Class News 12/1/2023

 

Upcoming Events

12/7 - Field trip to Stevenson High School

12/13 - Unit 4 math assessments

12/13 - Santa Shop (shopping day)

12/15 - Half day for students

12/18 - No school for students

12/25 - 1/5 - Winter break

 

Caring School Community (CSC)

This week we: 

• Did a tea party greeting.

• We talked about how we are alike and different.

 

7 Habits for Happy Kids

We are learning about and practicing seven habits (life skills) that can help us live happy, productive lives.

Here are the habits we have learned so far this year:

• Be proactive – This habit is essentially about taking initiative with things you know you need to do, and not waiting for someone to tell you to do them. 

• Begin with the end in mind – This habit is about having a plan for what you want to accomplish, and focusing on the plan.

• Put first things first – This habit is about working first, then playing.

We will learn about these habits later in the year: 

• Think win-win – This habit is about finding ways for everyone to be happy.

• Seek first to understand – This habit is about listening first, before you speak. 

• Synergize - This habit is about working together.

• Sharpen the saw - This habit is about taking care of yourself.

 

Community with Character - Character Traits

We are learning about and working to develop character traits that can help us to be successful and do our best learning.

The character trait focus for the month of November is Responsibility.

Here are the character traits we already focused on this year.

• Growth Mindset

• Respect

We will focus on these character traits later in the year: 

• Mindfulness

• Grit

• Confidence

• Integrity

• Empathy

• Reflection

 

Orton Gillingham Phonics (OG Phonics)

This week’s focus: 

• 3 Great Rules: double as in clapping
  
  

Prior focus areas: 

• 3 letter blends (“Scr” as in scream, “Shr” as in shrimp, “Spl” as in splash, “Spr” as in spring, “Squ” as in squid, “Str” as in street, “Thr” as in thread)

• Schwa as in bacon, boa, apartment

• Bossy r: er as in germ

• Bossy r: ir as in shirt

• Bossy r: ur as in surf

• Oi, oy as in oil and boy

• Ou, ow as in out and cow

• Igh as in night

 

English Language Arts (ELA) - Science:  Earth’s Systems

• The big questions for this unit are “How does the Earth Change?” and “How does where we live affect how we live?”

• This week:

  • We did an experiment to learn about erosion.

  • We identified cause and effect relationships.

  • We learned about different solutions for erosion.

  • We modeled one way that a mountain can form using a Milky Way candy bar.

 

Math  

Focus: Unit 4 Place Value and Measurement

 

This week:

• Learned about a.m. and p.m.

• Learned more about place value.  Place value tells the value of digits based upon which place they are in.

  • Ex.  153 has 1 in the hundreds place, 5 in the tens place, and 3 in the ones place.  The value of the digit “5” in the number 153 is 50 because the “5” is in the tens place.

• Learned about expanded form.  Expanded form tells the value of each of the digits in a number.

  • Ex.  153 = 100 + 50 + 3

• We completed another Problem Solving task.  We used the CUBS strategy.

  • C = circle the numbers and labels

  • U = underline the question

  • B = box the math terms (words that help you understand if you are adding or subtracting, etc.)

  • S = solve the problem

 

 

Link to Second Grade End of the Year Standards (Click here for the link.) 

https://www.livoniapublicschools.org/Page/10857 

 

Link to Resources for Home (Click here for the link.) 

https://www.livoniapublicschools.org/Page/10859 

 

Have a wonderful weekend!

Class News 11/21/2023

 

Upcoming Events

11/22-11/24 - Thanksgiving break (no school)

11/29 - Scholastic book orders due

12/1 - Stevenson High School Field trip permission slip due

12/1 - Community service project baked goods donations due (See ELA section below for more information.)

12/7 - Field trip to Stevenson High School

12/13 - Santa Shop (shopping day)

12/15 - Half day for students

12/18 - No school for students

12/25 - 1/5 - Winter break

 

Caring School Community (CSC)

This week: 

• We did a smile and wave greeting.

• We reviewed how we are safe, kind, and responsible at school.

• We reviewed our classroom expectations. 

 

7 Habits for Happy Kids

We are learning about and practicing seven habits (life skills) that can help us live happy, productive lives.

Here are the habits we have learned so far this year:

• Be proactive – This habit is essentially about taking initiative with things you know you need to do, and not waiting for someone to tell you to do them. 

• Begin with the end in mind – This habit is about having a plan for what you want to accomplish, and focusing on the plan.

• Put first things first – This habit is about working first, then playing.

We will learn about these habits later in the year: 

• Think win-win – This habit is about finding ways for everyone to be happy.

• Seek first to understand – This habit is about listening first, before you speak. 

• Synergize - This habit is about working together.

• Sharpen the saw - This habit is about taking care of yourself.

 

Community with Character - Character Traits

We are learning about and working to develop character traits that can help us to be successful and do our best learning.

The character trait focus for the month of November is Responsibility.

• We are focusing on being responsible with our things.  

  • For example:

    • Bringing our green Daily Folder to school each day.

    • Completing homelink pages and returning the homelink booklet to school.

    • Moving our attendance sticks to indicate our lunch plans.

Here are the character traits we already focused on this year.

• Growth Mindset

• Respect

We will focus on these character traits later in the year: 

• Mindfulness

• Grit

• Confidence

• Integrity

• Empathy

• Reflection

 

Orton Gillingham Phonics (OG Phonics)

This week’s focus: 

• Concept review and practice
  
  

Prior focus areas: 

• 3 letter blends (“Scr” as in scream, “Shr” as in shrimp, “Spl” as in splash, “Spr” as in spring, “Squ” as in squid, “Str” as in street, “Thr” as in thread)

• Schwa as in bacon, boa, apartment

• Bossy r: er as in germ

• Bossy r: ir as in shirt

• Bossy r: ur as in surf

• Oi, oy as in oil and boy

• Ou, ow as in out and cow

• Igh as in night

 

English Language Arts (ELA) - Social Studies:  Civics

• The big question for this unit is “How does the local government help the community?”

• This week:

  • We shared problems that students see in our community.

  • We brainstormed ways we can help to solve the problems we see in our community.

• We are planning a community service project to give back to local community helpers.  We are collecting baked goods.  Please sign up to help if you can.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080E4DA9AA29A57-46059430-community#/

 

Math  

Focus: Unit 4 Place Value and Measurement

 

This week:

• We determined the time on traditional clocks (clocks with hands).  

  • Telling time is a challenging concept for many students.  They especially struggle with identifying the hour when the hour hand is between two of the large numbers.  For example, 1:15.

    • Extra practice at home would be beneficial in further developing this skill.

  • Students are bringing home a paper practice clock to use at home.

  • We set the hands to show a given time on traditional clocks.  

 

Link to Second Grade End of the Year Standards (Click here for the link.) 

https://www.livoniapublicschools.org/Page/10857 

 

Link to Resources for Home (Click here for the link.) 

https://www.livoniapublicschools.org/Page/10859 

 

Happy Thanksgiving! 

 

Class News 11/17/2023

 

Upcoming Events

11/22-11/24 - Thanksgiving break (no school)

11/29 - Scholastic book orders due

12/1 - Community service project baked goods donations due (See ELA section below for more information.)

12/13 - Santa Shop (shopping day)

12/15 - Half day for students

12/18 - No school for students

12/25 - 1/5 - Winter break

 

Caring School Community (CSC)

This week we:

• Did a curtsy/bow greeting.

• We talked about what respect is and thought of examples of being respectful at school.

• We talked about how we feel when people are respectful to us in the classroom.

• We identified respectful and not respectful behavior in stories that we read.

• We shared our Caring School Community homework with our talking partners.

 

7 Habits for Happy Kids

We are learning about and practicing seven habits (life skills) that can help us live happy, productive lives.

Here are the habits we have learned so far this year:

• Be proactive – This habit is essentially about taking initiative with things you know you need to do, and not waiting for someone to tell you to do them. 

• Begin with the end in mind – This habit is about having a plan for what you want to accomplish, and focusing on the plan.

• Put first things first – This habit is about working first, then playing.

We will learn about these habits later in the year: 

• Think win-win – This habit is about finding ways for everyone to be happy.

• Seek first to understand – This habit is about listening first, before you speak. 

• Synergize - This habit is about working together.

• Sharpen the saw - This habit is about taking care of yourself.

 

Community with Character - Character Traits

We are learning about and working to develop character traits that can help us to be successful and do our best learning.

The character trait focus for the month of November is Responsibility.

Here are the character traits we already focused on this year.

• Growth Mindset

• Respect

We will focus on these character traits later in the year: 

• Mindfulness

• Grit

• Confidence

• Integrity

• Empathy

• Reflection

 

Orton Gillingham Phonics (OG Phonics)

This week’s focus: 

• Igh as in night
  
  

Prior focus areas: 

• 3 letter blends (“Scr” as in scream, “Shr” as in shrimp, “Spl” as in splash, “Spr” as in spring, “Squ” as in squid, “Str” as in street, “Thr” as in thread)

• Schwa as in bacon, boa, apartment

• Bossy r: er as in germ

• Bossy r: ir as in shirt

• Bossy r: ur as in surf

• Oi, oy as in oil and boy

• Ou, ow as in out and cow

 

English Language Arts (ELA) - Social Studies:  Civics

• The big question for this unit is “How does the local government help the community?”

• This week:

  • We learned about the mayor’s job.

  • We wrote an informational paragraph.

  • We did a performance task.  Students wrote an informational piece answering our big question, “How does the local government help the community?”  They included facts from what they learned during our unit of study.

  • We had a visit from a police officer.  She talked to us about how she works to help the community, answered student questions, and let us check out her police car!

  • We had a visit from a fireman.  He talked to us about how he works to help the community, showed us his fire gear, and let us check out a firetruck!

• We are planning a community service project to give back to local community helpers.  We are collecting baked goods.  Please sign up to help if you can.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080E4DA9AA29A57-46059430-community#/

 

Math  

Focus: Unit 3 More Fact Strategies

 

This week:

• We tiled surfaces with squares.

• We wrote fact families.

• We counted coins (quarters, dimes, nickels, pennies, and combinations of coins).

• We took the unit 3 assessments.

  • Look for the assessments to come home next week.

• We completed another Problem Solving task.  We used the CUBS strategy.

  • C = circle the numbers and labels

  • U = underline the question

  • B = box the math terms (words that help you understand if you are adding or subtracting, etc.)

  • S = solve the problem

 

 

Link to Second Grade End of the Year Standards (Click here for the link.) 

https://www.livoniapublicschools.org/Page/10857 

 

Link to Resources for Home (Click here for the link.) 

https://www.livoniapublicschools.org/Page/10859 

 

Have a wonderful weekend! 

 

Class News 11/10/2023

 

Upcoming Events

11/14, 7 p.m. - PTA meeting

11/15 - Unit 3 math assessments

11/22-11/24 - Thanksgiving break (no school)

12/15 - Half day for students

12/18 - No school for students

12/25 - 1/5 - Winter break

 

Caring School Community (CSC)

This week we:

• Did a butterfly greeting.

• We learned more about how to be respectful in the classroom.

• We shared our Caring School Community homework with our talking partners.

 

7 Habits for Happy Kids

We are learning about and practicing seven habits (life skills) that can help us live happy, productive lives.

Here are the habits we have learned so far this year:

• Be proactive – This habit is essentially about taking initiative with things you know you need to do, and not waiting for someone to tell you to do them. 

• Begin with the end in mind – This habit is about having a plan for what you want to accomplish, and focusing on the plan.

• Put first things first – This habit is about working first, then playing.

We will learn about these habits later in the year: 

• Think win-win – This habit is about finding ways for everyone to be happy.

• Seek first to understand – This habit is about listening first, before you speak. 

• Synergize - This habit is about working together.

• Sharpen the saw - This habit is about taking care of yourself.

 

Community with Character - Character Traits

We are learning about and working to develop character traits that can help us to be successful and do our best learning.

The character trait focus for the month of November is Responsibility.

Here are the character traits we already focused on this year.

• Growth Mindset

• Respect

We will focus on these character traits later in the year: 

• Mindfulness

• Grit

• Confidence

• Integrity

• Empathy

• Reflection

 

Project Lead the Way Wish List

 

Project Lead the Way is looking for some items for student activities.  Please see the note attached to the 11/10/23 email.  Thank you for any help you can provide.

 

Orton Gillingham Phonics (OG Phonics)

This week’s focus: 

• Ou, ow as in out and cow
  
  

Prior focus areas: 

• 3 letter blends (“Scr” as in scream, “Shr” as in shrimp, “Spl” as in splash, “Spr” as in spring, “Squ” as in squid, “Str” as in street, “Thr” as in thread)

• Schwa as in bacon, boa, apartment

• Bossy r: er as in germ

• Bossy r: ir as in shirt

• Bossy r: ur as in surf

• Oi, oy as in oil and boy

 

English Language Arts (ELA) - Social Studies:  Civics

• The big question for this unit is “How does the local government help the community?”

• This week:

  • We learned about individual rights and common good.

  • We learned about services provided by the local government.

  • We learned how the local government is organized.

  • We identified the main idea and supporting details as we read texts this week. 

  • We wrote an informational paragraph.

 

 

Math  

Focus: Unit 3 More Fact Strategies

 

This week:

• We learned the Doubles strategies for solving subtraction problems.  Here is how it works.

  • 13 - 6 = ?

    • We know that 6 + 6 = 12.  So, 12 - 6 = 6.  Therefore, 13 - 6 = 7.

• We learned the Going Up through Ten and Going Back through Ten strategies for solving subtraction problems.  Here is how they work.

  • 15 - 6 = ?

    • Going Up through Ten

      • First, add to get to ten.  6 + 4 = 10 

      • Then, add the rest. 10 + 5 = 15

      • 6 + 4 + 5 = 15.  So 15 - 6 = 9 (4 + 5).

    • Going Back through Ten

      • First, subtract to get to ten.  15 - 5 = 10 

      • Then, subtract the rest. 10 - 1 = 9

      • 15 - 5 - 1 = 9.  

• We completed another Problem Solving task.  We used the CUBS strategy.

  • C = circle the numbers and labels

  • U = underline the question

  • B = box the math terms (words that help you understand if you are adding or subtracting, etc.)

  • S = solve the problem

 

 

Link to Second Grade End of the Year Standards (Click here for the link.) 

https://www.livoniapublicschools.org/Page/10857 

 

Link to Resources for Home (Click here for the link.) 

https://www.livoniapublicschools.org/Page/10859 

 

Have a wonderful weekend! 

 

Class News 11/3/2023

 

Upcoming Events

11/7 - No school for students

11/14, 7 p.m. - PTA meeting

11/15 - Unit 3 math assessments

11/22-11/24 - Thanksgiving break (no school)

 

Sweater or Sweatshirt for School - Repeated from previous week.

Our classroom temperature can sometimes be a little chilly.  Please consider sending a light sweater or sweatshirt for your child to wear when this happens.  He/she may keep the sweater or sweatshirt in his/her locker.  Thank you!

 

Classroom Celebration (10/31/23)

Students enjoyed our Halloween celebration.  Thank you for donating items and your time to help us celebrate!

 

Caring School Community (CSC)

This week we:

• Continued to get to know our classmates.

• Did a gentle high five greeting.

• We learned that we can use our hands to be helpful when working with a partner.

• We continued to practice being a good partner when we worked together.  

• We shared our Caring School Community homework with our talking partners.

 

7 Habits for Happy Kids

We are learning about and practicing seven habits (life skills) that can help us live happy, productive lives.

Here are the habits we have learned so far this year:

• Be proactive – This habit is essentially about taking initiative with things you know you need to do, and not waiting for someone to tell you to do them. 

• Begin with the end in mind – This habit is about having a plan for what you want to accomplish, and focusing on the plan.

We will learn about these habits later in the year: 

• Put first things first – This habit is about working first, then playing.

• Think win-win – This habit is about finding ways for everyone to be happy.

• Seek first to understand – This habit is about listening first, before you speak. 

• Synergize - This habit is about working together.

• Sharpen the saw - This habit is about taking care of yourself.

 

Orton Gillingham Phonics (OG Phonics)

This week’s focus: 

• Oi, oy as in oil and boy
  
  

Prior focus areas: 

• 3 letter blends (“Scr” as in scream, “Shr” as in shrimp, “Spl” as in splash, “Spr” as in spring, “Squ” as in squid, “Str” as in street, “Thr” as in thread)

• Schwa as in bacon, boa, apartment

• Bossy r: er as in germ

• Bossy r: ir as in shirt

• Bossy r: ur as in surf

 

English Language Arts (ELA) - Social Studies:  Civics

• The big question for this unit is “How does the local government help the community?”

• This week:

  • We learned about rules and laws.

  • We learned communities have rules and laws to help people stay safe and get along.

  • We identified the main idea and supporting details as we read texts this week. 

 

Math  

Focus: Unit 3 More Fact Strategies

 

This week:

• We learned the Counting Up and Counting Back strategies for solving subtraction problems.  Here is how they work.

  • 10 - 7 = ?

    • Since the number we are subtracting is close to the starting number, we should use the counting up strategy.  We put 7 in our head, and count up to 10.  “8, 9, 10” is three counts, so 10 - 7 = 3.

  • 10 - 3 = ?

    • Since the number we are subtracting is far away from the starting number, we should use the counting back strategy.  We put 10 in our head, and count back 3 times.  “ 9, 8, 7,” so 10 - 3 = 7.

• We played a fun math facts game called Salute!

  • One person is the dealer, and two people are the players. 

  • Here is how the game is played.

    • The dealer puts a number (0-10) on each person’s forehead.

    • The dealer tells the two players the sum of the two numbers.

    • Each player guesses what number is on his/her forehead.

• We completed another Problem Solving task.  We used the CUBS strategy.

  • C = circle the numbers and labels

  • U = underline the question

  • B = box the math terms (words that help you understand if you are adding or subtracting, etc.)

  • S = solve the problem

 

 

Link to Second Grade End of the Year Standards (Click here for the link.) 

https://www.livoniapublicschools.org/Page/10857 

 

Link to Resources for Home (Click here for the link.) 

https://www.livoniapublicschools.org/Page/10859 

 

Have a wonderful weekend! 

 

Class News 10/27/2023

 

Upcoming Events

10/31, 2:15 p.m. - Class party

10/31, 3 p.m. - Grades 1-4 Halloween parade 

11/7 - No school for students

11/14, 7 p.m. - PTA meeting

11/22-11/24 - Thanksgiving break (no school)

 

Sweater or Sweatshirt for School

Our classroom temperature can sometimes be a little chilly.  Please consider sending a light sweater or sweatshirt for your child to wear when this happens.  He/she may keep the sweater or sweatshirt in his/her locker.  Thank you!

 

Classroom Celebration (10/31/23) - Repeated from previous week.

We will have a class celebration on the afternoon of October 31st.  If you can donate items or help out, please sign up.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0D4EAEAC29AA8-45339528-halloween#/

 

Halloween Parade (10/31/23) - Repeated from previous week.

Students may bring a costume to wear for the Halloween parade.  Students need to be able to put on their costumes by themselves.  Students should not bring weapons or masks.  Also, students should not bring makeup.

 

Caring School Community (CSC)

This week we:

• Continued to get to know our classmates.

• Did a “1, 2, Find My Shoe” greeting.

• Students picked up a shoe and looked for clues to determine to whom it belonged.  Then they returned the shoe and greeted the classmate.

• We continued to practice being a good partner when we worked together.  

• We shared our Caring School Community homework with our talking partners.

 

7 Habits for Happy Kids

We are learning about and practicing seven habits (life skills) that can help us live happy, productive lives.

Here are the habits we have learned so far this year:

• Be proactive – This habit is essentially about taking initiative with things you know you need to do, and not waiting for someone to tell you to do them. 

• Begin with the end in mind – This habit is about having a plan for what you want to accomplish, and focusing on the plan.

We will learn about these habits later in the year: 

• Put first things first – This habit is about working first, then playing.

• Think win-win – This habit is about finding ways for everyone to be happy.

• Seek first to understand – This habit is about listening first, before you speak. 

• Synergize - This habit is about working together.

• Sharpen the saw - This habit is about taking care of yourself.

 

Orton Gillingham Phonics (OG Phonics)

This week’s focus: 

• Bossy r: ur as in surf
  
  

Prior focus areas: 

• 3 letter blends (“Scr” as in scream, “Shr” as in shrimp, “Spl” as in splash, “Spr” as in spring, “Squ” as in squid, “Str” as in street, “Thr” as in thread)

• Schwa as in bacon, boa, apartment

• Bossy r: er as in germ

• Bossy r: ir as in shirt

 

English Language Arts (ELA) - Social Studies:  Communities

• The big question for this unit was “How would our lives be different if we lived in a different community?”

• This week:

  • We completed a Performance Task.  Students wrote about how their lives would be different if they lived in an urban community.

  • We took unit assessments.  

 

English Language Arts (ELA) - Integrated Reading and Writing Task

• We read an article and collected facts on a graphic organizer to help us answer a big question about sharks.

• This big question had 2 parts, so we split our facts into two sections.

• We wrote an informational writing piece answering the question, “How do sharks use their body and senses to hunt?”

 

Math  

Focus: Unit 2 Fact Strategies & Unit 3 More Fact Strategies

 

This week:

• We took the unit assessments.

• We began unit 3 lessons.

• We practiced using strategies for solving math facts.

  • Ex.  Make 10, Think Addition, and Fact Families.

  • Is your student practicing solving math facts at home?  One of the second grade standards is that students know addition facts (up to 10 + 10) from memory.  Here are a few ideas for practicing math facts at home.

    • Use flashcards.

    • Roll dice and tell the addition (and subtraction) facts that go with that roll.

      • Ex.  If you roll 5 and 6.

        • 5 + 6 = 11

        • 6 + 5 = 11

        • 11 - 5 = 6

        • 11 - 6 = 5

    • Use an online program such as Xtra Math.

    • Finish math fact practice pages brought home each week.  Take as much time as you need to finish all the problems.  Practice will help students to remember the facts.

• Students received their Unit 3 homelink booklets on Tuesday.  Completing and returning homelink booklets to school has been a challenge for many students.  If this has been a challenge for your child, think of the unit 3 booklet as a “redo.”   Help your child get into the habit of doing homelinks and returning the homelink booklet to school each day.

• We completed another Problem Solving task.  We used the CUBS strategy.

  • C = circle the numbers and labels

  • U = underline the question

  • B = box the math terms (words that help you understand if you are adding or subtracting, etc.)

  • S = solve the problem

 

Reading

• We continued small group reading instruction this week.  

• During independent reading this week, students wrote informational pieces about owls.

 

Link to Second Grade End of the Year Standards (Click here for the link.) 

https://www.livoniapublicschools.org/Page/10857 

 

Link to Resources for Home (Click here for the link.) 

https://www.livoniapublicschools.org/Page/10859 

 

Have a wonderful weekend! 

 

Class News 10/20/2023

 

Upcoming Events

10/23 - Unit 2 math assessments

10/26 - Boo Bash / Trunk or Treat 

10/31, 2:15 p.m. - Class party

10/31, 3 p.m. - Grades 1-4 Halloween parade 

11/7 - No school for students

11/14 - PTA meeting

11/22-11/24 - Thanksgiving break (no school)

 

Classroom Celebration (10/31/23)

We will have a class celebration on the afternoon of October 31st.  If you can donate items or help out, please sign up.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0D4EAEAC29AA8-45339528-halloween#/

 

Halloween Parade (10/31/23)

Students may bring a costume to wear for the Halloween parade.  Students need to be able to put on their costumes by themselves.  Students should not bring weapons or masks.  Also, students should not bring makeup.

 

Caring School Community (CSC)

This week we:

• Continued to get to know our classmates.

• Did a “Good Morning, greeting.  This week we pounded the syllables in our partner’s name.

• We talked about people that work in our school and what these people do.  We have a lot of people that work in our school!  

• We continued to practice being a good partner when we worked together.  

• We shared our Caring School Community homework with our talking partners.

 

7 Habits for Happy Kids

We are learning about and practicing seven habits (life skills) that can help us live happy, productive lives.

Here are the habits we have learned so far this year:

• Be proactive – This habit is essentially about taking initiative with things you know you need to do, and not waiting for someone to tell you to do them. 

• Begin with the end in mind – This habit is about having a plan for what you want to accomplish, and focusing on the plan.

We will learn about these habits later in the year: 

• Put first things first – This habit is about working first, then playing.

• Think win-win – This habit is about finding ways for everyone to be happy.

• Seek first to understand – This habit is about listening first, before you speak. 

• Synergize - This habit is about working together.

• Sharpen the saw - This habit is about taking care of yourself.

 

Orton Gillingham Phonics (OG Phonics)

This week’s focus: 

• Bossy r: ir as in shirt
  
  

Prior focus areas: 

• 3 letter blends (“Scr” as in scream, “Shr” as in shrimp, “Spl” as in splash, “Spr” as in spring, “Squ” as in squid, “Str” as in street, “Thr” as in thread)

• Schwa as in bacon, boa, apartment

• Bossy r: er as in germ

 

English Language Arts (ELA) - Social Studies:  Communities

• The big question for this unit is “How would our lives be different if we lived in a different community?”

• This week:

  • We read Amelia’s Road and talked about where Amelia lived (urban, suburban, or rural community).

  • We talked about the central message in stories.

  • We talked about the different kinds of character conflicts.

    • Character versus self

    • Character versus character

    • Character versus society 

  • Completed a character analysis web.  This is a graphic organizer that keeps track of a character’s thoughts/behavior at the beginning of the story, the conflict, the character’s responses to the conflict, and the character’s thoughts/behavior at the end of the story.

  • Read stories and looked for clues about what type of community the characters lived in.

 

Math  

Focus: Unit 2 Fact Strategies

 

This week:

• We talked more about odd and even numbers.

• We completed number boxes.  Number boxes include different representations of a number.  For example, 12 can be represented by 11 + 1, 13 - 1, 10 + 2, a dime and 2 pennies, “twelve”, etc.

• We played a game wherein we added and subtracted numbers to get to a target number.  This is a game that students could play at home.  Here is how it is played.

  • Use number cards 0 through 10.

  • Turn over 5 number cards.

  • Turn over 1 number card to be the target number.

  • Add and subtract the numbers on the first 5 number cards to get to the target number.

    • You can use each number card ONE time.

  • Use as many number cards as you can to get to the target number.

  • Ex.  number cards:   2, 7, 3, 1, 5  target number card: 9

    • One possibility is 2 + 7 = 9, however, it only uses 2 cards (the 2 and the 7).

    • Another possibility is 3 + 1 + 5 = 9.  This uses 3 cards (the 3, the 1, and the 5).

    • Another possibility is 5 + 3 + 2 - 1 = 9.  This uses 4 cards (the 5, the 3, the 2, and the 1).

    • Is there a way to use all 5 cards?  Try it!

• We solved frames and arrows.  These are number patterns, such as +2 every time you follow the arrow to the next frame.

• We went over the unit 2 math practice tests.  We will take the unit 2 assessments on Monday.

• We completed another Problem Solving task.  We used the CUBS strategy.

  • C = circle the numbers and labels

  • U = underline the question

  • B = box the math terms (words that help you understand if you are adding or subtracting, etc.)

  • S = solve the problem

 

Reading

• We continued small group reading instruction this week.  

• During independent reading this week, students read books about owls and collected interesting facts.

 

Link to Second Grade End of the Year Standards (Click here for the link.) 

https://www.livoniapublicschools.org/Page/10857 

 

Link to Resources for Home (Click here for the link.) 

https://www.livoniapublicschools.org/Page/10859 

 

Have a wonderful weekend! 

 

Class News 10/13/2023

 

Upcoming Events

10/23 - Unit 2 Math assessments

10/26 - Boo Bash / Trunk or Treat 

11/7 - No school for students

11/22-11/24 - Thanksgiving break (no school)

 

Parent-Teacher Conferences

I enjoyed meeting with you and talking about your child’s progress in second grade.  I hope you found our time together to be beneficial.  If you have any follow up questions, please send me an email.

 

Caring School Community (CSC)

This week we:

• Continued to get to know our classmates.

• Did a “Good Morning, how are you?” greeting.

• We talked about how to agree and disagree respectfully.  

• We continued to practice being a good partner when we worked together.  

• We shared our Caring School Community homework with our talking partners.

 

7 Habits for Happy Kids

We are learning about and practicing seven habits (life skills) that can help us live happy, productive lives.

Here are the habits we have learned so far this year:

• Be proactive – This habit is essentially about taking initiative with things you know you need to do, and not waiting for someone to tell you to do them. 

• Begin with the end in mind – This habit is about having a plan for what you want to accomplish, and focusing on the plan.

We will learn about these habits later in the year: 

• Put first things first – This habit is about working first, then playing.

• Think win-win – This habit is about finding ways for everyone to be happy.

• Seek first to understand – This habit is about listening first, before you speak. 

• Synergize - This habit is about working together.

• Sharpen the saw - This habit is about taking care of yourself.

 

Class Celebration 

Students enjoyed bringing stuffed friends on Friday.  Thank you for helping your child to select an appropriate stuffed friend to bring to school. 

 

Prodigy at Home 

Students enjoy playing Prodigy, especially math.  If your child would like to play this game at home, it is accessible through Clever.  However, when you access from home, you need a teacher code.  Our class code is E011190 (one letter and 6 numbers).

 

Orton Gillingham Phonics (OG Phonics)

This week’s focus: 

• Bossy r: er as in germ
  
  

Prior focus areas: 

• 3 letter blends (“Scr” as in scream, “Shr” as in shrimp, “Spl” as in splash, “Spr” as in spring, “Squ” as in squid, “Str” as in street, “Thr” as in thread)

• Schwa as in bacon, boa, apartment

 

English Language Arts (ELA) - Social Studies:  Communities

• The big question for this unit is “How would our lives be different if we lived in a different community?”

• This week:

  • We made a class chart of the characteristics of urban, suburban, and rural communities.  We used our notes from previous lessons to complete the chart.

  • Read stories and looked for clues about what type of community the characters lived in.

  • We determined the central message/lesson/heart of the story for the stories that we read.  For example, the central message of New Dog in Town was that there are different rules in different kinds of communities.  In the story City Green, the central message was that when people work together, they can get big jobs done.

 

English Language Arts (ELA) - How Spiders Use Their Silk

• Students worked on typing their  final writing piece on a Google slide.  Students did a great job finding the keys on the keyboard and typing their information.

• Spider writing pieces are hanging in the East Commons across from our room.  Hopefully you saw your child’s work when you came for conferences.

 

Math  

Focus: Unit 2 Fact Strategies

 

This week:

• We used the turn around rule to solve addition facts.  For example, you can use 8 + 2 = 10 to help you solve 2 + 8 = 10.

• We learned that the turn around rule doesn't work for subtraction.

• We solved number stories.

• We did math explorations.

• Identified, named, and practiced using strategies for solving math facts.

  • Ex. Doubles, Combinations of 10, Making 10, Near Doubles

• We completed another Problem Solving task.  We used the CUBS strategy.

  • C = circle the numbers and labels

  • U = underline the question

  • B = box the math terms (words that help you understand if you are adding or subtracting, etc.)

  • S = solve the problem

 

Reading

• We continued small group reading instruction this week.  

• Students are becoming more independent with transitioning and completing tasks during independent reading time.  This is great to see!

 

Link to Second Grade End of the Year Standards (Click here for the link.) 

https://www.livoniapublicschools.org/Page/10857 

 

Link to Resources for Home (Click here for the link.) 

https://www.livoniapublicschools.org/Page/10859 

 

Have a wonderful weekend! 

 

 

Class News 10/6/2023

 

Upcoming Events

10/6, 5:30-7:30 p.m. - PTA skate night at Riverside Arena 

10/10 - Picture day

10/10, 7 p.m. -  PTA meeting 

10/11 & 10/12 - Parent-Teacher conferences

10/12 - No school for students

10/13 - Class celebration - bring a small stuffed friend 

10/26 - Boo Bash / Trunk or Treat 

 

School-Wide Information (Repeated from Prior Weeks)

Look for Mrs. Wilson’s Buchanan Blast every Friday.  Each week she sends an email with a link to her weekly newsletter.  This is where you will find important information about school-wide activities and special events.

 

Parent-Teacher Conferences (Repeated from Prior Weeks)

Please sign up for a conference time to meet with me. In person conferences are preferred, but virtual conferences are also available.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0D4EAEAC29AA8-44677751-2023#/

 

Dismissal Emails (Repeated from Prior Weeks)

It is best to send emails regarding changes in dismissal plans by 8:45 a.m. (11:30 a.m. at the latest).  If you are unable to send an email by this time, please contact the office.  They can get a message to us.  Thank you!

 

Caring School Community (CSC)

This week we:

• Continued to get to know our classmates.

• Learned how to do a “Good Morning” greeting.

• We talked about feelings.  Some feelings we like to have at school include happy, excited, and proud.  We also sometimes like to feel surprised.  We talked about ways to change your feelings when you are experiencing another feeling such as feeling sad. 

• We continued to practice being a good partner when we worked together.  

• We shared our Caring School Community homework with our talking partners.

  • Many students are bringing their homework back to school by Friday.  This is great to see!  

  • Unfortunately, some students are not returning their homework to school in time to share.

  • Students are encouraged to bring homework back to school as soon as it is finished.  We are happy to hold onto it until Friday when students share it with their partners.

  • Please help your child complete and return this homework to school no later than Friday of each week.  Thank you!

 

7 Habits for Happy Kids

We are learning about and practicing seven habits (life skills) that can help us live happy, productive lives.

Here are the habits we have learned so far this year:

• Be proactive – This habit is essentially about taking initiative with things you know you need to do, and not waiting for someone to tell you to do them. 

We will learn about these habits later in the year: 

• Begin with the end in mind – This habit is about having a plan for what you want to accomplish, and focusing on the plan.

• Put first things first – This habit is about working first, then playing.

• Think win-win – This habit is about finding ways for everyone to be happy.

• Seek first to understand – This habit is about listening first, before you speak. 

• Synergize - This habit is about working together.

• Sharpen the saw - This habit is about taking care of yourself.

 

Class Celebration (TBD) - Friday 10/13/23

Students have earned another celebration for earning “Caught Being Good” tickets.  This time we will celebrate with a stuffed friend day.  

• Students are invited to bring a small stuffed animal that can sit on the desk and learn with us.  

• Stuffed animals that are too big will need to remain in the locker for times when we need to use our desks.  

• Stuffed animals that are smaller, may sit on the desk throughout the day.  Beanie baby size would definitely fit.  However, they could be a little bit bigger.  

• It is important that our stuffed friends are able to sit still and not disrupt our learning.  

Please help your child choose an appropriate stuffed friend to bring to school on Friday.

 

Orton Gillingham Phonics (OG Phonics)

This week’s focus: 

• Schwa as in bacon, boa, apartment
  
  

Prior focus areas: 

• 3 letter blends (“Scr” as in scream, “Shr” as in shrimp, “Spl” as in splash, “Spr” as in spring, “Squ” as in squid, “Str” as in street, “Thr” as in thread)

 

English Language Arts (ELA) - Social Studies:  Communities

• The big question for this unit is “How would our lives be different if we lived in a different community?”

• This week we:

  • Learned how to take sketchnotes.

    • When we take sketchnotes, we draw a quick sketch, and add a few words to help us remember concepts.

  • Learned how communities are different.

  • Learned about physical and human characteristics of communities.

 

English Language Arts (ELA) - How Spiders Use Their Silk

• We read books and collected facts to answer the question, “How do spiders use their silk?”

  • We took sketch notes.

• We used a graphic organizer to help us include all the parts of an informational writing piece.

• We will type our final writing piece on a Google slide.

 

Math  

Focus: Unit 2 Fact Strategies

 

This week:

• Identified, named, and practiced using strategies for solving math facts.

  • Ex. Doubles, Combinations of 10, Making 10, Near Doubles

• We completed another Problem Solving task.  We solve one problem like this each week.  We use the CUBS strategy.

  • C = circle the numbers and labels

  • U = underline the question

  • B = box the math terms (words that help you understand if you are adding or subtracting, etc.)

  • S = solve the problem

 

• We do Every Day Math lessons Mondays through Thursdays.  So, students should be bringing home their homelink booklets every day except Friday.  If your child has catch-up pages on Friday, he/she should bring the home link booklet home to catch up.

• If you are unable to find the home links booklet, you may print the home link from the website.  https://everydaymath.uchicago.edu/parents/2nd-grade/em4/

 

Reading

• We continued small group reading instruction this week.  

• Students are becoming more independent with moving from one reading session to the next.  This is great to see!

 

Link to Second Grade End of the Year Standards (Click here for the link.) 

https://www.livoniapublicschools.org/Page/10857 

 

Link to Resources for Home (Click here for the link.) 

https://www.livoniapublicschools.org/Page/10859 

 

Have a wonderful weekend! 

 

 

Class News 9/29/2023

 

Upcoming Events

10/3 - No school for students

10/10 - Picture day

10/11 & 10/12 - Parent-Teacher conferences

10/12 - No school for students

 

School-Wide Information

Look for Mrs. Wilson’s Buchanan Blast every Friday.  Each week she sends an email with a link to her weekly newsletter.  This is where you will find important information about school-wide activities and special events.

 

Parent-Teacher Conferences

Please sign up for a conference time to meet with me. In person conferences are preferred, but virtual conferences are also available.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0D4EAEAC29AA8-44677751-2023#/

 

Dismissal Emails

It is best to send emails regarding changes in dismissal plans by 8:45 a.m. (11:30 a.m. at the latest).  If you are unable to send an email by this time, please contact the office.  They can get a message to us.  Thank you!

 

Caring School Community (CSC)

This week we:

• Continued to get to know our classmates.

• Learned how to do a high five greeting.

• Made a special handshake greeting with our CSC talking partner for this week.  Students were very creative with this.

• We continued to practice being a good partner when we worked together.  

• We shared our Caring School Community homework with our talking partners.

 

7 Habits for Happy Kids

We are learning about and practicing seven habits (life skills) that can help us live happy, productive lives.

Here are the habits we have learned so far this year:

• Be proactive – This habit is essentially about taking initiative with things you know you need to do, and not waiting for someone to tell you to do them. 

We will learn about these habits later in the year: 

• Begin with the end in mind – This habit is about having a plan for what you want to accomplish, and focusing on the plan.

• Put first things first – This habit is about working first, then playing.

• Think win-win – This habit is about finding ways for everyone to be happy.

• Seek first to understand – This habit is about listening first, before you speak. 

• Synergize - This habit is about working together.

• Sharpen the saw - This habit is about taking care of yourself.

 

Class Celebration (Friday 9/29)

Our class enjoyed our Tech Time celebration.  Thank you for helping your child prepare for this special event.

Students are well on their way to the next celebration too.  Keep up the good work!

 

Orton Gillingham Phonics (OG Phonics)

This week’s focus: 3 letter blends

• “Scr” as in scream

• “Shr” as in shrimp

• “Spl” as in splash

• “Spr” as in spring

• “Squ” as in squid

• “Str” as in street

• “Thr” as in thread

 

English Language Arts (ELA) - Integrated Reading and Writing Assessment

• This week students read an article and collected facts to answer a big question.  They took notes on a graphic organizer, and then wrote an informational writing piece.

  • Informational writing needs to include these components:

    • Introduction

    • Facts

    • Definitions

    • Transition Words

    • Conclusion 

 

English Language Arts (ELA) - Social Studies:  Communities

• We began our next ELA unit (Social Studies: Communities).

• The big question for this unit is “How would our lives be different if we lived in a different community?”

• This week we learned:

  • There are three types of communities.

    • Urban

    • Suburban

    • Rural

  • People live in communities to help meet their needs.

    • Basic needs are food, water, and shelter.

    • Communities help keep people safe.

    • Communities have human and natural characteristics.

      • Human characteristics are things made by people.  Ex. bridges

      • Natural characteristics are things found in nature.  Ex. rivers

 

Math  

Focus: Unit 1 - Establishing Routines & Unit 2 Fact Strategies

 

This week:

• We took the unit 1 assessments next week.  You will receive these at parent-teacher conferences.

• We did a school-wide math problem solving activity.  Students independently read a math problem, used the CUBS strategy to solve the problem, and explained their thinking.  This is challenging work for many students, but with our weekly practice activities, it should become easier.

• We began unit 2 lessons.

  • Grouped by 10s and made exchanges.

  • Solved addition number stories.

• We completed another Problem Solving task.  We will solve one problem like this each week.  We use the CUBS strategy.

  • C = circle the numbers and labels

  • U = underline the question

  • B = box the math terms (words that help you understand if you are adding or subtracting, etc.)

  • S = solve the problem

• We are now doing math lessons Mondays through Thursdays.  Therefore, you should look for home link booklets to come home every day except Friday.  If your child has catch-up pages on Friday, we will send the home link booklet home for him/her to complete.

• If you are unable to find the home links booklet, you may print the home links from the website.  https://everydaymath.uchicago.edu/parents/2nd-grade/em4/

 

Reading

• We began small group reading instruction this week.  

 

Link to Second Grade End of the Year Standards (Click here for the link.) 

https://www.livoniapublicschools.org/Page/10857 

 

Link to Resources for Home (Click here for the link.) 

https://www.livoniapublicschools.org/Page/10859 

 

Have a wonderful weekend!