Back from April Vacation!

Students were eager to share what they did during April vacation at Morning Meeting today. We played a game called "Fact or Fiction" that your child can tell you about.

Before vacation, we finished up a science unit about Earth Day and the environment.  We also did our part by cleaning up littering around our school!  Today we started talking about our new science unit- animal habitats.  We read a Scholastic News article about highway crossings that protect animals.  Tomorrow we'll start learning about living and non-living things.

In writing, students wrote many writing pieces in recent weeks to state their opinion on a topic.  Look for these coming home in backpacks!

In April children were introduced to using arrays and repeated addition as an introduction to multiplication.  Check out an example below.  We're reviewing double and triple-digit addition and subtraction and will begin a geometry unit soon!

Please note- homework was sent home today due to vacation.

Are you wondering what your child could work on at home?
Mastering basic math facts will help your child be successful!  Second grade students should know by memory all sums of two-digit numbers (9+7, 6+5, etc.).  Also, reading and being read to daily are beneficial for all students.  You can also ask your child to tell you about the many apps and online games we use to practice and review what we've learned at school!  Thanks for your help at home!

Friday Update

Second graders were very fortunate to have Mrs. Marsh from Sugar River Bank visit us this afternoon.  Students learned about coins and the importance of saving money.  Each student went home with a piggy bank with four coins, activity booklets, and a pencil!  Ask your child what they learned!

This afternoon we went on a website called ECOKIDS to learn about energy use and environmentalism.  The kids really enjoyed the trivia and games on the site!

Homework will go home Monday, rather than today.  Due to the change, there will be a shorter assignment.  :)  

Enjoy the beautiful spring weather!

News from the Week

We're all looking forward to the Spring Concert tonight!  See you at 6:15!  Here's what we've been up to in class:
*In reading we've been reading many legends and folktales and working on comprehension and critical thinking.
*In writing, students wrote persuasive letters about taking care of the environment.
*In math, we've been working on graphs, as well as reviewing addition and subtraction.
*In science, we're learning about renewable and nonrenewable resources, Earth Day, and energy use.

Report cards will go home tomorrow (Friday).  Please let me know if you have any thoughts, questions, or concerns to share with me!

Making Graphs

We are close to ending our math unit on understanding charts and graphs.  This week our class measured objects from the classroom and drew bar graphs.  Students also wrote sentences to compare measurements on their graph.  Using the Chromebook computers, each child created a digital version of their graph using the Kids Zone website.  Check out their work below!  

Happy Friday!

Today our class had P.E., health, and a "shelter-in-place" drill.  Our class did a terrific job in the drill.  In science we have been learning about energy, recycling, and taking care of the earth.  Yesterday we learned that energy can be heat, light, sound, fuel, motion, or electricity.  We've been talking about ways to use less energy and what we can do to help the world.  To connect this with learning how to write our opinions in Writing Workshop, next week we'll write letters persuading others to take care of the earth.

In math, we're learning how to create and understand graphs.  Children each came up with a topic to survey the class and made a graph to show the results.  On Monday we'll make graphs using the Kids' Zone website.  I'm hoping to be able to post them on our blog when we finish them!

Thank you for the wonderful items for our Spring Raffle Basket.  If you'd like to contribute to this PTO fundraiser, our classroom's basket theme is Beach Party and items should be in by Monday!  This raffle will be held at the Spring Concert this Thursday.  Please have your child arrive around 6:15 pm for the concert.  Children will wait in classrooms before and after the show.  Looking forward to seeing you there!

April News

It's nice to see the snow melting from our playground and signs of spring!  We have many exciting things to learn about in April.  We started to learn about reading charts and graphs today in math.  We made a class picture graph on the computer for our favorite sports.  Children also read and answered questions about other picture graphs.  Our next step is for each child to think of a topic to collect data about (favorite lunches, snack milks, chapter book, etc.) and make their own graph on paper.  Later in the month, we'll publish them using technology.

In science, we're learning about the environment.  We watched a video about fossil fuels and renewable energy and read an article in Scholastic News called "River of Trash."  View the digital copy at home if you'd like!