Weekly Update 10/13/15 - 10/16/15

Welcome back! We hope you enjoyed the long weekend -- whether you stayed in Charlotte, or ventured elsewhere. We trust stories will unfold this week and we look forward to hearing them. Thank you all for your time last week during conferences. We are grateful to have had the time to sit down with each of you to discuss progress thus far, and also to look ahead with excitement for what is to come in Second Grade.

We are picking right back up where we left off! With a few new things thrown into the mix, of course. This week we are celebrating the "Small Moment Stories" that you read during conferences. We are so proud of our young authors and having seen the incredible work they can produce, we know the year is sure to bring forth more beautiful, published work. Please take the time over the next week or so to sit down with your children as they share their stories with you. They are truly wonderful!  Be sure to ask your child about the unique compliment they received as they were awarded their Halloween pencils at the conclusion of our celebration! Our next unit will focus a lot on writing letters and we launched this unit today by writing a short letter about our passions.

As we mentioned during conferences, we are also shifting gears in Reader's Workshop. Having spent several weeks building comprehension skills, we will begin studying characters in depth as a way to put these comprehension strategies to use. Instead of writing in Noticing Books, students will get a Reader's Notebook that will be used frequently as we write about our reading. Please note that Noticing Books are no longer a requirement. However, if your child would like to continue writing in their NB, we will continue to respond!

Unit Two of Investigations is well underway and we will continue our work with geometry through next week. We have just introduced the concept of area, and will soon be discussing symmetry. Students have learned about various shapes and in particular, the difference between types of quadrilaterals.

Below is an update from Natalia regarding Spanish classes:

"News from Spanish!

Learning a second language opens a new world of opportunities and also provides knowledge of other cultures and traditions from different countries.

At Trinity, students are exposed to this experience in a fun and interactive way.

Building a good foundation in Spanish will help students to understand main concepts that will be useful when expressing ideas.

Some topics are taught in all grade levels and they change according to the students' age. Some of them are: calendar (numbers, months, days), school supplies, weather seasons, family and parts of the classroom.

Second graders are working on reading comprehension and recognizing some common vocabulary words and expressions. They are practicing counting through 60. Children have been working on topics such as weather, school items, parts of the classroom, main parts of the face and body by using the correct article for each.

We are playing the game “El Lobo” (The Wolf) to start using vocabulary words about clothes."

Thank you,

Natalia

A few reminders for the upcoming weeks:

• Please remember to sign and return your child's Unit One Assessment that was given to you during conferences. We hope you have found the time to sit down with your children to look at their work together. We will keep these assessments for our records and to note progress. 
• Small Moment Stories have made their way home -- celebrate, and return next week! Thank you for your cooperation. We promise they will be yours to keep...eventually! 
• Friday, October 16th will be our first trip to Little Sugar Creek Community Garden. If you have signed up as one of our volunteers, please be sure to arrive on campus by 12:45 so we can depart together. Weather looks great! 
• Our next trip to ImaginOn will be NEXT WEEK. Stay tuned for the specific date. 
• Friday, October 23rd is a Professional Development day and there will be no school for students. Enjoy another long weekend!