Happy Spring

Happy Spring and Happy Easter

                                                                                                           

                                                                                                                March 21, 2016

Dear Parents.

Thanks for making Parent Teacher Conferences great!!  Friday was definitely a packed day, but it was very fun to meet with so many families to discuss the progress of your student.  I only have a handful of conferences for this week and I am looking forward to visiting with these families as well!

Math
This past week students spent time exploring fractions.  So far students have worked on naming fractions of a whole, recognizing the unit fractions one half, one third, and one fourth.  Students have also worked on identifying, reading, and writing fractions.  

 We worked on describing fractions by saying 3/4 of the shape is green.
3/4 is 3 out of the 4 equal parts. 

Our work in  fractions will continue this week with an assessment on Thursday.  Here's this week's homework.

Monday	IXL  U.4-Which Shape Illustrates a Fraction?
Tuesday	IXL U.9- Order fractions With Like Numerators
Wednesday	Review Worksheets
Thursday	No Homework--Happy Spring Break

Language/Writing
In language students have been working on correctly placing commas in writing.  We practiced writing friendly letters to place commas in the date, greeting, and closing.

Part of our language time was spent working on reciting poetry.  This falls under our speaking standards.  The poem students recited was called "On St. Patrick's Day".  As a class we came up with motions to go with the poem.  On St. Patricks Day we recited the poem to Mrs. Marsh's kindergarten class, Miss Garcia's class, and the front office staff.
Projects
Our new project is focused on plants.  Last week students soaked and planted bean seeds.  Each child planted 3 seeds.  The first seed will receive sun and water, the second seed will receive sun and no water, and the third seed will receive water and no sun.  It will be interesting to see how well the plants grow.

This week will be busy as we count down the days to till Spring Break!!  Wishing you all a safe and fun-filled Easter and Spring Break.

Sincerely,
Anne Bloomfield

Welcome to the 4th Quarter!!

                                                                                                    March 14, 2016

Dear Second Grade Families,

I'd like to say a BIG thank-you to all the parents and family members that were able to come to the special events last week.  First, our drama performance, "Giraffes Don't Dance" was a smash hit.  The students with the direction of Mrs. Berg put on a fabulous show.  Secondly many of you came back to hear students present their animal projects.  I was very pleased that we had so many guests visit our "zoo".

Well here we are in the first week of the 4th quarter.  If the first three quarters have seemed to pass in a snap; I can't image how quickly the last quarter will pass!  

Math
Our week in math continued to be all about word problems.  We worked on word problems related to money and measurement.  Students have been working extremely hard on reading, understanding, and solving word problems.  We ended our week with an assessment.

As we enter the 4th quarter, students will be exploring fractions.  We will be looking at wholes versus fractions, as well as halves, thirds, fourths, sixths, and eighths.  

Homework for Week 29

Monday	IXL U.1 - Equal Parts
Tuesday	IXL U.2 - Halves, Thirds, Fourths
Wednesday	Fraction worksheet
Thursday	IXL U.3 - Identify the Fraction

Language

In language students are working on 2 very important punctuation marks that are often confused, the comma and the apostrophe.  Students will be learning about where commas are used in dates, letters, lists, and in writing the names of cities with their states.  They will be using apostrophe's in contractions and possessive nouns.

  Writing/Projects

Writing was all about putting the finishing touches on our research papers on animals and on our maps of where our animals are found in the wild.  The week concluded with students getting to share their animal reports with everyone that visited our zoo!  

Although this project took quite a while to complete, I was very pleased with the finished product!  Many thanks to those that were able to join us on Thursday!!

Wishing you all a Happy St. Patrick's Day and a Happy 1st Day of Spring!


Sincerely,
Anne Bloomfield

Good-bye Third Quarter

                                                                                                      March 7, 2016

Dear Bighorn Parents,

This week marks the end of the 3rd quarter of school and I can't believe it!!  Everyone should have received a notification from Sign-Up Genius to sign up for a Spring Conference.  The primary day for conferences is Friday, March 18th but I also have some times available for Monday, March 21 and Tuesday, March 22.  My goal is to meet with every family so please let me know if an alternative date and time needs to be set up.

Math
In math we have been spending lots of time on word problems.  While this is a skill that students have worked on weekly throughout the year, Miss Garcia and myself have been keeping it as our main focus during the past week.  Out of the 26 standards for math there are 3 standards that involve word problems.  Those standards involve word problems that have 2 steps and/or that deal with numbers within 100, use money, and measurement.  

Since all the prerequisite standards have been taught and our work has been extensive on word problems throughout the 2nd and 3rd quarters, students will continue to work on word problems this week and beyond.  

Here's the homework for the week...

Monday         IXL P.14 Add and Subtract Money up to $1.

Tuesday        Word Problem Worksheet--Money

Wednesday   Word Problem Worksheet--Measurement

Thursday       IXL G. 16 Add  Four or More Numbers Up to 2 Digits

Language
Our time in language was spent with producing, expanding, and rearranging complete simple and compound sentences.  Students did a fantastic job taking a very simple sentence and making it more complex by adding adjectives, adverbs, a "where", or a "when".
My dog ate.
Last night, my little dog quickly ate all the dog food in the pen before my bigger dogs could eat.

Students also practiced rearranging sentences.
Last night, before my bigger dogs could eat; my little dog quickly ate all the dog food in the pen.

This standard was assessed on Tuesday.
The rest of the week we reviewed and assessed on collective nouns.

Writing/Projects
Writing takes time...I realize it seems like forever but students are finally working on their final drafts of their animal research projects.  Students are also busy working on their maps that go with where their animal is from.   

Special Event
Speaking of research projects...
The students of Room 17 would like to invite you to listen to their research papers.  They will be sharing their papers on Thursday, March 10th from 3:15-3:45 in Room 17 and in the hall outside Room 17.  Please plan on stopping by to learn about a variety of animals.

Sweet brothers!!

It was not a big picture week for Room 17, but I did want to share a couple of gems from March 2nd (Dr. Seuss' Birthday).  Mrs. Mori and Mrs. Mc Ellhannon arranged for some time for the 2nd and 3rd graders to enjoy the 5th graders reading some Dr. Seuss books to them.  It was really sweet just watching the interaction of the older students reading to the younger students.

Spring weather is slowly creeping in (although March can be very winter like).  Softball, baseball, and lacrosse practices have begun and next weekend (Sunday, March 13th) it will be time to spring forward by setting our clocks ahead by 1 hour.  Busy, busy times, remember not to get caught up in the rush!

Sincerely,
Anne Bloomfield

Happy Leap Day

      

                                                                                               February 29, 2016
Dear Parents,

Now this is something that doesn't happen every year...Monday is Leap Day!  The students and I have been talking about the extra day in our calendar this year.  A regular year is 365.25 days, every 4 years the extra .25 (quarter) add up to a whole extra day!  Questions to ask your child if Leap Day happens every 4 years...

When was the last Leap Day?
When will be the next Leap Day?

It is just a week of special days as Tuesday, March 1st is the 100th Day of School and March 2nd is Dr. Seuss' Birthday!

Don't forget the students of Room 17 will be presenting their Reader's Theater for drama on Wednesday, March 9 th at 2:00 P.M. in the "High School Hangout".  The students have been working very hard on this.  You will not want to miss this performance!!

Here's all the Room 17 happenings from last week...

Math
Second grade students are working on their time unit.  In second grade are standard is to tell time to the nearest 5 minutes.  We have been very busy reviewing the parts of the clock--minute hand (the longer one) and hour hand (the shorter one).  Students have been practicing the ways to say the time different ways.

For example:
3:15 can be said...
...three fifteen
...fifteen minutes past three
...fifteen minutes after three
...quarter past three
...quarter after three

Week 27 Homework...

Playing a "Time Game".

Monday	Test review pg. 128
Tuesday	IXL G.14 Add 3 digits up to two numbers in a word problem
Wednesday	IXL P.10 Word Problems - Adding up money up to $1
Thursday	IXL P.12 Word Problems-Subtracting $

Do you have 3:00?

Language
Students have been working on rearranging sentences that have a when, subject, predicate, and where.  They have really enjoyed creating complex sentences.  Students have also been using the conjunctions (and, but, so, or) to combine simple sentences.  It's been a lot of fun hearing some of the silly sentences that students have created.

Writing
I have continued to meet with students to go over the rough drafts of their animal reports.  This a very time consuming process to meet, revise, and edit with each student.  At this point some students are working on their final copy of their animal report and others are still waiting to revise and edit with me.  We are hoping to be ready to share our reports with parents on March 10th.  More details about animal reports will be forthcoming.

Projects
Continuing with our work in geography, students have traced the continent of where the animal they are researching is from.  Within their partnership one student will be creating a polictical map and the other partner will be creating a physical map.  Students will be sharing their map with their animal report on March 10th.

This week will be busy with Leap Day, the 100th Day of School, and Dr. Seuss' Birthday!  Wishing you a wonderful week!

Sincerely,
Anne Bloomfield

Another Busy Week in 2nd Grade!!

                                                                                                February 22, 2016

Dear Parents,

Well...we are back to a full work week AND we should be finished with homework sheets for the MOST part!  We will begin the week with telling time!  The second grade standard is to: tell and write time from analog and digital clocks to the nearest 5 minutes, differentiating between a.m and p.m.

Last week we focused on Partial Sums and Differences with Renaming a number.  The students did a great job working together and coaching their partner! We will review these concepts and also work on a new concept called “Arrow Diagrams.”  We will mainly focus on this concept in class.

Arrow Diagram-

Example:

51 + 34 =

              +30     +4

51 ➜81  ➜85

Basically you add the tens together to find a sum, then add the ones, and find the sum by drawing an arrow to each new sum.

Writing - Students have been working hard to complete their rough copies of their animal reports. Throughout the week, I have been working with students to edit and revise their reports. This week students will complete their final copies.  Their reports will include a cover page, an introduction, a report that focuses on 6 different topics about their animal, and a resource page. Students will also include map a physical or political map of the location of their animal.

Projects - Our class continues to focus on Geography.  We have been discussing political vs. physical maps.  We also pulled in some geography into our writing projects by adding a physical and political map to which area each animal was native to.  

Homework for the week of February 22nd...

Monday	IXL - Q.1 Match analog clocks and times
Tuesday	IXL - Q.2  Match digital clocks and times
Wednesday	IXL - Q.3 Match analog and digital clocks
Thursday	Q.4 Read clocks: hour and half hour/half past

On Wednesday February 17th, the students of Room 17 went to Maverick for their treat from the Oasis Student Council.  They were awarded this treat for bringing in the most money for Money for Maverick.  The money collected is going to a local veteran's organization.

Student Council Members and the Students of Room 17.

Waiting to pick a treat at Maverick.

Another highlight for the week was going to see the middle school Rube Goldberg Projects.  These were amazing projects.  The students were very attentive and got to visit a variety of projects.

Mark Your Calendar
The 3rd quarter is quickly winding down.  You will be getting information soon about our 3rd Quarter Parent/Teacher Conferences via Sign-Up Genius.   Conferences will start Friday, March 18th.

Students will be presenting their Reader's Theater from their work in Drama on March 9th at 2:00 PM.  The performance will take place in the High School Hangout.  They have been working hard on this performance, it is an event you will not want to miss!!

Looking forward to another amazing week with these amazing 2nd graders.

Sincerely,
Anne Bloomfield

Fabulous February Continues

                                                                                                             February 15, 2016

Dear Parents,

I sure hope that everyone had a wonderful long weekend.  Mine was very packed with visits from my older sons, Valentine's Day, and my husband's birthday.  It was certainly very SWEET!

Math

Waiting to solve the equation.

Students working on solving equations. 

Calling in a "coach".

Students have continued to work on adding and subtracting with renaming within 1,000.  This past week students focused on the branch method.  Students picked up on this strategy quickly.  Above are pictures of part of our review on Thursday--we did a Branch Method Relay.  Students had a fantastic time racing against eachother to complete their equation.  After each team completed their equation we went back into the classroom to correct the work.  We were able to identify errors and celebrate correct answers.

This week we are focusing on Partial Sums and Differences.  The students should be familiar with this strategy and have applied it previously with addition and subtraction.  Here are some examples of homework this week.

Partial Sums with Renaming

Example:

     2 6 4                           1.  Add the hundreds place.

    +  3 7                           2.  Add the tens place.

   2 0 0 + 0 =     2 0 0       3.  Add the ones place.

      6 0 + 3 0 =     9 0       4.  Add all partial sums.

         4 + 7 =     + 1 1      

                       200 + 100 + 1 = 301

Partial Differences With Renaming

Example:

     2 6 4                           1.  Subtract the hundreds place.

    -   3 7                           2.  Subtract the tens place.

   2 0 0 - 0 =     2 0 0        3.  Subtract the ones place (watch out for negative numbers).

      6 0 - 3 0 =  + 3 0        4.  Add partial differences but subtract any negative numbers.

                        2 3 0

         4 - 7 =     -    3       

                       2 2  7                    200 + 30 - 3 = 227

Here is what we will be working on for homework this week:

Tuesday	Worksheet: Partial Sums
Wednesday	Worksheet: Partial Differences
Thursday	Worksheet: Partial Sums and Differences in Word Problems

Language
In Language students are working on identifying the subject and predicate in simple sentences.  We have also worked on making simple sentences more complex by adding adjectives, adverbs, where, and when.  We will continue this work this coming week.
The cows eat grass.
The brown cows eat green grass.
Down in the meadow the brown cows eat green grass everyday.
Writing/Projects
Our writing and projects will be joining together this week.  Students have been working on writing their rough drafts of their animal research reports.  By the end of the week students should be working on the final copy of their animal reports.  

Since our project work has focused on geography and maps, students will be creating maps of where their animal comes from.  Within the partnerships one student will create a physical map and the other will create a political map.

Special Note
Our class brought in the most money for "Money for Maverick".  The student council will be taking us for our treat at Maverick on Wednesday, February 17th. We will walk over after lunch for our treat.  No extra money is needed as the student council is paying for our treat!

It will be a short but busy week!!

Sincerely,
Anne Bloomfield

Here is some reading information from Mrs. Loop...

Hello Second Grade Families,

Last week all 1st and 2nd grade students at Oasis Academy wrote reasons that they love reading on pink post-it notes and they were placed in the shape of a heart in the hallway for all to see and read.  Stop by and read the many reasons that all 42 first graders, 40 second graders, Mrs. Rowlett, Mrs. Garcia, Mrs. Bloomfield, and myself wrote about why we love reading.  This heart is on the wall near Mrs. Garcia and Mrs. Bloomfield’s classrooms.

This week many second graders will have new reading books that they will begin.  Please plan on having your child read aloud to you each night.  Even though your child is a reader now they still need to practice reading aloud to someone so they get fluency practice.  Due to us only having three days of school this week there will not be any spelling words for the week. ~Katy Loop