STEM Night

Week 18

 Dear Parents,

      This week in math we focused on place value in numbers to 999. We wrote them in word form, expanded form, standard form and drew models of each number. Later in the week we found missing numbers on a number line. We then made open number lines and placed numbers where they should go.

      In reading we read many holiday books and practiced writing story structure, sequencing of events and even did a directed drawing of a poinsettia. 

      In language we learned the parts of a letter and began writing a letter to a person of our choice. We will continue tis after our break so we can take our letters to final copy and deliver them in person.

      In science we began our unit on bodies of water. We compared and contrasted fresh and salt water sources using a Venn diagram. We also observed some fresh and salt water samples and wrote about our observations.

      We finished up the week with our pj, hot chocolate, and Polar Express Day! The Winter Party was a huge success due to Haleigh Scott our room mom! The children had so much fun! At our sing a long and Leader in Me recognition rally we recognized Kaden and Aarya for being leaders in our room.

STEM Night was so much fun! I saw a few of my students! Thank you for coming!

Recess Fun!

Ugly Sweater Walk and community outreach

Week 17

Dear Parents,

        This week in math we finished up our unit on beginning multiplication and division. We focused on the fact that there are equal groups in multiplication. We learned in division we only ended up with equal groups if we gave each group one of the items until all were gone. We took our assessment on Friday.

         In reading we used a mentor text to create a poem about fall disappearing and winter showing up. We brainstormed lots of ideas and created a project for our bulletin board. We listened to three holiday stories and created a story structure chart, compared two of the stories by using a Venn diagram, and created a snowman that will later be part of our winter poetry board.

           In language we have been finishing up our  favorite holiday expository writing, and began learning how to write notes. We put one of our notes in a card to go along with a special holiday project that we have made for you! We even are making our own wrapping paper if we get our work done. This gift was made with love. Hope you enjoy it!

           In science we finished up our unit on rocks by reading a PowerPoint, discussing our new learning, reading an article on rocks and writing about what we have learned. We took a clozing in on science assessment and took our unit Check Point.

           Thank you for sending in the rolls of toilet paper. We made snowmen pencil holders to have on our desk during December and January. The children were so excited! I also appreciate those of you who donated to our holiday community outreach. The supplies you sent in will go to help Kyle’s Place and Brighter Tomorrows.

• If you haven’t already PLEASE. Seng in your $3.00 to give to our room mom, Haliegh Scott, for the supplies she is purchasing for our winter party. I hope that you can come. Our party starts at 12:45 next Thursday.

Fun In Second Grade

Everly was our Leader of the Week!

Week 16

Dear Parents,

             It was great getting back to work with your second graders. The break was good for them and they came back ready to work! In math we are working on multiplication skills. We spent the first three days of the week building block structures. Each floor had the same number of rooms. Through this building experience we realized that each time we added a floor, we added the same number of rooms to our building. We further realized that if we knew how many rooms were in 5 floors, we could double that number to know how many rooms were in ten floors. We ended the week by recognizing that we can divide a group of objects into equal groups. We compared repeated addition to multiplication.

             In writing we worked all week on our expository papers to explain why our favorite holiday was our favorite. We followed our tree map to write a rough copy, then a final draft. After that we revised and edited, added some transition words and wrote our final copy.

               In reading we reviewed story structure and compared/contrasted two Cinderella stories. We took a unit quiz to show we knew that each story had a conflict at the beginning, events in the middle, and a resolution to the conflict at the end. We also took our December istation scores. Our goal is to increase our score by three points each month. Some students jumped 7-17 points last month, so if their score goes down do not worry. As your child scores higher, the test adjusts to meet them at their level. A good point growth would be 9 points from their September scores. WE are all working hard to meet our reading goal.

            In Science we began our unit on rocks. We sorted rocks by their attributes: size, texture, color, and mass. We went on a rock hunt at recess. We buddied up to compare rocks. We measured the length and circumference, used hand lenses to view our rock’s texture and color. And filled in our comparison chart. We read an article about rocks and wrote what we noticed in our science notebooks.

*Six Flags Read to Succeed

Read to Succeed is a free program that allows students in grades K – 5 to earn tickets to Six Flags just by reading six hours for fun. This year the reading logs will be online! Register your child at sixflags.com/books. Use Coyote Ridge Elementary School’s code: DUJCP. The deadline for reading hours to be entered online is April 10^th, 2020. More information will be coming home in your Friday Folders this week. Reading Logs do NOT need to be returned to school this year. 

*Look for a letter in your child’s Coyote Folder from our room mother, Haleigh Scott, about our Winter Party. She is asking for a $3.00 donation from each child so that she can buy the food and craft items.

*Also look for our December Habit Paper. Please have your child complete the activity fill out their name, teacher/grade, and get your signature! Second grade won for the most habit 1 activities returned. Let’s see if we can win again! Remember if you turn in all of them you will become a lighthouse family! 😊

Week 14

Dear Parents,

     This week in math, many skills were taught. We finished up time, then began area and perimeter and ended the week wth measuring in standard units. They know which is the best unit to use to measure an object; inches, feet, or yards. Partners went on scavenger hunts to find an object in the room that was about 6 inches. We learned that if we are measuring and the object measures to the half way mark (between two numbers)or greater you put down the larger number. If its measurement falls before the half way mark you put down the lesser of the two numbers.

     In reading the focus of the week was text organization and story structure. We made a story map with characters, setting, problem and solution. We saw that one of the texts we read was organized in steps and wrote the beginning, middle and end of the story using one complete sentence for each.

     Shhhhh …. In writing we worked on a Thanksgiving project that will come home as a gift for you next week. We also kept working on our imaginative  stories and next week will be writing an expository text. Our grammar focus was how to use the to be verbs by having subject/verb agreement. We ended the week by talking about the present vs. past tense.

     In Science we had many fun investigations that helped inform us about motion. We learned that objects either slide, roll or spin. Their paths can be zig-zag, a straight line, or in a curve. We painted with marbles, dipped a top in some paint so we could see its path as it moved around a large sheet of butcher paper, and watched as items rolled, sun or slid down a ramp.

Mariah was last Week's Leader of the Week!

Veteran's Day Assembly

We sang our Hearts out!

Happy Veteran's Day! We Honor You!

Week 13

Dear Parents,

     This week we finished up two digit subtraction and began time. PLEASE help your child with this hard concept. Lots of practice is needed. I will be sending home nightly homework. Telling time to the minute is a difficult concept. Your child needs to be able to count by fives and then ones to tell time to the minute. They also need to know how to put the hands on a clock to show a given time.

      In writing we wrote a Veteran acrostic this week to honor our Veterans. We made copies and gave them to the Veterans. We had a great time performing at the assembly. We finished the week by revising and editing our imaginative stories.

      In social studies we learned about our three branches of government and made a government tree.  We also learned about story structure as we read two stories this week. We know that stories can be written in chronological order, have a problem, events and a resolution!

       In science we took our science check point on Monday, then began a unit on magnets. We explored with magnets and felt as they repelled and attracted each other. We saw a magnetic field by sprinkling iron filings around a magnet. We dug for buried treasure and found some objects were magnetic and some objects were nonmagnetic. We saw a magnet work like it does in a small motor. We learned that all materials that have iron in them are magnetic.

• Progress reports went home ( requested paper copies) today along with your Child’s November istation Report. 
• Please read the November Leader in me Newsletter and have your child fill out the activity at the bottom. The parent signature needs to be filled out as well. We are looking for 100% participation. Doing 1 Newsletter a month will have your family spotlighted as a Lighthouse Family. Each activity returns helps second grade win rewards in our school.

Field Day Fun!

Week 12

Dear Parents,

        It was good to get back to the daily routine! Swim week was fun, but the children are happily back to taking charge of their learning. In math we learned to subtract two digit numbers with and without regrouping. We used base ten blocks, number lines and numbers written up and down in our place value boxes. We also learned how to add to check our answer to the subtraction problem.

       In Social Studies we continued to learn about our state and local governments. During reading we read a Spooky Skeleton Scholastic News , answered comprehension questions and had the choice of making a skeleton using Q-Tips. We finished on Halloween by listening to the story I Need a Monster. We did a directed drawing of a monster and were able to write an imaginative story about our monster. 

       In language we have been learning lessons on how to make our imaginative stories fun and interesting by adding show don’t tell emotions, adding gestures to show character traits, and adding interesting details. We can’t wait to publish and share them next week.

         In Science we began our unit on Energy: Light, Heat, and Sound. We did three investigations, one for each type of energy.

We added heat to butter, then took the heat away. We learned we could change the state of matter from a solid to a liquid, then back to a solid. We went in a closet without windows. We learned that when we make lights dimmer, it is difficult to see color. The color of our paper square became brighter when the light became brighter. Last we saw the vibration made by sound! How did we see the vibrations? Ask your child what we did with a mirror, a pen light a can, and a yardstick. 

Our Cannonball Winner! Great job Kaden!

Week 11: Swim Class was the BEST!