Weekly Update

 We had a quick week but it was packed!!

Writing:

The second graders finished their realistic fiction stories and will start a new one after break. I know I've said it before but they are getting to be such great writers. The wrap-ups on their latest stories were especially good.

Phonics:

The second graders met with their word collector clubs and exploded a word to find more words. They made posters, did a gallery walk and earned a badge. Then we shifted gears and started learning about compound words. We will continue that work after break.

Math:

The second graders took their first checkpoint of this unit and we went over them in class. We also played some new centimeter measuring games. On Wednesday we started a new Number Corner and studied all of the dates over Spring Break. The second graders discovered some interesting patterns about equal parts of a whole. They also turned in a story problem work sample on Wednesday.

Reading:

We read Can I Be Your Dog and looked at how the dog was a hopeful character. We decided that the lesson in the story was to never give up. The students also had a great time reading by flashlight on Tuesday and doing some beach reading on Wednesday.

Weekly Update

Spring Dress Up Days!

Writing:

The second graders have a good start on their realistic fiction stories. Since they are writing about events that could really happen, many have based their stories on things that happened to them. Their writing has grown so much since the beginning of the year! I have been impressed with what they have done this week. We are going to try to wrap up these stories next week so they can start their second story after Spring Break.

Reading:

We wrapped up book clubs this week. The second graders did a great job doing the reading and coming prepared to talk about their books. Some of the students want to carry on with book clubs and some decided not to. Reading next week will be focused on the author's purpose as we integrate the feeling word Hopeful into our reading.

Math:

The second graders made army ant rulers as we started our exploration of the metric system of measurement. We have new workplaces all about measuring in centimeters as well as adding and subtracting within 500. We are also still working on adding and subtracting money. The Unit 6 test went home this week, so check your student's mail if you haven't seen it. I have been working on some reteaching and reassessing this week so you may have seen, or yet see a Unit 6 checkpoint come home. 

For this phonics unit the second graders are in word collector clubs where they can
talk about and share the words they find. 

Phonics:

We are having a great time being word collectors in phonics. We read two books to kick off this unit, Max's Words and The Word Collector. This unit focuses on encoding and decoding longer words so they are putting their phonics skills to work. We also get to work on building vocabulary in this unit. On Friday the second graders made some word thermometers to explore shades of meaning and we have also been sharing some of favorite new vocabulary words.

April Specials:

Weekly Update

 We celebrated World Down Syndrome Day on Friday!

Math:

The second graders took their math test on Friday! Not everyone finished it, so don't expect to see them until later in the week. They will come home with a score sheet attached. We will take the screener for the next unit on Monday. This second-to-last unit is about adding and subtracting up to three-digit numbers, including adding and subtracting money amounts. We will also revisit measurement, but this time we will explore the metric system.

The second graders worked on another quilt this week. This one was just a patchwork and so everyone got 4 squares to cut in half to make a pattern on their own square. Then we took turns laying those squares in an arrray on the floor. This project was a way to help the second graders understand that a half cut into a triangle is equal to a half cut into a rectangle if you start with the same original shape. We also made posters with words and examples to explain the idea.

Reading:

We are continuing our book clubs! The second graders have been fun reading with their friends and classmates and discussing their books. We talked about how authors choose to end their books and lessons that they teach as well as patterns across series. Next week we will continue to study author's craft in our book clubs.

Social Studies & Writing:

The second graders also took a social studies test this week. They will finish up their Hudsonville History books on Monday so I can give them an overall score. Then we will start our last full phonics unit of the year and finish up our study of the feeling word cheerful.

Important Dates:

March 31: Wing Doozy Fundraiser

3-26: Popcorn Day

April 2-12: Spring Break

Weekly Update

Looks like we are in for another round of wild weather! Thanks for continuing to send your second grader to school with a coat and boots. Sometimes the high for the day happens in the overnight hours and the temperature drops during the day making for chilly lunch and afternoon recesses. We do have some coats in the office for kids to borrow when it's cold and they don't have one, but most would rather have their own : )

Reading:

The second graders have had a successful round one of book clubs. Some of the second graders are moving to new series and some have opted to stay with the series they are on. This week's focus for reading will be on the author's craft, so we will have two book clubs doing author studies. It will be fun to hear these book clubs share about the patterns they see across books that don't have the same characters but are by the same author and how they are similar to or different from a series of books that are all about the same character. We will talk about how authors write endings and what authors are trying to teach.

We have also been reading the March Madness books. So far we have read six of the sixteen in the tournament. Ask your child which ones have won their matchups and what his or her favorite has been.

Math:

The second graders have been studying shapes as well as working on area and fractions. The two shapes that give second graders the most trouble are the pentagon and hexagon. We will be reviewing these  a ton this coming week because the unit test will be on Friday. Students will be expected to identify shares and give a reason for their answer. They will also need to know halves and fourths, so we will review those equal parts of shapes this week as well.

Writing & Social Studies:

We have been reading, researching, and writing about the history of Hudsonville. The second graders are almost done writing their own informational books about the history of Hudsonville. We will wrap up this unit this week by finishing books and taking a test. 

Upcoming dates:

3-16 Hearing screening

3-20 Early Release Day

3-20 We will be wearing our tie-dye socks to celebrate World Down Syndrome Day on 3-21

4-2 to 4-12 Spring Break

Weekly Update

Thanks to everyone who made it to parent teacher conferences. It was so good to connect with you all and discuss your child's progress! 

Stefanich Challenge event: Bean Bag Toss

The Stefanich Challenge wrapped up this week with a glow party! That's not all we did this week though. We completed some fun challenges, tried to figure out the mystery singers, and did an Olympics Trivia Quiz. It was a fun two-week team and school community building event.

Reading:

We started our series book clubs. The second graders were all assigned a series of books to read. Some were short and some were long, so some students read 5 books in their series and others only read 1. The focus this week was on the main character. The second graders became experts on their main character. They learned their likes, dislikes, habits, and sayings. Getting to know your main character helps a reader understand why a character does the things they do and helps make predictions. It also helps readers see how the character changes as the series goes on. Next week we will continue our book clubs but shift our focus to what the author does.

Book Clubs work together to make sure
everyone gets a chance to talk.

Math:

We have started to learn about area and shapes and next week we will throw in basic fractions. We got two new workplaces and will get another one next week. We will also do the first checkpoint of the unit. I have been retesting students on some of the skills we have revisited. These second graders have grown so much in math this fall and winter!

Social Studies & Writing:

We have been having so much fun learning about how historians work and learning about Hudsonville history. We also started working on an informational book about Hudsonville. This is such a fun unit because the second graders are learning about the history of their community and about buildings they drive past and roads they ride on every day!

Extra Information:

Putting events from Hudsonville's history in order
to make a timeline.

March 12 - Skating party at Tarry Hall 6:15-8:15

March 16 - Hearing screening for 2nd grade

March 20 - Early release day 

March Specials

April 1 we will have STEAM and there is no school on April 2 or 3 because of Spring Break. 

 

Weekly Update

Stefanich Challenge:

Carrying our class flag
for opening ceremonies!

We had so much fun with the Stefanich Challenge this week! Thank you so much for helping your second grader with our dress up days! This week we got to do some curling and we threw paper airplanes to get points! Next week's dress up days are:

Monday: Gold, silver, bronze day

Wednesday: Dress like a teacher day

Friday: Neon day and Glow Party for Closing Ceremonies : )

It's March! Click here to see our March Specials Calendar.

Reading:

We read books about the feeling word embarrassed. We used a story map to highlight the story elements after we talked about how the character worked through his or her feelings. We ended our week with a Starbooks Cafe where they could get a "taste" of a few new series books. I will use the feedback they left in their "tasting menu" to arrange series book clubs next week.

Trying out new books
at "Starbooks Cafe"

Math: 

We started our next unit in math! We are learning all about shapes. Homework this week doesn't say homework, but it is a page straight from our in-class workplaces. It is called "last shape in to win" and it is a fun way to practice drawing shapes as well as some critical thinking.

Social Studies:

We took our test for economics, and that came home in your students' mail on Friday. We have been working on learning about how people learn about the past. We will dive more into Hudsonville history next week as we read and write informational texts. 

Phonics:

We will start our last big phonics unit next week. This one is called word collectors. We will explore compound words, shades of meaning, and prefixes and suffixes.

Extra Information:

March 2 and 4: Parent teacher conferences

March 2 and 3: Spring Book Fair

Our class previews Monday and shops on Tuesday, but you can shop while you are in the building for conferences. 

March 20: Early Release

April 2: Spring Break