February 7, 2024
Hello Parents of Second Graders,
We are so sorry that it has been such a long time since our last blog update. We have enclosed a great deal of information in this blog to catch you up on what is happening in the classroom. Please enjoy and if you have any questions or concerns, Kelsey and myself are always available to meet or chat.
IMPORTANT DATES:
- Monday, February 12th: Coffee With the Principals, 1:45-2:45 PM
- February Break is February 19-23
- Friday, March 1st: Last Friday workshop for grades 1-4
- Monday, March 4th: No School, Teacher In service
- Tuesday, March 5th: No School, Town Meeting Day
- Wednesday, March 6th: Delayed Start grades Pre-K-4
Thursday, March 14 - K-4 Pentangle 1 2 3 Andres 10am
Thursday, March 28, Show Your Stuff try-outs grades 1-4 from 3:00 - 5:30ish
Tuesday, April 2, Show Your Stuff dress rehearsal from 3:00 - 5:30ish
- Wednesday, April 3rd: Delayed Start grades PreK-4
Friday, April 5, Show Your Stuff Grades 1-4 from 12:30ish - 2:30ish
- April Break is April 8-12
VALENTINE'S DAY:
We look forward to Valentine's Day which is always an exciting holiday for kids. We are making envelopes so students can deliver valentine's to others in the class. We ask that if you are making valentine's, please make them for EVERYONE in your child's class. You should see your child's class list in this week's 'Folder To Go Home'. That being said, there is no pressure to hand out cards. We also ask that food or treats not be sent in as we have a school policy. We will have a little celebration on Valentine's Day so the kids can open their cards during snack. Feel free to send in a special snack for your child that day. Fundations and Fluency:
In Fundations, we continue to work on new rules and skills . We have recently learned all our vowel teams and their sounds along with the vowel-consonant-e words learnedand syllables. They have learned that y can sometimes say e or i as well. We have been practicing identifying, reading and writing multisyllabic words. It is exciting to think that with continued practice, the students will be able to read longer and more challenging words. During Fundations, we also practice our spelling words (new and old) as we talk about what might be hard to remember so we have to memorize those sounds that don't follow our rule. Every month we have been sending home Encouragement Charts. On the back of these charts are our First and Second Grade spelling words so if you are ever in need of keeping your child busy, please refer to the Encouragement Chart.
In Fluency, we continue to read books on or above grade level everyday to practice expression, accuracy, punctuation and phrasing. It is so nice hearing students read and being able to label exactly what they are good at and what they can work on to become more fluent. For example, a student reading aloud might make an error or two but keep on reading. We can then tell them to reread and think about accuracy. Or someone that is reading aloud too fast and is unable to understand the story because they are not listening to themselves. We can let them know how important pacing is. Recently we have been practicing readers theaters and then performing them to the class. This helps with all parts of fluency and everyone is very motivated to perform so we continue to make gains with reading.
W.I.N.
Students continue to get what they need during our 2nd cycle of the W.I.N. block. Some kids meet with interventionists to get what they need for reading or social strengths. A large group of students are meeting with Miss Coyle, Ms. Frates and Ms. Sleeper for math skills that encourage thinking about deeper concepts. We have been learning new games to work on combinations to 10 and 100, thinking about strategies and logical and reasonable estimation activities. Everyone seems to be enjoying their W.I.N. block and are getting just what they need.
In math we have been working on numbers within 1,000. Everyone has noticed patterns in our 1,000 charts and playing games to get a good grasp on place value. We have been adding and subtracting numbers within 1,000 using place value as well. There has been a lot of talk about different strategies to use when solving addition and subtration problems. It is so important that students understand that there is a bridge that connects the use of manipulatives, concrete solutions and abstract solutions. So while solving one problem abstractly and knowing the answer in your head may be easy, you may come across another problem that is not quite clear and it is o.k. to go back to using manipulatives so you have that deep understanding of how you can solve a different, more difficult problem for you. And lastly, we are really bringing to kids attention that it is so important to notice the numbers. For example, if you have 132 - 128 = ?, it is helpful for the students to notice that these numbers are so close and you can simply add up. However, if you have a problem such as 132 - 79, you may need a different strategy such as keeping one number whole and subtracting in parts. They get excited when learning new strategies and feeling challenged. Math has been fun.
Reading Workshop:
We always start with a mini-lesson and have continued to work on reading a non-fiction text about various schools around the world and why it is so hard for students to go to school in these remote areas. We first read, make a list of problems and solutions we read about, talk about why it is hard and finally write about each school. The progress and content in their writing has been amazing. This last section we will compare and contrast our school to one of the schools we read about and put that in poster form to present to others. Everyone has worked hard and is able to talk in depth about schools around the world.
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