Dear Families,
Here is our week in review:
Social-Emotional Learning:
This week, the students learned more about active listening skills and how to focus their attention more efficiently. We played a game called “Sentence Switcheroo” and read a Scholastic magazine about different communities to practice these skills. Ask your child to explain.
The students also earned a huge classroom celebration for filling the classroom buzzy jar multiple times (with me and a Guest Teacher). This time, we invited Mr. Deyo’s Kindergarten class to a Reading Restaurant. The students decorated the classroom to look like a real restaurant, complete with menus, pretend food, a play sink and cash register. They “seated” their reading buddies at our decorated tables and served them books. Pictures will be shared shortly.
We had another Restorative Circle with Ms. Nicole this week too. This time, we talked about the importance of including everyone at school and shared our feelings and thoughts around being excluded.
Reading:
This week, we continued reading different books in series. Early in the week, we took a short break from longer chapter books to learn more about traditional picture books that also offer multiple books about the same characters. We read about Angelina (by Katharine Holabird) and Library Mouse (by Daniel Kirk).
We ended the week by starting our new chapter book “Greetings from Somewhere: The Mystery of the Gold Coin” by Harper Paris.
Writing:
This week, the students continued revising their writing pieces both independently and with their editing partners. They completed a piece about their favorite chapter books from our read alouds. They were encouraged to give three reasons why they chose this particular book. They did an outstanding job justifying their pick!
The students also continued practicing their spelling of trick words. Trick words are more challenging words since they do not follow the more common “sounding out” rules of most words used in second grade writing. If you want to support this learning at home, here is a link to the second grade list.based upon the Fundations program and here is a link to the second 100 high frequency words based upon the Frye list that our school uses. The students are encouraged to write these words in many different ways so they can memorize them. We use various tools in the classroom and sometimes they spell these words in bubble letters, sideways, in cursive etc. Here is a choice board with options for home. Please note this additional reading/writing is not homework nor is it required. I simply included it as options for home learning. All materials are inside your child’s Home Folder today. Thank you. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Math:
We continued to learn more about part-part-total diagrams as we decomposed numbers this week. The numbers we’re tackling are getting increasingly more complex, but the students are doing a terrific job using their strategies to justify their thinking. This week, we learned about “shifting”, a strategy that will help all mathematicians solve math problems of different kinds. Shifting is when larger groups, such as groups of tens, are moved around to find the most efficient solutions, or strategy when solving complex problems. For example, when decomposing 48, we can easily see 40+8, but knowing that groups of tens can be moved around easily is a powerful strategy, so shifting allows me to also quickly find 30+18, 20+28, etc
We continued to practice telling time to the hour and half hour using am and pm
We worked in small groups to count beans into groups of ten, which we also added together as a class.
Ms. Bassett led the students in a “Number Talk” activity, a time when the students share their mathematical thinking about a math problem using mental math. They did an excellent job!
Technology:
This week, the students got on Typing Club. We have new accounts this year. When the students receive home access, I will share this information with you. For now, they only have access at school. Thank you.
News and Reminders:
Please see the enclosed informational letter about the upcoming Book Fair at ABS inside your child’s Home Folder.
If you encounter technical problems trying to set up Dreambox, Lexia or Typing Club at home, please use the IT Help Desk link on the school portal for assistance. Thank you. I also linked it here for your convenience.
Have a great weekend,
Maria
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