Week 24

Dear Parents,

               Although this was a short week, we got a lot accomplished! In Math we continued learning about multiplication and division problems. We talk about them as equal groups of items. We show that multiplication can be thought of as repeated addition and division can be thought of as repeated subtraction. Writing their own story problems is a challenge!In Language we collected a science writing and created a kite glyph. These kites are hanging in our classroom for you to see next Thursday at open house! In reading we focused on visualizing, or making a movie in our brain as we read a story or poem. A project that shows some of our visualizing will also be hanging in the hallway. In science we continued to study the sky and talk about the phases of the moon and the location of the sun in our sky during the day. In social studies we chose an African American to research for Black History Month. We created pyramids that will be on our desks for open house that shows the major contributions these people made to our country.

• Please send back the LISDOLA Field Trip Permission Form
• Please send back the  spring conference preference form so that I may begin scheduling conferences
• Please send in items for the Big Event (see attached Flyer)

Leader of the Week

Valentines Day Party

Week 23

Dear Parents,

               This week flew by! In math we did a lot of work constructing with blocks to give the children a good understanding of what multiplication and division is. Today we sent home their volume 1 math text books. There are pages that we did not do that could be a great review over the summer before third grade. You may want to save these. We started our volume 2 math book today. We are looking at multiplication as repeated addition and equal groups of items. Thus 4x3 is four groups of three oranges. Four is the number of groups and three tells how many are in each group. In writing we wrote a past narrative about our swim week to be scored as the middle of year writing sample. We also presented our famous American reports. Everyone did an excellent job! In reading we learned about cause and effect with Officer Buckle and Gloria. In science we started the unit Pattern of objects in the Sky. We are looking at the moon phases and the movement of the sun during the day and how that effects shadows. In social studies we  learned about checks, debit cards, and credit cards. We are talking about earning, lending, and borrowing money.

                 Our Valentines Party was great fun! Thank you to all the parents who came to join in the celebration. The children had some treats, fun games and time to open their cards.  I want to thank you all for your sweet treats, kind notes and presents! They are greatly appreciated, by myself and my two boys! There may be even a few chocolates left for me! :)

Week 22

Dear Parents,

         It was good to get back to a full day of learning! We took our Math district CBA test to see what we have learned so far this year. I am proud of how well my class performed on it this year, remembering to use the strategies I taught them in the first semester. In writing we have been working on our research project. It has been interesting to find out all about his/her famous American. We will present these projects next week. In reading we read the true story about a dog who dug for dinosaurs in England. The main skill focus was understanding the difference between a fact and an opinion, a very hard concept for second graders.In science we finished up our unit on natural vs. man-made resources and took our assessment. In social studies we have been learning the difference between a goods and a service. We learned that we have many service workers in our community who help us get things done and help keep us safe. We also learned that everyone needs to have special skills to do their job.

* Please sign and return progress reports if you had one go home in your child’s Coyote Folder! 

Week 21

Dear Parents,

               Swim Week Was so much fun! We had a few nervous students on Monday, but we were all smiles by Tuesday! Thank you for your support during this fun experience. With Two hours and 15 minutes out of our day, our lessons this week focused on Math, Reading, and Language Arts. It was a full week. In math we wrapped up chapters 7 and 8 and took our assessment. Reading and understanding what process to use to solve a word problem is an important skill. Knowing how to add and subtract two and three diget numbers with and without regrouping was used to solve their word problems. In Reading we read the story, Helen Keller. This was an interesting biography that helped springboard us into researching our own famous Americans. We wrote what it might feel like to be blind after we did an activity with a partner trying to get them to do something like sit in a chair without talking and with their eyes closed. It was an eye opening experience! This research and subsequent project was worked on this week and will continue into next week. They are excited about their research and are thinking critically about which facts will be included in their reports.

• The Time Line project  is due Feb. 16th
• Jumprope for Heart is underway! Please pledge to help at heart.org/jump

Swim Fun

Chinese New Year Fun