February certainly came and went quickly! It is hard to believe that March is just right around the corner! That being said, it is going to be a busy one! I look forward to lots of new learning!

Reminders and Notes:

-Tonight is our Music, Masterpieces, and Munchies Family Night. Doors open at 5:30 and each grade level will entertain us with a song they are learning from music class beginning at 6:00. There will also be a bake sale and an art auction. We hope you can make it!

-Students are excited for the 2nd Grade Spring Concert. This event will take place at 6:30 on Thursday, March 23. 

-Results from MAP testing will be sent home tomorrow. Please let me know if you have questions or if you'd like help reading the results. I'd be happy to help! We will take the MAP tests one last time in May.

-If you haven't returned the slip that indicates which dates and times work for spring conferences, please send it tomorrow. We will be scheduling sometime this week.

-Thursday is Dr. Seuss Day. If your child has Dr. Seuss clothes, Thursday would be a great day to wear them! Please don't feel the need to go out and buy something new. Be creative and design something with what you've got at home! :)

-A note went home last week about this year's author's breakfast. It is next Friday, March 10th from 7:15-7:45. Second graders are excited to share their poetry with their loved ones!

Curricular Updates:

We are finishing up our foundational skills reading unit and will return to nonfiction later this week. During this unit, we will work on accumulating and synthesizing information across a text, work with book clubs to grow our thinking, and compare and contrast information about topics.

We are nearing the end of our poetry unit. It is fun to watch the kids' poetry come alive as they add more and more poetry techniques to their work. You'll be amazed when you read their poems!

We will finish our unit on 2-digit subtraction this week. The test will be Wednesday morning. We will then begin a unit on time, graphs, and word problems. By the end of the unit, students are expected to tell time to the nearest five minutes on an analog clock. Please practice this skill as often as possible at home.

Have a GREAT week!

Lisa

I hope that everyone was able to enjoy the nice weather we had this weekend.  It sure is nice to get a taste of spring, even though it will only last a few days.

A Few Reminders:

Just a reminder that this is a short week. Students are dismissed at 11:30 on Thursday and Friday is a full day off.

If you haven't already, please return your conference request forms this week.

Wednesday is Career Day. Children are encouraged to dress up as a career they are interested in.

We have yoga on Tuesday afternoon. Please make sure your child is dressed in cozy clothes.

Monday is Music, Masterpieces, and Munchies at 5:30. We hope you can make it!

Students have been working hard to learn their spring concert songs in music class. Please make sure you have it on your calendar - Thursday, March 23rd at 6:30. 

Curriculum Updates:

Reading ~ Book clubs will be setting goals to help deepen conversations and understanding of their books this week. 

Writing ~ Poetry writing has been a great part of our day in second grade! It is amazing to read the variety of poetry topics and strategies that students are using in their poems. We will continue to introduce new strategies that poets use this week. 

Math ~ We will be wrapping up Unit 4 this week after we spend some time working on 2-step problems. We will be reviewing all of the skills covered in this unit early next week and will be taking the unit test as well. Any extra time spent counting money at home would be helpful!

Word Study ~ Along with working on homonyms (there, their, they're, to, too, two), we will work on spelling contractions correctly in the next couple of weeks. Please continue to work on high frequency words at home on a regular basis.

Social Studies ~ We'll be finishing up our study of Kaukauna's geography this week. If you haven't sent your child's social studies assignment in, please send it by Tuesday. I will resend directions in case you lost the first ones.

Have a GREAT week!

Lisa

Welcome back for another week of fun and learning! Please take a look to see what will be happening in Room 84!

Important Dates for February:

Tuesday 14-  Wear Red, White, and Pink
                    We will spend the last hour of the day opening valentines and enjoying a couple tasty treats. 

Wednesday 22 - Career Day - Dress up as a career you are interested in

Thursday 23 - 1/2 day 11:30 dismissal
                     Funset Boulevard Night - sponsored by the PSC

Friday 24 - No School Students and Staff

Monday 27 - Family Night - Music, Masterpieces and Munchies

Thursday March 2 - Dr. Seuss Character Day


PSC links for volunteer opportunities:

http://signup.com/go/TNwaqh

Here is the sign up link for Knowledge-a-thon

 ​ 

http://signup.com/go/ghdv4U 

This is the link for people to donate cookies for the Music and Masterpieces family night

http://signup.com/go/bErwXq

This is the link for people to sign up to help serve the cookies at the Music and Masterpieces family night

Classroom Updates

Reading ~ Our reading lessons focus on the playful language that authors use in 2nd grade books. Readers notice the figurative language and need to think about what the author means. 

Writing - The poets in room 84 are amazing! They are already noticing that poets use the same types of figurative language that we are studying in reading. 

Social Studies - Taking the time to discuss friendships and how to care for people at school will be our social studies topics for this week.  We will begin our Wisconsin places presentations on Tuesday next week.Students can start bringing in their pictures and information anytime. I will hold on to them until it is their turn to present. If you need another copy of the directions, please let me know. 

Math - We are using the strategies we have learned for solving 2-digit addition and subtraction to solve mixed word problems. Our word problems this week can be solved using many of the different strategies we have learned. Students will be working on reading the problem carefully, thinking about what they know and what they need to know, and deciding which strategy they can use to solve for the unknown. 

Have a great week!
Lisa

Welcome back to another week! I hope that you had an enjoyable weekend!

A few reminders:

-Tuesday is a half day; students will be dismissed at 11:30.

-Our Valentine exchange is scheduled for Tuesday, February 14th. You should have gotten a list of names on Friday. Sending in Valentines is optional, but if your child chooses to do so, please make sure he/she has one for everyone. Don't forget to wear your Valentine colors on Tuesday!

-If your child is participating in the Six Flags Six-Hour Reading Program, all forms are due next Friday, February 17th. There is still time to complete the program if you'd still like to! I have extra forms if you need one. Unfortunately, we are not able to accept late forms.

Curricular Updates:

Reading - We will be amping up our reading powers this week by looking closely at the ways authors play with words. We will be learning the differences between figurative language and literal language and will look for examples of figurative language in our books. 

Writing - Our poetry unit continues and I am amazed at what great poets we have in our class! Students are enjoying picking topics they feel strongly about and writing a free verse poem on the topic. We will learn how to include all of our senses, our feelings, and strong words in our poems this week. We are reading a variety of published poems as we work through this writing unit. Studying these mentor authors gives us strategies to use in our own poetry. 

Math - Unit 4 continues with 2-digit subtraction. This week we will be working with mixed word problems. We will be working on reading the word problem, deciding what the problem is asking for, and figuring out the best equation to get to that answer. The mixed word problems will include addition, subtraction, and comparison problems. We will be doing quite a bit of practice with these mixed word problems over the course of this week and next week.  

Word Study - Students will be tested on their current high frequency words this Friday.

Social Studies - We are enjoying our study of Kaukauna's geography and how it is similar/different to other areas of Wisconsin. 

Have a GREAT week!

Lisa