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.

Week 4

 Dear Parents,

                 This week in math we took our beginning of the year iready assessment for math. It assessed their learning needs and will provide lessons to strengthen their math skills. We will be on iready 30-50 minutes per week doing these lessons. We also continued learning the value of the coins. I will attach a picture of the easiest way for your child to learn to count coins. We first write the coins in order from greatest amount to smallest amount. 50 cent pieces would be first, pennies , last. If there is a quarter 3 dimes and a penny, above the coins we write 25, 10, 10, 10, 1. Below we would write 25, 35, 45, 55, 56. I will start sending Math homework home. This is for practice. Doing this homework with your child will help support them in math. These papers are valuable learning tools, but are not a grade. I do check them. Your child will be rewarded with dojos and stars if they are turned in.

                  In writing we are learning many important skills to become independent writers. We continue being fearless spellers, using our alphabet chart, and a word wall chart. We have been writing simple beginning, middle end stories using three complete sentences and some have started their own books using 3 different authors as mentors.

                   In reading and social studies we have read a Scholastic News called The Kindness Challenge, then completed a reading checkpoint. We read the story Picture Day Perfection in our reading book and took a comprehension check. We listened to the story, It’s Only Stanley and learned about making predictions.   

                     In science we observed a tray of items and divided them up by their physical properties, flexible, not flexible, cool, warm, soft, rough, squishy or soft. We made a circle map about all the physical properties we could think of. We saw a movie about solids, liquids and gases and played a game with our partner testing what we learned. We also did a states of matter sort. We did a talk, read talk, write and we reviewed our vocabulary. On Friday, we took our unit 2 assessment.

Week 3

 Dear Parents,

         This week in math we went over our weekly routines of counting money, telling time, representing a number in many ways, and writing our own word problem. On Fridays we fill out our number grid. We are doing these together, but soon your child will be doing them independently. One or two of these grids may be part of a nine weeks’ grading period as grades. We continued learning about base Ten to 120. We used a 100 chart and a 200 chart to add 1 or 10 and to take away 1 or 10.

           In writing we wrote simple narratives with beginnings, middles, and ends. We then learned that authors can decide where the words go on a page. They can have single pages or a two page spread. They can show emotions or actions in their pictures. We looked at 3 authors as mentors and are beginning to write our own books. We are using or spelling dictionaries to help us write our words, but are also learning to sound out our words and be brave spellers.

           In reading and social studies we read about Good Citizenship and did a good citizen sort. We also read a passage about how good citizens are responsible and help  their communities. We read the story Violet the Piolet and learned about Character Traits.

We read a scholastic News article together, but independently answered comprehension questions for a grade. We also learned about the upcoming holiday, Labor Day!

            In science we reviewed unit 1, and took our first science assessment. We set up our new unit, then followed a PowerPoint to begin our new unit on Properties of Matter.

Week 2

 Dear Parents,

            This week in second grade we enrolled a few more students. We are now a class of 21! We have 11 girls and 10 boys. We had a fantastic second week of school.

             In math this week we continued learning our routines as we learned about money Mondays, Time Tuesdays, Write a word problem Wednesdays, Marvelous Magical Number Thursdays ( where we represent a number in as many ways as we can think of), and on Fridays we fill out a number grid. We start with 2 digit numbers and by the end of the year we will represent numbers to 1.200. We learn how to draw a model with place value blocks, write expanded form, word form and add or subtract from the number to get a new number. We also solve word problems every day. We start off doing it together and then they begin doing it independently. We always check the work together.

              In writing we are learning how to write complete thoughts, making sure we begin with a who or what and then say what they did. We each got a picture and had to write 3 complete thoughts about it. We learned what we can do when we think we’re done. We learned that we are never done. We can go back to old writings and add to the pictures and words or begin a new writing. We’ve learned to brainstorm ideas and make a draft. We are reading words that have a CVC pattern, with short a and i.

              In reading we learned that setting is time and place. We read Clark the Shark  together and looked at the various settings as we answered questions. We took our comprehension test on Wednesday. We finished the week by creating a “ Our Class is a Family “ book that will be hanging on our bulletin board.

              In science we learned about our digital citizenship and how to be responsible on our ipads! I want to thank you all for filling out your AUP forms! Now our class can begin using our ipads. We went to the library as a grade level and Mrs. Hernandez gave us more information about our digital citizenship. We learned what scientists do and what engineers do. We had a guest engineer come talk to the second grade on Friday.