November 2-6

Writing

This week in writing we will continue practicing expository writing by writing to explain why our skeleton is important. We will write our rough draft, revise and edit it and then finish with a published final copy.

Reading and Social Studies

Social studies and reading are connected this week as we learn about South Korea. We will research the flag, political leaders, landmarks, food, and celebrations. We will practice reading non-fiction texts and taking notes.

Come by and view our heritage boxes/ ofrendas in the hallway! They turned out great!

Please remember to read 100 minutes a week at home.  If students read 20 minutes at least 5 days a week, they will reach this goal.  Challenge your child to use more than one strategy they’ve learned in class during their at home reading time.

Here is a great reading list for boys that covers many reading levels:

http://www.readkiddoread.com/blog/i-hated-to-read-til-i-read-this-booklist-for-boys

Math

We are moving onto subtraction this week. We will learn several strategies for subtraction 2 digit numbers including drawing a picture, splitting the smaller number, thinking addition with a number line, and the traditional regrouping method. We will play games, search for problems around the room, and solve word problems. Practicing basic math facts at home will make the transition into 2 digit numbers much easier!

In iXL F.9, F.10, H.5, and H.9 would all be great practice!

Science:

We are going to be studying force and motion for the next several weeks.  We will start with push and pull and then go on to spin, roll and slide.  We will be doing a lot of physical movement to get these concepts down.  We will go out to the playground and see if we can decide the types of motion and force we are using when we play.

Some great websites to go to to continue your child’s science experience:  

http://easyscienceforkids.com/all-about-force-push-and-pull/

https://online.kidsdiscover.com/unit/force-and-motion

http://www.pbs.org/parents/curiousgeorge/activities/pc_ramp_n_roll.html

https://preschoolstem.wordpress.com/2012/05/31/slide-vs-roll/

Question of the week: Why are barns red?

Reminders:

11/5 Field Trip- your child needs a disposable lunch and closed-toed shoes.

October 26-30

Writing

We are beginning our next writing unit on expository and informational writing. This week, students will focus on exploring and explaining from personal knowledge and experience. We will examine several examples of expository writing, and learn how to state and connect our ideas using transition words, clear topic sentences, and strong conclusions.

Reading

It’s pumpkin book report presentation week!  Last week, we wrote our book reports in class.  Students wrote about the setting, character, problem, solution, and their favorite part of the book. This week, students will present their book report and pumpkin character at school beginning Tuesday, October 27th, and then bring their pumpkin home on Friday, Oct. 30th.

Your child’s pumpkin character is due on Tuesday, Oct. 27th.  

Math

We are continuing our study of length this week. We will learn to estimate a distance and then use our ruler to check. We will also measure our buddy and practice deciding between centimeters, inches, feet, and yards. On Wednesday, we will review everything we’ve learned and we’ll assess on Thursday.

Friday will be lots of fun as we participate in a Halloween STEM challenge! Kids will be working in groups to build a pumpkin catapult, a marshmallow tower, and a spider web that catches critters. For this exciting activity, we will need a few supplies:

6 small decorative pumpkins (not real, we don’t want them to be heavy since they are being launched)

Plastic spoons

Rubber bands- different sizes

Painter’s tape

Miniature marshmallows

Toothpicks

Yarn

Small plastic critters

Plastic cups

A few volunteers will make this run more smoothly. If you can come help our class on Friday from 1-2:30, please let me know.

Social Studies:

This week we will continue our study on our family heritage and ancestry.  We will become familiar with the celebration, Dia de los Muertos, that the Latin American culture celebrates.  The focus is on the symbols in the culture and ancestry compared with other cultures.  It has been neat to see all of the similarities and differences between cultures.  We will make a “heritage box” or “ofrendas box” that represents our family heritage or ancestry.  Please send in a shoe box, colored tissue paper, and battery-lit votives for this activity.  

Science:

This week we will continue to study patterns in the sky.  The overall theme is that there are patterns to the activity we see in the sky with the moon, sun, stars and clouds.  We will discuss what we see in the sky and then talk about what patterns we can recognize.  This week we will wrap up looking at the moon with a fun Oreo moon phases activity, then look at clouds and constellations. We will assess at the end of the week with the focus being patterns we see in the sky.

Some great websites to go to to continue your child’s science experience:  

https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/kidsclub/flash/index.html#.Vh6-H-xViko

http://www.kidsites.com/sites-edu/space.htm

http://www.planetsforkids.org/moon-moon.html

https://stardate.org/nightsky/moon

http://www.moonconnection.com/moon_phases_calendar.phtml

http://www.kidsastronomy.com/astroskymap/lunar.htm

http://hubblesite.org/

Question of the week: Why do cats purr? Hint- it’s more than being happy!

Reminders:

10/28      Early Release Day

Here are a few pictures from our field trip:

October 19-23

Field Trip

Our Mexi-Carte Study Trip is coming up on 10/23.  It's going to be an exciting study trip!

10:00-11:30 Mexi-Carte tour and activities

11:30-12:30 Play and picnic at Zilker Park

Writing

We will be using our creativity and our knowledge of bats to create our own “Diary of a Bat,” inspired by the “Diary of…” books by Doreen Cronin and Harry Bliss. We will continue to focus on writing in complete sentences, and varying our sentences to help our writing flow.

Reading

It’s pumpkin book report time!  Last week, we sent an email with the information regarding this project.  Students are going to begin the writing their book reports in class.  Students will continue to focus on the elements of fiction, setting, character, problem, and solution. Students should have chosen a fiction book at home this past week that has a clear character, setting, problem, and solution. The book has to be a book the student has read.  Students will not be reading the book in class, only doing the book report.

Please send the book to school by Monday, October 19th, so they can use it to complete their book report from Oct. 19-26 in class.

Your child will create the main character pumpkin at home.  The pumpkin will be created to look like a character from their book!  It  is due on Tuesday, Oct. 27th.  

Students will share their book report and pumpkin character at school, and then bring their pumpkin home on Friday, Oct. 30th.

We can’t wait to see the finished products!

Please remember to read 100 minutes a week at home.  If students read 20 minutes at least 5 days a week, they will reach this goal.  Challenge your child to use more than one strategy they’ve learned in class during their at home reading time.

Math

This week is going to be long as we move into our study of length. We will learn the importance of standardized measurements and why there is an inverse relationship between the size of the unit and number needed to measure an object. We will learn about the customary and metric systems. Using a ruler will become easy as we learn to measure objects in inches, centimeters, feet, yards, and meters. We will also determine the best unit of measurement to use for certain objects.

Social Studies:

This week we will study our family heritage and ancestry.  Thank you for filling out the homework form so we can have a more detailed study of the heritage in our class.  We will focus on map skills, comparing and contrasting, Dia de los Muertos cultural celebration, and Latin American language, spanish.  Please send in a shoe box, colored tissue paper, and battery-lit votives for our Dia de los Muertos activities!

Science:

This week we will start to study patterns in the sky.  The overall theme is that there are patterns to the activity we see in the sky with the moon, sun, stars and clouds.  We will discuss what we see in the sky and then talk about what patterns we can recognize.  This week we will really be focusing in on the moon and the pattern of change we see in the moon over time.  

Some great websites to go to to continue your child’s science experience:  

https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/kidsclub/flash/index.html#.Vh6-H-xViko

http://www.kidsites.com/sites-edu/space.htm

http://www.planetsforkids.org/moon-moon.html

https://stardate.org/nightsky/moon

http://www.moonconnection.com/moon_phases_calendar.phtml

http://www.kidsastronomy.com/astroskymap/lunar.htm

http://hubblesite.org/

Question of the week: How many people have been to the moon? Why do you weigh less on the moon?

Reminders:

10/23 Field Trip

10/28 Early Release Day

October 12-16

Upcoming 2nd Grade Community Service Project

As part of our good citizenship study, we’ve read about how to help end hunger in communities. The 2nd grade team would like to extend this to a community service project for the kids to participate in. We will be holding a CANNED FOOD DRIVE the week of 10/13-10/16. Please encourage your child to bring to school a non perishable, unopened food item to donate. To find out more, ask your child for details or visit the Capital Area Food Bank’s website at http://austinfoodbank.org/get involved. There you can find a list of high need items and other ways your family can help. As the holiday season approaches, it is a great time to volunteer as a family. Teachers will donate all items to the food bank the following week. Thanks for your support!

Field Trip

Our Mexic-Arte Study Trip is coming up on 10/23.

10:00-11:30 Mexic-arte tour and activities

11:30-12:30 play and picnic at Zilker Park

For students to go we need back:

* $3.00 student entrance fee

* orange permission forms signed

* both are DUE by Friday, 10/16

Thanks to parents that want to chaperon! We will not be collecting adult fees, you can pay at the museum doors.

It's going to be an exciting study trip!

Writing

This week we will continue to learn about sentence fluency. Our focus will be using variety in our sentences. We will also discuss word choice, and give “tired words” a rest by brainstorming synonyms and juicy words to spice up our writing.

Reading

This week in reading students will describe similarities and differences in the plots and settings of several works by the same author.  We will describe main characters in fiction stories, including their traits, motivations, and feelings.  We are going to read books by Leo Lionni. Students will compare and contrast the stories and discuss how the author might be inspired or get his/her ideas.

Please remember to read 100 minutes a week at home.  If students read 20 minutes at least 5 days a week, they will reach this goal.  Challenge your child to use more than one strategy they’ve learned in class during their at home reading time.

Math

This week is all about time! We will practice distinguishing between the hour and minute hand and telling time to the minute. We will match up analog clocks with the digital time and play a fun game called Time Bump. Later in the week, we will start learning about special time language. We will learn the meaning of phrases like “quarter till” and “half past.”

Help your child at home by having them read your watch or switch your cell phone into analog mode!  

Social Studies:

Our secret service missions were great!  It was so neat to see our class in action around the community and at home.  This coming week we will focus in on cultures.  We will compare the US and Mexico and also discuss the significance of artifacts and symbols from different cultures.   Our study on Dia de los Muertos is coming up as our next cultural celebration to study.  

Science:

We are going to complete our study of forms of energy.  We have studied light, heat and sound.  We looked at how these forms of energy can affect objects.  This week we will review and assess our learning before moving on to objects and patterns in the sky.

Your child can also learn more about energy here:

http://www.eia.gov/kids/

http://www.physics4kids.com/files/light_intro.html

http://www.learninggamesforkids.com/heat-energy-games.html

http://www.eschooltoday.com/energy/kinds-of-energy/all-about-energy.html

Question of the week: Who was Cleopatra?

Reminders:

10/12   Student holiday

10/28     Early Release Day

October 5th-9th

WritingThis week we will be learning all about sentence fluency by examining the different parts of a sentence, and building sentences in steps. We will also learn how to combine short, choppy sentences, and detangle long, run-on sentences.

Reading
Reading responses will be the focus this week.  After reading a book, students will be asked to respond and share the stories and books they have loved.  Students will be introduced to book study menus.  The menu will have a variety of choices such as creating a mini-book about their story, creating a story quilt with favorite parts of the story, and making a bookmark or advertisement promoting the book.  We’ll ask students if they’ve ever felt like they’ve traveled to the places in their story.  If so, how about create a travel brochure and include the places the character travels to throughout the story?  Throughout the week, students will be introduced to the different menu choices.  This will be an ongoing response menu that students will enjoy throughout the year.
Please remember to read 100 minutes a week at home.  If students read 20 minutes at least 5 days a week, they will reach this goal.  Challenge your child to use more than one strategy they’ve learned in class during their at home reading time.  To encourage them, you can even buy fun sticky notes to use at home!  

Math
We will continue to practice double digit addition with regrouping this week!
Two digit addition problems are much easier when children know their basic facts. iXL is a great online program that your child can use to practice their facts at home. Your child’s username and password are both s followed by their 6 digit number. Each child should have it written in their agenda!

Social Studies:
This week we will focus on being a good citizen by serving our community, school, and homes.  On Monday your child will bring home an envelope that’s a “TOP SECRET- Service Mission”.  It has several types of community service ideas in it.  Once your child completes one take a photo and email it to me.  We will keep this top secret until Friday when I will show the photos to the class and we’ll get to share about our experience.  While at school we will study Harriet Tubman and Paul Revere.  We will learn about how other children are serving their communities also.
 
Science:
This week in science we will continue to study light and begin to study sound as forms of energy.  We will need milk cartons (or juice- or even a shoe box) sent in for each student by Friday because we will be using cartons and rubber bands to make a musical instrument.  If you have a musical instrument at home that you want to share this might be a good time to bring it in to share with the class, too.
Your child can also learn more about energy here:
http://www.eia.gov/kids/
http://www.physics4kids.com/files/light_intro.html
http://www.learninggamesforkids.com/heat-energy-games.html
http://www.eschooltoday.com/energy/kinds-of-energy/all-about-energy.html

Question of the week: A bat uses a high pitch sound to “see” in the dark.  What is this ability called and how does it work?

Reminders:
10/7   Nat'l Bike and Walk to School Staff mtg.
10/12   Student holiday
10/28   Early Release Day
Box Tops contest deadline: Friday, October 23