Week 13

 Dear Parents,

           Red Ribbon Week was a great week! Thank you for having your children participate with the different themes each day! I also want to thank you for the great response we had for stuff the pantry! Our class made a great contribution.

            In math this week we measured many things with nonstandard units, inches, feet, yards, centimeters and meters. We learned the difference between height, width and length. 

            In writing we were able to finish up our imaginative stories. Next week we will be writing an expository. We will also have a contest in second grade to write an acrostic poem about a veteran. The winner will read his/her poem at the Veterans Assembly.

             In reading we read and listened to three stories. We learned about figurative language and focused on character traits. We had a reading checkpoint over one of the stories.

              In science we had fun exploring Sound, heat and light. We did several experiments and recorded them in our science notebooks. Using a tuning fork to see sound vibrations was really fun! 

                  Hoping to see you tonight at CRE Movie Night! 

Week 12

 Dear Parents,

   This week in math we learned time to the minute. We also looked at shapes and how many square units make up their area. This was a quick introduction to time, but I will continue to reinforce this skill every Tuesday for time Tuesday. Please help at home by asking the time whenever appropriate.  That way they can see the real world application of this skill.

     In writing we finished up our narratives and began imaginative writing. We picked our character, setting and event, then wrote a beginning, middle and end using a flow map and a graphic organizer.

      In reading we continued reading many different kinds of folktales and filled out graphic organizers, this time for a grade. We are getting really good at listening for the sequence of events, the characters, their problems and solutions.

       In science we continued writing about combining matter with specific properties for a purpose. They completed a performance task about building a birdhouse and used their ipads to show and tell what they used to build their birdhouse and what properties made that a good material for that specific purpose.

 

*Our annual food drive is coming up next week on October 25- 29. See attached flyer. We will be collecting food donations the entire week. The grade level with the highest donations will receive a reward! Some items we are collecting, but not limited to are:                                 

• canned evaporated milk (16 oz.); 

• canned fruit (16 oz.);

•instant potatoes, boxed;

• canned pie filling;                                               

• canned yams (16 oz.);

• boxed stuffing;

• canned chicken broth;

• canned cranberry sauce;

• baking mixes (cakes, cookies, etc.).

 

Week 11

 Dear Parents,

       This week in math we dove into problem solving. Examples of them will come home in your child’s coyote folder today. These are the main types of problems they are expected to read and understand whether it is an addition problem or a subtraction problem. Practicing these at home by giving your child problems that are similar to these and having them decide whether to add or subtract is helpful. The steps are to write the beginning, middle and end, the number sentence, then the part/part/whole box . They use the part/part/whole box to decide what is the best way to solve the problem. We are becoming experts on doing the problems, but could use reinforcement on deciding how to solve them. We will be working on a problem a day for the rest of the year, but this focus for the week is now complete.

         In writing we are finishing up revising our personal narratives and publishing them. Some are in the process of choosing characters, setting and an event to begin an imaginative story next week.

          In reading we have been focusing on the types of folktales and filling out graphic organizers as we read them. We are looking for the characters, setting, problem and solution as well as if there is any magic in the story. We are learning on how to identify the folktale as a fairytales, fables, legends, pourquois, myths, or tall tales. We also read a Scholastic News about bats and answered comprehension questions.

          In science we continued changing and combining matter. We finished up testing our boats to see how many pennies they could hold. We built a bridge together deciding how to combine the matter to make a strong bridge that would hold together. We observed a gobstopper in water and recorded how it changed over time. Next week we will be taking our performance task to see if we can decide what materials to use to create a birdhouse.

Week 10

 Dear Parents,

     It’s hard to believe it’s the end of the first nine weeks! I am so proud of the progress your children have made. We have learned classroom routines and are getting down to serious second grade work. We are doing our best on our work and fixing our mistakes. 

    Field Day was a great success as I saw good sportsmanship and encouragement for our classmates! Thank you Coach Ray!

       In math we made great strides as we understood how to subtract two digit numbers with and without regrouping ,then switched over to addition with and without regrouping to add to check our subtraction problems. We had our assessment on Thursday.

        In writing we began our own narratives on a topic of our choice. We will take this piece through the writing process. We started by brainstorming five ideas, choosing one, then drafting our bold beginnings, mighty middles, and excellent endings. Next we will have several lessons on how to revise and edit our drafts.

          In reading we read the story Gingerbread for Liberty, a story about a real American who made a difference. The skills we focused on were synthesizing the information and being able to retell it in correct time order using words like first, next, then and last. We took a comprehension check as well.

           In science we had  lots of practice changing matter and observing, then recording those changes in our science notebooks. We could cut, bend or break items. The big take away was that by making these changes we changed the properties of the matter, but the matter was not more or less than it was before we changed it. Next we used sand paper to change the properties of an animal cracker. We had lots of cracker dust, and animal crackers that looked completely different from when we started. This time there was less matter than when we started. We wrote about these differences in our science notebooks. We used bending and coloring to create paper airplanes- then tested them to see what properties made our airplanes fly the farthest. Congratulations to Bryce whose airplane won! Bryce went straight to the treasure box. We are in the process of testing our boats to see how many pennies they can hold.

            I hope all of you have a wonderful long weekend with your friends and families!

 

*Please see the below Second Step information from our counselor Mrs. Moore. :

From the Counselor:  Mrs. Moore

 

Parents,

LISD supports the whole child not only through academics but through Social and Emotional    Learning as well.  In an effort to build emotional capacities and leadership, each week your child will receive a Second Step Digital lesson. Within these lessons, student learning objectives of social awareness skills and emotional regulation will be taught.  In conjunction with Second Step Curriculum, students are also offered access the Rhithm (an app which offers a daily read on each child’s emotionality and then generates a  short video to support the child with a specific coping skill), The Child Protection Unit (how to stay safe),   and The Bully Prevention Unit (pro-social skills and bully prevention).  Parents will be receiving a weekly caption of each week’s lesson provided through your child’s homeroom teacher communication. 

 

We invite you to preview each of the tools we use to teach Social and Emotional Learning.  Please reach out to Mrs. Moore for a preview of the curriculum.  

 

Thank you,

 

Stephanie Moore

Counselor 

Coyote Ridge Elementary

mooress@lisd.net

       972-350-4310

 

 

  

*My fall Conference sign up is here! Follow this link to the Sign up Genius. I am looking forward to talking to each of you about your children during our October conference times:

 

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0B4CAFA82AA02-fall1

 

 

*From Mrs. Hernandez, our Librarian:

 

Storybook Pumpkin Patch

 

You are invited to be part of our Storybook Pumpkin Patch!  What is this you ask, well let me tell you!   Start with a pumpkin and then use your imagination and your creativity to turn your pumpkin into a book character.  You can use paint, props or anything else you can think of!  A plastic or foam pumpkin works great, but really any pumpkin will be great!

 

If you are using a real pumpkin, please NO CARVING!  Even a small hole will cause the pumpkin to rot quickly!!!!!  

 

Please bring your Pumpkin to the library the week of October 18th-October 22nd. I would like to have all participating pumpkins in so we can start our Pumpkin Patch visits the following week.  Fill out the pumpkin form (attached or pick up a paper copy in the library) so it can be displayed next to your pumpkin.  You may also include the book to be displayed next to your pumpkin!

 

All pumpkins need to be picked up between Oct 29-Nov 2 or they will be thrown away. 

Week 9

 Dear Parents,

    This week in math we started two digit subtraction with and without regrouping. This is one of the hardest math skills the second graders learn. Please help reinforce this process at home. Once we start internalizing this skill it also becomes hard to switch back to two digit addition with regrouping. One way to practice is to do a subtraction problem. Then add the answer to the bottom number from the problem . The answer should equal the top number of the subtraction problem. We call this adding to check.

      In writing we took our class narrative about the first day of school through the writing process. We have published our papers! 😊

       In reading we discussed two stories as we filled out graphic organizers. We found the topic of the first story and then looked for a lesson a character learned  to find the theme. In The Great Kapok Tree we listened to the clues in the story to infer what the man who entered the rain forest to chop down the tree would do. 

       In science we had two experiments in which we observed how matter changed as we added heat. We ended the week with a talk read talk write about changing matter.

 

 

*There is still time to order pictures. If any of your students forgot their payment on Wed., parents will need to order online. They will have five days to do so from Wed.  The website is strawbridge.net, and the online code for ordering is FM362452.

 

 

*My fall Conference sign up is here! Follow this link to the Sign up Genius. I am looking forward to talking to each of you about your children during our October conference times:

 

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0B4CAFA82AA02-fall1

 

   

*PE REMINDER:

*Coach Ray asks that parents please send students in tennis shoes on PE days and shorts under skirts/dresses.

PE Website Here you can see our specials rotation schedule.

Field Day is next Thursday, October 7^th!  YIPEE!

 

K-2^nd grades will be 12:30-2:22 (14 stations, 8 minutes each)

 

Our class is divided into 6 color groups: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue & Purple  Students are encouraged to wear a shirt in the color of their team the day of field day.   At each station, they will line up/play in these groups.

 

Red-  Isaak, James, Ryan

 

Orange-  Bryce, Cordelia, Landon

 

Yellow-  Brayden, Bradley, Charissa

 

Green-  Daniel Serenity, Gabriele

 

Blue-  Journee, Logan, Connor, Rylen

 

Purple-  Ziya, Jordan, Joanna

 

Field Day Information:

 

*Please remind students wear tennis shoes, sunscreen, hats (optional) & their team color (if possible  Students need to be sure and have a water bottle for refilling on field day.  There will be a station by the 2^nd grade water fountain for refills.

*PTA will be providing popsicles for everyone.  This will be one of the stations.

* We need to limit parent spectators to TWO per class. This will be in addition to volunteers who sign up on our official link in Voly for Field Day Volunteers. The two SPECTATORS from each homeroom will travel with the class. The spectators will also need a current background check and VOLY account so they can officially volunteer as a spectator.

            

              This is my class spectator link for Field Day:  https://lewisvilleisd.voly.org/opportunity/view.html?id=65617 

 

*Coach Ray is asking for 10 volunteers for the 3-5^th grade shift, and 10 volunteers for the K-2^nd shift to sign up in Voly. The VOLUNTEERS will be assigned to a station to help run the event, and they will get instructions from Coach Ray.