The Start of September
Hello everybody and Happy Labor Day weekend!
So far, my long weekend has been spent doing the things I enjoy most. I watched the Bulldogs win; I’ve stitched and caught up on some R&R. I hope your holiday weekend is filled with activities you like to do. Here is an update for what’s to come this week.
As you know, this past week we met with our Beaker Buddies to continue our understanding and importance of a pan balance as well as explore the relationships between weight and balance. This week, we will review and compare both the beam balance and pan balance along with all of the vocabulary words because there will be a short quiz on Thursday. On Tuesday, your student will receive a crossword puzzle and review questions to help them get ready for their first science quiz. Practice shows progress, so any extra review from you would be ideal for your 2nd grade scientist. Thank you.
Important Notes:
– Constitution Day is Sunday, September 22nd
– Parent Teacher Conferences will be held Monday, September 23rd and Tuesday, September 24th. I am working on creating a Sign-Up Genius. I will send out the link as soon as I have it completed.
– Our September Book Reports went home on Friday. We begin with a Folktale, and they are set up to replicate their Footprints from First Grade. In addition, they will be presenting their information using props that they will keep in a bag. They should use 4 props to represent the First, Second, Third, and Last thing that happened in their story. For longer books they may need help summarizing- they absolutely may use your help to organize their thoughts. Book reports are due Monday, September 30th. I demonstrated a folktale book report on Friday, so they have an idea as to the items that can be used during their presentation.
What’s coming this week:
In Reading we begin our third story in our textbooks entitled Dogs. The genre this week also focuses on informational text and the essential question the class will be focusing on this week is ‘What do pets need to be happy and healthy?’
Phonics: We will be working on long vowels a and i as well as sounds for c
Grammar: We will be working on types of sentences this week such as statements, questions, and exclamations.
Target Skill: Identifying the author’s purpose, analyzing and evaluating text, as well as continue our study on comparing and contrasting
Writing Skill: Narrative writing that focuses on sentences that describe as well as elaboration
Vocabulary: Multiple-meaning words
Math: We finished up working with three and four digit addends this week. We will review four digit addends when we return on Tuesday, with a Check Progress on Wednesday. We will wrap up the week with subtraction practice.
History: We spoke a lot this week about The Bill of Rights and what it means to have rights. We will be going a bit further into this discussion this week, as well as continuing to work on our Constitution Flipbook. We will also begin breaking down the Preamble piece by piece to begin to understand its meaning and begin preliminary memorization!
When you take out the papers in your student’s Monday folder, you will see that I’ve introduced how to use a highlighter and the importance of this important school tool. I smile every time when my students get excited when they are to swipe important words or information during a lesson. I just love it!!!
This past week, we started collecting Warm Fuzzies in addition to Marvelous Moments. The Warm Fuzzies are geared towards individual goals that each student and I have to work on in school. At the end of each week, the number of Warm Fuzzies will lead to a coupon of some kind that your student earned and can use. The Marvelous Moments are for the entire class to work on as a group. Compliments from teachers, administration, or from friends are just a few ways to fill our jar and celebrate as a class. This Friday is looking pretty good for our first Marvelous Moment celebration. I’ll keep you in touch with how things are going, but I’m sure your second grader will know what’s happening.
I believe that’s all for now. Take care and I’ll see everybody at 8:20.
Cheryl Leagan
2nd grade teacher
The Wood Acres School