Grade 2 News - December 2016
November was a very busy month for all of us! Your attendance and support at our recent “Animal Project Exhibit Day” was greatly appreciated. It’s hard to believe that December is already here! Please remember to dress students appropriately for outdoor recess.
READING
We have been focused on “Reading Non-fiction” using a variety of texts: books, Ranger Rick magazines, and Scholastic News articles. We learned how to find information by using many non-fiction features such as photo-graphs, close-ups, captions, headers, tables of contents, glossaries, diagrams, labels, bold print, QR codes, and more. We used our “Stop and Jot” strategy to save and record new knowledge and ideas, and to help us find answers to our questions. We also read a few realistic fiction stories with non-fiction connections such as Around the Pond: Who’s Been Here? and Animal Tracks.
Next week we will begin to focus on “Studying Characters and Their Stories” and we will think about who they are and how they respond to challenges. We will also read several “Family Tradition” themed stories throughout the month of December. Some of these stories include My First American Friend and Too Many Tamales, selections with characters, settings, problems, and solutions that second graders can readily identify with. Students will enjoy reading about these unique characters, their cultures and traditions, and their personal experiences in and around a variety of neighborhoods and communities. We will pay close attention to the characteristics, qualities and traits of these characters we read their stories. We will also continue to make cross-curricular, “Text-to-Text” and “Text-to-Self” connections.
We will focus on some specific elements that make up a story: characters, setting (time and place), problem(s), important events, and endings or solutions. Story mapping, identifying literary genres, making inferences, exploring cause and effect, sequencing events, and re-telling or summarizing stories are also important areas we will work on.
In addition, there are opportunities during our small guided groups in reading, “Daily 5” choices, and other times throughout the day to practice oral reading, increase fluency, and strengthen comprehension skills. Moreover, written responses to literature will become a new focus and will require students to reflect thinking, show evidence to support ideas, and include details to clarify answers. These are challenging skills for second graders learn, master and to apply!
LANGUAGE ARTS
“Writing Workshop” time continues play a special role in our writing. We have been focused on becoming “Information Experts” during our Reading and Writing Workshop times. By examining non-fiction mentor texts (sometimes books on the same topic by different authors, or different topics by the same author), we discovered techniques that successful writers use to make texts richer, more interesting, and pleasurable to read.
We have also used a variety of strategies and graphic organizers to help us with our reading, writing, and discussion throughout all areas of the curriculum. These have included Venn Diagrams and 4-Squares.
Our recent animal project reports in Science required a multi-step progression from brief, basic, facts recorded on a 4-Square graphic organizer, to a detailed, finished product that incorporated technology. This process gave many of you a clearer picture of what we really are able to accomplish in second grade! Moreover, students took great interest and pride in producing and sharing written work and slideshows that reflected their newly-acquired knowledge of various animals. Great work, second graders!
We continue work on strengthening our writing skills using these and other tools, strategies, and best practices. These include writing in complete sentences, and attempting to use correct spelling, capitalization, and punctuation more consistently in our daily work. We will emphasize the use of interesting word choices and well-developed ideas in our writing, as in our recent animal project reports.
Students can now check spelling (high frequency words) with their brand-new individual copies of “Words I Use When I Write” as well as other vocabulary posted in various parts of the classroom. Please encourage your child to speak in complete sentences at home. Students who routinely speak in complete sentences tend to write in complete sentences.
SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES
The “Animals Groups” unit in Science culminated with a busy and much anticipated “Animal Project Exhibit Day” in November. Family, friends, teachers, and classmates joined us to view special displays, animal reports, and slideshow. (The link to our “Animal Safari” slideshow is on my website under the “Photo Gallery” tab.) It was an exciting day, and students took great pride in sharing their wonderful work! Again, thank you for your cooperation throughout this project. Your support contributed to a very successful event!
In January, we will briefly study the topic of “Weather” in Science and explore how it impacts our daily lives as well as the earth around us. In addition to classroom activities, hands-on experiments, and observations, we will use internet resources to see first-hand how and why scientists such as meteorologists study weather and its effects. Our Science Center will contain a variety of weather-related materials for students to explore. Moreover, winter months are full of surprising weather changes and events. (Get your snow gear ready!) After that we will explore “Matter” with many hands-on activities.
In Social Studies this month we will focus on maps and basic geography. Throughout December as another topic of Social Studies, we will explore “Family Traditions” and examine some of the customs, holidays, and traditions that we celebrate at home and in our community. We will learn about and locate on maps where our ancestors came from, and will find similarities and differences in our cultural backgrounds and traditions. We will share our “Family Crests” to learn more about each other and our unique family histories, traditions, and celebrations. We will also incorporate literature into our lessons including work by author and illustrator Patricia Polacco. (Her books include Tree of the Dancing Goats, The Keeping Quilt, Thunder Cake, and Lightning In a Jar.)
MATH
In math we have concentrated on addition and subtraction concepts, computation strategies, writing and solving addition and subtraction number stories, and exploring facts families. We have used manipulatives, games, and literature to reinforce our understanding.
In the past, second grade students were expected to know addition and subtraction facts 0-10 with automaticity. (Automaticity is generally considered to be solving an addition or subtraction fact using mental math within three seconds – no fingers, number lines or charts!) The Common Core State Standards (adopted by a few years ago to replace the Massachusetts Math Frameworks) now state that by the end of second grade, students should know math facts 0-20 with automaticity. This is a big challenge for most seven and eight-year-olds, but must be practiced at home.
To practice basic math facts, I strongly encourage you to play card, dice and board games with your child. Also, use Xtra Math and other math websites noted on the back of your child’s purple homework folder, as well as links at www.chalaspalace.weebly.com.
Just before vacation, we take a week-long break from Everyday Math to examine geometry concepts through the use of pattern blocks. We will explore shapes, angles and corners, sides, symmetry, congruent figures, designs, patterns, and tessellations. We will incorporate literature such as The Greedy Triangle and Cloak For the Dreamer into our lessons to illustrate how math permeates many areas of our studies and our lives. After our vacation break we will return to Everyday Math.
Happy holidays!
Mrs. Chalas
November was a very busy month for all of us! Your attendance and support at our recent “Animal Project Exhibit Day” was greatly appreciated. It’s hard to believe that December is already here! Please remember to dress students appropriately for outdoor recess.
READING
We have been focused on “Reading Non-fiction” using a variety of texts: books, Ranger Rick magazines, and Scholastic News articles. We learned how to find information by using many non-fiction features such as photo-graphs, close-ups, captions, headers, tables of contents, glossaries, diagrams, labels, bold print, QR codes, and more. We used our “Stop and Jot” strategy to save and record new knowledge and ideas, and to help us find answers to our questions. We also read a few realistic fiction stories with non-fiction connections such as Around the Pond: Who’s Been Here? and Animal Tracks.
Next week we will begin to focus on “Studying Characters and Their Stories” and we will think about who they are and how they respond to challenges. We will also read several “Family Tradition” themed stories throughout the month of December. Some of these stories include My First American Friend and Too Many Tamales, selections with characters, settings, problems, and solutions that second graders can readily identify with. Students will enjoy reading about these unique characters, their cultures and traditions, and their personal experiences in and around a variety of neighborhoods and communities. We will pay close attention to the characteristics, qualities and traits of these characters we read their stories. We will also continue to make cross-curricular, “Text-to-Text” and “Text-to-Self” connections.
We will focus on some specific elements that make up a story: characters, setting (time and place), problem(s), important events, and endings or solutions. Story mapping, identifying literary genres, making inferences, exploring cause and effect, sequencing events, and re-telling or summarizing stories are also important areas we will work on.
In addition, there are opportunities during our small guided groups in reading, “Daily 5” choices, and other times throughout the day to practice oral reading, increase fluency, and strengthen comprehension skills. Moreover, written responses to literature will become a new focus and will require students to reflect thinking, show evidence to support ideas, and include details to clarify answers. These are challenging skills for second graders learn, master and to apply!
LANGUAGE ARTS
“Writing Workshop” time continues play a special role in our writing. We have been focused on becoming “Information Experts” during our Reading and Writing Workshop times. By examining non-fiction mentor texts (sometimes books on the same topic by different authors, or different topics by the same author), we discovered techniques that successful writers use to make texts richer, more interesting, and pleasurable to read.
We have also used a variety of strategies and graphic organizers to help us with our reading, writing, and discussion throughout all areas of the curriculum. These have included Venn Diagrams and 4-Squares.
Our recent animal project reports in Science required a multi-step progression from brief, basic, facts recorded on a 4-Square graphic organizer, to a detailed, finished product that incorporated technology. This process gave many of you a clearer picture of what we really are able to accomplish in second grade! Moreover, students took great interest and pride in producing and sharing written work and slideshows that reflected their newly-acquired knowledge of various animals. Great work, second graders!
We continue work on strengthening our writing skills using these and other tools, strategies, and best practices. These include writing in complete sentences, and attempting to use correct spelling, capitalization, and punctuation more consistently in our daily work. We will emphasize the use of interesting word choices and well-developed ideas in our writing, as in our recent animal project reports.
Students can now check spelling (high frequency words) with their brand-new individual copies of “Words I Use When I Write” as well as other vocabulary posted in various parts of the classroom. Please encourage your child to speak in complete sentences at home. Students who routinely speak in complete sentences tend to write in complete sentences.
SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES
The “Animals Groups” unit in Science culminated with a busy and much anticipated “Animal Project Exhibit Day” in November. Family, friends, teachers, and classmates joined us to view special displays, animal reports, and slideshow. (The link to our “Animal Safari” slideshow is on my website under the “Photo Gallery” tab.) It was an exciting day, and students took great pride in sharing their wonderful work! Again, thank you for your cooperation throughout this project. Your support contributed to a very successful event!
In January, we will briefly study the topic of “Weather” in Science and explore how it impacts our daily lives as well as the earth around us. In addition to classroom activities, hands-on experiments, and observations, we will use internet resources to see first-hand how and why scientists such as meteorologists study weather and its effects. Our Science Center will contain a variety of weather-related materials for students to explore. Moreover, winter months are full of surprising weather changes and events. (Get your snow gear ready!) After that we will explore “Matter” with many hands-on activities.
In Social Studies this month we will focus on maps and basic geography. Throughout December as another topic of Social Studies, we will explore “Family Traditions” and examine some of the customs, holidays, and traditions that we celebrate at home and in our community. We will learn about and locate on maps where our ancestors came from, and will find similarities and differences in our cultural backgrounds and traditions. We will share our “Family Crests” to learn more about each other and our unique family histories, traditions, and celebrations. We will also incorporate literature into our lessons including work by author and illustrator Patricia Polacco. (Her books include Tree of the Dancing Goats, The Keeping Quilt, Thunder Cake, and Lightning In a Jar.)
MATH
In math we have concentrated on addition and subtraction concepts, computation strategies, writing and solving addition and subtraction number stories, and exploring facts families. We have used manipulatives, games, and literature to reinforce our understanding.
In the past, second grade students were expected to know addition and subtraction facts 0-10 with automaticity. (Automaticity is generally considered to be solving an addition or subtraction fact using mental math within three seconds – no fingers, number lines or charts!) The Common Core State Standards (adopted by a few years ago to replace the Massachusetts Math Frameworks) now state that by the end of second grade, students should know math facts 0-20 with automaticity. This is a big challenge for most seven and eight-year-olds, but must be practiced at home.
To practice basic math facts, I strongly encourage you to play card, dice and board games with your child. Also, use Xtra Math and other math websites noted on the back of your child’s purple homework folder, as well as links at www.chalaspalace.weebly.com.
Just before vacation, we take a week-long break from Everyday Math to examine geometry concepts through the use of pattern blocks. We will explore shapes, angles and corners, sides, symmetry, congruent figures, designs, patterns, and tessellations. We will incorporate literature such as The Greedy Triangle and Cloak For the Dreamer into our lessons to illustrate how math permeates many areas of our studies and our lives. After our vacation break we will return to Everyday Math.
Happy holidays!
Mrs. Chalas