Weekly Update for 10/24

Hello Families,

As I first drafted this, I could hear the excited chatter and pumping music of the Monster Mash from my classroom window! I hope everyone had fun! I brought my two little boys for the end of it, and they loved seeing all of the kids' cool costumes.

This week we had a special guest, Ms. Chris (Violet's mom) a sleep consultant for Sleep Wise, who presented to the entire 2nd grade about the science of sleep. Students learned so much about how to get a better sleep, like keeping their rooms dark, tidy, and cool. They also learned about why it's important to turn off screens at least 1-2 hours before bedtime, and why it's important to have a healthy, filling dinner. Thank you so much Ms. Chris!

Thank you also to the volunteers who signed up to lead an activity at our Fall Party on Monday, October 31st: Amanda, Chris, Rachel, and Matt! We can't wait! And thank you as well to the volunteers who will support: Meghan, Brooke, and Alyssa. We can't wait to welcome you all into our classroom!

Important Dates this Week:

• Wednesday 10/26: A special All School Assembly.
• Thursday 10/27: I will be out for the morning at a district-wide Math Professional Development. We will also have hearing screenings today with the nurse.

Weekly Barrows Newsletter
​Here is the link to the latest Starburst from Principal Gallegos loaded with useful school-wide info and updates.

Check out pictures below from our sleep presentation, fluency practice, writing, and science experiment.

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Here's what's been going on in our grade 2 classroom:

Community Building
We had a delightful visit with our 4th grade buddies on Friday! Ms. Hirtle's class read us stories, practicing their fluency, while we enjoyed following along and hearing some role model reading. Both parties loved it! 

Our All School Assembly on Wednesday was focused on Indigenous People, in particular, the history, traditions, and symbolism associated with the game lacrosse.
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Literacy 
This week in Literacy we read a couple of great stories.

• The Big Race by David Barrow
• Jabari Jumps by Gaia Cornwall

Our group discussions about the books were deep and analytical. Students are doing a great job connecting to the texts and making inferences. Students wrote responses using the conjunctions "because," "but," and "so," and also practiced expanding a sentence using details about "where," "when," and "how." This will help them in their own self-directed writing.

We also practiced our decodable story for Unit 2 of Fundations, "Skip is Sick." Students worked on their fluency by reading it aloud to a partner. I also modeled drawing pictures of what happens in the text by closely rereading what the text explicitly says. 

Writing
Students continue working on their personal narrative stories, practicing making a plan, turning the plan into sentences, and then adding details. I challenged students to take what they know about expanding sentences using "where," "when," "why," "who," "what," and "how," and answer at least 3 of those questions at the beginning of their stories.

We didn't get to publish stories, but we did learn about the "writing process" and how writing is not a linear process. You plan, revise, draft, revise, draft more, revise, edit, and so on. We learned what the focus is for each of these stages of writing.

Phonics
This week in Phonics we reviewed all of the "glued sounds" introduced in 1st grade. We talked about how nasal sounds /n/ and /m/ often influence the vowel sound before them, particularly /n/, so when reading words spelled with "an," you would read the "a" with a different sound than the /a/ in "apple." We learned about sounds with "-ng" and "-nk," and how the sound the "n" moves backwards in the mouth and sound of the "g" changes. This is essential to know and recognize to improve reading and spelling.

We also introduced "r-controlled vowels," which change their sounds because of the /r/. The sound /r/ requires our mouths to be almost closed, but when we make vowel sounds our mouths are open. As a result, vowels voiced next to /r/ sound morph so that they are easier to say quickly next to /r/. Try it! Compare slowly saying "cat" with "car."

Math
This week in Math we explored diagrams, which are visuals that help students compare 2 quantities. We wrote equations to show how we can find an unknown quantity or the difference between two quantities. Students' brains were challenged to capacity by Friday!

Next week we will finish up Unit 1 in math on Adding, Subtracting, and Working with Data and take our Unit 1 Assessment.

Science
This week in Science we explored how wind and water cause changes to Earth's landscapes. We set up an experiment to demonstrate how wind can blow away sand and how water can wash away sand. Students were amazed at what an impact a hard rain can have on the landscape. Their sand towers were turned to mush! Next week we will debrief and synthesize the results.

Any scientists or engineers in our parent community interested in a classroom visit to share about your field? Please let me know!

Thank you for reading! Please reach out with any questions or feedback. Have a great week!


​Check out pictures from our school-wide intercom dance party and buddies below.