posted Apr 17, 2017, 3:58 PM by rmccabe@acton.k12.me.us
Vacation!
2nd Grade NewsWe would like to welcome Lillian Howland to the AES family! She is the newest member of 2nd grade, and is settling in very well! The kids have been so kind in helping her adjust and get used to her new school. Next week we have vacation! WOOOOOOO! We hope you all have a very restful and wonderful vacation. Please feel free to contact us at any point if you have any questions.
Spotlight Students! This week, Mr. D would like to recognize Ryan Conley for the enthusiasm he brings to each and every day. Miss McCabe would like to recognize Sophia Perez for bringing joy and happiness each day!. Math We have moved into a study of basic fractions. Students are working with fractions from ½-⅙. They are learning how to name and compare fractions, as well as, add and subtract like fractions. Reading Miss McCabe's reading groups: After vacation, I will be testing the level N students. Mr. D's Reading Groups: Social Studies We will begin our unit on Benedict Arnold’s March Through Maine after vacation. Writing We have begun a unit on poetry. The students are doing extremely well with this and are excited to write new poetry every single day! Vacation Homework (Both Classes)Read, read, read! Important DatesMondays 2:45-4:00: Crochet Club in Miss McCabe’s class. If anyone in Mr. D’s class is interested in signing up, please see Miss McCabe for a permission slip. April 12-13: Parent/Teacher Conferences April 17-21: Spring Break Saturday, May 20: Acton Variety Show 6:00 PM The Wednesdays that will be dismissed at 2:30 are: 4/5, 4/12, 4/26, 5/3, 5/10, 5/17, 5/24, 5/31, 6/7, and 6/14. Math Strategy of the Week:
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posted Mar 31, 2017, 10:45 AM by rmccabe@acton.k12.me.us
2nd Grade
NEWSLETTER March 31, 2017 Time for Spring!
Spotlight Students! This week, Mr. D would like to recognize Cory MIlls for his perseverance and continuous hard work in math. Miss McCabe would like to recognize Jacob Gore for his enthusiasm and excitement in reading. Math We have begun our unit on telling time. Students should be able to read a clock to the nearest 5 minute increment by the end of the unit. Reading Miss McCabe's reading groups: Mr. D's Reading Groups: Science We have finished our science unit and will be doing a simulation in social studies starting next week. We will be simulating Benedict Arnold’s March through Maine. Writing This is the very last week of informational writing. We went back to continue editing and revising. Next week we will be starting our unit on poetry in honor of poetry month in April. Homework (Both Classes)Read for 15 minutes and then complete a 2-3 sentence log of what was read. On Fridays, we will be sending home math worksheets for students who may need a little extra work on certain concepts. Please have your kids do these skill building worksheets and bring them back with their Friday folders. Important DatesMondays 2:45-4:00: Crochet Club in Miss McCabe’s class. If anyone in Mr. D’s class is interested in signing up, please see Miss McCabe for a permission slip. March 28: Report Cards Wednesday, March 29: Incoming Pre-K and Kindergarten Registration and Information Night 6:00 PM April 17-21: Spring Break Saturday, May 20: Acton Variety Show 6:00 PM The Wednesdays that will be dismissed at 2:30 are: 4/5, 4/12, 4/26, 5/3, 5/10, 5/17, 5/24, 5/31, 6/7, and 6/14.
Math Strategy of the Week:
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posted Mar 18, 2017, 12:27 PM by rmccabe@acton.k12.me.us
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
2nd Grade NewsHello! Hope you all have had a great week and are having a great weekend! We have had a pretty great week, even with the snow day and two hour delay. Here’s a look at what’s going on this next week in 2nd grade: Spotlight Students! This week, Mr. D would like to recognize Makenzie Forstner for her continuous hard work and amazing attitude! Miss McCabe would like to recognize Lilly Garneau for keeping the peace and looking for peaceful ways to solve problems in the classroom! Great job girls! Keep up the great work, we are so proud of you!
Math We will be finishing our unit on counting money next week and starting one on telling time. The standard is that the students will be able to tell time on a clock (analog and digital) to the nearest 5 minutes. As usual, the students will still be working with addition and subtraction facts and counting money through the different stations we have set up in the classroom. We have a lot of fun activities set up for telling time. Reading Miss McCabe's reading groups: L: The Mitten M: Commander Toad N: The Missing Mummy N: The Magic Bone
Mr. D's Reading Groups: L: Five Creepy Creatures M: Ivy & Bean M: Look at Lucy!
We will be revisiting reading strategies that touch on comprehension, accuracy, fluency and expanding vocabulary this coming week. Last week, we started a study on homographs. We will be continuing this study over the next week, as it contains tough material and vocabulary. There will be a strategy below that explains homographs so you can work with your child at home. This can be a tricky topic to discuss because it deals a lot with using context clues. Science We have finished the observations on the lima beans this week! A few of the students experienced some amazing growth from their seeds! This week we will be using the engineering design process to create a model, based on our knowledge of how seeds are dispersed, that could be used to disperse seeds over a large area of land. This will be a really exciting end to this current unit! Writing This will be the last week of our informational writing books! Our goal is to be completely finished editing and revising by Friday. We will be getting into poetry for our next unit! Homework (Both Classes)Read for 15 minutes and then complete a 2-3 sentence log of what was read. On Fridays, we will be sending home math worksheets for students who may need a little extra work on certain concepts. Please have your kids do these skill building worksheets and bring them back with their Friday folders. Important DatesMondays 2:45-4:00: Crochet Club in Miss McCabe’s class. If anyone in Mr. D’s class is interested in signing up, please see Miss McCabe for a permission slip. March 21: End of Trimester 2 Wednesday, March 29: Incoming Pre-K and Kindergarten Registration and Information Night 6:00 PM April 17-21: Spring Break Saturday, May 20: Acton Variety Show 6:00 PM Vocabulary Strategy of the Week:Homographs Homographs are words that are spelled the same, but may have a different pronunciation and different meanings. Examples: Object What is the object of the game? Your Honor, I object! There is an object on the floor.
Wind: The wind was blowing very hard yesterday. She had to wind the toy to get it to race across the floor.
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posted Mar 3, 2017, 4:15 PM by rmccabe@acton.k12.me.us
Trimester 2 will end on March 20th, not the 10th, due to snow days.
A HUGE THANK YOU to the Spaulding family for sponsoring the 2nd grade maple syrup ice cream party!!! It was so yummy!!!! |
posted Mar 1, 2017, 6:42 AM by rmccabe@acton.k12.me.us
2nd Grade
NEWSLETTER March 3, 2017 Welcome Back!
2nd Grade NewsWelcome back everyone! Hopefully everyone had a restful vacation with the kiddos last week. As you know, due to weather, many of our conferences were rescheduled for this past week. If you have not had a chance to schedule a conference, and would like to, please reach out to us. We will be more than happy to schedule a conference for you. Here is a look at what is going on in each subject area in our classrooms:
Math We are reviewing subtraction this week, and will be giving another assessment at the end of the week. The students will continue to work on addition and subtraction in their fluency station for the rest of the year. Next week, we will be getting into time and money concepts. The students will be able to work on these standards in various activities through station work, chromebooks, and whole group teaching. Reading Miss McCabe's reading groups: Mr. D's Reading Groups: On Friday, we did a whole class spelling test for the second hundred Sitton spelling words. Spelling progress will be posted in Mastery Connect this weekend. Science We will be germinating a lima bean seed and making observations on the growth of this seed. Students will be able to record their observations in their launch logs. Writing We are continuing our study on informational writing! We will be looking at informational books and drawing on the techniques other writers use to improve our writing styles and features! Homework (Both Classes)We did not do spelling this week, but new lists will go out on Friday. We will continue with our spelling homework next week. Important DatesMondays 2:45-4:00: Crochet Club in Miss McCabe’s class. If anyone in Mr. D’s class is interested in signing up, please see Miss McCabe for a permission slip. March 10: End of Trimester 2 March 17: Report Cards go out
Reading Strategy of the Week:Ask questions! Ask questions throughout reading to improve comprehension. Ask questions like: Who? * What is happening to the main character? * Why did the main character choose that? * How does she/he feel? * When is the story taking place? * I wonder what will happen next. Asking questions and making predictions throughout reading will help kids to better understand what they are reading and draw them back to the story.
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posted Feb 1, 2017, 12:28 PM by rmccabe@acton.k12.me.us
February 3, 2017 
2nd Grade NewsHey all! Hope you have had a great week! Please make sure you send back the conference sign up forms if you wish to schedule a winter conference. The forms went home last week in the Friday folders. Crochet club for Miss McCabe's class will begin on Monday February 6th. We will go from 2:45-4:00 PM. If you think you may be late picking up your kiddo, please feel free to call me ahead of time to let me know :) I can't wait to start! I will update the newsletter, blog and website each week if I need to cancel the class. Thank you to all who have signed up! Homework (Both Classes)Weekend Homework: One spelling practice and two reading logs. Daily Homework: One spelling practice and one reading log (15 minutes of reading and at least 3 sentences about the story) Math We are continuing to learn about subtraction with 1,000. This week we are tackling regrouping in the tens and ones (borrowing from the tens column). This concept is not coming as easily as regrouping in addition, so we will be spending a little extra time on this concept before introducing any new stations for now. In the Chromebook station, the students have the opportunity to explore any math-related topic they want on Ed. City and IXL. If you have any questions about the strategies being taught or used, please feel free to reach out. We tell the students that if they are learning a certain way at home, and it is working for them, then use that strategy. Reading Miss McCabe's reading groups: Mr. D's Reading Groups:
Science We have begun our new science unit, and it is so exciting and fun! We are learning all about the plant cycle, and seed germination. This week we are learning how pollination occurs, and in the coming weeks, we will be germinating a lima bean seed and observing and recording it's progress in our launch logs as it continues to grow.
Writing We are continuing our study on how to write a proper lab report! This is a lot of fun. The kids will be looking at our ramp experiment from last week, and modifying it to create their own experiment to test next week. We can't wait to see what they will come up with! Important DatesTuesday-Thursday February 14-16: Second Grade Parent teacher conferences. Friday, February 17: ½ day 12:30 dismissal Week of February 20: Winter Break
Math Strategy Subtraction with regrouping in tens and ones:
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posted Feb 1, 2017, 11:51 AM by rmccabe@acton.k12.me.us
January 27, 2017 
2nd Grade NewsHey all! Hope you have had a great week! We sure have! This week in the Friday folders, we have sent home sign-ups for parent teacher conferences for 2nd grade. Please return those by Friday of next week. As always, please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns. Homework (Both Classes)Weekend Homework: One spelling practice and two reading logs. Daily Homework: One spelling practice and one reading log (15 minutes of reading and at least 3 sentences about the story) Math We are getting into subtraction! We will be working on subtracting 3 digit numbers with regrouping (borrowing) next week. Reading Reading groups are going really well! One strategy that we are really pushing with the kids is to focus on the beginning and ending sounds of words. They tend to sound out the beginning and guess at the end of the word instead of seeing it all the way through. This will continue to be a focus next week. Science Next week we will be continuing our study on properties of matter: form and function. The students will be exploring how form and function of different nature-made object influence engineers and inventors with man-made objects. We will also get into the parts of flowers and pollination. Writing We are continuing our scientific writing unit on how to write a lab report. Next week, our focus will be on scientific procedures and creating our own science experiments to write about based on making small changes from our class investigation. We are excited to see what the kids come up with!
Important DatesTuesday-Thursday February 14-16: Second Grade Parent teacher conferences. Friday, February 17: ½ day 12:30 dismissal Week of February 20: Winter Break Math Strategy |
posted Jan 20, 2017, 3:43 PM by rmccabe@acton.k12.me.us
2nd Grade NewsHey all! We hope you have had a great three-day week! We have been enjoying teaching this week! The split seems to be going very well. If you have any feedback for us, please feel free to send it our way. Next week, we will be sending home sign-ups for the parent/teacher conferences we will be holding in February. Be on the lookout for those coming in the Friday folders. We have sent home Friday reports in the folders. For Miss McCabe’s class, the reports only need to be signed if your kiddo earned a 2.5 or less. New spelling lists have also been added to the Friday folders. We will be doing spelling tests on Thursdays from now on, instead of Fridays in Miss McCabe’s class. The students will get a new spelling list in the Friday folder each week. Specials ScheduleDays | Mr. D (2A) | Miss McCabe (2B) | Monday | 11:30-12:25 Library
1:55-2:25 Creative Integration |
1:55-2:25 Creative Integration
| Tuesday | 11:30-12:25 Art
| 11:30-12:25 Computer | Wednesday | 8:30-9:30 Music | 8:30-9:25 Art
11:30-12:25 Music
| Thursday | 8:30-9:30 Computer
11:30-12:25 PE |
11:30-12:25 PE
| Friday | No Special | 8:30-9:25 Library |
Homework (Both Classes)Homework this weekend is to practice the new spelling words (one day) and complete two reading logs. The expectation is a minimum of 15 minutes each day, and at least 3-5 sentences about the reading. Let me know if there are any questions about this. Math We have begun math stations again. There are four stations currently. One is a math fluency station where the students are practicing addition and subtraction. The goal here is to become fluent in these facts. There are lots of different activities in this station for the students to complete. Next week, we will be assessing all the students’ overall knowledge of adding within 1,000 and then we will move into subtracting within 1,000. Reading We will be continuing our reading groups next week! The groups will incorporate phonics and decoding strategies as well. At the end of the books, we will be testing the students’ reading levels. Science We are so excited for PLTW again! We will be starting a unit on the properties of matter, but this time, we will be looking at form and function and pollination! This will be a very exciting unit! Writing Our new writing unit will be an informational unit on how to write like a scientist. This is every teacher’s dream to be able to really tie in multiple subject areas with one unit. I am very excited because the writing and science will go hand in hand with this unit, and should create a much richer learning experience for the kids! Important DatesTuesday-Thursday February 14-16: Second Grade Parent teacher conferences. Friday, February 17: ½ day 12:30 dismissal Week of February 20: Winter Break Math StrategyAdd 10 and subtract the remaining ones. Example: 58 + 8 Instead of counting on my fingers, I will add 10 to 58 instead. 58 + 10= 68. I know that 10 is 2 more than 8, so I will subtract 2 from my answer. So 58 + 8= 66.
The students can also make a number bond to help them figure out how much more ten is. |
posted Jan 14, 2017, 7:05 AM by rmccabe@acton.k12.me.us
2nd Grade NewsI would like to first thank everyone for your patience as we have been getting the new classroom ready and the schedule ready for next week. We have finalized everything and the class lists are now ready. I am pleased to announce Mr. Chad DiPrisco as our new second grade teacher! I have listed the new class list and specials schedule below. I want to assure you that we took into consideration any student who travels to a different class for math or reading, and we made the best effort possible to maintain these transitions. Here is a little bit about our new teacher! I am so excited to have him, and I know the kids are excited as well :) About Mr. D Parents and Guardians of Acton’s Amazing Second Graders, My name is Chad DiPrisco and I will be your son or daughter’s new teacher! I have had the pleasure of getting to know your children for the past four months as an Ed Tech in their classroom, and I feel like this is a great opportunity to use my teaching degree. This is quite the transition for everybody but I am confident that this will be a seamless move. The smaller class size will ultimately benefit your child’s learning experience. I am always free to discuss any questions or concerns that you have! Contact me: 207-252-2397 by phone or text cdiprisco@actonschool.org
It is important to note that the students will have various opportunities throughout the week to continue learning and playing together. Below, you will see the class lists and new specials schedules.
Days | Mr. D (2A) | Miss McCabe (2B) | Monday | 11:30-12:25 Library
1:55-2:25 Creative Integration |
1:55-2:25 Creative Integration
| Tuesday | 11:30-12:25 Art
| 11:30-12:25 Computer | Wednesday | 8:30-9:30 Music | 8:30-9:25 Art
11:30-12:25 Music
| Thursday | 8:30-9:30 Computer
11:30-12:25 PE |
11:30-12:25 PE
| Friday | No Special | 8:30-9:25 Library |
NWEA TestsWe are finished with the winter session of the NWEAs. The kids worked very hard, and did very well for the most part. There was some excellent growth in both reading and math. We are very excited for the progress being made in each subject. Parent Teacher ConferencesWe are going to begin scheduling parent teacher conferences for the week of February 13th for second grade. Mr. D and I will be sending out sign-ups for this within the next couple of weeks. Friday ReportsIn my class, we will be going back to the printed out Friday reports for the kiddos. This gives the students a real opportunity to reflect on their week. Just like in the beginning of the year, the report only needs to be signed if your child has earned a 2 or 2.5 in any category. There will be a section for parent comments as well, in case you have any questions. These will be sent home in the Friday folders. HomeworkWe have changed the requirements for the reading homework. In both classes, the students should be reading at least 15 minutes each night. We would like to see at least 3 sentences summarizing what they read about. Many students are doing much more than this already, which is wonderful! I encourage them to continue doing the same. What I am asking for is a minimum requirement. Spelling will remain the same each night for my class. Mr. D will be starting spelling homework the of January 23rd. Math We are cruising through chapter 2. The kids have been doing really well with this chapter. We will do a little more practice next week and they will take their assessment on Friday of next week. This will give them time to get adjusted to the changes. After next week we will be taking a new direction with math. Mr. D and I will be creating math centers that encompass several standards from the Common Core math standards. It is our hope that students will have more freedom to choose their learning path, as well as ownership over their goals. This means that we will not be going through our math curriculum in a linear way. The students will be able to discover concepts in many different areas in math. The first few stations we will be introducing will include concepts in addition and subtraction, mental math, geometry, word problems, and telling time. This will cover a breadth of standards. Reading Reading groups will be back in full swing this coming week! Also, I will be doing the spelling tests on Tuesday morning during our reading block. I did not have a chance to complete the spelling tests for them this week. We will be getting back on track with spelling this week. I will be sending Mr. D the spelling lists so that he can also complete the spelling tests at some point this week. Social Studies Due to the split class, we have decided to eliminate the presentation portion of our social studies project. The students will be working to finish up their packets this week. For those students who have finished their packets, and are working on a presentation, I will still look at this and grade it as extra credit. Writing We are wrapping up our narrative unit with an on-demand writing prompt and will be moving into informational writing after the class has been split. Next week we will have our final on-demand writing prompt for narrative and will be moving into informational writing State Research Project Rubric
State Research Booklet Standard A1d: Students identify and investigate research questions related to social studies by locating, organizing, and sharing information. | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | Booklet is completely and accurately filled out in an organized manner. All pages are stapled together and filled out. Booklet is colorful and easy to read. | Booklet is mostly filled out. All information is accurate. Some important information may be missing. No pages are missing. Pages are neatly filled out and some color is used. | Booklet is half-completed. It is missing several pieces of important information or information may be inaccurate. Some pages may not be filled out or are missing. Booklet is hard to read and contains very little use of color. | Booklet may have 1-2 pages completed. Information may not be accurate. Information present is hard to read and poorly organized. Contains very little use of color. |
Important DatesTuesday-Thursday February 14-16: Second Grade Parent teacher conferences. Friday, February 17: ½ day 12:30 dismissal Week of February 20: Winter Break Math StrategyWe will be focusing on math fluency this next week by focusing on mental math strategies. Doubles + 1. Give your child some math problems like 5+6 = 6+7 = 7+8 = The way it works example: 5+6 = If I know that 5+5 is 10 and 6 is one more than 5, 5+6 must be 11. This could also work with doubles - 1. They would simply double the greater number and subtract 1. Knowing the single digit addition will help us when we get to other higher level mental math strategies such as add 10 and subtract the remaining ones.
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posted Jan 4, 2017, 3:11 PM by rmccabe@acton.k12.me.us
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updated Jan 4, 2017, 3:25 PM
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Week of January 6, 2017
2nd Grade NewsWelcome back! I am so excited for the start of the new year! I hope you all had a wonderful and restful break. As you know now, the second grade class is in the process of being split. The intent and hope of splitting the class is to positively impact the learning environment of each student. Due to the split happening in the middle of January, we have decided to postpone all second grade parent teacher conferences until February. This will give the students and new teacher more time to get into a routine and get acquainted with one another. The new teacher and I will send out sign-up forms for this time frame. I do apologize for any inconvenience this may cause with trying to coordinate conferences with other teachers. If you have any questions about this, please feel free to contact me about this. Visit our 2nd grade website! I have uploaded the guidelines for the social studies project and the math strategy. I will be updating and adding to the math strategies weekly. I will also create a page for reading strategies as well. Click on this link to get to our website. The Incredible Second Grade! We will be conducting another round of NWEA tests within the next two weeks. The students will be tested in math and reading. They should not last more than 2 days. If you do not wish to have your child take the test, please let me know. I have sent home scholastic book orders in the Friday folders. The orders are due by January 31st. If you want to place an order, you can fill out a paper order and send money in with your child. Please pay with checks only. You can also place an order online using the following code: PCB7V. Here’s a look at what’s going on in 2nd grade: Math We have begun adding within 1,000. We have started with adding without regrouping. The students have done very well with this so far! Most of them are able to add two three digit numbers without having to regroup any numbers (regrouping is the same as carrying for us older folks). Once we learn how to regroup, I will be introducing a number tile activity that can be used at home. If you would like to jump ahead with your kiddo, please feel free. I always tell them that as long as they are getting the right answer, they can use any method that works best for them. Reading We have taken a break from reading groups this week, but we will get back on track next week. I will be testing students as needed after completing each book. The testing will be based on their success in the reading groups. Social Studies We are working on our state research project. I have listed the guidelines, instructions and rubrics in an attachment below. We will have plenty of class time to complete these projects; however, they may work on them at home if they choose to. This is not a requirement. This is the sheet that the students received earlier this week. Please feel free to email me or call me with any questions about this project. They have been working very hard on their research packets!
Writing We are wrapping up our narrative unit with an on-demand writing prompt and will be moving into informational writing after the class has been split. Important DatesWednesday-Thursday January 18-19: Parent teacher conferences for all grades EXCEPT Grade 2. Grade 2 conferences will be held in February Monday, January 16: NO SCHOOL: Martin Luther King Jr. Day Math StrategyAdding two 3 digit numbers without regrouping. See the page below for the language that we use in class. I have tried to reinforce the steps. We use the vocabulary ones, tens and hundreds a lot. For example, in step two, I might say, “4 tens plus 5 tens is how many tens?” We have practiced using the base ten blocks to help create the numbers. If you do not have this at home, you can create a simple place value chart on paper that has a column for hundreds, tens and ones. Your kiddo can write or draw the number of hundreds tens and ones on the chart to help them add. Again, this is what we are doing in class. If you have a different strategy that helps your child understand it more, feel free to teach them your strategy.
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StateResearchRubrics.pdf