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.