Dear Families,
I hope everyone had a fun and relaxing Thanksgiving break with your loved ones. It was great to see the students again and listen to their stories about their adventures over break.
Here is our week in review:
Social-Emotional Learning:
This week, we reviewed some of the strategies we have learned at school to stay engaged as a learner. We also started our unit on empathy. In this unit, the students will participate in many different activities to explore how we can show empathy to people around us. This week, we started making a “feelings cube” which we will use to play some various games with. Ask your child to explain more.
We had a restorative circle with Ms. Nicole. This week, we reviewed some of the expectations when we meet in circle. The students also had the opportunity to share something new and exciting about themselves. They did a great job.
Your child has a new Second Step Home Link assignment inside the Home Folders this week. As always these assignments are optional but we hope parents and their children engage in these conversations at home. Thank you.
Reading:
The students listened to the book “Chicken in Space'' by Adam Lehrhaupt and learned about perseverance and how having a growth mindset can help us tackle problems. They also learned that good readers think deeply about the books they read. They also make personal connections and write about the books they read.
We started a new read aloud again too. In the next few weeks we will explore graphic novels . We read the first couple of books in the series Noodleheads together and the students were immersed in several graphic novels to read during independent reading time. They also received graphic novel paper/booklet pages to create their own! Please look for those coming home!
Writing:
We will continue our writing unit on personal narratives/small moments until our upcoming holiday break in late December. The students started a new piece for possible publication this week. Our amazing authors started new writing pieces this week by reflecting the 5 Ws, setting the stage for the reader by including who was there, where the story took place, when it happened, while addressing why this particular event occurred and describing what happened. Personal narratives are true stories that already took place and the writers write stories about themselves. Many students chose to write about a special event that took place over Thanksgiving break. In the weeks to come, the students will add new text features to this type of writing. For example, they will learn how to add sound words and effective transition words, indicating time change. Stay tuned.
Math:
Second grade mathematicians reviewed and caught up on our telling time calendar pieces from our number corner math calendar. As discussed in previous newsletters, second grade mathematicians are expected to learn how to tell time to the nearest five minutes, using both an analog and a digital clock.
Second grade mathematicians also reviewed place value concepts and relative magnitude, using our number paths. Through number talks, they were encouraged to think about what they already know about numbers before procedurally solving equations. For example, 48+24 can be solved by anchoring 48 to 50. 48 is only 2 away from 50 and that strategy might help us as mathematicians. Mathematicians might also want to anchor to larger groups of tens, starting with 40 and twenty. Mathematicians rely on flexible strategies for different situations.
Science:
Harmony House had another 4 Winds class this week. We were treated to another puppet show in our kiva, followed by hands-on activities, learning about birds and migration.
The students on Harmony House also participated in our first science rotation on earth structures, landforms and changes. For the next few weeks, the students will rotate between our classrooms to learn more about slow and fast landform changes during these science classes.
News and Reminders:
It is getting cold outside. Please make sure your child comes fully dressed for outdoor play every day. Hats, mittens/gloves, boots and snow pants are best for outdoor recess.
Please remember that we have snack every day as well. Please talk to your child about packing healthy snacks that your child will eat to help with sustained active learning engagement throughout the day. Water bottles are needed as well. Thank you.
ABS school gear forms are due Monday. We are unable to take any late orders as we need to have time for the order to be processed and completed before December break. Here is the order form should you need another copy. Here is the link for what the shirts look like this year!
Have a great weekend,
Maria
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