Scientist of the Week: Michael

Here's another great science experiment presented by Michael!

Give it a try at home!

Mr. Grinch

Check out our amazing performance of Mr. Grinch!

Good Bye Miss Dunn!

We were all very teary today knowing today was Miss Dunn's last day!  Although she will be back to visit us frequently, Miss Dunn will be missed!   

Gracyn's Experiment: Card Shark

You will be amazed at Gracyn's experiment, check it out!

Here are the directions if you want to try it at home!

Editing Marks

In writing we are learning that writers revise and edit their work to make it "even better."  These are the editing marks we will use in our writing.  You will see these marks on our Tuesday night homework as well as on any writing we do in the classroom.  Ask your child what these marks mean!

Door Decorating Contest

Cedar is having a door decorating contest.  All the doors are amazing!  Take a look at our Polar Express Door!  I am sure the faces will look familiar!  Special thanks to Miss Dunn for all of her help creating door!

Ignore the photo copier!

Reader's Theaters

Reader's Theater is a strategy that combines reading practice and performing. Its goal is to enhance students' reading skills and confidence by having students practice reading with a purpose. We learned that remarkable readers pay attention to punctuation and how the characters are feeling to know what kind of voice they should read with. When readers add expression and read with fluency, it also helps them to understand what they read. 

We focused on reading multiple versions of the same fairytale. See if your child can share how these versions are similar and different!

Little Red Riding Hood:  Group Three

The Three Little Pigs: Group 4

Three Little Pigs: Group 3

Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig: Part One -Group 1

The True Story of the Three Little Pigs

Sam's Experiment

Be prepared to be amazed with Sam's amazing science experiment!

Here's how to do it at home!

Friend Acrostic Poem

Last week we had our first Family Gathering. The focus of our gathering was on friendship.  Each grade worked on special projects surrounding friendship.  Second graders created an acrostic poem  to show what friendship means to them.

Our next Family Gathering's focus will be on respecting others!

Maddie's Scientist Experiment

Check out how Maddie made old pennies look new and shiny again in her amazing experiment!

Try it at home!

Halloween Photos!

Our Latest Scientists

Check out our 2 latest scientists: Colin and Sophie!

Retelling

We've learned that a job of a reader is to retell the stories we read!  If you haven't checked out our Knuffle Bunny retells, they are unbelievable!  The kids broke up into three groups and worked on retelling one of the Knuffle Bunny stories.  We then used Explain Everything to record our retells!  Ask your child what the ingredients of a retell are!

Earth's Materials Slide Shows

Class Updates

We are very busy in second grade!  Here are some updates:

Reading: We are learning that readers make predictions before and during their reading.  Reading the pictures, the story's title, and looking at the characters' faces give us clues that help  make our predictions powerful!  We are now working on retelling fiction stories!  Stay tuned for more information on retelling!

Math: We are just finishing up our 2nd unit in enVisions: Addition Strategies.  Doubles, near doubles, and making ten are some of the strategies we can use when adding!  We are also working hard to use math vocabulary when we talk about math.  Ask your child about these words: addend, sum, number sentence, part and whole.  We will continue to post math videos on the enVision website for families to use as a resource.  Watching the videos nightly is a great reinforcement of the day's concepts.  Please be sure math facts are practiced nightly.  "The Great Websites" section on the blog has some great sites to practice facts!

Writing: Now that we've spent some time learning about the three types of writing (narrative, expository, and opinion) the class will have multiple opportunities this year to write in these genres.
Check out our expository writing about fall!  This week we used the information we learned about fall for opinion writing.  Ask your child to share his/her opinion on fall!  Our next focus will be on using specific, vivid language when we write.

Science: We are learning that the earth is made up of rocks, soil, water, and living things.  The kids partnered up to create Earth's Materials Slideshows in Google Drive!  We will post these amazing slideshows on the blog very soon!

Scientist of the Week: Thomas

Thomas wowed us with his experiment, "Plants Eat Too."  Check it out!

If you'd like to try the experiment at home, here it is!

More Daily Five!

Here are some photos of  the kids during the Daily Five.  Ask your child to tell you about listen to reading, work on writing, and word work!

Work on writing: We use the timers to give us time to draw
 a picture and write in our journals!

We write the whole time, stay in one spot, get started
 write away, and work quietly!

We build our writing stamina!

We have choice over what we write about!

During word work we play hands-on games
that reinforce phonics and language concepts.

We work with partners during word work.

Daily Five: Reading Stamina

We reached 15 minutes on our stamina graphs!

What does this mean?  It means during Read To Self students...

• Stayed in one spot
• Read the whole time
• Got started right away
• Read quietly

for an entire 15 minutes!  This is very impressive!

Ask your child to tell you how the I-PICK strategy helped him/her to choose right books!

Updates and Photos!

• Thanks for all the supplies everyone's been sending in!  We can't thank you enough for all of your donations!
• Be sure to sign your child's daily detective report NIGHTLY!
• We enjoyed meeting many of you at curriculum night.  If we didn't have the opportunity to connect last week, please don't hesitate to contact us via phone or email.
• Here are some new photos!