Weekly Update

We have loved having these two football players come and volunteer in our classroom on Fridays. They listened to the second graders read, helped with projects, and played on the playground. As their regular season wraps up we will miss them, but wish them the best in their matchup with East Kentwood on Nov 14 in the regional playoffs. It's at Eagle Stadium if you are interested in going!

Writing:

The second graders are still working on writing nonfiction books! Everyone turned in a book on Friday and some have two done already. They have been choosing topics they already know a lot about, or ones they are interested in learning more about. Everyone is in a different stage in the writing process and moving at their own pace. It is exciting seeing how much each student has grown as a writer just this Fall!  Ask your child what he/she is writing about.

Math:

The second graders are learning to use number lines to help them solve addition and subtraction problems.  This week's homework sheet practices this skill. If your student finds it confusing you can send the page back and I can help them figure it out at school. It is still a new-ish skill, but they seem to be catching on quickly!

Reading:

We are still talking about informational features and ways to read informational books at reading time. Many of the second graders use their reading time to find information about their writing topic. Next week we will shift our focus slightly and do some Study Island sessions to compare and contrast informational texts.

Phonics:

               

We have been studying animals to learn how they overcome challenges and using those strategies to tackle challenging words! Darwin's Bark Spider works methodically and Leaf Cutter Ants chop leaves into smaller, more manageable pieces. Those are great strategies for second graders trying to spell and sound out words!

SEL:

We have been exploring the word 'peaceful' during SEL time. We learned thought and action strategies to can help us feel peaceful when we may not be feeling the best.

Homework:

The homework page is due by November 14 (Early Release Day). There is a page for parents to fill out for parent teacher conferences as well. If you could fill it out and send it back by Friday it will help me prepare for Parent Teacher conferences so we can get the most out of our 15 minutes together!

Extra Information:

November 14- Early Release Day

November 14- Safari Day- during Phonics we have been learning from a lot of different animals.  We are going to celebrate our learning by having a "Safari Day" for our Early Release Day.  Please brainstorm with your child how a person on safari person might dress (think binoculars, khakis, hat).  Please DO NOT buy anything for this! Sometimes people on safari just wear dark colors : )

November 17 and 19- Parent Teacher Conferences Link .  I can't wait to talk to you all about your awesome kiddos! Please fill out and return the parent page that went home Friday!

November 25- Second Grade Apple Pie Day!  

The second grade classes invite you to come and help your child assemble a yummy apple pie to give to a special someone! If you plan to join us please fill out the background check link if you haven't already, and also fill out our RSVP.  We still need a few more pie crusts, so please click on this link if you are able to donate.

Each child will also need to bring in 5-6 apples already peeled and sliced (in a ziplock bag is great) the day of the event. Please let me know if you won't be able to do that, and I'll make sure to get apples for your child.

Pie Day RSVP

Weekly Update

We had a great Halloween celebration day! The parade was lots of fun! The second graders loved showing off their costumes and seeing the people who came out to cheer them on. Thanks too for sending in prizes and treats. The kids had a great time!

Writing:

The second graders had a lot of fun with some creative writing themed around Halloween. They wrote "Scaredy Cat" stories with spooky settings. They also wrote about what they would do if they had a Frankenbuddy! In between the creative writing projects the second graders worked on their informational books. We will pick those back up next week!

Math:

The second graders are learning how to add two digit numbers by taking apart the tens and the ones, adding them up separately, and then putting them back together. We counted an enormous amount of popsicle sticks, but because we made groups of ones, tens, and hundreds it was very manageable! Similarly, breaking numbers into tens and ones to add them makes combining bigger numbers easier. We also started to use number lines to add and will be doing more of that next week too.

Reading:

The second graders listened to some "creepy" stories (Creepy Carrots, The Creepy Crayon, and Creepy Underwear) and did some crafts to match them. They also read lots of Fall and Halloween-themed books. Next week we will continue to learn about informational books.

Phonics:

We had fun playing Boggle and Connections in class this week. Click the links and have your second grader explain how to play!

Homework:

No homework!  Have a safe Halloween, and keep reading each night for 20 minutes!

Extra Information:

In our class, two of our friends use an AAC device to help share ideas and communicate. The device uses pictures and names of familiar objects as well as staff and classmates to make it easier for those students to connect with friends during the day.

If you’re comfortable, we’d love to include your child’s name and picture on the device to help with communication and social interactions.

Please let me know if you’d prefer not to have your child’s photo included. Thank you so much for your support in helping all of our students connect and learn together!

November 17 & 19 - Parent Teacher Conferences- more information will come to sign up for times.

November 25 - Pie Day is coming! We would love for every second grader to have a grown up there to help them assemble their pie. If you could email me and let me know who will be able to come and help I would appreciate it. Please make sure they have a background check filled out! If there isn't an adult available to help your second grader there are many adults at school who would be willing to fill in. Just let me know!

We have all of our ingredients signed up for, but we still need some pie crusts. If you can help and send in a few we would appreciate it! Click on the sign-up genius link and scroll down to pie crusts. Thanks so much! We couldn't do any of it without you!

Weekly Update

Writing: The second graders are busy writing their informational books! Some of the students are finished with their first mini-book and are planning their second while some are putting finishing touches on their first. This week we talked about how to add in quotes from classmates, how to do a survey and add an informational graph, and how even captions can have expert facts. Next week we will continue to work on mini books, but we will also take a break and do a little fun spooky writing.

Looking for patterns
during Number Corner.

Reading: We have been continuing to work our way through informational reading as well. The second graders have been paying special attention to features, and looking for the features we highlighted at writing time in their independent reading books. We have found diagrams, maps, expert facts, and more. Sometimes the second graders have found these features in fiction books! It has been fun exploring how authors use text features no matter the genre!

Math: We spent time this week exploring doubles, even numbers, and looking for patterns. The second graders practiced skip counting by 5s and 10s on random numbers. They are all great at counting by 5s starting at 5, but starting at 2 or 7 is much trickier. They have found that finding the patterns is a big help, and a major theme in math overall! We have started unit 3 which is all about addition and subtraction within 100. For a look at the family letter for Bridges Unit 3 click here.

Playing rhyme tennis

Phonics: The second graders looked for rhymes, read poems, wrote poems, and learned to play Word Tennis this past week! We will be doing some listening activities, playing word games, and updating assessments in phonics in the coming short week.

Social Studies: We spent time during our morning meetings this week using the RULER method to explore emotions. RULER stands for Recognize, Understand, Label, Express, and Regulate. We watched a clip of the Toy Story movie and analyzed the emotions of Buzz and Woody. We will do a little more of that work next week as well.

Extra Information: 

October 30: Halloween parade starting at 9:30. Your child is welcome to come to school in costume - a change of clothing may be a good idea because we will still be doing school after the parade : )

October 31: No School - Teacher professional development

November 1: Annual PES Cares Food Drive begins

Math Unit 3 Family Letter

 

Weekly Update

Writing:

The second graders have been working so hard on their nonfiction books!  Everyone finished and turned them in on Friday. These are books that the second graders wrote themselves, but with step-by-step guidance for each page. Next week the second graders will write mini-books all on their own, using all that they have learned. I will still, of course, be teaching lessons on how to write really great informational pieces, but the second graders will be writing their mini-books at their own pace. They will decide their topic on their own, what features to include, and how many chapters to have. I'm excited to see what they write!

Socia Studies:

We wrapped up our first two social studies units with a test and a final map drawing. The second graders have learned about citizenship, community helpers, types of communities and map features. Next week we will return to bigger phonics lessons (We have a phonics lesson every day, even when we use part of our time for social studies.) and start a mini unit on powerful word patterns. We will also be adding some of our SEL curriculum into our morning and afternoon meetings.

Math:

We finished the week by with a math test!  The test measures how well the students are doing with place vale, skip counting, adding and subtracting, and telling time. I'm planning on sending these home next week with an end-of-the-unit report, the mid-unit checkpoint, and any additional assessing attached.  

Reading:

We have been sticking with the informational genre for reading this week, and we will next week too. This week we talked about in-depth information and the content-specific vocabulary the second graders will find in their informational books. We decided using those really specific "expert words" shows that an author really knows their topic well. We also decided it would be a good idea to include expert words along with expert facts in our own writing whenever we can. 

Homework:

The math page is due by October 24. This page is an example of the math talks we have been doing this week. Solving problems with symbols and deciding which symbol to solve first encourages math problem solving and lays the groundwork for early algebraic thinking. We have been working hard on elevating our math talks by asking clarifying questions. Two favorites are "Can you tell me more about that?" and "How did you get your answer?" because even if they got the same answer, very often the second graders get there a different way. So if you have time you can do a mini math talk at home. Put that homework between you and solve puzzle while your second grader solves it on their own. Then talk about how you each solved it and see if you got the same answer. If you didn't get the same answer then you will have a really great math talk!

 

Extra Information:

The PE order is open, but closes on October 21!

Did you know that Mr Beimers maintains a Facebook page too? You can find it here: HPSParkPE/ and on the side of this blog : )

Weekly Update

Writing:

Everyone has chosen a topic, filled in a planning map of all the information they know about that topic, grouped that information into chapters, and written an introduction. This group of second graders are strong writers and I think their books are off to a great start! This book is the guided practice stage of our informational writing unit. We are going through each part step-by-step. Next week we will work on writing different chapters that are related to the main idea of the book. The second graders will work on chapter and section headings, label a diagram, and we might even get to writing a conclusion next week.

Math:

The second graders are learning how to add and subtract with numbers in the 100s.  We are also working on how to read clocks, telling time to the 5 minutes.  If you have an analog clock at home, see if your child can tell you what time it is.  Ask them how they know the difference between the hour and minute hand. We talked about how the minute hand is longer and reaches out to the minutes on the clocks at school. One of the students said they remember which hand is which because the word hour is shorter than the word minute, so the hour hand is the short one. Telling time is part of our measurement unit, and the second graders have been having fun learning about linear measurement too. Last week we measured giant magic beans using unifix cubes. Then we used cube measuring tapes to measure all kinds of things in the classroom, including each other : )

Social Studies:

We are learning all about maps and how they show features of a community. We are even making maps of our own! The second graders went outside and drew some fantastic maps of their playground last week. If you have some maps at home show your child different types of maps. They have really been interested in looking at maps in class.

Reading:

We are continuing our unit on learning how to read nonfiction books.  We learned that we don't have to read an ENTIRE nonfiction book to understand any section because they don't build on each other like chapters in a story do. We will continue this work next week by highlighting really helpful features like headings, bold words, a glossary, and an index.

Homework:

The two-sided math page is due by October 17.

Extra Information:

October 15 - Skating Party at Tarry Hall

October 27- Picture Retake Day

October 30- All-School Halloween Parade at 9:30

Second Grade Sign Up Genius

October 31- No School 

October Specials