Happy Halloween and Happy Nevada Day

                                                                                                

                                                                                                                   October 30, 2016

Dear Parents,

It seems like October just started, but here we are at the end of the month already!!

Halloween is tomorrow and students will be allowed to wear their Halloween costumes to school.  Mrs. Whitaker (Bloomfield) and Mrs. Simper (Garcia) have organized our classroom parties, which will run from 2:00 PM until 3:15 PM.  It’s sure to be an exciting day!!

The Book Fair is also to this week.  Both second grade classes will visit the Book Fair on Tuesday.  Students may bring money to purchase books or they may browse and make a “Wish List” to share at home and shop later in the week.  Family Night at the Book Fair will be Wednesday, November 2nd from 6:00 - 8:00 PM.  Hopefully you’ll be able to visit and join the fun.

Math

Students have been using the strategies that we used when adding and subtracting 2-digit numbers (open number line, partial sums and differences, arrow method, and branching) and applying them to 3-digit numbers.  Last week we focused on partial sums and differences to add and subtract 3-digit numbers.  This week we will finish up by using the open number line and arrow methods to add and subtract 3-digit numbers.  Miss Garcia and myself are so proud of how well students are doing with this math work!!

Here's the homework schedule for this week...

Monday	No Homework-Happy Halloween
Tuesday	Worksheet--Open Number Line 3-Digit Addition and Subtraction
Wednesday	Worksheet--Arrow Method 3-Digit Addition
Thursday	Worksheet--Arrow Method 3-Digit Subtraction

Language

We will finish up our work with collective nouns this week.  Students have done a great job with their slides that have been made into a slide show.  After working on some “Halloween” collective nouns, students will make a mini book.  This standard will be assessed this week!

Did you know a group of Jack O’ Lanterns is called a leer?

Writing

Our 2nd grade writers are putting on their finishing touches on their “Absolutely True” stories.  Students that were finished last week, used their Chrome Books to write clues about their Halloween costume.  Students wrote a few clues and inserted an image.

Projects

Our work with matter continues.  We looked at different liquids to see how they fill up containers.  Students noticed that some liquids poured fast (water) and other liquids poured slow (Karo syrup).  Students also learned about molecules and how they look in solids, gases, and liquids.

Parent Conferences begin on Friday and continue into the following week.  Miss Garcia and myself are looking forward to meeting with everyone!  If you have not signed up for a conference please do so, there are a variety of days and times left!  We want to visit with every family!

Sincerely,

Anne Bloomfield

and

Shannon Garcia

Here’s some information from Mrs. Loop…

Happy Halloween!  It is always a fun time at Oasis Academy when Halloween comes around because the kids get to wear costumes to school instead of their uniforms.  Monday will be a fun day of learning as well as doing fun activities at a party.  Your child will be meeting in class for reading and math in the morning.  Due to trick or treating happening in the evening on Monday night I am not requiring any of my students to take home their reading folders on Monday night.  Reading homework will continue for the rest of the week.

Katy Loop

Welcome Back From Fall Break

      

                                                                                  October 24, 2016

Dear Second Grade Families,

Welcome back from "Fall Break"! It was a great way to end the first quarter and start the 2nd quarter recharged! It's hard to believe how fast this year is flying by.

Before we write about last week, Miss Garcia and I want to mention some important events coming up in the next few weeks...  

A new quarter means it’s time…

... to buy pizza coupons (pay online through the email that was sent earlier or the school website).

...pay to wear non-uniform socks (students can bring their dollar to office).

First of all, Halloween will be celebrated on Monday, October 31st.  Students will be allowed to wear their Halloween Costume and we will enjoy a Halloween Party in the afternoon (2:00 - 3:00).  Our Room Mothers, Cammi Whitaker(Room 17) and Mrs. Simper/Mrs. Pinson (Room 3) will be organizing our parties and will contact parents for help.

The Book Fair will be coming to Oasis Academy the week of October 31st.

Mrs. Bloomfield’s class will be visiting the Book Fair on Tuesday afternoon, November 1 from 2:00 -2:15 PM.  

Miss Garcia’s class will be visiting the Book Fair on November 1st from 1:45- 2:00 PM

This is an opportunity for students to check out the Book Fair.  During this time they will have the chance to browse, make a "wish list", and make a purchase if they have money.  

Parent Teacher Conferences will start on Friday, November 4th and continue into the following week.  This will be a very busy and exciting week, I am looking forward to meeting with you to discuss your child's academic and social progress.  If you have not signed up for a conference please do so!!  You should have received an email from a web site called Sign up Genius to sign up for a conference.  If you have not received the link please contact Miss Garcia or myself so that we can resend the link and you can get scheduled.

Now here's what we did last week...

Math

In Math, we continued to work on adding and subtracting within 1,000 without renaming.  Students have been using 3 different strategies (open number line, partial sum, partial difference, and branch addition and subtraction.  Students have really gotten quite proficient using the different strategies.   We will continue to work with these strategies to add and subtract 3-digit numbers through this week.  Miss Garcia and myself realize that we are spending a great deal of time on this standard, but the foundation that we are working on is very important to build.

Here is our homework for next week.

Monday	2 digit arrow method: Addition Worksheet
Tuesday	2 digit arrow method: Subtraction Worksheet
Wednesday	3 digit, partial sums without renaming Worksheet
Thursday	3 digit, partial differences without renaming Worksheet

Projects

The scientists in second grade were busy exploring more about matter.  We are busy building our scientific vocabulary.  Students are using a vocabulary strategy called “break down vocabulary” to learn our “scientific vocabulary”.  The week before vacation we worked on the following vocabulary- matter and solid. This week we will add the vocabulary words liquid, gas, and molecules.  Our scientist will also start using the “scientific method” to explore matter!

Language

Before vacation we worked on Collective Nouns.  Collective nouns name a group.  Here are some examples…

….a class of students

...a deck of cards

...a flight of butterflies

All students have picked a collective noun that they will be creating a google slide that contains the collective noun, a sentence with the collective noun, and an image.  This slides will be put together into a Collective Noun Slideshow.

Writing

Our "Absolutely True" stories are written.  Students are working on self editing and revising.  All students will conference with me to continue the editing and revising process.  The “Absolutely True” stories will be completed this week.  They will be put on the bulletin board outside the second grade classrooms this week and will be ready for you to enjoy when you come in for conferences next week.  

Enjoy your week and I look forward to meeting with you all very soon!!

Sincerely,

Anne Bloomfield

and

Shannon Garcia

The Last Week of the First Quarter

                                                                                    October 10, 2016

Dear Second Grade Parents,

Here we are in Week 9 (our last week of the first quarter), I can't believe how fast this first quarter has gone.  It seems like just yesterday we were enjoying our first day of second grade!  

In any event, with the close of the first quarter, it's time to start scheduling Parent Teacher Conferences.  Our official Parent Teacher Conference is Friday, November 4th  but some of the conference times will drift into the following week.  An official sign up was sent out via email (Sign-Up Genius) by the end of this week.  Please be sure to respond promptly as you will be scheduled on "first come first serve basis".  I look forward to visiting with you all soon!

Here's the happenings of 2nd grade in a "nutshell"...

Math

 

Part of the 2nd grade math standards include adding and subtracting within 1,000 using strategies base on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction.  With that said, students practiced another strategy for adding called Partial sums.  This strategy looks like this...

            3 6  →  30 + 6         1.  Show the first addend in expanded form.

        +  4 2  →  40 + 2         2.  Show the second addend in expanded form.

            7 0       70  + 8        3.  Add the tens then add the ones.

               8                          4. Add the partial sums--70 + 8.

            7 8

Partial difference

           5 6  →  50 + 6      1.  Show the minuend in expanded form.  

• - 3  2  →  30  + 2     2.  Show the subtrahend in expanded form.

            2 0       20 + 4     3.  Subtract the tens and ones.

• +    4                     4.  Add the partial differences (tens and ones)

            2 4                  to get the difference.                                                                                                                                                        

We realize that these strategies are very different from the traditional algorithm that we all learned but knowing these strategies helps to deepen the mathematical understanding of adding and subtracting.

Homework

Mon.  Worksheet--Partial Sum (2 digit numbers)

Tues.  Worksheet--Partial Difference (2 digit numbers)

Wed.  Worksheet-- Partial Sums and Differences (2 digit numbers)

Thurs. No Homework--Enjoy your Fall Break!!

Language

We finished up our work with irregular past tense verbs last week.  Second graders will be revisiting nouns as we review singular and plural nouns and learn about collective nouns.  Collective nouns name a group like a pod of whales or a class of students.

Writing

The writers of Room 17 are completing their 2nd writing piece that has gone through the entire writing process.  Based on the read aloud book, Gooney Bird Greene, students are writing their very own "absolutely true" stories.  These narrative pieces have been very fun to hear while meeting to edit and revise.  They should be up on the outside bulletin boards to enjoy during parent conferences.

Projects

Last week we finished our Civics Project with the presentation of our Tribes Puppet Shows.  We appreciate the parents that were able to come and enjoy the puppet shows.

With the end of one project is the beginning of another project.  The second graders started their next project--Everything Matters with a scavenger hunt at Venturacci Park for objects with certain properties (hard, soft, smooth, rough, bendable, etc,).  

      

Remember the week of October 17th will be Fall Break week for Oasis Academy.  Miss Garcia and myself wish everyone a restful and fun break.  We will see you all on Monday, October 24th!!

Sincerely,

Anne Bloomfield

and

Miss Garcia

Reading Information from Mrs. Loop…

Hello Second Grade Families,

All second graders have completed their second week of spelling tests.  They are introduced to their spelling words on Monday of each week and a list will be sent home with them to practice.  In class during the week they will be required to complete two spelling activities of their choice that will encourage them to practice writing their spelling words correctly.  All students will be assessed on their spelling words on Thursdays.  Students need to continue practicing their challenge words as most of them are having no problem spelling the one syllable words correctly but when more than one syllable is added many are having trouble.  Hopefully your child has been talking to you about the various syllable types that we have been learning about in class.  We have learned 6 of the 7 syllable types.  This week we are focusing on breaking words into syllables and identifying the open, closed, and vowel-consonant-e syllable types. Please continue to have your child read aloud to you nightly to help them improve their reading fluency.  Students will also be assessed on reading fluency each week.  They need to be able to read 100 words per minute by the end of 2nd grade.

This week I will not be meeting with students in reading groups as I will be completing report card assessments as the end of the quarter is at the end of the week.  Your child will be choosing books from our classroom library to take home to read each night.  Please sign their reading log each night this week so that I know that they are taking the time to practice their reading at home.

Happy reading,

Mrs. Loop

October is here!!

                                                                                            October 3, 2016

Dear Parents,

How can it be October already?  These months are just flying by, before we know it students will be writing the date using 2017!!

Just a quick reminder to make sure to label your kiddo’s jackets and sweatshirts!  Some parents are putting brightly colored ribbons on their child’s zip up hoodie.  This has proven a good way to reunite students with their hoodies.  The lost and found is starting to pile up.  If your child is missing something it’s worth checking it out.  

Math

In math we are beginning our journey into adding and subtracting 2, 2-digit numbers within 100 without renaming.  Second grade students will be learning many different strategies within the next few weeks.  Last week our focus was using the Branch Method of addition and subtraction.  Students really did a great job working through the process of decomposing the tens and ones and were very successful with the Branch Method.

This week students will be introduced to the Open Number Line.  Again, it is really about being able to decompose the tens and ones place of a number and use a number line to add or subtract.  While it is very different from the way that Miss Garcia and myself (and possibly you too!) learned to add and subtract multi-digit numbers, it will deepen your child’s understanding of adding and subtracting larger numbers.

Here is an example of Open Number Line.  The equations is 52 + 31 = _______.

Start at 52.  Decompose 31 into 3 groups of 10 and 1 group of 1.  Add filling in the number line as you go.

52 + 10 = 62, 62 + 10 = 72, 72 + 10 = 82, and then 82 + 1 = 83

           + 10                  +10                 +10             +1

    52                  62                   72                  82          83

Here's the homework for this week.

Mon.  Worksheet: Branch Subtraction

Tues. Worksheet - Open Number Line addition

Wed.  Worksheet - Open Number Line subtraction

Thurs. Worksheet - Word Problem: solve with Open Number Line

Language

In Language, we continue to learn about verbs.  We created a circle map that included many verbs.   We also discussed the present and past tense of verbs, and used these tenses to interactively write a Tree Map.  They used present and past tense verbs in their writing.  Second graders are learning that there are irregular verbs that in order to form the past tense you may not just add “ed” but change the spelling of the word.

Present Tense                           Past Tense

We catch the fly ball.                We caught the fly ball.

Writing

After reading Gooney Bird Greene, the students decided to write their own “Absolutely True Stories.”  We introduced to the students that a good story has a beginning, middle, end and good writers always add details and descriptions to improve their 2nd grade writing.  Students have picked their topics and they are excited to begin to write their own “Absolutely True Stories”.

Projects

We are ready to perform!  Your second grade students will perform their TRIBES presentation On Tuesday, October 4th at 3:15 PM.  Each second grade class will perform in their own classroom.  We hope you will be able to come!  The total time for all 4 puppet shows will be approximately 20 minutes!

Our next project will be in the area of science.  The second graders will be studying Matter.  Here is our Driving Question: How can we, as Scientists, use the scientific method by studying Matter?

Have a wonderful week!

Sincerely,

Anne Bloomfield

and

Miss Garcia