An Exciting Month Ahead …

Dear Families,

Welcome to May! We are now in the home stretch of the 2016/17 school year. Just a few reminders, our annual Brooklyn Bridge walk will be held on May 19th, 2017.  (Please note the revised date.)  We welcome families to meet us at the bridge and then have lunch in Brooklyn Bridge Park. We will have a limited number of seats available on the school buses. We will keep you posted on a rain date if necessary. Permission slips will be going home shortly.

We have exciting news! Our Post Office has a name! After several rounds of intense voting, the 2017 BSI Post Office will officially be called “Fast Doggy Post Office”. Our motto is “Puppy says ‘ruff’ while we deliver”. Our emblem is dog carrying an envelope in its mouth, which we will all learn how to draw. Your child may want to practice at home! Fast Doggy Post Office will run for five days at the end of May. Please be on the lookout for more information about how you can be involved. The first opportunity will be at Family Math Games Night on May 17, where we will be selling supplies. We welcome all second graders to take a turn at the cash register! We will be selling stamps and beautiful hand-made postcards.

In Math, we are continuing our Equivalence and Exchange unit with a new investigation. In this investigation, kids will hear the story of the Masloppy family (who they know already!) planning for their visit to New York City. The family has a certain amount of rolled coins and loose change to spend, and needs to organize the money into three equivalent piles for three different excursions. In this investigation students will develop big ideas and strategies important in the algebra strand. Knowing that two expressions may be equivalent even though they don’t look alike is one of the most important ideas in early algebra. Students will understand that equations are based on an understanding of equivalence. Students often think that the equal sign means that “the answer is coming”. Actually, equations are mathematical statements that represent an equivalent relationship between expressions. For example, 8+2+10=12+4+4. As the unit progresses, students will analyze equations, develop strategies for simplifying them, and be introduced to the idea of variables. Wow!

In Writer’s Workshop, we are beginning to publish our Realistic Fiction stories. We have gone through the whole writing process: Thinking about our idea, Drafting, Revising, Editing and Publishing. This week we are focusing on the Revising and Editing Phases. The photos below show what the students have uncovered about revising and editing our work.

In Reader’s Workshop, we are beginning to look at poetry and discover how it is different from other types of writing. We have discovered that by reading different types of poetry that it can be written about many different things. I cannot wait to see what else the kids can discover once we dive deeper in.
In Tribes, we are working on expressing our feelings through images. The students listened to an acoustic version of a song and were invited to draw how it makes them feel. There were many feelings that arose from the students: sad, mad, happy, calm etc. This led to a discussion on how sometimes people have a hard time expressing their feelings and how we need to be aware of how others can feel. Another activity we worked on was setting our own personal goals and telling what our strengths are. Each student filled out their own chart about their personal, academic and social goals and strengths. They were really interested to see that many other students have common goals and strengths but also they can be different and that is what makes us a community.

Have a great week,

Ms. Mathis and Ms. Anne