Gr2 Week of 2/27/18 Welcome Back!
Dear Families,
Welcome Back! We hope that you had a restful midwinter recess and were able to spend time with your children and relax. Here is a look at what is going on in second grade.
In Writer’s Workshop, the characters that our students created are finally coming to life! The kids have thought about what traits they would like their character to have, and can describe their characters like they can describe a friend. Our writers are now getting to know their characters even better by placing them in everyday situations and writing how they act and feel. Here are a few examples of the situations we have chosen to write about: Morning routines (eating breakfast), getting to school, recess time, after school activities. Now we are ready to move on to developing a plot for our stories. We have noticed that many realistic fiction books (though not all) have a problem and a solution. We are going to be looking closely at our realistic fiction read-alouds to name the problems. Then we are going to brainstorm problems that our characters may face, based on what we know about them.
We are starting a new unit in math this week. We will be exploring geometry! This unit allows our mathematicians to investigate attributes of 2D and 3D shapes, and involves big ideas about sorting and classifying. As math teachers, we love watching how kids navigate the spatial challenges inherent in this unit. For some kids, geometry is a refreshing change from the number work we have been so focused on. Others find that reasoning about shapes and space provides a new and difficult challenge. This week, we will be focusing on the attributes of different shapes by describing, drawing, and classifying 2D and 3D shapes. Throughout the unit, we will continue to develop strategies for addition and subtraction by solving story problems, meeting in small groups, and playing differentiated math games. We will also be integrating geometry with a wonderful art project in which we will be learning about the artist Paul Klee and how he used geometric shapes to create beautiful paintings.
In Social Studies, we are starting a new unit in which we will be examining Urban, Suburban, and Rural communities. We will be comparing these communities and looking for similarities and differences, as well as noticing the advantages and disadvantages to living in each place.
On Thursday, the BioBus (http://www.biobus.org/) will be rolling up to BSI for the day! Our classes will have a chance to explore microscopes on board the bus. We look forward to reporting our discoveries!
Reminders:
- Trip Slips will be going home for our next trip to 826NYC on March 16 (201) and March 19 (202) . There is also a consent slip for 826NYC (for video and pictures to be taken) that must be signed as well. Please send them back as soon as possible.
- We will be assessing your child’s reading levels for our upcoming progress report. If your child is not meeting the standard in any subject you will be receiving an email.
- If your child is not feeling well please do not send them to school. We are trying to keep the classrooms germs at bay.
Have a great week,
Ms. Mathis and Ms. Anne