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: