Wow! What a beautiful weekend! It is finally starting to feel like spring! We had a great week, that flew by! In Wonders, we focused on the question, “how do we get along with others”. We did some close reading to find some text evidence. We’ve been working on separating things that we know from our experiences (background knowledge) versus text evidence from the story.
We had some good discussions about getting along with others, and the children were able to make some great connections with their personal experiences. This theme carried over to our social thinking lessons, where we talked about big problem, vs. little problem. This is a way for the children to think about things that happen to them, throughout the day. Sometimes something small that happens feels like a really big problem, but is actually a small problem. By asking them to categorize their problems, they can then react more appropriately. We read, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. The children were able to determine if the problems that Alexander had were big problems, or little ones. They were also able to determine if his reactions matched the size of the problem. From this, it sparked a great conversation about strategies that we use when we are feeling upset or frustrated. For example, if a friend steals our pencil, we could decide that this is a small problem. A small reaction would be to feel frustrated but to use our words to ask for it back. A big reaction, which would not match the problem, would be to scream, or hit our friend. These would be great conversations to have at home, as well. The children have some pretty good strategies, however, we did have an extensive conversations about how we treat our siblings. The children said that they often react differently to a sibling, than they would a friend.
In math, we used some mathematical diagrams to help organize information from number stories. We used both part, part, total diagrams, and change-to diagrams to help us solve problems. The children did a really nice job with this. We finished up with Unit 5 at the end of the week, and will be moving into Unit 6. In Unit 6, where we will be working on more problem solving, as well as using some new algorithms to solve multi-digit addition and subtraction problems.
We will be moving on to a couple of fun projects, in the weeks before vacation! First, we will be exploring landforms! The children will learn all about landforms, and where they appear in the world. This will eventually help to introduce the research unit on habitats and biomes, that we will commence after vacation. We will also be learning more about fables, folktales, myths and fairy tales. Once we’ve learned about each of them, the children will write one of their own. In their story, they will include landforms, that their characters will encounter, on an island adventure. Once the children have developed their story, they will create a salt dough model, of the island which is the setting of their story. This will be a fun way to end the week before vacation.
We never had a chance to complete our STEAM activity on erosion, so we are hoping to squeeze that in, as well.
After break, we will have a week, with an Artist in Residence, Troy Wunderle. We sent home an order form, on Friday, so that we could order the children t-shirts, for the performance! We will also use these t-shirts for field day, and our field trip, as well! If you haven’t done so already, please return the forms by Wednesday, so that we can get the shirts ordered before April break. If you are unable to pay the $5, there is scholarship money available. Please just send the order form in, with a note on it.
As a reminder, our field trip to Squam Lake Science Center is scheduled for June 4th! We would LOVE for all of you to come with us. If you are not a designated volunteer, you will NOT be able to attend the field trip, with us. Information regarding becoming a volunteer or chaperone has been posted each week in the Bobcat News, and is also located on the NBCS webpage. The processing takes a while, so please start the process, as soon as possible. We really would hate for anyone to not be able to join us! It is such a fun day! If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Finally, last week, we worked with our book buddies to create some flower pots that will be hung outside classroom doors. They will house the flowers that classes will earn, by reading books! Thank you for helping your second grader set a goal, for the next two months. I have been sooooo impressed with this group! We have almost read 1,500,000 words, this year! I cannot believe how the children are challenging themselves, and pushing themselves to read! I have reminded them that they can take reading counts on books that they have read at home, too!
