Second Grade Newsletter
March 21, 2016
Dear Parents and Students,
March is going faster than a racehorse at the annual
Kentucky Derby! Already, one-half of the days have
marched away. Let’s keep adding new words to our word
banks tucked away in our wonderful second grade brains!
Let’s sprinkle those exciting new words into our stories and
daily conversations!
Emily Doucette has been our latest and greatest and
most up-to-datest second grade helper at our wonderful
school! Emily has been running errands down the ramp to
deliver the attendance and lunch count. She has collected
papers faster than a coffee pot brewing in the teacher’s
room on an early Monday morning during her time of
service. Thank you, Emily, for working so hard to make
sure our speed tests have been collected in lickety-split
time. You’re a great second grade classroom helper!
Students are working hard to learn the names of new
shapes as we continue our geometry unit. How many sides
does a pentagon have? What is a six-sided shape called?
What is a seven-sided shape called? What is an eight-sided
shape called? What is a nine-sided shape called? What is a
shape with ten sides called? What is a polygon? How
many faces on a cube? How many edges on a rectangular
prism? How many vertices does a sphere have? How do
we divide shapes into smaller equal shapes? Let’s keep
adding more math vocabulary into our word banks. Let’s
look at trapezoids and parallelograms today.
We continue to practice many important math skills
that will help us become more proficient mathematicians.
This week, we will work in math centers in the afternoon to
review and practice many important skills that will help us
become more confident mathematicians. Students will
work in small groups to practice telling time, count money,
use place value, use symmetry, manipulate shape blocks
and tangrams, and practice measurement. This is an
important time to work with others and use our best
thinking skills.
We practice our math facts to help us become more
fluent mathematicians with answering facts. Will you pass
another speed test this week? Congratulations, Mr.
Robertson! You continue to climb up our math facts’ Wall
of Fame. Keep working hard, Ashton! The sky is the
limit!
It is important, as we travel through our last trimester
together, that we work hard to become better readers and
writers. Students should be developing stamina for reading
chapter books for longer periods of time.
In writing workshop, we reviewed idioms this past
week. Students learned about similes, brainstorming ideas
to finish some fun similes to use in our stories. Let’s read
some more poetry and write some of our own poems. Let’s
write some more fun stories to share with classmates. Let’s
think about how we SHOW our audience what is
happening in our stories.
Hats off and on and up and down for the Superhero,
Mr. Christopher! Mr. Christopher has allowed us to have
another thirty minutes of gym time to walk and play some
fun games on Wednesday morning. It is important for
students to exercise often throughout the week. I do see a
difference in students’ positive and more-settled behavior
after exercising. Students were proud of getting on those
roller blades around and around our cafeteria during gym
class last Tuesday. Woo Hoo! Let’s hope the snow melts
quickly and the winds dry our wet, muddy fields. We will
walk laps as soon as the field is ready for our second grade
feet.
Let’s begin to think of simple machines this week.
What are simple machines? Where do we see simple
machines in our every day world?
In April, we will begin to practice repeated readings
with reader’s theater and other plays that will help develop
our oral speaking skills, as well as enjoy the act of reading
and performing puppet plays. It is important that we work
hard to become even more fluent, expressive readers. Let’s
practice a script on the seven continents this week. It is
important that our oral speaking skills help us communicate
effectively with others.
Please discuss your report card with your parents or
grandparents. Think about your rainbow goals. How can
you become a better citizen this last trimester? How can
you improve your work this last trimester?
As we celebrate the days of spring ahead, we will be
keeping track of our grass head pets. Let’s plant some
grass seeds and see how tall it gets using inches and
centimeters.
Don’t forget to bring your homework folder every day
to school. Organize work into your folders. Do your
homework to become a better thinker! It is up to you!
What will you do? Use your time wisely. Be kind to
others even when they may not show that same kindness.
Enjoy your days. Do your best work! Do the right thing
even when no one is looking. Eat healthy and drink water.
Water bottles are welcome on desks. Students and parents
should be reading and discussing chapter books every
evening at least 20 minutes an evening. This helps students
understand that much of student learning takes place at
home and is important.
Have a wonderful week filled with erupting daffodils
and returning robins and geese! Let’s enjoy the days ahead
and smile often!
Mrs. Forgue