Weekly Update! October 11-15

Greetings!

Hello from 2-2. I hope everyone enjoyed the long Columbus Day weekend last weekend! Here are some points I wanted to be sure to highlight about the week!

•        Andrea from the Riv came to talk to the children about owning a business in Arlington Heights. She talked about how important reading, writing, and math are in making her business successful. She talked about the important traits she looks for in her employees, including the "3 A's," Attitude, Appearance, and Attendance. We connected these to our "Character Counts" Traits! The children also learned how Andrea's restaurant has changed over time (she now has many healthy options on her menu!) and the children asked some interesting questions they came up with, too!
•      You probably noticed that we had a variation in our spelling practice this week, as our first Unit in the Treasures reading series wrapped up. The kids chose 10 words of their own that they found relevant to their readiness level and to their lives! The children took their Unit 1 reading assessment on Friday, and we will begin Unit 2 on Monday.
•      Green conference request slips went home in backpack mail today. Please return them to school with your meeting time preferences. (Although I did notice that 2 of my little friends left their mail in their mailboxes! They will bring home their notes on Monday. :)
•      Thank you for returning the field trip permission slips to the Arlington Heights Police Department so quickly! We have most of them back and are still waiting for just a few more.
•       The second grade musical is coming up in November!

Spelling

As we begin Unit 2 next week, we will focus on words with the long and short /u/ sound!

Reading

As mentioned, the children prepared for, and completed, their first reading Unit Assessment this week. We were able to meet several times with our small guided reading groups! The children worked in learning centers to: revisit past stories we have read to build reading fluency, retell past stories using laminated picture cards to reinforce reading comprehension, sort past spelling words to build their sight word automaticity, read silently from their book bags and identify the characters, setting, problem, and solution of the story they chose, and more! The children enjoyed working with their classmates, and having options that they could choose from that build and strengthen their skills. The children also enjoyed learning about antonyms with a set of magnetic ants. We worked together to find their antonym matches on the white board. The children learned that antonyms are words that have opposite meanings!

Math

We have seen a nice increase in our math fact tests this week! I can tell that the children have been practicing! Wow! The children are really developing a sense of pride for their accomplishments! Keep it up! Strategies we have practiced include “doubles +1”, the “doubles in between”, and they learned about the numbers that “make a ten!” I am very pleased to see their comfort level with these strategies strengthen! We also explored the concept of weight using a pan balance and a spring scale. The children learned that there are 16 ounces in a pound, and 8 ounces in half of a pound. They also reviewed name collection boxes and worked to find several different names for a given number. To reinforce this skill, the children played “Name that Number” with a partner and a deck of cards. Ask your child to show you how to play at home! (Both players get 5 cards, dealt face up. One card is flipped over from the pile. The first player tries to add or subtract any combination of their 5 cards to total the card that was drawn. If player 1 cannot find a combination that works, they can draw another card or shift to player 2. The players take turns until the cards are gone. The player with the most cards at the end wins!) What a sneaky way to practice adding and subtracting! J

Social Studies

The children learned about the first people to live in our area, the Potowatomi Indians. They learned how the Native Americans filled all of their basic needs by living off of the land. They built wigwams out of bendable branches and bark from the trees, they hunted, fished, gathered nuts and berries, and cultivated crops including the “Three Sisters.” (Ask your child what that is referring to!) They often lived near the river to have access to the water for fishing and traveling to trade with neighboring tribes. The children finished their Arlington Heights Landmark projects in the LMC. They recorded a brief podcast of the information they learned and we will be sharing those with you shortly!

View the museum website at http://www.ahmuseum.org/ and click on “Kids Connect” to: see a virtual map of Arlington Heights landmarks from long ago, view an informative prairie slideshow, and play a log cabin game!

Coming Soon:

Wednesday, October 20^th: The Arlington Heights Book Mobile will visit Dryden School! Bring those public library cards to check out one or two books on this day!

Friday, October 22: Bus Evacuation Practice

Wednesday, October 26^th: Art Appreciation lesson with Ms. Heintz

Friday, October 29: Halloween Parade and Party!