Tuesday, November 22, 2022

Second Grade Newsletter 11.28.22

Second Grade Newsletter 11.28.22

Hello Parents! 

Important Dates:   
Math Unit 3 Assessment: Wednesday, November 30
Ancient Greece History Assessment: Thursday, December 1
Ancient Greece Celebration: Friday, December 2
Winter Concert: Wednesday, December 7
Poem Recitation Due: Monday, December 12
Winter Celebration: Friday, December 16

Many thanks to everyone who donated or volunteered for the Medieval Faire!!

Please consider signing up to donate an item for our Ancient Greece Celebration using the following links. Thank you.
 
 
Conversation Prompts:  
How does addition help you solve a subtraction problem?
What is the contraction for "I would"?
What are 2 jobs that ants do? (Find food, tend eggs, store food, dig tunnels, …)
Persephone ate 6 pomegranate seeds. What did this cause?
Who were the 3 great thinkers of Ancient Greece? (Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle)


History 
Scholars will learn who the 3 great thinkers were of Ancient Greece, and they will also learn about Alexander the Great. They will review for the assessment on Thursday, December 1st and enjoy the Greek Celebration this Friday, December 2nd

Science 
This week we will compare solitary insects and social insects. Students will create a writing map and use this to write a paragraph in Grammar. We will also consider harmful insects versus helpful insects.

Literature 
Scholars will hear more Ancient Greek myths while learning about Greek gods and goddesses. We will continue to write short summaries and explore causes and effects and predictions.

Grammar 
Students are showing nice growth with their expressive voices and confidence during poetry recitations. Our next and final  poem for the quarter will be "Bed in Summer" by Robert Louis Stevenson. This week students will write based on passages from Mrs. Frisby & the Rats of NIMH. Students will also have a first try at writing an informative paragraph based on our learning in science class about social and solitary insects. In grammar class, students will learn about adjectives which are words that describe nouns and pronouns. 


Math
We will review subtraction concepts before the students complete an assessment on our subtraction unit. Our next unit, will utilize both addition and subtraction as students learn how to solve one and two-step word problems. They will also learn how to visually represent a problem by drawing a bar model. Please continue to support your scholar by practicing basic addition and subtraction facts.

Friday, November 18, 2022

Second Grade Newsletter 11.18.22

Second Grade Newsletter 11.18.22

Hello Parents! 

Important Dates:  
Medieval Faire: This Saturday, November 19th
Windy Nights Recitation: Monday, November 21st 
Thanksgiving Break (no school): November 23-27
Ancient Greece Celebration: Friday, December 2nd
Winter Concert: December 7th

Please consider signing up to donate an item for our Ancient Greece Celebration using the following links. Thank you.
 
 
Conversation Prompts:  
One hundred = _____ tens
What did Chester decide to do at the end of the book?
How many main body parts does an insect have (3)?
How did the Greeks trick the Trojans?
What is a contraction for "I would"?


History 
We will learn about the original Olympic Games and students will create an award that was used during the Ancient Greek Olympics.

Science 
Next week we will begin learning about the differences between social insects and solitary insects.

Literature 
Scholars will hear more Ancient Greek myths and write summaries while learning about Greek gods and goddesses.

Grammar 
We will review parts of speech and contractions. Full recitation of “Windy Nights” is due on Monday, November 21st. 

Math 
Students will learn how addition relates to subtraction. We will discuss parts and wholes of related equations. After Thanksgiving break, we will review subtraction concepts before the students complete an assessment on our subtraction unit.

Thursday, November 10, 2022

Second Grade Newsletter 11.10.22

 

Second Grade Newsletter 11.10.22

Hello Parents! 

Important Dates:  
 
GHA Info Night: Tuesday, November 15 - Tell your friends and neighbors!
Windy Nights Recitation: Monday, November 21
Winter Concert: Wednesday, December 7

Conversation Prompts:  

What happened at Chester's dinner party? (A fire broke out.)
What is the first stage of an insect's life cycle?
How did Spartan boys live after they left home?
How was life different for women in Sparta and Athens?
When do you need to rename a ten when subtracting?

Poetry:  
Full recitation of “Windy Nights” is due on Monday, November 21st. Watch the word order on the last three lines - it's tricky! The students did a wonderful job reciting "The Cow". We are already looking forward to this one!

History:
The students are enjoying learning about city-states, democracy, and the differences between Athens and Sparta. Coming up next week, the students will discover the landmarks of Parthenon and Athena’s City. They will also discover the main cause of the Trojan War and predict the outcome of the battle at Marathon and prove their opinion. 

Science 
We will learn more about the insect life cycle including complete and incomplete metamorphosis. Then we will learn about insect anatomy and compare insects and arachnids.

Literature 
Students will read the last of the classic, The Cricket in Times Square. Chester becomes wildly popular drawing a crowd and business to the newsstand. The Bellinis are grateful for the income but Chester finds the fame oppressive. What will he decide to do? On Friday, we will begin our Greek Myths unit.

Grammar 
We will continue learning about conjunctions. We will continue with Dictation/Narration Excercises with excerpts from one of my favorite stories, The Mouse and The Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary. 

Math 
Students have begun subtracting with renaming.  We will continue this work, building to subtracting with renaming of three digit numbers. Don't forget to review basic addition and subtraction facts such as 9-7 and 8+8 to help students improve their fact fluency.

Friday, November 4, 2022

Second Grade Newsletter 11.4.22

 Hello Parents!

Students enjoyed a lovely presentation from Ballet Etudes today. This signaled the coming of winter along with the colder weather. Please don't forget to send your student with a sweater. Thank you!

Important Dates: 
Math Mid-Chapter Checkup-Subtraction: Tuesday, Nov. 8th
 
Spalding Test: Thursday, Nov. 10th
 
Veteran's Day (no school): Friday, Nov. 11th

Great Hearts Night: Tuesday, Nov. 15th

Medieval Fair: Saturday, November 19th from 11 am-2 pm

Thanksgiving Break (no school): November 23-25th

Ancient Greece Celebration: Friday, Dec. 2nd

Winter Concert: Wednesday, Dec. 7th 
 
 
 
Reminders:  We are seeking items for donation for our Kingdom meeting on Wednesday, November 9th. If you are able to send the following items in, it would be greatly appreciated, thank you! 

·         Shipping Boxes

·         Toilet Paper Rolls (just the cardboard)

·         Paper Towel Rolls (just the cardboard)

·         Paper plates (strong, Dixie-type) 

·         Plastic or foam small cups

·         Popsicle sticks 

·         Pipe cleaners or play-doh

 


Conversation Prompts:
What is a city-state? (A city-state is a city that includes surrounding areas and has its own government. They are often walled cities and near a coast.)
 
Who was allowed to participate in the Assembly? (only male citizens over the age of 18)
 
How do insects move? Why do they move?
 
How does Chester show virtue after accidentally eating the Bellini's two-dollar bill?
 
How does 8-5 help you solve 80-50 and 800-500?
 
What is the difference between flower and flour?
 
Where does a comma go in an address?

 
Academics
History
We will continue learning about Ancient Greece. Students will compare and contrast ancient Sparta and ancient Athens. Then, they will learn about the Greek alphabet and language.

Science
We will continue to learn more about insects this week including insect flight. Next, we will begin our exploration of insect metamorphosis.

Literature

We will  read chapter 10-12 of the classic, The Cricket in Times Square. Students will begin working on independent narrations of chapters from this book.


Grammar
We will continue working on our narration  and dictation exercises with lessons from “The Borrowers” by Mary Norton. Students will learn about contractions and learn to change two words into a contraction and a contraction back into its full form. This week's poem is "Windy Nights" by Robert Louis Stevenson. It will be recited the week of November 21st.

Math

Students will review the subtractions strategies they have learned thus far before completing our mid-chapter check-up quiz on Tuesday. Afterwards, we will move on to learning to subtraction with renaming, this is a challenge concept for students, please ask them to explain their thinking during their homework practice. Thank you!

Second Grade Newsletter 5.26.23

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