Second Grade News
January has arrived and so has the cold weather! We are keeping warm and toasty in the second grade with lots of interesting activities. The New Year has gotten off to a great start and we can't believe that our second grade year is halfway completed. Wow we know that we have lots to get finished as we prepare for third grade.
This month in the reading area we continue to work in our Treasures Reading program. The students are really starting to improve their fluency when reading orally which is one of our classroom goals this year. We have started Unit 4 in our series and it is called Better Together. We will have many stories and selections that help us answer the question “How is working together better than working alone?” One of our favorite parts of the program is the Decodable and Leveled readers. They give us great reading practice and also are so fun to read. Thanks to our parents for helping by listening to us read these at home.
In the math area we have been learning about arrays and equal shares. This is the beginning of multiplication and division for the second graders. In our new unit called Patterns and Rules we will explore number patterns and continue to develop that readiness for multiplication and division. We will also extend our addition and subtraction practice with larger numbers. As you can see we are gaining more confidence in our math skills daily. Mrs. Papa is very excited by all we have achieved in this area. Keep practicing those facts!
During author time we have been reading a book called Little House in the Big Woods written by Laura Ingalls Wilder. It is so interesting to learn what life would have been like over a hundred years ago. We think we may have it pretty easy these days compared to pioneer life. Another important day for us this month was the celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We wrote our own dream speeches and even plan to have them taped. Our hopes and dreams for the future are important to us, as his were to him. We plan to work very hard to make these dreams come true just as Martin Luther King did.
Our Social Studies unit has found us learning about how rules and laws keep us safe. If we follow the rules and laws of our communities we will be the best citizens possible. This month in Science we will be studying various habitats and as a culminating project we will each be creating our own animal habitat. This should be a fun and creative activity for the second graders.
Please remember to continue to save and bring Box Tops for Education to school. The second grade is collecting, counting, and tabulating these. This is our community service project for the year. The money that is made will be used to purchase books for our school library. We challenge all classes to save the box tops and bring them to school! Thanks for your help with this project. It will run through April.
The second half of the school year is going well and we are working to make 2012 the best yet. We will let you know how it progresses. Stay happy and warm!
Mrs. Papa and Second Grade
