Thursday, October 29, 2015

Snapshot of our week


Here is a snapshot of our week! Exploring with math games. We spent time reviewing money, doubles facts, and making ten with different addenda, along with drawing rectangular arrays. 

We've also had fun exploring shapes in our geometry unit. Ask your child what makes a rectangle. What is a quadrilateral? We even imagined our rectangles were chocolate bars and chose which one we'd want by measuring it's area. 

We are doing an amazing job working through the writing process. We are getting very good at revising and checking our spelling using our Quick Word. Our Authors' Share Chair has also become quite popular. We are becoming quite the presenters! 
































PAJAMA DAY!!

We are so excited we completed our Mr. Potato head again. 
The reward is wear your pajamas to school. 
Tomorrow, Friday the 30th your second grader can wear his/her pajamas to school. 
It'll be a fun (and adorable) day! 

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

We've got rare insects in our classroom

What a tremendous day today! 

As we study insects, we've been blessed to have two guest speakers come to us. Both did an outstanding job challenging us with new information as well as exposing us to new insects that otherwise, we'd probably never get to meet. (Might be a good thing) 

Here are some snapshots of our time with insects. Pure engagement! 


Thank you Mr. Gavin. 

Tasting different kinds of honey. 


Reading poetry about bees! 

Yikes! 

And now switching gears from bees to cockroaches and walking stick bugs. Oh my goodness...what a wacky Wednesday. 

One of the tools used to catch particular insects. 

WOW! 
We learned that if this insect becomes afraid, he lets off a strong smell of rubber. 

Woah! That walking stick is like nothing I've seen before! 
Super cool! 
Curious Maine insects 

A great, great day! 

Fun facts: 
Did you know that a butterfly has two knob like things at the top of its feelers? 

The feelers of a moth actually look like feathers. 

Have you ever thought of an insect having brains? 
Their brain is really just a bunch of nerves in one spot. 

Finally, mosquitos certainly can annoy us but the reason is that they are attracted to carbon dioxide. We happen to breathe out carbon dioxide so they're naturally attracted to us, unfortunately. 
















Monday, October 19, 2015

Wanted...

Unusual and rare insects that have taken over Mrs. Ortiz's second grade classroom. 

Have you seen any of these insects?! 

They are rare and unusual but ask your second grader what makes them all insects. 





Getting our wiggles out


GoNoodle! Getting our wiggles out before we write. 



Fun with Words

We've begun our fun with words this week. 

You should have noticed that your child came home this afternoon with a take home copy of spelling words. These are words chosen by your second grader from their weekly sort that he/she will be tested on each Friday. 

Your child will be coming home this week with a list of strategies or ideas that you can do to help your child study his/her words. It's really more like practice as we do study these words every day throughout the week in different ways. 

Word work is a very fun part of our day. Your second grader takes on the role of detective. They use a magnifying lens and everything! First, we learn the sort. What is the pattern or rule for our spelling in the sort? Next, we practice with our spelling buddy through speed sort activities, sentence making, word hunts, and blind sort activities. With the review at home, hopefully your child is teaching you what their sort is this week. 

Friday, October 16, 2015

Just a reminder...
 
Scholastic book orders went home on Thursday afternoon. If you plan on ordering from the club, please be sure to have your child's order turned in to me by Tuesday, October 20th. 
 
This afternoon, we were able to add a variety of new books to our classroom library that were purchased from our bonus points earned from the last order. Thank you all so much. 
 
Please remember that these will go home every month but are by no means expected and/or mandatory. However, if you do order and at any time would like your order to be a surprise, please let me know and I will set the order aside and leave it in the office for pick up. I do understand that these make great gifts and am more than happy to help. 
 
 

Another week gone by

Time continues to fly in second grade.

It has been so great meeting and talking with so many families this week. I look forward to the rest next week.

A few highlights from this week:

Responsibility:
We continue to have fun practicing our classroom jobs. It's so nice observing your second graders taking on their responsibility for our classroom and modeling their job for peers around them.

Everyday Writing:
We have had a blast working with the writing process. Some of the growth and changes in your child's writing is already evident. It is so very cool to look at writing from day one and see the change in length, detail, spelling, and organization already. This will only continue to happen. 
We have been trying out different ways to pre-write, draft, edit, and confer with peers for suggestions and compliments. Some of our prewriting strategies have been through sketches of what is around us, webs, lists, and drawing first. Ask your child what they are writing about right now. 

Math:
In math we are a day away from wrapping up our first unit. This week, the focus has been on addition and subtraction facts, doubles facts, and solving story problems. Through this practice, we have also been exposed to a few different strategies for solving these story problems such as breaking numbers apart, the traditional carry over strategy, and mental math. We are working away from staying so dependent on fingers and illustrations. I can't encourage the use of flash cards a few minutes a night at home enough. Number fact recognition is so important and exposure is key. 




Monday, October 12, 2015

Fun in second grade!

WORD WORK FUN! 
IN SECOND GRADE, WE LEAD CALENDAR
AUTHORS' CHAIR-our friends have the chance to hear our stories. 
SKETCHING NEW IDEAS TO WRITE ABOUT FROM AROUND OUR SCHOOL
TEAMWORK!