Weekly Updates - Weeks of January 21 and 28

I am going to outline the next two weeks in one post. I apologize for not updating at the end of last week, as I went out of town for the weekend.

Math

Chapter 6 in Everyday Math focuses on Whole Number Operations and Number Stories.

We are working on different strategies for solving addition and subtraction problems, including solving word problems.

This chapter will also introduce the underlying concepts of multiplication and division. We will be working on arrays and sorting items into equal groups.

Language Arts

We are slowly beginning to learn dictionary skills. Guide words are a very hard concept for many students to grasp right away. We are trying to work on putting words in ABC order as a foundation for this.

Reading

At the end of this week we will begin to learn how to infer in our reading.

We will do a "What's in Ms. Perlman's bag" activity this week to infer what different items in my bag might mean about me.

Spelling

Our currently spelling words follow the rule that in a 2 syllable word that ends in a y, the y makes the long e sound.

Science

We will be learning about how the states of matter can change.
Mixtures, evaporation, condensation, and melting will be some of our main focuses.

Asking Questions Online Activity

We have been working on asking questions about the text before, during, and after reading.

Asking questions help us think about what is important in the text, and we can often find the answers to our questions as we continue to read.

Here is a site where they can work on asking questions while reading.

Into the Book

Drag the Question Mark icon into the middle and then they can begin!

Weekly Updates January 11

We had a nice first week back at school!

Things to ask your child about this week.

1. What are parallel lines? Can you find any parallel lines at home?

2. What do pronouns replace in a sentence?

3. What are the 3 states of matter?

4. What is the smallest part of matter?

5. What are some properties of (choose an object in the house)?

6. Which state of matter is the only one to have its own shape?

7. How many sides does a quadrangle have?

8. If I poured water from a pitcher into a glass, would the water stay the same shape as the pitcher? What would happen to the shape?

Looking into next week...

Math

We will be exploring 3D shapes next week and lines of symmetry.

We will be categorizing 3D shapes in a Shape Museum in our classroom.

The Chapter 5 math test will be on Friday.

Spelling

We will be learning about open syllables. An open syllable is when there is only one vowel and there is no consonant closing it in.

Examples: go, hi, flu

We will be testing on 2 syllable words where one of the syllables is open.

Examples: banjo, open, motel

ELA

This week we worked on pronouns. We created pronoun pockets and pronoun flowers.

Next week we wil be working with reflexive pronouns: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, yourselves, ourselves, theirselves

Writing

We will beging information writing next week. We will be working on brainstorms and rough drafts telling about our favorite toy.

Science

We will continue to study states of matter. We will focus on liquids and gases next week.

AR

I often get questions about "how do I know if a book is an AR book" from parents.

Just a reminder - you can go to arbookfind.com to enter the book and find out if it is an AR book and if it is on your child's level.

Please do not get your child books above their level. If you have questions about your child's level, please ask.

Information

I will be at an APS training workshop on Thursday, January 17.

They will be with a substitute.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Back to School!

See everybody BRIGHT and EARLY tomorrow for the first day back!

Hoping everyone had a great holiday and quality time at home with your children.

Happy Holidays

 Happy Holidays from Room 206!

Wishing you a new year full of joy.

Weekly Updates December 14

We have had a busy week! We were troopers with some end of the 9 weeks tests, finished our social studies unit, completed our math unit, and we had a great day celebrating holidays around the world with all the second grade teachers!

It's the final countdown until winter break. Here is what is going on next week.

Phonics

There will be no spelling list next week due to the short week.

ELA/Writing

We will finish our personal narratives about a time we got hurt or sick.

Math

On Monday we will introduce our unit on geometry. Chapter 5 is about lines and shapes.

Science

We will not start our new unit until we come back in January. It is a really fun, engaging unit that I am excited about. We will be moving on to learning about matter. We will have lots of hands on learning in science. I will show them a video to introduce the unit on Monday, and we will delve into the content and experiments after break.

Class Party

Tuesday we have our class party at 11:00. The kids will be making gingerbread houses. Anyone is welcome to join us.

Pajama Day

Wednesday will be a special treat. It will be pajama day in our room. We will do a craft, read The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg and then watch the movie. Just will be a good, relaxing last day.

Supplies

I will send an e-mail out, but I am going to ask for supply repleneshment for the new semester after winter break.

All I am asking they bring is a school box, one box of colored pencils, and one box of markers.

At the beginning of year we did communal supplies, and I am not liking it. I guess you live and learn as a first year teacher! They are running low quickly and it has become a mess.

 If they just bring a school box, markers, and colored pencils, they can keep those coloring supplies in the school box, and I will give each child a pair of scissors and gluesticks from our supplies we already have.

I hope everyone is ok with this.

If they could bring it next week we can get them ready for January.

Thank You

Thank you for a great first semester class. I couldn't have asked for a sweeter class. Thanks for sharing your children with me everyday.

Holiday Rotation Pictures

The class had a great time celebrating holidays in all of the second grade classrooms today!

They celebrated Christmas, Kwanzaa, Chanukkah, New Years, St. Lucia, and Las Posadas.

Here are a couple pictures of them playing dreidel in our classroom for Hanukkah.

Marin and Luke playing dreidel. Marin is wearing a St. Lucia crown from the St. Lucia activity.

Carter and Jia playing dreidel.

Mollie playing dreidel.

Spencer playing dreidel.