Monster Match

Here are pictures from our Skype with a class from New York.  The students had fun trying to draw each other's monsters and follow directions.
*Also, please note it is not Valentine's Day.  It was "Red Day" at school for Red Ribbon week.  Hence, why most of the students are wearing red:)

 

 

 

 

 

Pumpkinmania

We had so much fun with Pumpkinmania.  Thanks to Sara's mom and dad for volunteering and for all the parents who sent in pumpkins.

 

 

 

 

Welcome November!

I hope everyone had a nice weekend!  This week is busy in Room 110.  While we do have Tuesday off, the end of the quarter also marks the beginning of Benchmark testing for Reading and Math learned this quarter. Here's a run down of the curriculum for the week:

Reading:  Fluency (pausing at punctuation) and Visualizing

Math:  Skip Counting and Identifying Odd and Even Numbers

Social Studies:  Native Americans (The Powhatans and the Lakota Tribes)

Notes:  Please return your child's permission slip for our Jamestown Field Trip next Tuesday, if you  have not done so already.

Red Ribbon Week

Next week is Red Ribbon Week and Spirit Week at Magruder.  Do you remember this from when you were in school?  It is a week to celebrate making safe and healthy choices.  It is also a Spirit week for our school.  This week will also be a really busy week in Room 110 with a Skype session on Monday and Pumpkinmania on Friday.  

Here is what we are focusing on in our curriculum this week:

Language Arts:  Character Analysis and Visualizing, Writing a Personal Narrative

Math:  Patterns on a 100 Chart and Skip Counting

Science:  Magnet Review and Test (The test is on Tuesday)

Social Studies:  Native Americans with a focus on the Powhatans

Fun this week (I just had to add this in):
Monday-Red Day, Skype Session with Mohansic Elementary in New York (We will be doing our monster match activity with them)
Tuesday-Crazy Sock Day
Wednesday-Pajama Day
Thursday-Wacky Tacky Day
Friday-Team Spirit Day
*On Friday afternoon, we will be having pumpkin mania.  I need volunteers and pumpkins.  Please let me know if you are able to help.

Week 7

It's hard to believe it's week 7 of the school year. Time is flying (especially the time between now and my due date on November 14th)!  Here's what we are learning about this week in Room 110.

Language Arts:  In Reading, we will start a new unit on Character analysis and making text 
connections. In Writing, we are still working on personal narratives and will look at adding details to our writing.  The students will draw and write a describing paragraph about a monster.  I will then pick 3 of those paragraphs and those students will read their paragraphs to a class in New York via Skype next Monday.  Those students will try to draw their monster by listening to the paragraph.  We will also be listening to 3 students from New York and trying to draw their monsters.  This should be pretty fun! 

Science:  Our magnet unit is in full swing.  The students are brainstorming how to improve our class with magnets and are doing lots of fun inquiry experiments.  We also have a video conference session with a real scientist on Tuesday.  I meant to do this earlier this month, but they did not have any sessions until now.  It will be neat for students to be able to hear a real scientist talk about their job.

Math:  We are finished with story problems and are on to patterns this week.  We will learn about patterns for the next two weeks.

Notes:  I am sending home parent-teacher conference forms tomorrow.  I hope to have all my conferences next or early the first week in November, so I can get them all in before I leave for maternity leave.  I am also looking for volunteers for Pumpkinmania on October 30.  Please mark your calendars.

Welcome Fall!

I hope you were able to get out and enjoy this weekend's weather.  It was beautiful!

Here's what's going on this week in 2nd grade:

Language Arts:  We are working on fluency this week. Students will have the chance to partner read to help with this skill.  We will work on varying speed when reading.  In writing, students will continue to learn about how to write a personal narrative and will learn about run-on sentences.

Math:  We will continue our unit on story problems.  This week's focus is on subtraction story problems.  Look for a test on story problems next Monday.

Social Studies:  We will begin our unit on communities of the past.  Students this week will have a review of the types of communities and will start looking at how Virginia has changed from the past.  Our focus question for the unit will be on how to let others know that our community is a great place to visit.  There is no quiz for Social Studies this week.

Notes:  Please remember to keep checking ASPEN for up to date grades.  Also, please continue to encourage your child to be responsible for checking and turning in their work.  This is skill I am working on with them in class and your encouragement goes a long way.

Scientific Inquiry

We learned about the difference between data and observations last week.  Here's an example of an experiment when took lots of data and had lots of fun.  Check out the marshmallow shooter experiment: