Monday, November 26th, 2012

Happy Monday!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and some relaxing time away from the normal routine. I think my family is all healthy now, after a week of lying low.

This week's IA: PE
Next week's IA: Art

*Please remember that we DO have library tomorrow and all library books are due back. Students will be able to check out new books, if both of their old ones have been turned back in.

Reader's Workshop
To coincide with our persuasive letter study in writing, we are reading many persuasive texts. While reading these, we are concentrating on the questions we have before, during, and after reading. We're also being metacognitive about the details we notice. We're deciding if the details we notice are important, or unimportant but interesting. Another thing we think about while reading is how we infer what the author means. This is when we use our background knowledge and combine that with clues from the text to figure out what is really meant, but not always said.

Writer's Workshop

This week, we will begin to assess our persuasive letter using a rubric that will help us look closely at the organization and voice in our letters. These are two traits that all writers use in their writing. Once we've assessed our letters, we'll work to make these traits better before we revise, edit, and publish.

Math
The unit we just started has us working on different types of number stories. You might remember these as "word problems." I don't know about you, but I totally hated these growing up! I hope that by showing the kids the different types of problems there are and by teaching them how to use the various diagrams, they won't grow up despising these as much as I did.

Expedition
We are currently working as statisticians to compile, analyze, and graph the data we collected at the Starlighting event. Once we're done with this step, we'll take our findings to the Castle Rock Chamber of Commerce. Thank you, everyone, for bringing your children out on a Saturday to do school work!

I'm sure you saw the maps we created to show you how to find our booth.

Susan, from the Chamber of Commerce, spoke to us about what data they would like us to collect.

 Field Work!

Monday, November 12, 2012

Good afternoon!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! 

This week's IA: Art

Next week's IA: Music

We have so much exciting learning going on right now.

Reader's Workshop

One of the comprehension strategies we are working on right now is determining importance. We know that readers need to be able to decide what details are important and what details are unimportant but interesting. We practice this skill while we read persuasive books and while we read articles about the Starlighting. While your child is reading at night, as him to tell you what details he thinks are important in the book he's reading. 

Writer's Workshop

This week, we are beginning a new genre study. We will be learning about and writing persuasive letters. Just in time for the holidays :) We're learning how to apply what we learned when writing personal narratives, to our persuasive letters. For example, we know that writers write about what is important to them. So, our letters will be written about a topic that is important to us. Also, we know that writers stick to one topic. Our letters will be very entertaining and we can't wait to share them with you!

Math

This unit, we are reviewing skills around money and time. These are both very important skills for second grade. Please encourage your child to help you with simple time and money problems at home. Maybe ask her to tell you when the clock shows what time to eat dinner, or get ready for bed, or leave for school. Of course, this would be better practice done on an analog clock :)

Expedition

Our second case study has been launched. To continue our in depth study of community, we will be learning about how the Castle Rock Star and Starlighting define community. On Saturday, your child will be collecting data about community by interviewing the people who attend the Starlighting. We are going to work with the Castle Rock Chamber of Commerce to help generate questions for our interview. Then, once we have conducted the interviews, we will compile the data and then share it with the Chamber. We are very excited for this fieldwork. In addition to gathering data, we will be teaching the community about the history and importance of the Star and Starlighting ceremony. 

To gain more background information, we participated in a Gallery Walk. This consisted of reading various newspaper articles about the Star and Starlighting. Some of the articles date back to the 1930's and 1940's. 

Monday, November 5, 2012

Good afternoon!

Whew! What a week we had last week. Thank you all so much with your help and support with our Halloween Party and Student Led Conferences. Here are some pictures of our little ghouls from Halloween:

This week's IA: PE
Next week's IA: Art

Reader's Workshop
We are beginning a new genre study in Writer's Workshop, therefore our focus for Reader's Workshop will also shift. This week and next, we are thinking about questions that we have before, during, and after reading. While your child is reading, discuss the questions he or she has. This will push his or her thinking deeper. We will also be using these questions to infer the author's message while we read. Today, we read the book, Two Bad Ants, by Chris Van Allsberg, to practice this skill. What a great discussion we had!

Writer's Workshop
Today we began our new genre study. We will be learning more about the craft of writing through learning about persuasive letters. I'll update more about this genre, the further we get into it.

Math
A lot of the focus for this week will be around money. One thing we will be learning how to do is count up to make change. Please have your child practice counting combinations of coins and bills at home. This will help with automaticity of coin recognition.

Expedition
We are launching our new case study for our social studies expedition today. Our first case study was Dearfield, a community which did not last. To oppose this, we will be learning all about the community tradition of the Castle Rock Starlighting and what this ceremony has done for the community of Castle Rock. We will be doing a large portion of our fieldwork at the Starlighting ceremony on Saturday, November 17th. Please plan on having your child attend this event. I will send out more information very soon about times. For now, know that I will be asking each child to attend and staff our booth for 30 minutes during a two-hour time period. If you have questions, please let me know. Also, we need binoculars for some fieldwork, this Thursday. If you have a pair our crew can borrow, please let me know. The more sets we have, the more kids get to view our fieldwork. Thanks so much!