Week ending 1/27/17

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

Important information:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

Week ending 1/13/17

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

Important information you should know:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Update on homework:

Dear Second Grade Families,

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

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

• Homework routines are important

• Most families value homework

• Teachers and families value reading tasks above other homework tasks

Moving forward:

• Total time spent on homework will remain 30 minutes.

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

• Nightly math and spelling review worksheets will not continue. 

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

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

Week ending 1/6/17

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Important information regarding homework:

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

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

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

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

--Second Grade Team

Week ending 12/23/16

Hi families!  This is the last post for this 2016 year!  Amazing how far we've come this year so far and how much more we have to go!  Friday is our 73rd day in school.

3, 2, 1 things you should know...
3 read aloud we read during the week were Animal's Santa, Potato Latkes, and Kwanza.  We know that many of the students are celebrating this upcoming week.  As a class, we've talked about what the holidays have in common and how they may be different.  This is not done in a religious way, but light is a theme through each holiday as well as joining with family and friends.
We know some students will be celebrating holidays in January as well and we look forward to sharing what that looks like then!
**Ask your child what they're most looking forward to over the winter break!

2 social studies activities we worked on were Luis on the Map (comparing Luis's story to our Me on the Map story) and watching a DVD on the geography of Mexico.
**Ask your child about 1 item they saw in the video today that stuck with them.

1 writing workshop unit we have started is writing an informational book on their own chosen topic.  We started with brainstorming, moved on to writing a table of contents to help us think of chapters, and then we began the writing.  They are very proud of their work so far as they are the experts in these topics and will be able to share with the class when complete.
**Ask your child which topic they have decided to write about and to tell you two chapters they've decided on.

I hope everyone has a wonderful break and enjoys their holiday if you are celebrating!
Rest, relax, enjoy this time with family and friends and cherish the memories.
Mrs. DeKing

Week ending 12/9/16

Hi Families!
Only 2 more weeks left before the holiday break!  I'm sure everyone is looking forward to it!
This has been a busy week and we've been involved in finishing up our Social Studies unit and beginning our reading unit of determining what's really important when we read.

Important Information:

• Don't forget to start sending in the warm clothes and perhaps extra pants and socks for when we get out during lunch, and sometimes snack, in case they get wet.  
• We will continue to be in school through December 23rd.  If you're child will be out, please let us know.  Thanks in advance. 
• The Heritage Bears look fantastic!  I can't wait to start hearing about each child's bear next week as they start to share with the class.  
• Please visit this sign up to help us collect materials for a winter project we'll be working on before vacation.
• Link: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0a4ea8a928a20-2ndgrade

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

3 non-fiction reading skills we've been working on this week are determining what's important versus interesting, paraphrasing important information into our own words, and identifying what we've learned, still question, and think were "WOW!" parts of the text when reading.  * Ask your child, when they're reading with you, if they still have any questions.  Asking questions after we read is a great strategy to help readers retain what they've read, think beyond the text that's right in front of them, and to help them predict what will happen next.

2 math addition strategies we've been working with in this unit are adding 10 on an open number line and splitting numbers.  * Ask your child to add 34+57 = ?  Encourage them to solve it by splitting numbers and ask them to explain how they solved it.  Explaining their thought process and steps, helps to solidify their learning of this skill.

1 new thing we started today was "Stump Mr. DeKing'!  We call and ask him a question based on what we've been learning this week and see if he can answer it.  We like to challenge him!  

Today we asked him "What does the landform "plains" look like?  *Ask you child that questions or better yet, have them ask you! ;)

Week ending 12/2/16

Hello Families!
I hope everyone enjoyed their longer weekend last week and it's back to business in our classroom!

Important information:

• Thursday, December 8, is an early release day with dismissal at 12:30.  
• Heritage Bears are due on Friday, December 9.  
• We continue to go out at recess so please be sure your child has a jacket and anything else necessary for the weather. 
• As the 2nd grade team begins to think about field trips in the Spring, we want to let you know that to even be considered for a field trip, you must be CORI'd and have a current one on file.  This is very important but easy to do.  You can do this by seeing Ms. Sheehan in the office.  Please do this month if you need to.

3, 2, 1 things we've worked on this week.  

3 social studies activities we worked on were brainstorming and sharing what we thought we knew about the United States of America and what we wanted to learn about, learned about important landmarks in our country, and began to learn a little bit about our Constitution.  

2 reading workshop activities we worked on were completing our writing of our own book about non-fiction features and then sharing the books with our peers.  Ask your child to tell you two non-fiction features and their purpose. 

1 homework we've sent home is Heritage Bears.  Here's the scoop...

As part of our Social Studies curriculum, we will soon embark on a journey to learn more about a few of the many countries and cultures that make up our world.  The Heritage Bear Project is designed to help students reflect on their own cultural heritage and help them make connections to the world cultures we will study for the remainder of the year.  The project also helps us celebrate the diverse cultures that make up our classrooms.
Templates for the heritage bear project went home this week.  Please work with your child to cut out and "dress" the bear template in a way that reflects the traditional clothing of your child's heritage.  Be creative.  Use scraps of fabric, ribbon, or paper to collage together an outfit if you can. You should only dress the front of the bear.  Please help your child to complete the bear's fact card which also went home.  Thank you!

Here's some pics of us working on our new math unit, Measuring for the Art Show. We've measured paper with cubes but today we worked on using our ten strips we made and measured with that.  It's important we work as a team when measuring and that we remember our strategies for measuring carefully.  This unit will help us build on our knowledge of place value and we will use an open number line to show our addition strategies.

Week ending 11/18/16

Hello families,
We've been pretty busy this week and I know we all look forward to next week to spend time with family and friends.

Important information:

• Wednesday, November 22, is a 12:00 dismissal.  Please plan accordingly and let me know if there are any changes.  There is no extended day or In School Creative Arts that afternoon.  
• If your child will be away before or after the Thanksgiving break, please let me know.  
• Next Wednesday, please send your child in with a special snack and a not to them answering this question: "Why are you thankful for them?"  Please do not tell them about the special snack and note...a little bit of a surprise.  :)  

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

3 math skills we worked on were counting change when paying for items at a vegetable stand, reading bar graphs, and making our own tally charts and pictographs.  *When you need to decide where to eat out for dinner...have you child ask each member of the family and make a chart of the results.  

2 activities we completed during reading workshop were sorting books based on whether they were fiction or non-fiction and listening to a biography read aloud.  *Next time you go to the library, ask your child who they'd like to learn about and look for a biography for them to read about that person. We always read better and are more engaged when it's a topic we're interested in!

1 special activity we had this week was a visit from author/illustrator Ralph Masiello.  He was fantastic as always and the students really enjoyed the visit.  

Here's a few pics below:

Week ending 11/11

Hello families!  I hope you all enjoy this long weekend and take advantage of all that Fall has to offer.
Important information:

• Thank you SO much to the families who donated books to the classroom!  We have received a bunch of new chapter books and read aloud!  We already started reading some today...we read The Cookie Fiasco and Enemy Pie.  I can't wait to read the others as well.  Thank you for your generosity.
• On Thursday, we had a school wide visit from the Tanglewood Marionette company.  They are always so engaging and interesting!
• Wednesday, November 23rd, is early dismissal.  Dismissal is at 12:00 (not 12:30). Please plan accordingly.  
• Thursday and Friday, November 24 and 25th, there is no school.  

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

3 features of non-fiction we have been working on identifying this week are diagram, captions, and glossaries.  * Ask you child about the other non-fiction text features we've covered and their purpose.  

2 math skills we've been working on are telling time to the half hour consistently and accurately and sharing ideas on why we need to learn how to tell time on an analog clock. * Ask your child why we need to know how to tell time on an analog clock.  

1 writing skill we continue to work on is editing and revising our work.  Many of us have finished our first pieces of writing by adding more talking, thinking, feelings, details, and describing words.  Many have started writing a final copy.  * Ask your child which story they are going to publish?  

Last week's blog for weeks ending 11/4/16

We had a very busy week last week and I apologize for getting this blog to you a few days late!
Last week was full of Fall activities and starting new math units!

Important information:

• There is no school on Friday, November 10.  Enjoy the long weekend.
• We are attending the book fair on Thursday morning at 9 am.  If you would like to join us for our 30 minute slot, you may. If you'd like to send money for the book fair, please do in an envelope with your child's name on it.  You may also attend the book fair night on Wednesday and do your shopping then if you'd like.  Please keep in mind that we are not allowing students to buy games or toys at the book fair.  If you'd like them to get those items, please go Wednesday night.  Thank you!
• Homework is coming home again tonight but is due back on Thursday this week.  

3, 2, 1 skills we worked on last week...

In math, we worked on cooperative team work, estimating, and counting in groups as we worked on counting out all our pumpkin seeds!  

Here's our estimates and our actual total!

 

*Whenever you have a lot of items at home such as cheerios, crayons, toy cars, etc...ask them what they estimate the number to be and then have them check by grouping items.

2 reading comprehension strategies we worked on were identifying the problem and solution of the story and the setting (paying attention to not just where the story takes place but also when).  *When your child is reading at home, have them share these 2 parts with you as a way to check their understanding.

1 math skill we've been work on through games is sorting, regrouping, and understanding place value.  We've learned the games Race to 100 and Race to 0.