2H Class Blog!: March 2017

Sunday, March 26, 2017

Mar. 26th News

What a jam-packed week we had here in 2H! It's amazing how much you can get done when you have a full week of school :)

Caldecott Winning Author & Illustrator Team Jon Klassen and Mac Barnett visited SMS!!

Highlights from our week:

*Fairy Tales: The luxury of having a full week of school gave our class an opportunity to work feverishly as we prepare for our upcoming wax museum. They're doing an excellent job bringing fairy tales to life by stepping into their character's shoes. A highlight from this unit has, without a doubt, been reading our exciting read aloud: The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell. In this story, twins Alex and Conner Bailey fall into a storybook their grandmother gave them, bringing them into a world called "The Land of Stories". This world, they quickly learn, is home to all of their favorite (and not so favorite!) fairy tale characters.

We had a BLAST creating a life-size map to follow Alex and Conner on their exciting adventure.

Another major part of our fairy tale work includes creating a life-size poster of our characters, which will be on display behind our standing "wax figures" at our museum! This week, we began tracing and sketching our characters. We look forward to beginning the painting next week!

During reader's workshop, we revisited using compare & contrast skills to explore the multiple versions of some classic tales. We looked closely at versions of Cinderella as there are over 1,500 versions worldwide! Working with their reading partner, students compared a version of Cinderella to the American version of the traditional tale. They had lots of fun with fractured tales like Bigfoot Cinderrrrelllla, Trollerella, and Cinderella Penguin, while also learning about different cultures while reading versions likes Yen Shen and Cindy Ellen.

*Writing: After completing their picturing writing animal poetry books, students chose the audience they'd like to share their book with. Each Owl wrote a letter (reviewing friendly letter writing skills!) to a teacher at SMS and then was given the opportunity to read their wonderful book! Everyone from Mr. Fosher to Mr. G, Kindergarten and first grade teachers, to the teachers of their siblings were chosen as audiences. Ask your child who they chose to share their special book with.

Madeline, Ava, Sophie, and Teagan reading to Mrs. Sullivan's Fish class!

Madison chose to read to our class!

Jacoby also wanted to share his book with our Owl class!

Tate had to be super brave when he found out he was not only reading to Mrs. Loh's 5th grade class, but to our class too!

Great job to all! I have received SO many compliments on behalf of these fabulous writers. We will do one final celebration of these stories before they are sent home.

As these books were such a success, the entire second grade decided it would be fun to create Who Am I books for fairy tale characters! We began the painting and planning for these books this past week.

*Math: We wrapped up Unit #8: Geometry last week and students took their assessment. Tests were either sent home on Friday or will be sent home on Monday. While the focus of this unit was on 2D and 3D shapes, students were also introduced to arrays and equal groupings, and they continued reviewing double digit addition. We will be jumping back in our Everyday Math program and beginning Unit #6: Whole Number Operations and Number Stories. This unit has a heavy focus on multi-digit addition. Before students are exposed to the traditional algorithm for addition, they are taught several other strategies. Some of the strategies your student might be using are:
Base-10 Blocks: Students can physically build each number and then count all of their blocks to arrive at a total. Students have been taught how to use "base-10 shorthand" to draw our their numbers instead of physically building them. They can then count their drawing when adding to find their sum.

Open Number Line: Students draw a blank number line with a starting point representing one of their numbers. They then hop up the number line by tens (either in individual jumps of 10, or in one hop of their total 10s), land, and then continue hopping by their ones to arrive at a total sum.

Partial Sums: Students decompose the numbers first (writing them in expanded form), and then add the different "parts" before finding the total sum.

Students are encouraged to use the method that works best for them. Ask them which method they prefer. It is important students are successful using at least one of these methods before they are introduced to the "traditional algorithm" for adding. By understanding what is happening when they're adding larger numbers, students are able to explain their mathematical thinking as opposed to just memorizing a process. It's truly remarkable work! Students can practice this skill at home using IXL skill G.6 (they'll need scrap paper or a whiteboard to complete the problems!).
*Typing: During MakerSpace, second graders have begun incorporating typing into their time with Mr. G. Students received login information for Typing Club (link also posted under "helpful links" at the top right of this page) and are encouraged to use the site at home as well. To log in, usernames are 5 followed by their first name, then the first letter of their last name, then 27. For example, my username would be 5ashleyh27, Passwords for all students are: qwerty. Please let me, or Mr. G, know if you have any trouble logging in.

Have a great week!

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Coming Up:

-Early Release (Parent Conferences): Wednesday, Apr. 5th and Wednesday, Apr. 12th (sign-up here!)

-Fairy Tale Wax Museum: Friday, Apr. 7th (parent viewing 9-9:45)

Sunday, March 19, 2017

2H is racking up IditaREAD miles!!

On Tuesday, Mar. 14th, Mitch Seavey became the first musher to cross the Iditarod finish line in Nome! We enjoyed tracking the race and celebrated as Mitch claimed his third first place finish, beating the previous record for the fastest time in Iditarod history. Coming from a family of mushers, interestingly enough, Mitch's son, who was the defending champion of last year's race, finished this year's race in 3rd place. Mitch's first place finish gave him the record of being the oldest person to ever win the Iditarod (and his son holds the record for being the youngest first place finisher in Iditarod history!).

While the Iditarod may be over, our IditaREAD is fully underway! Over the past week we celebrated many more students as they read their way across the finish line.

Almost all mushers have made it to the halfway mark and I encourage them to keep on reading! It's quite an accomplishment to be able to say, "I've read 1,000 minutes!" Thank you for your continued support and for helping promote the importance of daily reading. They've all grown SO much as readers!

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Coming Up:

-Scholastic Book Order Due: TODAY, Sunday, Mar. 19th

-Early Release (Parent Conferences): Wednesday, Apr. 5th and Wednesday, Apr. 15th (sign-up here!)

-Fairy Tale Wax Museum: Friday, Apr. 7th

Sunday, March 12, 2017

Mar. 12th News

What a wonderful, jam packed week we had back to school! Coming off the vacation week, all of the Owls settled right back into our routine and were ready to work!

Acting out dialogue from The Three Little Pigs

Highlights from our week:

*Iditaread: Our Iditaread is well underway! This past week, every musher has made significant progress on their reading journey towards Nome. I have been extremely impressed with each reader’s motivation in this challenge. Keep it up contestants! We’ve also been having a lot of fun closely following the real Iditarod race as those mushers make their way towards Nome as well. We celebrated Friday as our very first student made it across the finish line. Way to go, Nina! A few more students are right on her heels, many nearly reached the halfway point, and a bunch are bring up the rear. The challenge continues until the last musher makes their way to Nome (just like the real race!) Just a reminder, students need a parent or teacher signature for each entry and need to turn their reading log in everyday (most have been doing a fantastic job with this!) Please help remind your child of the importance of reading every night. It has been so fun hearing what books are hooking each reader and helping them make it to the finish line.

*Owl Mystery Readers: We have been so lucky to hear from so many amazing mystery readers over the past two weeks! It's been an incredible opportunity for each reader to show off their wonderful reading skills! I've been blown away by their expression, intonation, phrasing, and book choices---I can tell they've been practicing!! We look forward to hearing from more mystery classmates over the next several weeks! If your child is interested and has not signed up, you can sign them up here!

Way to go readers!! It takes a lot of courage to read in front of your peers---and you've all done a fabulous job! :)

*Reading: For the past week, second graders have been immersed in fairy tales! All of their hard work is in preparation for their upcoming wax museum, which will take place on Friday, April 7th. A HUGE part of this project is reading tons and tons of fairy tales! Students have been read to, read independently, and have partner read numerous tales such as:

Thank you to all who helped their children pick a fairy tale character and returned the sign up paper to school. Our class will be pleased to learn that EVERY student will receive one of their top three choices! Students will be notified of their character assignment tomorrow and we will begin studying characters this week!

*Science: For a fun fairy tale connection, the Owls planted their very own "magic beans" and created their own version of the Giant's castle. Will their beans reach the castle providing Jack a way up? Only time will tell!

*St. Patrick's Day: As St. Patrick's Day approaches, we took the time to think about luck and what we had in our lives that we feel lucky for. This led into our St. Patty's craft where each pot of gold showed who was worth MORE than gold :)

*Scholastic Book Orders: March book order forms were sent home early last week. As always, Scholastic's full catalog is available online. Orders are due Sunday, Mar. 19th.

*Reading Buddies: We were back to design engineering with our 5th grade buddies this week! Students were tasked to build a shelter using a chosen material. We saw everything from cabins to hotels, farmhouses to tipis, shacks to mansions! Each design was creative and unique!