Happy Holidays

This blog post has been created for you by our student teacher, Carli Sherman. 

Give Light Presentation: First, we would like to say thank you to all of the parents who came to the “Give Light” assembly! The whole second grade worked very hard to learn the song, make and decorate their candle holders, and were so excited to put on that performance. Please see the photos below and the video (recorded by Judy Choi) by clicking on this LINK!

Mystery Reader: We had our first mystery reader last week! Sasha’s grandmother (Robin Goldweitz) came in and read to us “Humpty Dumpty: After the Fall”. We will be offering our mystery reader tradition throughout the winter. Please email Ms. Niles to sign up for a time if you are interested.

Party in a Bag/Movie: We will be having a special day of comfort and friendship in school this Friday, December 21^st. If you have not already seen the form explaining the Party-in-a-Bag, please click on this LINK to see it. Please send in any G-rated movies that you have and think the class might enjoy. We will look at what movies the students have brought in and chose one to watch!

A Note from Ms. Sherman: I just want to take a second to say how thankful I am to have been in this classroom for the past 10 weeks. Getting to know your children and to work with them everyday has been so much fun, and I am so lucky to have known each and every one of them! They have helped me learn just as much as I have helped them. I am also so glad that I got to work along-side Ms.Niles and Ms.Nolan. Your children are so lucky to be in a classroom with them! I know everyone will not let me get away without coming back for a visit, so I hopefully will see everyone again very soon!  

Sincerely, Ms. Sherman, Ms. Niles and Ms. Nolan

December News

There is so much happening in 2nd Grade!

Please have all Compliments in by this Friday, so we can assemble them into a lasting Memory for your child.

Next Monday is our 2nd Grade Presentation in the morning assembly (9-9:45).  Our students will lead the school in singing Give Light with the beautiful candle holders they have made. You are welcome to join us! Here is a picture from the decoration time last Friday, and one from Pajama Day:

Starting last Friday, the 2nd grade classes began Science Lab rotations- our students first met in our laboratory to create a "Dissolving Race", then separated colors in Mrs. Knox’s room. This Friday they will travel to Ms. Morrison’s room to experiment with solids and liquids.  

In Math we just completed our study of Fractions and Time, and will move to 2-digit Addition and Subtraction.  Please continue to use analog and digital clocks to help your child reinforce these skills.

Finally, if any of you have a Holiday Tradition you would like to share with our class, including languages, songs, rituals, literature, etc., please let me know and we can find a time.  Students are very excited to share their family heritage with the class.

Enjoy the holiday season!

Late November

Thanks to all who joined us last Wednesday to make our Thanksgiving bread baking such a success! We kept Melissa Ricci, Judy Chan-Troidl, Inessa Shur, Polina Bouriev, Jen Sacchetti and our own Carli Sherman VERY busy with our stations of 4 children making bread FROM SCRATCH! I hope you all enjoyed eating it as much as the children enjoyed making it.

Laura Jacques joined us to take pictures, and I have created a slide show for you from those photos (on the left side of this blog).  I also found the slide show I sent to you earlier this year, and included that link on our blog as well.

Here are some impromptu photos of your children enjoying our precious Independent Reading time:

Writing:

We are finishing up our Personal Narratives!  Students are enjoying the art of writing, and we will practice and improve our skills in editing this month.  When you see work come home, it may look a little “unfinished” … please enjoy the content and notice that it will be more and more “polished” as we move through the year.  We have been focusing on many techniques of a good small moment Personal Narrative… strong leads, showing feelings, using strong verbs, etc.

Homework:

This week an activity went home to help your child notice how time in their everyday lives.  Please help them complete AT LEAST one side.

Next week we will send home an assignment where each child will write a compliment for their classmates.  You can start practicing by giving each other compliments in your family!

Enjoy the crisp November air!

Deborah Niles, Elizabeth Nolan and Carli Sherman

Welcome to Thanksgiving Week

I am so looking forward to our Bread Baking project this Wednesday- thanks to our wonderful Room Parents, Melissa Ricci and Judy Chan for organizing this.  Thanks to all of you who have agreed to send in supplies!  You can send them in Tuesday or Wednesday, and please label everything with your name so we can send it back Wed.  Painters tape comes off so easily!

Since winter has already arrived, some notes about Snow Clothing:

• Please label all clothing.
• A durable cloth bag works great for keeping it all together!
• Children need shoes to wear in the classroom, so our carpet, and their clothing, does not get wet when we sit on the rug.
• If you have any coats your children will not wear again, please DONATE them to the Student Council Coat Drive, going on now through the first week in December! The box is in the front lobby.

 

Math:  We just wrapped up our unit on Place Value, and have started our next unit on Fractions and Time.  We will be studying clock time (easiest to understand on an analog clock), as well as elapsed time (hours, days, weeks, months…).  If you can use a clock and calendar at home this will help them in their learning here at school.

Of course this ties in so nicely with our Bread Baking project- and if you can involve your child in any preparation and cooking activities around the holidays it will be a good reinforcement for their learning.  

Maps:  Our class has begun learning about maps!  I love doing this around the holidays, because as you travel you can show your child where you are going and how you get there on a map.  Even the handheld GPS version can be interesting and informative.

Thank you all for your continued support and involvement.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Deborah Niles, Elizabeth Nolan and Carli Sherman