Gr2 Blog Week of 11.28
Dear Families,
Welcome back from what we hope was a restful holiday. Here is a quick look at our week ahead:
In Reader’s Workshop, we are learning that readers of nonfiction books pay attention to details and put the parts together to understand what they are reading. Paying attention to details will help us in determining the big ideas in the text. Our readers are discovering that the details are not only in the words we are reading but in the diagrams, illustrations, photographs and special “word boxes” as well. We are also noticing that as we read, we have many questions about the topic, which we pay attention to as we continue in our books.
In Writer’s Workshop, our researchers have learned why and how to take notes from what they are reading. We have learned how to pick out important information from books and documents. When we are reading for information we have discovered that your brain needs to do a lot of work to figure out what is important. We have created a list of steps to aid in our note taking skills.
Here is what we are practicing:
-Read it and reread it
-Say it in your own words
-Close the book
-Write it in your own words
-Then open the book to check spelling of keywords.
This is the second step in the journey to create our nonfiction books. We started by creating chapter headings to help keep us focused while we are researching. We are now filling in those chapter headings in with our notes. Be sure to ask your children what they have learned about their nonfiction topic today!
We have been making a list in our Word Study notebooks of sight words that we should know from kindergarten and first grade. These are words students should be spelling correctly by this point with no trouble. Students will be randomly assessed on these words. Here is our list so far:
| Went
They Said Have Because |
Make
Brother Was Friends Saw |
When
Then Are Our Sister |
In math, we are starting an exciting new unit: Measurement and Data! In this unit, students will use a variety of nonstandard units to measure and compare length, and will develop an understanding of the need for standard units. Then our second graders will begin to explore standard measurement tools, including rulers and yardsticks to measure familiar objects. Students will explore both US Standard measurement (inches, feet, yards) and metric measure (centimeters, meters). Students will also develop strategies for finding the difference between measurements. Later, we will work with analog clocks as a tool for measuring time, and will learn to tell and write time to the nearest 5 minutes. We will need your support with this at home! We will keep you posted as we move forward with the unit.
We have a name for our Post Office! This year, our BSI Post Office will be called Cute Bunny Post Office! Our motto is: “We hop your mail to you”. Students submitted names, mottos, and emblems for consideration, and we voted on our favorite. This week we are busy making postcards and posters in preparation for our grand opening on December 10!
Just a few important dates for the future:
| Date: | Activity: |
| December 7th | Family Friday (201- Snowflake Craft)* more info to come |
| December 18th **201 | Holiday Craft (kids only) |
| December 19th **201 and 202 | Holiday Celebration |
| December 24-Jan 1 | Christmas Break |
| January 8th | Trip-Brooklyn Historical Society |
| January 29/30 | Trip- Makerspace |
| February 23 | Trip- Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) |
-Scholastic orders will be placed on the last day of the month.
Finally, thank you to all the families who sent in pajamas for our pajama drive! We are still accepting new pajamas until December 10th. Each pair of pajamas will be donated to a child in need, along with a bedtime book.
Have a great week!
Ms. Mathis and Ms. Anne