Today the entire school cheered on the kindergarten class as they celebrated becoming readers with a parade!
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A big idea for second grade science is that wind and water can change the shape of the land. We started this unit by investigating rocks, as these explorations allowed us to develop our observing and recording skills. We are now going to start focusing on the idea that rocks, and the Earth's surface, can change. Water is a powerful force that reshapes the earth’s surface. Students will come to see that water isn’t just something we drink. It carries sand to create beaches, carves out canyons and valleys and, as ice, scrapes entire areas flat. Today students developed a model of the earth’s surface and used it to discover an important principle about how rivers work and why they flow. Today we started math with a fun game to practice our addition facts. Download the game below if you would like to play it at home. Plus find a bonus version we haven't played yet.
We have begun unit 2 in Reader's Workshop. This unit is all about nonfiction text. We have also started our nonfiction writing unit (but I will post more about this later). On Monday students learned that nonfiction readers pay attention to the details, the bits and pieces, putting all this together to really understand and grow knowledge about a topic. Students looked at various diagrams and pictures that can be "read" and shared out what they noticed, learned, and wondered. On Tuesday students worked with a partner to practice the same great thinking, but this time with a nonfiction book. We continue to build strong place value knowledge and think flexibly about numbers. Yesterday we learned a new workplace game called The Subtraction Wheel. This will help us with our subtraction math facts. We also completed some base ten riddles. Here's an example of one: I have 12 tens and 8 ones...what number am I? Today we learned another new game, as well as completed a mystery picture, to practice using a Hundreds Chart to add 2-digit numbers. Download and print the game below if you'd like to play it at home.
Today during "Read to Self" students wrote thought bubbles for their characters. Often times the author gives us clues to what the character might be thinking (whether it be clues in the text of the story or clues in the illustrations), but doesn't always tell us exactly what a character is thinking. We practiced using these clues to infer thoughts. Students have learned the word inference yet though -- but they will soon! Today students counted, estimated, and compared quantities of beans in order to develop place value counting skills. Each student first tried to scoop 50 beans, counted them, and then determined "how many more" or "how many fewer" beans would be needed to make 50 exactly. Students then worked in pairs, combining their beans and worked to find "how many more" or "how many fewer" beans would be needed to make 100 exactly. As we are just beginning this unit, we are reviewing the first three place value units: ones, tens, hundreds. In the next few sessions we will begin to work more flexibly with these numbers, learning, for example, to express the number 127 as 12 tens and 7 ones. On Friday, October 13th, the fire department came for their yearly fire-safety presentation. We learned all about what to do in case of a fire and how to prevent fires. Kids even brought some homework home for their parents! With our new math unit we will soon be learning strategies to add and subtract 2-digit numbers. A hundreds chart is a great tool, as it helps to build place value understanding and especially aids with skip counting (in multiples of 10) and making "friendly numbers" (numbers on the decade - 10, 20, 30, etc.). Students were introduced to the number line last Friday and practiced using it by playing a fun Halloween-themed game. Download the file below to play the game at home. In the coming weeks, students will have more exposure and practice with a hundreds (or even 120 and 200's) chart.
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