NWEA Tests
We 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 Conferences
We 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 Reports
In 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.
Homework
We 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 Dates
Tuesday-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
We 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.
