Week 10

 

  Dear Parents,

           This week in reading/ social studies we learned about Christopher Columbus and his voyage to the Americas. We learned who sent him, the name of his ships, where he actually landed and why he made that trip. We reread the story Spoon and what the author’s purpose was for writing that story. We took a comprehension check. We learned this was a fantasy story as we know, spoons can’t talk! A few students had a retake as they did not go back to the text to answer the questions. We are learning every day how to be a responsible second grader. We read a nonfiction story about being a good citizen. We summarized the parts and then read our complete summary. On Friday we read a Scholastic News about Bats and took a comprehension check.

           In math we have been practicing our base ten knowledge. We first drew models of numbers with tens and added them together. Later we added numbers that only had tens to a number that had tens and ones. Lastly we added two numbers that had both tens and ones.

           In writing stude3nts have been prewriting, drafting a beginning, middle and end, revising and editing their narratives. Some were ready to publish on Friday. Others are still working in the process.

         In science we continued observing that sound is energy and makes vibrations. We observed those vibrations in solids and liquids. We learned that sound has a volume, loud, or quiet. We learned that there is a purpose for those different volumes. We loved watching salt dance and water splash as the vibrations touched them! We recorded our observations in our science notebooks.

 

  It’s time to sign up for Fall Conferences. Click on the link below to get to my sign up Genius. When signing up, please let me know if you would prefer an in person conference or a phone conference in the comment section. If you could, please type your name and your child’s name in the comment box as well. I have a lot of beginning of  year testing information to share with you and prefer that we meet in person in my room, however, if you cannot meet in person I will do my best to update you over the phone. If none of the times provided meet your schedule, please let me know and we will work something out.

 

Link to Sign up Genius:

 

 

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0B4CAFA82AA02-66673783-parent

 

 

f you haven’t already done the below, we could use your help:

 📣 Coyote Ridge Families — We Need Your Voice! Coyote Ridge is working toward becoming a Leader in Me Lighthouse School, and we would love your help! 💙🐺We are asking ALL families to take a few minutes to complete our MRA Family Survey. Your feedback is an important part of this process and helps us celebrate what we are doing well while identifying opportunities to continue growing. 🎯 Our goal is 100% family participation! Every response counts, and we want to hear from YOU! 🎉 BONUS: If we exceed our school-wide survey goal, our students will earn EXTRA RECESS! 🙌

👉 Complete the Family Survey here:
https://www.leaderinme.com/s/coyote-ridge-elem-tx/families

Thank you for supporting Coyote Ridge and our students. We appreciate you!

This is Coyote Ridge’s 9th year using the Leader in Me Program. To continue supporting growth and learning at home, we will send home a newsletter each month that focuses on a different habit. By the end of the year, we will have discussed all 8 Habits at both school and home.

In your child’s Friday Folder, you will find the October Habit Newsletter. Attached to the newsletter is a QR code that corresponds to October’s habit, Habit 1: Be Proactive.

• Please scan the QR code or use the link below to complete the quick survey and qualify for Lighthouse Family status.
• Lighthouse Family Sign-Up Link for Habit #1, Be Proactive!

Week 9

 Dear Parents,

            This week in reading we learned how to find the central idea of a story. We read the Important Book and wrote our own class book! Your children did an amazing job!

We read a Scholastic News called Monster Pumpkin and took a comprehension check. We took all the seeds out of a pumpkin, measured the diameter of the pumpkin, measured the height of the pumpkin, and weighed it. We also got a pumpkin treat! We started a pumpkin science book which we will finish next week.

             In math we continued counting money, including $1.00. We counted from an amount to a dollar and sorted coins to add up the amounts from greatest to least. They are doing very well! 

           In writing we continue working on narratives. We are all in the writing process. Some are on their rough drafts, some are revising and adding details and some actually published. They will get to share their narratives next week.

            In science we began our sound unit by listening to sounds and trying to guess what they were. We then learned that sounds are vibrations. The more energy that is used to make the sound, the louder the volume is. We experienced the vibrations by touching our voice boxes while we spoke, put our ear to our desk and tapped softly, then loudly, and listened to musical instruments. We learned that the vibrations travel through solids, liquids and gases. Their favorite demonstration was watching how the vibrations of a tuning fork, splashed water.

               Friday was so fun! We loved field day! I was happy to see so many family members come join us as we did our rotations. The children were very good sports and focused on having a good time. After it was finished, we came inside and had a popsicle! We had such great weather and an amazing day!

If you haven’t already done the below, we could use your help:

 📣 Coyote Ridge Families — We Need Your Voice! Coyote Ridge is working toward becoming a Leader in Me Lighthouse School, and we would love your help! 💙🐺We are asking ALL families to take a few minutes to complete our MRA Family Survey. Your feedback is an important part of this process and helps us celebrate what we are doing well while identifying opportunities to continue growing. 🎯 Our goal is 100% family participation! Every response counts, and we want to hear from YOU! 🎉 BONUS: If we exceed our school-wide survey goal, our students will earn EXTRA RECESS! 🙌

👉 Complete the Family Survey here:
https://www.leaderinme.com/s/coyote-ridge-elem-tx/families

Thank you for supporting Coyote Ridge and our students. We appreciate you!

This is Coyote Ridge’s 9th year using the Leader in Me Program. To continue supporting growth and learning at home, we will send home a newsletter each month that focuses on a different habit. By the end of the year, we will have discussed all 8 Habits at both school and home.

In your child’s Friday Folder, you will find the October Habit Newsletter. Attached to the newsletter is a QR code that corresponds to October’s habit, Habit 1: Be Proactive.

• Please scan the QR code or use the link below to complete the quick survey and qualify for Lighthouse Family status.
• Lighthouse Family Sign-Up Link for Habit #1, Be Proactive!

Week 7

 Dear Parents,

           This week in math we learned about personal financial literacy. We learned about saving and spending money. We learned what it means to be a responsible and irresponsible borrower. We learned that when we lend, there are costs and benefits. We learned who a producer is and who a consumer is and that with every purchase it involves both. On Friday we had a unit test review.

           In reding/Social Studies this week we learned about our rights as citizens of the United States. We learned that our leaders help us make laws for us all to follow. We read about Johnny Appleseed and took a comprehension check. We watched a brainpop jr. about him, and labeled the states where he visited and planted his apple seeds. We did an apple tasting at snack time: apple sauce, dried apples, and apple juice.

           In writing we took our BOY story through the writing process to final Copy. We then learned what a personal narrative is and began planning, then writing the beginning.

            In Science this week we reviewed our unit academic vocabulary, took our unit 2 assessment, and had an engage activity with our new unit, changing and combining matter. We took a piece of paper and changed it into a paper airplane, thanks to our expert engineer, Kaleb! We has a flying contest and Jeremiah’s airplane flew the farthest! We talked about the physical properties we changed and wrote about it in our science notebook. We saw a slideshow about changing physical properties, and discussed what we saw. On Friday we did a melting and freezing Investigation.

Week 6

 Dear Parents,

                This week in reading and social studies, we read passages about the flag. We highlighted important information and used that to answer questions. We also completed sentences that tells how we are to treat our flag. We learned about why we celebrate Constitution Day. We read about it and filled out a page together of important facts. We read and discussed The Kindness Challenge, a Scholastic News Article. We answered comprehension questions, and questions about a calendar.

               In math this week we focused on reading math story problems, filling out a strip diagram to match the story, then writing a number sentence to solve. We took a quiz on Friday over this skill.

              In writing we took our beginning of year writing check to be scored on a rubric. We will take one at the middle of year and then, the end of the year to show growth. They wrote to a prompt about someone who made them feel special. We began revising and editing our writing and will take it to final copy and publish it.

                In science we sorted objects by their properties, and then be4gan learning there are more properties than size, shape, mass, color and texture. We learned that we can use our senses to find out if an object is hot or cold, flexible or not flexible and much more. We then talked about the states of matter as we turned chocolate from a solid to a liquid in a microwave. We then used the liquid chocolate to draw with. We left it over night and it turned back into a solid. Today we will read an article about properties of matter and then fill in a cloze procedure paper.

                We had a wonderful time at Swim class this week! We learned so much that will keep us safe around water! Charlotte’s mom was one of our swim coaches!!!! That made it even more special.

                Congratulations to Vincent for being our first Leader of the week. He presented his poster and the class all told him why they think he is a leader! Vincent’s swim coach also was impressed with him and came to me to tell how much he grew over the two days.

                Thank you for all the kindness you showed me on my birthday. I was spoiled all day long by present and past students!

Week 5

 Dear Parents, 

          This week in reading we Listened to the story Picture Day Perfection. We created mental images as we read and discussed the story. We learned that this story was realistic fiction. Everything in the story could have happened, but it was a made up story. We then took a comprehension check about it. We listened to the story It’s Only Stanley. We stopped just as there was an explosion. The children drew a picture about what they thought happened because of what they had heard thus far. We continued Learning about how to be a good citizen at school, home, and in our community. I led them on a guided direction page and assessed them at how well they followed directions. On Friday we learned about Labor Day and why we celebrate this holiday.

           In Math we had lots of fun as we asked questions, created our own, and created addition and subtraction stories about bar graphs and pictographs. We are really good at organizing our data. We also began fluency flight on iready which will help us with memorizing our addition and subtraction facts.

            In writing we learned how to be fearless spellers and use charts such as an alphabet chart, consonant cluster chart, and a word wall chart to help us spell.

            In science we continued to learn about how scientists stay safe, the tools scientists use and what an engineer does and why he/she does it. Next Week Wonder Wagon will be coming. If you are signed up in Volly and would like to come help during our time, here is the link to sign up for 9:30-10:40 on Sept 10th:  Voly Link   

 

• One student lost his or her Leader in Me Poster- I have it. I just need to know who to give it back to.

 

Have a wonderful, relaxing three day weekend with your family!

 

Week 4

 Dear Parents,

      It was a great week of learning in math. We built addition and subtraction problems within 10 and twenty. We played a fun game to do this with a partner. We looked at number sentences and number families. We realized that the four number sentences that make up  a number family all have the same three numbers! We took our assessment on Friday.

       In reading we took our BOY of year iready test for two of the days. We read the story Violet the Pilot  and discussed how characters have external and internal traits. We read a Scholastic News article called “Five Ways to Try Your Best”. We took a comprehension check for a grade. We read a story about an engineer called Rosie Revere Engineer. We wrote responsesw how we can be engineers too!

            In writing we learned what we can do when we are finished with a writing, how to write from a picture and how to write like authors we know.

            In science we learned about being digital citizens for three days, we worked on a science page to learn new vocabulary as we read a passage. On Friday a real engineer came to school to talk about her job and what she does.

Week 3

   Dear Parents,                

         This Week in reading we read our first Scholastic news about how to make friends, We answered questions about a graph. We learned what the setting of a story is. We read Clark the Shark and had a class discussion about the story and took a comprehension check for a grade. We listened to the story I Like Me and wrote six sentences about things we like to create a project.

             In math we began unit 1 of our new math program. We talked about what mathematicians use to solve problems, that there are many ways to solve problems, and how math is used in our every day lives. We read the unit story to see what math skills a class used in the story. We then were challenged to put an addition table together. One group did it in the time given. Others will have a chance again another day.  We played a game using number cards! We were making addition and subtraction problems that the sums and differences were numbers 0-10. Today we also did some addition and subtraction in our new math books for a grade. 

          In writing we are getting into the swing of writing workshop. We have written about things close to our heart, written about an idea reading a book gave us, and written about things we did this summer. We took our first Spell Check and were tested on our first 10 sight words.

            In science we learned that there are many kinds of scientists. We learned that they can look very different from what we pictured. We met three scientists as we rotated between the second grade rooms. It was so much fun! We learned that scientists observe and record things in their science notebooks. We also took our BOY test over what we learned in second grade.

          So far I have 4 parents who volunteered to sharpen pencils. Is there anyone else that would like to help?

               

I sent home the second grade packet  (to parents who could not make it to orientation) that we passed out that night. Here is a link to the slideshow:

 

https://canva.link/wgiifsfhy3w9q13

       

Week 36

 Dear Parents,

         We had a great week of learning! In math we carried on with our personal finance unit. We solved word problems about people saving and spending money. We also solved problems about repaying a lone. We learned about responsible borrowers and irresponsible borrowers. We continued on with our weekly focus on time, money, and daily intentional problem solving. We will continue this next week as well.

          In writing we finished up some writing projects that will be coming home this last week of school. These projects are about our lucky charms, our friends, and what career we’d like to have in the future. We are also finishing up our capital, cursive letters.

         In reading/ social studies we read Sea Otter pups, reviewed nonfiction text features and filled out a graphic organizer showing what we found in the story. Next week we will take a comprehension check over the story just to show what we learned.

          In science we finished up our unit on animals and the characteristics that help them survive. We looked at body parts like ears, eyes, teeth and limbs and how each of these can help animals get food, water, or evade predators.

             It seems like it was just yesterday that I saw your child’s shy, smiling face at the door and now it is time to let them go. They have each grown in many ways. I feel they are ready for the challenges of third grade. We have built relationships that will last beyond my classroom. I am always interested to see the accomplishments of my students in the future. Please keep me updated. I love celebrating them! Always remember- once in my classroom, forever in my heart!

 

Have a wonderful Summer!

Week 35

 Dear Parents,

               This week in math we started the week on May 4^th- May the 4^th Be with You! We dis a fun Star Wars graphing activity. We rolled a die to collect gata, used that data to make a graph and then solved problems. We also got to make a Star Wars Book Mark if we wanted to. We had our interpreting data/ graphing asse4ssment on Tuesday. We then started our unit on personal finance. We talked about scenarios in which we were saving or spending money. We solved addition and subtraction problems based on the scenario we read.

                 SHHHHHHH … We spent three days making a special Mother’s Day card for our mothers. They are supposed to hide them and give them to you on Sunday! They are all so precious and will melt your heart. We then finished up our book about Great White Sharks. This was our class book which we did together. They are being graded on format and content which was all done with them.

                 In reading/ social studies we started the week by seeing a short Star Wars book/movie. We then read a story about the habitat of the Red Panda and completed a cloze procedure to check for comprehension. We Learned more about service Workers and their jobs and did a goods and services sort. 

                  In science we brainstormed what animals need to grow and survive. We looked at features animals have that help meet their needs. We learned about water and land ecosystems. The end of school is coming quickly, but we are still having fun growing and learning together.

                    

                    *I was happy to see most of my students at the concert on Tuesday. They did an outstanding job! I was soooooo proud of them! 

                   * Thank you all for spoiling me during teacher appreciation week! I will be busy this weekend writing cards to you and your children for your thoughtful gifts and messages. 

                    * Field Trip on Tuesday- look in the Coyote Folder for more information

                    

 

* We have Wonder Wagon on 5/14. If you would like to help, here is the VOLY link: May 14 WW Voly Link:

 

Week 34

 Dear Parents,

         This week in math we have been having fun making  bar graphs, pictographs and charts. We have been answering questions as well as writing what we notice about these graphs. We even had a challenge to see who could finish a page by the end of math and get all the answers correct. We earned a $10 bonus if we did! 

          In writing we wrote our end of year paper to a prompt. It was scored on a five point rubric as our end of year assessment. We then continued our research about Great White Sharks. We listened two multiple sources to get our facts to add to our R.A.N. Chart. We began drafting our paper by using the facts we put on our chart. We wrote about what Great White Sharks look like and where they live.

            In Social Studies/ Reading we learned more about consumers and producers by watching a video. We then took a quiz by sorting cards as a producer or consumer. All of them did very well so I gave the class a $3 bonus! We then did a project called a circle- rama that showed our knowledge about producers and consumers. We then watched a video that showed us many landforms and the different types of natural water features we can see on Earth. We then began another project as a flip book that showed some of these features. We finished the week with a scholastic News called “The Butterflies Are Back”.

           Science was so exciting this week as our butterfly larvae were huge on Monday as they ate all weekend. By Tuesday they were starting to crawl to the lid to attach themselves. On Wed. two of them wriggled out of their skin and became a chrysalis. By the end of Thursday all were in Chrysalis form. Into the butterfly house they went as we wait for them to emerge as adult butterflies. We had several projects we were working on all week that reinforced the life cycles of frogs and butterflies.

            The children are starting to have a bit of summer fever. Please help me by talking to your children about finishing strong. We have several fun things coming up in these last few weeks: Our Spring Musical, Our Field Trip, Our Awards Ceremony, and Our End of Year Movie Party during which they use their earned income to buy a movie ticket, drinks, snacks and treats.

           

 

Week 33

 Dear Parents,

              This week in math we took two days to take our End of Year Math CBA. This tests the children on all the skills they have been taught this year during our math period. We then began a new unit on graphing. We will be looking at bar graphs and pictographs during this unit. We will read charts to fill them in as well as answer questions about completed graphs.

                In writing they have been finishing up their individual procedural papers. We should all be finished today as we will start another research paper as we write about the Great White Shark. We will research what they look like, where they live, what they eat, and interesting facts about these big sea creatures.

                In social studies we completed a map of the continents and oceans of the world. We then read a Scholastic News article about following a bottle as it gets recycled. We celebrated Earth Day as we learned how to save our Earth by reducing, reusing, and recycling. We created a project about what each of us can do! We watched The Lorax and ate a Barbaloot Snack. We learned about producers and consumers and sorted people into those groups.

                In science we began our unit on insects and life cycles. We will be focusing on frogs and butterflies. We were so excited when our butterfly larvae arrived in the mail. They are growing each day! We are also watching videos and observing each stage as we fill out charts in our science notebooks!

Week 32

 Dear Parents, 

          This week in math we finished up learning about plane and solid shapes. We took our assessment on Thursday. We then on Friday began reviewing for our End of Year Math CBA on Thursday and will continue on Monday. They will take the CBA on Tuesday and Wednesday. We also took our Math iready EOY diagnostic. We will be sending home te results soon.

          In writing we finished up our procedural paper called How to Draw a crab. We researched the parts of a crab and made sure we used order words and started each direction with a verb. We then brainstormed all the things we know how to do and each child chose a topic on which they will write their individual procedural papers.

           In reading/ social studies this week we continued with our map skills as we looked at a world map and placed the names of the three countries of North America and their surrounding oceans on a map. We then read two different stories about Jack and the beanstalk. We had a retelling and graphic organizer assessment of our understanding and comparing or contrasting these two tales.

             In science we continued learning about seed dispersal and pollination. We observed these two concepts through demonstrations, then wrote about what we did. We took a cloze procedure paper on the topic of pollination.

Week 31

 Dear Parents,

            This week in math we continued learning about plane shapes called polygons. We used pattern blocks on Monday to use two or more shapes to create new shapes, or larger shapes. Your children had a blast and challenged themselves to find more than one way to create a new shape. A BIG thank you to Mr. Hicks who was a watch dog for the day and helped out with this lesson. We then used lines do divide shapes into more than one shape. Many made the connection that it was like dividing a shape into fractions, but sometimes the pieces were not equal. We next moved into learning about out solid shapes. We used our individual math boxes so we each had our hands on on the shapes as we counted vertices, faces and edges. We learned that a sphere, a cone, and a cylinder have no faces, edges and only a cone has 1 vertex. A cone and a cylinder do have flat surfaces, but they are not called faces because these shapes do not have straight edges.

              In writing we continued working on our “How to Draw a Crab” class papers and learned about prepositions. We used the prepositions to give detailed directions in our papers. Next week we will edit, revise and publish our papers.

               In social studies we looked at a us map. We found our state, its bordering states and the other 45 states. We watched our swim videos and read two books about swimming safety to get ready for our swim classes on Thursday and Friday. In reading we learned about cause and effect and completed a paper that showed we could match an effect to a cause.  We read a Scholastic News about “A Tough Seed”. We took a comprehension check for a grade.

              I need 4 field trip chaperones  For the Museum of Science and History in Ft. Worth on May 12th. Children cost $13 and if parents ride the bus $25 (20) without the cost of the bus. The information and forms are going home in your child’s Coyote Folder today. The first 4 parents to respond get to join us on this adventure!

Week 30

 Dear Parents,

         This week in math we took our unit test on Fractions on Monday. We began our unit on 2-D shapes called polygons. We found out that they have sides, vertices and are closed shaoes. We learned the names of the shapes from 3-12 sides and vertices. We learned how to identify them and draw them.

         In wring this week we finished up our unit on researching famous Americans. I modeled how to research i9n several sources and how to decide what was the most important accomplishments of each person’s life. We also learned how to cite their sources. They were graded on the booklet they completed on their own. We also began our unit on procedural writing. This too, started with research as we are beginning a class paper on how to draw a crab. First, we need to research the parts of a crab and know the important parts of a “how to” writing.

          In social studies/reading this week we learned about our state borders. We learned about economics. We learned that we have choices on how to spend our money. We need to weigh the costs and the benefits of our choices to make the best decision for ourselves and our families.Wednesday was April Fools Day. We enjoyed a piece of Laffy Taffy and read the two jokes we had on each wrapper. The children had to pick one of those jokes, or find a joke in a joke book and write a page for our class joke book.

           In science we continued with our parts of a plant Brainpop Jr., and then took a quiz over the parts and what job each part has in helping the plant. We then created a plant part art piece with all the parts of a plant. If finished we could play the Plant Parts Game in which the first person to draw all the parts by rolling a die was the winner. We also observed our experiments in which we put white carnations and celery in colored water. We observed that the color ended up in the flower of the carnation showing that the stem takes the water to the rest of the plant. The celery had leaves and tubes inside that both turned colored as well.

 

*Check the Coyote Folder for important information about our swim days next week and our tradition of making a keepsake pillow case

Week 29

 Dear Parents,

            This week in math we continued our unit on fractions. We have been working hard on our math pages, homework scoot and on Friday we created a fractionpillar project. Our chant is top number is the shaded ( or colored parts) bottom number is the parts ( all the parts- halves, fourths or eighths).

            In writing we have continued with our research of famous Americans. We have learned what sources are primary and what are secondary resources. We have learned how to cite these two sources as well as a website. We have been using books, as well as Brittanica School and World Book Kids. We have verified our information by finding it in several sources. We have analyzed the information to find the central idea, or most important fact about each famous person.

             In reading we finished up our research of things now and then.  We looked at communication, homes, school and toys or games from the past and present. They had so much fun discovering how things were in the past. We read a short information writing called Growth of a Sunflower. We practiced turning the information into our own words. For social studies we read an article about wants and needs. We watched a Brainpop video about this subject. On Thursday we read the Scholastic News Rainbow Plants. We discussed the article and worked together to complete a comp check. No grade was taken as we did it together.

             In science we planted Lima Beans and began a growth Journal. We read about and discussed what plants need to survive. We began an experiment with flowers and celery with colored water. We can’t wait to examine the results next week. We also discussed the parts of plants and what each part does.

 

Preregister link for Donuts With Dads:

 

https://forms.gle/hsgRYmTEVCEgTh97A

Week 28

 

Dear Parents,

           In math this week we began our math unit on fractions. We learned that fractions have equal parts. We are focusing on halves, fourths, and eighths. We first shaded in one of the parts of each of these fractions and then shaded in more than one part. We then shaded in all the parts to realize that 2/2, 4/4, and 8/8 equal one whole. On Friday we had Lucky Charm math!

          In writing we learned about the concept of then and now. We looked at communication, homes, school and toys or games from the past and present. We are making a flip book to show what we’ve learned. We had the choice to write about the lucky charms, people we are lucky to have in our lives, and create a project. ( if our research was done)

         In reading we researched famous Americans using a printed page, facts4me, and/or World Book Kids. We will continue researching after Spring Break. In Social Studies we reinforced the map skills that we’ve learned so far.

         In Science we began learning about the needs of plants. We can’t wait to plant our lima beans after break! I hope all of you have a restful Spring Break!

    

 

PLEASE sign up for the student led Spring conference if you have not done so. Your child is looking forward to sharing his/her leadership skills and their growth with you. Here is the link to our sign up genius. Please let me know if the times left do not work for you. We will work it out! Four more and we will be 100%! 😊 !

 

Sign up Genius Link:

 

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0B4CAFA82AA02-62671187-mscarpenters

Week 27

 Dear Parents,

               We have had another great week of learning together! Soon we will only have one nine week period left. I  am still supporting your children through my teaching and small group, but I am letting them take charge of doing their independent work. They have all grown so much this year! I am proud of each and every one of them. In math this week we continued to practice three digit subtraction with and without regrouping in many ways. We had a scoot, a dice rolling paper and a spin paper to choose our numbers. We tested on Friday.

                 In writing we finished up our Helen Keller biographies and our poetry books. We went through our pockets for open house and chose one project to save for our student led conference with you. The rest of the projects in the pocket will go home with you tonight. 

                 In reading/social studies we read a map key and used directions to locate objects on a map. Some children had difficulty with this, but we will continue to practice our map skills on Mondays. The timelines were also presented during this time. The children loved sharing this meaningful project. We read two short stories and answered questions about them. We read the questions first, then highlighted things we thought would help us answer the questions in the story as we read. We had to analyze the 3 answers to choose the one that best answers the question. ( This is prepping them for the STAAR test they will take next year.) We also read a Scholastic News article called “ And the Winner Is … “ and answered comprehension questions.

             A big thank you to those who were able to make our Spring Open House! The smiles on everyone’s faces lit up our room. The children are so proud of what they accomplished this year. We have one more nine weeks together and we will make it a great one!

              PLEASE sign up for the student led Spring conference if you have not done so. Your child is looking forward to sharing his/her leadership skills and their growth with you. Here is the link to our sign up genius. Please let me know if the times left do not work for you. We will work it out! Four more and we will be 100%! 😊 !

 

Sign up Genius Link:

 

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0B4CAFA82AA02-62671187-mscarpenters

Week 26

 Dear Parents,

          In math this week in math we worked on 3 digit subtraction with and without regrouping. Most of the students are confident in this skill, but mistakes are made when they have an error in their calculations. That is why it is so important your child practice all the addition flashcards each week until they know them automatically. This will help them tremendously as they do not have number lines next year on their desks. When we are finished with the addition flashcards, we will begin subtraction facts. Additionally we practice our facts at school with iready fluency flight. I still see children using their fingers to count.  If your child has had some trouble, I sent a paper home for support. I am also going to pull those students and work with them in a small group.

            In writing we finished our Class Biography on Helen Keller. We took our notes, created the sentences as a class and finished our final copy this week. We had some very proud faces when they saw their finished work! We also learned about adjectives and adverbs. We made adjective flowers choosing 5 adjectives that describe us. These will be displayed in the hallway during open house next Thursday!

              In reading/ social studies we learned about symbols on a map. We looked at the map key to help us find places on a map and completed a paper for a grade. We read The Jelly Donut Difference and created kindness donuts to show how we can make a difference in the world. Kindness Matters! We  read Maggie’s Kite and took a comprehension check. Some answers were brain questions and some could be highlighted in the text. We also read  a Scholastic News article called “Up in the Air With Ida” and took another comprehension check. We listened to a short video called “Follow Your Dreams”. We revisited what a central idea of a story is and filled out a graphic organizer together.

Week 25

 Dear Parents,

           This week in math we had many opportunities to practice 3 digit addition, with and without regrouping. We then took our assessment on Friday. We  are doing very well at doing these sorts of problems. Next we will move on to three digit subtraction, with and without regrouping.

             In writing we have been researching Helen Keller. We have read 3 sources and have taken notes in a time order. We will work as table groups to turn these notes into interesting, complete sentences. Next week we will combine our sentences to write a class paper on Helen Keller. We have learned when someone other than the person the writing is about is the author, that is a biography.

             In reading we watched a Brainpop Jr. video about The Lunar New Year. We stopped the video at several places to discuss answers to questions they would take at the end. Some did very well, others need a bit of work on their listening comprehension. This is something we have been focusing on in class. Later in the week we read I Am Helen Keller. We could use the story to find answers to the questions on the comprehension assessment. They are getting very good at being word detectives and going back to the text to find the answers. On Friday we got to watch the video-“ I am Helen”.

              In science we listened to the story Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. We then wrote a story mirroring its plot. The task was to create a story in which the weather brought food from the sky. They took this story to final copy.

Week 24

 Dear Parents,

          This week in math we have been adding 3 digit numbers with and without regrouping. We always start in the ones! They have been working hard on how to do this. The mistakes are usually just calculation mistakes. They do understand the process. Practicing their weekly flashcards should help with this. They have 0s, 1s, 2s, 3s, 4s, and 5s, They should continue to practice all the flash cards until they can add them automatically.

            In writing we have been writing our LEAD Conference Paper reflecting on their year in second grade so far. We also have been working hard to finish our poetry books as well as to begin to learn how to write a biography!

            In reading/ social studies we reviewed the compass rose and made our own naming both cardinal and intermediate directions. We reviewed making an inference and read clues to match up for a grade. We read the story The Stories He Tells and found details  to find a central idea. We listened to the story Love Monster , completed a directed drawing and wrote about someone special to them.

            In science we played a game with our academic vocabulary for our unit on Conservation of resources. We took our checkpoint on Tuesday. On Wednesday we set up unit 9, Tools to observe the moon and sun. We watched videos of a sunrise, sunset, moonrise, moonset, and star rise and discussed what we saw. We then played a game, is it a star or not? We answered the question, What is the sun and why is it important. We also discussed shadows.

Week 23

 Dear Parents,

            It was so great getting back to a full week of Learning. Next week our Valentines Day Party is on Friday. Homework for Parents had been sent home. Your assignment? Write a Valentines Letter on the heart I provided written to your child. This is a keepsake for your little girl or boy. I can see how proud they are pointing out their heart in the hall. Please if you have not turned in your heart, do by Wednesday so everyone has a heart on our hall bulletin board. We are missing 5. Also, if you have not sent in the $3-$5 dollars to help our room mothers pay for this party please do so before the party day as I will give them the money that day. I brought all my saved shoe boxes to school to let anyone who needs one take them home. Please have the decorated boxes and Valentines by next Thursday so everyone is sure to have a box by Friday.

             This week in math we learned our 4 addition facts and had our quiz on Friday. On Monday we celebrated the 100^th Day of School. We had many fun activities such as writing about if we were 100 years old ( and I aged their picture with the  free app aging booth). You should have heard the giggles as they saw pictures of each other looking very old. We did 100 exercises and created a piece of art with the digits in 100. We  also made our 100 piece snack, which they loved! Thank you to all of you who provided part of this snack.There were other activities throughout the day like rolling a die with a partner and racing to see who got to 100 first. There was also flipping a penny 100 times. We took our test on ordering and comparing numbers on Tuesday. The rest of the week we focused on problem solving reading varying word problems.

             In Writing we wrote our 100 year old me papers and researched an African American Athlete for Black History Month. We continued working on our poetry books. 

             In reading/ social studies we learned about Groundhogs Day and predicted if he would see his shadow. Our class was unfortunately correct as he did see his shadow which means 6 more weeks of winter. We learned about Cardinal and  Intermediate directions on a compass rose and practiced finding things in the classroom in the cardinal directions for a grade. We read Whatever the Weather poems and practiced visualizing them to add to our poetry books.

              In science we went on a natural and manmade scavenger hunt and answered questions about what surprised us. We learned that natural resources are used by humans to create manmade resources. We even played a fun game practicing what we learned. Table 3 won!  We learned about recycling as we read a Scholastic News article and answered questions.

Week 22

 Dear Parents,

          This was a very short week! In math today we reviewed the skills for our math assessment we will take next Monday. We took our two lessons in iready reading and math. We worked on our poetry books and caught up on projects we started last week. We talked about the kindness week challenge and colored some kindness posters. We read a story about Abigail and John Adams and then sorted cards as fact or fiction. I hope you all stay warm again this weekend.