Dear Parents of 2
nd
grade students,
January 2016
Happy New Year and may all your resolutions be kept!
We hope everyone had an enjoyable and healthy
winter break. It is great to see the students again.
They seemed excited to be back.
As part of this month’s reading/language arts
program, your child will be reading informational
texts and will continue to ask and answer questions
before, during, and after reading to monitor their understanding of the text.
Students identify the main topic of a multi-paragraph informational text,
focus on specific information or paragraphs in a text, and identify reasons
that support specific points in a text.
In writing, students will complete drafting their narrative writing. Before
winter break, students gathered facts related to a region, and changed the
setting and characters of the traditional story “The Three Pigs.” They
organized their story (i.e., beginning, middle, and end) and will create audio
recordings of their traditional stories. Students will revise and edit using
beginning dictionaries to check spelling.
In math, students continue to work with add to, take from, put together/take
apart, and compare one-step problem situations (within 100) with unknowns in
all positions. Students use drawings and equations with a symbol for the
unknown to represent problems. Also, students will apply their
understandings of number (skip counting) and the value of coins (i.e., quarters,
dimes, nickels, and pennies) to determine collections of bills and/or coins with
target values within $100. To begin the third quarter during the week of
January 26, students will develop understandings of centimeters and meters.
Students use materials to measure the lengths of objects in centimeters.
They will create models of meter sticks and measure using the models.
In science we will be looking at minute objects and their attributes, using the
bare eye, magnifying lens and other magnification tools.
As students end the marking period in social studies, they will work to build
self-awareness by exploring ways people can respect and value diversity and
differences by sharing and passing on traditions.
Cold weather is here. It is sometimes difficult to regulate the temperature
in the classrooms and hallways. Please have your child dress in layers so
clothes can be removed or replaced as the climate dictates. Thanks!
Between January 4th and January 29th, students will be formally assessed in
reading using the county’s mClass reading assessment. Also, they will take the
winter Measurement of Academic Progress-Primary (MAP-P) assessment of
math in the computer lab.
Go for the Gold reading program is underway with two months under our
belts. We are so proud of all of the second graders, their enthusiasm, and
their reading progress. It is wonderful to see so many students participating.
Keep up the great work!
Mark your calendars:
Monday, January 18th: Martin Luther King Jr. Day No School
Second quarter will end on Friday, January 22nd
Monday, January 25th is a professional day for teachers and there will be no
school for students.
The Second Grade Team,
Mrs. DeHaas
Mrs. Titherington
Mrs. Oxman
Mrs. Levy
Ms. Williams
Mrs. Podor