Class Update 3/31/18

Important Reminders:

Spring Picture Day will be on Friday, April 6th.

Long School STEM Night is coming up on Wednesday, April 11th from 5:30 - 7:30 PM. This is a free event for all Long families and friends. A variety of hands-on activities in science, technology, engineering, and math will be available. Food trucks will be on site for dinner!

Class Updates:

We have started our unit on time in math. We began with telling time to the hour on both digital and analog clocks. We will continue this week with lessons 2-4, which cover telling time to the nearest half and quarter hours. We will also work on problem solving with time. In our math centers the students are practicing time on a variety of apps on the iPads and reviewing graphing.

In reading, students are all working on reading series books during independent reading. We are learning how to become experts on the characters in series books by exploring how they respond to problems in the books.

Our poetry unit has begun in writing. We started with taking a look at a variety of objects from our classroom with "poet's eyes". This allows us to see things differently and be creative. For example, we re-imagined a pair scissors to be everything from a butterfly to a shark! Students are also continuing to learn their cursive writing. We are almost done with all of the lowercase letters.

We wrapped up our Native Americans unit in social studies. The children had a great time teaching all they have learned to the first grade students in Mrs. Craden's class! They visited our classroom to explore our "museum" of all the projects created about each region of Native Americans we studied. We also practiced our presenting skills by making videos. Two of our videos had a sound glitch, but here are the two we have so far! We are now learning about government.

Plains Region Video

Eastern Woodlands Video

Class Update 3/23/18

Welcome back! I hope everyone enjoyed a fun and relaxing spring break. Here's hoping spring weather arrives soon!

Important Reminders:

School is closed on Friday, March 30th. Enjoy the long holiday weekend!

Class Updates:

In math, we will be reviewing data and graphing. Our Chapter 9 Test will be on Wednesday. Review pages will come home with the students. Then, we will begin our unit on time.

In reading, we will begin to explore series books. We will also be taking a look at author's craft and how they can paint a picture with their words. This will help us in writing as well, since we will be starting our unit on poetry. Before break, the students did some special writing for St. Patrick's Day. They picked a special person or pet in their lives who was "worth more than gold" to write about.

In social studies, we will be finishing up the Native American projects we started before break. A few of the projects that are done are below. Then, each group will make a video of their work and present their projects to the rest of the class. Our next unit will be on government.

Class Update 3/11/18

Important Reminders:

Wednesday, March 14th is 2nd Grade VIP Breakfast day from 8:00 - 8:30 in the cafe.

Friday, March 16th is a half day of school with an 11:50 dismissal time. No lunch will be served. It is also a no letter day.

Scholastic Book Orders for March are due by Friday the 16th if you would like to order. Fliers were sent home last week in the students' folders. Thank you!

Class Updates:

In math, we have been learning about tally charts, picture graphs and bar graphs. We are learning how to collect data in surveys and analyze graphs once we make them. This week we will continue to study bar graphs and then learn about line plots. We will focus on lessons 5-8. We may have a test at the end of the week depending on how students are grasping the concepts. If they need more time, we will wait until after break.

We have been working on using context clues and the glossary to determine the meaning of unknown words in more complex texts in reading groups. We have also continued to identify examples of cause and effect.

The students had a great time celebrating the end of our informational unit in writing. They read each other's published pieces with flashlights and snuggled up with their stuffed animals with a "fireplace" roaring on the whiteboard. Students will bring their published books home this week.

In social studies, we have finished learning about four regions of Native Americans in the United States: Northeast Woodlands, Plains, Pacific Northwest, and Southwest. Now students are working in groups to create projects about each region. When they finish, students will display their projects for a class museum. This week we have been working on research from books and websites. Now students will begin working on Google Slides, dioramas, posters, and more!

Class Update 3/3/18

Important Reminders:

This coming week we will celebrate Read Across America Week with the following spirit days:

Monday - wear red, white, and blue
Tuesday - wear silly socks
Wednesday - wacky Wednesday
Thursday - pajama day
Friday - wear green day

Please note to have your child bring or wear tennis shoes on P.E. days (for our class it is B and D days).

We are collecting tab tops to benefit the Ronald McDonald House. Please send in any tab tops you collect with your child. Thank you!

Friday, March 9, is a half day of school with an 11:40 dismissal time. Please note that lunch is not served that day.

Class Updates:

In math, we will be starting Chapter 9, which covers data and graphing. A variety of graphs will be taught, including bar graphs, pictographs, and line plots. We will focus on lessons 1-4 this week. Our center activities are helping us review money concepts from the last chapter.

In reading, we took some time to practice our visualizing skills based on text evidence. Students listened to the book, I Need My Monster, without being able to see the pictures. Students were able to sketch or take notes while listening. Then, they drew what they visualized the monster, Gabe, to look like and wrote what story clues helped them form the mental image. Finally, students presented their work and we compared their drawings to the illustrations from the book.

In writing, most students are working on publishing their final copies of their informational books. I am proud of their efforts to revise and edit their work. We will be wrapping up this unit over the next week!

This past week the students learned about the Plains region of Native Americans in social studies. They found out that buffalo were an important resource for them, and that many tribes lived in teepees. We are now finding out more about our last region, the Southwest. Then, students will be participating in a group project that focuses on one of the regions we have studied.