Week 2 update

Hello families!

We are off to a great start to the 19-20 school year. Your children have been doing a great job learning all about the expectations and procedures in second grade. Here is a little update on what's been going on in our classroom:

We started EL! This is our new English Language Arts program. It's different than the daily 5 program we have been using for the past several years. The major difference is that we will be doing more whole group lessons where the class has lots of opportunities to turn and talk to share their thinking with partners or a small group. We will be digging deeper into various texts throughout the year to really get a deeper understanding of the text and specific concepts.

In math we have been working on different strategies to add numbers and learning about the difference between odd and even numbers. There are many different hands on activities we have been using to help them learn the concepts. We started math centers too. We learned expectations for playing games and did some xtramath as a class to practice our facts. We will be working with technology each day starting next week, so please return the technology permission slips asap. 

We have done a little work with writing complete sentences and some general writing about being back to school.

In science we are learning about the weather. Discuss with them if there are any changes in the weather and what makes that happen.

In SS we are learning about communities as we create our own in the classroom.

We are off to a great start to the school year!

Our holiday learning experience!

I can't even begin to explain how much fun the class had today! I took several pictures and videos so you could see what we did . We had a great parent turn out and it could not have been done without you all. Thank you so very much to all of you who helped. I will be sending out am email asking permission to post the pictures and videos of the kids. I understand some parents may not want their kids on the internet.

The next few days we will be wrapping up the quarter and doing some cleaning. Today the class took their first case 21 tests. They did an amazing job staying focused, quiet, and bubbling. They are growing up so fast!

Traditional starts today....

...so busses will be later than we have become accustomed to. 

TCE is on twitter and will be posting as busses depart if you want to follow them @turnerCreekES

I also joined the bandwagon and will be tweeting @ksimmonstce

But we have a long weekend coming up, and we track out next Friday, which is also an early release.

More family time with your precious children. :)

Have a great week!

Awesome Alliteration!

Our reading lesson for the next few days....alliteration!

August 11-15

Specials for the week: computer, media, pe, music, and art

This past week we took our third math test of the quarter. We continue working on breaking down word problems to identify what information it is giving us, what we need to find, and what operations we can use to solve them. We focused on using various operations to solve problems. This is an opportunity for them to use one or two of the strategies we have been practicing. 

Next week we will focus in two step word problems, doubles, and odds and evens.

This past week we practiced one of our math games. We have been lucky enough to have a little time each week to practice our math games before they are homework on Wednesdays.

In writing we just finished our sequencing story. We started the week by drawing four pictures of an event that recently happened. We then talked about how the order of events is important when writing a story. They glued their pictures to paper in order and then wrote a few sentences about what was happening in each picture. They then revised and edited before completing a final draft.

Next week we will be stepping back from the writing process and spending some time on making our writing better by showing, not telling, and focusing on being more descriptive.

In reading we are also working on sequencing and story elements. We have started writing responses about what we read each day. As I read aloud, I have been modeling various strategies to share my thinking. (Crop qvs: making connections, sharing reactions, opinions, making predictions, asking questions, visualizing, and summarizing. They are not expected to use all the strategies, but we are talking about them as ways to share our thinking.) We are beginning to learn about non fiction and the various text features. 

specials for the next 3 weeks

I am sorry I am having issues integrating my google accounts so the margins are messed up and I am having some issues not being able to post word documents.

Simmons specials for the week 8/18-8/22

Computer

Media

PE

Music

Art

Week of 8/25-8/29   Computer

Guidance

PE

Music

Art

Week of 9/1-9/5 MONDAY NO SCHOOL

Guidance

PE

Music

FRIDAY EARLY RELEASE

August 4-August 8

Yesterday I emailed a sign up genius link to everyone. I had some trouble getting the times slots working. The three main needs as of right now are a Friday folder stuffer and a copier on Mondays. These can both be done at any time that is best for you. The last is a math helper in Friday afternoon from 12:40-1:20. This I will be for enrichment and would involve pulling a small group to work out and discuss some challenging activities

Http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0D4EA8AF2DABFC1-volunteering

Math-we are working on breaking down collection problems as well as change plus/change minus problems. We are basically looking at how to look at what information the problem is giving and what it's looking for. There will be an assessment towards the end of the week.

Reading-we are still working on using context clues to find the meaning of challenging words. We also started working with non fiction to identify the main parts.

Writing-we continued working on our narratives and most students finished their second drafts. We are focusing on writing as a process, that even though they may have finished their second draft, it is not necessarily a final copy. This week we will practice sequencing and using transition words.

Social studies- we worked through the first unit in our text book and learned about citizenship, volunteering, and service in our homes, schools, and communities.