Week of: October 24th

 Upcoming Dates:

Oct. 24-28 - Parent/Teacher Conference Week - Early Dismissal on Thursday and Friday (11:00)
Oct. 25 - Field Trip - All Seasons Orchard - Pack a nut-free lunch!
Oct. 31 - Halloween Celebration - The parade will begin at 1:30 followed by our class party.
Nov. 8 - No School - Election Day
Nov. 23-25 - Thanksgiving Break - No School
Dec. 22-Jan. 6 - Winter Break - School reopens on Jan. 9

*Italics are repeated from last week's blog.
Reading: This week we will start a new reading unit: "Becoming Experts-Reading Nonfiction. In this unit the kids will be working on how learn from, and enjoy, a nonfiction text.  This week we will learn that nonfiction readers pay attention to details and put those details together to really understand a topic. We will also learn that sometimes readers have to ask questions to learn more, two of those questions being: "What is this book teaching me?" and "How does this book go?". 

Writing: We will be continuing our first unit in our writing curriculum, Lucy Calkins Writing Units of Study.  The first unit is called, "Lessons from the Masters: Improving Narrative Writing". This week we will work on editing and fixing-up our best work for publication.  At the end of the week we will be sharing our "published" writing pieces with each other as a way to celebrate all of our hard work from this first writing unit.  We will start a new writing unit next week: Nonfiction Writing!

Math:  This week we will continue with our a new math module, Module 3: "Place Value, Counting, and Comparison of Numbers to 1,000". In this unit the kids will learn all about place value as well and composing and decomposing numbers.  It will set the foundation for adding and subtracting larger numbers later on in the school year. This week we will write three-digit numbers in unit form; showing the value of each digit. We will also spend some time making our very own "math offices" with a folder and some special charts. 

Social Studies:  Our first unit in social studies will focus on building classroom community and building a growth mindset.  Both of which will help us to have a successful year in second grade! We will continue to practice and learn the first 8 states on our map: MN, IA, MO, AR, LA, Il, IN, and OH. As your child fills out their states homework page, have them tell you "Chef MIMAL's" story and how that can help them memorize the location of the states that we have learned so far!

Week of: October 11th

 Upcoming Dates:

Oct. 14 - Fun Run - Our time slot is 9:00-9:15.
Oct. 24-28 - Parent/Teacher Conference Week - Early Dismissal on Thursday and Friday (11:00)
Nov. 8 - No School - Election Day
Nov. 23-25 - Thanksgiving Break - No School

*Italics are repeated from last week's blog.
Reading: This week we will finish up the first unit in our reading curriculum, Lucy Calkins Reading Units of Study.  The first unit is called, "Second-Grade Reading Growth Spurt". This week we will review for our reading assessment. We will also take an assessment to wrap up this first unit.  Finally, we will spend some time celebrating all that we have learned so far!

Writing: We will also be continuing our first unit in our writing curriculum, Lucy Calkins Writing Units of Study.  The first unit is called, "Lessons from the Masters: Improving Narrative Writing". This week we will continue to find and use "craft moves" that we have noticed in our mentor texts.  We will also spend time in small groups to focus on our individual writing goals.

Math:  We will complete our work in Module 2, "Addition and Subtraction of Length Units".  This is a measurement unit that focuses on centimeters and meters. This week we will review for our end-of-module assessment on measurement and length units.  We will take the assessment and then start our next module on place value.  We will start the next module with the first lesson on making tens, hundreds, and thousands.

Social Studies:  Our first unit in social studies will focus on building classroom community and building a growth mindset.  Both of which will help us to have a successful year in second grade! This week we will focus on another one of the 5 habits to help with having a growth mindset and those are: Empathy, Flexibility, Persistence, Resilience, and Optimism. We will also continue to practice and learn the first 5 states on our map: MN, IA, MO, AR, and LA. Ask your child about "Chef MIMAL" and how he can help them remember the first 5 states that we've learned!