Weekly Update for May 1st-5th

​Hi Families,
Thank you so much for joining us for our Country Presentations! Students were so excited to share their hard work with you and to have the opportunity to speak in front of a large group. It was such great practice for them, as public speaking is such a useful life skill! Every student did a great job presenting and I’m so proud of them all!

We had a fun week of learning, which I will detail more below. I’m sure you’ve already heard A LOT about our classroom caterpillars!

Here is an important school-wide reminder from Principal Gallegos:
Families, please remember that students arriving to the school property before the school bell should be under the supervision of an adult. We do not have staff outside until 8:15. Students are asked to follow the rules we adhere to during the school day regarding safe play on the blacktop and playground equipment. We kindly ask that students do not play football on the blacktop before or after school so that we can all start and end our day safely. Thank you!


​Important Upcoming Dates:

• Tuesday, May 9th at 1:30pm: Understanding Disabilities Presentation on loss of sight and hearing.
• THURSDAY, May 11th at 5:30-6:15pm: ***Open House*** -come visit our classroom with your family and learn about our grade 2 activities! It will be an early release day, so ***dismissal at 12:45pm***
• Friday, May 12th: Full day of school, so ***dismissal at 2:45pm*** Also, special guest Greg Kapamajian talks with grade 2 students at 9:30am about what it is like to live with a hearing disability as part of our Understanding Disabilities curriculum.

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Community Building
This week we had a chat about how to use our words when something bothers us. Some students were having fun as a group being silly, but things got a little out of hand. I talked to students about making sure they are mindful and respectful of the feelings of those around them, and recognize how their actions might be perceived by others. I showed students how to use a serious face and tone to address problems, instead of escalating the situation.

Literacy 
We started our informational unit on Insects this week. Highlights:

• Read aloud 2 informational texts about insects to learn about the characteristics of insects and their interesting body parts;
• Learned and practiced new insect vocabulary words, such as “microscopic,” “antennae,” “abdomen,” and “exoskeleton;”
• Learned how to take notes on our insect readings using symbols, drawings, words, and phrases;
• Practiced fluency with a decodable story and answered questions about it in writing, using evidence from the text.

Writing
This week our writing work was varied. Highlights:

• Wrote speeches highlighting important information from our country projects;
• Took notes on our insect readings;
• Answered questions in complete sentences about our fluency story.

Phonics
We started Unit 13 of Fundations on the “long o” sound spellings, “oa,” “oe,” and “ow.” Highlights:

• Practiced reading and spelling single-syllable and multisyllabic words with “oa,” “oe,” and “ow,” such as “float,” “grown,” and “tiptoe;”
• Learned new trick words and compared their sounds to their unexpected spellings: Monday, Tuesday, and cousin.

For at-home Phonics information and practice:

• Current: Fundations Home Support Packet for Unit 13
• Review: Fundations Home Support Packet for Unit 12

Math
We continued our work in Unit 6 on Geometry, Time, and Money. We finished Section C on Time. Students definitely struggled with this! Highlights:

• Continued to practice reading an analog clock and telling time using the words half past, quarter past, and quarter till;
• Learned that the numbers on an analog clock represent 5-minute intervals;
• Created a timeline of a 24 hour day with an a.m. section and p.m. section, labeling times for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and shading in the times asleep;
• Determined when to label a given time as a.m. or p.m. based on the activity (breakfast is in the a.m.; an after school activity is in the p.m.).

For at-home Math information and practice:

• Please practice telling time on an analog clock at home with your child as often as possible!
• Current: Illustrative Math Family Support Materials for Unit 6
• Review:  Illustrative Math Family Support Materials for Unit 5

Science
We continued our unit on Organisms and Their Habitats. Highlights:

• Caterpillars arrived! Students each got to observe a live caterpillar, noting that this is a butterfly in the larva stage of its life cycle;
• Observed a variety of plants outside of the school and made drawings;
• Explored the traits of plants and related them to properties of matter;
• Watched a Bill Nye the Science Guy episode on Farming to build background 

​​Thank you for taking the time to read the entire update! Please reach out with any questions, or to connect to discuss your child’s progress. Have a great weekend!

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Below, pictures of students observing plants, practicing their speeches, at Library, and delivering their speeches at our Country Presentation.