Mrs. Alden's Second Grade Class: March 2-6

Writing and Reading:

Happy Birthday to Dr. Seuss! This week will be “Seuss-tastic” with our Read Across America Read-A-Thon. We will also have a Dr. Seuss book study and plan out the very best birthday party for Dr. Seuss. We will use procedural writing to explain the birthday party and read a read collection of his books. We will complete a “reading passport” where we will have a written response to all of the books that we read during the week.
**March 2nd we will kick off our Read-a-Thon so we invite you to send your child in their pajamas with some Dr. Seuss books (with their name on it), a snack, a pillow and blanket! We will do this during our language arts/reading block.

Here are some other optional fun ways to celebrate this week. Your child can pick to wear pajamas or the “Mixed up” Monday dress listed here.

Math

We are moving onto division this week! All week long we will be using different situations to practice the skill of putting items into equal groups. We will read Pat Hutchins’ The Doorbell Rang and practice dividing cookies equally among our friends. We will also put M&Ms into equal groups.

We strive to make our lessons authentic and engaging. If you could send in either of the following, please let me know!

2 boxes of Cookie Crisp cereal
2 large bags of regular M&Ms

Science:

We are going to be covering science for the next several weeks. We will be talking about both animals and plants during this time. We are starting with discussing the basic needs of plants and animals. We will discuss what a basic need is and list out the basic needs of both plants and animals and compare how plants and animals meet their basic needs.

At-Home Enrichment (optional homework):

Research: research the “question of the week” and bring what you find out to school. It can be any type of presentation such as a poster, powerpoint, game, etc.

Question of the week: Is blue cheese really blue? Why or why not?

Math enrichment:

Remember Figure Me Out with addition and subtraction? Come up with new numbers about yourself and see if you can make a matching multiplication or division sentence!

Also try this fun game: Race to create an equation in this game will help your child and his opponents get creative with addition, subtraction and multiplication. Math skills will be in full force while everyone tries to outsmart the competition!

What You Need:

Deck of playing cards with the face cards (jacks, queens, and kings) removed
Scratch paper
Pencil
2 or more players

What You Do:

Have your child remove the face cards from the deck and set them aside.
Ask him to shuffle the deck and deal out four cards to each player. Make sure he deals them face down, so nobody can see the hand they were dealt. No peeking!
Place the remaining deck face down in the center of the table.
Have one of the players flip over the top card and place it face up on the table. This is the target number.
Announce that aces = 1.
Count to three and have all players turn their cards over at the same time.
Encourage players to add, subtract, multiply or divide the numbers in any combination to try to reach the target number. Make sure that players use all four of their cards. Have players use scratch paper to verify their math.
Whoever can create a equation that hits the target number first gets one point.
The player to reach 3 points first wins!
When four cards become too easy, try playing with five cards instead.

Science Enrichment:

Have your child pick a plant that they want to learn about. They can write about the needs of the plant, life cycle, habitat and important facts. Have them make a poster and bring in to share with the class.

Learn about animals and plants on these websites:

http://www.vrml.k12.la.us/curriculum/quicktip/science/plants/plants.htm

http://www.neok12.com/Plants.htm

http://easyscienceforkids.com/plants/

http://www.biology4kids.com/files/plants_main.html

http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/plants.html

http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/plants.htmlhttp://www.kidsbiology.com/biology_basics/needs_living_things/living_things_have_needs1.php

http://www.kidsplanet.org/

http://www.e-learningforkids.org/science/

http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/gamesactivities.html

http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/kids

http://climatekids.nasa.gov/menu/plants-and-animals/