Welcome Back:)

It's hard to believe we've already completed the second week of school!  At this point we're fully immersed in our second grade curriculum.

Reading
We've started our Journeys Unit with the story Henry and Mudge (a great series if you're looking for a good read for your student).  We're focusing on putting the story events in order, known as Sequence of Events.  You can support this work at home by asking:
"What happened first in the story?  Next?  How did the story end?"

Writing
We're learning to look at our world through writers eyes...always with the thought in mind that that could be a great story!  We're writing about small moments or seed stories...stories that have actually happened to the student but are a snippet of time (minutes instead of hours or days).  Support this by pointing out things that happen in your students life that they could write about.  For example:
                           The night the air conditioner broke and we were so hot!
                            The walk to school in the morning.

Math
We have begun a pilot program that the district is trying out, called Eureka Math.  We began this new program by learning about number bonds and adding ones, then tens in problems such as 43+6=...we looked for an easy problem to solve first such as 3+6=9 and then added the tens to get our answer of 43.

Watch the video below for an idea of how we're doing this.  This is not  homework that the students had, but simply an example of how we're solving problems right now.

Follow this link to see a newsletter from another district that gives you the terminology, vocabulary, and examples of what we're doing in this Module for the next few weeks.

Social Studies
Our student teacher, Ms. Berback, has been teaching the students about cardinal directions (North, South, East, and West).  Ask them about playing Simon Says with directions!!

Subtraction with Regrouping

It's that time of year!!!  We've been dabbling in subtraction all year long but it's (finally) time to put our noses to the grindstone and perfect our borrowing skills!  Here's a great Youtube video to show how and why we regroup.  It may come in helpful at home while reviewing homework!

Dr. Seuss Writing

Celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday last week, we began creating "Seuss-like characters" and writing fictional stories about these characters.  First students paired with a friend from the other second grade class.  Then they combed through Dr. Seuss books to notice similarities about Dr. Seuss' characters.  They developed and named their character.  

From there, the students created a story map.  We are now drafting our Dr. Seuss stories. They are fabulous! See the students with their character below!

Imagine Learning Computer Program

Imagine Learning is a great new web-based resource I'd like to share with you.

K-2 is currently piloting a web-based reading program called Imagine Learning.  Imagine Learning builds, reinforces, and allows students to practice reading skills such as phonics, decoding, fluency, comprehension, etc.  Each child has taken a "placement test" on the computer and the program has uniquely placed each 2nd grader into their own self-paced program.  This program is especially great because each child's program is individualized and is catered toward their personal strengths and needs.  It reinforces skills through animated lessons and interactive games much like a video game or cartoon so the children are extremely engaged in the learning.  The children log onto Imagine Learning for about 20 minutes each day, and now we are able to offer access at home!

Desktop/Laptop

1.  Open up your preferred browser (Chrome, IE, Safari, etc.) and type the following IP address exactly as it appears into your address bar: 208.97.60.185

[No www or .com needed - Simply copy and paste the group of numbers with periods as it appears into your address bar and hit enter]

2.  Make sure your pop-ups are not being blocked.  

3.  You will be prompted to download the Unity Player.  Open and follow the steps on screen to download this application.

4.  If the webpage does not show the Imagine Learning login screen once the Unity Player has been downloaded then refresh the webpage.

5.  You will be prompted to allow the program to use your  microphone.  Hit allow.  

6.  Have your child type in their username and password.  Every child's username is the first initial of their first name and their full last name i.e. kyerger and their password is their lunch number.

iPad/Tablet

1.  Download the Imagine Learning app from the app store.

2.  Type the following IP address into the 'Engine Number' space: 208.97.60.185

3.  Have your child type in their username and password.  Every child's username is the first initial of their first name and their full last name i.e. kyerger and their password is their lunch number.

4.  You will be prompted to allow the program to use your microphone.  Hit allow.  

I have no guarantees on how long we will have this program since it's technically a pilot program, but in the meantime let's make use of this great resource!  Set aside some time after playing in the snow tomorrow to log onto Imagine Learning!

*Thanks to Katie Riley for the explicit directions on logging in!

Reading Suggestions to Make Reading Time Fun!

With the cold and the snow outside, it's a great time to pick up a good book inside.  If you have reluctant readers (or even if you don't!), this link has a ton of suggestions for making reading time fun and getting your reader to want to read.  Check it out!

http://www.rif.org/us/literacy-resources/articles/children-who-can-read-but-dont.htm

Indoor Recess

With the cold weather, here's some ideas of how we've kept ourselves busy!:)

Mexican Murals

During the month of January we have been studying the culture of Mexico in Social Studies.  This past week we are creating a mural in a group of 2-3 students to show what we learned.  Murals include sugar candy skulls from Day of the Dead, the Mayan Step Pyramids, the Mexican flag with the legendary eagle eating a snake on a cactus from the Aztec culture.  We decided to create murals based on the Mexican artist we learned about, Diego Rivera, who was known for his murals documenting people and event from around the world.