January 28 - February 1

Dear Parents,

What a great week we had here in 2nd grade! February is finally upon us and January is behind us. Was it just me or did that month seem quite long? February will be full of great learning and opportunities for every student! Let’s talk about the week.

Reading: This week in Reading, we wrapped up our Mercy Watson unit of study. Students absolutely loved these beginning chapter books. Our goals of rereading in our head, talking like the characters and reading with a just right pace were focused on for the past 2 weeks. On Thursday this week, we began a new station layout to reading. Students hop from station to station for about 15 minutes. With this, I have an opportunity to read with every child every day. Our chapter books that are being focused on are: Who Was Harriet Tubman? Escape North: A Tale of Harriet Tubman, Magic Tree House: Mummies in the Morning, and a WordSmith original series for fluency practice.

Writing: In Writing this week, we continued our opinion writing lessons. Students picked one Mercy Watson book to review. Students rated it 1 – 10 stars. With this, students had to provide 8 sentences as to WHY they have that opinion on the book. Next week, students will begin reviewing the books they read in class independently.

Math: Unit 5 is coming to an end on Monday. Students are coming home today with a math review packet that is due on Monday. Students will be practicing addition strategies, story problems, and coins. Geometry will be our next unit beginning on Wednesday.

Science: Students practiced more with balance and motion. Our science experiment of the week was using a pencil, wire, and two clothespins. With these, they had find a way to make the pencil balance on a stick without falling over.

Announcements:

1. February 5 is our in house water field trip!

2. February 11 is our mid-year iReady assessment.

3. February 13 is the day we will distribute our Valentines Day cards. I will unfortunately be out of the classroom on Valentines Day. There will be a small party with only the students. Please have all Valentines done by then. A class list will be sent home on Monday.

4. No School February 18 & 19.

5. February 28 & March 14 – Hats Musical at 6:30!

6. Conferences are approaching! The week of March 4 I will hold 2 days of conferences. A signup will be sent out on February 25.