Week of 3/18

This is the last week before spring break.

The students are discovering how rivers work, what erosion is and how the different bodies of water compare to one another.  They have conducted 2 investigations.  One helped them determine why rivers flow.  The other helped them understand where sand comes from.

Their curiosity has led them to ask questions about volcanoes and earthquakes so each day we learn a bit about those as well.  I love their inquisitive minds.

Roaring Readers
Roaring Readers papers are due no later than Friday, March 22nd.  They will be mailed out that evening so no late papers will be accepted.

Book Orders
I will also be sending in the book order on March 22nd after school.

Homework
Homework did go home today.  Everyone has a reading log and a reading passage about rivers.  Some students also have a fluency paper.  If you have a fluency paper it is okay if you practice it 3 times a night instead of 5 to make room for the article.

All homework is due April 2nd, but it is okay to turn it in Friday so you can forget about it over break.

Why do Rivers Flow?

This week we conducted an investigation to discover why rivers flow.  The class hypothesized that they flowed because the wind pushed them, the animals swimming underneath made them flow or other rivers pushed them. 

After our investigation, they learned that rivers flow because they begin at the tops of mountains and hills and flow down to the oceans.

Tomorrow we are going to look at the rivers in Idaho.  Feel free to do some research about Idaho rivers and which ocean they flow into at home so your second grader has even more to share tomorrow.

Here are some pictures of our models.  Ask you second grader to tell you about it.

 

Week of 3/4

I hope the surprise 3-day weekend helped everyone get some needed rest.  Our room got sanitized and is ready for another week.

Red Fish, Blue Fish day and our fish graphs

Monday, the 4th, is wear red for Caring day.

Friday, the 8th will be our PJ "Read In "day.  This is rescheduled from last Friday.  Students can wear their pajamas and bring one cozy item: a blanket, a pillow or a stuffed animal.

Math
Our goal is to be able to add and subtract up to 3-digit numbers by the end of the year.  Students are getting a lot of experience with equivalent numbers (23 tens = 1 hundred, 3 tens).  They are working on graphing, money, measurement and geometry.  Adding and subtracting numbers and understanding how we do that with regrouping is an essential skill, but they can't do that if they don't understand place value.  Some students are moving quickly through this process and are already experiencing more challenging math concepts.  Those that are struggling are getting more time to master the basic ideas so the more challenging ideas won't stump them.

Spelling
Currently, there are 12 different spelling lists in the classroom.  There is anywhere from 1 to 4 students on a list.  Students are learning to look for patterns in words and discover how spelling rules apply to new words.  I am pleased with the learning that is happening.  Students are spelling better in their writing because they are thinking about the patterns they are learning.  You can always ask your second grader what their pattern for the week is.  It might be fun to see if you can find more words together.

Reading
In addition to the reading we do together.  Each student has a book they are assigned to read.  When they are finished, they take an Accelerated Reader test on the book and they must pass to be able to stay at that difficulty level.  Students need to pass an AR test at least once a month.

Writing
Most students have succeeded in writing a complete paragraph.  The goal by the end of the year is to write 2 complete 4-5 sentence paragraphs.  Last week students wrote a report on the president they learned about.  It was good practice in writing 2 paragraphs.  This week they will finish writing their stories.  They are working on adding details in the form of adjectives to make their stories more interesting.  They should bring them home on Friday after they read them for the "Read in."

Science and Social Studies
In both science and social studies we will be studying water, erosion and the earth's surfaces.  Students will also be creating maps identifying where they are in the world.  This week we will be needing spray bottles to spray water.  If you have any we could borrow, you can send them to school with your second grader.