Week 24

 Dear Parents,

       This week in math we continued working on subtraction word problem strategies. We then worked on subtraction problems with numbers in the hundreds. Please help reinforce this skill at home as it is one of the hardest math skills for second graders to master. The switch between subtraction and addition with regrouping can cause confusion. We are hitting this hard at school and have a chant to help us.

         In writing this week we have moved into research. We are learning how to read different sources that are biographies and decide what information is important and should be included in our paper. We are also focusing on research in reading as we are researching famous African Americans for Black history month. We have a library choice board linked in our canvas class as well as a Pebble Go choice board that the children can click on and read or listen to information about famous African Americans all month!

         In social studies we continued using a map key to read maps and answer questions. We are focusing on the cardinal directions and what objects on the map that are north, south, east, or west of other objects. We read a Scholastic News about Stevie Wonder and did a comprehension check. On Friday we learned about Chinese New Year and had a celebration. A big thank you to Panda Express for donating fortune cookies and chop sticks to our second grade at CRE! We made Ramen Noodles and tried eating them with chop sticks. We read a Scholastic News article called “Lion School” and watched a video called Happy Lunar New Year!

        In science we began our new unit on Effects of Wind and Water. We set up an investigation in which we used a puffer cup to create wind and observed the effects on soil, sand and rock. We drew our observations in our science notebooks as we observed them before and after the wind was applied.