V-A-C-A-TION

     Whoo hoo for February vacation.   I hope everyone is looking forward to this break.   

     This week has been jam packed with holiday fun.  We learned about the presidents for Presidents' Day, celebrated Valentine's Day, and the 100th day of school.

     Students did an EXCELLENT job presenting their dioramas.  It so much fun learning things from each other. 

     We started subtraction with regrouping.  We took to it easily but it got a little tricky today when we mixed problems of addition and subtraction.  That's exactly what we will work on more after vacation. 

     Student's spent a lot of time playing games this week.  They played money games, subtraction games, 2D shape games, pronoun and contraction games to name a few.  Learning is so much more fun when it's a game. 

Kindness

      This week has been ALL ABOUT KINDNESS.  We started by watching a video, read aloud of a wonderful book titled Each Kindness.  It was not available at the library and I felt that this story couldn't wait.  It's about a girl who realizes the importance of being kind a little too late.  We have created two kindness books and started a kindness wall in the hall.  Mrs. J, the school counselor, visited on Monday and gave us a lesson on The Golden Rule and empathy.  She checked in again on Thursday to see how things were going.  We are making progress and will continue to emphasis the importance of being kind throughout the year. 





     Our dioramas look fantastic.  We have finished writing our reports and will start presenting next week.  This is a super exciting time in second grade.  Students are very proud of their work, as they should be. 

     In math, we have been learning about 2D shapes.  Have your student explain what a polygon is.  We have also started subtraction with regrouping.  Ask your child to explain this saying: More on the floor, go next door.

     This is the first year EVERY student got an A+ on their map quiz!  YIPPEE

     One more week until vacation. 

Persuasive Writing

     This week we wrote a persuasive writing piece on our favorite season.  They came out GREAT.  I have to say, I'm really impressed by the quality of the students' writing.  No doubt it stems from their experiences last year with Writer's Workshop.  I love it.

     Animal written reports are due on Monday.  We will start putting our information into a report in class.  Diorama's are due on Friday.  We won't be presenting until the following week so if you need a few extra days to complete it, that's okay.  Just be sure it's ready to go Monday morning.  Each student will read their report and share their projects with the class.  We will spread this out over a couple of days.

     Next week's mentor text will be all about kindness.  I tell the student's often that kind is the only thing you HAVE to be at all times.  Our class will start a kindness board to celebrate the kind things we notice every day.

     I hope everyone is cheering for the Patriots today.  Jason isn't, but I love him anyway.  I'm ready if anything happens and Coach Belichick needs to put me in!!