Family Newsletter

 Dear Families,

Here is our week in review:

Social-Emotional Learning:

• We read another book in the Global Read Aloud series.  This time we read “The year we learned how to fly” by Jacqueline Woodson, a story about a sister and a brother who follows their grandma’s advice on a dark and rainy day when they felt bored.  Their grandma said,  Lift your arms, close your eyes, take a deep breath, and believe in a thing. Somebody, somewhere at some point was just as bored you are now.”The children in the story used their imagination and worked together to find something enjoyable to do. We made personal connections to this book and the students shared about a time when they had felt bored and used their imagination to solve a problem.

• Ms. Nicole visited our class for another restorative circle too. This time, the students learned more about how other peoples’ perspectives and thoughts are different from our own.  The students also learned that sometimes we care deeply about what other people think about things, other times we do not.  The students practiced perspective-taking by sharing what they think other people might appreciate and admire about them and what they wish other people knew about them.  They did great sharing their ideas.

Reading:

• This week, the students participated in the district-wide reading assessment on iReady.  Some students also read with me or another teacher to complete the end-of-the-year Fountas and Pinnell reading assessments.  These assessments take a deeper look at reading accuracy, reading fluency and reading comprehension.

• We started a new chapter book.  This time, the students made the choice. They chose “Flat Stanley’s Worldwide Adventures: The Mount Rushmore Calamity” by Jeff Brown.   This story is the first book in a series of worldwide adventures that involves Flat Stanley and his family.

Writing:

• The students put their final touches on their animal research reports.  The books are bound together and ready for publication!  

• The students decided on what end-of-the-unit project they will create and made a list of materials they need in order to accomplish this.  The list of materials had to reflect items/objects from school to make sure the final project is reasonable and doable.  The students had to make a plan how to accomplish this final project, complete with step-by-step action steps and time management skills.  They did great!

Math:

• This week, second grade mathematicians learned a new tangram game and explored other geometry games.  They are learning more about quadrilateral shapes and how to identify and draw various shapes.

• This week, second grade mathematicians also had the opportunity to take the district-wide iReady Math Assessment.

Field-trip to Shelburne Museum:

• Our field-trip to Shelburne Museum is scheduled for Thursday May 25.  Buses will leave ABS around 8-8:30 and return to ABS in time for regular dismissal.  Your child will need weather-appropriate clothes as we will be outside all day, visiting the different workshops.  Your child will need to bring a snack, a water bottle and a packed lunch.  Your child will also carry his/her backpack all day so please empty it of other contents to make it less heavy.  Please let me know if your child will order a packed lunch from school.  If that is the case, I will need to let the cafeteria staff know as soon as possible.  Thank you.  We have many parent chaperones (thank you parents!).  As a result, we can create small groups of students.  Each group will follow their own path in terms of learning as we all get a Shelburne Museum Passport/Map to follow.  We are very excited to go on this trip together.  Traditionally, parent chaperones do not ride the bus since we have very limited space.  If you are a parent chaperone, please meet us by the Museum Store around 9-9:30am. 

News and Reminders:

• All library books due Friday, May 26th

• Harmony’s Celebration of Learning is scheduled for 6/8 between 7:30-8:30.  Family members are welcome to visit our classrooms to see various classroom projects, writing samples and math from the school year.

• The Scholastic Book Fair is coming to ABS soon.  Please see this link for more information.

Have a great weekend,

Maria

Family Newsletter

 Dear Families,

Here is our week in review:

Social-Emotional Learning:

• This week, we learned more about emotional management.  The students learned that when we experience strong feelings, it is difficult to think clearly and rationally.  When people experience strong feelings, the “thinking part of the brain”, the prefrontal cortex, does not function well and your “emotional part of the brain” takes over.  It can be difficult to get back on track to think calmly and rationally too.  The students acted out what happens in the brain by using our hand as a visual representation of the different parts of the brain.  Your child has a Second Step HomeLink assignment to do, which explains this in more detail.  As always these assignments are voluntary, but we strongly encourage parents to engage in these conversations at home too.  Learning inhibitory control, self-regulation and self awareness are life skills that develop with continued practice and support.  Thank you for considering.

• This week in our restorative circles, we discussed the importance of sharing the auditory space with other learners, peers and adults.  The students played some games practicing “sharing just enough” and “staying on topic”.  It was tricky but they did a great job.  Again, with continued practice and support, young children can learn to develop skills in these areas as well.  You might want to try this at home too.  At dinner time, for example, pick a topic of conversation.  Everybody at the table gets to share just one thing about the topic, then, switch to another topic.  Make it more challenging and see how many rounds around the table you can go with different topics before someone shares too much or changes the topic!

Reading:

• This week, we continued reading in various settings and groups.  We had partner reading in our classroom and we met with our reading buddies from Ms. Emily’s class.  

• The students explored non-fiction magazines and shared new information on post-it notes.

• We started some end-of-the-year reading assessments in class.  For the next few weeks, I will administer a variety of literacy assessments to all second graders.  Some assessments will also be online per our district guidelines.

Writing:

• Second grade authors did an outstanding job following our classroom “To Do List” to make sure that all animal research components were completed on time.  I am so proud of their ability and willingness to sustain attention and stick to our writing plan.  They did it!  Their animal research writing is done.  Next week, the students will start creating their own animal project to reflect their understanding  This year, the students will choose between making a poster, a google slideshow, a SeeSaw presentation or a diorama.  We will share their projects at our End-of-the-Year Celebration of Learning.

Math:

• Second grade mathematicians continued working on geometry this week.  

• Second grade mathematicians also learned about arrays and repeated addition representations and equations.  The students learned that repeated addition sentences can look different visually, depending upon the number of objects in each row and column, but that the total sum still remains the same. The students learned a new partner game called “How close to 100” to practice these skills.  I think this game is a new favorite in our classroom!  Ask your child to explain how it works.

Science:

• The students on Harmony started science workshops this week and rotated through several workshops between the different classrooms while learning about the moon, the stars and the earth’s rotation.

Field-trip to Shelburne Museum:

• Our field-trip to Shelburne Museum is scheduled for Thursday May 25.  Buses will leave ABS around 8-8:30 and return to ABS in time for regular dismissal.  Your child will need weather-appropriate clothes as we will be outside all day, visiting the different workshops.  Your child will need to bring a snack, a water bottle and a packed lunch.  Your child will also carry his/her backpack all day so please empty it of other contents to make it less heavy.  Please let me know if your child will order a packed lunch from school.  If that is the case, I will need to let the cafeteria staff know as soon as possible.  Thank you.  We have many parent chaperones (thank you parents!).  As a result, we can create small groups of students.  Each group will follow their own path in terms of learning as we all get a Shelburne Museum Passport/Map to follow.  We are very excited to go on this trip together.  Traditionally, parent chaperones do not ride the bus since we have very limited space.  If you are a parent chaperone, please meet us by the Museum Store around 9-9:30am.  

News and Reminders:

• All library books due Friday, May 26th

• Harmony’s Celebration of Learning is scheduled for 6/8 between 7:30-8:30.  Family members are welcome to visit our classrooms to see various classroom projects, writing samples and math from the school year.

• ABS students will visit WCS on Thursday 5/18 for the Sterling Play.  Buses will leave ABS around 8-8:20 and return to ABS around 9:30.

Have a great weekend,

Maria