Friday, September 8, 2017

First week of Second Grade

Dear families,

We are off to a great start in Second Grade!

This week we have been getting to know each. Here are few fun things we have been working on this week...

We read the book You're Finally Here! and we each made a funny book and wrote about the fun things we did before school started.  We made the bunny character from the story and will display them for curriculum night!

We also talked about what skills we want to build upon this year that we began from last year. We talked about interests outside of school too! Students made themselves into a Lego person and wrote about the skill they want to build. We hung them outside our door.

We have been reading about kindness all week. We read two books by Maria Desmondy: Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun and Pink Tiara Cookies for Three. We discussed the theme in each book- being kind and having empathy for others. We learned empathy is when you can put yourself in someone else's shoes or imagine how they would feel. We will return to these books all year to talk about how to treat others.

We began math yesterday and learned the number of the day routine. We used white board to practice different ways to make the number (spell, tally marks, use coins, an addition problem, a subtraction problem). Today we will take a beginning of the year assessment to see what skills students need to firm up from last year. This assessment will stay in the classroom. Next week we will begin using math journals and start regular math lessons.

We will have a short spelling assessment which reviews the "popcorn words" from last year. We will talk more about spelling next week at Curriculum Night, which is Wednesday, September 13th at 6:30-7:15! I hope you will be able to join me that night to hear all about Second Grade!

I am truly enjoying getting to know each and every child in my class this year. I told the students they are "My Kids" when we are here and everyone seems to be adjusting very well to the new school year!

Have a great weekend!
Mrs. Scheck


Friday, June 16, 2017

Last day of school!

Dear families,

The year has gone by so quickly! I can't believe I am saying good-bye today to this class.
Thank you for all the support at home. You are a huge part of your child's education and his or her success!


Have a great summer!!
Love,
Mrs. Scheck

Monday, June 5, 2017

Butterflies



We took our butterflies to the garden outside our classroom!

We observed them one more time!

The butterflies began to fly away!

We enjoyed learning about butterflies and we will miss them being in our classroom!

Friday, June 2, 2017

Field day and butterflies!

Hello families,

Today we released our butterflies. We were both happy to see them go and a little sad that we won't have them to look at in our classroom.

We also had so much fun at our field day! We were able to do every event and one we even did twice!
The students had a great day!

Please remember that Monday, June 5th, is Insect Day! We are excited to have parents and friends visit our classroom to see our insect models and reports.

Have a great weekend,
Mrs. Scheck




Tug of war 
Watering can relay race!

Summer relay race!
Watering can relay!
Water balloon toss!




Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Week of May 22-26

Dear families,

Our class is excited to announce that  we have 5 painted lady caterpillars hanging quietly in their chrysalis's. We have been reading about butterflies and learning how our caterpillars are going through metamorphosis. We will be so excited when we have butterflies to observe very soon! Many students have already turned in their insect reports and models.Reports and models are due Thursday, May 25th. If your child has not completed his or her report and needs more time, please let me know. We will begin sharing reports in class. Have your child read their report to you for practice!

We also have crickets in our room this week We have built their habitat and observed them. We learned the males are the only ones that can make the chirping sound we hear. We will watch the crickets over the next two weeks.

This week we have begun a new unit of writing called Opinion Writing. We read the book, Should We Squash Bugs. Today we began organizing our opinions onto a graphic organizer. We wrote 4 reasons why or why not to squash bugs. We shared our strongest reasons. Tomorrow I will teach students how to write a conclusion. We will work on Opinion Writing for the next three weeks of school.

In math we have been working on reviewing two digit addition and subtraction, telling time to the half hour, composite shapes and name collection boxes.

Upcoming events- mark your calendars...

Popcorn day is on Friday, May 26th.
Field day is June 2nd - please look for your child's field day shirt from the Fall Walkathon.
June 5th is Insect Day at 3:00-3:30 p.m. Parents are invited to come and see our Insect Projects!

Thank you!
Mrs. Scheck

Tuesday, May 9, 2017

May 8-12

Dear families,

We have been so busy the last few weeks in our classroom.
Here are a few of the exciting things we have had happening in room 109.

Science - We have three insects that we are caring for in our classroom: mealworms, painted lady caterpillars, and milkweed eggs.  We have watched our mealworms change from larvae to pupae and now we have several adult darkling beetles that we have added to our mealworm colony.  We  five caterpillars in our classroom and we have learned that our caterpillars will become adult painted lady butterflies. They are in the larva stage right now. We wrote an observation of the caterpillars today.
Lastly, we have milkweed insects that have arrived to us in the first stage of their life cycle as eggs.
We set up the habitat today. We are eagerly awaiting our first milkweed insects. These insects do not go through a metamorphosis, they will go through several nymph stages. We hope to observe them over the next 3-4 weeks. We still have one more insect that will arrive late this month!

Reading -We have been reading Non-fiction books in class. Today we read A Harbor Seal Pup Grows Up. We discussed how a seal pup is a mammal that lives in the ocean. It drinks milk from its mother. We learned what a time line is and how to read a time line. We have also read many short Time For Kids articles that have features of non-fiction text such as: headings, diagrams, captions, labels, etc.

We have started our insect reports. All students have chosen an insect to study, write about and build a model of at home. Many students have told me they have already started writing their reports. I have suggested that they take their time and not wait until it is the night before! In class we are continuing to write "All Abouts." We have been working on how to write an interesting, short title to a "chapter" of our non-fiction books. We will talk about writing with comparisons this week. If you have any questions or your child needs a book or article to help he or she write their report, please let me know!

In math, we have completed Unit 8.  Monday we took a unit test and the students did a great job! This was a unit that covered 3-D shapes, time to the half hour, addition and subtraction with 10, and composite shapes. Unit 8 tests will come home later this week. Please go over any concepts that were difficult for your child. We will begin Unit 9 tomorrow, which is a review of the entire year. Please look for the family letter tomorrow.

A letter is coming home today for Field Day which is on June 2nd. Please consider volunteering on this day, Mrs. Bellino will needs many volunteers to help make our field day a success!

Thank you,
Mrs. Scheck

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

April 17-21

Dear families,

This week in first grade we have started several new things...

In writing, we have started a new unit of writing called "All Abouts" or non-fiction writing.
We spent time yesterday looking at non-fiction books and noticing the features of non-fiction. Many students were able to find real photographs, diagrams, maps, captions, labels, table of contents, glossary and indexes in books. We began writing non-fiction pieces today. We started by making a list of "expert topics." Students wrote down as many topics they could that may be great non-fictions books to write. We started writing and shared our first attempts at non-fiction today. Tonight students will bring home with Realistic Fiction stories to keep at home.

In math, we have begun unit 8.  We have started exploring equal shares. We discussed how to share a cracker equally with two people.  We learned the names 1/2, one half, one of two and halves. The unit 8 family letter is going home today. A homelink is going home today to review this concept.

Today we read the book The Perfect Day for language workshop. We added the vocabulary word daffodil to our notebooks. We discussed the character traits of the bear: greedy and selfish. We discussed how the author was able to show how the animals in the story felt through the pictures.

We have just begun our science unit on Insects. A letter went home yesterday. Any day now we will be getting our first insect! We will be watching this insect go through metamorphosis. It will be a surprise what our insect will change into, so please keep it quiet at home if you already know! Students will get to have hands on experience with the insects, they will observe and write about them as well as care for them.

A field trip note went home last week! At this time, I have all the chaperones that are needed. We will be going to the Walled Lake Outdoor Center on May 2nd. The cost is $10.00 per student, $6.00 per chaperone. Money and permission slips are due on Wednesday, April 19th.

Thank you and have a great week!
Mrs. Scheck