Week #16 December 16-20, 2019
We will remember many things about this week.  Here are a few highlights:

Our winter concert Tuesday evening was an exciting event!  Everyone did their best and had fun.  Thank you for attending the concert, and for being part of this special night.  Thank you to Mrs. Rito and Ms. Wood for their hard work teaching us and preparing us to perform so well.  Here is an outtake of my attempts to capture a class photo of us dressed in our finest.

To balance all the excitement surrounding our concert (and several December birthdays), we also enjoyed moments of calm as we continued to write and read our non-fiction books, channeled our creativity with card making, and watched a nature documentary.  We still completed a lot of focused work in math and science, and helped to take care of each other.  Students came home today with backpacks full of completed work and a small white bag of treasures.  They filled their white bag with items to help them have calm, mindful moments during this vacation.  The items include:  a shell, a rock, a gem, sticky notes for quick positive messages, weaving, word finds, zones of regulation tips and a pencil buddy.  A few students even labeled their bag "peace" or "happy" or top secret". 

Other things to ask your child about this week:
*effects of wind, water and sun on land
*breathing with gems
*Zones of Regulation with Ms. Amblo
*Don't Say That Word! and rhyming as Phonics Professors
*Whole-school celebration to watch "Frosty"

Thank you for your support!
Mrs. Hock

Week #15 December 9-13, 2018

We are immersed in non-fiction!  We are writing our first non-fiction books.  We created lists in our "tiny topic notebooks" of subjects we already know a lot about (expert lists) and subjects we'd like to research (interest lists).  We brainstormed, created chapter titles and wrote our first drafts.  Lessons to support our drafting included the objectives of "squeezing our brain" and using labeled diagrams.  We also continued our non-fiction reading as we enjoyed our whole-class titles (Knights in Shining Armour, Tigers, Bats), our independent titles, and our reading group texts.  We are using text features and learning keywords as we grow our knowledge.

As our science unit comes to conclusion next week, our study of Earth Changes this week had us completing our model of weathering and erosion with the rock tumbler (see the pre/post picture of the rocks below), and learning about fast changes to the earth.  Next week, we'll investigate specifically the effects of wind and water on the earth.

We began coding in library this week to celebrate Hour of Code (December 9-15, 2019) in honor of Computer Science Education Week.  We will have 3 more lessons with Mrs. Springer.  We used block coding to solve puzzles on the code.org website.  Students have access to this at home.  Mrs. Springer gave each student their password; let me know if you need another copy.

Other things to ask your child about this week:

• PJ/Stuffy/Comfy Reading Day
• visuals for mindful breathing (infinity, hot beverage, snowflakes, flower & candle)
• solving extended math tasks
• Zoom
• making appreciation cards for our recess and lunch teachers
• zones of regulation with Ms. Amblo

Thank you for your continued contributions to the Food Drive and Penny Drive.

I look forward to seeing everyone at our winter concert next Tuesday at 6:30 pm at SBHS.

Enjoy the weekend!

Mrs. Hock

Week #14 December 2-6, 2019

Welcome to December!  We have a short, full month ahead.  Please read below to enjoy a few highlights from the week. 

Earth changes occur quickly or slowly.  We began a model to investigate erosion with our rock tumbler.  Here we are as a whole 2nd grade group looking at our rocks after the first step in our procedure.

Our word study changed this week.  We are using new curriculum materials and working as "Phonics Professors".  The objectives of our lessons this week included a review of first grade skills with a focus on silent e, long vowels, vowel teams and SNAP words.  For the next 2 weeks in December, we will also look at r-controlled vowels, spelling with correct patterns, using rhyming to spell and complete a winter assessment.

Have you heard that our President is now also our time keeper? Our "leader" wears an analog watch to report and update our schedule throughout the day.  This watch has an elastic band with clearly marked hands and the minutes labeled to assist in our time-telling skills.  So far our Presidents have been very responsible!

This week in math we finished a unit about adding 2-digit numbers.  The standard for 2nd grade is that students add with a place value strategy.  This means students use their understanding of the meaning of the digits, and their relationships, to put the quantities together.  Using the standard algorithm for addition is an expectation for 4th grade.  This strong conceptual foundation in 2nd grade will bring greater fluency and accuracy to the standard algorithm later in 4th grade.  In this unit, we:

1. added 10 and multiples of 10 using a 100 chart and showing our thinking on an open number line (54 + 20 = ____ ) .  
2. added single digit numbers by decomposing that number so we first add to the next decade and then add the leftover ones (54 + 8 = 54 + 6 + 2 = ____ ).  
3. added two 2-digit numbers by first adding the tens, then adding the ones (54 + 28 = 54 + 20 + 6 + 2 = _____ ).

Here is what that looks like in our work:

We also enjoyed Farm-to-School with Kayli this week to celebrate Hygge and create a feeling of coziness and comfort.  We steeped tea using 4 different herbs and enjoyed a Scandinavian winter tale.

Other things to ask your child about this week:

• Welcome Penny!  Our new student from Texas
• Publishing our class book
• Whole-school assembly hosted by 4th grade
• Creating a bar graph
• Asking Questions and Paying Attention to Detail to Grow Our Knowledge while reading non-fiction

Enjoy the winter wonderland this weekend!

Mrs. Hock