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.