Happy May!

Upcoming Important Dates:

• May 2-6: Last Week For Library (please return all books)

• Friday, May 13th: Festival on the Field 5:30pm-9:30pm-Join us on the GRE Field for a movie, lawn games, food trucks and music! Students must have supervision.

• Thursday, May 19: Field day 8:40-10:00

• Monday, May 23: Camp Day- students may bring a flashlight for cozy campfire reading. Please send your child with a pillowcase or large bag to take home classroom belongings.

• Tuesday, May 24: Beach Day- students may bring a towel or blanket to sit on. Parents are invited for a Popsicle Party and Chalk Talk at 2:45 pm on the back playground

• Wednesday, May 25 - Last day of school! Student may bring a favorite board game to play

• Friday, May 27: EPRs released

LIBRARY BOOKS

Please make sure all library books are returned to school. The week of May 2-6 will be our last week of library. Any fines can be paid through MySchoolBucks.

CURRICULUM UPDATE:

MATH:

We are wrapping up the year developing our understanding of shapes and graphing. These are some of our focus points:

• Recognize and describe 2D and 3D shapes using their attributes (angles, vertices, faces, etc)

• Partition shapes into equal parts

• Divide shapes into halves, thirds, and fourths

• Use line plots, bar graphs, and pictographs to organize data

• Draw conclusions from graphs

READING:

To wrap up the school year, we will finish practicing our plays based on fairy tales and then perform them.

After we finish our performances, we will move on to researching habitats. Students will first read about the different habitats and then choose a favorite one to research further. They will then work with a group to create a presentation for their shared habitat.

Finally, we will explore poetry.

WRITING:

In writing, we will wrap up our fairy tales and then move on to writing about our research on habitats.

Along with reading poetry, we will notice the writing craft of poetry. Students will explore the difference between ordinary and “poets’ eyes” to see the world and write poetry. As students explore this genre they with be learning:

To choose topics which elicit strong emotion

To make intentional choices with word choice

To write poems that look and sound different than stories

To use whitespace to get the reader to pause between sections

To use repetitive language

To use figurative language

To use rhyme

To experiment with line breaks

I am always amazed at how second graders are natural poets and love the creative challenge of writing poems about the things they love!

Science

In our unit on habitats, we will explore how plants and animals use the resources in their habitats to survive. We will discuss the various adaptations plants and animals possess in each habitat. Students will work with their group to present and teach their peers about their habitat. Be sure to keep your eye out on Seesaw to see their presentation!

April

IMPORTANT DATES:

• Friday, April 22nd: No School

• Monday, April 25: No School (Professional Development)

READING:

Reading has been a very exciting time in our classroom. We have had the opportunity to become part of a book series club where we had time to read several books within a series. As readers we have been doing the following:

• Collect information about the main characters

• Look closely at how characters respond to problems

• Noticing similarities in characters across the series

• Use what we know about our characters to make predictions

• Understand the relationships with other characters

• Looking at the author’s craft of writing

• How author’s use precise words

• How author’s use literary language to make ordinary extraordinary

• Understanding how the whole series will go

We will also explore fables, fairy tales, and folk tales! In this Unit, we will

• Compare and contrast the same stories as retold by different authors

• Identify and explain story elements (setting, characters, problem, solution)

• Determine the lesson and/or themes

During our Mini Unit focusing on fables, fairy tales and folk tales, students will pretend they are characters to become character experts. Students will perform readers theater and work on bringing their characters and story to life for their peers. We look forward to presenting our Fables, Fairy tales and folk tales Readers Theater and sharing with you on Seesaw!

WRITING:

We will spend some time writing summaries where our focus is not only on determining the importance of a fiction story but also:

• knowing exactly when to use punctuation and capitals and being consistent

• spelling is matching our letter sound pattern knowledge

• writing is neat and thorough

We will also begin our unit on Poetry. Students will not only read poetry but notice the writing craft of poetry. We will explore the difference between ordinary and “poets’ eyes” to see the world and write poetry. As students explore this genre they with be learning:

• To choose topics which elicit strong emotion

• To make intentional choices with word choice

• To write poems that look and sound different than stories

• To use whitespace to get the reader to pause between sections

• To use repetitive language

• To use figurative language

• To use rhyme

• To experiment with line breaks

I am always amazed at how second graders are natural poets and love the creative challenge of writing poems about the things they love! I look forward to diving into our poetry unit with your child!

Students will also write their own fairy tales! This is a wonderful chance for them to be creative while continuing to work on second grade spelling and conventions.

MATH:

We will begin our Envision topic on measurement. In Topic 12, students will estimate, measuring precisely with inches, centimeters, yards, and meters, and compare units.

We will wrap up the year developing our understanding of shapes and graphing. These are some of our focus points:

• Recognize and describe 2D and 3D shapes using their attributes (angles, vertices, faces, etc)

• Partition shapes into equal parts

• Divide shapes into halves, thirds, and fourths

• Use line plots, bar graphs, and pictographs to organize data

• Draw conclusions from graphs

WORD WORK/ SPELLING:

In Fundations Unit 7, we will learn about the open syllable. The open syllable has only one vowel and it does not have a consonant after it. Some examples are: go, flu, we and I.

They are marked:

Open syllables can be combined with closed and v-e syllables to form longer words such as: pretend and provide.

We will learn about y as a vowel. Y has 2 vowel sounds in an open syllable. In a one-syllable word, y has the long i sound like in cry and in multisyllabic words it usually has the long e sound like in baby.

Our trick words in unit 7 are:

Large

Night

Change

Eight

City

Carry

Family

Every

Something

In Fundations Unit 8, students will learn about the r-controlled syllable. When a vowel is directly followed by the letter r, the r changes the sound of the vowel. For example, in the word bark, the vowel a has neither the short or the long vowel sound.

SCIENCE:

In science, we will be learning about Habitats. In our studies, we will explore how plants and animals use the resources in their habitats to survive. We will discuss the various adaptations plants and animals possess in each habitat. Students will work with their group to present and teach their peers about their habitat. Be sure to keep your eye out on Seesaw to see their presentation!

March

IMPORTANT DATES:

• Week of March 7th: Parent Teacher Conferences

• March 14 - 18: NO SCHOOL - Spring Break

CURRICULUM UPDATE

READING:

We are continuing to focus on reading fluency as students encounter longer texts. Students will focus on reading in phrases with appropriate expression, at a just right pace. Students will also pay attention to literary language in texts. They will notice when an author plays with words or uses comparisons. We will explore some poetry as we dig into literary language. As students encounter longer texts, it is important that they “hold onto” the different parts of the text so they are able to understand the book as a whole. Continuing to jot thoughts down on sticky notes, sharing ideas with a partner, and rereading are critical reading behaviors. Students will continue to set goals and monitor those goals.

We will begin Unit 4 where students will be reading Books in a Series.

Our main learning is...

• Studying characters in a series

• Making sound predictions

• Talking about and showing proof in the story

• Author’s craft

• Figurative language

• Sharing opinions of books and learning about debate

• Building stamina as a reader

WRITING:

We will wrap up our Opinion Writing Unit this month. Students have written several letters stating an opinion with reasons and examples. They have enjoyed choosing their favorite books and characters to write reviews and even send a letter to their favorite author!

In our opinion writing unit students have focused on:

• Collaborating with a partner to plan writing

• Writing to convince our readers

• Using evidence to support our opinions

• Using precise words to describe a character

• Using transition and linking words to strengthen our writing

• Writing conventions including punctuation, capitalization and spelling

• Editing and revising using a checklist

MATH:

Topic 10: Add Within 1,000 Using Models & Strategies

Topic 10 focuses on expanding students’ understanding of addition to 3 digit numbers using models and strategies. Students explain why addition strategies work using place value and properties of operations.

Addition Strategies:

• Mental Math: Students learn to add 10 or 100 mentally. Place value blocks and place value understanding support the work

• Add on an Open Number Line

• Use Place Value Models to Add

• Add using Partial Sums

Topic 11: Subtract Within 1,000 Using Models & Strategies

Topic 11 focuses on expanding students’ understanding of subtraction to 3 digit numbers using models and strategies. Students explain why subtraction strategies work using place value and properties of operations.

Subtraction Strategies:

• Mental Math: Students learn to subtract 10 or 100 mentally. Place value blocks and place value understanding support the work

• Subtract on an Open Number Line

• Use Place Value Models to Subtract

• Subtract using Partial Sums

We will continue to focus on the mathematical practices of precision, making sense of problems, and persevering to solve them and constructing viable arguments to explain our mathematical thinking.

WORD WORK/ SPELLING:

In Fundations Unit 6, students will learn about vowel - consonant - e syllables.

We will explore how we go from a closed syllable such as cap to a v-e syllable such as cape. It is the vowel e at the end of the word that is silent but makes the first vowel say it’s names. We mark these words:

We will discuss how the letter v never comes at the end of a word. Therefore some words have an e at the end but the vowel is short. We call this a v-e exception such as give.

We will also learn that the s may have the /z/ sound like in rose or wise.

SCIENCE:

We are wrapping up our Quick Changes to Land and Slow Changes to Land. Throughout this unit students explored the various landforms that make up the Earth’s surface, and understood how constructive and destructive forces can change the land.

We will begin our next science unit where students will learn all about Habitats!

February

IMPORTANT DATES:

• February 14: Class Valentine’s Party

• February 18: NO SCHOOL - Teacher professional development

• February 21: NO SCHOOL - Presidents Day

VALENTINE PARTY:

We will have our class Valentine party on Monday, February 14th. Children are welcome to create a Valentine’s Day Box to collect Valentines in. Please send these in on the day of the party. Please make sure that the opening on the box will fit a card with candy attached (if families choose to do that). If your child chooses to make a Valentine for students in our class, please make sure that you bring one valentine for every student in the class. A class list was sent home. Let me know if you need another copy!

CURRICULUM UPDATE

READING:

In this next reading unit, a major focus is on reading fluency as they encounter longer texts. Students will focus on reading in phrases with appropriate expression, at a just right pace. Students will also pay attention to literary language in texts. They will notice when an author plays with words or uses comparisons. We will explore some poetry as we dig into literary language. As students encounter longer texts, it is important that they “hold onto” the different parts of the text so they are able to understand the book as a whole. Continuing to jot thoughts down on sticky notes, sharing ideas with a partner, and rereading are critical reading behaviors. Students will continue to set goals and monitor those goals.

WRITING:

Our next writing unit is Opinion Writing. During this unit students will be writing reviews to give their recommendations on books, places, products and more! By the end of the unit students will be able to:

• Write about an opinion (likes or dislikes) and give reasons why

• Have a good beginning in which you state your opinion and set the reader up to expect the writing to convince them

• Make Comparisons

• Connect parts

• Have different parts, a lot of lines about each part

• Have at least two reasons

• Have an ending that reminds our reader of your opinion

• Chose words that would make your reader agree with your opinion

Conventions are a big emphasis in second grade as well:

• Capital at the beginning of each sentence

• Punctuation at the end of each sentence

MATH:

We will continue Topic 8.

Students will…

• Solve problems with coins and dollar bills

• Using different coins to find equivalent values

• Finding combinations of coins that equal $1.00

• Tell and write time to the 5 minutes

• Say time in different ways

• Determining if an event is happening in the am or pm

As we move into topic 9, our studies will focus on place value this month as students decompose, compare, add, and subtract 3 digit numbers. Students are also refining their addition and subtraction strategies, including solving story problems, and working towards accurate and efficient strategies that can be generalized to greater numbers.

These are some of our focus points:

• Identifying the value of each number in a 3 digit number - in 354, the 3=300, 5=50, 4=4 ones

• Representing 3 digit numbers in expanded form - 354 is written as 300+50+4

• Comparing 3 digit numbers (>, <, =)

• Adding 10 or 100 and subtracting 10 or 100 from a given number and noticing the pattern / changes

• Noticing how the digit in the tens place changes when the addends in the ones place sum to greater than 10

• Relating single digit combinations (8+2=10) to multiple digit combinations (80+20=100)

• Solving 1 and 2 step story problems by visualizing and representing the problem

WORD WORK/SPELLING:

In Fundations Unit 5, where students will continue to review and learn:

• ​​Closed syllables

• Multisyllabic words (such as bathtub)

• Divide words based off three letter blends

• Identify suffixes and base words

  • -ful

  • -ment

  • -ish

  • -ness

  • -less

  • -able

  • -en

• Identify & explore new sounds:

  • au says /o/ as in August

  • aw says /o/ as in saw

SCIENCE:

Students will explore the various landforms that make up the Earth’s surface, and how constructive and destructive forces can change the land. They will learn about how these changes can happen quickly, over a few days or so, or can happen slowly.

We will begin with learning about fast changes to land, such as landslides and volcanoes. Next, students will learn about slow changes to land such as glaciers, winds, and moving water. Students will have hands-on learning opportunities through experiments throughout the unit.

DECEMBER

Upcoming Dates:

• No School December 17 - Teacher Work Day

• EPR’s Released on December 17

• December 20-January 3: Winter Break

• School resumes Tuesday, January 4th

Curriculum Update:

READING:

Students are continuing to grow knowledge as they read non-fiction text. The following are skills that students are learning and practicing in this unit of study:

• Paying attention to details

• Putting the parts of one text together

• Asking questions

• Thinking of what a section and a book are teaching

• Reading several books on a topic to grow knowledge

• Noticing parts of the texts that go together

• Spotting differences between texts on the same topic

• Retelling topics

• Looking out for keywords and using the whole page to figure out what they mean

• Looking for and using text features to support understanding

• Rereading like an expert

WRITING:

We are continuing our Informational Writing Unit. Students have planned and wrote their own chapter books on topics they are experts on. Some of our teaching points have included:

• Planning with a Table of Contents

• Drafting and Revising With Feedback

• Studying Mentor Texts

• Using Comparison

• Addressing an Audience with Strong Introductions and Conclusions

• Editing with a Checklist

We will wrap up our Informational Writing Unit before Winter Break, and celebrate all of our hard work as informational writers!

MATH:

In topic 6, we are continuing to learn subtraction strategies, with an emphasis on developing fluency to 100. In addition to subtraction, we will continue to focus on the mathematical practices of precision, making sense of problems and persevering to solve them and constructing viable arguments to explain our mathematical thinking. Over the next few weeks, students will:

• Subtract one and two digit numbers using models to help them visualize the regrouping concept.

• Subtract using partial differences

• Solve one and two-step subtraction problems.

Please continue to review your child’s daily math worksheets and practice fact fluency using the flash cards that were sent home last fall.

SOCIAL STUDIES:

When we return from Winter Break we will begin our unit on Famous Americans. Student’s will be choosing a Famous American to study in depth and write a report using the information they have gathered through reading texts, EPIC and many other online resources.

Word Work/Spelling

In Fundations Unit 4, students will continue to review:

• ​​Closed syllables

• Digraphs/ Blends

• Glued sounds

• Sound-tapping strategy to help segment and blend sounds in words for both reading and spelling

• Vowel teams

Students will learn how to:

• Identify suffixes and base words: students will learn to isolate the base word when reading or spelling words with suffixes (and also review what a suffix and base word are).

1. They will read the base word of a word first.

2. Then, they will read the whole word with the suffix added. For example, for the word crunches, students will respond crunch-crunches.

3. For spelling, they will learn to isolate, say, and spell the base word of a word before adding a suffix. For example, when we dictate the word crunches, students will repeat the whole word, crunches, then isolate the base word saying crunch, and then after it is spelled, they will add the suffix -es.

• Identify new vowel teams:

  • oa- as in boat and coat

  • oe- as in toe

  • ow- as in snow and tow

  • ow- as in plow and bow

  • ou- as in trout and bout

  • ou- as in soup

  • oo- as in school and cool

  • oo- as in book and cook

  • ue-as in blue

  • ue- as in rescue

  • ew- as in chew and blew

It is so exciting to see the progress students are making in their spelling. Please continue to practice our Fundations Spelling patterns by completing weekly homework along with practicing the spelling of trick words.Your child is expected to spell all of these words correctly in isolation and in their daily writing. The words your child isn’t able to spell automatically are words worth practicing at home. Please refer to the list you were given at Conferences for more grade level trick words.

1. You

2. Your

3. They

4. Was

5. One

6. Said

7. Shall

8. Pull

9. Full

10. Both

11. Talk

12. Walk

13. Done

14. Pretty

15. Goes

16. Again

17. Because

18. l

19. Where

20. There

21. What

22. Of

23. Do

24. When

25. Are

26. For