Classroom News and Happy Vacation!

This week, we continued our study about properties of matter with an exciting demonstration!  Ask your child what happened when we added drops of blue and red food coloring to jars with cold, room temperature, and ice cold water.  We also participated in a movement activity that helped us understand how atoms move in solids, liquids, and gases.  Students are doing a wonderful job thinking and writing like scientists!

We learned about Chinese New Year in our most recent Scholastic News issue.  Then, we made lanterns and dragon masks.  We also practiced writing Chinese numbers.  We had fun reviewing the types of nouns and playing Apples to Apples, a game about nouns and adjectives.

During our writing workshop, students continue to work on finishing and revising our "expert books" as part of our information writing unit.  It has been exciting to see how students are adding interesting details, facts, and tips to let their readers know important information about their topics.

Please encourage your child to read and/or practice addition and subtraction facts over vacation if possible.

Thank you to everyone who volunteered their time for the Winter Wellness Days!  Also, thank you to everyone who contributed items for our Valentine's Day party and to Guili, our classroom parent, who organized the event!
 

Hope everyone has a wonderful vacation!

 

Upcoming Events:

 

ECO- Thursdays, March 5th, 12th, and 26th

Montshire Museum Field Trip- Wednesday, March 11th

 

Classroom News

The month of February has been so busy and exciting!  In our classroom, we have continued our study of geometry by discussing the features of two-dimensional and three-dimensional shapes.  A favorite activity this week was playing a "Match My Rule" game with the 3-D geoblocks.  We learned lots of new vocabulary words, such as faces, base, vertices, and edges and used those words when comparing our shapes.

Thanks to everyone who joined us today for the "I Love East Montpelier" Day Luncheon!

Important Dates:

Thursday, February 19th is our final Winter Wellness Day

Friday, February 20th will be a Comfy Cozy Day for our class!  Students are welcome to wear pajamas or other comfortable clothing.  I am asking students to keep stuffed animals at home this time.  Students can bring in slippers to wear during the day.

Monday, February 23rd to Tuesday, March 3rd- February Vacation
Wednesday, March 4th- Students return to school

Wednesday, March 11th- Montshire Museum Field Trip  Thank you to family members who volunteered to chaperone!  We have space for everyone who has already signed up.  Our team will send home more info soon.

Field Trip Update and Other Important Dates

Our field trip to the Montshire Museum has been rescheduled for Wednesday, March 11th.  A new permission slip is coming home in Friday Folders.  We are excited for this wonderful opportunity!

Report cards are coming home today.  Students should be so proud of their hard work this semester!

Other Important Dates:
Tuesday, February 3rd- 100th Day of School (morning activities in K-2 classrooms)
Thursday, February 5th- Winter Wellness Day
Friday, February 6th- No School (Teacher Inservice)
Thursday, February 12th- Winter Wellness Day
Friday, February 13th-  Valentine's Day Party and I Love East Montpelier Lunch Event
Thursday, February 19th- ECO
Monday, February 23 to Tuesday, March 3rd- February Vacation

Presenting Venn diagrams, opinions, and evidence from our Who Would Win? books

Rectangle Riddles- Learning about rows, columns, and area

Learning keyboarding skills with Typing Club

Classroom News: Venn Diagrams, Geoboards, and Outdoor Fun!

It was a short but productive week in second grade.  In Literacy, we continued our work with informational texts.  We have been looking at books that compare and contrast animals.   Each team of students picked a book of their choice from the Who Would Win? series and filled in a Venn diagram telling the similarities and differences between the two animals in their book.  Then, each student had to decide which animal they thought had an advantage and give reasons to support their opinion. 

During math time, we have been practicing our addition and subtraction facts by playing dice games. We continued our study of geometry by making a variety of different polygons on geoboards and then recording and labeling our creations.

We also enjoyed our second Winter Wellness Thursday!  Thanks again to all of our terrific chaperones!  Our next Winter Wellness day is on Thursday, February 5th.  

Have a wonderful weekend!

Classroom News

What a fun and busy week!  On Thursday, we participated in the first EMES Winter Wellness Day.  Everyone did such a great job with their fitness activities and their projects in the afternoon!  I am looking forward to another fun day next Thursday.  Thanks to everyone who joined us for this special event!

New homework packets were sent home on Wednesday.  They are due back on Friday, February 13th.  Please help your child remember to read at least every other day for 20 minutes or more.  It is important for second graders to build stamina to read for longer periods of time and to use their reading strategies consistently.  If your child finishes the math pages early, he or she can return the packet early in exchange for some additional math practice pages. 

Important Dates:

Monday, January 19th and Tuesday, January 20th- No School for Students 

January 22nd, February 5th, 12th, and 19th- Winter Wellness Days!  Thanks to everyone for coming prepared with snacks, water bottles, warm clothing, and any necessary gear!

Friday, January 30th- Report Cards will be sent home

Friday, February 13th- Homework Packet is due back to school

Happy New Year!

Students returned from the holiday break with a positive attitude about new learning!  We have jumped right back into our units of study from before vacation.  In math, we have been sorting shapes and making observations about their features, such as the number of sides, vertices, and angles. We have also been learning strategies for comparing larger numbers.

During our literacy time, we have returned to our study of informational texts by answering questions that push us to more deeply understand the text.  We also reviewed how to use text features to help us as we read.  We have learned how to compare and contrast information about hares and chipmunks during winter and autumn by reading a Scholastic News article and using a Venn Diagram. 

Our current read aloud is a challenging book about hibernation that connects well with our ongoing study of habitats, as well as the cold weather this week.  It has been interesting for all of us (including me) to learn new information about the different ways that animals stay warm and survive during the cold winter months.

Speaking of the cold, please help your child come prepared for outdoor recess every day.  If it is really cold, we stay inside, but we still go outside most days.  Students need to have a warm coat or jacket, snowpants, gloves or mittens, and a hat.  Students also need to have indoor shoes to keep our floors dry and safe for others to walk on.  Thanks for your help with this!

Please look for information coming home today about our upcoming Winter Fitness Thursdays!

On Monday, January 19th and Tuesday, January 20th, students do not have school. 

Hope everyone is staying warm!  Have a great weekend!
 

Day in the Dark

Here are some photos from our visit to Mrs. Christiano's classroom for the Day in the Dark activity.  Thanks to our wonderful third grade friends for sharing books and poems with us!