weekly update

Writing::

Most of the second graders have one realistic fiction story finished and are planning the next one. Some of them have two or more stories finished!  We have been working on editing and revising as we go and really focusing on capitalization and punctuation. Next week will be our last week writing realistic fiction.

Math:

We have been studying shapes and area this week, and it has been a lot of fun.  What makes it fun is that the second graders are doing more math than worksheets or workbook pages. We have been exploring area with shapes inside shapes and this week landed on squares as a standard.  We also found that some shapes like triangles can be tricky, so we got to talk about fractions too and how two halves of a triangle make one full square.

Reading:

We read poems and learned about poetry this week. The second graders explored lines, stanzas, rhythm, repetition, rhyme and alliteration. They practiced reading poetry fluently and some of the second graders even performed their poems for the class. Next week we will start learning about the elements of fairytales. 

Phonics:

We are continuing to build word collections. The second graders made word thermometers to explore synonyms and shades of meaning. Then they worked in teams to create posters of word explosions. Each team had one word and had to explode that word by thinking of words that went with it. They used synonyms, antonyms, nouns and verbs related to the word. It was a fun way to find more words to add to our collections. We also started learning about compound words. That is where we will pick up next week.

Social Studies:
We are in the middle of our Economics unit. The second graders have learned about needs, wants, goods, services, scarcity, and opportunity cost. Next week we will explore business in our community and the human, natural, and capital resources needed to make the goods and services consumers want and need. This is our last Social Studies unit and we will wrap it up this Friday!

Homework:

The math homework is due by April 26.  This homework is actually a game that we have played in class with partners so your child should be able to teach you how to play. Directions are on back in case they don't remember, but the goal is to be the last person to draw a shape on the large hexagon. See if your child can remember hexagon, pentagon and quadrilateral while you play!

Extra Information:

Wear green and blue on Monday for Earth Day!

weekly update

It seems so strange that we have only been back from Spring Break for a week! The second graders just jumped back into the routine so easily!! Can you believe we also saw an eclipse?! It feels like so long ago!! Time really does fly when you are having fun!

 

Writing:

We started a new unit in writing! The second graders are writing realistic fiction stories.  This week we worked on character and plot. The second graders really had to think about who their charater is going to be - their likes, dislikes, habits, and characteristics. Then they had to come up with a realistic problem and multiple ways to solve it.  Our goal is to take our readers on a roller coaster ride by building suspense with attempted solutions before actually having the character successfully solve the problem. Everyone has their plan done and these are going to be amazing stories when we get them written next week! 

Math:

The second graders are having fun exploring, sorting and categorizing shapes. We are learning about different kinds of triangles and all the quadrilaterals. We have started exploring fractions and parts of a whole as well. 

Reading:

We are reading poetry and practicing fluency. Poems are great for practicing pace, expressions and reading with rhythm. They are also great for practicing reading punctuation and recognizing where to pause.  All this poetry reading will help us next month when we will be writing our own poetry!

Phonics:

We are becoming word collectors! We have started our last unit in phonics which is all about words. We will be exploring, collecting and sorting all sorts of words, and our homework is related to finding really great ones!

Homework:

For homework, your child is going to interview an "expert" and look/listen for any words that their expert uses.  This could be an expert on Legos, making pancakes, or the logistics of getting three kids to all sorts of sports practices! Please have them turn these in by Friday, because we will be doing something with the collection of words.

Extra Information:

April 15-24 Art Show.  A few of the second graders got a special invitation from Mr. Johnson for this, but this event is open for ALL Park families to enjoy!

weekly update

Writing:

We have been working so hard on writing persuasive letters to different people about books we have read. This week we learned how to address an envelope, which is not as easy as it looks! We have written to friends, family, staff, and authors, and we still have more to say! This week we wrote to Miss T, our former student teacher. Did you know she is our building substitute teacher? We recommended books for her classroom library when she gets her own classroom. She wrote back thanking us for our great recommendations!

Math:

The second graders are really doing great counting money. This week we related money and base-10 blocks and worked on number sense and place value in the high hundreds. If you haven't yet, see if your second grader can count a pocket full of change at home.

Reading:

After working hard the first part of the week, on  Thursday the second graders presented posters from their book clubs to Mrs Kunzi's class. Each group shared their poster and explained about the series their book club read. Everyone also had to say one reason they recommend the series. Everyone was very persuasive and many second graders included examples from their series books to back up their opinion statements. It was fun to see how writing and reading skills came together for their presentations.

Thanks to everyone who came in to be a mystery reader - and those who will come next week too. We have been loving listening to our mystery readers!

One other reading thing we have been doing this month is something called March Book Madness. We have been reading different picture books and then voting for which one should advance. It has been lots of fun reading these books and then re-reading the winner as they move closer to the finals! This week we made it to the Great Eight. Next week will be the Final Four and then the March Book Madness Picture Book Championship! 

Phonics:

It really is more vocabulary work than phonics, but this week the second graders played a few games of connections. Mr Tom even joined us for a game. It was tough!! Then the second graders made their own. I have been using this site to find games for us to play as a class: Swellgarfo (Disclaimer: I have not looked at all of these, so I can not vouch for the content of all of the games. I do however always check the ones I intend to play with the second graders. To make sure it is appropriate for our class I play the whole game all the way to the end!) Towards the end of the week we made our own connections games. I'm hoping to use that same site to turn the second graders' plans into real games and add them to Google Classroom!

We have also been using some of our phonics time to work on handwriting and mechanics work, as well as writing complete sentences. If you haven't seen these "stretchy sentences" yet, check your child's mail this weekend. They have been doing amazing work!

Social Studies:

This week we explored the feeling word Embarrassed. We used the book Ira Sleeps Over to talk about how feeling embarrassed is a normal, although unpleasant, feeling. We talked about thought and action strategies we can take to help us move away from feeling embarrassed, and we talked about how important self talk is. Instead of saying "I'm so dumb" we came up with some alternative self-talk. There is optional homework that talks about this feeling word too. Next week we talk about the feeling word Hopeful.

Extra Information:

Dress Up Days next week!

weekly update

Writing:

We are working hard on writing persuasive letters about books. Everyone wrote a letter to Mrs Stefanich recommending a book and she wrote back to the class!! In her letter she mentioned everyone by name and talked about their book recommendation. It was really fun to see and hear (I read it out loud to the class) her respond to what the second graders wrote. We also wrote to authors about their books and gave opinions, asked questions, and made suggestions. We also wrote to our former student teacher Miss T about books she will need to have in her own classroom someday! The second graders even wrote persuasive letters to the leprechaun who might visit our classroom on St Patrick's Day!!

Reading:

We are still working in our series book clubs, and finding ways our authors used literary language, how the authors write with a similar style across series, and what the author's message is in our books. Next week the second graders will be working on posters advertising the series they read. They will use specific details and examples from the books to persuade others to read the series too.

Social Studies :

We listened to reader's theaters last week which dealt with common public issues. The second graders had to take a stand and explain their position. It was great practice in problem solving, having discussions, and respectfully disagreeing. Next week we are hoping to fit in a Second Grade City Council meeting and we will be studying another feeling word: embarrassed. 

Math:

Money, money, money!  We are doing so many fun things with money right now!  Your kids may have come home and told you about how they all received money, and can even buy things in our classroom!  This is not only rewarding kids for their great behavior, but also a great way to learn the values of the different coins by handling them directly, as well as add and subtract money! If your child doesn't know the names and values of coins sorting and counting pocket change is great at home practice.

Homework:

The math page is due by March 22.

Extra Information:

Thanks so much to all of the Mystery Readers we have had visit our classroom so far. It has been so fun having you in and hearing the books you choose for us!

weekly update

Writing:

We took a break from persuasive writing this week to do some fun and creative informational writing. The second graders each wrote their own version of How to Catch a Leprechaun. We will be back to writing persuasive opinions next week as we write about our reading and books we love. We will be writing letters to lots of people, so check your mailbox often!

Math:

This week we counted over 1,000 popsicle sticks as a class. The second graders worked in teams to bundle groups of 10 and 100 and we made one big bundle of 1,000. We will be working on numbers up to 100 while continuing strategies for adding and subtracting multidigit numbers. We are also working on counting money, so see if your second grader can identify a penny, nickel, dime, and quarter, and count some money at home.

Reading:

We are moving ahead with our series book clubs. This week we studied what authors do to help readers create vivid pictures of the story! We talked about description and figurative language - which are really big ideas! Next week we will continue our series work and talk about other techniques that authors use to bring stories to life. 

We also have been having some fun listening to some Mystery Readers.  It has been awesome having you in  to class! There's still time to sign up if you haven't already!  Mystery Reader Sign Up If you are signed up and haven't yet, please fill out the background check! Background Check Link

Social Studies:

We have been learning about how governments and communities work together to solve problems. We learned about a law in the city of Hudsonville about the number of pets a household can legally have and we made a recommendation about a similar law in fictional town. Next week the class will hear some reader's theaters and we will debate solutions to other civic problems. 

Homework:

The 5 star sentence page is due by March 15 (Early Release Day). 

Extra Information:

March 15- Early Release

March 28-April 7- Spring Break

Weekly Update

We are excited to announce our One School One Book is Fenway and Hattie! Here is the calendar to read along with everyone at school. It went home in your child's mail too. On the calendar posted here there is a QR code that will take you to the page where you can hear staff read chapters aloud or you can click here: Fenway and Hattie Read Aloud. 

Also, if you haven't signed up to be a Mystery Reader in our class here is the link! Mystery Reader

One more March thing. . . our Specials calendar. It also went home in your child's mail on Friday : )

Writing:

The kids each wrote a persuasive speech about someone who would make a good mayor or commissioner for second grade.  They had to write convincing reasons and support them with examples. They did an amazing job! I'm so proud of how well they not only wrote these, but also presented their cases as they read them in front of their peers.

Math:

We have been doing so much two-digit addition and subtraction! The second graders have learned that when adding you can add the tens and one separtely and then put them back together.  For example: 68 + 25 breaks down to 60+20= 80 and 8+5=13. So then you can add those back together to get 80+13=93. It works well for subtraction too: 93-68 breaks down to 93-60=33 and 33-8=25

We finished the Unit 4 test on Friday. I will check it and give it back to the second graders to see if they want one more try at ones they got wrong. Then I will score them and send them home!

Reading:
We have been working hard on being good book club members. During independent reading time the second graders have been working on becoming experts on the main character in their books by figuring out their likes and dislikes and how they react to problems. During book club time they have been working on sitting in a circle, staying on-task, and taking turns talking and listening. These are some big goals to work on at the same time so we will continue this work next week with new series and new book clubs.

Social Studies:

To wrap up our unit on civics and government the second graders elected a mayor and 5 city commissioners - two from each class and one at-large. For the next two weeks we will put these elected representatives to work as we discuss how citizens affect their community. We will spend next week talking about what makes a good citizen and how people in a community work together to solve problems. After that we will discuss important second grade issues like pets, bike helmets and candy. 

Phonics:

We finished up our Word Builders unit and our work as construction and demolition experts for the BLC. They asked us to make some ads for their company, so we wrote some on whiteboards! As a thank you they reached out to our Parents' Club and got us books! We have the best Parents Club for playing along with our Phonics fun!! Next week we will take some time to work on grammar before we start our last big phonics unit of the year!

Homework:

The page about books is due by March 8.  We are going to be writing about books in class, so have your child think of some books they have liked. Sometimes it helps to talk to friends and family about books to remember ones you really loved. Don't stress though, they don't need to fill all 12 slots!! We will add to it at school as well : )

weekly update

March Is Reading Month

Starting in March we are looking for some parents to be Mystery Readers in our classroom. March is Reading Month after all and it would be awesome to have some of our grown ups share their love of reading with our class. Just make sure you have a background check filled out before you sign up! 

Mystery Reader Sign Up

Background Check Link

Writing:

We finished our last persuasive review this week! We ended with a book review which is the perfect perfect to start our March is Reading Month. We will work on persuasive essays about candidates for "Second Grade City" City Council and Mayor. We will also be starting the March is Reading Month Book Bracket, reading and choosing books down to the Sweet Sixteen, Final Four, and finally a Picture Book Champion.  

Math:

The kids have been working hard on measuring and building concrete and conceptual understandings around inches, feet, and yards! See if they can measure things around your house correctly. To help with that we have been practicing skip counting and doubling, which helps the students understand the relationships between the units of measurement.

Phonics:

Gus was gone for a little while, but came back and DEMOLISHED our room! It was a misunderstanding. He felt awful. We realized it was because he was learning how to demolish words, and got a little carried away.  We are now working on demolishing harder words, by breaking them up into smaller chunks, but also remembering to keep digraphs and vowel teams together.

Reading:

The kids visited the Starbooks Cafe and did some Book Tasting!  We are going to start book clubs next week based on the books the kids were interested in reading from their book tasting!

Homework:

The math paper is due by March 1.

Extra Information:

February 26 and 28- Parent Teacher Conferences (book fair will also be open)

February 26- Book Fair Preview

February 27- Book Fair Purchase