Second Grade is Underway!

What a super, jam packed week we had! It's hard to believe it was only a four day week---we did so much!!! Thank you to those who were able to make it to our Curriculum Night. It was so nice to see so many of you. We're going to have such a great year working together!

Highlights from our week:
*On Wednesday, our scientists engaged in their very first inquiry science project: dissecting owl pellets (a HUGE hit among our owl class!)! Each student received their very own owl pellet to dissect. They quickly got to work digging out the bones!

After they finished their dissection, the real work began! They were challenged to identify the type of animal the owl had eaten based on the bones they uncovered. It was hard work, but these scientists drew some excellent conclusions!

As I promised the kids, they can check out this AMAZING website, Kidwings-Virtual Pellet, to learn all about owl pellets and to complete a virtual dissection!
*In math, we've launched our very unit which focuses on number sense and establishing math routines. The parent letter in connection with the unit was sent home on Friday. This helpful document explains the concepts we'll be covering in the unit, math vocabulary, "do anytime activities", as well as the answers to the math homelinks.  We spent the week working on number patterns and carefully looking at the special properties of a number grid.

To help reinforce theses skills at home, have your child:
     -count by 2s, 5s, and 10s
     -tell you what number is 1 more than a given number; 1 less; 10 more; 10 less
     -describe the patterns found in a number grid; explain what happens when they move up one, down one, over one, or back one; explain how to use a number grid to add or subtract
     -log-in to their IXL account (IXL), using the login information sent home at Curriculum Night, and complete any of the "Counting & Number Pattern" skills (A.5 specifically works with hundreds charts)
     -play Give the Dog a Bone!
     -ask your child about the number scroll we created; we had a great time working together to create a number resource for us to use all year! We made it all the way from 0 to 1,000! Many could have kept going!

*We have launched right into our reader and writer workshops this week and students have been eager to both read and write! In reader's workshop, students were reminded of strategies for finding just right books, had a chance to "shop" for their bookbins, shared important books from their "reading lives", wrote in their reader's notebooks, and have begun building their independent reading stamina! In writer's workshop, we've used two different types of paper for writing, established our writing folders, created "heart maps", and have begun drafting several small moment stories!

*Our class got a super surprise on Friday when they learned that a mystery reader would be visiting our classroom. After receiving 5 clues, we worked hard to try and figure out who our special guest would be. A few had the correct guess with.....Mr. Goldsmith! He shared two great stories with us: Granite Baby and The Red Shoes. A signup to be a mystery reader can be found here. More sign ups will become available in January.

*We had our first day of Reading Buddies with Ms. Hodgdon's fifth grade class on Tuesday. Some were a little nervous at first, but all settled in nicely with their partner. Ask your child who their reading buddy is, what they read together, and what's the one thing they learned about their new friend! We will continue to meet regularly with our buddies, typically every "tan" day, for the remainder of the school year.

*Have you ever read Peter H. Reynold’s story The Dot? This story tells of a teacher who reaches a reluctant student in a creative way. The teacher pushes the student to “Make her mark,” which all begins with a simple dot on a piece of paper.You can watch this great story here:

To celebrate this story, and to encourage students to "make their mark," educators around the world have declared Tuesday, Sept. 15th, International Dot Day!
SMS will begin the celebration with a whole school morning meeting. Then, our class will participate in various dot-related activities throughout the day (we'll even join the 2R gifraffes for some collaborative, creative fun!). Please remind your child to, if possible, wear dots on Tuesday. I have plenty of dot stickers we can put on when they arrive if they don't have any dots--don't worry!

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Coming Up:

- Tuesday, Sept. 15th: DOT Day
- Thursday, Sept. 17th: Picture Day (say cheese!)
- Wednesday, Sept. 23rd: Early Release