Jane Goodall

     This week's mentor text was Me......Jane, a story about Jane Goodall when she was young.  When I read aloud the story for the first time, I did not show the class any of the pictures.  On our second read through, I showed the illustrations and we talked how much pictures add to the meaning of the text.  We watched a video on Gorillas and made observation notes and pretended we were scientist, just like Jane.  

     We also started a little poetry unit.  This week, I asked the students to bring in a poem to share with the class.  It can be one the they find online, in a book or even one they write themselves.  Children have until Friday to bring in their poem. I have also invited our school staff to come in and read us a poem.  Mr. Z read a funny poem to us today about a twin that forgot his brother's birthday.   

     Students wrote all about things we did in March and completed a self portrait which is being saved for a special end of the year surprise.. They also wrote about their favorite book.  

    We are continuing to practice our addition and subtraction with regrouping.  I'd really like all students to have completed XTRAMATH addition by the end of vacation week.  Children will be required to log on each day this week in class.  Hopefully they will also log on during vacation.  It is a realistic goal.

     

     

March

     Can you believe March is almost over?  2019 is flying by!  Students have been working very hard this month.  We celebrated St. Patrick's day with lots of fun Irish themed centers.  We even completed a science experiment with Skittles.  

       In Science, the children have been studying landforms.  We are currently focusing on forms of water on Earth.  Subtracting with regrouping is what we have been working on in math.  The class is really getting the hang of it.  

     

     Students have been reading lots of GREAT books as well.  Different groups of students are reading different titles.  We just started a new book this week.  Be sure to ask your child about it and the one they just finished.  

Happy New Year

     The last few months flew by like a blur.  Our class is back into a "routine" after a crazy holiday season.  This week we finished reading about Flat's Stanley's African adventure and have been reading Tacky the Penguin books.  I LOVE Tacky.   He's "an odd bird but a good bird to have around'.  Tacky is quite different from his companions and he always seems to save the day.  We have more Tacky stories in store for next week and this will lead right into our nonfiction reading and writing about penguins.

     Next week we will be studying Martin Luther King, Jr.  Mrs. Comeiro started us off this week by reading a story about Ruby Bridges to the class.  If you don't know who Ruby Bridges is, ask your student.  Be sure to also ask why I have Mrs. Comeiro read that story instead of me.

     In science we have been learning about weathering, erosion and deposition for the past few week.  We will wrap up this topic next week.

     Math lessons are moving smoothly.  This month I have been teaching my LEAST favorite things in all of second grade, time and money.  We have finished time, although we will continue to review, and are focusing on money.  PLEASE, PLEASE,  PLEASE support your child at home.  Have him/her identify, sort, and count the change in your pockets each day.  Be sure your child can count by 5's, 10's, and 25's.  Children don't have much real world experience with money in this day in age. Success will be difficult without your help and PRACTICE at home.


   

Scaredy Squirrel

     This week was Scaredy Squirrel week. Scaredy is one of my favorite storybook characters.  He's afraid of everything.  He creates emergency plans that never work, plays dead, then realizes there is nothing to be afraid of.

     Students have started studying habitats.  We sorted living things from both a pond and rain forest habitat.  Next week we will explore desert and arctic habitats.

     We have been measuring and estimating measurements all week.   This week's focus was on inches, and feet.  We will be measuring in centimeters and meters soon.

     Today, I played the music for our holiday program for the first time in class.  The children have been practicing for weeks in music class, but I hadn't watched.   SUCH FUN.   The kids were having the best time singing and dancing.  It's going to be a spectacular program.

     Next Friday we will have a test on locating continents and oceans on a map.  A study guide will be sent home on Monday, so be sure to watch for it.

Halloween

     Halloween seems like so long ago.  Students had lots of fun Trick or Trek-ing around the school.  My understanding is over $15,000 was raised by the PTO.  That's just amazing.

     We have been reading one of my favorite stories ever this week, The Rough-Faced Girl.  I cry every time I read the happy ending.   Today, we focused on the main idea of the beginning, middle and end.  Earlier this week, we compared and contrasted the story to another very famous fairytale.  Ask your child which one?  Let your student compare and contrast the two stories for you.

Describing with adjectives.

    Students have worked hard turning their heritage homework into a narrative.  I'm looking forward to having the students share them next week.  Thank you for all your help at home with this assignment.  If you'd like to come into class to share even more about your family's heritage or traditions, we'd love to have you.

     In math, we've been solving word problems, one of the trickiest things for second graders.  I encourage students to underline the question to ensure they know what is being asked of them.  Students should then circle the numbers in the problem that they will use to solve it.  When they have an answer, students should go back to the question to be sure their answer makes sense.  VERY TRICKY STUFF and we will practice all year long.

     We have finished growing our plants and learning about what plants need and have moved on to animal/plant dependence.  Today we used craft materials to try to spread pollen and seeds like insects and other animals do.  It was fun.  

     Lucky us had TWO mystery readers today.  I encourage all families to participate, so let me know if you are ready to set up a time.  It takes ten minutes and students are thrilled to share both their worlds, home and school, with each other.   You can bring in your favorite story, or I can have one ready for you.

   

Crankenstein

     Crankenstein is such a fun story which led us to lots of fun activities.  We read Crankenstein and Crankenstein Valentines by Samantha Berger.  Crankenstein is a boy who is very cranky until he meets a cranky friend.  We used this mentor text to brainstorm adjective describing Crankenstein and illustrated him.  Students did their best writing of the year, describing what makes both themselves and Crankenstein cranky.  We used macaroni to appropriately add quotation marks to sentences that related to the text.

     Thank you to the Woburn Fire Department for bringing their smoke house and teaching us about fire safety.  Hopefully, you have all checked the batteries on your smoke detectors and mapped out two different exits in case of an emergency.  Don't forget to pick a meeting place for the family to gather outside your home.

     We've been tracking the effect of both water and sunlight on our lima bean plants.   There are some changes happening.  Be sure to ask your child about it.

     It was wonderful to see how enthusiastic students were to make a heart for David, a little boy that they have never met, who is awaiting a new heart.  Our fingers are crossed for David and I heard he LOVED the hearts he received.

     Of course, I could not let this week pass without a little baseball in class.  Here are some stories the children read.  

GO SOX!!!!

Monsters and Bats

     These past few weeks have been fun.  We read lots of great stories.  The children loved I Need My Monster, a story about a boy whose monster went fishing and left him with substitutes that just weren't good enough.  Students then created their own monsters and wrote about them.  We also started a little unit on bats.  We've read both fiction and nonfiction books on this fun creature.  We haven't finished yet and will be going "batty" next week as well.  

     Our class completed another chapter book, Ready Freddy, and have moved on to The Haunted Library, which is one of my absolute favorites.

     We had TWO mystery readers, Miss Ginger and Mrs. Crampton.  We'd love to have parents come read to.  Let me know if you are interested and we will set up a time.  SHHHH!  Have the fun is the anticipation and guessing of who our mystery reader could be.

     Our lima beans have grown enough for us to start our experiments.  We will be collecting data on plants with varied amounts of light and water.  Student made predictions on what they THOUGHT might happen.  Stay tuned!!