Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

Hello 2nd Grade families!

Even though the week was short and sweet, it was a whirlwind of activity!

Read on!

* The 2nd Graders recorded their Arlington Heights song with Mr. Deptula! It is playing in the background of all of the children's artwork on display in the column on the right. We think it will be used in some fashion for the celebration of Arlington Heights' 125th birthday!

* The whole class participated in the "6 minute solution!"

* We learned about the 3 R's! We put "re-use" into practice by turning an everyday milk jug into a fancy bird feeder!

* We listened to a number of fairy tales! The children began planning their own fractured version of "Little Red Riding Hood!"

Spelling

This week our focus was on words with that have silent letters: gn, kn, wr, and mb. Next week the children will be working with words that have a hard c and soft c, (ex: car, cent) as well as words with a hard g and a soft g (ex: giraffe, guitar).

Reading

We had a garden theme this week! We started off listening to a story called “Brer Rabbit in Mr. Mans’ Garden”. This story allowed us to enhance our oral vocabularies with the new words: abundant, ripe, conceal, edible, and scrumptious. We went to read our main selection entitled, “The Ugly Vegetables.” In it, a girl and her mother begin to plant a garden. All the neighbors are planting, too. As the weeks go by the girl keeps wondering why the neighbors’ gardens seem better than her own. First one thing happens, and then another. That’s called sequence. Breaking the story into steps helps us to understand it! New vocabulary words in this story include: aroma, blooming, muscles, prickly, scent, and trade. Other skills the children worked on over the course of the week include homophones and identifying/using the text feature of written directions!

6 Minute Solution

The whole class participated in the 6 Minute Solution this week! It is a quick program designed to boost reading fluency. On Monday the children received the passage they would practice for the whole week. They read through it once to get a feel for it, and to identify any unknown words. I then read the passage to them, to clear up any unknown words and to model fluency and expression. Each day of the week, the children read the passage for ONE minute to a partner. The partner circled any errors, and then computed their score. (Total words read- errors = score.) The children graphed their correct words read on a graph. The first read is always in blue, as it is their first experience with the passage, and considered a "cold" read. The following days we graph using red, as these days are "warm" or rehearsed readings. The children were SO EXCITED to see their graphs grow taller each day! They were so proud to see how many words they were able to read in such a short amount of time. I do not want the children to only focus on speed while reading, but the more information they can conquer successfully in a given time will absolutely benefit their learning in the long run. The children have requested to continue the 6 minute solution next week... I think it was a success! :)

Grammar

The children reviewed that a pronoun is a little noun that can take the place of a bigger noun. Ex: Andrew/he, school/it, The girls/they. They worked this week to make sure that their nouns and verbs agree in sentences. We also remembered to underline book titles, and capitalize the important words!

Writing

The children were exposed to several fairy tales this week! We noticed that fairy tales typically have some of the following components: good/evil characters, an element of magic, the numbers 3 and 7, a problem, and a solution (happy ending!) We read Little Red Riding Hood, (only this version was set on the prairie and didn't end the way you might think!) Rapunzel, Falling for Rapunzel, and Sleepless Beauty (based of course on Sleeping Beauty.)

The children then received graphic organizers to begin writing their own fractured fairy tales. We decided to take the structure of Little Red Riding Hood and make some changes to make it our own. The children worked on changing the setting ( the beach, the rainforest, the big city, the desert!) as well as the characters, mode of transportation, and what they'd bring to Grandma. We are really working on developing the characters and the setting as we begin to tell our story.

Math

We continue working on decimals and place value as we move through Unit 10! The children practice estimating numbers that are written in decimal notation. We identified several different names for a dollar, a dime and a penny. The children increased their familiarity with the calculator as they entered in different dollar and cent amounts, and practiced adding multiple amounts together. We played a game in which we rolled the dice to see how many pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, and dollars we could roll for. Then we used the calculator to combine these amounts, making sure to put the decimal point in the correct position! (The children beat me. By a lot. :)

Science

We delve further into the topic of the 3 R's- Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. The children learned how crucial recycling is to our planet as we read the book "Recycle" by Gail Gibbons. We discovered just how much garbage a person can make in a day, and in a lifetime! We also learned where the garbage goes- into landfills- and how so much of that garbage can be eliminated if we consider the 3 R's. In order to show the children just how simple it could be to re-use something, they were asked to bring in an old milk jug to turn into an earth-friendly bird feeder. (Thank you for sending those milk jugs in! And for sending in extras!!) The children designed their bird feeder in their journals and then wrote about how this project 1) reduces the amount of garbage 2) reuses the resources that were used to create it and 3) allows us to watch/learn about an animal without removing it from its natural home! The children are really beginning to think about the earth, and how to help it, on a daily basis! Great job, kids!! Next week we will take a look at conservation, the effects of oil spills, and we are looking forward to learning about endangered animals from the children's home projects!

We will also be exploring the "Live" versions of these precious animals at the Brookfield Zoo on Thursday! Please dress your child comfortably, and for the weather. Layers and comfortable shoes for lots of walking are recommended! Don't forget to pack a lunch for Thursday! We will be leaving Dryden at 9:15 am, and returning at approximately 2:15.

Junior Achievement

The children learned about the government with Ms. Younan this week. They learned about services that the community provides that are paid for with taxes. Each of the children were given JA money- very exciting! Then about half of it was taken away to pay for services such as schools, parks, and police/fire departments- not so exciting! It was a great tactile lesson that shows the children how money flows through the community and keeps it functioning. One of the children was so funny- at the end of the lesson he informed me that he decided what he'd like to be when he grows up... a tax collector! :)

Upcoming Events:

* Reading Map Test on Monday... a good night's rest and a healthy breakfast work wonders! :)

* Junior Achievement on Tuesday afternoon

* Field Trip on Thursday to the Brookfield Zoo

* Math MAP test on Friday