Weekly Update

Writing

The second graders have been working so hard on their informational books. Everyone turned in a book on Friday to be scored so we can work on setting goals and writing one more book next week.

Phonics

Our digraph safari was so much fun! We worked hard all week to be ready to spot those sneaky digraphs out in the wild. The lessons move fast and we went through a lot of information in one week, so we will for sure revisit some of the trickier ones. Next week we head into the last bend in this unit which is all about word endings.

Math

It is hard to believe but we are looking at taking our unit test at the end of next week! The second graders took a checkpoint this week which was a lot like the homework from last weekend. As a class we are still building consistency in using number lines and taking apart tens and ones as addition and subtraction strategies. We won't use the traditional borrowing and carrying algorithms this year because we want the second graders to build a solid understanding of what is happening when numbers are combined or taken apart. We are going to spend a lot of time building number sense and studying ways to represent numbers this year. There is no homework this week since many haven't finished last week's page. 

This week we built the number 35 in many different ways. We did a compare and contrast activity and found that most students used groups of 10s and 1s to help them efficiently build and organize 35 of their chosen object. 

Reading

We had some technical difficulties, so only did one compare and contrast activity using informational text on our laptops. We used some of our reading time instead to study the digraphs we were learning about in phonics. Next week we will try again to use laptops in a group setting to read and answer compare and contrast questions about informational text.

Other Information

Weather related: Thanks to everyone who was able to send their second grader with boots and hats and gloves last week! That first cold snap always takes me by surprise and I have to scramble to find the winter gear. Thankfully next week doesn't look quite as cold and I haven't seen snow in the forecast! My rule is if the "feels like" temperature is below 40 the second graders must take their coat and gear with them when they go outside for recess. 

Pie related: Thanks to everyone who has signed up and sent in pie supplies! If you signed up to send in pie crusts THANK YOU, and you can send them any time. We won't need the crusts until the day we assemble the pies (11-25), but all dry ingredients are needed ASAP because we will start measuring next week! If you haven't signed up to help you can do that here: Pie Sign Up link or shoot me an email. Please also make sure you have filled out the volunteer background check!