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: