SECOND GRADE
McMONTHLY NEWS
February,
2014
100 Day and other
Notable Events in February
Incredibly, the 100th day of school should
arrive on Friday, February 7th! (date updated after Wednesday's snow day) The
second graders will be cheering on the first graders, as the first graders
dress up as if they were 100 years old!
(The 2nd graders enjoyed that last year!)
The
second graders continue with their efforts to bring in 4 cans of rice (each
student) if they are able by Thursday, February 6th. This will help our whole school’s effort in
contributing 100 of several items to those in need.
Last week, we jumped back into the
science principles of Matter with a wonderful presentation entitled “What’s the
Matter?” by the Stamford Nature Center.
We thank Lisa Piersol and Karla Schimmeck for helping us on such short
notice. The students learned about the
properties of Matter and performed many cool experiments! We are thankful to the Enrichment Committee
for making the event possible.
VALENTINES DAY
With
Valentines Day just around the corner (Friday, February 14th), all
students are encouraged to make/buy Valentines for one another. We will be celebrating in school. Feel free to bring in Valentines early if
they’re ready. Please try to have all
Valentines in by Wednesday, February 12th. A class checklist is included in today’s
student mailboxes.
LANGUAGE
ARTS
We have had a few changes with our Word Study spelling
words. Due to our inconsistent New
England weather and our fast-paced schedule, several groups will be practicing
lists for 2 weeks. This extra practice
with our tricky patterns will help us with writing as well as reading.
*Please remind children to check their work – remind them
that when they re-read words they’ve written, they need to be sure to have at
least 1 vowel in every syllable of a word.
In reading, we have recently wrapped up our character unit,
but will continue to dig deeper into our books – both fiction and non-fiction,
paying close attention to the author’s message for the characters, the bigger
lessons that we can learn, retelling
important parts, and the text features
of non-fiction books. We will
also work on word accuracy and fluency.
In writing, we are thoroughly enjoying starting to write
convincing letters about some of our favorite books, real-life interests or
opinions in our Writing About Reading/Persuasive Writing unit. We actually do a lot of persuading without
even realizing it! Most importantly, we
are learning to prove, or explain why we feel a certain way.
MATH
We continue with work “reading” tables and charts and
recognizing shapes in our unit of “How Many Floors/How Many Rooms” unit. Your children will use architecture skills as
they create cube buildings and sketch floorplans in our current unit, focusing
on growing patterns with ratios and equal groups (our secret -
A hint of repeated addition/ multiplication concepts) and repeating
patterns and number sequences.
BIRTHDAYS
Thurs., Feb. 6:
Ashley Stockdale
Mon., Feb. 10: Connor
Harwick
REMINDERS
Fri.,
Feb. 7: 100th Day of School
Fri.,
Feb. 7: Scholastic Due
So orders will arrive before break
Fri.,
Feb. 7: 100th Day Can
contributions
Fri., Feb. 14: 2nd
marking period ends
Fri,
Feb. 14: Valentine Celebration
Feb.
17 - 21:Presidents Week/ Vacation
Mon., Feb. 24:
Conference sign-up notes home
Fri.,
March 7th: Progress Reports
Home
Wed.,Feb.
26:Author Visit, Brian Pinkney
SPECIAL
NOTES
·
Please remember to include all your classmates when you
make/write your Valentines!
·
We will be making 100th Day creations in class; no
need to send in any goodies.
·
When the chilly/snowy weather comes, please label all cold
weather gear and send to school with your child in some kind of “snow gear
bag.” Thank you for helping the children
stay organized with their belongings!
·
Thank you for your support in sending in the “Box Tops for
Education.” Please keep them coming! This
year, the Student Council is not counting by classes; they are having a
school-wide goal of collecting box tops!
- Continued
thanks to our Room Moms, Elizabeth Svedlund and Jane
Glassmeyer, and for all Volunteers!
