanted to still share with you what we worked on last week.

3, 2, 1 things we did this week...
3 math skills we worked on this past week were identify attributes of different shapes and we worked on an attribute train putting shapes together but the rule was to change one attribute as they chose the next shape.  We also worked on identifying parallel lines and quadrangles (quadrilaterals).
*Ask your child to show you with their fingers how to make parallel lines and intersecting lines.

2 writing skills we worked on focusing on choosing which chapters we wanted to publish (as a good writer always chooses from what's written the best parts to share) and adding introductions.

1 activity we completed in reading workshop was comparing the traditional Three Little Pigs story to James Marshall's version and wrote an opinion piece of writing to convince a friend which to read.
*Ask your child which version they liked better.

Final notes on homework (for now):
Beginning this week, your child will be bringing home a fluorescent green sheet of paper.  This is both their homework reading log and their response sheet.  This single sheet of paper is what homework will look like for the remainder of the year; it replaces the packet format we had been following.  This one homework product should be returned to school on Fridays.

Your child has spent some time in the classroom last week learning and practicing homework expectations with an emphasis on achievement and effort.  These  are two of our school's core values.  We expect to see them represented in students' homework just the same way we seek to see these values represented daily in school across all academic and social domains.

The second grade teaching team expected to see the one homework product done well.  Sentences should be properly constructed and follow conventions (i.e., capitalization and punctuation used properly).  Handwriting should be neat and letters should be properly formed.  Work that is less than a student's best effort or which does not meet these standards will be returned.  We thank you in advance for holding these same high expectations at home.

We appreciate your ongoing partnership and active participation in this process more than we can say in words.
Sincerely,
Second Grade Team


**I am working this week myself, to collect more websites and activities for students to work on at home if they/you wish.

Week ending 1/13/17

The weather this week has been up and down but it was so nice to get out today for both snack and lunch recess!

Important information you should know:

• Monday, January 16, there is no school.  
• Continue to send in snow pants, boots, mittens, etc and help your child practice putting them on quickly at home.  

3, 2, 1 things you should know about our week in room 250...

3 lessons we worked on during social studies were learning about Diego Rivera and how he painted to share the stories of the Mexican people, watched a Pebble Go video on Mexico's holiday Day of the Dead where they remember and celebrate people that have passed on and decorated our own skulls which are typically worn on this day, and we learned about the different items sold at the Mexican market place in our book.   

*Ask you child 2 items sold that the market place that we discussed.

2 skills in writing we continue to work on are asking the reader a question in our introduction and how to use twin sentences to make our writing more varied, interesting, and longer.  

* Ask you child to tell you a twin sentence that goes with "The beach is my favorite place to go!"

1 day we  celebrated was Beach Day!  Students really enjoyed beach day today!  They wore sunglasses, used their beach towels to read on, played beach ball math, greeted each other by tossing a beach ball, listened to "The Sand Castle Contest" and wrote about our favorite times at the beach, and watched a Magic School Bus video regarding the beach.

Update on homework:

Dear Second Grade Families,

As you know, we've asked for your feedback regarding homework and have been working to reiterate expectations in the classroom.  To this end, we've been working to redefine expectations as necessary.  Our work with your children over the past two weeks has focused on clarifying what needs to be done to achieve individual hopes and dreams; and, as importantly, how this will be done.

Our team has decided that homework tasks will change but will remain within the district's guidelines for total time spent on homework based on the following conclusions:

• Homework routines are important

• Most families value homework

• Teachers and families value reading tasks above other homework tasks

Moving forward:

• Total time spent on homework will remain 30 minutes.

• Nightly reading of at least 20 minutes will continue.
• BEGINNING JANUARY 23^rd - Nightly reading response

• Nightly math and spelling review worksheets will not continue. 

• Additional resources will be available to families on our websites, and may be given as “homework” at the discretion of individual families.

Our team will spend next week teaching and practicing homework routines with students in the classroom.

Week ending 1/6/17

Happy New Year!  Welcome back families!  We are back up and running this week and we've spent a lot of time refocusing on routines, expectations, revisiting our goals/hopes for the new year, and sharing about our break.  

3, 2, 1, things you should know...

3 math skills we've focused on this week were addition and subtraction skills in math games, understanding how to use a "Parts-Parts-Total" diagram to help add money, and how to tell the temperature and why it's important to know that.  

**Ask your child why we play the game "Wipe-Out".

2 books we've read this week as we jump started our James Marshall author study were Portly McSwine and Eat Your Vegetables.  Our author study is focused using the texts to compare characters, identify cause and effect of a character's actions, identify story elements, and read with expression.  

**Ask your child what happened when the brontosaurus ate the leaves at the owl's tree.

1 activity we did to learn more about a child's responsibilities in Mexico was breaking into groups of three, choosing a child to read about together, and comparing the child's life in Mexico to their own lives.  It can really be an eye opener!

**Ask your child one responsibility that is the same as the other child's and one that is different.

Important information regarding homework:

Thank you for your feedback regarding homework this past week.  We've heard a variety of opinions and have looked closely at the data we've collected via the survey.  Our second grade teaching team has spent a significant amount of time considering your feedback, studied research on the matter by thought leaders in the field, and discussed our past and current research practices at length.  

At this time, we would like to extend the conversation of another week so that we may make what we feel would be the best-informed, most reasonable decision regarding future homework practices at the grade level.  

Please take a moment to share your voice via the brief homework survey if you haven't already done so.  The homework expectation for next week will be the same as for last week: Read for 30 minutes each night.  Homework Survey

Thank you in advance for your feedback and flexibility as we "reset" expectations for the remainder of the year.  

--Second Grade Team