Second Grade Travels

We had a full week in Second Grade! We got to see a one woman play about Helen Keller. It was a great opportunity for us to talk about differences and challenges. On Friday we plan on harvesting the garden we planted last year. (Check your email for details.)
Items Needed
If you have not already sent in these items, please do so by next Friday.

• an empty paper towel roll or your child's scroll from last year
• a labeled ziplock bag of coins: 5 quarters, 11 dimes, 10 nickels, 25 pennies. We will use this money during our math class. At the end of the year we will order pizza!

Books Needed!
As your child returns the reading log the hours are logged on to a chart and your child gets to take a trip to the treasure chest after a certain amount of hours. I would like to reward your child with a book for these efforts. A few families have already donated some books for this purpose. If you have books that your child has read and no longer want to store them, consider donating them to the book bank! (Free books from our Scholastic orders will also go to the book bank.)

Reading
We began our guided reading groups this week. It was a great opportunity for me to work with your child in a small group on some reading strategies. Students are reading stories about Skyscrapers and Families around the World. This is in addition to our Open Court Reading program.
Writing
Students began publishing their narrative stories. We will work on some fiction stories next week.
Math
We completed Unit 1 in math. You will receive the Unit Assessment and an individual profile for your child next week. Please check it carefully. Our next unit will focus on number stories and the basic facts. Some students will begin taking timed tests on the basic facts in the next few weeks.
Social Studies
We completed our study of People and Places. Your child learned about urban, suburban and rural areas. We also honed our map skills. We continue to take our weekly map quiz. See the link to the left for a game the students played in computer lab. It is a great site to practice the 50 states!
Science
We will begin our study of rocks and minerals next week! Our study of rocks and minerals will lead into a study of erosion and soil. We will be looking at different types of soil and doing some planting and composting. We'll take a brief look at fossils and then revisit fossils in January when we read about dinosaurs in our Open Court books.

Thanks!

Thanks to Barbara Dolan, Drew's mom, for volunteering her handy skills and making us a composting bin. I'm sure we will learn a lot from the experience!
Thanks also to all the parents who have sent in empty rolls of paper towels. If your child has her scroll from last year, you could send that in instead!

Please check out the pictures from our Bon Voyage Picnic. If you are having any trouble viewing the pictures, let me know.
Reading
This week we read a story about a little boy named Jack and his sister. They jump into a book and have many adventures similar to adventures in Nursery Rhymes and Fairy Tales with characters named Jack. We had a great book discussion about what kinds of books we would like to jump into.
Writing
We are working on stories about our picnic or about a memorable trip. Students will get to choose one to publish next week. Our revisions have focused on our beginnings and endings. Some children are working on supporting details.
Math
We are working hard on place value. Some students have learned about Roman Numerals while others are focusing on adding and subtracting using the number grid. Our Unit 1 assessment will begin next week.
Social Studies
We are finishing up our People and Places unit. We have learned about map grids, urban areas, suburbs, rural areas and getting food to markets. We reviewed the concept of a community and group.
Science
We will begin a unit on rocks, fossils and soil the week of September 24. If you have interesting rocks, minerals or fossils, consider sending them in next week to share with the class. (Please nothing valuable or sentimental.) We will be composting, too. I'm looking for a volunteer who is handy to make a SMALL, clear plastic composting bin for our class. Interested?
We need a few things for math.
Please send in the following by September 24.

• paper towel rolls

• a ziplock bag of coins: 5 quarters, 11 dimes, 10 nickels, 25 pennies. We will use this money during our math class. At the end of the year we will order pizza!

If you would prefer to read this blog online please let me know. You can look for the posting on Fridays, but an email will go out when it is updated.
Thanks!

Second Grade Travels

Thanks to all the parents who joined us for our Bon Voyage Picnic! A good time was had by all! It was a great sendoff to what will be a wonderful journey.
Reading
We read a funny story this week about some brothers who try to read together. The students made great connections to other texts and to personal experiences.
Writing
We have used our brainstorming books and started writing in our draft writing books. Next week we will do a quick review of the different parts of a narrative story. Students should have a beginning, middle and ending for each of their stories. We will revise and edit these stories.
Math
We continue to practice place value and time and money skills. Kate Ulrich has generously donated her time to organizing volunteers who would like to tutor students in these important life skills. If you would like to volunteer to tutor on a regular basis or just on occasion, this is a great opportunity.
Social Studies
We are wrapping up our first unit on People and Places. Children are using map skills and discussing the difference between urban, suburban and rural areas. We were able to watch President Obama's speech on Wednesday. His message of responsibility and goal setting really hit home with our class. Many of the students looked at me as he mentioned these words, wondering if maybe I had helped write his speech. (In case you were wondering, no.)
Science
We have 4 monarch caterpillars in our classroom and many cicada shells. The students are enjoying observing these insects. Thanks to Ethan for generously sharing his creatures!
Mayflower
After many hours of reading, planning and meeting with colleagues I have decided to move ahead with the Mayflower re-enactment. A balanced curriculum will be presented to the students with the help of many of our District 97 educators. We will begin our study of Native Americans in early October. With our ongoing theme of travel and journeys we will explore Native American life in the Eastern Woodlands and the Great Lakes. Lynn Allen will be helping with several lessons and activities and our 5th grade reading buddies, who also study the First Nation, will be learning along with us. We will continue to explore the journeys of other cultural groups as the year progresses. As always if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me directly.
Scholastic Book Orders are due September 14. There are many favorites available. For each online order we receive a free book for the classroom.
A blog!
You may have noticed that the newsletter is the printed version of a blog. Please check it out at
http://bparkinsonop97.blogspot.com
If you would prefer to read the blog online rather than get a paper version let me know.

Homework Tips

A homework calendar will be given out on the first Monday of the month.
A homework packet will go home each Monday.
All homework is due Friday.
Homework should not be a battle. If you are ever having difficulty~schedule a conference.
Homework should be considered an opportunity to see what your child is doing at school.
Homework will not be graded. The only grade your child will receive is for completion.
Reading minutes will be logged weekly. The minutes will not count unless the reading strategy portion of the log is completed.