A Fantastic Week Back From Break!

The kiddos have worked so incredibly hard this week and we have had a fantastic week back from break!

Winter Holiday Party

It seems like we just had the Fall Harvest Party, but the Winter Party is right around the corner.  The Winter Party will be on Thursday, December 21 at 1:45.  A Sign Up Genius has been created for the Moss Winter Party - so check it out if you would like to volunteer to send in something or volunteer to attend!

Remember It Really Is Winter

I know that the weather has been warm and then cold, warm and then cold.  Please make sure that you are checking the weather before sending your child to school.  We have our morning recess at 9:50 and it really is still cold in the morning - even when the high is warmer in the afternoon.  So, your child might need a winter coat in the morning and sweatshirt/jacket for lunch recess.  

What's Been Happening in 2nd Grade?

• Math: This week we started focused on place value.  We learned that a number's worth depends on the place that the number is in (example: the 3 in 305 is worth 300 versus the 3 in 530 is worth 30).  The students learned that expanded notation is stretching out the number by making a number model with the values of each of the digits (example: 289 in expanded notation is 200+80+9).  On Wednesday, we showed the students how to draw the place value blocks in short hand, and today they had a conversation during our re-engagement lesson about how to trade (or regroup) 10 ones cubes for a ten long or 10 longs for a 100 flat (example below). Next week, we we will continue to work on place value and then move on to measurement.

• Writing: We have started our second writing unit, informational writing.  On Monday, the students had an opportunity to look through nonfiction texts and mark places where they liked what the author did.  We had an AMAZING discussion about text features and fun ways that the author included information, and we made a list of these to be used as a resource when we become informational writers.  Our first informational writing research project will be on an animal and we will be using PebbleGo (an online resource as one of the ways we research).  On Tuesday, the students had an opportunity to explore the different animals and on Wednesday, they chose their animal.  I am really excited to learn from them because many of the students selected animals that have not been done before!  Next week, we will start learning about how to take notes from an online resource.
• Reading: Just as we started learning about how to write informational books in writing, we are learning about all the important nonfiction text features that books have that help us as readers.  Each student has a "Nonfiction Text Feature Notebook" that they are using to collect their information.  Students have learned about many different nonfiction text features this week, including the Table of Contents, headings, photographs/captions, and tables.  Next week, we will continue to focus on learning about more text features.
• Word Study: We continued to focus on long vowel patterns this week.  This week we learned that "ai" pattern typically appears in the middle of a word (CVVC) and that "ay" typically appears at the end of the word (CVV).  Next week, we will look at four different spelling patterns for the long a sound.  The CVCe, CVV, and CVVC (-ai and -ei).  Next week's words are: plate, rate, drain, paint, weigh, weight, freight, stray, gray and May.
• Social Studies: We continued learning about colonial times by looking at colonial clothing and colonial jobs.  We made venn diagram comparing and contrasting colonial people to people today.  The students did a great job participating in this conversation and learning about colonial times.  Next week, we will learn about one of the first European settlers in America.  Students will have an opportunity to pretend that they live in colonial times and write in a diary about the life on the boat as they travel, life during the first winter, life of a child, life of an adult and interesting facts that they found out so far during our unit.

I hope that you have a wonderful weekend!