A Holiday Book Exchange

Our class participated in a holiday book exchange! The children brought in a book they have already enjoyed reading at home, wrapped it up, and exchanged it with a "new" book! It was a fun and exciting experience! All of the children in our class received the surprise of a brand new book from their teacher to read over the long winter break. Happy reading, 2nd graders!

Math Update

Thank you for sending in so many interesting objects for our shapes museum! After learning about each shape in class, it was such an powerful authentic application of these skills! The children learned the differences/similarities between the pyramid, rectangular prism, cylinder, sphere, and cone. Using “Magneatos,” the children worked in small groups to build a variety of different pyramids. We noticed that the name of the pyramid was based on the shape of its base (ex: triangular pyramid, square pyramid, hexagonal pyramid, etc.) The students learned about the apex (point on top), and counted the vertices, edges and faces. They were eager to point out each of these terms on the shapes they created! Finally, the children learned this week about symmetry. They learned that symmetry means the same on both sides, and if the line of symmetry exists, it is down the middle. Through our practice we realized that some shapes have zero lines of symmetry, while others have many! The children took their unit 5 assessment, and are ready to move on to unit 6 "next year!"

Adam is a STAR!

Adam was our star student this week! We had a wonderful visit from Adam's mom and dad on Friday afternoon. Adam showed us during his science experiment how he could turn an metal coil into a magnet by using a battery! Mrs. Koury read us a cute story about a snowy candy factory that wasn't making very much candy at first... We ended the our day with a dance party! Adam had a terrific week! It is so much fun to have such a happy, energetic boy in our class who loves to learn as much Adam does!

Holidays Around the World!

The children and I are in the midst of a social studies mini-unit in which we are studying the customs of holidays around the world, including: Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa. It is so much fun to learn about people who live near and far, and ways that we may be alike and different from them. The children are beginning to realize that many of the customs and traditions we follow actually came from other countries!

As the Hanukkah holiday began last weekend, it was the perfect week to read a few of my favorite Hanukkah stories! We read "Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins" and "The Chanukah Guest" both by Eric Kimmel, as well as "Light the Lights" by Margaret Moorman. These stories highlight the underlying themes of Hanukkah and taught us some of the history as well. The children located the country of Israel on the map and identified the blue and white flag with the star of David in the center. They learned how Hershel lit the menorah each night for 8 nights using the shammesh candle. They read about a hungry bear that was confused by a sweet little old lady (with poor vision) for the rabbi from the synagogue- and he ate all of the latkes! We also discovered that some families celebrate more than one holiday, as the little girl in "Light the Lights" did. Her dad celebrated Hanukkah and taught her about his customs, and then a few weeks later her mom pulled out the Christmas tree and they celebrated her customs as well! The family shared both sets of traditions together! The children in our class made a menorah using their hands- 4 fingers on each side represent the 8 nights of Hanukkah, and they overlapped their thumbs in the middle to represent the shammesh candle.

We went on to also learn about a few Christmas traditions! The children learned about Pere Noel from France (who brought them a small treat on December 6). We located France on the map, learned the term "Joyeux Noel," and colored the French flag, which we also noticed was red, white and blue!

We also learned about the Christmas customs in Mexico. We noted that Mexico is our neighbor to the south, yet speaks the Spanish language! The children made poinsettias after reading "The Legend of the Poinsettia" as a class. We learned that Joel Poinsett, a US embassador to Mexico, first brought the poinsettia to the United States from Mexico. We discovered the tradition of Las Posadas, and we learned the term "Feliz Navidad!"

Finally, the children learned about the holidays in Sweden. They learned about St. Lucia day, the tradition of decorating with wooden ornaments and animals, Jultomten who brings the gifts, and "Dipping Day," that reminds the people of the famine they endured long ago. To help us remember the tradition of St. Lucia, the children made festive red and green wreaths for the classroom!

Persuasive Writing

We continue to practice the organization of our writing! The children are becoming more and more aware of sorting their ideas into paragraphs, beginning with a main idea and adding matching details. This skill is helping us as we focus in on our persuasive writing! The children have learned to start off by clearly stating their opinion. Then they follow up with concrete examples that support this opinion. The children have also learned some powerful, persuasive terms to include in their writing that encourage the reader to really consider what they are saying! These terms include: "Of course.., Obviously.., I believe..., It is clear..., Just think about..., and "You should consider..." Their writing is becoming very strong!

In order to practice these skills further, we read the story "The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs" this week. In this story, the wolf attempts to persuade the reader that he was innocent in the story of "The 3 Little Pigs." He claims he was only trying to borrow a cup of sugar when a terrible case of the sneezes came on! He was hoping to bake a cake for his poor, sick granny. He went on to say that it wasn't his fault that they built their houses so poorly and out of such weak materials! After reading the story, the children and I decided if we believed him or not. We practiced our persuasive writing skills and shared why we DID NOT BELIEVE HIM! It is our opinion that he is GUILTY! Make sure to take a look at how persuasively the children stated their opinions in this shared writing activity!

Reading Update

Our story of the week was "Officer and Buckle and Gloria" by Peggy Rathman. Our new vocabulary words included: tip, buddy, attention, accident, obeys, and enormous. While we read the story, we looked carefully at the illustrations and noticed that they can help us better comprehend what is happening in the text. There was often additional information in the pictures that was not found in the text. We connected this to nonfiction material as well. In nonfiction articles we will often find pictures, photographs, and charts that have captions or labels that add to what we are reading!

In our grammar lessons this week, the children practiced "present tense" verbs. We noticed that in the present tense, when the subject is singular, the verb will often end in 's." When the subject is plural, the verb will not change!

Math Update

We have begun learning about Geometry in math! We started off our unit by first learning about endpoints and line segments. The children practiced labeling endpoints with clear capital letters. They went on to create a line segment by connecting two points. They labeled each point, and then were able to label their line segment, too!

We went on to learn about polygons. We noticed that "poly" means "many" and "gon" means "sides." A polygon is a shape that: 1) has closed sides 2) the sides are all straight and 3) there are no curves. Some of the polygons we learned about are a triangle (3 sides), a quadrilateral (4 sides), a pentagon (5 sides) and an octagon (8 sides!) We noted the sides, angles, and vertices of each shape.

We learned about parallel lines. They are lines that will never ever ever ever ever cross. Some examples of lines are : in a square, a rectangle, on our notebook paper, and train tracks!

We also learned about right (or square) angles! We noticed that these angles are very simply in the shape of a square, and measure 90 degrees. The children used an index card to help them determine if a shape contained a right angle or not. They were quick to notice that the square and the rectangle both contain right angles!

Cole is a 2nd Grade Star!

Cole had a terrific week as our star student! His science experiment showed us the difference between diluted and concentrated liquids as he placed a piece of cloth in two cups of water with the same number of drops of blue food coloring. One cup was only half full. Can you guess how the cloths looked when we took them out of the cups at the end of the experiment? Cole also read us a cute story about an "ELf on a Shelf!" It was so much fun having Mrs. Cacini as our special guest for all of the fun. We are so lucky to have a fun, playful, hard-working student like Cole in our class!!

Math!

We continue to practice our addition math facts! Many of the children have successfully completed 100 problems in 5 minutes, and are now at 4, 3, and even 2 minutes! If your child is still working to complete their 100 problem test in a 5 minute time period, please spend a few minutes over the weekend or after school during the week reviewing their facts. We will be moving on to subtraction after the holiday break, and it will help them greatly if they already have their addition facts firmly in place. It will also help them during our daily math lessons, and prepare them for skills that are coming up, too!

We have finished Unit 4 and we've begun Unit 5, which focuses on Geometry. We started off by looking at the attributes that various shapes have. The children looked critically at a number of shapes to determine what they had in common- whether it be their size, shape, color, number of sides, etc. We will move on to also consider the length of sides, number of parallel sides, and "square" or right angles when determining the similarities and differences of these shapes.

Writing

The kids have been taking their journal writing to the next level! Instead of drawing a picture to generate their ideas prior to writing, the kids are now also being encouraged to make a web of ideas. They write the main idea in the center circle, and then add smaller details in the circles that stem from it. We have talked about writing in paragraphs, and the children are beginning to grow more mindful of and comfortable with separating their ideas into paragraphs- beginning with a main idea and indenting! We have also begun evaluating our own writing on a 4 point scale. When the children are given a rubric and know what the expectation is, they are so motivated to do what is asked! We will continue to think in paragraphs as we work through our persuasive writing unit, too!

Grammar

The children practiced action verbs and abbreviations during their grammar lessons this week!

Reading Update

Our whole-group story this week was called, “Head, Body, Legs.” It is a folktale from Liberia. In this story we found that the Head, Body, and Legs were not able to accomplish much without each the help of other. They eventually assembled themselves together, but out of order! When they finally figured out the best way to function as a whole, they were very successful! Through reading this story we were able to identify many examples of cause and effect. We also practiced determining the meaning of unknown words using our context clues. Our vocabulary words from this story as well as our guided reading texts were: attached, breathe, delicious, frantically, gasped, and swung. As we know, there is always a moral to the story in a folktale. When I asked the children what they could learn from this story, I was amazed! I heard, "Never give up." "Work together." "If things don't work one way, try another way." What insightful students I have! :)

Sebastien is a STAR!

Sebastien was our star of the week last week. During his "star" time on Friday, Sebastien shared his landmark challenge project on the Liberty Bell! He and his mom performed an experiment with the kids that involved static electricity and running water. For his experiment, each of the kids received a brand new comb. After combing their own hair several times with this comb, the kids took turns holding it near the running water in our classroom sink. The water was attracted to the electricity on the comb! It was such a neat experiment, you have to try it out at home! With Sebastien's mom and a special visitor- Sebastien's grandma!- we looked through all of Sebastien's pictures (we saw birthday party pictures, a picture of a giant delicious cake, karate, and vacations!) and we shared why we think he is a super star second grader. We are so lucky to have such a lively, happy, eager learner in our class!

Landmark Challenge Photos

Landmark Challenge Projects

The kids absolutely AMAZED me with their landmark challenge projects this week! Do you know that EVERY SINGLE STUDENT in our class accepted this challenge and completed a project?! The kids brought in models of the landmark that they studied (of clay, styrofoam, legos, craft sticks, and more), they also made posters, books, shoebox dioramas, and even talking landmarks on the computer! I am so impressed with the hard work and deep learning that the children did at home with their families on these projects. After seeing all of these outstanding pieces of work come in this week, I quickly decided that we needed to show off this hard work even further than our classroom presentations. We set up our desks and projects in a "science fair" type of set up, and we invited a first grade class to come in to learn about our landmarks, too! Mrs. Glaser brought in her 1st graders and they moved from project to project listening to all of the exciting facts that our 2nd graders learned and shared with them. Mrs. Sessler came in to see all of their hard work too! She couldn't believe the work that 2nd graders had done! I couldn't be more proud of my class! Way to go, kids!! I am currently assembling my pictures so I can share them with you! Stay tuned!

Writing

During our letter writing unit, the children were exposed to a huge range of letters! We practiced writing friendly letters, thank- you notes, an email message, and a business letter to name the highlights! The children wrote fictional business letters to a company letting this week, letting them know that there were missing pieces in a board game they recently purchased. They made sure to address the problem, and then suggest a possible solution to the problem in their letter. They did such a good job on these letters! They will go home next week. We are going to be focusing on persuasive writing in our next unit!

Reading Update

Being a review week in our reading series this week, we did not have a formal spelling list. The children were very excited, however, to choose their own words! I again was impressed with the authentic- and challenging- high frequency or high interest words they decided to practice. I noticed throughout the week that the children were very motivated to practice these words that they had chosen for themselves. I can’t wait to grade the tests this weekend and see how they did! We spent our reading time throughout the week reviewing homophones, antonyms, synonyms, and similes. The children practiced comprehension strategies and fluency, and guided reading groups met as well. The children took their (lengthy!) assessment on Friday, and next week we will begin Unit 3!

Math Update

We continued to work on “start, change, end” story problems this week. After reading the story problem, the children first decided if it was a “change to less” problem, or a “change to more” (addition vs. subtraction.) We reinforced the start, change, end, concept looking at the changes in temperature on a variety of thermometers. The children counted up, they counted back, and some preferred to use the hundreds chart to help them find the correct answer. We went on to talk about what it means to estimate, and we practiced either rounding UP or rounding DOWN based on the digit in the ones place. We noticed it is easy to add numbers that end in 0, and the children learned to round up those numbers with a five or greater in the ones place, and round down if the number is 4 or less. We estimated the cost of a variety of items, and the children were then asked to decide if they could purchase a random combination of items for $1.00- using on the estimating skills we practiced. The children did a nice job with their first time working on this concept!

We are THANKFUL!

As Thanksgiving approaches, the children reflected on all of the gifts they have to truly be thankful for. Tracing their hand/wrist as a tree trunk, they wrote down each of their ideas on a leaf for their tree. These are in the hall for you to see when you pop in for your conference on Monday or Tuesday. I wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving!

Landmark Challenge Projects

Don't forget that the Landmark Challenge Projects are due on Monday, November 26th! Have fun finishing up your projects with your families this week. Make sure to practice in front of an audience! :) We have learned SO much during our citizenship unit! We learned about the United States flag, a number of American symbols, the history behind our national anthem- "The Star Spangled Banner," the election process, important US presidents, the local and national government, and all about our nation's capital, Washington D.C.! The landmark projects will be such a fun way to hear the children's voices about an important person or symbolic structure in our country, and bring our unit to a close.

Mick is a SUPER star!

Mick had a stellar week at school! He was our line leader, he demonstrated a fascinating experiment about hot/cold temperatures, and he happens to be celebrating his birthday TODAY! Happy birthday, Mick! We are so fortunate to have such a kind, caring, playful, and hardworking boy in our class! Enjoy your special day today!

Math Update

The children took their Unit 3 assessment, and we jumped right in to Unit 4. Unit 4 focuses on addition and subtraction. We began the unit by completing “Change to More” number stories. The children also practiced "parts and total" number stories as well as reading temperature on the thermometer. After break we will begin: calculating temperature changes, estimating, and adding 2 and 3 digit numbers!

The children have spent some time this week learning about HOMOPHONES. Homophones are words that sound alike, but have different spelling and meaning. (Ex: to, too, two; by, buy; sword, soared). We read a cute story called "The King Who Rained" to further develop this concept. It's important for us to choose the correct homophone to use in our writing. The children are now on a constant look-out for homophones!

In Grammar, we continued to work with apostrophes this week! The children reinforced what they learned last week: ‘s is added to a singular noun who “possesses” something, s’ is added to a plural noun who “possesses” something, and sometimes, the letter s is used to make a noun plural, or more than one!

Reading Update

Our main story this week was a realistic fiction piece called, “There’s Nothing Like Baseball.” We practiced making inferences again to build our understanding of the story. We remembered that when we make an inference, we mix a little about what we read with a little about what we know to determine what the author is intending for us to understand. Our new vocabulary words that popped up all week included: imaginary, uniform, practices, starting, tryouts, and coach! Next week is our "Week 6" or review week in Treasures. We will be reviewing the concepts and skills that have been covered throughout this unit, and the children will be taking their unit assessment at the end of the week.

Why your child needs to read EVERY night! Something to think about! :)

Welcome, Mayor Mulder!

We were so fortunate to have a visit on Friday from the mayor of Arlington Heights, Arlene Mulder! She brought to life so many topics that we have been learning about during our citizenship lessons. Mayor Mulder talked about voting and campaigning, she talked about her trustees that assist and support her, she told us how she has worked for the last 20 years to make decisions that will benefit the people of Arlington Heights. She even told us about the United States Presidents she has worked and met with- including George Bush, first lady Hilary Clinton, and Barack Obama. Her final term as mayor ends in 5 months, and a new mayor will be elected to fill such an important role in our town. The children enjoyed meeting Mayor Mulder!

Our Class Election!

Our election is over! The children voted on Monday for their new (mythical) class mayor. They were to choose between Candidate 1: Silly Sally. Platform: Fun and Games OR Candidate 2) Fair Frank. Platform: Balance of learning, structure and fun. The children approached the classroom voting booth one at a time with their voter's registration card in hand. They filled out a secret ballot, and dropped it into the ballot box. They proudly wore an "I VOTED!" button for the rest of the day! Once all of the votes were in, we tallied up the results. 5 children voted for Silly Sally. 9 voted for Fair Frank! Great choice, class! I think the children demonstrated a wonderful understanding of the voting process during our mock election. We quickly had Fair Frank (Luca) raise his right hand and promise to do a good job in his new position, making fair decisions for all. Our inauguration (the final stage- was complete! We will be sure to keep an eye out for our President's inauguration, which is coming up on January 20.

Math Update

We worked with frames and arrows with two rules this week! The children were very successful incorporating this added component into their math practice! We also reviewed making change. The children practiced counting up from the cost of the item- to the amount paid- in order to find their change. We also practiced identifying more than one way to make change. You never know which coins you will be getting back! We used the hundreds chart to assist us with this practice. We are nearing the end of Unit 3 and our assessment will be approaching next week!

Grammar Update

The children were exposed to possessive nouns this week. We learned that when a singular noun “possesses” something, we add and 's to the end. When a plural noun possesses something, we add an apostrophe to the end! (s') We had to really think about what to do in the case of irregular plurals, including “mice,” “children,” and “geese!” (We added ‘s to these!)

Reading Update

Our main selection this week was entitled, “Farfallina & Marcel,” a warm story about an unlikely pair of friends, a caterpillar and a duck. We talked about how these two types of animals grow and change in different ways- the caterpillar goes through the metamorphosis process and changes entirely, while the duck simply grows larger in size until it reaches maturity. While reading this story, the children learned how to make inferences to build their comprehension. We learned that an inference is a good guess about something that happened in the story that the author doesn’t specifically tell us. We broke down this process into steps. First, we think about something that we read in the text. Then, we think about information we already know about it. Last, we put the two together and think about a likely outcome based on these two things. For example, we READ that Farfallina was up in the tree, wrapped in silk. We KNOW that caterpillars create a chrysalis in order to go through their metamorphic change. Therefore we were able to INFER that Farfallina would soon be a butterfly! As we continued reading, we were able to confirm that we were correct! Making inferences can be a challenging skill, but breaking it down into steps this way seemed to be very helpful for the children. Vocabulary words we noticed in this story include: fluttered, recognized, snuggled, vanished, peered, and giggled. We noticed that all of these words are verbs, and they are all in the past tense!

Samantha is a Star!

It was Samantha's week to sparkle! She and her mom showed us a really neat experiment that proved to us that dark colors absorb light, while light colors reflect light. They aimed a heat lamp on a black and a white piece of paper with a thermometer under each one. Sure enough, the temperature underneath the black piece of paper increased by 24 degrees celsius, while the temperature under the white paper only increased by 9! Mrs. Patterson brought in a bunch of interesting artwork to show us that Samantha has been creating at home. What an amazing artist and a great imagination! Finally, Samantha read an adorable story about a Centipede and his shoes to her classmates. We are so lucky to have such a unique and creative girl in our class this year!

Halloween went by in a flash!

The kids had a week full of fun! As soon as their musical was over, it was time to celebrate Halloween! They looked great in their costumes, and had so much fun showing them off during our parade through the neighborhood! They especially enjoyed the Halloween party afterward in our classroom. Thank you to Mrs. Strimling, Mrs. Ninness, Mrs. Kirk, and Mary Lee for coming in to help arrange all of the fun! Thank you to Mrs. Rosenberg, Mrs. Repple, Mrs. Katsogianos, and Mr. Delea for your contributions to the party. The kids enjoyed a spooky cupcake, candy, and delicious red apples- along with some tasty juice! They played a mummy wrap game, ran in a relay race, and completed a Halloween word search, too. The children had so much fun, thank you for all of your help!

2nd Grade Performers!

The children did a terrific job in their 2nd grade musical on Tuesday! Adam made an outstanding news reporter, Gianna and Leilani showed off their dance moves, and the rest of the class sang their little hearts out! Everyone had so much fun! I am so proud of my students!

Math Update

The children practiced creating a number using ones, tens, and hundreds cubes. They enhanced the concept by finding multiple ways to show the number by breaking the tens “rods” into ones. This skill is laying the foundation for “borrowing” and “carrying,” also known as “trading” in addition and subtraction.

We also practiced gathering data as we counted our pockets during class. The children recorded our class data with tally marks on a table in their math journals, and they drew a bar graph and picture graph to show the number of pockets of the children in our class. They were easily able to determine which number was the most common. We then stood up and sorted ourselves in order according to the number of pockets we had- starting with the lowest number (O) up to the highest number (6)! We noticed that our range was 6 pockets. The children on either end of the line sat down little by little until we were left with one student in the middle. It was Joe! He had 2 pockets. We learned that the MEDIAN, or average, number of pockets in our class was 2!

Grammar Update

The children learned about proper nouns this week! With solid practice of nouns already under our belts, the children were quickly able to identify the specific names of nouns! We made sure that they were all CAPITALIZED! We also worked on identifying abbreviations such as Dr., Mr., Mrs., and Ms. We noticed that there is a period at the end of each one.

Reading Update

We had a nonfiction theme this week, as our whole group reading selection was entitled, “A Trip to the Emergency Room.” We learned that stories are written in a sequential order that makes it easy for the reader to understand and follow. Often, “order” words are used to highlight the steps, including first, next and last. The children practiced summarizing the text in this way: First, a sick person goes to the Emergency Room and is checked in by an Admissions Worker. Next, a nurse collects more information about your injury. Then, an orderly will come and take you to have tests run. Last, a doctor reviews the results and informs you about your situation! You can see that our comprehension skill of the week was sequencing! The children also worked to pull out key information from the text when summarizing, instead of simply repeating everything they can remember! Sometimes, less is more! Our vocabulary words included: broken, informs, personal, serious, and heal.

The children also learned about the literary element of SIMILES. We now know that a simile is used colorfully to compare two things, using the words “like,” or “as.” Some examples we talked about include: “I am as hungry as a bear!” or “We are as busy as bees.” The children listened to a story called, "My Dog is as Smelly as Dirty Socks!" and then they went on to think of as many similes as they could that describe a number of characteristics (silly, slow, fast, strong, etc.) before making and illustrating their own!