Happy New Year!! Welcome 2018!!

                                                                               January 8, 2018

Happy 2018 Bighorn Families,

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

We'd like to send out a huge thank you for all the wonderful Christmas gifts.  After school on December 20th, we were presented with a Christmas stocking filled with all sorts of wonderful goodies.  We were very overwhelmed with such a generous gifts.  Thank you so much!!

Our Christmas Party was a hit thanks to the many parents that donated goodies and their time to run a station.  It was fun for both 2nd grade classes to be together and have choices about their activities.  Here are a few pictures from our party.

    

The week of before Winter Break our classes were hit hard by the flu, with many absent children and the excitement of vacation and Christmas it was not a good time to assess on 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional shapes.  That being said we will start the new year reviewing 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional shapes on Monday and assess on Tuesday.

On Wednesday and Thursday students will begin 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	IXL U.5  Identify Faces of 3-Dimensional Shapes
Tuesday	IXL U.1  Name the 3-Dimensional Shape
Wednesday	Worksheet pg. 45-46
Thursday	IXL S.15 Choose the appropriate measuring tool

Remember that Monday, January 15th is Martin Luther King Day.  We will not have school!  Enjoy the extra long weekend!!

As Miss Garcia and myself look back on 2017, we can't believe the changes we've seen in the students.  With 2017 behind us, we’re excited to see the growth and development that 2018 will bring!

Sincerely,

Anne Bloomfield

    and

Shannon Garcia

   

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

Welcome Back from Fall Break

  November 27, 2017

Dear Parents,

Welcome back from vacation!!  Miss Garcia and myself hope that everyone had a wonderful vacation and fun, family-filled Thanksgiving.  The first week back from vacation will be a busy one as it is also the last week of the first trimester!  

Math

Last week students finished adding and subtracting 3-digit numbers using open number line and the arrow method.  Our students have done a fantastic job working on learning 4 different strategies to add and subtract with 2-digit and 3-digit numbers.  Miss Garcia and myself are very proud of all our 2nd graders.

This week we will start off working on word problems that will allow students to use their addition and subtraction strategies.  We will be determining whether a problem is a part, part, whole problem or a whole, part, part problem. Then we will move towards working with gathering data, creating graphs, and interpreting graphs.

Picture Graph Favorite Colors Red Blue Yellow

Bar Graph Favorite Colors Red Blue Yellow

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

Monday	Word Problem Worksheet
Tuesday	IXL R.1 Interpret Tally Charts and Tables
Wednesday	IXL R.7 Interpret Pictographs
Thursday	IXL R.8 Create Pictographs (Be sure to watch the scale!)

Language

This week we will move onto learning about adjectives and how they describe nouns.  By learning about adjectives, the 2nd graders will be able to add them into their Opinion writings to make them more descriptive.

 Writing

The second graders will finish their opinion pieces this week.  All 2nd grade writers have selected a holiday that they feel is the best holiday.  They have to state their opinion, give three reasons, explain each reason, and then restate their opinion.  Students have picked a wide variety holidays.  The finished products will be completed this week.

Projects

The 2nd grade scientists are learning about matter.  We have been learning about the properties of solids, liquids, and gas.  Students have also learned about how molecules “act” in each of the forms of matter.

Looking forward to amazing week back!!

Sincerely,

Anne Bloomfield

and

Shannon Garcia