Upcoming dates to note:
Friday Free Dress - Friday, October 25
Hacienda Hay and Feed Field Trip (Pumpkin Patch) with First Grade - Monday, October 28 (depart at 11:50)
Halloween Carnival -Thursday, October 31
Pajama Day - Friday, November 1
Day Light Savings Ends - Sunday, November 3
Veterans Day (classes in session) - Monday, November 11
Canned Food Drive begins - November 18
Grandparents and Special Friends Day; Thanksgiving Tea - Friday, November 22
Thanksgiving Break - November 23 - December 1
Announcements and Reminders:
Conferences:
Thank you for taking the time to meet with us last week. We enjoyed meeting with each of you to talk about your second grader. It is always so rewarding to have the opportunity to fully focus and set goals for each student and then confer with you so that we are all on "the same page". Thank you again for your support!
Field Trip:
We are going to visit Hacienda Hay and Feed on Monday, October 28th. (11:50 - 2:00 PM). We will eat lunch at school and then we will get ready to depart school at about 11:50. The first grade will also be attending this field trip. Students may wear appropriate free dress for this field trip. There is a "haunted hay tunnel" at Hacienda Hay and Feed. In the past, students have appreciated having a flashlight with them. Before we leave, each student will be able to pick a pumpkin to bring home.
Halloween and Pajama Day:
Thursday is Halloween! We are looking forward to seeing all of our second graders dressed in costume! We will spend our morning in the classroom exploring Halloween related activities. We plan to enjoy a pizza lunch (pizza is provided for the students) and small party from 12:05 - 12:45 PM. Following our lunch, we will meet in the parking lot for our annual Halloween parade. The carnival will follow our parade starting at 1:15. We will wrap up our day in the classroom at 2:45 PM.
We are anticipating a more casual day on Friday, the day following Halloween. Students are invited to wear their pajamas to school on Friday. They may bring a small stuffed animal and a blanket if they wish to.
Math Buddies:
We shared the new math website, "Math Buddies" with our second graders this week. A letter went home with information to login at home. In school, we will also help the students utilize these aligned math lessons to help reteach, reinforce and/or enrich students' math skills. We know it will take some time for us all to become more familiar and comfortable with the website. Teachers have received an initial training and we are anticipating further training as the year progresses.
Class Dojo:
You may have heard your second grader tell you about a new system we are trying out in the classroom called Class Dojo. It is a classroom tool we are testing to help us reinforce good behavior in the classroom. We will send more information home in the near future about how you and your student can login to the Class Dojo website. Until then, please feel free to visit www.classdojo.com.
Here is a link to a short video we shared with our students:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaeNSYJvrn0
This Week in Second Grade:
In summary, here is what we have been working on in the second grade class:
Reading/Writing/Spelling
Workboard/Literacy Work Stations included:
Literature Discussion with Mrs. Peiken
Singapore Math
Science
Gardening
Social Cognition and Toolbox
Friday Free Dress - Friday, October 25
Hacienda Hay and Feed Field Trip (Pumpkin Patch) with First Grade - Monday, October 28 (depart at 11:50)
Halloween Carnival -Thursday, October 31
Pajama Day - Friday, November 1
Day Light Savings Ends - Sunday, November 3
Veterans Day (classes in session) - Monday, November 11
Canned Food Drive begins - November 18
Grandparents and Special Friends Day; Thanksgiving Tea - Friday, November 22
Thanksgiving Break - November 23 - December 1
Announcements and Reminders:
Conferences:
Thank you for taking the time to meet with us last week. We enjoyed meeting with each of you to talk about your second grader. It is always so rewarding to have the opportunity to fully focus and set goals for each student and then confer with you so that we are all on "the same page". Thank you again for your support!
Field Trip:
We are going to visit Hacienda Hay and Feed on Monday, October 28th. (11:50 - 2:00 PM). We will eat lunch at school and then we will get ready to depart school at about 11:50. The first grade will also be attending this field trip. Students may wear appropriate free dress for this field trip. There is a "haunted hay tunnel" at Hacienda Hay and Feed. In the past, students have appreciated having a flashlight with them. Before we leave, each student will be able to pick a pumpkin to bring home.
Halloween and Pajama Day:
Thursday is Halloween! We are looking forward to seeing all of our second graders dressed in costume! We will spend our morning in the classroom exploring Halloween related activities. We plan to enjoy a pizza lunch (pizza is provided for the students) and small party from 12:05 - 12:45 PM. Following our lunch, we will meet in the parking lot for our annual Halloween parade. The carnival will follow our parade starting at 1:15. We will wrap up our day in the classroom at 2:45 PM.
We are anticipating a more casual day on Friday, the day following Halloween. Students are invited to wear their pajamas to school on Friday. They may bring a small stuffed animal and a blanket if they wish to.
Math Buddies:
We shared the new math website, "Math Buddies" with our second graders this week. A letter went home with information to login at home. In school, we will also help the students utilize these aligned math lessons to help reteach, reinforce and/or enrich students' math skills. We know it will take some time for us all to become more familiar and comfortable with the website. Teachers have received an initial training and we are anticipating further training as the year progresses.
Class Dojo:
You may have heard your second grader tell you about a new system we are trying out in the classroom called Class Dojo. It is a classroom tool we are testing to help us reinforce good behavior in the classroom. We will send more information home in the near future about how you and your student can login to the Class Dojo website. Until then, please feel free to visit www.classdojo.com.
Here is a link to a short video we shared with our students:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaeNSYJvrn0
This Week in Second Grade:
In summary, here is what we have been working on in the second grade class:
Reading/Writing/Spelling
- Reading Workshop/Independent Reading: Sustained reading books at appropriate/assigned level; Practicing habits of good readers... "Good Readers: 1. pay attention to punctuation. 2. read with expression. 3. focus - think about their reading. (and if they don't remember their reading, they read over again.)"
- Reading Journal: Recording book titles and making journal entries
- Read Aloud: The Trumpet of the Swan
- Writing Workshop -Continuing through the writing process, moving through and stretching a small moment (on paper, acting it out, and helping the reader "feel" what you intend them to feel); Peer conferencing; About the Author - writing in 3rd Person; Publishing: front cover, back cover with blurb, dedication page, Copyright page
- Writing complete sentences: Sentences have a "naming part" and a "telling part". They begin with a capital letter and end with punctuation.
- Lexia - continued practice
Workboard/Literacy Work Stations included:
- Words Their Way Word Study - Short and Long u words
- Word building using letters in "Pumpkins"
- Independent Reading and reading journal
- Super Star letter - friendly letter writing
- Art - Fall Favorites mini-booklet
- Browsing Box/Buddy Reading: Halloween books
- Lexia
Literature Discussion with Mrs. Peiken
- Bag of Tricks - Folktales From Around the World : Sly Gretel
- For next week, Mrs. Peiken plans to read a Halloween story to the second graders. They do not have a story to read in preparation for her class.
Singapore Math
- Mental math strategies
- Adding two and three-digit numbers with renaming using standard algorithm using models and standard algorithm.
- Setting up and solving word problems involving addition and subtraction within 1000.
- Using bar models to give pictorial representation of story problems
- Challenging, multi-step word problems
Science
- Stem: building project
- Problem solving
Gardening
- Planting onions and garlic
Social Cognition and Toolbox
- Introduction and practice of Quiet Safe Place Tool.
- Read Aloud: A Quiet Place
- Mind and Body breaks for better focus and productivity during class time
- Practice Quiet/Safe Place, Breathing, Patience, and Personal Space tools