Fun Filled Week!

We have had a fun filled week of learning!  This was supposed to be our first full week back, but the weather made it a little tricky.  Please know that we appreciate all your communication if your child is going home a different way.

Colonial Day

Today, the kids enjoyed Colonial Day!  They look AMAZING in all their Colonial attire.  Thank you for taking the time to help your child dress for the day!

They had so much fun applying all their hard learning on Colonial times to six different stations.  They played 9 pin and marbles like Colonial kids did.  They made butter and enjoyed their hard work on a piece of bread.  They also made cornmeal dough to play with.  We had learned that in Colonial times that they kept warm under quilts, so today each student designed a quilt square and we made a classroom quilt.  Finally, all the students made a silhouette picture of themselves.

You can check out all the pictures of the fun that was had today here!

A huge thank you to everyone who sent in supplies and to the parents who came to help - this day would not have been a success without you!

Field Trip

On Wednesday, we will be going to Rock Bridge High School to visit the planetarium.  The students will get to watch a video on the rounded screen in the planetarium.  They will also get to look at the stars and learn about constellations.  We will leave at approximately 9:15 on Wednesday morning and will be back at school around 10:45 a.m.

Six Flags Read to Succeed

The Six Flags Read to Succeed paper came home on Monday.  Students are encouraged to read 6 hours and log their reading.  If they read 6 hours,  fill out the form (and get it signed by parents) and return it to Mrs. McKinzie by March 1, 2018, they will receive a free ticket to Six Flags.  We have one student who has already turned in their form.

Brrr....It's Cold

Weather turned super cold last night and it will continue to be cold all next week.  Please make sure that your child has a coat, gloves, hat, scarf, etc.  We will not go outside for recess if the temperature or wind chill is 10 or below, but we try to go out whenever we can.  Even if we don't go outside for recess your child needs to be bundled up to walk to and from the building!

Chat and Chew

Coming home in your child's Friday Folder are two yellow sheets for Chat and Chew.  This is a club that meets during the day to encourage reading!  Second grade options for for Chat and Chew are Ready Freddy: Tooth Trouble, Freckle Juice, and Humphrey's Treasure Hunt Trouble.  If your child would like to join the club, they will ask be asked to read their assignment at home and meet during lunch with a parent volunteer to discuss the book.  This will begin in February and end in April.  To participate, please fill out the enrollment form and return to school by next Friday, January 19th.  If you have any questions you can contact Jen Medley (3rd grade teacher).

What's Been Happening in 2nd Grade

Math: 

• This week, we learned to use an open number line to help solve word problems.  An open number line is blank and the students only fill the numbers needed to solve the problem.  We briefly introduced them this week to the concept of finding out how much change they will get back.  Next week, we will be working on strategies for adding and subtracting 10 and 100 from a number.  
• We did send home the Home Links for Unit 5.  Please know that we are only half way through Unit 5, so students have not been taught all concepts and may not be able to complete the Home Links.  Also, Home Links are simply another resource for students to use as homework if they would like.  They are not required to complete them or bring them back to school.

Writing:

• This week, we identified text features that would be helpful to add to our writing.  Next week, we will start the publishing process.  The students were so creative as they made their headings this week.  I can’t wait for them to share their writing with you.  Once this writing is finished, we will start our next informational writing which will be a Who Would Win book where they compare two similar topics and choose the “winner.”

Reading:

• The students did very well making text-to-text and text-to-self connections this week.  They were even able to make some text-to-world connections as well.  As students are reading at home, ask them about connections they have made while reading.  They can also make connections to tv shows and movies to practice this skill.  Next week, we will start working on inferences.  Inferences using schema (background knowledge) and information from the text to figure out how the character is feeling or why they are acting a certain way.  We will introduce this idea by digging through the trash.  😊  It will all be clean “trash” and the students will have to make inferences about where the trash came from and how they know.

Word Study:

• Due to the shortened week, we will not have word study words next week.  The spelling practice has been removed from homework, but students can still practice past words if they would like.

Science:

• We wrapped up our study of Colonial America today with Colonial Day.  We will be switching to science for our next unit.  Students will be learning about different ecosystems.  They will be learning about how animals and plants survive in these ecosystems and focus on how they get water.  We will also be tying this into our writing unit as well and the students will be creating a visual that shows the ecosystem where their animal lives.