Week ending 12/20

Hello families!
We have had a wonderful week talking about vacation plans and what students are excited about for next week!  We also spent some time talking about holidays we celebrate, traditions that happen each December, and how the holidays and traditions are similar and different.  Did you know that not only presents (as the students are awfully excited about) but light is also a common theme through many holidays.  We've also shared our Heritage Bears this week and all of us have learned so much!  Students asked thoughtful questions and shared connections and differences to their own countries.

Thank you to all of you that donated supplies to make our snow globes!  They came out great!

Also thank you all for the gifts and kind words this week!  Ms. Snyder and I feel very appreciated!
Have a wonderful holiday week to those celebrating and enjoy all the moments!

See a pic of our bears and snow globes we made below!

Week ending 12/13/19

We've had a busy week in room 250!  One highlight was playing in the snow the last few days during recess!

Important information:

• Don't forget to check in with Ms. Sheehan about a CORI if you still need one.  Also, don't forget Ms. Sheehan's last day with us at Memorial Spaulding is next Friday.  
• Winter break is Dec. 20 - January 1.  School resumes January 2nd.  If your child will not be here, please let me know.  
• Heritage Bears are due on Monday and we will start sharing them in class then.  We're really looking forward to learning even more about each other!

What's happening in room 250...

3 math activities we've worked on were the game Close to 20, determining all the ways to show a number using tens and ones, and identifying a missing addend.  In Close to 20, students needed to use  3 cards to get as close to 20 as possible.  

2 writing workshop activities we worked on were... we finished up our narrative writing stories and then took a pre-prompt on an informational book.  Students wrote about a topic they know a lot about to teach another person.  Ask your child what they're topic was.  

1 special activity we had was an author visit by Kevin Hawkes.  The class really enjoyed his visit and hearing about how he works on his drawings and comes up with story ideas.  

Week ending 12/6

Well it's certainly been an unusual week schedule-wise at school but the kids have taken it in stride and have been really flexible!  I hope you all enjoyed the snow day and we enjoyed hearing what they did on their day off.

Important information:

• Please be sure ALL your child's Winter clothes are labeled with their first and last names.  You'd be amazed how many gloves and hats are lost.  Also, if you'd like to leave a change of clothes in your child's locker please send it in with them.  Some kids also leave a second pair of snow pants so they don't have to bring their own back and forth.  
• We'll be doing a little activity before Winter break and we need a few supplies.  If you can purchase one, we'd really appreciate it!  Here's the link for supplies needed:
• Sign Up for Supplies
• We are off for Winter break December 23-January 1.  School will resume on January 2nd.  

3, 2, 1, things you should know for this week...

3 math activities we worked on were solidifying our skills in counting tens and ones, finding all the possible ways to make a number (with different amounts of tens and ones), and we learned a new math game called, Roll A Square.

*Ask your child to show all the different ways to make 31.

2 read aloud books we read this week were Thank you Mr. Falker which focused on the author, Patricia Polacco's own childhood, and growing up with dyslexia and Have You Filled a Bucket Today? which we used to talk about how we can build each other up.  The kids had lots of ideas!  

We made a chain to keep this in our thoughts all the time!

*Ask your child what they wrote on their strips.

1 team building activity we worked on today was cooperative games.  Often, students do well in team activities with teacher direction but when left to play a cooperative game with their peers, with no teacher sitting next to them, they can forget about taking turns, helping each other, etc.  We talked about ways to make games successful and after we discussed how it went and what we still needed to work on.  

Week ending 11/22/19

Can you believe November is almost over?  It's come and gone so fast!

Important information:

• As you head into the Thanksgiving week, I hope you all have a wonderful little break, whether you are celebrating or not, and I hope you're able to spend time with family and friends.  I am very thankful to be able to spend the day with each your children!  
• Wednesday, 11/27, is an early dismissal with dismissal at 12:00.  It is NOT a 12:30 day.  There is no ASCA and no extended day. Please plan accordingly for pick up. 
• Wednesday, 12/4, is an early release day with dismissal at 12:30.  There is no ASCA but there is extended day.
• We try and get out as much as we can so please send in appropriate winter clothing!  

3, 2, 1 things we've done this week...

3 math activities we worked on were identifying if parts were halves of rectangles or not, identifying fourths and different ways to make fourths, and coloring fraction flags to identify one part or multiple parts of flags.  For example, We looked at a flag with one part colored red out of 4 parts for 1/4 and we looked at a flag with 3 parts colored red out of 4 parts for 3/4.  

*Check out our flags below!

2 read alouds we read this week from the book fair were Pig the Pug and ALMA.  The loved both of them!  Thank you to the parents who donated books and I'm thankful for the PTO who also donated the rest of our class wish list! We were able to receive some read aloud books and books for our classroom library.  

1 new activity we played today was Kahoot!  It's a question game and students are in teams using the iPads.  The questions today were generic questions about what day it is, etc as well as some Mexico, math, and shapes questions.  We'll use Kahoot!  throughout the year to review science and social studies curriculum.  Not only is a it a good review of content, it's also an activity which practices turn taking, self control, respect, and good sportsmanship.

Fraction flags

Week Ending 11/14/19

Even though we had a 4 day week, it was busy!

* Ask your child about our fun science activity this morning!  We learned all about probability!  Pull out a coin and ask them to tell you a 50/50 chance! *

Important information:

• Wednesday, November 27th, is a 12:00 dismissal (NOT 12:30 as a usual early dismissal).  There are no ASCA classes or extended day.
• Please send your child dressed for the weather.  We do go out as much as possible even if it's chilly so sending in jackets, hats, gloves, etc is necessary.  Also, when the snow comes, they must have boots and snow pants to play in it.  Please talk to your child about wearing whatever it is they come to school with each time we go out.
• When it is your turn to bring home the Kaleidoscope bag, please remember to bring it back the next Wednesday so it'll be ready for the next child to take it home on Friday.  

3 math activities we've worked on were choosing a number and showing all the different arrays that can be made using that numbers (many of us had to really put on our thinking caps to think of all the ways), identifying a half fraction and discussing if halves are equal and how do we know.  Check out some pictures at the bottom about different arrays.  

2 writing workshop activities we've been working on were using a checklist to double check our story while editing and revising and many of us have begun publishing.  I can't wait to see their final project!

1 literacy activity we did last Friday was Art In Literacy.  Once a month, we'll be doing some type of art response to what we're working on during reading workshop.  We've been focusing on non-fiction and have read many books.  Students chose one book and an important fact from that book they wanted to share.  They had to write the fact and create an illustration with labels to share that fact.  This was a good way to show their understanding of the text they read and non-fiction features. 

Check them out below!

Week ending 11/1/19

It's been a busy week in room 250!  Between early release days, conferences, pumpkin math, and every day activities, we've been busy!

Important information:

• We are attending the book fair on Wednesday at 1:20.  If you choose to send your child with money, they can shop at that time.  We will visit the book fair on Monday to make a wish list so that will give you a good idea of what they would like to purchase.  
• There is no school on Monday, November 11.  
• Thank you to the families that signed up to come in and help or drop off pumpkins!

3 activities we worked on Thursday were estimating and counting pumpkin seeds in math, in reading workshop we heard two poems and the students could choose which one they wanted to work with while focusing on rhyming words, glued sounds, plurals, and suffixes, and in writing workshop we listened to I Need My Monster  and created our own monsters focusing on not only the illustration, but describing our monster with specific words.
* Ask you child if they remember how many seeds they had in their pumpkin.

2 math activities we've been working on this week were identifying 3-D shapes and their faces and completing Mystery Block.  We've been working on identifying and describing 3-D shapes based on their faces, vertexes, edges, and sides.

1 social studies activity we worked on throughout today was the Mexican celebration, Day of the Dead.  We read a non-fiction article along with watching a Pebble Go on the topic, worked with a poem, and colored our own skulls.

Here's a peek of our pumpkin seeds we counted and our sugar skulls we decorated for Day of the Dead!

 

 

Week Ending 10/16/19

I hope you've all had a chance to enjoy these nice fall days while we've been off!  I love this weather because sweatshirts are so cozy and it makes for a great time to get outside and enjoy family time!

Important information:

• Wednesday, October 30th, is an early release day for conferences so please plan pick accordingly.  There are no ASCA classes that day.

3, 2, 1, things you should know for this week...

3 math skills we've been focusing on are determining if we have enough for the class, solving addition and subtraction word problems, and showing our work.  We do a great deal of work around explaining and showing our thinking.  Simply knowing the fact and writing a number sentence is not enough.  Some students are finding this difficult as they are very quick with their facts, but showing a way they arrived at that answer pushes them out of their comfort zone.  We also are asking them to show their work in two different ways.  This is also pushing them to think past the straightforward drawing of cubes and a number sentence.  We will do this big mathematical thinking all year!

*Ask your child two ways they can show their work with either an addition or subtraction problem.  

2 read alouds we read during reading work were Secret Place and Tuesday.  We focused on connections between the text and our own world using Secret Place.  As a class, we shared how nature is being cut down to make room for buildings and highways.  Using Tuesday, we focused on making prediction while reading.  When we make predictions as we're reading, we are thinking very carefully about the text and our understanding increases.

One question I've had is about spelling and wanted to be sure I touched base with you all.  Spelling skills grow a large amount in second grade!  Right now we've been working on blends (dr-, st-, etc), digraphs (sh, ch, etc), glued sounds such as -ank, -ing, and vowel teams of ey, ee, and ea.
When reading and writing there are many things happening!  Students need to think about what they're working on, create the topic, develop the ideas, and also spell accurately.  If you are reading or writing with your child, you can call their attention to words that are easily decodable.  If they struggle, you can help them.  If there are trick words (words you can not sound out), they may not know them yet but that will come as they continue to read and write.  If it is a word like a state such as Massachusetts or California or a magical place in a story, go ahead and tell them.   You can assist with spelling a bit as needed but encourage the excitement and love of reading and writing before focusing to much on the spelling!  Reading and writing at home should be enjoyable!

I wanted to share a pic of our Friday Team Time!  Each Friday, we work on an activity to help us with our cooperation, assertion, respect, empathy, and self control skills.  These activities are whole class, small group, or partner activities that require them to work together to accomplish.  This week we worked with hula hoops and the students had specific directions about how they could lift the hula hoop off the ground and their goal was to lift it as high as they could.  This meant they had to listen to each other really carefully to know when to lift, how fast, and how high.  It was challenging for many at a first!  After a few tries though, they surprised themselves and their sense of accomplishment was huge!

Week Ending 10/4/19

Just four days this week but we accomplished a lot!

Important information:

• Conferences are for you AND your child.  This is a time to chat about what we've been working on, how things are going, and goals for your child this year.  Please schedule a time that you and your child can attend.  You can sign up directly here: Conference Sign Up

• On the first Thursday of every month, we'd like to invite 3 families in to visit us for Morning Meeting (in October, it will be next week, the 10th).  Please sign up for one time to visit us.  It's about 20 minutes and you'll see how we start our day.  You can sign up directly here: Morning Meeting Sign Up
• Next Wednesday, 10/9/19, there is no school. 

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

3 literacy activities we worked on this week were using our scheme to help us understand the book Stellaluna (the more we know about bats and birds before reading, the better understanding we have while reading), making connections to the character's feelings with the book The Art Lesson (the more we connect to their feelings, the better we can understand the story events and character feelings), and we worked as a whole class on our poetry routine with the poem, This Tooth.  This is a routine students will work on once a week on a rotating basis.  We focus on what the poem was telling us and highlighted Fundations rules that we've worked on (digraphs, bonus letter, and blends).  

2 writing activities we worked on were narrowing down our small moment ideas and working to tell the story to a partner starting with the beginning and working towards the end.  This helps us plan our story before we begin writing to know if we have too much information or not enough.  We also worked on our weekly letter.  Each Friday, we write about our week in school focusing on one thing we did.  As the year goes on, it's amazing to see how their writing changes and improves.  By the end of the year, you'll have a whole collection of what happened in 2nd grade!

1 math activity we began was Enough for the Class.  This activity helps us think about whether we have enough cubes for the class, too many or not enough, and then how many we have left over or how many we need.  It's this beginning activity that really focuses on explaining our math thinking and not just writing the number fact or equation.  We also share our ideas with a partner giving the partners a chance to ask clarifying questions about how work was solved.  This year we focus a lot on how we got the answer and can we explain our work to others, not simply is the answer correct.  

Week Ending 9/27

Happy Friday!  It was good to see many of you at our Open House morning yesterday!  I thank you for being flexible and trying something new with us this year.  The students were very excited to see all of you and show off where they spend their days.  I look forward to a great year with all of them and as we work hard, be kind, push through challenges, and laugh along the way, I know they are going to grow so much.

Important information:

• Monday there is no school.
• Wednesday, October 9th, and Monday, October 14, there is also no school.  
• Please help us remind your children that Monday is library day so if they want to take out new books, they should be bringing the other books back.  

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

3 read aloud we read were The Mightiest, Sheila Rae the Brave, and Arthur's Tooth.  We used to The Mightiest to focus on how we self monitor while reading.  As I read aloud, students listened to my think aloud on how to self monitor.  While reading we should be thinking about our pace, stopping at punctuation, sounding out words, rereading when confused, as well as working on strategies for understanding such as making connections and predictions.  They loved telling me when I was doing something I should be paying attention to and then they practiced this with their own books before sharing with their partner what they noticed.  We used the other two read aloud books to focus on making connections to the book.  For example, we focused on how Sheila Rae was brave and a time they were brave.  We also used these read aloud to help set us up for using our binders during reading workshop.  Many times after a read aloud and discussion students will write a response to that book or their own in their binder focusing on the skill we worked on.  It helps them apply the work right then and I can check for understanding.
**Ask your child which book they enjoyed reading this week.  

2 read workshop activities we worked on were choosing our small moment story topic and stretching our ideas.  We started by looking at all our brainstorming and deciding if the story idea was a big idea or a small idea.  If it was a big idea, we needed to do some more work to choose one small idea to write about.  If it was a small idea, we began telling our story to a partner over our fingers focusing on beginning, middle, and end.  Some of us even started our writing!
**Ask your child their topic for the small moment story they started during writing workshop.

1 fun activity we started this week was Team Time!  Friday afternoons we take about 15 minutes to work together as a team to accomplish a task.  It could be small groups or the class together but it's a time to practice listening skills, patience, being open to other ideas, and following directions.  Today we played Don't Wake the Dragon and they did a great job!  

Week ending 9/13/19

We've finished our first full week of school!  We've spent a lot of time these past two weeks reviewing classroom routines and expectations for students, teacher, and class subjects.  We'll continue working on this hard in September and when we take the time now, the rest of the year runs much smoother.

A few important things to remember:

• We have PE on Mondays and Thursdays so don't forget sneakers.  
• If your child is signing up for ASCA, please email me as well so I am aware.  
• On Mondays we have two specials so our snack/recess is in the afternoon.  We will however, have a quick working snack Monday am.  Please send in an additional small easy to eat snack.  Good choices would be pretzels, goldfish, a granola bar, etc.  Something that's quick and clean to eat.  If they can work or read while they snack, we'll keep it going each Monday.
• Please remember that the school opens at 8:20 and attendance is taken at 8:30, so being on time is very important!  Also, dismissal is at 3:00.  Please be on time to pick up your child.  If there is a change, please email me ahead of the day or call the office. Thanks for your help with this!
• There is an early release day on Thursday, Sept. 26th. Please plan for a 12:30 pick up.
• Also, please save Thursday, Sept. 26th for a morning open house in our classroom.  You'll arrive with your child in the morning, check out our classroom, and hear information related to our upcoming year.  We hope to see you then!

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

3 read aloud we read this week were A Quiet Place, Going On a Book Hunt, and Miss Brooks Loves Books (and I Don't).  We use these books to think about our favorite place to read, how to decide if a book is just right for us, and to think about why we might choose a book (interest, characters we love, etc.).  

2 math activities we worked on this week was Today's Number and Do We Have 100? Today we worked with the number 7 and brainstorming different ways to show it.  They could write addition or subtraction sentences, show 7 with cubes or tally marks, or spell the word.  We also identified and counted coins, collecting pennies to get to 100 with our partner.  

Ask you child 2 different ways to show the number 7.

1 Fundations routine we started this week is Word of the Day.  When we do word of the day, we practice spelling words that fit our spelling focus and create sentences that fit the word.  We worked on the words rich and shred this week (both words with digraphs).  

Ask you child for a sentence using those words.  

We have begun setting up our reading workshop routine and so far so good!  Students have decorated their book bags and have chosen their first books!  

We started morning bins this week!  It's a great way for students to get in the room, start working on an activity, while encouraging creativity and team work.

 

Week Ending 9/6/19

We've had a great first week back to school!  We've spent this week getting to know each other, learning the classroom routines, figuring out where materials are located, and getting back into school mode!

If your house is like our house, the first week of school can be busy and everyone is going in different directions.  We spent last weekend going over the first week of school for my daughter, talking about what went well and what she was looking forward to. I encourage you to spend some time this weekend talking about school and encouraging them to look forward to a great year!

Here's some info you need about our class...

• We'll be focusing this month, and all year of course, on setting routines, expectations, and building independence. 
• During morning meeting and closing circle we are learning more and more about each other and are learning to work together as a class.  
• We started math and are focusing on identifying all the different ways smaller shapes fit in a larger shape and identifying coins and their value.  
• During reading workshop we started recording our reading stamina and reviewing letter sounds.
• Don't forget to let me know if there's any dismissal changes by sending a note in with your child and reminding them to pass it in when they arrive.  
• We have snack every day so please send in a healthy snack and please keep nuts at home.  
• We have physical education  on Monday and Thursday.  Be sure your child has sneakers for those days.  
• Library is on Mondays.
• We wrote about our week and have put it in our folder so please pull it out and see!

Here's a few pics of our math work yesterday morning:

 

 

Welcome to 2nd Grade!

August 2019

Dear Families,

Welcome to second grade at Memorial-Spaulding!  I look forward to working with your children, and you, to make this an exciting year.  Before school begins, I want to give you some information you may find helpful prior to the first day.

1.      Time: Children are allowed to enter school and go to their classrooms when the bell rings at 8:20.  School begins promptly at 8:30.  We will start morning meeting shortly after the 2nd bell rings.   Before this time, parents should say goodbye outside and let us get going on the important work we do everyday, starting with morning work. Dismissal is at 3:00, except on Tuesdays when dismissal is at 12:30.  The first day of school, Tuesday September 3rd, is a 12:30 dismissal.  Thank you in advance for your cooperation.  

2.      Snack: Please send a small nutritious snack.  Popular choices are yogurt, fruits and vegetables, cheese and crackers, pretzels, and a drink.  

3.      Recess: Please be sure your child is dressed appropriately for the weather, including boots, hats, gloves, etc. 

4.      Dismissal: At dismissal, we will be coming out the front door of the building and will move off to the left.  Please pick your child up there and do not wait directly in front of the main doors. Thank you!  Please be sure to complete the dismissal form online. It is important for me to know where your child is going after school. Also, for the first few weeks of school, please speak with me directly at pick up so I can check your child off on my dismissal checklist.  This helps to keep the whole class safe during a very chaotic time at the beginning of the year.  If there are any changes, please send a note in to be sure I receive it, as email could be down or I could be absent.  Also, I will not send your child with anyone else, unless I have a note or we have a pre-arranged plan.

5.      Surveys: Parent and dismissal surveys…Please go to my website at:

Mrs. DeKing Room 250and look at the Back to School section. There are surveys for you as the parent to complete about your child (with one part for you and your child) and most importantly, a dismissal survey so I know how your child gets home each day.  Please take a few minutes to complete them by Sunday, September 1st.  Any questions, please email me.  

6.     Open House:Open House will be held late September in the morning.  More details to follow.

7.      Contact information: As the school year starts and throughout the year, you may need to contact me for various reasons.   You can do this in a number of ways.   You can send a note in with your child and have them put it in the box (Notes for Mrs. DeKing) when they arrive.  You can email me at [ mailto: megan_deking@newton.k12.ma.us.   I check email at times during the day and will reply within 24 hours.   You can also call the school and leave a message and I will return it when I am done teaching.   Email tends to be the easiest for parents and myself. Don't hesitate to contact me with questions, comments, or concerns.   

8.      I have a blog that is updated almost weekly so please take a look at that and sign up on that page to follow our blog and to receive updated blogs when posted.  Here is the site: Classroom Blog

The school website is available for curriculum information and school info...the blog will keep you updated about weekly happenings more consistently.

One of my goals for this year is to have the class work together cooperatively, support each other, share, and learn to help each other. You do not need to purchase supplies this year for your child…the team has purchased classroom supplies and we only ask for you to turn in $25 cash.   Please see the notice on my website, under Back to School, from our second grade team regarding purchasing and donations.  Thanks!

Students will receive paperwork and they are responsible for carrying it to and from school.  They will receive a red folder from me at the beginning of the year.   The folder will also be used for sending notices to you and for you to send important notes back to me. 

As the summer comes to a close, please continue to encourage your child to read nightly or listen to you read.  Also, practicing addition and subtraction facts will help them in math.   Sit down and try to write about what you've been doing all summer to help your child with their writing and get ideas flowing.

On the first day of school, please send in a snack and don't forget lunch is not served on Tuesdays.  Please place any important notes in the "Notes for Mrs. DeKing" box.  There will be various activities around the room for your child to get started with as your family leaves.  Most importantly, come over to me and introduce yourself and your child.  Also, make sure you tell me how your child will be getting home on the first day.   I love the first day of school and meeting each of my new students!  

I look forward to meeting you and working with your child this year.

Sincerely,

Megan DeKing

Week ending 6/7/19

We are in the home stretch!  I'm not sure what we're all more excited for...no more school or Summer fun!  Be sure to check out your child's bucket list so you know what they want to do this Summer!

Important information:

• Don't forget to send in items for the can food drive!
• The last day of school is Tuesday, the 18th, with a 12:00 dismissal.  Please be sure you make appropriate arrangements as there is no ASCA and no extended day.
• The last day for ASCA is Friday the 14th.

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

3 special activities we attended this week were the book swap (students found some great book choices), the 4th grade concert where we saw many brothers and sisters, and we attended a 3rd grade music class to hear all about recorder that we will participate in next year.  *Ask your child which one they liked the best. 

2 poetry skills we focused on identifying when we should have appropriate line breaks using the poem "Aquarium" and writing big ideas in small spaces using the poem "A Valentine for Ernest Mann".  

1 physical education activity we participated in was Color Day!  Students did a fabulous job!  Both Ms. Ripley and myself were very impressed with the team work, cooperation, listening, and flexibility the students had!  

It was nice to see many of you at art integration morning and end of year share.  If you couldn't attend, don't worry, your child's work is coming home today.  

Here's a picture of our final project...all the quilt squares made today put together!

Week ending 5/24/05

We have 16 days after today!  Can you believe how quickly the year has gone!

Important information:

• Our field trip to the Children's Museum next Thursday, May 30th. 
• We hope to see you on Friday, June 7th, for our Integrating the Arts morning and end of year celebration.  
• Be sure to check your child's folder/backpack for an invitation and information regarding our field trip.

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

3 science investigations we worked on were identifying differences and similarities between butterflies and moths, recording detailed observations of our butterflies that came out Monday morning, an identifying and drawing the life cycle of a butterfly.  

Here's some pics of our butterflies before we let them go:

 

2 literacy activities we worked on were writing our very own trickster tale and completing our opinion piece on why 2nd grade is awesome.  For our trickster tale, we brainstormed with a partner and planned our writing, then we completed the tale writing part on our own.

1 team building activity we did on Friday was playing Kahoot!  Not only is it a good review of what we've worked on this week, it's a great opportunity to practice good sportsmanship, respect, patience, and flexibility.

Week Ending 5/10/19

We've had a wonderful weather week overall and have enjoyed quite a bit of recess!  I hope you and your family are able to enjoy some of these beautiful days.

Important information: 

• Our Children's Museum field trip is scheduled for Thursday, May 30th.  More specific information about lunch, etc. will be coming.
• Be sure to save the date for June 7th for our Integrating the Arts and end of year celebration morning!

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

3 math skills we've worked on were measuring in inches and centimeters, meters and yardsticks, and discussing why there are higher numbers when measuring in centimeters than measuring in inches. We also worked on how to measure something that is longer than the ruler size.  

2 literacy activities we've worked on were writing our own pourqoui stories to explain why something has happened.  Students wrote stories about why elephants have long trunks, why tigers have stripes, and _____________

1 social studies activity we did was reading some books about Ghana to get us ready for our visit from Mr. Joe and Ms. Vida from Ghana.  We look forward to seeing them on Monday!

Week Ending 5/3/19

I can't believe it's May already!  We've got just 31 days of school left!  We have a lot to do between now and then and I can't wait to see how all their hard work comes together to end the year.

Important information:

• CAP forms went home this past week so please sign the permission slip and return to school if you haven't already.
• Be sure you've saved the date for Friday, June 7th.  We'll be having our Art Integration and End of Year morning.  

3 measuring activities we worked on this week were...measuring with yard sticks, inches, and centimeters.  We've been working on measuring the same items, (yarn that represents how far each student jumped) but with different measuring tools.  We've been talking a lot about good strategies for measuring.  *Ask your child 2 efficient ways to measures.

2 pourqoui read aloud we listened to were Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears and How Zebras Got Their Stripes.  We used them to focus on the elements of a pourquoi talking about how the stories not only teach us a lesson but also these stories tell us why something is the way it is.  *Ask your child why mosquitoes buzz in people's ears.

1 writing activity we've been working on is writing why 2nd grade is awesome!  The students have brainstormed ideas, we gathered all the ideas, then in their groups they chose their top ideas.  We've been working to write a whole class opinion piece on this topic.  We're working slowly and really paying attention to stating our opinion, giving our three reasons, and then adding details directly related to our reasons.  When we have a finished piece, we'll be sure to share with you all.  *Ask your child one reason 2nd grade is awesome.

Week Ending 4/12

Happy Friday!  Everyone is pretty excited about vacation!  I hope you all have a wonderful vacation.  Whether you're heading away on a trip, getting in some playground time, or having sleep overs, I hope you enjoy some nice weather, family time, and relaxation!  We spent time Thursday talking about activities they could do over break that did not include technology.  The ideas were endless!  From painting, to practice sports, to having sleep overs, and crafts...the students have lots of ideas on what to do.

Important information:

• China projects are due Monday, April 29th.  Please keep in mind that this is a project for your child to complete.  You can certainly help with brainstorming ideas and collecting materials, however, your child should be completing the presentation and writing on their own.

3 fables we discussed this week were...
The Boy Who Cried Wolf, The Ant and the Grasshopper, and the Fox and the Crow.  We've been talking about how fables are passed down from family to family, have animal characters, the animals often talk, and how they may change a bit from version to version but their lesson is always the same.  *Ask your child the lesson in The Boy Who Cried Wolf.

2 social studies ideas discussed this week were...

We've talked about our China projects.  They are due in class on Monday, April 29th.  This is a project that your child should be planning to work on a little bit at a time.  Please do not save it to the last weekend.  You child can choose their topic and plan what they would like to make.  If your child makes a PowerPoint, please be sure to send it to me.  

If you need the information again, you can find it here: 

China Project Directions

We also talked about Chinese inventions and worked in groups to read, take notes, and choose our favorite inventions from China.   To tie this lesson to our kids today, we talked about inventions made by kids and we were surprised how many different ones we found!
*Did you know that the popsicle and trampoline were invented by kids?  Ask your child to name a few more!

1 activity we have been working on to discuss and encourage empathy was...
We've been working on sharing our ideas with different empathy scenarios.  After the scenario is read, students share with their partner their ideas on how they could best help the student in the scenario.  After sharing, students shared with the group what their partner said.  This activity helps students identify how the student in the scenario is feeling, how to help them on their own, as well as focusing on listening carefully to their partner and speaking clearly and loudly to the group.  A scenario this week included a girl is in a wheelchair and can't play on the playground structure, how can you include her during recess?  Students had some wonderful ideas including passing the ball back and forth, telling knock knock jokes to each other, telling stories, and playing 4 square.
We often share what our partners say, rather than our own ideas, and it's amazing to see how well they have done with this as the year has gone on!

Week ending 3/29/19

We're almost to 50 days left of school!  Can you believe how many days we've done already?

Important information:

• April vacation is the week of April 14th.  If you will be leaving before then or returning after break is over, please let us know.  
• If you have extra any boxes of tissues around, we'd love to have them!  Allergies have hit the room already!

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

3 math games we played this week were Close to 100, Plus and Minus 10 and 100, and Guess My Number.  All of these help us focus and practice place value skills and adding and subtracting within 1,000.  Ask your child which game they liked the most, why, and who they played with.

2 read aloud we worked on today was Who Am I? poems and Things by Eloise Greenfield.  All of the poems this week, we focused on making inferences on what's happening in the poem using the context clues and our own scheme (or background knowledge).  

1 art in reading activity we completed this morning was writing Who Am I? poems, sharing with a partner for them to infer what the animal or occupation is, and then adding their drawing with pencils, markers, and oil pastels.   Ask your child to read to their poem to you so you can guess too!

Here's some examples of our art this morning as well as a few of us planting seeds, getting ready for our Fast Plants to grow.  

 

 

Week Ending 3/15/19

It's beginning to feel a little bit more like Spring!  I know next week will be cooler, but hopefully we've turned a corner!  What is your favorite family Spring activity?  We love to hike with the dog and enjoy the fresh air.

Important information:

• Field trip Monday, March 18th.  Please be sure to send your child in with lunch in a brown bag or large Zip-Loc.  We will not be bringing our lunch boxes with us, though they can leave a snack in them and leave them in their lockers for our return.  
• Conference begin next week so please remember that this is a time for you and your child to attend.  The students have been practicing how to present their work to you to show what they've been working on.  
• Thursday is an early release day with dismissal at 12:30.
• Save the date for Friday, June 7th, at 8:45 for about an hour, for our Integrating the Arts morning and end of the year share.

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

3 new math games we learned were Make a Dollar (focusing on combinations to $1.00), Capture 5 (using strategy to add or subtract tens and ones to capture squares), and Plus or Minus 9 Bingo (focusing on the +9, -9 strategy).  *Ask your child which game they enjoyed the most, why, and who they played with.

2 reading workshop read alouds we heard were Tornado and No Bones About It.  With both texts, we focused on reading with a question in our mind to give us a purpose for reading and working with questions that were answered or not answered.  We are understanding that it's ok that not questions will be answered with the text and that's ok! 

1 game we played with iPads and the Epson projector was Kahoot!  We used the game to finish up our Mexico unit.  The students have been writing their own Mexico information books on geography, food, holidays, or animals and they gave me their most interesting fact and I used that to create their questions.  This is always a hit!

Week Ending 3/8/19

We had our first snow day!  I hope you all got out and had a chance to play in the snow or take the time to curl up with a good book or bake some yummy treats!  While I enjoyed the snow day, I'm ready for Spring to come!

Important information:

• Be sure to send in snow pants, boots, etc for recess time.
• If you have yet to sign up for conferences with your child, please do.  If you can't come in person, we can certainly do a phone conference.  

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

3 read alouds we heard this week were Officer Buckle and Gloria, Time for Kids - Spiders, and Recess at 20 Below.  We used these to begin thinking about questioning.  This skill is so important because to be a good questioner, they must be thinking about the story the whole time they are reading so their question is relevant to where they are in the text.  

The class found it so funny in Recess 20 Below that the kids' eye lashes would freeze and become frosty! Be sure to ask your child about what it's like to have recess there in Alaska.  

2 math activities we worked on were collecting date from the 4th grade classes regarding how many teeth each child in 4th grade lost and then using that date to create a representation to share with others.  We also worked on using data from different classes to make a line plot and then switching our data with a peer.  When we switched, we had to look closely at that data and determine which class the data matched.  They were great detectives!  

1 activity we worked on the morning was Team Building Friday!  We are doing this one Friday a month to target working on the school values of cooperation, assertion, responsibility, empathy, and self-control.  The activities are fun, but they also only work when they are able to work on these values at the same time as enjoying the activities.  Today we did Body Parts, All Aboard, and Human Alphabet!  Ask your child which activity they liked the most!  

Here's a few pic of All Aboard:

Week ending 2/15

Can you believe we've made it to break?  It's been a busy two weeks in our room!  We've celebrated the 100th day of school, Valentine's day, met with buddies, and much more!

Important information:

• Conferences will be scheduled the last two weeks of March.  Be on the lookout after break for a conference sign up.  
• Be sure to send in extra clothes, snow pants, boots, etc for snowy days for outdoor recess.  

3, 2, 1 things we've done in room 250? 

• We've been working on graphing and bar graphs in math.  3 things we've looked at as a class was  who was wearing long sleeves, sweatshirts, or sweaters, who was wearing boots versus no boots, and who had short sleeves versus long sleeves.  You'd be amazed at what we've learned about each other!  We also did some sorting with Yekttis! *Ask your child about Yekktis and possible ways to sort them.

•  2 writing projects we started working on were reading through books and marking important sections with post-it notes on various topics regarding Mexico and then beginning the note taking process using those books. 
• 1 read aloud we began this week is Ivy and Bean.  It's a funny book about Ivy and Bean who develop the most unlikely friendship.  We'll use this book to delve deeper into character traits and comparing the text characters' friendships to our our own friendships.  

Week ending 2/8/19

Today is our 100th day of school!  Everyone is super excited!  It's wonderful to reflect on where we've come these last 100 days and to think about the 80 left ahead for this school year!  We really enjoyed guessing what each student brought in for their 100 items!

Important information:

• Please check your child's folder for Valentine's day information and field trip information.  Thanks!
• If you have any cleaning wipes or paper towels you'd like to donate to the class, we'll happily take them!
• If you haven't signed up to visit a morning meeting before, please do.  You can check out the sign up here: Morning Meeting Sign Up
• Morning meeting is a great time to see how we start our day.  We do a greeting to allow everyone to be welcomed in the morning, a share to hear about what's happening in our lives or over the upcoming weekend, an activity or game for some movement, cooperative work, and fun, and we read the morning message together.  

• This coming week we are in school as usual.  Coming home today is a list of names of each student in our class.  This list is to help you if your child is planning on bringing valentines on Thursday.  You certainly do not have to bring in valentines but if you choose to, please be sure there is one for everyone in the class.  Please check the sheet for valentine ideas and things not to bring in. 

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

3 team building activities we worked on this morning were Don't Wake the Dragon, Finger Tip Hula Hoop, and Human Knot.  Ask your child which activity they liked the best and why.  We're focusing a lot on more group work, team building, and perspective taking activities.  Our whole school work around empathy, cooperation, and assertion falls in these activities. Our class is very focused on competition, who is right, and fairness.  Although competition definitely has a place in our world, it has taken a different turn in our room and we are working as a whole class to be more respectful, focus on ourselves, be a good friend, encourage and support those who may have lost the game or weren't chosen for something, and share our successes graciously.
*Check out the bottom for a few pics of activities.

2 read aloud books we read and discussed during read workshop were Amelia and Eleanor Go for a Ride and Something About Hensley's.  This literacy unit is focused a lot on understanding a character's actions and their feelings as well as understanding  character's point of view.   Ask your child which book they read during their independent reading time when they focused on their character's actions and feelings.  

1 new math unit we started is Pockets, Teeth, and Guess My Rule.  I'm really excited about this new Investigations unit.  There is a lot on data collection, understanding, interpreting, and sharing of data, as well as taking a great deal of data on their own or with a partner.

Week ending 1/18/19

Happy Friday!

We had a busy week!  Don't forget that Monday there is no school.  Remember that next week, with snow on the ground, students must have snow pants, jackets, hats, gloves, etc to play on the field and structure.   Also, if you'd like to donate some regular paper towels or cleaning wipes, we would greatly appreciate it!

Below are two of our favorite and new activities we participated in.  

The first was Kahoot!  It was so fun!  I created a "quiz" for the kids made up of some general questions, some funny, and some curriculum review questions.  The class was broken into teams and each team used an iPad to answer the questions.  They did amazing and it was a learning curve for all of us but now that we've got it, I look forward to doing it again!  Also, I'm so grateful to our PTO who has helped us get 5 iPads in the room (which we've started using for the Raz-Kids programs as well as some information writing research, and today's game) and the wall mounted projector!  

As you know, Martin Luther King Jr day is on Monday.  We took time today for an exercise that was very different from our usual routine.  Today, students experienced moments where they were segregated by others, were excluded, expected to do things others were not, and more. For example, some could sit together for snack and others couldn't.  It's a great exercise to help the students gain a little bit of a sense of what segregation and unfair rules was like. Just the tip of the iceberg of course!

We talked a lot today about how they felt and how the day went on, but we also have a lot of work to do with recognizing empathy, understanding how our actions impact others, and identifying others' feelings.  

Here's some of our take aways from today...

• Today was a day of empathy by thinking about those who are not doing what you're doing. 
• Our actions might affect someone's feelings. 
• People cooperated in the book to make changes. 
• I felt sad when I couldn't do something. 
• We were happy when we could do something. 
• I felt unhappy when the people that couldn't do somethings, like when they couldn't talk.
• We weren't treated equally.
• I felt sad when other people couldn't do the same things as other people. 
• I felt kinda bad and kinda happy because I got to do something but at the same time I watched the other people not get to do it. 
• I felt sad when I watched other people not do what I was doing. 

Week Ending 1/11/19

Happy Friday!
Our first week back has been great!  We're back in the groove of things after a nice and relaxing vacation.

Important information:

• Weather - Please remember that students go out for lunch almost every recess.  If there is snow, they must have hats, gloves, boots, and snow pants to play in the snow and be on the field.  Also, with the chilly temperatures, please be sure your child has a hat and gloves or mittens.
• If you would like to donate some cray-pas to the class, we'd love it! I hope to use them next week during our Art in Morning reading on Friday.
• Be sure to check out the email sent to you earlier this week regarding Kaleidoscope bag.  Each week one student will take the bag home Friday-Wednesday.  It's a great opportunity to read or do activities with your child!
• Going home today, your child may have a list of sight words with some highlighted.  These are words that should be practiced regularly throughout the week.  These are words we have covered in Fundations but they still need some practice.  Some of the errors may be spelling errors or some may be rushing and not paying careful attention, so practicing daily will be helpful to encourage consistency in accurate spelling.

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

3 math activities we worked on were playing Get to 100 and then proving our math was correct by using addition strategies to add up to 100, adding up to $1.00 while playing the Collect $1.00 game, and showing our work while problem solving (reading carefully to determine if you need to add or subtract and showing work in two ways in the most efficient way possible).

2 literacy strategies we worked on were determining what's most important versus what's interesting in our non-fiction books and putting important information in our own words.  Both of these strategies are important to reading because they focus on reading carefully and showing our understanding of the text.  We read a Time for Kids about Helen Keller and also learned few important Mexico facts during our lessons this week.  

*Ask your child which non-fiction book they used to create their water color picture this morning.

1 social studies activity we completed was flying to Mexico!  We gathered with the other second grades to take off, watch an in flight movie, and then land in Mexico.  Before we could leave the library we had to go through customs!  They loved it!

Here's some pics of our Art in Reading activities today...