weekly update

Earth Day:

We talked about reusing and recycling and spent some time outside on Earth Day cleaning up Hughes Park! We will talk more about recycling and what we can do to cut down on trash as our field trip gets closer. Scroll to the bottom for more info on that!

Writing:

The second graders finished up their last realistic fiction pieces last week! I'm working on getting those graded this week while we revisit non-fiction writing in class. We will spend a week reviewing the features of good informational writing and then the second graders will write one last informational book! They  can choose to write about any topic they know a lot about: an animal, a sport, a hobby, a place . . .)

Math:

The second graders have been working with shapes and fractions and last week they made a quilt! It was fun watching them figure out the pattern and cut shapes to make them fit. Then they had to work together to make something bigger. When it was all put together, they wrote observations about patterns they saw and new shapes that were created by putting everyone's quilt square together.

Reading:

We are reading fairytales in class as part of our Fairy Tales, Folktales, and Fables unit. We started with an overview of the genres and then learned the characteristics of a fairy tale. We learned that fairytales often start with "Once Upon A Time" take place in a faraway place, have royalty or very wealthy characters, clearly identifiable good and bad characters, often feature a pattern of three, and the good guy gets a happy ending. We revisited some classic stories and talked about why they aren't "written by" but are "retold by" an author. The second graders have been enjoying reading and hearing the stories for themselves that they know only from Disney movies. 

Phonics:

We created a new section in our Word Collection Notebooks for compound words. We learned the difference between compound words and two syllable words, because sometimes it's hard to tell the difference!! Next week we will study words prefixes.  

Homework:

The yellow math page is due by May 3 (Early Release Day)

Extra Information:

We will be going to the library on Monday this week instead of Tuesday because of MSTEP

May 2 - School Lunch Hero Day! We will be wearing superhero gear to celebrate our fantastic lunch ladies!

May 3- Early Release Day

May 15- Field Trip to South Kent Landfill and Kent County Recycling and Education Center.  Due to space (or lack of - we are taking one bus) we won't be taking chaperones to the landfill. However you CAN meet us at the Recycling Center if you would like. We will be there from about 10:30-11:30. 

We have some fun planned for the end of the year, that we would LOVE help with!  Please sign up here if you would like to donate to the fun: Sign Up Genius