This week is the first week of March.  It is a long month, and students are starting to feel the snippets of nicer weather and increased energy.  We have been talking each day about levels of engagement and what it means to really participate or invest during a lesson (see below).  Please ask your children what these levels mean as well as what they plan to do to tune in for our lessons.

In math this week, we will continue to focus on arrays.  Today the students learned that they are working with a different part of their brain that helps with spatial reasoning.  Many of the second graders can already calculate many of the answers to multiplication problems, but drawing arrays proportionally on paper with squares, ensuring no gaps or overlaps, is proving to be quite challenging for some.  Encourage your child to maintain a positive attitude and work carefully.  This is a muscle in our brain that needs flexing, and it is takes time and attention to detail.  This is a very important skill in third grade and beyond.

For word work this week, we will be focusing on letters that camouflage in the pairs: kn, wr, gn, and gh. We will also learn about using prepositions to add more complexity to our writing.  

In writing, we are working to add strong, meaningful details and examples.  We wrote two class paragraphs, one on recess and another on Ruby Bridges.  We will refer to these throughout the week as we aim to add meaningful details.  In reading we will be working to go back and reread for a variety of reasons as well as ask why questions.  This week I will be doing one-on-one reading assessments with each child.

Finally, in science this week, students are becoming experts on one type of landform and will know enough to teach their peers in our class and Mr. Jarrett's class at the end of this week.