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! Just a reminder that this Thursday, Sept. 15th, at 6:30, will be our Curriculum Night. This is a great opportunity to get an in depth look at just what happens here in 2H! I'll be handing out numerous resources as well as going over what to expect during this school year. I hope to see you there! We're going to have such a great year working together!

Highlights from our week:

*Hopes, Dreams, and a Class Contract! An important part of our week was thinking BIG about the wonderful school year ahead: what do we hope for, what is important to us, what will make us come to school with a smile each day? After reading an inspiring biography, The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins, we realized the sky was truly the limit. Each owl was challenged to choose one or two "hopes" they have for their second grade year. Our beautiful rainbow mural will be on display for the remainder of the year to help us keep our goals always on our mind.

 With our goals established and published, we decided to brainstorm what we would need from each other in order to be successful this year. We then took all of our ideas, categorized them, and came up with a few rules we could all commit to. A copy of this important contract will be sent home for you to review with your child.

*In math, we dove right in to our very first unit, which focuses on number sense and establishing math routines. We spent the week working on number patterns and carfeully
reviewing the special properties of a number grid. The parent letter explaining the unit will be sent home on Monday. This helpful document explains the concepts we'll be covering in the unit, math vocabulary, and "do anytime activities" for additional at-home practice. I hope you find it useful!

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
     -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!

*In our Reading and Writing Workshops, we continued reviewing all the great things we learned in first grade---they already know so much about literacy! We experimented with book and paper choices and began building our stamina. Big hits this week were book shopping for "just right books" and reading with a partner!

We also got to see what happens when we finish a class read aloud: we make a poster! The poster is made to honor the important characters and events and to help us remember the great story all year long. Check out our poster for Mercy Watson!

*Our class got a super surprise on Friday when we 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 heard about how we had been sharing books from our "reading lives" so he chose the book he shared extra carefully. We enjoyed hearing the story, The Red Balloon, a story Mr. Goldsmith received as a gift from some very important people in his life when he was seven years old. How special! Interested in being a mystery reader? A signup will be available after Curriculum Night.

*Coming next week! 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.

To celebrate this story, and to encourage students to "make their mark," educators around the world have declared Friday, Sept. 16th, 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 giraffes for some collaborative, creative fun!). A notice will be coming home, but please remind your child to, if possible, wear dots on Friday. 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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Important Dates (always available at the top of the blog page for convenience) :

Thursday, Sept. 15th: Picture Day
Thursday, Sept. 15th, 6:30pm: PREK-2 Curriculum Night
Friday, Sept. 16th: International Dot Day
Wednesday, Sept. 28th: Early Release (12:50 dismissal)

Have a great week! Hope to see you Thursday!