Newsletter 1/26

Miss Emily from the Darien Nature Center visited us on Monday and taught us about animals in the winter.  Some are active, others hibernate or migrate.  We learned what animals do which.  We got to touch animals

We continued our unit "Bigger Books, Bigger Reading Muscles" this week, carefully examining pattern books and being on the lookout for pattern breaks.  Sometimes authors try to trick you at the end of the book and you have to use super powers to figure it out!  We also had a "Whole Class Conversation", which is unlike any other time of day (see photo of anchor chart).  At this time, students are encouraged to have a conversation that flows naturally (no teacher direction) about a book we've read multiple times, not raising hands and giving everyone who wants to a chance to participate.  We recorded our "big ideas" about dragonflies on the white board.  We learned and wondered about so much!

We are excited to use post-its in our reading, too.  Readers often find a "WOW moment" or a place where they wonder or are stuck.  We mark these with a post it to remember to discuss this spot with a peer.

We began a new unit in Writing Workshop called "How Tos".  We are writing non-fiction pieces that teach the reader how to do something, in organized steps.  We read mentor texts and tried to write the same way.  We were inspired by some authors from Mrs. Battersby's second grade who visited us and shared their published pieces.  Very impressive!

Math is all about TEEN numbers right now!  What are they?  How are they made?  We worked on numeral identificaition, composing and decomposing teens into tens and ones, and using addition notation to record each composition.  We noticed that teens are always made up of 10 + another number 1-9.  It's a pattern!  10+1, 10+2, 10+3... etc. We played math games to become more familiar with this concept.  Notice and point out teen numbers at home, too!

We continue to "tap out" words in our phonics lessons and are moving forward with lower case letters in handwriting lessons.

We went to our "observation station" and examined our tree outside during our science times this week.  It has changed so much since the fall!  Ask your child about how.

News and Notes:

• book sleeves are due on Monday
• Look for a note about Valentines Day coming home in your child's backpack today
• Save the Date: 2/14 at 9:30 am: Kindergarten Valentines Day Music Show!
• Your child can now play Dreambox at home. See the email sent home for more information.
• It's almost the 100th Day!  Have you sent in your 5 cans of tuna fish for our collection?  Thank you!

Hearing our heartbeats with Miss Emily

What we know and wonder about dragonflies

Building teen numbers

2nd Grade writers visit

Choice Time fun!

Scientific observations

Using Post-its in Reading Workshop

How to Clean Up and How to Go to the Doctor

Newsletter 1/19

In Reading Workshop this week, we learned how to play a reading game with our partners called "Guess What Comes Next".  This game is played with books that have patterns of words.  We have to be careful, because as books get harder, the patterns break!  We read a ton of bear books this week, too.  We read fiction and nonfiction bear books, and bear poems.  We even read TO our bears!  See the photos below.

As a group, we have learned a lot of sight words.  See the photo below to know which ones we've learned together.  Everyone also has their individual sight word rings as well.

We sharpened our editing skills in Writing Workshop this week.  Check out a morning message that we had to edit in the photos below.  We edited our narrative pieces and then celebrated by sharing our work with Mrs. Battersby's second graders!

We continue to measure in math, using wooden sticks as units of measurement this week.  We measured hidden lines all over the room.  We played a new game called "Double Compare" with a partner.  Each student pulled two cards from the deck, added them together to get the total and then compared the totals.  We also did another Exemplar.  If I am making six gingerbread men, and using raisins for eyes, how many raisins will I need for them all?

On Teddy Bear Day, we sang and read to our bears.  We wrote about our bears, too.  We read the classic book, Corduroy and then made our own bears to decorate the room.  Now we have bears hanging from the ceiling!  Last, we tucked them in and said "Goodnight", but they didn't go to sleep!  See the photos below to see what they did!

We did one of my favorite lessons in Second Steps this week- we learned about empathy.  Empathy is looking at someone and being able to understand how s/he feels.  Please use the word "empathy" at home when appropriate.

News and Notes:

• Book sleeves due Monday.
• Valentines Show (everyone's invited!) on 2/14 at 9:30 am
• Please send back your smocks by next Tuesday.
• Has your child logged on to Raz-Kids at home?  Don't forget!  I have made an individualized reading account for your child.  Check it out.  

Measuring with sticks

Can you find the 6 errors?

Our new Reading Workshop partners!

Our shared sight word wall

Look at how we found our bears on Friday morning!

Our publishing party!

Celebrating with second graders

Newsletter 1/11/18

We are beginning a new unit in Reading Workshop called "Bigger Books, Bigger Reading Muscles!".  We are all growing as readers and strengthening our super powers!  We examined different level books this week and noticed the attributes of harder texts.  If we are going to read harder books, we need to be on the lookout!  We also need to increase our reading stamina.  To do so, it helps to have a reading plan.  So, after reading a great Elephant and Piggie book called We Are In A Book!, everyone received a reading mat to help them make a reading plan for every day.  Ask your child about how the mat works and see the photos below.

We read Ezra Jack Keats' story Peter's Chair this week, and really dug deep into understanding his character.  Many students made meaningful connections with this great book.

 We learned how to "tap" in our phonics lessons this week.  "Tapping" is a kinesthetic approach for sounding out words.  We learned how to touch our fingers and say each sound in words like mat, map, mad, sad, etc.  Tapping will strengthen reading and writing skills.  Ask your child to show you how to tap one of those words.  We just did one lesson on this, but will continue all year.

We are getting ready to publish our narrative writing pieces!  We chose a piece to publish and, just like real authors, we are using an "editor" (writing partner) to help us improve it!  In this unit we focused on cleaning up our writing and telling a story in more detail.  

We did two Exemplars recently, each about counting pairs.  We are using different strategies to solve problems: diagrams, ten frames and number lines.  See some of our problem solving in the photos below.

We also worked on measuring with cubes this week.  We had a blast measuring everyone's foot outline, recording the data, and then putting them all in order from shortest to longest!  Check out the photos below.

Why don't we have school on Monday?  Who was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.?  This is my favorite time of year as I get to introduce the students to many historical figures for the first time!  What an honor.  We learned about Dr. Martin Luther King's ideas and how he helped change unfair laws.

Everyone became more familiar with the Raz-Kids website this week and students can now access their own reading libraries at home!  

News and Notes:

• Book Sleeves are due on TUESDAY.  Enjoy the long weekend!
• Scholastic orders must be placed by 3:45 pm on Thursday, 1/18.  Late orders will not be processed until next month.
• Send back your child's Rough Draft Folder if you have not done so already.
• Ox Ridgers are going to a SOUND TIGERS hockey game and their mascot Storm came to school!  Check out the Hoot for info on how to get tickets.  The more friends, the more fun!

Our feet in order of length

Measuring math fun!

One of our Exemplars. This student successfully used a diagram.

Successful use of a ten frame used in the "pair-wise" position

Successful use of a ten frame and a number line

Conferencing with our "editors" in Writing Workshop

Choosing a piece to publish

Our reading mats

Our set up reading mats help us to read more texts for longer amounts of time

Storm is coming!  Getting ready for his visit!

Here he is!