This week is Unit 3: Week 2. The essential question is “What can we see in the sky?”

Our comprehension skill and strategy are reread and sequence. Our vocabulary skill is compound words.

We’ll be working on long i words with our spelling lists and diving into past tense verbs in our grammar lessons.

We will read both fiction stories and expository text!

Math: Unit 5   Monday was a reteaching/retesting day in math. We’ll start working on odd and even numbers on Tuesday.

Social Studies:  We’ll continue our lessons on community workers!

Writing: Using vivid verbs and “wow” words in our personal narratives.

**Your second grader has maybe mentioned that we’ll be moving in December! Houdini will be lending us his magic~~ we will leave our current room on December 22nd for the holiday break. When we return on January 6th, we’ll be downstairs in the newly renovated wing! Learning will continue, as usual, in the meantime. There just might be a few extra boxes in the corner of our classroom.

Monday- Computer

Tuesday- Music

Wednesday- PE

Thursday- Art  **holiday meal**

Friday- Computer  **Movie night at the Joyo**

I am anxious to be back on Tuesday! I’ve missed my class

and can’t wait to have my kids read to me!

~Houdini

This week is Unit 2: Week 6 in Wonders. We will be doing our Unit 2 assessments.

Monday- Comprehension story 1

Tuesday- Comprehension story 2

Wednesday- *No Wonders assessments, but we will take our unit 4 math test!

Thursday- Grammar test

Friday- Dictation test

**There is no formal spelling test this week. A review list was sent home today in Monday Messengers. Please help your second grader practice these words. That will be a huge help for the dictation test on Friday.  🙂

We are finishing up our Matter unit in science this week. Today we experimented with melting vs. dissolving.

Math – Unit 4 test over quadrilaterals/parallelograms on Wednesday.

Writing- Personal narratives.

Our beautiful playground tree!

Colorful fall trees line the playground!

Specials schedule:

Monday- PE

Tuesday-Art

Wednesday-Music

Thursday-PE

Friday-Art

I am loving having Bunny Reading time with the kids!

Mrs. Jacoby just put out the Thanksgiving books, so I’m excited to listen to those stories!

~Houdini

Wonders: Unit 2 Week 5  October 26-30
“Animals in Poems”

Essential Question: What do we love about animals?
Story Vocabulary: behave, express, feathers, flapping
Vocabulary Strategy: Multiple Meaning Words (groom, spots, spies, break, etc.)
Genre: Poetry
Phonics: 3-letter Blends: scr, spr, str, thr, spl, shr
Structural Analysis: Compound Words (doghouse, cupcake, springtime, birdbath, etc.)
Strategy: Reread
Skill: Key Details
Skill: Possessive Nouns (the boy’s dog; the teacher’s marker; the tree’s leaves, etc.)
Mechanics: Apostrophes

Red Ribbon Week: “I respect myself enough to keep my hands off drugs!”  (Oct. 26-30)

Wonders Unit 2: week 4  We will be reading expository text (nonfiction, written to inform, usually is separated by headings into sections). Our comprehension strategy will be to reread. We’ll continue to work on main topic and key details. The vocabulary strategy will be multiple meaning words. Students will also work on possessive nouns.

Spelling: Post-test will be on Friday, Oct. 23rd. This week we are working on consonant digraphs. (ch, tch, th, sh, wh, ph, ng)

Math: We’ll continue our work in chapter three. We’ll be working on more story problems- some with unnecessary information, missing information, or hidden information. Some of the story problems will require multiple steps to solve.

Writing: We are starting personal narratives. We’ll be focusing on word choice.

Science: What is matter?

Monday- Computer

Tuesday- Music

Wednesday- PE

Thursday- Art

Friday- Computer

I hope you had a great fall break!

I spent time at home with Puppy!  🙂

~Houdini

A bunny’s job is never done! We are working hard at school today- hope everyone is having a fabulous day off!

Here is what is happening next week:

Wonders Unit 2: week 3  We will be reading narrative fiction (told by a narrator; tells about living things, people, or events; may include headings, bold print, photos, captions, diagrams, maps, or timelines; follows a sequence). Our comprehension strategy will be to make, confirm, and revise predictions. We’ll continue to work on main topic and key details. The vocabulary strategy will be suffixes and the mechanics focus will be capital letters. Students will also continue to work on proper and common nouns.

The end of first quarter is Wednesday, Oct. 14th! We’ll be finishing up assessments these three days. Mrs. Jacoby will be working on report card grades!

Spelling: There is no formal spelling test due to the 3 day week. We will be practicing on level words in class.

Math: We’ll be taking a test over obj. 3.1-3.3 (addition and subtraction strategies) on Monday. There will be no math homework Monday night. Tuesday and Wednesday will be spend on lessons 8 and 9 (More complex situations).

Health: We’ll be finishing up our health unit on Drug Danger. The second graders have also been reviewing fire safety. Fall break would be an excellent time to change your smoke alarm batteries and conduct a home fire drill!

Monday- Music

Tuesday- PE

Wednesday- Art

Enjoy the warm weekend weather!

~Houdini

Fall has arrived! There is a nip in the morning air- don’t forget to send your second grader in a jacket. We will be having walking club outside every day until the weather chases us into the gym! Our lunch recess is at 11:30 and it is sometimes still pretty cool at that time of day.

This week is fire safety week! We will be reviewing fire safety rules and reading several fire safety books. Have you checked your smoke alarms and practiced a home fire drill yet this fall?

It is a 4 day week! Friday is an elementary teacher plan day. Our spelling test will be on Thursday this week.

Monday- Music

Tuesday- PE

Wednesday- Art

Thursday- Computer

Eating his morning veggies

~Houdini

Monday 9/28   Computer

Tuesday 9/29  Music

Wednesday 9/30  PE

Thursday 10/1  Art

Friday 10/2  Computer

Wow! It is hard to believe that tomorrow is the last day of September! My second graders are working super hard everyday!

We just finished up Unit 2 in math- we were measuring centimeters with our cm rulers. Everyone did a great job!

The second graders measured line segments, drew line segments with their rulers, and found the perimeter of shapes.

Important upcoming dates are:

*Friday, Oct. 2nd- CLC’s Got Talent 6:00

*Monday, Oct. 4th- Mrs. Jacoby will be in Hastings to watch her daughter, Emma, play in the last fall golf meet.

*Tuesday, Oct. 5th- PTO dinner/meeting 5:45

*Friday, Oct. 9th- Elementary teacher plan day. No school for elementary students.

*Wednesday, Oct. 14th- Last day of first quarter

*Thursday 10/15 and Friday 10/16- Fall break. No school.

~ Houdini

This week is Unit 1 Week 5 in reading. The essential question for the week is “What happens when families work together?” We will be reading informational texts about how families work together!

Our vocabulary words for the week are: check, choose, chores, cost, customers, jobs, spend, and tools. If you have your second grader sign into Wonders at home, you can review and practice the definitions of these words.

Our spelling words focus on long i and short i this week. If you misplace this week’s spelling list, please email or message me and I’ll send a new one! Please be sure to help your child practice his/her words every night to prepare for Friday’s spelling test.

We’re working on possessives this week. For example: The girl’s mom is nice.

We’re also working on how to flip questions to write constructed responses during our writer’s workshop time. For example- What do babysitters do to care for children?  (Flip the question to a statement.) Babysitters care for children by helping feed the children and putting them down for naps.

We have been adding 3 numbers in math (4+7+2=___) in math and will be reviewing for the test on Wednesday. There will not be homework on Wednesday or Thursday due to the test on Thursday.

Our next integrated studies topic is Social Studies. Our first unit is about the different types of communities. Today we learned about urban, rural, and suburban communities!

Important dates:

Thursday, Sept. 17th- unit one math test

Friday, Sept. 18th- weekly spelling test and weekly Wonders test

Friday, Sept. 25th- Power Family Night “Go Big READ!” at Anderson Library, 6:30-7:30 (RSVP sheets are due by Tuesday, 9/22)

I will be gone for a day or two in the middle of the week. I’ll be visiting a boy scout troop to do magic on Wednesday (and will be performing at a birthday party on Sunday). I can’t wait for next week- the kids will start doing a “Bunny Read” with me! I LOVE listening to my kids read aloud!

~Houdini

We have been learning all about the life cycle of butterflies in science. The students have been observing the metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly with our very own Painted Lady caterpillars! We were so excited to be able to release 15 beautiful Painted Lady Butterflies this afternoon!

One of our butterflies enjoying some sweet nectar! Look closely to see his proboscis!

The butterflies preferred the fresh flowers over the dish of sugar water.

“The Life Cycle of a Butterfly” (on display upstairs in our hallway!

Our butterflies getting their first feel of the sunshine!

Beautiful Painted Lady!

This sweet little guy emerged from his chrysalis with a defective wing. We were so happy that we could help him find some sunshine and nectar to enjoy!

“Maybe next we could study about carrots!” ~Houdini

Happy Monday! It is hard to believe that this is the last day of August!

It is Unit 1: week 3 of our Wonders Reading. We are starting to use Wonders for assignments during our daily computer workstation time. You will be getting your child’s username and password at conferences. You’ll then be able to help them log in to Wonders at home to practice reading and phonics games!

Please be sure to check in your student’s homework folder for the weekly spelling list. If he/she gets 12-15 correct on the pretest, then I’ll be sending the Beyond list.

We are working on writing responses to questions in Writer’s Workshop. Today we worked on the question “How many people are in your family?” The response was written in a complete sentence: “I have three people in my family.” We’ll be practicing answering two-part questions later this week.

We are continuing to work on addition and subtraction in math. We’re exploring math mountains and counting on to solve equations and story problems. In second grade we will be taking timed tests once a month. It would be great to practice addition facts occasionally with your child’s homework.

Our specials this week are: Monday-Music, Tuesday-PE, Wednesday-Art, Thursday-Computer, Friday-Music

Important Upcoming Events:

Tuesday 9/1 PTO 5:45

Thursday 9/3 and Tuesday 9/8  Parent Teacher Conferences

Monday  9/5  Labor Day- No School

The second graders enjoy using our hand-held microphone to read aloud in class!

~ Houdini