Classroom update April 22nd

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Classroom update: April 22, 2019

I hope you enjoyed your April vacation!

The kids are doing such a great job with poetry. They have enjoyed writing some "template" poems where some of the words and structure were provided, but they had the opportunity to put their own creative spin on it as well. It was amazing to see the different ideas the children came up with. Finally, we will create a "Table of Contents" and illustrate their  Poetry Books. The children will be bringing their books home at the end of the school year.

This week, we began to talk about “thin” and “thick” questions to kick off our informational writing unit!  We created a set of “thick” questions, which we will be focusing on during our research.  For this unit, the students will research a country of their ancestors and write informational paragraphs. These paragraphs will eventually be used to create a wonderful book about their country!

Our reading groups will be focusing on reading "twin texts." Which means two books about the same topic, but one is fiction and the other is non-fiction. Once both books have been read and discussed, we will compare and contrast them. 

During math, we finished up Unit 7 and have started Unit 8, which focuses on Geometry and Arrays. In this first couple of lessons, the children explored 2-and 3-dimensional shapes and their attributes. They enjoyed playing a game called "Shape Capture" where they used shape attributes to "capture" shapes. We also enjoyed building various polygons and comparing their attributes. Children learned many new vocabulary words to describe the shapes: vertices, angles, parallel sides, sides, face, edges, and bases.

The children enjoyed learning about Antarctica the last two weeks for our Around the World unit.  We learned about all different types of penguins! After vacation, we will begin to learn about the continent of South America. This will be the last stop of our Around the World trip!

Upcoming Events:

April 24th: 5th Grade Chorus Concert for 2nd Grade @ JAC

Monday, April 29th: Parents Receive Placement Parent-Input Forms

Monday, May 6th: Due Date for Placement Parent-Input Forms

Let's Get Moving

     

     According to research movement in the classroom positively affects mental and physical well being, and supports learning. We try to move in our classroom everyday. Moving during and between activities helps my students to stay focused and involved in the lesson. According to the book A Moving Child is a Learning Child by Gill Connell and Cheryl McCarthy, second graders at the age of seven and eight are at the end of the skedaddlers stage. They are able to participate in cooperative games, dance, leaping and skipping. Children at this age are nearing independence in movement. It is important to continue to support all children and provide learning experiences to help them grow. I have included a sample activity from the book A Moving Child is a Learning Child on my blog, it is a fun activity you can do with your child. Enjoy!
 
The Quest Chest
Children love looking for treasures! During this activity take a walk outside and look for treasures in nature. Before heading out come up with a theme. For example, you might search for things that are yellow, things that are soft or things that are hard. After the quest talk about the treasures with your child, then help your child create a special place to keep their treasures.