Please make sure your child has a sweater to wear every day at school. Our room tends to be chilly!
Global Student Voice Film Making
Students have been working on an idea for a one minute film with an “activating change” theme. Our Instructional Technology Specialist, Mrs. Clasky, and I taught the students stop motion animation using the Stop Motion Studio app. They worked in small groups to choose a topic, write a story board, create scenes, and record their work. They did a fantastic job! Check out upload Seesaw to view their work.
Reading Workshop
For the past two weeks the students have been reading nonfiction texts to grow knowledge. We finished our read aloud, Knight in Shining Armor, by Gail Gibbons. The students used sticky notes to stop and jot big ideas they learned from different sections of the text. The children's writing helped them remember more about the topic, and we had a wonderful discussion about the book. They also created their own knights in armor to show all they learned. The student's read non-fiction for their independent reading as well. Ask your child what s/he learned while reading this week!
Writing Workshop
The children took a break from writing informational texts to work on the global Student Voice Film festival. We will return to this work next week.
Math
The students have been learning about fractions of geometric shapes in math. Our work has centered on halves, thirds, and fourths. The children discovered that fractions are equal parts of a whole, and they identified fractional amounts of 2-D and 3-D shapes. They learned that fractions of the same whole can look different. They also discovered that half of one shape may be very different than half of another shape. The children have been introduced to fraction notation (1/2,1/3,3/4, etc.), however using words (one fourth, two thirds) to represent fractions at this age seems to be clearer to most students. We also talked about other fractions such as 2/3 and 3/4. Fractions can be very challenging to second grade students. Please help your child notice fractions in their world as you cook, read, and share things as a family.
Social Studies
The new theme for social studies is geography. The children made "suitcases" to collect information as they "travel America" during this unit. They also brainstormed everything they already know about this topic. We read Laurie Keller's Scrambled States of America, and talked about how states can have land and water borders. We tore a piece of paper to reinforce that Illinois has both land borders which are straight and water borders which are wiggly. We also worked to learn Illinois' state symbols. Next week we will talk about the compass rose!
Word Work
We have been discussing two syllable words we call robot, rabbit, and bandit words. The children discovered robot words have an open first syllable which end with a vowel. This makes the vowel say its long sound. Rabbit and bandit words both have closed first syllables which end with a consonant. The consonant closes the syllable which makes a short vowel sound. Ask your child to explain this to you.
Global Student Voice Film Making
Students have been working on an idea for a one minute film with an “activating change” theme. Our Instructional Technology Specialist, Mrs. Clasky, and I taught the students stop motion animation using the Stop Motion Studio app. They worked in small groups to choose a topic, write a story board, create scenes, and record their work. They did a fantastic job! Check out upload Seesaw to view their work.
Reading Workshop
For the past two weeks the students have been reading nonfiction texts to grow knowledge. We finished our read aloud, Knight in Shining Armor, by Gail Gibbons. The students used sticky notes to stop and jot big ideas they learned from different sections of the text. The children's writing helped them remember more about the topic, and we had a wonderful discussion about the book. They also created their own knights in armor to show all they learned. The student's read non-fiction for their independent reading as well. Ask your child what s/he learned while reading this week!
Writing Workshop
The children took a break from writing informational texts to work on the global Student Voice Film festival. We will return to this work next week.
Math
The students have been learning about fractions of geometric shapes in math. Our work has centered on halves, thirds, and fourths. The children discovered that fractions are equal parts of a whole, and they identified fractional amounts of 2-D and 3-D shapes. They learned that fractions of the same whole can look different. They also discovered that half of one shape may be very different than half of another shape. The children have been introduced to fraction notation (1/2,1/3,3/4, etc.), however using words (one fourth, two thirds) to represent fractions at this age seems to be clearer to most students. We also talked about other fractions such as 2/3 and 3/4. Fractions can be very challenging to second grade students. Please help your child notice fractions in their world as you cook, read, and share things as a family.
Social Studies
The new theme for social studies is geography. The children made "suitcases" to collect information as they "travel America" during this unit. They also brainstormed everything they already know about this topic. We read Laurie Keller's Scrambled States of America, and talked about how states can have land and water borders. We tore a piece of paper to reinforce that Illinois has both land borders which are straight and water borders which are wiggly. We also worked to learn Illinois' state symbols. Next week we will talk about the compass rose!
Word Work
We have been discussing two syllable words we call robot, rabbit, and bandit words. The children discovered robot words have an open first syllable which end with a vowel. This makes the vowel say its long sound. Rabbit and bandit words both have closed first syllables which end with a consonant. The consonant closes the syllable which makes a short vowel sound. Ask your child to explain this to you.