Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to All!!

                                                                 December 18, 2017

Dear Second Grade Families,

We are down to the last 4 days before Christmas Break!!  I know that everybody has busy households as we finish all our Christmas preparations, yet stay caught up with our day to day activities.  Easier said than done--but try very hard to enjoy some peace within this busy time of year.

Last week was very rough!!  We had many students down with the flu!  Miss Garcia and myself are hoping that everyone is healthy and stays healthy for our final week of school before vacation.

Math

Last week we started some work in geometry.  Our focus was categorizing 3-dimensional shapes.  We worked on this in whole group as students suggested different ways to sort the solids.  Students came up with many different ideas such as color, shape, and size.  Eventually student sorted them by solids with curved faces and solids with flat faces.

During the week students also made 3-dimensional shapes.  We are focusing on identifying the 3-dimensional shapes by name (sphere, cube, cone, retangular solid, triangular solid, pyramid, and cylinder.  Students are describing the 3-dimensional shapes by talking about their edges, vertices, and faces.  Students spent time constructing 3-D shapes using toothpicks and raisins.  

Here’s our math homework for the week.

Monday	IXL U.2  Select 3-Dimensional Shapes
Tuesday	IXL U.3  Count Vertices, Edges, and Faces
Wednesday	IXL  U.4  Compare Vertices, Edges, and Faces
Thursday	No Homework--Happy Christmas Vacation

Language

Our work with adverbs is continuing!  Students are getting much better at identifying adverbs and sorting them by if they tell--How, When, or Where.

Writing

We are finishing up our Gift to the World pieces.  Your children have amazed us with their thoughtful gifts that they would like to give to special people.

Projects

In projects this week students took the knowledge they have gained about the properties of solids, liquids, and gases.  Students watched and discussed a short science video on properties.  They were given the scenario of being stranded on “Desert Island” and having to make a hat to protect them from the sun.  Students were given the following items to create a hat-- a paper plate, a paper bag, 3 feet of yarn, a 12 X 12 sheet of foil, a rubber band, and 2 clothes pins.  Students got very creative about using the material and considering the properties of those materials to create a hat that would protect them on a Desert Island.

As we close out the year 2017, we’re wishing all Second Grade Families a wonderful, restful, healthy, and safe holiday season!  

Sincerely,

Anne Bloomfield

and

Shannon Garcia

Week 14

                                                                                            December 11, 2017  

Dear Parents,

Wow, last week was soooo busy!  Between the Polar Express evening and Parent/Teacher Conferences it was a fun but busy end to the week.  It was so wonderful to have some time at conferences to discuss your child’s academic and social progress.  We appreciate you taking to the time to come in to conferences.  Both Miss Garcia and I have a few more conferences this week, but we are proud to say we will have met with 100% of our families!!

             

Math

Last week in math we continued our work with graphing.  Students reviewed tally charts, picture graphs, and bar graphs.  Second graders also learned about line plots.  We collected lots of data including the length of various books in the classroom, the amount of children in our families, and the amount of pets each child has.  This made for some interesting line plots.

                                                                       X

                                                       X

                                                                       X       X

                                                           X         X       X

                                                           X         X       X         X                

                                                 X        X         X       X         X        X        X      

                                      1      2      3      4      5      6       7      8      

Amount of Children in Families    

Here's the homework...

Mon.	Line Plot Worksheet
Tues.	IXL  T.2  Select a 2-Dimensional Shape
Wed.	IXL T.3  Count Sides and Vertices
Thurs.	IXL  T.4 Compare Sides and Vertices

Writing

Last week students started working on descriptive writing.  We discussed gifts, going from talking about concrete gifts (items you can touch) to abstract (things that you can do for others).  Students generated a list of abstract gifts, selected 1 gift and who they would like to recieve that gift.  They are writing a descriptive piece that goes along with their abstract gift.  

Language

Our work in language this week was all about adverbs.  Students learned that an adverb can tell how something happened, when something happened, or where something happened.  The work on adverbs will continue this week.

Projects

Students are continuing their work with matter.  They will be determining how the solid or liquid they selected will change when heated and cooled. They will also be experimenting to see if the changes are reversible or irreversible.  

Wishing you a great week filled with peace!!

Gratefully yours,

Anne Bloomfield                

and

Shannon Garcia

Week 13--Welcome to the 2nd Trimester

December 4, 2017

Dear Parents,

Last week we said good-bye to the first trimester and today we say hello to the 2nd trimester.  Our 2nd grade students have been BUSY, BUSY, BUSY working on many 2nd Grade Standards.

Math

Second grade students have been busy collecting data, creating picture graphs and bar graphs, and answering questions using the graphs.  Students are zooming along with these Measurement and Data Standards.  This coming week students will learn about line plots.

Here’s the homework for the week....

Monday	Picture Worksheet
Tuesday	IXL R.3 Which Bar Graph Is Correct?
Wednesday	IXL R.5 Interpret Line Plots
Thursday	IXL R.6 Create Line Plots

Language

Students have continued to work on identifying adjectives in text and using adjectives in writing.  This past week students participated in an activity called “Adjective Triangles”.  They picked an image and listed 4 adjectives to describe the image.  The formatting of this writing made a triangle, thus the name “Adjective Triangles”.  Second graders will move on to adverbs this week.  Being aware of adjectives and adverbs will help students to write with stronger details.

Writing

The 2nd grade writers have just finished up their opinion piece on the best holiday.  We had a wide variety of holidays that students gave reasons with explanations to tell their opinion about the best holiday.  This writing will be up in the hall for you to enjoy when we conference on Friday or next week.

Projects

Projects have continued as students continue to explore solids, liquids, and gas.  Students focused on the properties of liquids this past week.

Looking forward to another wonderful week full of learning!  Also looking forward to seeing many of you at conferences on Friday!!

Sincerely,

Anne Bloomfield

and

Shannon Garcia