Weekly Update 9/26/16 - 9/30/16

Hello, Second Grade families! With conferences around the corner, we are beginning to wrap up several of units of study. Here's what's happening...

In Writer's, students are working to publish their small moment stories. We have been through the editing process both independently and with peers and students are learning the importance of reading and rereading their work. These stories will be published by conferences and we look forward to sharing their stories with you!

In Reader's, we are shifting into a unit on characters. Students will be learning to understand the differences between character traits, emotions, and actions. As you read with your children at home, we'd love for you to engage in conversation around character behavior as a way mirror what we are learning in the classroom. Tomorrow we will visit ImaginOn as a class to return books and to check out new ones. Please remember to keep track of these books at home!

Our first unit of Math will be wrapping up this week and we'll have a final assessment early next week. This work will be ready by conferences as well. Our next unit will focus on geometry where we will explore the differences between 2-D and 3-D shapes, quadrilaterals, and what constitutes as a half, third, or fourth. Also in regard to math, we've sent home an informational letter about the online Investigations program and how to use this program. We've introduced your children to this program as well and hope you will take the time to explore this new teaching tool.

Our new Word Study sort explores the past tense (-ed) form of verbs and the different sounds an -ed word can make. This sort will continue over the next two weeks. Thank you for your partnership at home as students develop routines with word study homework.

Science and Social Studies, while not scheduled as often, have been a huge hit! We continue to study soil in Science and will begin learning about decomposition this week and different decomposers that make their home in the soil. This is all great preparation for our field trip to Reedy Creek next month. At this point, students are well versed in what "rich" soil is and the benefits it has for plants. We conducted a little experiment last week by planting grass seed in rich soil and also in clay soil. It was an exciting morning yesterday to walk in the classroom and see the grass growing! As predicted, Soil A (the rich soil) is growing more grass than Soil B (clay soil). In Social Studies we have been talking about how people make a difference in a community and about the presidential election. Our discussions have led to some powerful conversations and we've loved hearing your children speak about problems in our community, near and far, that we can work towards solving. We were proud to see students connecting the current conditions in Charlotte to our Social Studies unit by acknowledging that we have an urban problem on our hands. We trust more good conversations are ahead.

I think it is safe to say that the best part of the past two weeks has been our new partnership with InReach. We had two successful visits that left all involved with full hearts. Last week, we welcomed about 10 InReach customers to our campus to sing songs with Mrs. Williams, take a tour around Trinity, and hear one of our favorite stories, Ferdinand. Not a single person left without a smile on there face and the visit certainly came at a needed time. Good things are happening within these classroom walls!

As October draws near, please be sure you have the following dates on your calendar:

• Tuesday, October 4th at 9:45 -- A Year with Frog and Toad at the Children's Theater. 
• Wednesday, October 5th -- School pictures! 
• Thursday and Friday, October 6-7th -- Conferences. If you have not signed up for a time yet, please do so through Good News. We will be sticking to the schedule so please make sure you know when you are scheduled. We are looking forward to spending time with you to talk about your child's growth so far! 
• Monday, October 10th -- No school!
• Tuesday, October 11th -- Reedy Creek Field Trip, 8:30 - 12:30. Stay tuned for more detailed information regarding our departure time and lunch plans. We are planning to eat lunch at Reedy Creek and will touch base with lunch orders beforehand.

Well, that covers the first half of October and clearly we will be quite busy! Please let know us know if you have any questions. We look forward to seeing you soon!

Weekly Update 9/7/16 - 9/9/16

Here we are, in the fourth week of school! Routine has set in and we hope that is true for you as well. As we mentioned at Back to School Night, we will do our best to post classroom update bimonthly. Updates will include a brief overview of what we are learning in the classroom, additional happenings around school, pictures, and reminders for what's ahead. That said, let's jump into our first update!

In Writer's Workshop, small moment stories are coming to fruition. Your children have selected small moments from their Noticing Books to develop into stories and have completed the brainstorming process. We have emphasized the importance of having a beginning, middle, and end and are currently working on adding detail to those sections. Shortly, students will be crafting a good ending to their small moment stories that will lead into our final edits and published stories.

In Reader's Workshop, we are "rolling up our sleeves" and getting comfortable as 2nd Grade readers. Students have grown familiar with what Reader's Workshop should look and sound like and we are starting to think this might be the favorite part of the day! In the coming weeks, we will be carefully reading and conferring with your children in order to best support them as growing readers and to be sure they are choosing "just right" books. Our first visit to ImaginOn was last Thursday, and we received a wonderful introduction to the sections of the library from Ms. Becca. While we did not check out books this go around, we will do so during our next visit this Thursday.

Math, in true Trinity fashion, has been quite hands on and active. We are working closely with coins -- learning to decipher between dimes, nickels, and quarters, and ask that you please partner with us in this at home. The more exposure students have to these everyday math tools, the better! We are beginning to explore time, and will continue this work throughout the course of the year. Unit 1 focuses on primarily on counting and the many strategies we can use to problem solve. This will be done within Story Problems and various classroom games. We encourage students to always, always show their work and to carefully explain their thinking. Please encourage your children to do the same at home whenever homework is assigned. Throughout the year, your children will develop more efficient strategies to solve problems and their comfort and confidence with numbers will also grow.

Word Study routines began last week! A new sort was introduced last week and we will continue to work with this sort for another week. We will be focusing on the "-ck rule." Be on the lookout for a video regarding how to do a "Blind Sort" within the next week. As mentioned at Back to School Night, we have been extremely impressed with the Word Study work of your children! They are applying these new skills during Reader's and Writer's, which is exactly what we hope to see.

Aside from our core subjects, we have been incorporating a variety of activities to our days. STEM activities, Book Buddies, and a touch of gardening. Check out the pictures below!

Happy faces on the first day of school! 

"Saving Fred" -- Our first STEM build.

The grand opening of the library!

Getting to know our Book Buddies from Mr. Merritt's class!

September Reminders:

• Another visit to ImaginOn! This Thursday, September 8th, we will take another trip to ImaginOn. This time, students will be coming home with two books -- a "just right" book as well as a "dessert book" of their choosing! 
• Mark your calendar -- Friday, September 9th is Mrs. Dufresne's birthday!!!
• Wednesday, September 28th is a NUTS Day (No Uniform at Trinity School) and 1/2 day for students. Please plan to pick your children up at 11:30 or to make arrangements with TED in advance. 
• Service Learning will begin next Thursday, September 15th. Our class will visit InReach at both the Baxter Street location as well as at Covenant Presbyterian Church. As mentioned during the Parent Coffee, we will be participating in the Reach In 2 Reach Out Self-Advocacy class. Stay tuned for more information regarding volunteer drivers.