Happy Friday!

Happy Friday!  We have had a great week!

Important Information

• Both Mrs. Ross and myself will be gone to the Powerful Learning Conference on Monday and Tuesday next week.  Ms. Easter will be here, along with two familiar substitutes to the students.  
• If there are any changes to how your child is getting home on Monday & Tuesday, please contact the office (214-3290).
• 102nd Day of 2nd Grade is Wednesday!  

• Your child can bring: 102 project, a 102 piece snack & decorate a shirt.

What Are We Learning?

• Math
• This week, we started a new math unit on collecting and using data.  The students learned how to turn data collected into a bar and a pictograph (picture graph).  We've also been solving word problems based on the information in graphs and charts.
• The questions "How many more ____ than ____?" or "How much shorter is ____ than ____?" have been challenging for students
• Next week, we will continue to work on solving number stories and will also be learning about ballpark estimates.  A ballpark estimate is the idea of rounding numbers to the closest 10, or for some students the nearest 5, so that they can quickly estimate the answer.  The numbers that we are working on adding are 2-digit numbers, so we are going to continue to talk about strategies to solve these numbers.
• Writing
• This week, we have worked incredibly hard on publishing our first informational book!  The students identified the best text feature to go with each chapter (page) in their book.  These are turning out really great!
• We have started writing a speech for a book trailer for our book.  We will be working on this next week also, and will be using the iPads and a green screen during the week of February 4 to make our videos.
• Fundations
• This week, we finished up Unit 8.  This unit introduced writing the r-controlled vowels of ar and or/ore.  We took a test over Unit 8 yesterday and this test is coming home in your child's backpack today.
• Today we started Unit 9 and this unit continues to work on r-controlled vowels.  We now will be focusing on er, ir and ur.  These are tricky because they all make the same sound.  We learned about a section in our Monster Book called "Spelling Options" - this section has an alphabetical list of words that can not be tapped out.  We practiced using this today.
• Reading
• We are continuing to work on comparing texts.  This week we read four different books about Martin Luther King, Jr. and compared information within the books.  We also discovered that the author makes a difference also because we learned different stories about his childhood from the book My Brother Martin written by Christine King Farris.
• Next week, we are going to compare fairy tales and folk tales from different points of view.
• Social Studies
• We are going to be cartographers for the next month and studying maps.  We will be learning about the continents and oceans on the world map and land forms and smaller bodies of water on the Missouri map.

I hope that you have a wonderful weekend and stay warm!

Happy Friday!

A Few Important Things

• Tuesday will be a C Day.  The district is adjusting the ABCD calendar has been adjusted by a day.  Ross kids will have PE on Thursday and Mottaz kids on Friday.  
• No School on Monday: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Friday Folder

• HomeLinks for Unit 6 in math: this unit covers graphing and more word problem work.  We will start this unit on Tuesday.
• Unit 9 Fundations information:  Unit 8 is a short unit, so we will be finishing it next week and starting on Unit 9.
• Chat and Chew: information is in the Friday folder, this is an optional activity for students to participate in if they would like.  Students will read the assigned book and then discuss it with a parent volunteer over lunch.

Our Learning for Next Week

• Reading
• Students have been comparing information found in articles about a topic.
• Next week, students will identify facts that are in just one article and facts that are in both articles and creating a poster to show the facts.
• Writing
• We started publishing our informational piece about an animal this week.
• Next week, we will continue publishing and start adding text features to their writing.
• Math
• We took our Unit 5 test today.  It will be coming home next week.
• On Tuesday, we will start Unit 6.  This unit starts with creating bar graphs and analyzing the data.  This is a fun unit for students because they get an opportunity to ask classmates questions and find things they have in common.
• Fundations
• We will wrap up Unit 8 next week.  This unit covers AR and OR words.  The students are expected to be able to read and write words containing these r-controlled vowels.  They have also learned how to mark up the words.
• We will start Unit 9 next week.  This unit works on ER, IR and UR words as r-controlled vowels.  This one can be more difficult because all three spelling patterns make the same sound.  
• Science/Social Studies
• This week students showed their knowledge of weathering, erosion and deposition.  
• Next week, we will start to discuss landforms that are created through weathering, erosion and deposition.

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday!! Today was an amazing day.  The students really enjoyed Forts and Flashlights!  Make sure to check out Twitter for pictures.  Remember, if you don't have Twitter, you can always checkout the sidebar on the right of this blog!

Check Our What's In Your Child's Friday Folder!

• Student Teacher:
• We will have a student teacher this semester.  Her name is Sam Easter.  There is a letter in your child's backpack with more information.  We are super excited to have her!
• Six Flags Read to Succeed:
• When does 6 hours of reading = a ticket to Six Flags?  Six Flags Read to Succeed!  Coming home on a golden sheet of paper is a  book log.  Once your child has read six hours and has filled in the book log, the paper will be turned into Mrs. McKinzie by February 27. 
• Information on Fundations & Math:
• We finished up Unit 7 in Fundations today and will be finishing up Unit 5 in math next week.  Coming home in your child's Friday Folder is information about both of our next units in Fundations & math.
• Published Personal Narrative:
• There is a published personal narrative in your child's Friday Folder.  This is the story that we made into an electronic book.  Make sure to keep this piece of writing!  On the back of the story is a QR Code.  If you have not had a chance to listen to your child's story, this would be something perfect to do on a snowy weekend!  
• The QR Code will be active for a while, but if this is something that you would like to ensure that you have in the future - I would download it.  Please let me know if you have any questions about this.
• Lots of Other Student Work!
• Make sure to check out everything that we have been doing! :)

Upcoming Events!

• January 18 - Hat Day (children can wear any hat of their choosing)
• January 21 - No School (MLK Jr Day)
• February 8 - Decade Day (children can dress up from any decade of their choosing)

What's Been Happening in Moss World!

• Math
• We have been focusing on different strategies to help us solve word problems.  We will continue to work on this next week, and our plan is to test over this unit on Friday.
• Writing
• This week, we worked on editing and revising our first informational writing.  We also came up with creative headings for each of our paragraphs, and decided which text feature would be best for each of our paragraphs. 
• Next week, we will start publishing this story. 
• Fundations
• In Unit 7, we learned about open syllable words (when the vowel makes a long sound at the end of the syllable like hi or remote - re in the open syllable).  We have also learned about the suffixes -y, -ly and -ty.
• In Unit 8, we will be learning about the r-controlled vowels of ar and or.
• Reading
• This week, we started learning about the importance of comparing nonfiction texts as we researched.  We learned that some facts can be found in multiple sources and others might only be in one.
• Next week, we will continue to focus on comparing nonfiction texts.
• Science
• Before Winter Break, we had been talking about things that cause quick changes to the Earth's surface (example: volcanoes or earthquakes).  This week, we started learning about a slower process that can change the Earth's surface - weathering, erosion and deposition.  The students learned a song with hand motions to help them know what each means.  We tweeted them singing the song out on Wednesday - check it out if you haven't already!
• Next week, we will finish up the unit on Earth's changes.

I hope that you have a safe and warm weekend!