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. 

Chapel Reminders

Hello, Second Grade Families! We wanted to share a bit of information regarding Community Chapel this Friday and in the coming weeks. Because we are getting into the swing of school and learning/relearning routines, we would like to be sure we sit as a class during Chapel. Of course, we welcome you to join us in the gym on Friday at 8:00AM for Chapel, but ask that you please sit separately from your children. Second Grade students sit on the gym floor, around mid-court. We look forward to our first Community Chapel and hope to see you there!

Welcome to Second Grade!

Welcome to second grade! Miss McAlister and I are so excited to meet you next week. We have been working hard to get everything ready for you and we can’t wait for school to start!

Before our year officially begins, I would like to tell you a little bit about myself. This is my sixth year teaching at Trinity and marks my second year teaching second grade. You will hear a lot about my family, especially my two children who both graduated from and loved Trinity. I look forward to learning about your family too!

I feel truly blessed that Miss McAlister will be your other teacher. This year is her third year as a much beloved member of the second grade team and the second year that we have been teaching together. In her spare time, Miss McAlister enjoys running, reading, traveling, and spending time with her family and friends. She has many stories to share with you from her summer adventures in Tanzania.

We would like to extend a warm welcome to our newest second grade Wildcats, Geoffrey Eloge and his parents Sara and Geoff  and Ned Warren and his parents Kathleen and Edward. Geoffrey is in our class, and I know you will join us in greeting him and showing Geoffrey why Trinity is such a special place!

On the first day of school, please bring these 4 things: your Noticing Book, a favorite picture book, the completed “Hopes and Dreams” form from your parents, and a healthy snack. If you are interested, the Dining Hall will offer free lunch for all students during the first week of school!

Here are a few other reminders:

• Wildcat Round-Up is a drop-in event on Monday, August 15 from 11:30-1:00 pm or 4:30-6:00 pm. Students will have a chance to meet their teachers, see their classroom, and visit with friends. Parents are expected to stay with their children at this event.
• The first day of school is Tuesday, August 16. Our classroom doors open every morning at 7:45am, but students may be dropped off as early as 7:15 am for morning care. School starts promptly at 8:00am and pickup is at 3:20pm.
• If your child is planning to go to Trinity Extended Day (TED), please make arrangements with the TED Director, Temekia Morton (tmorton@tescharlotte.org) and let us know as well.
• Lower School Back-to-School Night is Thursday August 25, from 6:00-8:30 (child care provided through TED). K-2 parents will meet in classrooms from 6:00-7:00, all K-5 parents will meet in the Dickson Dining Hall from 7:00-7:30, and 3-5 parents will meet in classroom from 7:30-8:30.
• The 1st and 2nd Grade Parent Coffee is Tuesday August 30,  from 8:00-9:15 in the Cotter Commons. At this event, you will hear more from the Lower School Administrative team about grade-specific curriculum, developmental benchmarks, and more!

Parents, please feel free to contact us throughout the year via email: cdufresne@tescharlotte.org and

mkmcalister@tescharlotte.org. We can’t wait to start the year!

Weekly Update 5/31/16 - 6/3/16

The countdown is on! Only one more Monday left in the school year and not a day goes by without a little something "extra" going on around here. On Monday, we paired up with Third Grade for All Trinity Builds where teams were challenged to find a way to drop a plastic cup of water from the balcony of our classrooms to the courtyard without spilling the water. It was a treat for the teachers to watch creative, problem-solving minds set to work with the limited supplies of fabric, tinfoil, string, and plastic. Most every team attempted to create a parachute of sorts before realizing that the plastic wrap and extra padding was a better route. All Trinity Builds revolves around the Engineering Design Process, which includes a cycle of imagining, planning, creating, improving, and asking.

The other exciting piece of our week came Thursday morning, when we were able to celebrate the year with your families. Not only did everyone enjoy starting their day with donuts, but it was a joy to reflect upon the year, see pictures, read poetry, and be in community. If you'd like to view the slideshow again, please click HERE.

In the classroom, we are squeezing things in! In Writer's Workshop, your students have been working on their realistic fiction stories. This will be our final writing piece of the year and we will work on publishing next week. In Reader's, we end the year by enjoying our just-right books -- and we must say, what is now "just-right" for your children is far different than what we saw in August! Perhaps one of the biggest joys about this time of year is our chance to see all the growth that has happened, and these second graders have truly grown like beanstalks. In case you haven't heard, a new series has taken our class by storm -- Wrenly! Our Unit 8 Assessment from Investigations will be sent home this week and we ask that you please review, sign, and return it by Friday. This will be the last math assessment that comes home. We will begin a new unit on measurement, however will not take an assessment on the material. Aside from these core subjects, our days are filled with end of year activities and as much community time as possible. We love our classroom and we love your children -- we just have no idea where the year went!

Reminders for the upcoming week:

• Please return your the Student Math Handbook that went home at the beginning of the year. We hope this has been a helpful tool for you throughout the year and appreciate your cooperation as we collect these books for next year.
• Monday, June 6th -- 8th Grade Commencement. We will celebrate with 8th Grade next Monday and then gather on the field at our normal lunch time (12:00) for a picnic lunch. 
• Tuesday, June 7th -- Alumni Book Buddy Day! A few weeks ago, students wrote invitation letters to alumni, which we know were well received and we look forward to having a few graduates visit next week!
• Wednesday, June 8th -- Last day of school! Moving Up Chapel will be at 10:30 in the gym and dismissal will be at 11:30 following the service. We hope to see you there!

Weekly Update 5/9/16 - 5/13/16

We all know that May is a busy month and this May is certainly no exception! It is almost hard to know where to begin. The children would undoubtedly pick our recent Grandfriends Day where we were blessed to have so many visitors come and see all that we are doing in our classroom as a highlight. The children were so proud to show off their work and explain all of the different subjects we have been learning as they took their grandfriends on tour of our classroom.

The children would also say that the visit from Calef Brown, our beloved poet, was truly a highlight of these past two weeks. Mr. Brown came to our classroom and showed how he always starts writing a  poem by making a drawing. Once he has the drawing complete, he makes a list of things that come to mind as he looks at his whimsical drawings. Only then does he begin to look for words which rhyme, or nearly rhyme words that are on the list.
Mr. Brown also shared his belief that poems can be fun, but never at he expense of someones feelings. The children were fascinated to learn that he really didn't start writing poetry until he was grown. Mr. Brown started as an illustrator. His visit was inspiring and he left a treasure of his whimsical art which can be found on our classroom door. The children loved trying to use the "Calef Brown" method to create their own poems.

In writing, we have just finished our unit on poetry. Hopefully everyone received their Mother's Day poems this weekend. We will share more of their published poems during our end of the year celebration. We will be creating realistic fiction in our last writing unit. In reading, we have just completed our unit on series book clubs. We celebrated our work by having each book club present what they liked and, in some cases didn't like, about their series. This was a great exercise to get them ready for the work they will do in book clubs next year.

In math we finished up our study of fractions and the End-of-Unit assessments will go home this week. We are now exploring new addition and subtraction concepts as we work to manipulate odd and even numbers.

In science we have learned about the three states of matter and how they change. A highlight was a visit to the middle school science lab where Margaret Rudisill let them examine what happens when you melt an ice cube. The children loved discovering what happens when you mix dry ice into liquid or what happens when you put an object such as a coin on dry ice. Later, we planted various green beans which we are watching grow rapidly on the light cart outside of our classroom.

Finally, in social studies we are studying about how ordinary citizens can make a difference. We will soon share with the children that the persuasive letters they wrote about the rainforest did make a difference as they listen to letters we got back from International Paper and Robertson Lumber. We will end our social studies unit with an exploration of how leaders get elected. Given our election cycle, this material is timely. It was so gratifying to hear the children explain to their grandfriends how they have been tracking the Republican and Democratic nomination process. Ask your child to explain what we have done!

Last but not least, we welcome Mary Kate back from her mission trip to Kenya where she was doing important work at the Renguti School. She was able to Skype with the class which was very exciting. She also wrote letters that we read every day so we knew exactly what she doing. The children loved hearing from her and they are all excited to hear all about her trip!

Reminders for the Upcoming Weeks:

• Discovery Place visit TOMORROW, May 10th, for a lesson on matter. We will have time after the lesson to explore the museum.
• End of Year Celebration! Thursday, May 26th from 8:00 - 9:00. Please meet us outside the classroom for a poetry share, much like the Coral Reef Museum, where we will celebrate the good work of our poets! We will then make our way to the dining hall for a breakfast and slideshow of the many exciting things we've done this year!

Lastly, please use THIS LINK to see an update from Senora Guerrero!

Weekly Update 4/25/16 - 4/29/16

The end of April? We aren't sure how this happened! It seems as though the feeling of fleeting time will never leave us, and we're surely not ready for this class to "graduate." The past week was full of excitement and we hope stories of Daniel Stowe, The Lion King, and the First Grade Parade all made it home to you. A huge thank you to our many parent volunteers who took the time to join us and lend an extra set of hands and eyes during our field trip. You can find all our pictures from Daniel Stowe by clicking THIS LINK. Mrs. Bolding and Mr. Smith also captured some great moments -- so be sure to check out their photos HERE!

Here's what's happening now! Reader's Workshop has continued to focus on Book Clubs, which your children seem to be greatly enjoying. Each club has its own name and spends time discussing and questioning the text at hand. Book Clubs are looking for similarities across texts in regard to character, plot and problems that are encountered. Should you be reading any series books at home, we encourage you to engage in similar conversation at home.

Writing poetry has been a true joy. As we mentioned to you during Student-Led Conferences, poetry brings a certain freedom that is so refreshing and enjoyable for your children. We have learned to use repetition, personification, theme, and change the point of view. Our poetry notebooks are filling up and these will certainly be treasures to keep! Mrs. Lanze has joined us several afternoons to incorporate technology into our writing. Each child has selected a poem to publish digitally, and we will have printed copy of these as well. We look forward to publishing more poetry soon and to celebrating the great work of these young, inspired poets. The next unit will be on realistic fiction, and will carry us through the end of the year.

Should you still have your child's End of Unit Assessment from Unit 6, please send in at your earliest convenience. We are in the midst of a short unit on fractions, which all seem to be very interested in -- especially when we relate it to pizza slices! We will spend another week on fractions and wrap up next week.

In Science, we have been studying matter and the class has enjoyed reading, observing, and experimenting with solids, liquids, and gases. We loved that several students noticed the presence of all three states of matter within their homemade terrariums from Daniel Stowe. This week, we will join Mrs. Rudisill in the science lab to experiment a bit with dry ice. Should be a fun lesson!

Reminders for the Upcoming Weeks:

• This Friday, April 29th we will walk to the Children's Theater to see "The Magic Kite." This will be our last show of the year. 
• Next Thursday, May 5th is the Spring Arts Festival! See Good News for details. As always, Ms. Rankey, Ms. O'Sullivan and your children will have worked very hard (all year!) in preparation for this event and it comes together beautifully. We look forward to celebrating!  
• The Book Fair is back! Next week, May 4th - 6th, we will be having another Book Fair on campus. It will take place on the track and we will go as a class, but also welcome you to go individually with your children. Students are welcome to go with their Grandfriends on Friday as well. 
• Friday, May 6th is our beloved Grandfriends Day. It is a half day, with dismissal at 11:30 following a 10:30 Chapel service in the gym. 

Below you will find an update from the Art Department! Thank you, Mrs. Rankey and Ms. O!

Things have been super exciting in the art studio for our 2nd grade friends!  Although they are learning new things every class, the second grade artists are starting to hone their artistic voices.  From voracious painters to joyful builders, each young artist has found their way towards authentic work, work that represents pure creative joy for the artist and viewer!  Don’t forget, the greatest evening of the year is very close!!  The Spring Arts Festival is May 5th and all the 2nd grade artists will have multiple works of art on display along with all the TES students.  In case you missed it, take a look at the blog post from last month as you prepare to be amazed by the creative powerhouse that is the student body at Trinity.

Thanks for sharing your artist with us.

Jen Rankey and Mary Ann O’Sullivan

P.S.  Don’t forget the subscribe the the Art Department Blog (tesartdepartment.wordpress.com) and follow us on Twitter (@tesarttab1) to keep up with all the wonderful things happening!   Also, we are in the process of creating digital portfolios using the website Artsonia.  For now you can simply search “Find by School” then search your child's name. We are adding new work every day so don’t worry if your child does not have work yet:).