The latest news!

It was another busy and fun-filled week for the 2nd graders in 2-2! Read up on all of the action in our classroom below! Before you do that, let me first say thank you for getting all of those field trip permission slips in so promptly! We are looking forward to our field trip to the Arlington Heights Police Department on Wednesday morning! Please dress your child for the weather- it is a walking trip, and it looks like there might be a chance of rain on Wednesday...

Thank you also for sending in your conference request forms promptly! We have a staff meeting scheduled for Tuesday morning during which all of the teachers and specialists in our building sit down to create our conference schedules together. We do our best to honor your requested time of day, to include all of the teachers/specialists who work with your child, as well as to plan those meetings back-to-back with the conferences of the other children in your family. It's not an easy task, so we definitely appreciate your flexibility! Your scheduled time for our November conference will go home in backpack mail on Tuesday.

• There was a “Hard Lock Down" Drill at school on Tuesday afternoon, reminding us of what to do in case of a security situation. The children were reminded that in a situation like this, they are to find the nearest secured location, stay quiet, and listen to their teachers for further directions. They did a great job during this practice!

• In reading this week, our whole group story was called, “A Harbor Seal Pup Grows Up.” It was about a young seal that is unintentionally abandoned by its mother as she waits on the beach for her mother to return with food. Sidney is rescued, helped, and released back into the ocean. New vocabulary words from this selection include: examines, hunger, mammal, normal, rescued, and young. The comprehension strategy we focused on was summarizing. The children sequenced the key events found in the beginning, middle, and end of the story. 

• The children also learned about the literary element of SIMILES.  We now know that a simile is used to colorfully compare to things, using the words “like,” or “as.” Some examples we talked about include: “My cat is as fluffy as a cotton ball” or “2nd graders are as busy as bees.”  We read a poem called The Puppy which gave us the opportunity to find similes in print. The children also listened to a book called My Dog is as Smelly as a Sock to further deepen their understanding. See a few of the children's similes below!

• We reviewed that nouns are people, places and things. The children went on to learn how to make “regular” nouns plural by simply adding ‘s’ or ‘es.’  We noticed that in order to make words that end with y plural, we “change the y to an i and add ‘es!’  We went on to identify those irregular nouns that change entirely in order to make them plural. Ex: child–children, mouse-mice. We also reviewed capitalization and the use of commas in a list and in a friendly letter.

• In math, we learned how to gather, sort, and analyze data. First the children counted each of their pockets during class. Next we recorded their data with tally marks in a frequency table and drew a bar graph and a picture graph based on this data. We also found the “middle” number in the data set, also known as the median.  (We found the median by having everyone line up in order by their number of pockets from big to small. The child at each end of the line sat down until we only had one child left in the middle. Can you guess what the median (or average) number of pockets was in our class? The range was between 0 and 7! Ask your child! :) 

• The children also solved Frames and Arrows problems using two rules. As we grow more comfortable with this concept, we found it was helpful to label the arrows before completing the problem.

• We also practiced making change from a given amount! Our hundreds charts came in very handy as we started with the COST of the item, and then counted up to the amount we PAID in order to find the change! Thank you for helping reinforce this skill on the children's math homework this week! They did a great job.

• We have begun learning about the meaning of citizenship! During this unit, the children will learn about the government at the local, state, and national levels. We will discuss taxes and government services that are provided in a community. The children will think about the qualities of a good leader and learn about the election process through a mock election in our classroom. The children have been assigned a president to study in the LMC, too! They were exposed two websites this week which they used to conduct their research: "Pebble Go" and "Facts4Me." They are learning some fascinating information about past (and current) leaders that were elected to lead our country!  Coming up, the children will learn the meaning behind the Pledge of Allegiance and the Star Spangled Banner.  They will also learn about various landmarks, memorials and monuments throughout our country!

 We wrapped up our week with an awesome star student presentation from our super star second grader, Kelly. Mr. and Mrs. Robinson visited our class to assist Kelly with an amazing experiment using dry ice and bubbles! The kids were fascinated to learn a little about how dry ice works. They were also able to see a side-by-side comparison of dry ice vs. regular ice in two containers that Kelly brought in with her yesterday morning! They both melted, but the dry ice evaporated completely! The children loved watching Kelly's experiment bubble, steam, grow, and change right before their eyes! What a neat experience! 

We are so fortunate to have such a sweet, caring, imaginative, creative, and hard working girl in our class this year! You had a fabulous week, Kelly!