PS/IS 686 | Brooklyn, NY

Welcome 2020!

By ,

Dear Families, 

We hope you had a wonderful holiday season and a very Happy New Year. We are right back at it in second grade. Here is a brief overview of what is going on in our classrooms. 

In Math, we are beginning to work with clocks and time. Today we began to think about a clock in relation to a number line. Here are some questions we thought about:

  • How are they similar?
  • What do the numbers represent?
  • Can landmark numbers help in both the clock and number line? 
  • How do we use a clock as compared to a number line? 

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We then created our own clock to keep in out math folders. In the upcoming days we will begin to solve word problems that both deal with time and number lines. Here is an example of a problem we might solve:

Lindsey decided to bake cookies on Saturday morning. She started baking at 9:15am. It took an hour and a half to make the batter and bake the cookies. What time was it when Lindsey finished making the cookies?

In Writer’s Workshop, we are at the tail end of finishing up our “All About Nonfiction Books”. They are amazing. This Friday, the students will be sharing their work with each other. Over the weekend, be sure to ask your child what great information they learned from one another. Our next portion to our Nonfiction Unit is science based. The students will be learning how to write science lab reports and design their own experiments! 

In Reader’s Workshop, we have finished our shared read aloud, Puppy Power. We have learned many things through reading this book together. We learned how to …

  • Notice patterns in a book
  • Notice how a character changes throughout a story
  • Make connections between characters 
  • Make connections between characters and ourselves
  • Make connections between characters and the real world. 

Today began our partnership with Center For Architecture. We met out instructor Mr. Dustin. We had an amazing hands on lesson in which we began to talk about some different types of bridges and the importance of their structure. Here is some new vocabulary we learned:

  • Beam
  • Pier
  • Footing
  • Abutment
  • Forces
  • Compression 
  • Tension 
  • span

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We even got to make our own bridges using marshmallows, toothpicks and pasta! Please take a look at the architects at work. 

Important Info/Dates:

Date:  Info:
January 16th  Our class trip to the South Street Seaport Museum has been rescheduled. The new date is January 16. We will be reaching out to chaperones again. We will be sending home permission slips with the new date on it. Please send them in as soon as possible. 
January 2oth  No School – MLK Day 

 

Please always feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns. 

Have a great week, 

Ms. Mathis and Ms. Mila