Week 11

 Dear Parents,

              This week in Math we continued working on two digit subtraction with and without regrouping. Most of us are doing well. Check your child’s paper for corrections to see how well he/she is doing. Lots of sparkly stars were earned towards treasure box! Our test will be next Tuesday. They all know the steps, but at times make an error. We are learning that 1 small error causes the problem to be wrong.

               In writing we continue to finish up individual narratives and are planning out an imaginative story with a beginning, middle and end. We are having so much fun using our imaginations!

                In reading we read two books, decided on their topics and then their themes. The stories were Two Hens and a Peacock and Serious Farm. We also read a writing about Sea Stars. We read the questions first, thought about the story as we read, analyzed the questions and chose the best answer. We did this summative assessment together as we will do a gradual release throughout the year, taking more of these assessments. We read a Scholastic News article and took a comprehension check. On Friday we listened to the story Stellaluna and completed a Venn Diagram comparing birds and bats.

                In science we finished up our unit on sound and took our unit test. We are working as engineering groups to solve the problem of getting sound to a friend who is far away.

 

 I am looking forward to all my fall conferences. If you have not signed up, Here is the link ( If the times don’t work for you please e-mail me. I’d like to meet with every parent to discuss our beginning of year testing).

Link to Sign up Genius:

 

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0B4CAFA82AA02-59201611-fall

Week 10

 Dear Parents,

       This week in math we started two- digit subtraction. We spent two days just subtracting with no regrouping. We began regrouping using base ten blocks so the students understand what we are actually doing when we regroup. On Thursday we began working the problems. It was a rough day yesterday as they were frustrated trying to learn this new concept, but they pushed through the hard task. Today I let them work some problems independently to see their understanding of this concept. I will be sending homework pages next week. Please sit with your child as they work on these math problems as if they practice it incorrectly, it confuses them further. I promise, with your support, they will get this concept sooner! 

             In writing some students finished their narratives, revised and edited them. Others continue to work on them. We will now begin learning about how to write an imaginative story as we pick a character, setting and problem.

            In reading this week we read a realistic fiction story called The Big Red Lollipop. We took a comprehension check over this story. We listened to the story Mango, Abuela, and Meand focused on the point of view in which the story was told. We noticed the words I, me and my and figured out it was told in the first person point of view. We read a Scholastic News article called Pumpkin Party and took a comprehension check.

              In science this week we continued our investigations of sound as energy, or vibrations. We discussed pitch and volume as we explored sound. On Friday we did pumpkin science, as we discussed the life cycle of a pumpkin. We carved and cleaned out a real pumpkin!

              I am looking forward to all my fall conferences. If you have not signed up, Here is the link.

Link to Sign up Genius:

 

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0B4CAFA82AA02-59201611-fall

Week 9

 Dear Parents,

                This week in math we finished up our unit on two digit addition with and without regrouping. All did well on the assessment this week. We began looking at word problems and being able to write our own.

                 In writing we began our own individual narrative. First we planned it out in our beginning, middle, and end boxes. Then we began writing our beginnings and middles of our stories. We are being mindful od adding details about the people and the setting.

                 In reading/social studies  we read a Scholastic News article called The Power of Yet . We then took a comprehension check. We learned about Author’s purpose and read and discussed the story Spoon. We completed a story map. We also learned what it means to summarize. We read Being a Good Citizen and discussed the purpose of the author writing this story. We completed a graphic organizer that showed how the important fact in each section led to our main idea of the story.

                 In science we finished up our unit on combining matter and took our unit assessment. We set up our new unit on sound and discussed the vocabulary. We then had a few demonstrations of sounds and vibrations. We played a guess the sound video to see if we could recognize sounds.

• Look for the pumpkin project in your child’s Coyote Folder. When these are all turned in we will create a pumpkin patch in the hallway with your beautiful pumpkin art. You may decorate the pumpkin with your child any way you choose. Please cut the pumpkin out as it will need to be attached to a vine!

 

Week 8

 Dear Parents,

          This week in math we continued adding 2- digit numbers with and without regrouping. We added 4 two-digit numbers and we solved story problems adding two digit numbers. Please practice these skills with your child if they have been missing problems on their homework. Our test over this unit will be on Tuesday.

          In writing we have been focusing on how to make our writing better with details. We have learned about common and proper nouns as well as singular and plural nouns. We have looked for these nouns in our writing.

          In reading and social studies we have learned about Texas American Indian Heritage Day and wrote a color pot poem. We read The Important Book and modeled a writing about something important after that book. They turned out adorable and are in the hall along with the color pot poems. We also read a Scholastic News article called This Robot Fights Fires! We then took a comprehension check. In science we read about combining matter and the created a strong, sturdy bridge with our groups. Each group decided what materials to use as well as the design of their bridge. Then they wrote about the experience and put it in their science notebooks.

 

 

*The October - Habit 1: Be Proactive newsletters will be placed in your mailboxes by noon tomorrow.  I have also attached a PDF copy to this email. Please send these home tomorrow, Friday, October 3rd. Newsletter activities are due next Wednesday, October 8th. October 8^th is also Be Proactive Day! We want to see the entire school wear YELLOW! 😊 The grade level that completes and turns in the most habit newsletters will receive EXTRA RECESS! I will send the google habit tracker on Monday.

Week 7

 Dear Parents,

             This week in math we continued working on two digit addition with and without regrouping. I am so proud of these kiddos and of you! Thank you for your support at home. Almost all the students understand the concept behind regrouping and can do it. There are about two students who could use your support at home. I will be pulling them during win time to give extra support as well. You can see if your child needs help by seeing the math pages that go home this week. If they had to make corrections then they could use some help. 

             In writing we began a personal narrative writing about a day of school. We all brainstormed our day on a circle map, and made a writing plan with an opening sentence, a beginning-middle-  end, and a closing sentence. We used our plan to write our rough draft.

           In reading this week we watched a Brainpop Jr. about fall and listened to the story Leaf Thief. Then we wrote about Fall in a graphic organizer. We read The Dogs of Bedlam Farm,Learned what a central idea of a story is and found the central idea of this story. We listened to the video “ Get Involved: Be Awesome” and found details to support the central idea. On Friday we watched a Brainpop Jr. on Johnny Appleseed, discussed his good citizen traits, and colored a map to show his path and took a reading check point over a Scholastic News article.

            In science we did a talk-read-talk-write activity  about combining matter. On Tuesday we had the Wonder Wagon STEM program visit our school and challenge our children to be engineers as they built strong, sturdy, tall buildings. Fun and learning was had by all. A big thank you to Simone Jordan for volunteering to help us during construction. We read a powerpoint about combining matter and read a slideshow about choosing materials to build a sturdy bridge. Then the groups began planning their bridge- how to use the materials to build their bridge.

Week 6

 Dear Parents,

                This week in math we reviewed for our base 10 assessment and took it on Tuesday. I led them through the test, reading it together so that they understood what the question was asking and what strategies we use to get the answer. As we begin the year second graders do not know how to take a test, that they must show their work and use strategies. As the year progresses they will take the assessments on their own. We then began our next unit which is adding two digit numbers with and without regrouping. When I send the homework papers home, please help your child as they work through the problems. This is a very hard skill for second graders and support early on makes all the difference.

               In writing we wrote to the prompt.- write about a time someone made you feel special. I scored this writing as their Beginning of year sample. We then spent the rest of the week taking it through the writing process. Final copies will be graded on a rubric after we have revised edited and written final copies.

                In social studies we have been learning about the Constitution, Constitution Day, and the rights our government gives us. We also learned why laws are important to follow.

                 In science we are working on our changing matter as we sanded, broke, and bent matter. On Friday we learned what adding heat to chocolate does. We used the melted chocolate to draw a picture and had a chocolate sample that was not melted.

Week 5

Dear Parents,

                 This week in Math we finished up our beginning of the year learning on coins and their values. We continue practicing counting coins all year with our Money Mondays. Please  continue to practice counting coins at home to support your child in this skill. We started talking about comparing numbers on a number line. We found missing numbers on a number line and placed numbers on an open number line. We also compared two and three digit numbers as greater than, less than or equal to each other.

                 In writing we learned about a sound wall and put that page in our reading folder to help us decode words. We reviewed our dictionary skills and learned about synonyms and antonyms. We ended our week learning about Patriots Day, drafting and publishing an acrostic poem about PEACE.

                In reading/social studies, we read the story The Great Fuzz Frenzy and took a comprehension check. We read two passages as a class, then answered comprehension questions as I modeled my thinking and strategies for finding or writing the best answer. We ended the week by learning about Texas Symbols and creating a book.

               In science we began our unit on changing and combining matter. We reviewed our vocabulary, planned an investigation, created a chart to record our observations and began changing matter as a class. Next week we will explore changing matter on our own.