Wow!  We have a busy, and exciting, week ahead!

First, on Tuesday, we have the Eyes on Owls presentation!  I am so excited to share this experience with our class!  Marcia and Mark Wilson put on an amazing demonstration for the kids.  Feel free to check out their website to learn more about their presentation.  I will be sure to post pictures afterward.  It is pretty exciting to be so close to some pretty amazing creatures!

http://www.eyesonowls.com/index.htm

This is a great kick-off to our unit on habitats, and animal adaptations.  We will start by learning about woodland animals, together, and then move on to doing some small group and independent research on other habitats.

Second, we have an exciting walking field trip on Thursday to the center of town.  We just know the kids will have an amazing time, and learn a lot about our town, and woodland habitats from this field trip.  We are lucky to have such a great experience within walking distance!  Thank you to those of you that volunteered to chaperone!  We look forward to sharing this experience with you!

We will try to keep the rest of the week as routine as usual, as there is a lot of exciting things!

On Friday, I shared this video and the idea of a “beautiful oops” with the children.   We have been working on flexible thinking, perseverance and learning from our mistakes.  All of which can be incredibly challenging.  Each of these skills plays a vital role in helping these children reach their maximum potential.  Although this may appear to be a simple art project.  The concept will resonate throughout all subjects, and areas of these children’s lives.  For example, when completing a problem in math, having each of these skills will allow a child to work through multiple strategies (without frustration, or shutting down), and allow them to find the strategy that is most effective.  Without these skills, children may find something challenging in math and shut down, get angry, or get stuck on one strategy, even if that strategy takes them four times as long.  These skills are very challenging for some children, but it has also been amazing to see some of them take some leaps, and and allow themselves the freedom to think.  I am excited to watch this class continue to grow!

To demonstrate these skills, the children started with an “oops” and their challenge was to create something beautiful out of it.  It was fun to watch their wheels turn, and to see some of the creations that they made!

Yay!!! We had our first experience with book buddies!  We are so excited to have new 4th grade book buddies, from Mrs. Howe’s class!  The kids did an AMAZING job with their first experience with their buddy!  I am excited to watch these relationships grow!

Last week, we ventured into Unit 2 in math!  This unit begins by building a solid foundation for fact fluency.  We will be spending a lot of time this unit building up the children’s automaticity with basic facts.  The faster children are able to recall basic facts, the easier it will be for them to build on those skills.

We have started to solidify sums to 10, and doubles facts.  Once the children have a solid foundation of these skills, they can use them as helper facts.  For example, if children know that 4+6=10 – then they will more easily know that 4+7 will be one more than 10.  The kids have already started using some of these helper facts, which is great!

We will practice these facts in a multitude of ways.  One great way to build fact fluency is through games.  We have been playing math slide, addition top-it, as well as a doubles roll and record game.  I love this game because the children practice graphing with practicing basic facts!

We will also continue to practice with number stories.  This was tricky for us!  The kids have spent some time using manipulatives, pictures and their imagination to help them create number stories.  The children started with concrete manipulatives to create a visual.  They then used oral language to generate a story to go along with manipulatives.  Finally, they came up with a question for the addition number story.  We also practiced writing number models.  The children did an excellent job writing number models.  In fact, many of them said this was the, “easy part”.  Many of our mathematicians would rather deal with numbers, than words, in math.  However, we spent some time talking about why words are also an important tool in math.

Thank you all for all the support you have given your 2nd graders with homework.  I now understand that math homework is a new experience for many of our 2nd graders.  Children will typically have anywhere from 2-4 math homework pages a week.  This will be dependent upon how solid the children were with the practiced skill, during the lesson that day.  If I am not confident with their ability to complete homework, I will not send it home with them.  The district policy is for children to complete 10 minutes of homework per grade level.  Therefore, if children are spending more than 20 minutes on their homework, please write me a note to let me know.  Also, if you are finding that homework is particularly challenging for your 2nd grader, that would also be helpful for me to know.  I also understand that our lives can get busy, so if there is a night that your 2nd grader does not have time to complete their homework, please, just write a note on their homework stating that.

As always, thank you for your continued support, and don’t ever hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns.

We were very lucky to participate in a fire safety demonstration held by the NBFD.  We discussed fire safety in our homes, and the children practiced calling 911, stop-drop-and-roll, and evacuating a building that was beginning to fill with (simulated) smoke.  The fire department walked us through the tools they use.  I was lucky enough to try on the full uniform that the fire fighters would wear to a fire.  Yikes!  It is VERY heavy, and VERY hot!  I can’t imagine having to wear that in the middle of the summer!  The kids ended this experience by touring and sitting in a fire truck!  So exciting!

Some reminders that your 2nd graders may have shared with you:

• Smoke detectors should be checked (vacuumed out and batteries replaced) twice a year.  They suggest daylight savings times, which is right around the corner.
• Flashlights are a good tool for children to have in their bedroom, because they can be used as a beacon to alert fire fighters of their presence in their room.
• It is always good to practice fire drills at home, so that children can hear what a smoke detector sounds like, at home.  It is good for them to practice this, even  when they don’t suspect it – so it simulates what it would be like if there was an actual fire.
• Make sure your family has a meeting place outside, in case of a fire in your home.

A huge thank you to the New Boston Fire Department for taking the time, and being so patient with our children!

We are so fortunate to have the New Boston Fire Department help us learn about fire prevention and safety.  Our class will be attending a session this Wednesday morning.  We will be outside for the demonstrations for 45min. to an hour.  Please make sure your 2nd grader is dressed appropriately to stand outside for that length of time.

This week, we will continue to focus on identifying important details in paragraphs, and stories.  This is a difficult task for second graders, because it requires them to not only remember the information in the story, but to determine what the most important information is.  We started to practice this the last couple of weeks, and the kids are off to a great start!  We will also continue to practice asking questions when we are reading.  This will better help us understand what we are reading, and to think more deeply about it.

Last week, we were very lucky to have Mrs. Kane visit our classroom to talk about the Zones of Regulation and Engine Programs.  These programs teach the children to become self-aware of the way their bodies and minds are feeling, and reacting.

We started to categorize the way their bodies (engines) are running, to a zone.

Once we established a common language for how our engines were running, we started to talk about strategies that we can use when we are in each of these zones, to either help, or keep us in the green zone.  These programs incorporate some social teaching, as well as self-regulation strategies to help children control impulses, navigate social situations, and remain focused, content and ready to learn.  We will continue to use these programs in the classroom, and some students may participate in some targeted small group instruction, to support their self-regulation and social skills.

The kids tried out some different ways to use their chairs to help regulate their engines.

Wow!  What a great week of spelling!  I was very proud of how well the children did with their spelling tests this week!  I can tell they have been practicing!  Remember, please feel free to keep me posted if your kiddos are finding their lists too easy, or too hard.  I am still learning about who your children are, as spellers, so I welcome any input you have!

The words for this week are below.  Remember, your 2nd graders words were highlighted at the bottom of their page.