This week in...
Reading This week in reading we wrapped up our unit on visualizing with reading Dav Pilkey's The Paper Boy. We also read Kate DiCamillo's Mercy Watson to the Rescue. During our reading students practiced their 5 finger retell, and had a class discussion about what Kate's purpose was for writing the book. The next reading strategy we will focus on is inferring. Writing This week in writing we talked about ways we can stretch our small moment stories using descriptions, powerful words, and dialogue. Next week we will wrap up our small moment writing unit with revising, editing, and publishing. Next Friday we will have our writing celebration: Camp Share-A-Story. Look for an email next week with more information about the event. Math This week in math we learned how to write numbers four different ways using standard form, unit form, word form, and expanded form. All four concepts are tied to the students' understanding of place value. Next week we will model our base ten numbers with money using bills. Social Studies This week in social studies we began putting our Social Studies Action Plan into action! As noted last week, the students decided they wanted to make a card with a flower on it and a message of kindness for every person at Maple Hills (450 people counting students AND staff). We decided on using an assembly line structure for each step, and I've been so impressed by the students' enthusiasm, team work, and dedication. We're planning on passing out the cards on November 13th, World Kindness Day. Conference Scheduler Now Open The Skyward Conference Scheduler is now open! Conferences are December 5th and 6th. There are slots available from 8:00-3:30. Your students ARE invited to this year's conferences. Please make sure to schedule your conference ASAP, as spots will fill up quickly. Harvest Party and Black and Orange Spirit Day We will have our 2nd grade Harvest Party on Wednesday, October 31st. The link for sign-ups for volunteering/supplies was sent out earlier this week. The Harvest Party will be before lunch and will have lots of fun games and activities. That day is also our first school wide spirit day: Black and Orange day. Please encourage your student to wear as much black as orange as they can, and remind them that costumes are not allowed at school. Soaring Eagle Corner This week's leader of the week is Colin! Way to go, Colin! Have a great weekend! Miss Sonneland Dates to Know: October 31st: 2nd Grade Harvest Party & Black and Orange Spirit Day November 2nd: Camp Share-A-Story (Personal Narrative Wrap-up) and Popcorn Friday November 12th: No school (Veteran's Day) November 13th: Veteran's Day Assembly and World Kindness Day
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This week in...
Reading This week in reading we continued working on visualizing. We read one of my personal favorite books: The Big Orange Splot by Daniel Pinkwater. Students practiced visualizing story parts such as Mr. Plumbean's incredible house from the story. This week student's also learned how to do a 5-finger retell (characters, setting, problem, events, and solution). You can support this new learning at home by asking your student to do a 5-finger retell with books being read at home! Next week we will wrap up our unit on visualizing with Dav Pilkey's The Paper Boy. Writing This week in writing we investigated our favorite books to find out what makes them so powerful. Students worked with their writing partners to analyze what was powerful about the beginning, middle, and end of our mentor text, Owl Moon. After students identified why the parts were so meaningful, we talked about how the author, Jane Yolen, use craft moves to make these parts powerful. Next week students will work on trying out these craft moves in their own writing. Math This week in math we started Module 3. The first part of the module is all about forming base ten units of ten, a hundred, and a thousand. This week we have been bundling groups of straws into 10's and 100's and finding efficient ways to count between numbers using units of 1, 10, or 100. Next week students will learn the difference between writing numbers in standard form, expanded form, and unit form. Social Studies This week in social studies we made an action plan for how our class could help spread kindness at Maple Hills. We considered many different ideas, and ended up voting on 4 different options. Our class decided we will be making paper flowers for all the students and staff and writing a kind note on the flower. It is a big task, but I know the students are SO excited to begin making the flowers and spreading some kindess. Next week we will create the flowers, if you'd like to come in and help us during our Social Studies block, please let me know! Social Studies is generally from 2:00-2:40. Conference Scheduler Now Open The Skyward Conference Scheduler is now open! Conferences are December 5th and 6th. There are slots available from 8:00-3:30. Your students ARE invited to this year's conferences. Please make sure to schedule your conference ASAP, as spots will fill up quickly. Soaring Eagle Corner This week's leader of the week is Maren! Keep up the great work, Maren! Have a great weekend! Miss Sonneland Dates to Know: October 24th: September and October Birthday Lunch October 26th: Picture Retakes October 31st: 2nd Grade Harvest Party November 2nd: Camp Share-A-Story (Personal Narrative Wrap-up) This week in...
Reading This week in reading we began our unit on visualizing. Students practiced making mental pictures in their heads while we read A Tree is Nice by Janice May Udry and the poem "Baby Brother" by Mary Ann Hoberman. These were unusual read alouds for the picture books as I didn't show the students the illustrations, so they could instead focus on making their own visualizations. Students then shared their mental pictures with their partners, and drew their mental picture of baby brother which was sent home this week. Next week we will continue working on visualizing using the book The Big Orange Splat. Writing This week in writing we continued working on improving our small moment stories. Students tried out using transitions to help take their reader from one part of their story to the next, and using contractions to make their writing sound more like how they talk. Next week students will begin looking intently at the craft moves made by published authors, and then trying out those craft moves in their own writing. Math This week in math we wrapped up Module 2 and took the Module 2 assessment. The assessments will be coming home next week. On Tuesday I sent home the Module 2 Problem Set, and I wanted to make a small note about Problem Sets. As per the curriculum, students are given 10 minutes to complete as much of the Problem Set as they can (for that day's lesson). Additionally, the curriculum has recommended combining certain lessons, so you might notice there are lessons that are completely blank as they were combined with another lesson. If there are unfinished problems in your student's Problem Set, they can always work on completing those and count it as their Choice 2 on the Un-Homework menu. Next week we will begin Module 3 which is primarily focused on understanding place value. Art This week we had our first art lesson with one of this year's awesome docents, Manda! For this first project, students pressed a leaf into a slab of clay, rolled it into their slab, then carefully cut out the leaf imprint. Students then draped their clay over a bowl, which, as it dries, will turn their creation into a bowl itself. In a few weeks students will get to glaze their leaf bowls. Pictures of the students hard at work can be seen on your student's SeeSaw account! Thanks again to Manda for leading this month's lesson, and to the PTA for this great program! Un-Homework Now that Un-Homework is in full swing, I wanted to give a quick reminder of the expectations for the Un-Homework menu. Each week student's are given a new Un-Homework menu due on the following Monday. Students have five items to complete on the menu: reading for 5 nights a week, 2 nights of math work, and 3 free choice options. The 3 free choice options are to be selected from the calendar menu sent home at the beginning of the month. This month's calendar menu has 16 whole child activities with activities such as teach yourself to juggle, sit next to someone you have never sat next to at lunch, have everyone in your family tell their best joke, etc. On Monday, students turn in their Un-Homework menu, if they have completed all 5 choices and have parent signatures next to each they will be entered into a raffle for a special prize at the end of the month. Soaring Eagle Corner This week's leader of the week is Milo! Way to go, Milo! Have a great weekend! Miss Sonneland Dates to Know: October 15th: Conference Scheduler Opens October 19th: Popcorn Friday October 26th: Picture Retakes October 31st: 2nd Grade Harvest Party This week in...
Reading This week in reading we wrapped up our first unit on making personal connections to the books we're reading. Students have done a great job thinking deeply about their reading, and then sharing their thoughts with their partners. Students were shown their reading level this week, and they set goals for themselves for where they what level they want to be reading at by the end of the trimester. Next week we will begin our new unit: Visualizing. Writing This week in writing we continued working on our small moment stories. We learned how we can make our writing sparkle by using adjectives to describe things in greater detail. We also learned how dialogue can help bring our story to life. Students practiced using quotation marks and dialogue tags in their writing. Next week we will talk about how to write a powerful ending, how to use transitions, and students will reflect on their writing so far and do some goal setting. Math This week in math we continued using centimeters and meters to measure objects around our room. Students have also been practicing making accurate estimates of lengths. A key understanding we've been working on is how there are 100 centimeters in 1 meter, and how it takes more centimeters to measure an object than meters because centimeters are so much smaller than meters. Next week we will wrap up Module 2 and jump in to Module 3! Social Studies This week in Social Studies we continued talking about our Rights and Responsibilities in our classroom community, in our school, and in our country. As a class we drafted our Room 201 Bill of Rights. I will be posting a picture to SeeSaw of it once all students have had a chance to sign it! Soaring Eagle Corner Our Leader of the Week this week is Natalie! Way to go Natalie! Have a great weekend! Miss Sonneland Dates to Know: October 8th: No School/Teacher Workday October 12th: Free Popcorn Friday, Fall Dance 6:30-8:00PM (MPR) October 19th: Popcorn Friday October 26th: Picture Retakes |
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June 2020
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