Weekly Update 2/29/2016 - 3/4/2016

It feels as though it has been a while since our last update, but that doesn't mean we haven't been busy! Perhaps it means we have been even busier than before. Our most exciting news to share is surely news you already know -- the Coral Reef is right outside our classroom doors! We are so grateful to the many of you who took time to help organize, paint, clean up and supervise for such an important event in Second Grade. We look forward to celebrating with you more on Friday! As a reminder, you can visit the Under Sea Museum between 9 and 10 am.

On that note, we have been hard at work in Writer's Workshop! Our books on the Coral Reef are nearly published, and we thank you for your support at home as we've been pushed for time. We will celebrate all the hard work of your children this Friday, March 4th, at our Coral Reef Museum. Mark your calendars! And come prepared with questions for these "experts." Our 5th Grade Book Buddies will join us in the afternoon to celebrate as well.

In Reader's Workshop, we have been working on our skills as partners within reading. Each child has been given a bookmark as a tool to use during Workshop and we've been focusing on these questions:

1. What's happening so far?
2. What's this mostly about?
3. How is the character changing (or not)?
4. What is the character learning?
5. What is the lesson?

We have been partner reading for 10-15 minutes during Workshop, with breaks for conversation, followed by independent reading. The conversation has been a wonderful aid to comprehension and we encourage you to use these questions at home as well. Some of you may be familiar with RazzKids -- an iPad app with leveled reading. Starting this week, we'll be using this in class for some of our partner reading. 

We have just concluded Unit 5 in Math and instead of sending home the end-of-unit assessment as we usually do, we will save it to review during conferences next week. This will give your child a chance to reflect on their work as a mathematician and explain their problem solving methods out loud. We will be sending home the work pages from Unit 5 as well and ask that you please keep these at home. Students are welcome to complete any unfinished pages for extra practice. Our next unit of Investigations dives back into number sense, place value, and story problems. We will be working closely with the number "100" and differentiating within the classroom to meet each student where they are as mathematicians. Unlike previous units, we will be partnering with Mrs. Bolding and Mr. Smith's class during math in order to generate more intentional small group work.

Word Study continues to take part in small groups, however we also spend a portion of Word Study all together working with our Word Wall Words and different parts of speech. We've exposed the class to nouns, verbs, adjectives, and most recently adverbs. This work will continue and we hope you'll partner with us in asking your children to break apart sentences and identify the various parts of speech.

Aside from our daily subjects, we have added a few additional pieces of learning to our day. As of the past few weeks, our class has started following the Presidential primaries. We are tracking the delegate counts for both the Republican and Democratic parties. We will continue doing this as a class in hopes of giving your children a small (but meaningful!) understanding of what is happening in our country during this Presidential election year. And finally, for Lent, we are reading from Jesus Calling each morning. It has been one of the greatest gifts in our day -- to hear the insights of your children and to learn what resonates with them most. We might just have to carry this routine on well past Lent!

As Spring rolls in, so will trips to ImaginOn, gardening excursions, and much more. Stay tuned for what's to come and be sure to mark your calendars for the following dates:

• Student Led Conferences will be next Monday and Tuesday, March 7th and 8th. Please be sure to sign up for a time via Good News. As you know, these conferences are different than the ones held 1st Trimester in that your children will be leading conversation as they share and celebrate their work.
• Spring Break: March 21 -25

Photos and Valentine's Day Reminder

Wow! What  Tuesday we had. Discovery Place in the morning, and a big carrot harvest in the afternoon followed by a surprise Fat Tuesday Dance Party in the gym. Take a look at the pictures below for a glimpse into our busy, exciting day. 

Our morning at Discovery Place gave us the opportunity to learn more about the Coral Reef and the animals living there. We participated in several activities to help us understand coral more and were able to take a peek at some of the animals living in reefs. Several of our students were able to see their animal in action! See if your children can tell you how coral is similar to an apartment building when it's alive. We came home with some great new information!

That afternoon, we harvested a HUGE amount of carrots! It was amazing to see the energy and excitement of your children as they dug up the carrots we so carefully planted many months ago. A big harvest is being taken to Friendship Trays today and we are excited to find out just how many pounds are being donated. This is no doubt some of the most important work your children are doing in second grade and we couldn't be more proud to witness servant hearts growing in our classroom.  

Lastly, we will be having our Valentine's Day celebration on Friday. The celebration will include a card exchange only. As a reminder, should your children be bringing in Valentine's, please be sure they have one for every student in the class. 

We are hoping to walk to ImaginON Friday, which is a 1/2 day and NUTS Day. Please make sure your child is dressed appropriately and warmly! 

Weekly Update 2/1/16 - 2/5/16

Rabbit, rabbit! February has arrived, one way or another, and it's sure to be another quick month with a long weekend thrown in there mid-month.

We are making transitions across subjects this week and we'll start with an update on Reader's. At the beginning of the year, we told your children that they would be growing like beanstalks in their reading lives, and indeed they are! Because of this, it's time for us to amp up reading in both book length and stamina during independent reading. We have begun keeping a reading log at school, just as you do at home, in order to encourage more consistency in our reading. We are setting weekly goals in terms of pages read and having your children bring home their just-right book each night. Your children have been doing a wonderful job remembering to bring their books to and fro, and we thank you for helping them develop this habit. In addition to amping up our reading, we are practicing different skills to enhance fluency. Most recently, we've worked on "scooping" -- ask your kids to "scoop" words up for you as you read together!

In Writer's, we have entered the drafting phase. All of the in depth research we did over the past two weeks is now paying off, and we are beginning to organize our notes into logical, organized paragraphs. While we have been working in partnerships up until now, the remainder of our writing work will be independent so that each child is able to publish their own research book on their animal.

In Math Workshop, we are wrapping up Unit 4 and will have our final assessment this week. We have been impressed with the work being done in the classroom -- data collection and analysis is always fun, and we look forward to seeing your children share their learning on their assessment this week. Our next unit will focus on patterns and number functions. Be on the lookout for an Investigations letter home for more information. We hope you all received the XtraMath letter and PIN that was sent home last week. We encourage you to use this website as a way to practice combinations at home. Please check your child's communication folder if this isn't ringing a bell!

Reminders for the Upcoming Weeks:

• On Thursday, February 4th, we will be walking to the Children's Theater to see The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, a personal childhood favorite, and we look forward to a fun morning together. Students will read this story in Third Grade. 
• Next Tuesday, February 9th, we will take a trip to Discovery Place to participate in "Under the Sea" -- a program all about coral reefs! We hope this program will enhance our understanding of what happens in the world of the animals we've been studying. 
• We have had a few inquires about Valentine's Day and what our classroom plan will be. We will have a card exchange on Friday, February 12th. If your child plans on giving out Valentine's, please be sure they have one for every student in the class. No sweets, please! 
• Mark your calendars for President's Day Weekend. We will have a half day on Friday, February 12th with an early dismissal at 11:30 and school will be closed for students the following Monday and Tuesday, February 15-16th. 
• Room Parents (thank you!) will be reaching out soon to find volunteers for our coral reef painting later this month. Please stay tuned for this information and thank you in advance for your help!

Lastly, and most importantly, we want to say how very proud we are of the incredible work your children did last Friday with Willy Wonka. What a wonderful production! And fun celebration afterwards. Thank you for all of your support and for making sure this class feels so celebrated and loved. In case you missed it, or in case your children want to see the play themselves, click THIS LINK for the full video. Thank you, Margit Lanze, for filming!