Happy Friday!

Wow!  I can't believe it is already Spring Break!  We could definitely feel the "buzz" as we walk around the school.  The kids are very excited for Spring Break.  :)  There is a lot of information in this post, please take the time to read over it.

Career Day
We had so many different careers in our classroom today!  It was so much fun!  I forgot to get a picture of our class, but everyone did a wonderful job dressing up today.

Friday Folders
Friday folders did not come home today.  Any notes from the school have been sent home throughout the week.  I will send home Friday folders home the Friday when we come back to school.

Spring Break
I know a lot of the students and families have excited plans for Spring Break.  I can't wait to hear about all the fun things the kids get to do!  Your kiddo has wrote you a persuasive letter telling you about their opinion of the BEST thing to do for Spring Break - this is in your child's backpack, so take a few minutes to read it tonight!  

If you have some extra time, please encourage your student to do some reading and practice math facts.  Even though it is only a week, the students can get out of the routine and getting back into it for the last stretch of 2nd grade can be difficult.  Reading and math facts are a great way to pass the time while traveling also.

Reading
This week, we reviewed story elements and morals of stories.  The students were able to identify the moral as well as give evidence from the story to support the moral.  These also bring up good conversations about how to treat others in different situations.

The week after Spring Break, we will work on visualizing.  This is fun because the students get to draw pictures of what they imagine as they read the book.  I tell them it is like a movie playing in their head and they get to draw it.

Writing
This week, we continued to work on opinion writing.  Not only did the kiddos write to you about the BEST thing to do on Spring Break, but they also wrote an opinion piece about their favorite ice cream toppings.  We celebrated today our ice cream and ice cream toppings writing with an ice cream party.

When we get back from Spring Break, we will continue working on our opinion unit.  The students will be doing research to support their opinion. This opinion piece will be about what they think is the best pet.

Math
We took our post test over subtraction this week.  These came home on Wednesday.  If you have not already looked at this test, signed & returned it - please do so.   This process is a way to communicate with you about how your child did on the test.

We will start our geometry unit when we get back after Spring Break.  We will identify triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, hexagons and cubes.  They will also learn different vocabulary related to the shapes.

Science
Yesterday, the kiddos learned the steps of the Scientific Method and we wondered a question about plants.  Today, the students designed an experiment today to test if plants need soil, water and sunlight to survive.  We will be setting up the experiment after break. This experiment will then testing our hypothesis that plants need all three to survive.

Reviewing Expectations
We had to do a lot of reviewing of expectations this week, and we struggled with following teacher directions (the first time), listening to others speak during classroom discussions, and working quietly.  We had a discussion today about how important it is to continue to work hard and be the BEST students that we can during the next two months...Can you believe that we only have 2 months left together?!?!?  Please reinforce this with your child the week we get back from Spring Break (this is typically a hard transition for kiddos).

Lovely Missouri Weather
Please double check the weather each day - one day might be 75 and the next day freezing.  We makes it a point to go outside whenever possible, so please make sure your student is dressed appropriately for the weather. We rarely reach the high temperature for the day by our morning recess and it can be windy and chilly on the playground.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, let me know and have a wonderful Spring Break!