We have been so busy finishing up units in many subjects, testing, and having some fun end of the year activities as well. Here is a glimpse of what we've been up to:
In Reader's Workshop, students spent a couple of weeks doing nonfiction reading clubs. They chose a topic they were interested in and spent time reading a variety of books about that topic. Some of the club topics were: plants, mammals, space, famous people, America, reptiles, etc. Students read their nonfiction materials through different lenses each day and for a different purpose. We worked on finding the central message, revising and confirming our thinking about a topic, asking meaningful questions and reading to find the answer, and synthesizing reading by discussing and writing about their topic. This past week, we began working on some reader's theaters of some of our favorite read aloud stories. We'll be performing them in class next week.
Students have been working hard on their state reports during Writer's Workshop. After finishing up our research portion of the state reports, we took a couple weeks to explore writing fiction stories! This was lots of fun. This week, we began publishing our state reports in the form of a book! Students are working hard on their writing and illustrations in their book. They are very anxious to share these books with you in addition to some other writing projects at our Author Celebration Lunch of Tuesday, June 4th!
In Science, we spent time learning about plants. We mostly focused on the five parts of a plant and their functions. We also had our first Environmental Education Festival at WestWood this past Monday! Students participated in lessons about plants, insects, birds and clouds! The kids had a great day!
The last couple of weeks in math have been spent learning about multiplication, fractions and probability. We took our Unit 13 test today. We will be spending the last couple weeks doing some additional lessons from the math curriculum, however, I will not be sending home homework and we will not be testing on the next unit.
Just a reminder that May Reading Calendars are due on JUNE 3rd! If your child returns their signed May reading calendar and has read at least 620 minutes, they will get to join in for a pizza lunch on Wednesday, June 5th! The May reading calendar can be found on my website if your child has misplaced theirs.
Friday, May 24, 2013
End of the School Year- Important Dates!
The end of the schoolyear is such a busy time with many special events and activities. Here are some important dates to know as the last couple of weeks begin:
Monday, May 27- No School (Memorial Day)
Wednesday, May 29- Track and Field Day
Tuesday, June 4- Author Celebration (Special Lunch with Parents) 12:30-1:30 or 2:00
Wednesday, June 5- Classroom Cleaning Day (bring a grocery bag or reusable bag to school to bring supplies home)
Thursday, June 6- Last day of school for students! Students are dismissed at 12:50
Please let me know if you have any questions about the last couple weeks of school!
Monday, May 27- No School (Memorial Day)
Wednesday, May 29- Track and Field Day
Tuesday, June 4- Author Celebration (Special Lunch with Parents) 12:30-1:30 or 2:00
Wednesday, June 5- Classroom Cleaning Day (bring a grocery bag or reusable bag to school to bring supplies home)
Thursday, June 6- Last day of school for students! Students are dismissed at 12:50
Please let me know if you have any questions about the last couple weeks of school!
Monday, May 20, 2013
Author Celebration!
Mark your calendar!!!
We are having an Author Celebration in Room 103 on Tuesday, June 4th! Please plan to join your child for lunch on that day if you are able. We will be eating outside (unless the weather is bad and then we will eat in our classroom). The kids will go to recess and then you can join them as they come in from recess, which is at 12:30. After lunch, you will be spending some time listening to your child read and share some of their writing pieces from this school year. We should be done by about 1:30. You may bring a special lunch from home or just get school lunch that day. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Hope to see you on June 4th!
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
WestWood EE Day Monday!
We are planning a very special event at our school next Monday, May 20th. The entire day will be devoted to celebrating environmental education! All grade levels are planning lessons with an environmental theme. We will also have naturalists from the Richardson Nature Center here teaching our students. Thanks to the WestWood PTC for providing the funding for the Richardson Naturalists and to our WestWood teachers for planning outdoor lessons for our first springtime Environmental Education Festival.
Your children will be spending the majority of their day OUTSIDE! Please watch the weather forecast and have them dress appropriately. We ask that all students wear athletic shoes for safety reasons. Students should also come to school with sunscreen on and may wear hats. WestWood cannot provide sunscreen, but a student can re-apply it themselves if they bring it to school. Students should not share sunscreen with others due to allergies to certain ingredients. You will also want to send a water bottle to school with your child(ren) that day.
We hope it will be a fun educational experience for all students and staff at WestWood and we look forward to our Environmental Education Festival on May 20th!
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Nature Poetry Contest
In celebration of Earth Month, WestWood students are invited to write nature poetry. Poems can be any type...free verse, form poetry (cinquain, pattern poems, etc.), or rhyming. Students who are interested in participating should turn in poems to Mrs. Manders by Friday, April 26th. There will be one winner chosen per grade level. The winnning poets will share their poems at next month's All School Meeting. All poems will be on display in the main hallway at the end of the month. Happy writing!
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Classroom Update
It is time for another update to give you a glimpse of what we've been up to in second grade!
In Math, we finished Unit 9, which was all about two and three digit subtraction with regrouping. Students learned various methods to solve these types of subtraction problems including: making a proof drawing (typically by drawing ten sticks and circles), the expanded method and ungrouping. Ungrouping is the method the most students now use. Even though it is called "ungrouping" in our new math curriculum, it is really the same thing as traditional borrowing. Students also learned about solving story problems in which they had to find the unknown partner. They learned how to subtract to find the unknown partner as well as add up to find the unknown partner. This week we began Unit 10. Students have learned about congruent and similar figures, and also had fun exploring with pattern blocks this week.
The second graders did four different reading responses this week all to the same story. They are working on expanding their thoughts to a story and writing them down. We read the story Happy Birthday, Grampie, and they rated the book and justified the grade they gave it, wrote about the main character and what their actions say about them, identified a favorite quote from the book and explained why they chose that quote and also drwe a sketch or symbol from the book and wrote about why it was so meaningful or memorable to the story. We will be doing more resonses this week before beginning our study of nonfiction after Spring Break.
We have concluded our study of poetry in Writer's Workshop. The students edited and published two of their free verse poems. They will be on display in our hallway. Last week, students also got to try a few different types of form poetry.
In Social Studies, students learned about landforms and made landform books. They also learned about producers and consumers, natural resources an also the importance of conservation. Also, they learned a little bit about national parks. We even took a pretend trip to Yellowstone! After Spring Break we will be returning to Science with a unit about Solids, Liquids and Gasses!
Just a reminder that students have a short week this week. Thursday is an early release day and Friday students do not have school.
In Math, we finished Unit 9, which was all about two and three digit subtraction with regrouping. Students learned various methods to solve these types of subtraction problems including: making a proof drawing (typically by drawing ten sticks and circles), the expanded method and ungrouping. Ungrouping is the method the most students now use. Even though it is called "ungrouping" in our new math curriculum, it is really the same thing as traditional borrowing. Students also learned about solving story problems in which they had to find the unknown partner. They learned how to subtract to find the unknown partner as well as add up to find the unknown partner. This week we began Unit 10. Students have learned about congruent and similar figures, and also had fun exploring with pattern blocks this week.
The second graders did four different reading responses this week all to the same story. They are working on expanding their thoughts to a story and writing them down. We read the story Happy Birthday, Grampie, and they rated the book and justified the grade they gave it, wrote about the main character and what their actions say about them, identified a favorite quote from the book and explained why they chose that quote and also drwe a sketch or symbol from the book and wrote about why it was so meaningful or memorable to the story. We will be doing more resonses this week before beginning our study of nonfiction after Spring Break.
We have concluded our study of poetry in Writer's Workshop. The students edited and published two of their free verse poems. They will be on display in our hallway. Last week, students also got to try a few different types of form poetry.
In Social Studies, students learned about landforms and made landform books. They also learned about producers and consumers, natural resources an also the importance of conservation. Also, they learned a little bit about national parks. We even took a pretend trip to Yellowstone! After Spring Break we will be returning to Science with a unit about Solids, Liquids and Gasses!
Just a reminder that students have a short week this week. Thursday is an early release day and Friday students do not have school.
Free Concert!
Mrs. Garrity, our Bravo volunteer, shared this neat opportunity...
The Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies is holding a free concert geared toward children and families on April 27. Since the kids are currently talking about classical music in Bravo, they might be interested in going to a concert.
Here is the website for more information:
http://www.gtcys.org/
The Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies is holding a free concert geared toward children and families on April 27. Since the kids are currently talking about classical music in Bravo, they might be interested in going to a concert.
Here is the website for more information:
http://www.gtcys.org/
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