Week #5 September 23-27, 2019

This week we learned:

• word study routines including sorting, writing, drawing, making words and syllable work.
• 3 new math games:  Count & Compare 2's, Battling Bugs and What's the Difference?.
• to use the scientific process and observe, question, hypothesize, test, analyze evidence and conclude to determine that our item (beads) changes color with exposure to ultraviolet light.

This week we experienced:

• a lesson on "fair versus equal" using band-aids.
• brainstorming topics for personal narratives about people, places, things, seasons and important memories with inspiration from Best Friends, Screaming Mean Machine, Jamaica's Find, Blueberries for Sal, and Ira Sleeps Over.
• "All About Me" share from Cristobal, Julia, Ian, Mrs. DeGrechie, Ms. K and Mrs. Donoughue.
• our 2nd Marky Mark celebration and Lina's birthday.
• a STEM challenge to create the longest paper chain possible with our table groups using 1 piece of paper.

Other things to ask your child about this week:

• making covers for our science notebooks.
• our morning meeting activities:  Mystery Doug, Pica/Ferme/Nada, Hickety Pickety
• labeling events in a day as happening in a.m. or p.m.
• academic choice and a "to do" list.

Thank you for all you do!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Mrs. Hock

Week #4:  September 16-20, 2019

The students were certainly excited this week!  They enjoy learning new tools, information and strategies.  What an eager group!  We are learning how much we can accomplish as a focused, collaborative group.  Here are some highlights from our newsletter this week.

We learned:

• tools related to creating Google Slides including formatting text boxes, backgrounds, and inserting images.
• to be mindful with smell by wafting scents from essential oils, herbs, and flowers from Mrs. Hock's garden.
• more strategies to help us shift our thinking to Growth Mindset using the books Bubblegum Brain, Not Yet, Flight School, Ricky the Rock that Couldn't Roll and The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes.

We experienced:

• Dot Day by reading The Dot and other books by Peter Reynolds and creating our own "mark".
• practicing our handwriting, and reviewing consonants & vowels.
• "All About Me" share from Evie, Kaja, Lina, Cooper and Lukas.
• reading mini-lessons related to reading stamina and stopping to think while reading.
• a guidance lesson with Ms. Amble about The Buddy Bench.
• the district-wide fall 2nd grade Math Standards Assessment.

Other things to ask your child about:

• making covers for our science notebooks.
• our morning meeting activities: Mystery Doug, Class Picture and the Name Card greeting.
• writing equations for odd and even numbers.
• palindromes.

Enjoy the warm temperatures this weekend!

Mrs. Hock

Week #3 September 9-13, 2019

We had a fun week of "firsts" starting with this being our first full five-day week of school.  We enjoyed both our first class celebration AND our first whole-school celebration, and saw our first Monarch caterpillar hatch.  Here are some more highlights:

We learned:

• all about our Chromebooks including the topics of digital citizenship, usernames & passwords, Google Classroom, bookmarking, changing settings, Bookflix and Dreambox.
• to be mindful with touch by feeling a mystery item in a bag (pinecone), handling an item behind our back (seashell), holding ice, and using thumb circles to pay attention to our wrist, hand and fingers.
• two structures we'll use during our math block this year--
1. independent practice (regular maintenance of skills & concepts)
2. choice (use of tools, fluency practice and technology)

We experienced:

• leading a whole-school assembly about Mindfulness.
• "All About Me" share from Siena, Harper, Dagny, Elliot and Sora.
• reading mini-lessons related to deciding HOW to read text, taking a Sneak Peek before reading text and using our "Repeated Reading" folders to reread familiar text to build fluency.
• our first Marky Mark celebration and 2 birthdays where we made slime, played wiffle ball and crafted rain sticks.
• the district-wide fall 2nd grade paragraph dictation and online aMath assessments.

Other things to ask your child about:

• The Golden Rule
• My Magic Breath, I am Peace
• Our morning meeting activities:  Mystery Doug, Coseeki, Down by the Banks, Brave

Enjoy the weekend!

DOT DAY is September 15--may you make your mark on the world!  

http://www.thedotclub.org/dotday/

Who knows, I may wear DOTS on Monday, September 16.

Mrs. Hock

Collaborative Art with Mrs. Lewis

Week #2 September 3-6, 2019

We have a lot to celebrate at the end of week 2!  We have earned a total of 374 Marky Marks filling our bin.  Our first celebration will be Monday, 9/9 and we will be making slime.  We even called a teacher on the "Marky Mark Committee" to share our news.  Fun times to honor our hard work together.

Here are some other highlights from this week:

We learned:

• 3 new math games:  Race to the Top, Empty the Box and Target.
• to be mindful by listening to different tools with different sounds (chime, rain stick, singing bowl and talking stick).
• Our system for using the Peace Place after reading Anh's Anger.

We experienced:

• school pictures, a whole-school assembly hosted by grade 5 and a grade-level orientation to review R-M-C-S on the bus.
• "All About Me" share from Mrs. Hock, Lucius, Lydia and Elliott.
• The start of our Number Corner skills work for the month with ways to make 20, an introduction to clocks, odd/even (impares/pares) and counting by tens.
• creating a class book, "______ is my name.  ______ is my game."
• A quick sort of statements as either Fixed Mindset or Growth Mindset.
• Using watercolors to create a painting related to the book, A Spot of Kindness.
• The district-wide fall 2nd grade spelling assessment.

Other things to ask your child about:

• Our rights and responsibilities as students in our classroom and Howard B. Wigglebottom.
• "Repeated Reading" Folders
• My Name is Elizabeth

Enjoy the weekend!

Mrs. Hock