Hello families,
We have had a busy and fun week in our classroom!
In science our Brassica plants have gotten taller and buds have formed. We are expecting to see flowers next week. We learned that the flowers on our plants have pollen on them. We will take our plants and cross pollinate them. The students made diagrams of a Brassica complete with; roots, stem, first leaves, true leaves, petals, piston, anthers and pollen. These are the parts of a plant that they are learning. We also mowed our lawns (cut the grass cups)! Most of our grass had grown as high as 15 cm. Now we will observe how quickly it will grow back after mowing.
During writing workshop students observed every day objects and wrote details about what they saw. They used their notes and rearranged the words to create poems, experimenting with line breaks. We generated adjectives to describe our moms and wrote a little poem to publish next week! We will continue to work on putting powerful thoughts into tiny packages - using a small moment that gives us a big feeling to write about! We will add concrete details to our poems drawing on a big feeling. We will work on editing our poems.
In reading, most groups have begun their second book club book! Groups will select a new book to start. We have been noticing things that are the same across a series. We will look into our books for evidence to back up or theories about a character. Students will generate ideas about a character using this sentence starter, "Why did he/she---?" to understand a characters actions.
In math, we have ended Unit 7 and will have a unit test on Tuesday. Monday, we will do a review scoot and go over the study guide in class. Unit 8 is all about Geometry! A family letter will come home soon!
In social studies, be prepared for a project to come home on Wednesday, May 1st. Students will need pictures of themselves from ages 0-present day. We will discuss time lines in class and each student will create a personal timeline at home as part of our Social Studies unit. Personal time lines will be shared in class and displayed in our hall. We will be learning the time line of the history of Walled Lake and creating a time line in class with a small group.
Our field trip is coming up! Please send in permission slips and $11.00 fee. We are going to be discussing schools in the past and compare to school in the present to help us prepare.
On Monday second graders will visit the small garden in the courtyard and plant some wild flower seeds. We will also put the rocks we had painted in the fall in the garden as decorations. Please dress in clothes that you and your child will not mind getting a little dirty!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Mrs. Scheck
Friday, April 26, 2019
Thursday, April 18, 2019
Opinion writing celebration
Here are a few pictures of our class sharing our opinion writing with fellow second graders!
Week of April 22-26
Hello families,
This week our class ended our opinion writing unit. We also had a great first week with book clubs! We are in the middle of unit 7 in math and we have planted Brassica plants and grass to observe for in science! It has been a busy week!
On Thursday, April 18th, we wrapped up our opinion writing with a celebration! Students chose one book they loved the most to write about. We began with a rough draft and used our rough drafts to compose a final copy. We then made posters to advertise the book to a fellow second grader. Lastly we colored trophies to give to our books for being so awesome! We shared books, the posters we made, a paper and a trophy on our desks. Classes visited each other and walked around sampling the books. I heard many positive comments from readers! Mrs. Russel came and visited too to see what we have been working on the last several weeks.
Our new unit of writing will be Poetry. We will begin next week by using poet's eyes to see the world differently. We will listen to poems and try looking at objects with our poets eyes. We will experiment writing our poems with different line breaks. We will learn write poems that create a picture in our heads. We will listen for the music inside of poems.
In phonics we will continue to use www.pearsonrealize.com to practice word study. This week we worked with R controlled vowels that appear in words with -ar, -are, -air. Next week we will work again on R controlled vowels with a new pattern: er, ear, eer. The class has been doing their sort on the computer, saving us paper!
We are continuing our work with book clubs. Many groups have already read a whole chapter book and completed their first book club. We wrote a retelling of a whole chapter, we noticed traits about the main character and wrote them down to share. Next week several groups will be selecting new books. In class students wrote reviews about their book club book to share with another reader. The students are enjoying the new format for reading workshop. Please remind your child to bring his or her book to school every day. Even if they do not complete the reading or the writing, he or she can work in class during reading workshop to read from their book. They will fall further behind their group if their book is not here.
In math, we have been measuring with the yardstick and meter stick. We practiced estimating the size of items in our room, then doing actual measurements. Next week we will learn about arm span, collect data for standing jumps and make a frequency table. We will be ending unit 7 at the end of next week. Look for an email letting you know that the unit 7 study guide will come home! We will try doing another kahoot to review in class as they children loved the one we did for social studies!
Science is in full swing in our classroom! The Brassica plants are doing great. We have observed and measured their growth. We have discussed and read about parts of a plant: roots, stem, leaves, true leaves and bud. We will continue to observe next week. We planted grass today! We will observe it growing and soon we will be cutting it as it gets longer.
We are getting prepared for a field trip to Mill Race Village on May 22nd. Permission slips went home earlier this week. In social studies, we will begin learning the history of Walled Lake and learn about the amusement park that was once in town.. We will learn about schools in the past and present and compare them using a Venn Diagram. We will make personal time lines as an at home project - an email will come home before I send it.
Have a wonderful holiday weekend!
Mrs. Scheck
This week our class ended our opinion writing unit. We also had a great first week with book clubs! We are in the middle of unit 7 in math and we have planted Brassica plants and grass to observe for in science! It has been a busy week!
On Thursday, April 18th, we wrapped up our opinion writing with a celebration! Students chose one book they loved the most to write about. We began with a rough draft and used our rough drafts to compose a final copy. We then made posters to advertise the book to a fellow second grader. Lastly we colored trophies to give to our books for being so awesome! We shared books, the posters we made, a paper and a trophy on our desks. Classes visited each other and walked around sampling the books. I heard many positive comments from readers! Mrs. Russel came and visited too to see what we have been working on the last several weeks.
Our new unit of writing will be Poetry. We will begin next week by using poet's eyes to see the world differently. We will listen to poems and try looking at objects with our poets eyes. We will experiment writing our poems with different line breaks. We will learn write poems that create a picture in our heads. We will listen for the music inside of poems.
In phonics we will continue to use www.pearsonrealize.com to practice word study. This week we worked with R controlled vowels that appear in words with -ar, -are, -air. Next week we will work again on R controlled vowels with a new pattern: er, ear, eer. The class has been doing their sort on the computer, saving us paper!
We are continuing our work with book clubs. Many groups have already read a whole chapter book and completed their first book club. We wrote a retelling of a whole chapter, we noticed traits about the main character and wrote them down to share. Next week several groups will be selecting new books. In class students wrote reviews about their book club book to share with another reader. The students are enjoying the new format for reading workshop. Please remind your child to bring his or her book to school every day. Even if they do not complete the reading or the writing, he or she can work in class during reading workshop to read from their book. They will fall further behind their group if their book is not here.
In math, we have been measuring with the yardstick and meter stick. We practiced estimating the size of items in our room, then doing actual measurements. Next week we will learn about arm span, collect data for standing jumps and make a frequency table. We will be ending unit 7 at the end of next week. Look for an email letting you know that the unit 7 study guide will come home! We will try doing another kahoot to review in class as they children loved the one we did for social studies!
Science is in full swing in our classroom! The Brassica plants are doing great. We have observed and measured their growth. We have discussed and read about parts of a plant: roots, stem, leaves, true leaves and bud. We will continue to observe next week. We planted grass today! We will observe it growing and soon we will be cutting it as it gets longer.
We are getting prepared for a field trip to Mill Race Village on May 22nd. Permission slips went home earlier this week. In social studies, we will begin learning the history of Walled Lake and learn about the amusement park that was once in town.. We will learn about schools in the past and present and compare them using a Venn Diagram. We will make personal time lines as an at home project - an email will come home before I send it.
Have a wonderful holiday weekend!
Mrs. Scheck
Tuesday, April 9, 2019
Week of April 8-12
Hello families!
Welcome back from Spring Break! I hope everyone enjoyed some time outside, doing something they enjoy!
This week we will be wrapping up our opinion writing unit. Students have selected one book they think is so good that it deserves an award. They will finish their rough drafts, write a final copy and lastly make a poster about the book they select. We will be sharing our opinion papers and favorite books with the other second graders soon.
In reading, we will be starting a new unit called "Series books" and we will begin Book Clubs. Students will preview books and make a list of their top three choices. I will put students into a book club and we will learn how to have discussions about the books. This unit is very fun. I will impress upon each group the importance of doing the actual reading and writing! Books clubs work well when everyone does their part!
Our phonics focus for this week are words that have r-controlled vowels. We will use the online component to practice sorting, writing and reading words with the patterns -ar, -or.
In math, we have begun unit 7. The family letter went home before spring break. This week we will work on adding three numbers and learn to how to play two new games called Hit the Target and Basketball Addition. We will review how to make a pictograph. Home links will come home on Tuesday and Thursday.
In social studies, we practiced sorting wants and needs. We reviewed how wants are the things we want but we can survive without them! We will review producers and consumers. We will wrap up this unit and have a short assessment on Friday.
Our new science kits have arrived. We will begin a new unit on Plants and Life cycles. Students will be growing many different types of plants. We will begin with the fast growing Brassica. We will observe the plant over several days, recording changes. This unit is very hands on. We encourage students to begin looking outside for new plants! It is the perfect time of year to be learning about Plants!
We are raising money for Scarlet's Smile, a playground for all children, that will be handicap accessible. Smencils sales began this week. The students may purchase smencils, tattoos and bracelets before or after lunch.
Have a wonderful week!
Mrs. Scheck
Welcome back from Spring Break! I hope everyone enjoyed some time outside, doing something they enjoy!
This week we will be wrapping up our opinion writing unit. Students have selected one book they think is so good that it deserves an award. They will finish their rough drafts, write a final copy and lastly make a poster about the book they select. We will be sharing our opinion papers and favorite books with the other second graders soon.
In reading, we will be starting a new unit called "Series books" and we will begin Book Clubs. Students will preview books and make a list of their top three choices. I will put students into a book club and we will learn how to have discussions about the books. This unit is very fun. I will impress upon each group the importance of doing the actual reading and writing! Books clubs work well when everyone does their part!
Our phonics focus for this week are words that have r-controlled vowels. We will use the online component to practice sorting, writing and reading words with the patterns -ar, -or.
In math, we have begun unit 7. The family letter went home before spring break. This week we will work on adding three numbers and learn to how to play two new games called Hit the Target and Basketball Addition. We will review how to make a pictograph. Home links will come home on Tuesday and Thursday.
In social studies, we practiced sorting wants and needs. We reviewed how wants are the things we want but we can survive without them! We will review producers and consumers. We will wrap up this unit and have a short assessment on Friday.
Our new science kits have arrived. We will begin a new unit on Plants and Life cycles. Students will be growing many different types of plants. We will begin with the fast growing Brassica. We will observe the plant over several days, recording changes. This unit is very hands on. We encourage students to begin looking outside for new plants! It is the perfect time of year to be learning about Plants!
We are raising money for Scarlet's Smile, a playground for all children, that will be handicap accessible. Smencils sales began this week. The students may purchase smencils, tattoos and bracelets before or after lunch.
Have a wonderful week!
Mrs. Scheck
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