Hello Families,

With the uncertainty of the weather this week, plans will be adjusted as needed with regard to lessons. As always, activities that don’t get done on one day, get moved to the next. Our room is a bit chilly, so please make sure your child has a sweater or sweatshirt to wear in class if they get cold.

Our reading strategy this week is focused on informational reading strategies. Using pictures and illustrations to learn facts and details about a topic.

Our spelling words are focused again on the same sound spelled 2 different ways, –au, –aw: launch, pause, draw, hawk, crawl. The Dolch words are: with, some, yellow, upon, once

We’ll also be circling back to informational writing. I’ll be combining what we’re learning now in science, which is landforms on Earth. We’ll be reading and writing about these landforms: mountains, hills, plains, valleys, peninsula. We’ll later get into how those landforms are created and the role that water and wind has in creating them.

In social studies we’re finishing up learning about services provided and actions taken by individuals and government to make our communities safer and nicer places.

In math we are again practicing adding 2 and 3 digit numbers with and without regrouping which is trading but this new program calls it bundling. When we make a group of 10 it’s called bundling so they “carry” the bundle to the tens. We’ll be getting into subtraction as well. With subtraction, they’ll learn to unbundle a ten if they need to borrow a ten due to not having enough ones to subtract. For example, 54-17 does not have enough ones to subtract 7, so a 10 from the 5 becomes unbundled. We used to call it borrowing from the tens to the ones. As always, do as much of the homework as your child understands before getting too tired or upset. Remember, no tears or tempers 🙂  It’s best to leave it undone.

Please return just the envelope on Monday, so I can reuse it for the last 2 report cards.

Thank you.   Stay Warm this weekend 🙂

Good Afternoon!  Our room is cold this week so please make sure your child has a sweater or sweatshirt to wear.

Library book check out is this Friday.

Spelling words all focus on the same vowel sound but spelled different ways:  root, chew, clue, canoe, fruit. The Dolch words: to, two, ask, who, use

Our reading strategy continues with comparing and contrasting 2 similar texts. I’ll be reading 2 different versions of the same story and the students will be writing how they are the same and how they are different.

We continue with writing our opinion this week. I am looking for strong reasons and using a transition to start their reason sentence. The topic is should the mayor buy a new police car or playground equipment with the extra tax money.

Math continues with adding 2 digit numbers with and without trading. We’re also going to be getting into adding 3 digit numbers with and without trading. As always, do as many of the homework problems as your child can manage and understand without reaching a frustration level.

In social studies, we’ll be learning about government action compared to private actions. Those activities that the government does to improve a community vs those things individuals do. For example, creating laws like the leash law is an example of government action. Raising money to donate to a charity is an example of private action.

Science continues with learning about the Earth. We’ll begin learning the names of different landforms as well as how they are formed.

The PTA valentine creation contest will run until February 1. Any family member can participate with your child then turn the creation into me. I will then pass along the most creative to the PTA. Enjoy!! 🙂

Stay warm!

NWEA testing for our class is this Wednesday & Thursday morning.

1/2 Day this Friday. Dismissal is at 11:45. No lunch will be served at school.

Spelling words this week focus on “oo” and “ou” making the same sound but being spelled differently. shook, soot, crook, should, could. The Dolch words: too, good, would, went, over

Our reading strategy this week is reading 2 versions of the same story (I’ll be reading The Boy Who Cried Wolf) and comparing how they are alike and different.

Our writing this week continues opinion writing. I’ll again, weave in social studies and ask the students their opinion about the community buying a new police car or park equipment. They are learning to come up with good reasons for and against each choice. Then chose one to write their opinion on.

Math this week continues with adding and subtracting 2 digit numbers. Today they were part of story (word) problems. We’ll be getting into the traditional “up and down” method later this week. I know the math homework is getting harder. I’ve told the students to only do as much as they can understand and figure out. No tears, no getting upset. That’s not the feelings or emotions we want them to remember about math. If it’s not done, that’s fine with me. These are new skills and this program is based on them having learned some of these basics in Kindergarten and First grade. We all know they didn’t so I’m breaking it down into easier parts.

Social studies will focus this week on how our local government is organized. We’ll be learning about who the Mayor (enforces laws), City Council (makes laws)  members, and Judges (interprets laws) are. These 3 make up the 3 branches of government.

In science we’re learning about the water cycle by reading and drawing.

Enjoy your week!

Thanks. They’ll be next week Wednesday and Thursday instead of this week.

Happy New Year! I hope you all were able to enjoy the time off in some way with family and friends.

Welcome back to our school routine 🙂

NWEA testing for us will be Wednesday and Thursday morning. It’s important your child gets a good night’s sleep and eats breakfast either at home or here at school daily.

Spelling words this week focus on the letters “ur” “er” “ir” all making the same sound in words. clerk, third, first, burst, churn. The Dolch words: hurt, her, under, together, after

Our reading strategy this week will focus on using the illustrations to help the reading understand the text.

Our writing focus circles back to opinion writing. I’ll be combining a social studies topic here so the students will be writing their opinion about a law in Dearborn. They are expected to write 2-3 reasons to support their opinion. This unit is expected to take 3 weeks but I’ll be using different topics each time.

Social studies continues with learning about why governments need laws. That’s why it’s getting combined with writing.

We’ll be learning about the water cycle in science because many students are beginning to wonder where the water comes from that’s found on Earth.

Our new math module focuses on addition and subtraction within 200 and solving word problems to 100. Many strategies will be used to solve problems with a big push on 1 more, 1 less–only the digit in the ones place changes. 10 more, 10 less–only the digit in the tens place changes.

Enjoy the week!

Happy Last School Day of 2018!

Second Grade is sending home the Math books from units 1-3 as well as the homework books from units 1-3. We will begin unit 4 when we return in January. The purposely skipped lessons can be done at home as review to what we’ve learned in class. No need to return the pages unless your child would like me to see them.

Enjoy your break 🙂

Happy Last School Week of 2018!

Library Book Check out is Thursday. Please have books returned by Wednesday.

Spirit Friday is Pajama Day if your child chooses. I also told them they can wear slippers if they don’t want to wear pajamas.

Spelling words this week focus on the -ar -or sounds: part, park, sort, horse, short. Dolch reading words: start, or, for, work, before

Our reading strategy this week is story recounting. That is retelling a story in order of events, beginning–middle–end.

Our writing focus is still narrative writing which is story writing. We are writing an imaginative narrative which is a made up story. My focus for them is writing a strong opening sentence we call a story opening. One that makes sense and gets the reader interested in reading their story.

Math continues with money amounts both in dollars and counting dimes/pennies. We’ve been counting up to 1,000 using $1, $10, $100 bills. I will also review the =, < (less than), > (greater than) symbols.

We’ll be discussing why people form governments in Social Studies and continue our writing and illustrating of places on Earth water is found.

Dr. Moughni will be sending home a reading log so please make sure you’re child reads, writes, and practices their math skills that I’ve written about over the break. We will take the NWEA reading and math tests the week we return in January.

Enjoy your 2 week break 🙂

Late Start Wednesday. School begins at 9:35.

Family Math Night is this Thursday 5:00-6:30. Many fun math games and activities to explore. A note will be coming home. Hope to see you there 🙂

Spelling words this week focus on 3 letter blends: scr, str, spr. screen, stripe, struck, spruce, sprain. Dolch words: blue, look, have, one, your

Our reading strategy continues with Point of View of 2 different characters in a story.

Our writing unit continues with narrative (story) writing. We’ve been talking and taking notes about what makes a narrative story: characters, setting, actions in order. We’ll begin our own narrative this week.

Math focuses on counting money values dollar bills up to $1000. This builds the understanding of place value nicely.

Social Studies now focuses on diversity and how many different kinds of people live together in a community.

Science this week will be learning the names, definitions and viewing pictures of different bodies of water: ocean, river, lake, pond

Spirit Friday is holiday sweater day or red/green day 🙂

Enjoy your week!

We finished 2 math lessons today so I sent home 2 pages for homework. I told the students that they didn’t have to do both pages tonight if it is too much for them. Just turn in the one they finish tonight, then save one for the weekend to return on Monday.

It’s about expanded notation which most them told me they remembered from last year 🙂 We also reviewed reading a number using the words.