Second Grade Newsletter
May 1, 2017
Dear Parents and Students,
Happy marvelous, magical May Day! It was a spectacular,
splendid weekend with whooshing, wild, wacky winds drying
the mucky, muddy ground that has been drenched with water
from the rainfall. Did you take time to enjoy your outside world
this perfectly, pleasant, past weekend?
Let’s hear it for our latest and greatest second grade
helper, Paige Eaton! Paige has been as quiet as a mouse when
she passes out papers to her peers. Paige has led our
classroom line to this location and that location as we have
traveled inside our superb, sensational school hallways. Thank
you, Paige, for running errands to the office and back to the
classroom as quickly as a tennis ball rolling down a hill in
summer.
Let’s hear a HIP HIP HOORAY and a HOT DIGGITY-DOG for
two amazing teachers! Mrs. Eldridge and Mrs. LaForgia
showed the arts are alive and well at our rural school right in
the heart of Canaan! Last Thursday evening was a treat for
parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, the Canaan staff, and of
course, the awesome students that attend our amazing school!
What a spectacular performance put on by our chorus and
band! I know many students will want to join the chorus and
the band as they move up the grades. We are so lucky to have
two such superb and dedicated teachers at Canaan Elementary
School!
Many genres of writing are being shared during our writing
workshop. Some students are working on comic books. Some
students are working on diaries. Some students are writing
chapter books about super heroes and their heroic deeds. Last
week, Jahkobe, Alessia, and Darren collaborated on a comic
book written about a time of despair. Bree and Makenna have
been writing about kittens and puppies and all of the things
these miniature, magnificent mammals can do. Everyone took
some time out during the week to count out syllables to write
haikus honoring our natural world. We are super second grade
authors!
As we practice word ladders and spelling skills, we are
incorporating those skills into our daily writing to make our
writing more fluent. Let’s continue to edit our writing with
capitals and punctuation, too.
Students are doing a totally terrific job when it comes to
identifying the edges, vertices, and faces of three-dimensional
shapes. How many faces does a cube have? How many edges
does a cube have? How many vertices does a cube have? How
many faces on a cylinder? How many edges on a sphere? How
many edges on a rectangular prism? What plane shape do we
draw using a cone? How many faces on a rectangular pyramid?
What objects in our world show the shape of a sphere? What
is a polygon? Let’s continue to learn more about geometry this
week.
We are walking closer to 100 miles as we walk laps on
mornings or afternoons to help us get those wacky, wild
wiggles out that come with spring fever. Our bar graph in the
hallway shows our progress. We also used our PAT to spend
time with friends on the playground Friday afternoon. Students
enjoyed sliding on slides and swinging on swings and running
this way and that way and that way and this way. Students
were eager to enjoy a stupendous, spring day with friends.
Let’s continue to learn and play with our fabulous friends
during recess and PAT as Spring visits our playground with
flowers and warm temperatures.
Students have been learning about different kinds of maps
and the features we find on maps. Students created their own
food maps showing their understanding of landforms and
bodies of water made from delicious, delightful delicacies.
Abby created an ice cream island with an apple school nearby.
Bree made a chocolate fountain to visit. Great job, students,
showing a legend with symbols that show all of the wonderful
places on your food map! A compass rose was used to show
the four directions on our maps. Never Eat Soggy Wheat! We
are careful, creative cartographers in our classroom. Take time
to look at your friends’ food maps during snack time today.
Let’s think about air this week as we learn more about our
world. Let’s make a whirligig and a glider. Let’s think like
scientists this week.
Students practiced reading independently as I assessed
students on reading fluency and comprehension this past week.
Students should feel proud of all of the great reading skills and
strategies we have used and continue to practice to become
even better readers and thinkers. We have many great
discussions about our chapter book, The Giant and the Joneses.
If you could design your own cover for our fantasy, what would
you put on the cover from the great adventures of the iggly
plops and the giants.
Let’s continue to listen, read, and take quizzes when we
use RAZ this week. It is a great way to practice a variety of
books at students’ reading levels.
Let’s continue to read great books, write creative stories,
and solve different kinds of word problems. Be kind to others
even when they may not show that same kindness. Take care
of your outside world by taking care of your playground and
community. Have a great week filled with marshmallow-cream
thoughts and whipped cream moments.
Mrs. Forgue