Second Graders Traveling the World!

Our second graders are traveling the world! We have strapped on our travel bag every day and have ventured into the world… so far we have traveled to Antarctica, Asia, Australia, and Africa. We will visit Europe at the end of this week. I can not thank you enough to those of you who have been able to send things in to share with our class. These artifacts, pictures, and movies have enriched our experience at each destination. Thank you! As we travel to each continent we have been looking at the landforms, famous monuments, artifacts, the culture and the food we might find there.

In writing we spent a few days writing our own leprechaun stories… and even made our own leprechaun masks! These clever stories are hanging outside our room with pictures of our second grade leprechauns. Monday we began our animal research projects by selecting books from the library. Tuesday each set of partners took time to read their resources and tomorrow we will start taking notes.

In math we have wrapped up a short geometry unit covering congruent/similar shapes, shape movement, and polygons. We will be continuing to work on adding and subtracting three digit numbers in our next unit. This unit will also provide practice in adding money and counting back change. In our daily routines we continue to practice elapsed time and function boxes. Thank you for continuing to practice flash cards at home during the week!

There are no new spelling words coming home today because of spring break. New spelling sorts will resume the Wednesday after break.
Friday is a beach party at lunch! Feel free to send a beach towel with your child to sit on as we picnic in the lunch room. Also, our school is trying to get an accurate number on enrollment of first graders next year. If you have a child who will be coming to Langston Hughes as a new first grader next year, or if you know someone else in this same situation, please notify the office. Thank you!

Have a wonderful and safe break. Whether you will be traveling or not, enjoy!

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

I want to first thank you for making it to conferences last week. I enjoyed visiting with all of you and sharing your child’s progress. It’s hard to believe that it is already March! We have been busy this last week… and have been having a lot of fun! Monday our class earned a marble party and choose a campfire reading party. We set up our new campfire creation, grabbed pillow and lanterns, and devoured freshly made s’mores! I think this party was one to repeat.
A few curriculum notes…

Writing: This week we celebrated Dr. Seuss’ birthday and wrote about some of our favorite books. In our writer’s workshop we have been writing personal narratives focusing on small moments.

Math: Tomorrow we are taking a test over three digit subtraction and counting money. We will revisit these concepts in a couple of weeks in a review unit combining subtraction and addition. Thank you for sending back your child’s flash cards and taking the time to note how they did while they practiced. This practice at home will help you child to become more fluent with their basic facts.
Our next unit beginning Monday will begin to cover congruent shapes, polygons, and slides, flips, and turns of geometric shapes.

Social Studies: This week we have begun to take a look at the communities that we live in. We have talked about what rural, suburban, and city areas are like. We have also reviewed the cardinal directions and will start working on various mapping skills beginning next week. I will be sending out an email soon regarding the dates what we will be “traveling” to each of the 7 continents during our geography unit. If you have any special artifacts or pictures to share, we would love to see and hear about your travels!

We are getting plans together for our field trip to the Kansas City Zoo! Our trip will be on April 29th. If you are interested in chaperoning us on this all day trip please let me know as soon as you can. I will take the first volunteers! Thank you for considering.