2nd Grade Weekly Newsletter
Each newsletter describes what your child has been learning in school, what they will be learning the following week, and homework assignments your child will be receiving.
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Next Week
Looking Ahead
Reading- This week during reading the students listened to and discussed the articles “The Friendship Fostering Buddy Bench”, “Hey Joe, How’s It Going?”, and “Giant Jellyfish Invasion” to explore the important ideas in each article. The students also described how the events in each article were connected. Vocabulary- This week in vocabulary the students learned the words complex, strenuous, optional, and fresh from articles we read in class. The students reviewed the words characteristic, flexible, stream, unwelcome, and variety from previously read stories. Word Study- This week in word study the students listened to and discussed the story Max’s Words. This is a story about Max who wants to start a collection like his brother’s stamps and coins, and he decides to collect words. The students used their word work notebooks to find words to fit different categories similar to Max’s collection. The students used their strategies to read polysyllabic words. Finally, the students explored how to create calligrams. Writing- In word study this week the students learned about writing friendly letters. The students learned that a letter is divided into the date, heading, body, and closing. The students even practiced adding commas to the heading and closing of a variety of letters. Finally, the students wrote friendly letters to their teacher and their friends in class. Math- In math this week the students solved comparison problems with a smaller unknown. The students also played games and activities that involve subtracting amounts from 100 or one dollar. Next Week: Reading – Next week the students will continue to explore important ideas. Vocabulary- Next week the students will learn the vocabulary words from the articles we have discussed in class. Word Study- Next week the students will explore and write poetry. Writing- Next week the students will explore opinion and persuasive writing. Math- Next week the students will continue to develop strategies for subtracting 2-digit numbers.
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Next Week
Looking Ahead
April 23-27 Reading – In reading this week the students began reading and discussing Bend and Stretch: Learning About Your Bones and Muscles. This book gives a simple introduction to bones and muscles and how they work. The students used the back of the book summary and a diagram to locate key information in an expository nonfiction book. During independent reading the students identified text features in their own texts and discussed what they learned from these features with a partner. Vocabulary – In vocabulary this week the students learned the words variety, characteristic, consume, and unwelcome from Snailsand attach, flexible, beneficial, and precaution from Bend and Stretch: Learning About Your Bones and Muscles. The students also reviewed the words dull, mushy, picky, slurp, solid, attract, consume, fragile, gleam, and sip from previously read stories. Word Study- In word study this week the students practiced spelling high frequency words with contractions such as can’t, I’m, don’t and doesn’t. The students also reviewed reading and sorting words with multiple affixes such as unsuccessfully or unenjoyable. Writing – In writing this week the students continue to work on rewriting their nonfiction pieces. The students also added text features such as photographs, captions, and glossaries. The students will share their published pieces during our Literary Showcase. Math- In math this week the students continue their exploration of even and odd numbers. The students discovered how to show multiplicative reasoning in a table by counting the number of rooms and floors in a connecting cube building. The students also worked with pattern blocks. The students worked together to solve problems to determine the number of shapes that could be used to cover other shapes. For example, two triangles can cover a rhombus and three rhombuses can cover a hexagon. Next week April 30-May 4 Reading – In reading next week the students will continue exploring text features in a variety of articles. Word Study- In word study next week the students will practice spelling words from the story Max’s Words. Writing – Next week in writing the students will begin Unit 5 which focuses on letter writing. Math – Next week in math the students will begin Unit 8 which focuses on addition and subtraction strategies. Next Week April 23-27
This Week: Reading – This week in reading the students continued to identify what they learned from an expository nonfiction book Spinning Spiders. After listening to and discussing a section of the book, the students used wonderings to help them understand the book and to focus their attention for the next section of the book. The students explored text features and how the author used them to help them to understand the book. During independent reading the students identified new learnings and wonderings to share with their partners each day. Vocabulary – This week in vocabulary the students practiced the words fragile, sip, picky, and attract from Butterfly. The students also learned dull, solid, mushy, and slurp from Spinning Spiders. Word Study- This week in word study the students continued to practice spelling high frequency words with irregular spellings. The students also learned the meaning of the suffixes –able and –ible and how they change the meaning of a base word. Finally, the students practice making morphemic transformations to base words. Writing –This week in writing the student continued publishing their nonfiction pieces about the polar lands. The students worked with the teacher during individual conferences to determine what nonfiction text features they wanted to include in their piece. Math- This week in math the students began continued to explore the characteristics of even and odd numbers. The students worked with problems in which two girls, Linda and Ebony, had to equally share a variety of objects. The students discovered that there is always one left over when working with odd numbers. They also started to discover the following equations: even + even = even; odd + odd = even; and even + odd = odd. Finally, the students began to work with multiplicative reasoning by looking at the number of rooms on each floor on a cube building. For example, one floor has 3 rooms so, two floors have 6 rooms and so on. Next Week: Reading – In reading next week the students will continue exploring nonfiction text features in a variety of articles. Word Study- In word work next week the students will continue practicing high frequency words with irregular spellings and contractions. Writing – In writing next week the students will finish publishing their nonfiction pieces. Math – In math next week the students will continue to explore multiplication patterns.
April 9-13 Reading – In Reading this week the students learned about the development, habits, and habitats of butterflies in book Butterflies. Using this nonfiction book, the students identified what they learned and what they still wondered about. The students explored the text features of this expository nonfiction book as well. Vocabulary – In vocabulary this week the students learned the words teamwork, damp, regularly, and gleam from the book Insect Detective. The students also reviewed the words accompany, create, fabulous, insist, and predict from previously read stories. Word Study- In word study this week the students practiced spelling high frequency words with contractions such as can’t, I’m, don’t and doesn’t. The students also reviewed reading and sorting words with multiple affixes such as unsuccessfully or unenjoyable. Writing – In writing this week the students selected the nonfiction piece on the polar region that they want to publish. The students have a choice to write about the animals, people, or the land in the polar region. The students also added descriptive words to their pieces and began to check for spelling errors. Math- In math this week the students continued to explore measuring with yards and centimeters. The students also compared inches with centimeters. Finally, the students began Unit 7 which focuses on discovering characteristics of even and odd numbers. Next week –April 16-20 Reading – In reading next week the students will continue exploring nonfiction texts and text features. Word Study- In word study next week the students will learn about the suffixes –able and -ible. Writing – Next week in writing the students will continue publishing their nonfiction pieces on the polar region. Math – Next week in math the students will continue exploring odd and even numbers. A few dates to remember as we look forward to next week.
* Report cards will be sent home Monday, April 9th * Last day to turn in Radkids permission forms Monday, April 30th * Wacky Wednesday May 2nd * Radkids First Session May 7th-11th * Radkids Second Session May 14th-18th --2/3 teachers This Week: Reading – This week in reading the students identified what they learned from the expository nonfiction story Insect Detective. The students used wonderings to help them to understand the text. The students also explored the text features presented in this nonfiction story. Finally, the students continued to practice wondering about their own texts during independent reading. Vocabulary – This week in vocabulary the students became vocabulary detectives and tried to find vocabulary words from previous stories within their independent reading books. Word Study- This week the students continued to practice work habits to be successful during independent rotations. The students worked with Epic and learned how to access Story Works Jr. Writing – This week in writing the students continued to learn about the polar region by focusing on the animals and people who live there. The students shared the information they learned from the nonfiction texts, shared the wonderings they still had, and then used these lists to help them write nonfiction pieces about the animal of their choice and the people who live in the polar region. Math- This week in math the students continued to work with measurement. The students used body benchmarks, rulers, and yardsticks to measure a variety of items. The students also compared the measurement tools to notice similarities and differences. The students are developing the understanding that measuring something requires the right tool. For example a yard stick to measure the length of the classroom and centimeters to measure the length of a paper clip. Next Week: Reading – Next week the students will learn the new vocabulary words from Insect Detective. Word Study- Next week in word study we will be learning how to spell high frequency words with irregular spellings. Writing – Next week in writing the students will continue learning about people who live in the polar region. By the end of the week the students will select one of their nonfiction pieces to publish. Math – Next week in math the students will finish Unit 6 on measurement and begin Unit 7 which focuses on odd and even numbers. Please continue to practice:
A few dates to remember as we look forward to next week.
--2/3 teachers This Week: Reading – This week in reading the students continued to practice using wondering to understand narrative nonfiction texts using the book The Art Lesson written by Tomie dePaola. The students identified what they learned about the character and the author and used visualizations to make text-to-self connections. The students then continued to practice these skills during their independent reading. Vocabulary – This week in vocabulary the students reviewed the words approve, encourage, gratitude, host, and overjoyed. The students learned the words insist, create, predict, and fabulous from The Art Lesson. Word Study- This week in word study the students practiced spelling high frequency words and learned to read and sort words with the suffixes –ment and –ness. Writing – This week in writing the students learned about the polar region by listening to parts of Polar Lands, Polar Regions, and Polar Animals. The students created a list of interesting facts they had learned from each book and worked on a list of questions they were still wondering about and shard their wonderings with their partners. The students also learned how to use apostrophes in possessives correctly in sentences. Math-This week in math the students worked with inch bricks and an inch brick tool that consists of 12 inch bricks. The students measured a variety of items in the classroom and at home. The students discovered that using the inch brick tool was much easier than using the individual inch bricks. The students also discovered that measuring must be consistent so that other people would be able to get the same measurements. Finally, the students explored yardsticks, tape measures, and rulers. When we return from Spring Break. Reading – The students will continue to practice using wonderings to understand their reading. Word Study- The students will continue to practice spelling high frequency words and using strategies to read multi-syllable words. Writing – The students will write questions and information about polar animals. Math – The students will continue working with rulers and yardsticks. Please continue to practice:
A few dates to remember as we look forward to next week.
This Week: Reading – In reading this week the students continued to work on wondering to better understand their stories. The students practiced wondering during independent reading. Finally, the students shared their wonderings through journal writing and with their partners. Vocabulary – This week in vocabulary the students learned host, hospitality, gratitude, and overjoyed from The Paper Crane. The students also reviewed the words chaos, notorious, expert, fearful, and eavesdropper from previous stories. Word Study- In word study this week the students learned strategies for dividing two and three syllable words. If a two syllable word has only one consonant, such as detail or retell, the students learned to divide the words before the consonant, de-tail, re-tell. Using this strategy, the students practiced reading, sorting, and spelling multi-syllable words Writing – This week in writing the students began to explore nonfiction by listening to and discussing the book Kate and Pippin. This is a true story about an unlikely friendship between a dog named Kate and a young fawn named Pippin. The students use wonderings to help them to better understand the text. The students also used interview questions to learn more about their partners. Using the answers to these questions, the students wrote a narrative nonfiction story about their partners. Math- This week in math the students learned and practiced two strategies for adding two 2-digit numbers. The first strategy was adding the tens and ones to find the total. For example, 28 +35. First the students add 20 + 30 to get 50 and 8 + 5 to get 13. The students can then add 50 + 13 or 50 + 10 + 3 to get 63. The second strategy is drawing comparison models. For example, Jake has 35 stickers and Kira has 27 more stickers than Jake. How many stickers does Kira have? How many stickers do they have in all? First, the students draw a line indicating how Jake’s 35 stickers. Then a line showing Kira’s stickers. Using the comparison model the students can visualize what is happening in the story. Jake ______35_______________ Kira ______35_______________i________27_____ Kira has 35 + 27 or 30 + 20 = 50 and 5 + 7 + 12 so 50 + 10 + 2 = 62 stickers Jake and Kira have 35 + 62 or 30 + 60 = 90 and 5 + 2 = 7 so 90 + 7 = 97 stickers in all. Next Week: Reading – Next week in reading the students will learn the vocabulary for The Tale of Peter Rabbit and learn about the author Beatrix Potter. Word Study- Next week in word study the students will learn about the schwa sound. Writing – Next week the students will be learning how to write nonfiction stories. Math – Next week in math the students will continue learning and practicing strategies for adding two 2-digit numbers. A few dates to remember as we look forward to next week.
This Week: Reading – This week in reading the students practiced wondering using the story Galimoto. The students also continued wondering about stories during their independent reading time and noticing which part of their books caused them to ask questions. At the end of independent reading time the students share their wonderings with their partners and refer to the stories to support their thinking. Vocabulary – This week in vocabulary the students learned stunned, genius, chaos and notorious from The Incredible Paintings of Felix Clousseau. The students also reviewed the words convince, disguise, grip, huddle, and prepare from previous stories. Word Study- This week in word study the students continued to practice spelling words with the prefix re-. The students learned about open and closed syllables. Open syllables end with a vowel and the vowel sound is usually long, such as re, bi, etc. Closed syllables end with a consonant and the vowel sound is usually short, such as pin, nic, etc. By determining if a syllable is open or closed, students are able to break apart and decode longer multi-syllable words. Writing –This week in writing the students continued to proofread their writing pieces by checking for spelling using their sight word lists and spelling combinations charts. Finally, the students began the process of rewriting their stories Math-This week in math the students continued their exploration of working with numbers within 100. The students learned several games this week to help them practice these skills. The first game was Capture 5 in which the students add/subtract 10s and 1s to capture chips laid on the board. The second game was Make a Dollar in which the students look at combinations of coins on cards to make a dollar. Finally, the students worked with 2-step word problems that have them add up the total number of stickers or coins and then determine how much more they need to reach 100 or $1.00. This unit is difficult because it involves using strategic thinking and problem solving which involve several different steps. Next Week: Reading – Next week in reading the students will continue to practice wondering with the story Galimoto. Word Study- Next week in word study the students will learn strategies for spelling compound words. Writing – Next week the students will how to recognize and correctly punctuate declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory sentences. Math – Next week in math the students will continue to practice strategies for solving 2-step problems and working with 2-digit numbers within 100. Things you can do at home to help with math:
A few dates to remember as we look forward to next week.
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