Weekly Update April 19

This week we had a busy week! The kids loved the field trip to the Chattahoochee Nature Center on Tuesday. We wrapped up learning about area and perimeter, learned all about the life cycle of a frog, and began working on constructing compound sentences.

Next week...

Math

We will start chapter 10 of Everyday Math. This chapter focuses on money and place value.

Language Arts and Spelling

We will continue to work on compound sentences in language arts. In spelling we will continue our study of vowel teams, with the vowel teams that say the /ou/ sound.

Writing

We will research butterflies and write an informational writing piece about butterflies.

Science

Next week we will learn about the life cycle of a butterfly. We will eventually be getting butterfly kits where we will watch the change from caterpillar to butterfly. I'm hoping the kit will arrive sometime next week.

Other News

Our field trip to Zoo Atlanta is on May 2.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Chattahoochee Nature Center

Stuffed Animal Day

The class has earned a stuffed animal day (they voted on this choice) as a reward.

We will do this on Tuesday when we are back from Spring Break.

The stuffed animal must be small enough to fit on their desk without taking up the desk (no huge stuffed animals, please!). 

Friction Lab

Look at us being scientists! We experimented by pushing different objects along different surfaces in the classroom: tile, carpet, sandpaper.

We discovered that the rougher the surface, the shorter the distance an object will move. This is friction!

Mystery Reader April 5

Thank you, Ian Irwin, for being our mystery reader!



High Touch High Tech!

After spring break we will begin learning about life cycles!

High Touch High Tech came to give us a lesson about living things.

Mystery Reader

This week, MY parents were the mystery readers! How amusing to the children that Ms. Perlman is a real person outside of school with parents!

My dad read a couple chapters of one of my favorite books from when I was kid, that he read me over and over, The Witches.

Weekly Update- March 29

This week we began our unit on measurement, studied prefixes, and completed the book My Father's Dragon. We also began our science unit on motion and force.

The kids were VERY excited to have beaten me in our new teacher vs. class behavior contest. They elected to have a picnic today for lunch as their reward.

Next week...

Is the week before Spring Break!!

Math

This week we worked on how to properly measure with a ruler or yardstick. We also made sure we know which measuring tool is appropriate for measuring different distances.

We will continue learning about measurement. Our focus will be perimeter next week.

We will do the Everyday Math lessons and supplement this with extra practice.

ELA

We are going to spiral back to our lessons on synonyms next week and incorporate antonyms into our study. We will continue working on persuasive writing as well.

Reading

We are going to work on our summarizing reading skills next week. Our goal will be able to summarize what we have read: main characters and the setting, what the character wanted, what the conflict was, and how it was resolved. The goal for summary is to be able to tell the main ideas of the story in a short way.

Spelling

We will continue working with vowel teams next week. Our vowel teams will say the long o sound: oa, oe, and ow.

Science

So far in science we understand that things are only in motion if a force acts upon it. We understand that a force is a push or a pull, and that things can move at different speeds. The kids have caught onto all of this very quickly.

Next week we will continue to learn about motion, but our focus will be friction. We will test on Thursday, and a study guide will go home on Tuesday to study with.

Weekly Updates - March 22

This week we wrapped up our unit on fractions, our unit on civics, we began making predictions using My Father's Dragon, and started learning about prefixes.

Next week...

Math

Chapter 9 in Everyday Math revolves around measuring length. The ideas of metersticks, yardsticks, area, and perimeter will be introduced.

Reading

Our current reading skill is making predictions. We are reading My Father's Dragon as a class read-aloud to practice this skill.

Spelling

We are working with words that have the vowel teams oi and oy next week. This will be taught whole group and integrated into centers.

ELA

We will continue to work with prefixes next week. This will be done whole group and integrated into centers.

Writing

We are continuing persuasive writing next week. We will also start to connect persuasive writing to advertising.

Science

We will begin our unit on motion and force next week.

Civics Vocabulary Flashcards

Flashcards to use to study social studies words!!

http://quizlet.com/21162003/civics-flash-cards/

Weekly Updates March 15

We had a fun day today! We did M&M fraction math, finished our class read-aloud (Frindle) , and we had High Touch High Tech come today.

Next week...

Math

We will continue learning about fractions.

The big focus is that fractions are part of a whole.

We are also working on identifying equivalent fractions.

We will test on fractions on Friday, March 22.

Language Arts

We are working on prefixes starting next week.

We will learn the meaning and identify prefixes such as re-, un-, co-, mis-, dis-, bi-, tri-, to name a few. Knowing our prefixes is really helpful in figuring out the meaning of new words.

Reading

We are going to start working on making predictions in reading. This connects to our previous skill of inferring, as predicting is inferring what will happen next.

We will be reading My Father's Dragon to help us make predictions as a class.

Spelling

Our spelling list will consist of multisyllabic words that have ea, ee, or ey in one of the syllables.

Social Studies

We will finish our civics unit this week. Our final topics will be capitals and Jimmy Carter.

Our test is on Wednesday.

Science

Today we had High Touch High Tech do a lesson on force and motion. We will start science late next week.

Writing

We have been working on persuasive writing, and we will move to opinion writing.

Have a great St. Patrick's Day weekend!

Equivalent Fractions Game

Today we played the Equivalent Fractions Matching Game to help us understand equivalent fractions.

Charlie and Sam

Luke and Sophia

Contraction Review Game

Here is a fun game for practicing contractions at home!

http://www.vocabulary.co.il/contractions/primary/fill-it-in-contractions-game/

AR 1,000 Point Pizza Picnic!!

Please enjoy the pictures from our pizza picnic!

We earned our reward for meeting a class goal of 1,000 points on AR!

MES Talent Show

The talent of the children at MES is unbelievable! I was so impressed by every performance, which included some of OUR kids!

Jia performed like a professional on the piano, Margaret showed off her culture in her fun Irish dance performance, and Lauren danced in a very creative glow stick dance!

Hayden, Mollie, and Spencer did a great job participating in the Half Time Show.

Here are the few pictures I was able to snag with my phone that actually turned out decently!

Jia playing Fur Elise on the piano.

Lauren after the 3:00 show.

Margaret before the 3:00 show.

Lauren's group dancing.

Weekly Updates March 1

Can you believe it is MARCH? Ready for the weather to match the month!

If you check the posts below you will see pictures of some of the learning that went on this week! We have been working on homophones, how-to writing, collecting and using data, and Martin Luther King, Jr. this week.

Next week...

Math

Our math test on chapter 7 will be on Tuesday. We did the review today in class, which I sent home with them to use to study.

On Wednesday we will begin chapter 8, which is about fractions.

Language Arts

This week we talked about homophones - these are words that sound the same but are spelled differently. This is different than homonyms. Homonyms are words that sound/are spelled the same but mean different things. I know a couple parents were confused on the difference. We are learning homophones.

For example main/mane are homophones. They sound the same but are spelled differently.

Left/left are homoyms. They are the same word, but can mean different things (the past tense of leave, the opposite of right.)

We will continue to reinforce homophones over the next few weeks.

We will be working next week on compound words.

Writing

Next week we will wrap up our how-to writing. We have been practicing in our journals, in centers, and will finish our writing piece early next week.

We will then move onto persuasive writing. Don't be surprised if your children become extra persuasive!

Reading

My focus currently is on teaching them how to use non-fiction books and identify non-fiction text features. I have been emphasizing this when we read for social studies, in centers, and in reading groups. I will begin working on predicting in reading soon.

Spelling

This week our pattern was words with the ai or ay vowel teams - these sounds say the "long a" sound.

Next week our words will revolve around the "long" e sound vowel teams - ea, ee, ey.

Sidenote - Trick "Red" words from the beginning of the year on are on the back of the planner. Please continue to pick some each week to practice at home to foster retention of these spellings.

Social Studies

Next week we will be continuing to discuss MLK, segregation, and integration in social studies.

We will also be presenting our American Hero Projects.

Reminders

American Hero projects are due on Monday, March 4.

Homework Planner must be signed in the reading section every week. Your child is not receiving credit if you do not initial the section where you record his or her reading.

Friday, March 8 is a half day.

Mystery Reader

Thank you to Hayden's dad, Thayne Conrad, for being our mystery reader this afternoon!

You can tell from the picture you were a very enthusiastic guest!



Dirt Puddin' How-To-Writing

We have been working on "how-to" writing skills during ELA. We've been learning the importance of giving LOTS of steps and details and including transition words (ask your kids about Ms. Perlman's peanut butter and jelly how-to lesson.)

We had an edible assignement this week! We made dirt pudding cups (pudding, oreo crumbles, gummy worms) and we wrote down the instructions as we did each step.

We will do our final drafts of this next week to publish!

Jeremy working on his dirt puddin' how-to directions.

Lauren getting a taste of the dirt puddin'

Catherine is crumbling cookies for her dirt pudding.



Long Jump Olympics

Here are some pictures of the class measuring their arm spans for math. We used our arm span measurements to create a line plot, frequency chart, and bar graph of our class arm span lengths.

We also found the mode and the median of our data.

We also did a long jump olympics to practice measuring with a tape measurer and practice finding the median of a data set.

We measured our long jumps and found the median, maximum, and minimum of our data.

Jia is measuring Forrest's arm span.

Sage is measuring Caleb's arm span.

Archer is acting as "line judge" as Forrest gets ready for his long jump.

Weekly Updates February 22

Here is a look into what we are working on in second grade!

Math

Chapter 7 in Everyday Math is all about patterns and rules. Patterns in counting, including multiples of ten, doubling numbers, and halving numbers all are skill sets that support higher math operations.

Next week we will introduce finding the median (middle number) of a set of data and making frequency tables, line plots, and bar graphs.

We will test on Tuesday, March 5.

After we test, we will introduce fractions in chapter 8.

ELA

Our big focus has been using apostrophes. We have practiced using them to show possesion and to create contractions.

The kids have now become contraction-happy and are trying to put contractions on anything ending in an "s" whether it belongs there or not. :)

This week we introduced irregular past tense verbs. These are past tense verbs that you do not add "ed" to in order to make it past tense. The kids seem to have a good grasp on this.

Spelling

We are working with vowel teams that say the long a sound next week: ai and ay.

Social Studies

Next week we are continuing our civics unit with Martin Luther King, Jr.

We have studied rights, responsibilities, elections, being a good citizen, segregation, and Jackie Robinson.

Writing

We are working on informational writing still. We are doing how-to writing.

We have been practicing this week, and we will do a how-to piece next week.

American Hero Project

Directions will be going home on Monday for the second grade American Hero project.

Valentine Baby Cupids

How precious are all of our Valentine babies?!

The class cannot wait to find out who is who!



Election Day in Room 206

Today we learned that part of being a good citizen is voting when you turn 18.

We held an election today and voted for our favorite book character.

Our candidates were James from James and the Giant Peach  and Sophie from The BFG.

After learning about elections, we created our own voter registration cards.

We then watched our candidates give speeches using Vokis of each character. A Voki is an avatar on the computer that talks to us.

We then got into our voting booths (study cubbies) and cast our votes on our ballots!

After tallying the votes, Sophie won the election!

Here is a picture of voter registration cards! I apologize that they are turned the wrong way - it is saved the correct way but the blog is presenting it sideways.

Atlanta Police Visit!

The Atlanta Police community liason officers came to visit the 2nd grade today!

We are learning about being good citizens, who protects us as citizens, and our rights and responsibilities as citizens.



Weekly Updates - February 8

I hope everyone is having a good weekend and staying healthy!

A lot of germs and coughing were floating around our room this week!

Here is a look into next week.

Math



We have been starting to build multiplication skills by learning ways to show multiplication. Arrays, equal groups, and repeated addition are all ways for kids to see what it means to multiply.

We will have a test on Chapter 6 on Tuesday. I plan on doing the review in class on Monday. I will send the completed review home with them to look over and practice with you.

Keep in mind that Everyday Math spirals, so our tests not only cover tidbits of what we learn in the chapter, but the tests also cover previously taught skills.

ELA

Our areas of focus have been dictionary skills, ABC order, and possessive apostrophes.

A note on possessive apostrophes...

Common Core curriculum teaches putting an apostrophe after an "s" a bit differently than when we were children.

Here is how I am teaching it to the class. I am doing it based on Common Core's standard.

Singular without an "s":

The cat's paws were black.

Singular with an "s":

The class's performance was about the Revolutionary War.

(The apostrophe goes after the s, and we follow it with another s.)

Plural:

The boys' restroom is very messy.

Spelling

Right now we are working on "R-Controlled" vowels.

This past week we studied words that have "ar" and "or". We are able to recognize what sounds they make. We practiced this in centers and in class using Fundations and a story called Pirate Mark.

Next week we will focus on "ir", "er", and "ur", which all make the same sound.

Please keep in mind when studying for spelling tests with your child that previous trick/red words will show up in the dictation sentences. All previously taught trick/red words are listed on the planner, so please be choosing some to review each week at home.

Reading

Making Inferences is our current reading strategy.

This week I am going to have them practice this by giving them a situation everyday that they are to record on a chart, and then they make an inference using that situtation.

I will give a quiz on making inferences late next week.

I will resume reading groups the week of February 18. I am currently conducting SLO assessments on each individual student during reading group/center time.

Social Studies

We have finished our unit on matter in science, and we are moving back to social studies.

This week we are going to talk about being a good citizen, people in our community that help our citizens, and our duties as citizens, including voting when we are adults and following laws.

I have arranged for police officers from the APD to come visit second graders on Wednesday to talk about being a police officer and the importance of following the law. This will be a great way to involve the community in our lessons!

We might even get to go see the cop car!

Elections are another topic we will visit. The students will listen to two electronic characters give election speeches, and we will list talking points that each character presented on a class chart.

The students will get their chance to vote for either character.

Valentines' Day

I am sending home information for Second Grade Valentines' Day on Monday with the homework planner.

Please plan on helping your child create a Valentines' Day mailbox to bring to school on Thursday. This can be made using either a brown paper bag or a shoebox.

If you plan on having your child distribute Valentines on Thursday, it is required to have one for each student in the class. Please check your child's Valentines to make sure they have only written kind messages on each. I will send home a class list on Monday to make sure you have each child's name.

Second graders are doing a Guess My Baby Picture game on Thursday. Please send in a baby picture of your child in an envelope with their name on it. Please send this by Wednesday so I can have them ready before Thursday morning.

Thanks for all you do!

Building Multiplication Skills

We have been working on showing multiplication in different ways to start building multiplication skills.

Mollie and Margaret are building arrays using counters to find the results of multiplication number stories!

Weekly Updates February 1

Here is a look into this past week and what we are doing next week!

This week we began a new behavior initiative. We are trying to fill our Good Job Jar full of Pom Poms. We get a Pom Pom at the days end if no one is on yellow or red. We get bonus Pom Poms if we get a compliment from someone outside our class on our behavior (another teacher, Ms. Pruitt, a parent walking by, etc.)

When we finally fill our jar, we will get to vote on 3 rewards.

This is a class effort! All 23 students must be working towards this each day.



This week we worked on several skills and standards 

1. Inferencing - Drawing conclusions based on what we already know or what we see.

2. Subtracting 2 digit numbers

3. Spelling using -y, -ty, -ly suffixes

4. Understanding ways water changes: melting, freezing, evaporating, condensating

5. Informational Writing - We finished our final drafts about our favorite toy.

6. Dictionary skills - We have been working on ABC order and dictionary guide words. We are working on identifying if a word would be found on a dictionary page based on the guide words, and we have been practicing finding guide words in the dictionary.

Next week....

Math

Our focus in math will be ways to show multiplication. We will work with arrays, multiplication number stories, equal groups, and repeated addition.

Science

We will complete our science unit on how matter changes . We will create a foldable about the 4 ways water changes, learn about how burning/cooking changes matter, and reviewing on Thursday.  I plan on testing on Friday, February 8. A review will come home Thursday night.

Spelling

We will be focusing on 2 different "R-Controlled" vowel patterns: ar, or

This will be taught in spelling and reinforced in literacy centers.

Reading

We will continue to work on making inferences.

ELA

We are going to continue dictionary skills and begin working with using apostrophes to show possession.

Have a great weekend!!

Book Fair

Book Fair Browse Day - Wednesday, January 30 at 8:45

Book Fair Buy Day- Thursday, January 31 at 9:45

Please send money with your child on Thursday if you choose to have he or she buy books during our buy time.

Partner Reading!

Today we reviewed science content by partner reading our non fiction text.

Partners took turn reading aloud while the other partner followed along.

We discussed the importance of reading the text, looking at the pictures, and using the captions to learn more about the pictures.

They did a great job of staying on task with this and working together!

Nikolaos and Charlie acting goofy for the camera.

Catherine and Sage working together on reading the text, the captions, and discussing the pictures.

Mixing It Up!

Jeremy and Spencer creating their mixture.

Sage, Archer, Bailey creating their mixture.

Hayden recording data after separating the mixture.

Nikolaos recording data after separating the mixture.

These are all pictures of our class learning about mixtures!

They combined different edible matter into a trail mix like mixture in bags.

They observed that matter does not change when in a mixture. The cereal is still cereal, the M&m's are still M&M's, the popcorn is still popcorn, and the pretzels are still pretzels.

They then separated the items back out into separate piles. They discovered that matter in a mixture can be separated back to it's original parts.

What a great day of science learning!

Mystery Reader

Thank you to our past two mystery readers, Heather Regnault and Joanna Irwin!