Padlet

Today we tried something new with technology! Check out our padlet!
https://padlet.com/esmith106/n8v2qdlcx3j

Don't forget that tomorrow is our writing celebration from 1:45-2:30. This is a chance for you to look around at some of our writing, and write comments on our "comments sheet." Hope to see you there!

Another great week.  Lots of assessments this week!  Here is a note from our music teacher, Ms. Martin!

Talent Day! Students will perform during music next week. Each second grade class is full of talented individuals and this is a fun end-of-the-year activity for them to showcase those talents!
A few guidelines are:

Talent must be:

~less than 5 minutes

~groups of 2-3 or one person; one person can do a solo and be in a group

~can include: singing, dancing, playing piano or another instrument that you bring, lip syncing, short skit (readers theater), cheerleading, how-to presentation  hula-hooping, jump rope, spinning a basketball, juggling etc.

~no large props or costumes-keep it simple and fun!

Please email Miss Martin jmartin@cpsk12.org if you have any questions!

May 3rd

April showers bring May flowers. What do May flowers bring?
Pilgrims! (This seems to be the joke of the week in our class! Haha)

This week we have been working on two of our reading assessments for the end of the year. I am so proud of these kiddos and how much progress they have made. I actually teared up on one assessment today! Ha!
In writing we started a new unit: poetry! We are having fun with alliteration, repetition, rhymes, metaphors, and similes.
In reading we are learning about point of view. This has been so much fun!
In math we tested on measurement, and we will begin our next unit: telling time/data collection next week. We have a busy month ahead of us with all of our assessments and  fun end of the year activities, but we also still have some great learning to do!
Today we celebrated Ms Weber's last day. Thank you to everyone who sent in books and money to help out. She absolutely loved all of her books and was very excited. The class also made her a book and a painting with fingerprints (every year she adds on to the painting with her class) which she really enjoyed.
Don't forget that Friday is our field trip to the Runge and Central Dairy. Please remember we are loading buses at 8:30 so please get to school on time :) Also please  have your child wear his/her tie dye shirt.

Also, thanks to everyone who brought in glue sticks!!! I really appreciate it!

**in case you are wondering about when your check will go through for our Service Learning, PTA is collecting them tomorrow and writing our check to Little Footprints, Big Steps.

Dear 2^nd Grade Families,     

        Thank you for saving the date of Wednesday, April 19^th!  We have an exciting day planned for you!

Who: 2^nd grade parents, families, and friends

What: Picnic Lunch/Service Learning Celebration/ Basket Silent Auction

*Parents may provide lunch for themselves and their child, or students may bring their lunch or purchase lunch as usual!

*Please bring lawn chairs and/or blankets to sit on!

When: Wednesday, April 19^th 11:30-1:45(ish)

*Families can come at 11:30 to look at baskets and set up their picnic area.  Students will join us around 11:55 to eat. Our presentation will begin at 12:20 and goes to 1:45.  You will also have this entire time to bid on baskets!

Where: Beulah Ralph Gym

Why: To celebrate 2^nd grade’s hard work with their Service Learning Project, and to raise money for Little Footprints, Big Steps.

                       

                                                                Hope to see you there!

                                                                -2^nd grade teachers

News from Ms. Weber!

I hope everyone had a wonderful spring break. Also, I hope everyone had an amazing time on our field trip on Friday. Thank you to all the parents who volunteered to attend with us and help dye our t-shirts.

We had a great week back in second grade.

In reading we've continued to focus on finding the theme in stories. They all have done a wonderful job with this concept. Everyone has also been working hard on reading for meaning in book groups. 

We started a new unit in math, we will be focusing on measuring for the next few weeks. We began the unit measuring with non-standard units such as paper clips and mini cubes. We have many fun activities planned for this unit. 

In writing we are continuing to work on opinion pieces. We are comparing three monster themed books (The Monster's Monster, I Need My Monster, and The Monstore) to convince readers which is the best. Our goal is to add good voice to our writing. 

Thank you to those who have brought in items for our service learning project. It's getting close...we're so excited!

Have a great Spring break everyone!

Reminder for t-shirts! We will be tie-dying on Wednesday, April 5th.
I was told that Michaels has their Gideon t's on sale for $2.  Child to Adult sizes in White.  Should be in sale through Saturday.  

Another parent told me that Joann's also has a good deal with the 40% off coupon!

Also just a heads up that we WILL be allowing electronics on the bus ride to the Science Center on April 7th. Students will need to be responsible for their own items, though!

It has been a great past couple of weeks.  The students are really enjoying learning from Ms. Weber. 
In writing, students have been working on an opinion piece.  We read two stories, The Three Little Pigs and The True Story of the Three Little Pigs.  We then formed an opinion of who is telling the truth, the pigs or the wolf.  We are backing up our opinion with strong reasons and examples.

In math we are starting our next unit, three digit addition and subtraction!  The students just took their place value to 1,000 test yesterday, and they did an amazing job.  The students have also been practicing their math facts through a program called Rocket Math. We are preparing for our math-a-thon in April.  Please make sure you are working on your pledges if your family is able to participate!

For shared reading, we spent a lot of time learning about character traits.  We pick out traits based on how characters act or think. We came up with a huge list of traits that continues to grow.  We also talked about how characters can change over time, and how their traits will change as well.  We even compared and contrasted several characters.

Thank you to anyone who has brought in items for our service learning project!

February 16th

Thanks to everyone for coming to conferences this week!
I really enjoyed meeting with everyone! I cannot believe it is already February. This year is flying by! It was a busy week for a short week.
Here is what we learned this week...
Reading- For shared reading, we have been learning about inferring. We know how to make smart guesses about what is happening or how characters feel using our schema and clues from the text.
In reading groups we are focusing on nonfiction books. We know how important it is to make sure we understand what words mean and comprehend what we are reading before moving on!

Writing- we wrote letters this week to different businesses for our service learning project asking for donations for our silent auction. We included the 5 parts of a letter, and we also learned where our commas should go (in the date, after the greeting, and after the closing). Today we discussed what letters should be capital (the word I, beginning of every sentence, pronouns, and the date, greeting, closing, and signature.) Next week we will begin working on persuasive letters (fair warning to parents...I'm sure you will be receiving one :) )

Math- we finished our unit on adding and subtracting money. It was a short unit, but students grasped it quickly since we just finished our units on adding and subtracting 2-digit numbers.  Ms. Weber is now teaching us all about place value up to 1,000.

Science- this week we learned about volcanoes!

Don't forget...
*No school tomorrow and Monday
*Next week (Thursday night) is our 2nd grade music program. Please arrive st 6pm. The show will be from 6:30-7:30pm.

Here is what is happening this week!

Reading- we are working on figuring out what words means using context clues. Ms. Weber has been showing us a variety of books to work on this concept.

Writing- We are learning the 5 parts of a letter: date, greeting, body, closing, and signature

We have been practicing writing letters to get ready for persuasive writing!

Science- We are learning about slow versus fast changes over the Earth's surface.

Please bring in a shoe box as soon as possible so we can decorate them on Monday!

Writing- This week we have been writing informational books on Hornworms (which we have been observing and researching).  Our books need to include an introduction, 4 chapters (with at least 5 facts plus details as well as definitions), and a conclusion.  The class looked at examples of a 1, 2, 3, and 4 piece of writing, and we made a criteria chart of how to earn a 3 or 4.  They now have their own checklists at their tables to help them remember each component.  We are also in the process of setting writing goals!

Math-We began talking about strategies for mental subtraction.  We are working on 2-digit minus 2-digit numbers. As a class we have talked about mentally subtracting landmark numbers (tens), using a hundreds chart, and subtract the tens subtract the ones add the answers.  We know that the last strategy does not always work (example: 31-19) so then we must try a different strategy. Some groups have even started stacking with regrouping.  Everyone will learn stacking starting next week!  Many groups have also been checking their work by adding!

Science- Ms. Weber began teaching our new science unit: Earth's surface.  We learned that the Earth is made of 71% water and 29% land.

PBIS: We are focusing on Beulah Ralph's 5 characteristics: kind, respectful, responsible, positive, and problem solvers.  So far we have learned what it means to be kind, respectful, and responsible.  To celebrate being responsible, everyone is dressing up on Friday for career day!  Dress as the profession you would like when you are older:O)

Just a reminder that next week we will be celebrating Beulah Ralph's 90th birthday.  We are asking 2nd graders to bring in shampoo and conditioner to donate in honor of Beulah Ralph.

Today we got our hornworms!  We are going to be researching and observing hornworms for our next informational writing topic. We are very excited to get our own "pets."

Today we also took the STAR reading and STAR math tests.  This information will be included on the monthly assessment sheet that goes home at the end of January.

 During reading groups, Mrs. Smith has been doing district reading assessments with each child!

This week we also got to have Sharon Ray from ABC17 come speak to us about weather.  The students have all voted on what kind of service learning project they would like to do, and majority of 2nd graders said they would like to help victims of Hurricane Matthew.  We have been learning about hurricanes (and weather in general) when we have free time.  More information about our actual project will come later in the year :)

Have a good 4 day weekend!

Have a great weekend!

Friday folder information....
Our colors for Friday's "match a class" are undecided right now.  We are working with Ms. Brown's class and deciding together.  I will inform everyone on Monday what was decided so you have time to prepare.

Our spelling bee will not be next week as the paper that went home stated.  It will be on Wednesday, January 18th!  Feel free to practice the words that went home!

It has been a great couple days back from break!  I hope everyone enjoyed their family time!
Here is a look at what we have been working on...

Math- we are prepared for our Topic 6 math test tomorrow.  We will be testing on mental addition.  We have learned how to add several ways:
*Add the tens, Add the ones, Add the sums
*Adding landmark numbers mentally (10,20,30,etc)
*Using a hundreds chart (some can picture this in their mind)
*Breaking numbers apart
Next week we will learn the algorithm of adding two digit numbers!

Writing- We have continued working on our Informational Writing books.  Tomorrow we will learn how to write an effective Introduction and Conclusion.  Next week we will learn how to research a topic (rather than writing about what we already know).  Everyone will be researching the same topic for the first book.  The topic is top secret for now :O)

Reading- We have been building our stamina back up.  Today we read for 25 minutes!  Woo hoo!

Next week the January reading log will begin coming home again.  I am placing them all in folders from now on rather than bags.  Please check the folder nightly as I will also add work in there if your child did not finish something that was supposed to be completed.  If it is still not complete, it will need to be completed at 2nd recess the following day.  Thanks for your help!