Week ending 12/7

Hello families!  
We've had a great first week of December and accomplished quite bit!    We only have 2 more full breaks until the first Winter break.  

Important information:

• We are still collecting coats for the coat drive so I encourage you to browse through your closets and donate!
• If your child will be away at all between now and break or right after break, please let us know. 
• Our art morning is going great!  We've done it two times now and I'd love to begin giving students more options with materials.  We will do water color and paint, but I'm also interested in trying oil pastels.  If you would like to donate a box to the class to be used this year,  we would greatly appreciate it (6 sets is ideal)!  Here's a link to an example: 
• Oil Pastels

3, 2, 1 things you need to know about this week:

This was Inclusion Week and we spent lots of time talking and sharing ideas about how to help our friends who struggle in different learning areas, how to be a good friend and be kind, how we could welcome a new student if they joined our class, and also taking time to recognize how we are each unique and special and sharing with others to learn how we are the same and different.  Here are 3 book titles we read this week: The Invisible Boy, Tom's Special Talent, and A Walk with Vanessa.  *Ask your child which book this week they really enjoyed and why.

2 math activities we worked on were identifying fractions and naming them through numbers and words by creating fraction flags of our own color and denominator choice.  

1 literacy activity we worked on was Art in Reading.  This week, we focused creating a project that showed examples of friendship from the books that we read independently.  * Ask your child which book they picked and how it showed an example of friendship or being kind.  

Here's our work today...

Week ending 11/30

Hi families!
December is on our door step and we are busy busy in room 250!
Here is some important information you need to be aware of:

• Next Wednesday is an early release day with dismissal at 12:30.
• Don't forget that you can sign up for upcoming an upcoming morning meeting.  If you'd like to join us, please use this sign up: Morning Meeting Sign Up
• As we begin planning field trips (no set dates at this time), please be sure you have a current CORI on file if you'd like to volunteer to be a chaperone.  If you are unsure, please check with Ms. Sheehan in the office. 

Instead of a re-cap of this week, I wanted to share with you something amazing we started this morning!  It's called Art in Reading and students are so excited about it!  We read everyday during reading workshop and we also hear stories read aloud.  From those stories, we choose one that really stuck with us!  It could be we really liked the story theme, we made a connection to a character, or we learned some new information.  On Fridays, we're going to be sharing our thoughts on one story by creating a piece of artwork!  

Today, we focused on a non-fiction book we had read over the week and then created something to go with it to show what we learned and some non-fiction features we noticed in the text.  For example, one student read about lighthouses and created a model of the tallest lighthouse.  Another, read about supersize animals and created a model to show the difference between the biggest dog and the smallest dog.  Also, they were only allowed certain materials and that will change weekly.  Their creativity flourished and their excitement grew as they worked!  After working, we did a museum walk to see what everyone had created.  

I asked them what they felt went really well and their response was: cooperation among each other to help when one was stuck, specific compliments regarding their work they received from others, that each worked hard in their own way, and most importantly, how proud they were of their work!  

Here are some snapshots of what was created today!

Week Ending 11/16

Well November has been off to a great start!  The weather has turned chillier so please be sure your child has gloves, hats, boots, etc so they are warm for the weather at outdoor recess.

Important information:

• Wednesday, November 21, is an early release day with DISMISSAL at 12:00, NOT 12:30.
• If your child will not be here next week, or any time leading up to the December break, please let us know.  
• A notice went home on Thursday regarding the coat drive.  

3, 2, 1 things you need to know about our week...

3 math activities we worked "How Many Rectangles?" where we used 12, 18, or 24 or squares to make multiple rectangles.  Just using the same squares, gives you so many different options!  We also worked on "Describe the Rectangle" in which we created a rectangle and then gave our partner clues to make the same without looking at ours. Clues could be 4 rows of 3 squares or 2 columns and 6 rows.  We also worked on an assessment to see how much geometry we've learned so far!

2 read aloud books we read were Bessie Coleman, Queen of the Sky, where we learned about the first African American women pilot.  We brainstormed words to describe her and provided evidence from the text to prove our idea.  We also heard North America, where we tied in our social studies lessons to our literacy non-fiction unit.  We identified non-fiction features and their purpose in relation to that specific book.  

1 writing activity we completed was writing our weekly letter.  Each Friday, we focus on writing about our week.  We pay careful attention to letter format, spelling, and punctuation.  As well as expressing our ideas clearly and with detail.  By the end of the year, we'll have a whole collection of letters showing all we've accomplished in second grade.  

Brain Builders!  One new thing we just started in the morning is Brain Builders Bins!  The class is very excited about this!  These are bins that are out at each table and students work with the bin at their table and the next day is a different bin.  The activities include materials such as dominoes, letter puzzle pieces, paper cups, and more.  They can use the materials anyway they like.  Today they built cup towers, domino lines to knock down, and fit together the Pentomino pieces to make one large display.  Students worked cooperatively to create what they could, they worked on sharing materials, encouraging each other with their designs, and were respectful to each other.  This is happening first thing in the morning so being on time is really important!
Here's a look at today's activities:

Week ending 10/26

Hello families!  It is definitely starting to feel like October but the sunshine is great for recess!

Important information:

• Be sure to watch the weather and the temperatures as we're still planning on being outside for recess as much as we can.  You may decide to send in extra clothes to keep your child's locker in case they get wet at recess.  Also, our room can be hot, but other times over the weekend it may become chilly so wearing layers they can put on and off is important.  
• Thursday, November 1st is an early release day.
• Halloween is next Wednesday,  so please remember that students will not be wearing costumes to school and please refrain from sending in candy for snack or lunch. 
• We had an evacuation drill today and I'm so impressed with how quiet they were and how well they followed directions.  
• Starting Thursday, we would like to invite parents in to join us at morning meeting.  It is offered the first Thursday of each month, for three parents at a time, from 8:30-8:50.  Please use the sign up right here if you'd like to join us: Morning Meeting Sign Up

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

3 math areas we worked on this week were subtracting within number stories, identifying shapes and Geoblocks, and finding a Geoblock that fit our pieces among many choices.  We have moved into geometry and it's exciting to see the students so engaged with the Geoblocks.  

*Ask your child what they drew today for the "Draw the Geoblock" activity.  

2 read alouds were heard during reading workshop were Tuesday (focusing on predictions) and Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters (focusing on character traits and using evidence from the text to prove their thinking).
*Ask your child what they think was going to happen at the end of the book Tuesday.

1 10-minute math routine we're learning is Quick Images - Shapes.  A shape is quickly shown two times and students draw what they see or recall.  After shown for the third time, students can revise their drawing.  This helps the students really focus on the shape and share what they notice (four sides, straight sides, number of vertices, sides the same length, etc.).

Screentime has come up in conversation in a few conferences this past week. I wanted to share some great questions that Mrs. Uzzell also shared with her families, that you can use as well during meal times.  Having a screen free dinner, for everyone, is a great way to have some wonderful conversations with your kids about how school is going.  

Who do you look forward to seeing the most at school each day?
What's the best thing about being in Second Grade?
If you could pack you own lunch, what would you pack?
Who is someone at school who needs a friend?
What's your favorite part of the school day?
Who did you sit by at lunch today?
What's the best thing about being in Room 250?
What are you learning now in Social Studies?
Who's the friendliest person in your class?
What food did you like the most at lunch?
Who did you hang out with the most today?

Week ending 10/5/18

Hello families!
October has started off strong, I feel we have routines and expectations all in place and the whole class has begun to show me what wonderful, curious, and hard working learners they all are.

Important information:

• If you'd like to donate some paper towels to our class, we would greatly appreciate it!  Those clean up spills so well.  
• There is no school Monday, October 8...enjoy this day with your family.  
• If you have not signed up for a conference yet, please let me know and I will send you the link to do so.  Thanks!

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

3 math activities we worked on were deciding if the cubes were enough for the class, identified which subtraction facts we knew and which ones we were still working on, and we practiced our coin counting and trading skills when we played Collecting 50 cents with 2 partners.  Many students said they knew the subtraction facts so I challenged them to be speedy in saying the answer and those that weren't so speedy would be those to practice.  The students are really loving math workshop and so am I! 

2 social skill problem solving areas we've been really focusing on is cooperation (What does it look like?  How do know if we've cooperated today?  Tell about someone who showed cooperation today.) and whether something is a Glitch or Disaster.  This will help us identify what is something that might not go our way, but it's really something with a quick or easy fix and then we can move on or do we need help moving on from a teacher or a friend, and responses and strategies we can work on when we feel something is more than a glitch.

1 new piece of information for families is homework!  Each night we are expecting students to be reading for 20 minutes.  Reading can look like your child reading in their head, reading out loud, reading with a family member, taking turns reading, or even listening to a story read by you.  

Additionally, this month, students will bring home today the Heritage Bear Project.  Please read it over with your child and work on it with them by the 22nd.  This is something that you should talk about together, brainstorm together, but the final project should be something made by the students.  In class, they will present their bear and we will learn so much more about each of our classmates!

Here's a peek at what math looked like this week:

Week Ending 9/28/18

Our first month of school is over and we're moving on to October!  We've been in school for 17 days so far and we've really settled into a routine and our content area work has really picked up! It's very exciting seeing what students are interested in and what they feel is their strength.

Important Information:

• October 8, is Columbus Day and there is no school.  
• Picture Day has been rescheduled to Monday, October 15th.  
• We have a number of birthdays in October. Parents are invited to come in and read a book to our class on their child's birthday.  Please touch base with me about a week before so we can find a time that works.  Typically, readers come at morning meeting and then can head out to start their day.

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

3 reading workshop skills we focused on were determining whether a book was fiction or non-fiction, tracking our thinking WHILE reading using post-it notes to show either favorite part or new information learned, and how to BUZZ about books using a conversation bookmark to get us started.  

* Ask your child which book they chose to buzz about today at the end of reading workshop. 

2 math activities we worked on during 10-Minute Math at the beginning of our day was showing multiple addition and subtraction sentences to equal 14 and identifying what time it will be ____ minutes.  The new Investigations program is very hands on and student focused!  Math workshop is a time where students independently choose which activity to work on and when done, they move on to a different activity.  All students work on the same skill, but are showing what they know in different ways.  This has already helped create more independence in the classroom regarding their own learning!  We are just really exploring the concepts, math workshop, and 10-Minute Math, but so far I think we're all enjoying it!

1 science activity we worked on was brainstorming words used for observation and making our own observations of a shell by writing and drawing as accurately as we can like scientists do! 

Please be sure to sign up for a conference.  Fall Conference Sign Up

Have a great weekend!

Here's a few pics from math workshop today:

 

Week ending 9/21/18

Hello families! We've really been getting going in room 250 with all our subjects and it's so exciting to see what their interests are and what they feel successful in!

Important information:

• Don't forget!  All About Me bags went home earlier this week and they should come back on Monday so we can begin sharing in class. 
• Picture Day is Wednesday, September 26.
• Open House is Thursday night, September 27th, at 6:00 for K-2 students.  Please remember that this is an adult only evening.  Thanks!
• Thursday, September 27th, is also an early release day with dismissal at 12:30. 
• Please remember to send a note in with your child if there is a dismissal change.  I often have access to email but should it be down or I am out, I would not be able to access it nor would the substitute.  If you know a few days before, that's fine too.  Thank you!  
• Please check out our Amazon Wish List you can find here: Amazon Wish List

3 math skills we worked on this week were showing the number seven in multiple ways with multiple addends too, investigating whether or not the order of the numbers makes a difference with addition, and adding numbers quickly and accurately when playing 5 in a Row.  

* Ask your child to show you 3 ways to show the number 7 or any number under 10.

2 reading strategies we reviewed were what to do with a word you don't know (we listened to Slowly, Slowly, Slowly, said the Sloth to discuss being slow and careful when sounding out) and we discussed taking a book walk before reading a book so they can decide if it's just right for them.  We also talked about iPick which is a strategy for choosing books.  They have bookmarks to use them independently to help choose their own books.  

* Ask your child to share one part of iPick.  

1 writing activity we worked on was writing our weekly letter.  Every Friday, we're writing letters about one thing that happened this week.  We are learning about letter formation, sticking to one idea, adding feelings, and reviewing capitals and punctuation.  

* Ask your child who they wrote to and one thing written in their letter.  

Here's our iPick bookmark:

Week ending 9/14/18

Hello families!
Another week of school is done and it's been another enjoyable week!  I've enjoyed getting to know the students' personalities and I look forward to continue to get to know them as learners this year!

Important Information:

• Wednesday, September 19, there is no school.
• Wednesday, September 26, we have picture day.
• Thursday, September 27, there is an early dismissal at 12:30.  
• Thursday, September 27, there is Open House beginning at 6:00 in our classroom (K-2 classrooms), followed by the auditorium with our principals and PTO, and then classroom time for grades 3-5. 

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

3 math skills we've been reviewing with our new Investigations program are telling time, identifying which numbers are missing on a hundreds chart, and counting coins up to 100.

*Ask your child one activity they worked on in math this week.

2 important people in our classroom are Mrs. Ripley and Mrs. Sherman, our assistants for the classroom.  Mrs. Ripley is here Monday and Tuesday and Mrs. Sherman is here Wednesday through Friday.  They are an important part in our day to day workings of our classroom and in this room, we see us as having three teachers here for your students.  Don't be shy to say "Hello!" if you see them.

1 important writing activity we worked on was writing our hopes and dream for the school year.  It's so important for students to have a hope for the year...something they are striving to achieve!  I can't wait to see how they work on those this school year!

Week ending 9/7/18

Welcome back to school!

What a great week it's been!  I've really enjoyed getting to know your children this week and I look forward to learning even more as the weeks go on.  Thank you for your supply donations, book donations, and money.  We will be getting Raz Kids up and running soon for the students and I'm excited about that!

Important information:

• There is no school on Monday, the 10th or on Wednesday, the 19th.  
• Please remember to send in sneakers for PE on Tuesdays and Fridays.
• Please remember to send in a note with your child in the am if there are dismissal changes.  I have been able to get the emails, yet if I'm not here or there is an email issue, I may not get the message.  
• Thank you for your help with dismissal.  I am asking the students who leave with me to say "Good-bye" and high five and wait for me to say "Good-bye" back so I can continue to make the connection between student and pick up person.  Also, when picking up, please keep away from the doors so we can all exit together as it's often crowded there the first few weeks.

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

3 math activities we've already started are learning to play Guess My Number, using pattern blocks to cover shapes and then finding different ways to cover the same shape, and reviewing what coins are which.  

* Ask your child to play Guess My Number with you...they know how to play!  

2 read aloud we read and discussed were Calvin Can't Fly ( about getting immersed in a book) and Wild About Books (the zoo animals LOVE reading)!  

* Ask your child about a book they were reading today during independent reading time.

1 writing activity we worked on today was writing about five things we did in school this week.  

* It should be in your child's folder, so please ask them to see it.

Here's a snapshot of what we've been working on... All About Me...

Last Day of School

Hello families!
I just wanted to send a quick note to say thank you for sharing your children with me this year.  They have changed, grown, worked through bumps in the road, stretched themselves, and I think most importantly...believed in themselves.  I am very proud of who they are and they should be too.  We gave them flashlights today with a little note saying "You shine the most when you are _____".  Each child has a word written just for them.  I expressed to them that when they enter those doors next year in September for third grade, to remember their word, to remember they can do this, and that they are ready!

Thank you very much for the flowers and gift.  It is greatly appreciated and thoughtful.
I wish you all a wonderful summer!
-Megan DeKing

Week Ending 6/8/18

Hello families!
We've had a busy week getting ready for our field trip, today's family time, and much more.
This blog will be a little different format as there's a few things really important to call attention to.

Thank you for coming in this morning.  I am truly proud of each of them.  They have come so far in their own ways and they need to be proud of themselves and remember who they are as they head into 3rd grade!   The words they used to to describe themselves are now on their lockers so they can see them each time they are there during the day.  The words they chose are an indication of a group that is ready to move on and ready for the world!

Important information:

• Color Day will next Tuesday, June 12, starting first thing so please be sure your child has a good breakfast, puts sunblock on at home, brings a water bottle with their name on it, and arrive to school on time.  
• Monday, June 18th is the Book Swap!  Please send in some gently used books (send early next week) the kids can swap for new-to-them books for summer reading.  
• Friday, June 22, is our last day off school with a 12:00 dismissal.

Our field trip yesterday was great!  HUGE thank you to those parents who chaperoned!  Our class wrote letters at the end of the day about the trip and it was wonderful to read all the fun they had, the excitement showed through in their letters!  

Here's some pics from our day:

Week ending 6/1/18

Hello families!
Can you believe it's June already?  We've been very busy this week finishing things up and moving on to our final sets of units for the year!  3 weeks left this year!

Important information:

• Color Day is scheduled for next Tuesday.  Your child came home with a sheet the other day regarding their color.  Please have them dress according to the weather as well.  
• Field trip information is below.  Please read it carefully.  
• We hope we'll see you at our family celebration next Friday at 8:30!  It will last about 30 minutes.  
• The last day of school is June 22 and dismissal is at 12:00.

Field trip information:

• Field trip is Thursday, June 7th.
• Please send your child to school with a lunch with your child's name on the bag.  Please send it in disposable packaging such as a brown paper bag or large Ziploc bag.  Thanks for your help with this!
• Do not send money with your child.  We will not be visiting the gift shop and the chaperones have been told this as well. 
• It is very important that your child arrive to school on time that day as we will be loading the buses shortly after gathering together.  

Homework:

Now that June has arrived there will no longer be homework assignments for the remainder of the year.  However, reading practice is always important.  Please continue to read nightly now and through the summer as it is very important to maintain all the growth they've made this year.  

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

3 math activities we completed were working on counting base 10 pictures and quickly identifying groups of 100s, 10s, and 1s and adding accurately.  

2 science ramp testing we completed was studying what happens when the ramp gets steeper and what happens when friction is added to the ramp. 

1 writing activity we completed was our last opinion prompt of the year.  Students wrote about their favorite summer activity! 

Week ending 5/18/18

Hello families!
We've had a great busy week!  We've been wrapping up our math and butterfly units and delving into our writing workshop unit.

Important information:

• If you have any tissues, cleaning wipes, or paper towels...we would love them!
• Please begin sending your child in with 2 paper bags.  1 will be for artwork after the art show and 1 will be for our work at the end of the year. 
• Color day is June 5th and our Museum of Children's field trip is on June 7th.  More info coming soon.  
• Save the date!  Friday, June 8th, 8:30 we will be having an end of year writing celebration.  We hope you can join us!  

3, 2, 1 things happening in room 250!

3 science activities we completed this week were identifying the parts of a butterfly, comparing a moth and a butterfly, and identifying and drawing the stages of the plant life cycle and butterfly life cycle.  Today we let the butterflies go and the students' loved it!

* Ask your child to name 4 parts of the butterfly.  

2 writing strategies for poems we worked on were writing poems with line breaks to make our poetry more interesting to the reader and writing poems based on wonderings or questions we had.  

* Ask your child what they have been writing about in poetry.

1 fabulous activity we had this week was a visit from Mr. Joe and Ms. Vida from Ghana.  They are wonderful, engaging, and share so much knowledge with the students!  

* Ask your child their favorite part!

** Be sure to check your email for some pics from their visit!

Week Ending 5/11/18

What a beautiful week it's been!  The weather has been so great to get outside, play games, run around, and just enjoy the warmer temperatures.  I hope you've been able to get outside for some family time as well.

Important information:

• The Art Show is Thursday, May 24th in the evening.
• There is no school on Monday, May 28, for Memorial Day.  
• If you have any wipes, paper towels, or tissues, please send them in for us! Thank you!
• If you're looking for some great Fun Friday activities to do with your family this summer, here's a list of free things going on all summer: Free Friday Summer Activities

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

3 math activities we worked on were solving a stretch your mind problem called Color Day and determining the distance and the time it would take to get across the gym.  This is important because it allows students to solve the problems as their mind sees it and gives an opportunity to explain how they solved it to other students in the class.  We talked about how we may get to a specific answer...but how we got there could be very different and that's part of being good mathematicians.  In math we also talked about how measuring with one common tool is important such as a meter stick, versus different sized kids, and then we practiced measuring each other with a tape measure and comparing our heights, and more.

2 activities we completed in science were observations of our growing caterpillars and chrysalis and we also observed our growing plants.  Many of them are much higher than last week!  

* Ask your child what they noticed about their plants.

1 new unit we began this week is poetry for reading and writing.  This week we focused on how poet's decide what to write about, poets write what they know,  and what or who is important to us so we have ideas to write about.

* Ask your child one idea they wrote on their poetry heart.  

Have a great weekend!

Week Ending 4/27/18

It's finally starting to feel like Spring these days!
We've had a busy week wrapping up some units and we started sharing the China projects as well.

Important information:

• Thursday, May 3rd, is an early release day with dismissal at 12:30.
• China projects are due on Monday, April 30.  This project is a great way for your child to be showing how they can manage a long term project and be proud of it in the end.  Please be sure they are here on Monday.  The expectation of a due date are very important.  
• If you have any extra cleaning wipes at home, we'd love to have them!  

3, 2, 1 things we've been doing in room 250...

In reading workshop, we listened to many stories and we learned how camels got their hump, how beetles got their beautiful colors, and why the turtle's shell is cracked.  

* Ask your child about one of those stories.

2 math skills we've really focused on this week were measuring and data. Students needed to measure carefully arm spans and jumps of those on their team.  They showed great team work and I was impressed with how they worked together and supported each other.  We then took that information and created a bar graph and frequency line to discuss what we noticed.  

1 China lesson we finished up was learning about the Chinese New Year.  

* Ask your child to tell you one thing they learned about the Chinese New Year.

Week Ending 4/13

What a beautiful day today!  I hope this is the start of warmer weather and more sun!

I hope you all have a wonderful break.  Be safe, have fun, do activities together, and enjoy the time you have together!

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

3 math activities we worked on were the Coin Task and students could choose which task they worked on.  If they felt they wanted to stay with the coins and find the combinations, they could do that or they could choose to try the next coin task which gave less information and required some more thinking on their own.  We also worked on Hitting the Target, where again students could choose to work with whichever set of numbers they felt comfortable with.  On Thursday, we worked on using an open number line but the way (the jumps) could be however they were comfortable with as long as they could explain their strategy.  We also started working on compensating numbers and some students chose that way to solve as well.
* Giving students more choice with which task they are working on has added a nice buzz to the classroom and it's interesting to see that they are really picking which task fits them.  Knowing which task is right for them is a wonderful skill and we've asked them how they felt about their choice to reflect.

2 Pourquoi stories we heard for a read aloud and practiced reading with a partner for fluency, teamwork, and reading practice were How Grandmother Spider Got the Sun and How Chipmunk got His Stripes.  We also heard as a read aloud, Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears.
* Ask your child how Chipmunk got his stripes?

1 lesson we worked for social studies was focusing on the urban and rural areas of China and comparing the 2.
* Ask your child one thing they saw in the urban areas and one they saw in the rural areas.

Week Ending April 6

Hello families!  Can you believe it's April already?  We have less than 50 days left this year!

Important information:

• If you'd like to do some book shopping for yourself or for our class, you can do so at this link and browse books for your child and shop the Wishlist for our class. Book Shopping
• Please send in any tissues, paper towels, or wipes you may have a home that you could donate to the class.  Thanks in advance!
• The week of April 16th is vacation week.  

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

3 skills and activities we've been working on during reading workshop are identifying the lesson in the fables we've read, reading fluently with our partners a fable and deciding whether to read together or take turns, how to help each other with words respectfully if needed, and how to read like we talk, and today we are working on readers theater for fables.  Reader's theater helps students read fluently, build their confidence to read in front of the class, and allows for another expression of fables.

* Ask your child which reader's theater they participated in today.  

2 math skills we worked on were telling time and making/showing arrays. Since students have reviewed time before and arrays were easy to catch on to, students were given three choices each of those days to work on which area of time or arrays they felt they needed to the most.  The activities available were anywhere from practice telling time, to elapse time, to solving a larger problem using timing of a football game.   The arrays activities were also a variety from the basic skill, to showing more thinking, and to using different numbers.  Students are working on how to choose an activity that is just right for them, what to do if it's too easy or too hard, and how to reflect on their math choice that day.  We've been having more professional development in the Responsive Classroom area of academic choice and I'm really looking forward to adding more of it into our regular routine.  

1 fun visitor we had today was the Museum of Science sharing with us a presentation on Life Cycles. 

* Ask your child, "What is the largest living thing?"  Parents - Do you know what the largest living thing is?

Week Ending 3/23

This has been a busy week,

Important Information:

• Even with the temperatures becoming a bit warmer, be sure to still send snow pants and boots so your child can go on the field and the play structure at recess as it's still snow covered. 
• Friday, March 30, there is no school.

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

3 math skills we worked on this week comparison number stories, understanding and discussing data, and stretching our minds with some more logical and thoughtful work.  

2 stories we focused on as we began our folktales tale unit were The Lion and the Mouse and The Ant and the Grasshopper.  We have been working on understanding what folktales are, comparing them to realistic fiction, and understanding the lessons in the stories we read.  

Ask your child what the difference is between folktales and realistic fiction and what the lesson was in The Ant and the Grasshopper. 

1 activity we did was fly to China.  We were visiting Mexico and now we've moved into China.  Perfect timing for our field trip today to the Chinese Cultural Center.
Ask your child 3 activities we participated in on our trip.

Week Ending 3/9/18

Hello families!
What  a busy week it was, even with a snow day.  I hope you all were able to enjoy some family time together and stayed safe and warm.

Important information:

• If we missed a conference due to the snow day, I'll be sending you an email from Sign Up Genius to reschedule.  
• Our field trip the Chines Cultural Center is on Friday, March 23rd.  More specific info to come next week.  
• Please remember boots and snow pants for days when there's snow on the ground.  Thanks!

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

3 literacy skills we have been focusing on using the text Ivy and Bean have been making predictions using evidence from the text to show why you're making that prediction, identifying how the characters have stayed the same or changed so far in our reading, and understanding what a turning point is in the story.  

*Ask you child what the turning point was in our book.  (The turning point was when Ivy wanted to help Bean hid from Nancy and they began to become friends.)

2 math skills we've been working on (and are finishing up this week) are understanding how old someone is based on their year of birth and how old that person will be when we are their age.  

* Ask your child to figure out how old a family member is by giving them the year, such as 1958.  They will solve on an open number line starting at 2018 and working backwards to 1959 to determine that person's age.  THEN ask them to figure out in how many years your child will be that person's age.  Lots of math thinking and discussion happens here!

1 writing/social studies skill we're finishing up this week is completing our non-fiction informational books on Mexico.  We have brainstormed chapters, researched, and now it's all coming together for a final project.  It's so exciting!  

Week Ending 3/16

It's vacation!  Everyone is so excited for vacation and we heard a lot of great plans for the week...from traveling to different places, to meeting friends, to watching the Olympics on tv.  There's lots to be excited about!

Important information:

• If you're looking for books for your child, here's a great way to shop for your child and support our classroom.  Check out Scholastic: Scholastic Books
• Sign ups for conferences went out earlier this week.  This is a time for you and your child to meet with me to discuss successes so far and what we're still working on.  Please sign up at the link below if you have not done so.  Thank you
• Conference Sign Up

3, 2, 1 things happening this week...

3 inferencing activities we've worked on this week are using different poems to infer "What Am I?".  We read and worked on poems about mailmen, policemen, bakers, teachers, and much more!  

2 skills we worked on in math were determining how old Carlos will be when he is his family member's age and how long ago each person was Carlos' age.  The math thinking and discussion of how they solved the problems has been very interesting and thought out.  

1 activity we worked on Friday was recognizing when we are kind to others and when others are kind to us.  

Have a great vacation!

Week Ending 2/2/18

We have hit the 95th day of school!  We all can't believe how close it is to the 100th day!  It's a big day around here!

Important Information:

• Reading homework is expected to be completely nightly.  If your child has lost the sheet, there are always extras they can take at the bottom of the cubbies.  Please hold them to this expectation.  
• Friendship Week/Valentine's information is coming home today. Please read it carefully.  If you would like to have valentines to pass out, please be sure they are for the whole class and there is no food allowed.  Often students will pass out valentines, pencils, erasers, bracelets, etc.  as an alternative to food.  
• 100th Day information is coming home today as well.  Please read it carefully.  Over the next week, your child is find 100 things to put in the brown paper bag given with the sheet.  They should be sure to count items carefully and with a plan (by 5's, 10's, etc) and write clues.  Once your child has done this, they can bring the bag in anytime next week.

3, 2, 1 things happening this week:

3 math skills we focus on were identifying quadrangles/quadrilaterals, identifying 3-D shapes and naming their attributes, and using pattern blocks in a planned way to build a  rocket design.  

* Ask your child about quadrilaterals with 4 sides.  

2 writing skills we've been working on how to ask questions to help us research our informational topics and using a checklist to determine if our work has met the expectation with letter writing.  

* Ask your child what topics they've decided to write about for their Mexico Informational book.

1 activity we did to learn more about how to make an inference was "What's in My Teacher's Bag?".

I showed students different items from my life and they needed make an inference about what those items tell them about me.  

* Ask your child something they learned about Mrs. DeKing this week.

Week Ending 1/26/18

Hello families!
We've had a busy week and today we hit day 90!  We're halfway through the year already!  Can you believe it?

Important Information:

• Please send your child in with boots event if it's not snowing.  The field can often be wet and sneakers get soggy quick.  
• I've notified those that were chosen from the jar to be chaperones.  More info for everyone on the field trips will come as we get closer.  
• Next week, I will send home information regarding the 100th day of school and Friendship week.
• A reminder about homework.  The conversation sheet with sentence starters is meant to check off 2-3 you used that night.  Making the conversation between you and your child stronger and deeper versus using as many sentence starters as you can.  
• If you'd like to donate paper towels, cleaning wipes, or hand sanitizer...we'd greatly appreciate it!

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

3 math skills we worked on were being strategic in choosing what to add or subtract in order to capture the square.  It's a great math game that allows students to put operations together to capture the square.  We also worked on identifying attributes of shapes and parallel lines.  

* Ask you child what parallel lines are and look around your house to see if you can find any!

2 writing strategies we focused on was adding an introduction that captured the reader's attention by writing to the reader, asking questions, or sharing facts.  We also worked on double checking our table of contents to see if it needed some work.  Did we have to rearrange the order of our chapters?  Add chapters in or take something out?  This is all part of the writing process and working pairs, they thoughtfully made decisions.

* Ask your child what their writing topic is and to share more info about one chapter.  

1 area we are continuing to work on is using quiet signals for class conversations.  We are working on responding to each other's ideas for more conversation in the classroom with less teacher prompting.  Students have been building on each other's ideas, agreeing and disagreeing respectfully, commenting, and questioning with others in whole group and in pairs.  

* Ask your child more about our quiet signals and words to say when using them.

Week Ending 1/12/18

Hi Families,
I hope you all have warmed up this week after last week's snow storm.  We've been busy getting back into routines and back into the curriculum.

Important Information:

• Monday, January, 15, is no school.  
• In your child's folder coming home today, is FIELD TRIP paperwork. Please read over information below and let me know if you have any questions.  

3, 2, 1 things happening in room 250 this week...

3 science/social studies activities we worked on were finishing up our unit on Earth, Moon, and Sun by learning about the phases of the moon, completed our passports, and we "flew" to Mexico in the library.

2 informational writing skills we worked on were completing a table of contents with chapters we think we might write about and working on adding more to our writing by telling more information, give advice to the reader, and talk to the reader. 

1 math skill we continue to work on in each unit is problem solving.  This week we focused on determining which number was missing and making sure we answered the actual question given to us.  

In class we are also working on accountable talk between students and making our thinking visible through discourse in the classroom.  We have begun working on hand signals to show that we want to build on to other's thoughts, disagree, or agree (just a few examples), which helps the students gain instant feedback.  We'll begin using sentence starters to help us build our conversation confidence as well.  

FIELD TRIP INFO

The Second Grade Team is excited to announce our two field trips for this year.  They are to the Chinese Cultural Center (Friday, March 23rd) and to the Children's Museum (Thursday, June 7th).  Students brought home a letter regarding these trips today as well as the necessary permission slips.  Please be on the look out for them.

The per-student cost for both of these trips is $55 total.

If you would like your child to go on these field trips, you must return both permission slips and $55 to school by Thursday, January 18th.  Please make your payment in cash and in exact change.  Please contact me if the cost of this trip is a concern for you.

If you are interested in chaperoning this trip, you must make this indication on the reverse side of the permission slips. Please have a current CORI on file with Ms. Sheehan.