How Can It Be Week 23???

                                                                                         

                                                                                    February 1, 2016

Dear Bighorns,

Miss Garcia and myself can't believe we just changed the calendar pieces from January to February!!  How can we be done with the first calendar month of the year???

In math 2nd grade students have been working very hard using previously learned strategies (open number line-last week and branch models-this week) renaming the ones and tens to add and subtract within one thousand.  This work involves a lot of decomposing and composing of numbers.  Students are showing their ability with number flexibility as they are catching on very quickly.

Examples from last week…

Addition

450  +  90 = ___       1.  The next hundred after 450 is 500.

          ↙ ↘              2.  To get to 500 you need 50, so the 90 get decomposed into 50 and 40.

      50   40                3.  The renamed equation is 500 + 40 = 540.

500 + 40 = 540           4.  Check by using the open number line.

Subtraction

56  -  7 = ____     1.  The last ten before 56 is 50.

       ↙ ↘              2.  To get to 50 you need to subtract 6, so the 7 gets decomposed into 6 and 1.     

     6    1                   Then take the 6 and subtract it from the 56 to make 50.

56 -6 = 50            3.  The renamed equation is 50 - 1 = 49.

50 - 1 = 49           4.  Check by using the open number line.

Examples for this week…

Renaming the ones.

606   +   145  =                                    1.  Decompose addends by place value.

      ↙↓↘         ↙↓↘                            2.  Group hundreds.  Group tens.  Group ones.

     600  0   6   100 40  5                     3.  Add hundreds.  Add tens.  Add ones.

(600 + 100) + (0 + 40) + (6 + 5)           4.  Decompose the ones place to rename.

      700       +     40     +     11              5.  Write and solve renamed equation.          

                                          ↙ ↘

                                        10   1

      700        +     50     +     1 =  751

Renaming the tens.

256   +    371  =                           1.  Decompose addends by place value.

         ↙↓↘         ↙↓↘                      2.  Group hundreds.  Group tens.  Group ones.

  200  50  6  300 70 1                   3.  Add hundreds.  Add tens.  Add ones

(200 + 300) + (50 + 70) + (6 + 1)  4.  Decompose the tens place to rename.

                      ↙ ↘                         5.  Decompose the tens place to rename hundreds place.

                     20 30                       6.  Write and solve renamed equation.  

500     +     120     +     7

                  ↙ ↘

               100  20

600    +    20    +    7  = 627

Homework

Due to our work in math over the next couple of weeks, 2nd grade homework for this week will be worksheets.

Valentine’s Day

Since Valentine’s Day falls on a Sunday this year, Oasis Academy will not be holding parties for Valentine’s Day or having students pass out Valentines.  With Valentine’s Day included in the long President’s Day Weekend, Oasis families are encouraged to celebrate Valentine’s Day with their families.

With the crazy (but fun) weather this weekend, we’re hoping that the upcoming week warms up a bit.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Bloomfield

      and

Miss Garcia

Reading Information from Mrs. Loop...

Hello Second Grade Families,

We will be working on spelling words with the “ink” spelling pattern this week.   We will also be continuing to identify prefixes and suffixes in words.  Please continue to have your child read aloud to you nightly.  Your children are capable readers but they still need an audience to listen to them to ensure that they are reading correctly and making sense of what they read.  Please sit with your child for 20 minutes each night and listen to them read.  Listen also for reading fluency which is reading like you talk.  Homework reminder -- All Bighorns should be reading 20 minutes each night.  If your child doesn't bring a book home to read please have them choose a book from home to read.  

Happy reading,

Katy Loop

Week 22

                                                                                                           January 25, 2016
Dear Parents,

Although last was short due to the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday on Monday, the students of Room 17 had a very busy and productive week!

Math
Our work in Math last week and for the next few weeks will be focusing on addition and subtraction with renaming.  We will be using the same strategies (open number line, branch method, and partial sums and differences) that students have already been taught.

This week we worked on decomposing and composing ones and tens to help us make the next ten or next 100 so that we could easily add.
Here's what it looked like...

 Example 1:  Adding ones by making the next ten.

56  +  7 = ____          1.  The next ten after 56 is 60.

        ↙ ↘                     2.  To get to 60 you need 4, so the 7 gets decomposed into 4 and 3.

      4    3                         Then take the 4 and compose it with the 56 to make 60. 

60 + 3 = 63 3.  The renamed equation is 60 + 3 = 63.

Example 2:  Adding tens by making the next hundred.

450  +  90 = ___        1.  The next hundred after 450 is 500.

          ↙ ↘                  2.  To get to 500 you need 50, so the 90 get decomposed into 50 and

      50   40                      40. Then take the 50 and compose it with the 450 to make 500.

500 + 40 = 540 3.  The renamed equation is 500 + 40 = 540.

After solving the equation, students used the open number strategy to check their answers.

Homework

As was mentioned last week homework for the week will be worksheets because the standards being worked on are not on IXL. This will be the case for the next few weeks.

Writing

Our work in writing is moving into informative writing.  We are learning how to research and will use the information to write an animal report.  Right now as a class we are working on researching kangaroos.  Students will eventually be pairing up to research an animal of their choice.

Language

Students using a thesaurus

It's all about vocabulary in language.  Students have been learning about synonyms (words that have the same meaning).  We have been learning about and using a thesaurus and thesaurus.com to find stronger words.  Students have also been working on ordering groups of synonyms by intensity.  We are incorporating some of our new vocabulary words into our speaking and writing

Projects

During projects students are learning about maps.  This week students took some time looking at different maps.  The focus was identifying the title of the map and the symbols being used on the maps.

Valentine's Day

Sharing a special talent!!

Here is some information from Mrs. Loop...

Just a reminder...since Valentine's Day falls on the weekend. The students of Oasis Academy will not be celebrating it with parties or bringing valentines to school. We hope that you will enjoy celebrating this holiday at home with your family.
Looking forward to another fabulous week in 2nd grade!!

Sincerely,

Anne Bloomfield

Hello Second Grade Families,

We will be working on spelling words with the “old” spelling pattern this week.  Students have really enjoyed the “Tic-Tac-Know” spelling practice that they have been doing each day in reading class to review their spelling words.  Past spelling tests have been sent home and I have been pleased with the student’s progress with their spelling.  Keep practicing spelling at home and when they are answering comprehension questions at home about their assigned books please encourage your child to use their books to spell words correctly.  It is time for second graders to begin using resources more consistently in spelling unknown words correctly as third grade is right around the corner.  Last week we began reading Wonder Stories and the kids did a great job answering questions about the text by highlighting where in the story the answer can be found.  This is something they should be practicing at home when answering questions about their assigned books (without the highlighter, of course).  This week we will begin learning about prefixes and suffixes.

Homework reminder -- All Bighorns should be reading 20 minutes each night.  If your child doesn't bring a book home to read please have them choose a book from home to read.  

Happy reading,

Katy Loop

Week of January 18, 2016

                                                                                                    January 18, 2016

Dear Parents,

I hope everyone enjoyed the Martin Luther King Day long weekend.  It was certainly nice to have the extra day!

In celebration of MLK Jr. week we will be discussing racism, equality and inequality.  The students have been really enthralled by the information that they have been learning.  We have some discussions during class time however, this is also a great time to incorporate discussion at home with your second grader.  You can also discuss what is fair vs. unfair in the past compared to present day.

This week in math we will focus on...strategies for regrouping and decomposing/composing strategies in math.  

There will be NO IXL, however, your child will have worksheets dealing with these concepts.  Please remember that your child may choose IXL to practice at home.

We have been having some trouble with mice in the classroom. I set some traps and caught two over the weekend. Because I want to keep our classroom mice free, I will be having students bring home uneaten snacks daily. Any snacks left at the end of day will be properly disposed.

Thank You,

Mrs. Bloomfield and Miss Garcia

Here's some information from Mrs. Loop...

Hello Second Grade Families,

I hope everyone had a restful long weekend with Martin Luther King Day.  This week in Language Arts class we will continue working on identifying author’s purpose by determining if a book was written to entertain, persuade, or inform the reader.  We will also be beginning Wonder stories this week.  We will use these non-fiction text to answer questions about the text by highlighting where in the story the answer can be found.

Homework reminder -- All Bighorns should be reading 20 minutes each night.  If your child doesn't bring a book home to read please have them choose a book from home to read.  

Have a great week!

First Week of 2016

                                                                                       January 11, 2016
Dear Parents,

New year, new semester, new quarter, it was a very busy first but wonderful first week back!! Between lots of new pieces, being back with friends, and a birthday celebration for me it was an extra busy week!!

Mrs. Sheldon put together a fun birthday celebration which included a delicious chocolate peanut butter cake (I'm sure it was calorie free.), goodie bags for each                                                  student, and a box full

of chocolate with a very generous Barnes and Noble card. Thank you to everyone for such a special birthday celebration!!

Math

Measuring Partners

We started the new year out with our unit on measuring length. Our week began with students using nonstandard units to measure classroom objects. Students enjoyed using different nonstandard units to measure the object. We were then able to discuss why an object measured with different nonstandard units had different measurements.

Measuring with nonstandard tools

Measuring with Non Standard Units

After spending time with nonstandard units, students spent some time discussing standard measurement. We looked at different types of measurement (length, weight, time, capacity, and temperature) and the tools used to measure each measurement (rulers, tape measure, scale, clock, watch, calender, measuring cups, measuring spoons, and thermometers). Finally students got some practice estimating and measuring lengths to the nearest inch and centimeter.

Here's the homework for the week.

Monday	IXL S.1 Read a thermometer
Tuesday	IXL S.4 Word Problems (inches)
Wednesday	Workbook page 99 &100
Thursday	No Homework.  Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Writing

The students completed a very short but technology filled writing assignment using the acronym JOY. The J stands for something the student just did, the O stands for one thing the student wants to improve in, and the Y stands for something special about you. Students spent time talking and sharing their responses to the 3 statements. They then wrote a rough draft on paper.

Language

In language we finished our work with compound words. Students practiced identifying and defining compound words. They completed some sorts (compound words VS non compound words) and created a mini book with compound words.

Projects

This week we will be getting ready to start our new project.  It's focus will be in the area of Geography.  Stay tuned...

I hope everyone is getting back into their regular routines and had a relaxing weekend. As always, looking forward to another wonderful week in Room 17.

Sincerely,
Anne Bloomfield

Hello Second Grade Families,

Report cards were sent home last week.  If you have any concerns regarding your child’s reading progress please do not hesitate in contacting me at kloop@oasisacademyfallon.us

We dove right into reading last week after being away from school for two weeks.  Please encourage your child to read nightly to continue to build their reading stamina.  Many students have met the reading fluency standard of reading 100 words in one minute.  If your child has not yet met this standard please count 100 words in their assigned books that are coming home nightly, or choose a book at home to have them practice with, and set a timer for one minute and have them read aloud to you.  Reassess them three times each night and the practice of reading aloud quickly should help them improve their ability to read faster with good accuracy.

This week we will be focusing on reading aloud books and determining the author’s purpose of writing the book.  We will be asking if the author wrote the book to entertain their readers, inform their readers, or persuade their readers.  Ask your child each night after they complete their reading what the author’s purpose of writing the book was.

Happy reading,

Katy Loop

Happy New Year, Welcome 2016!!

           

 

January 4, 2016

Happy 2016 Bighorn Families,

Happy New Year!!  I hope you enjoyed your holiday season as much as I did.  It was great fun to spend time baking, shopping, and enjoying the company of family and friends.  My vacation was very relaxing and I feel so ready to come back to school.  I can hardly wait to see all the kiddos!!

I'd like to send out a huge thank you for all the wonderful Christmas gifts.  At the our staff meeting on December 16th, I was presented with a Christmas stocking filled with all sorts of wonderful goodies--passes to an activity at Wild Island (there may be some lazer tag in my near future), hot cocoa, tea, and quite a few yummies that involved chocolate and or peanutbutter.  I was very overwhelmed with such a generous gift.  Thank you so much!!

The week of before Winter Break we did a lot of review, assessing and reassessing in both first and second grade classes.

We are starting off the New Year with measuring.  Second graders will be expected to work on and meet the following standards:

• measure to determine which objects are longer than others
• estimate lengths using centimeters, inches, and feet
• measure an object twice using different units of measurements
• select appropriate tools such as rulers, yardsticks or measuring tapes in order to measure accurately.

Monday	Page 94
Tuesday	IXL S.15 Choose the appropriate measuring tool
Wednesday	IXL S.2 Measure using a inch ruler
Thursday	IXL S.8 Measure using a centimeter ruler

Report cards will be going home this week.  Keep in mind that students are graded on a 1 to 3 scale with 3 being mastery.  Many standards will be worked on throughout the year.  We are looking for students to be making progress towards mastery.  If you have any questions about your child's report card, please contact me (294-4307).

As I look back on 2015, I can't believe the changes I've seen in the students.  With 2015 behind us, I'm excited to see the growth and development that the new year will bring!

Sincerely,

Anne Bloomfield