Celebrating Togetherness

Hi Families-

It has been a wonderful week here in second grade! This week, we have celebrated our second grade community friendships in three special ways. On Monday, we held a "Majestic 4", in which students got to sign up for a movie of their choice to watch, and get a warm, winter treat- hot cocoa! On Wednesday, we got together once again as a grade and had a singalong time. Some of our favorite include "Love Grows One by One", "Rockin' Robin" and "Winter Wonderland". We ended our week with a board game time. Students were allowed to bring in board games to share with their friends. Board games are a great way to sneak in math and reading practice over the long break. Here is a peek into our sing along:

This week, we continued our independent study of high frequency words. This week, we practiced our words in a few different ways including fancy writing on lined paper, typing, and grid paper writing. Our final practice utilized the tactile part of our brain, as we wrote our words on our desks with shaving cream! Second graders joyfully practiced writing their words three times, working to memorize these ever-important high frequency words.

Want Math Practice for Over Break?
Greg Tang, math guru, puts out a challenge for students to complete over the winter break. Feel free to enjoy!   https://gregtangmath.com/newyears

Please Keep an Eye Out
This week, we've had a few student items go missing from our classroom, including two "Hatchimals" from our collection share, and two bracelets. We've looked everywhere in the classroom! If your child comes by them, we would appreciate you sending them back to school :)

Other Things to Ask Your Child About:
- Fancying up our nonfiction books
- Getting to know our characters' personalities
- Tracking not just what characters say, but how they say it
- Pig game
- Bridge Builders

Have a wonderful break!
Kelly

Earth Changes Experts!

Hi Families-

We have had a week full of hands on learning here in second grade! This week, we completed four science experiments on earth changes. We learned that the earth's surface changes, and that change can be fast, like an earthquake or a volcano, or slow, like water or wind erosion. This week, we simulated an earthquake and a volcano and noted how quickly the earth's surface changed. We  then looked at water erosion by pouring water slowly down an "earth's surface" to watch how, little by little, the water picked up pieces of the soil and moved it to a new place. Finally, we explored wind erosion by creating a model of a sand hill, and then using our breath to mimic the wind. We saw how slowly over time, the wind picked up the sand and moved it to another place. Here is us exploring earth changes:

This week in math, we read the book Alexander, Who Was Rick Last Sunday. In this book, Alexander describes how he lost all of the money his parents had given him that Sunday. We kept track of each amount of money, and then used the open number line strategy to subtract it from 100 cents. We are becoming subtraction experts!

Other Things to Ask Your Child About:
- Winter concert
- Good places to stop, think and jot in your books
- Capturing our audience's attention in our writing by using catchy beginnings and endings
- Conducting a student's survey!
- Moongobble and Me

Have a wonderful weekend!

Ask the Experts!

Hello Families-

We've had a wonderful week of school here at Rick Marcotte Central School. This week, we completed our nonfiction reading unit and celebrated by creating "museum exhibits" in our books. Just as a museum curator would, we chose what facts to teach, what examples and pictures to share and what voices and inflection to use while teaching. Here is a peek at us with our fifth grade visitors:

In science this week, we also began our unit on fast and slow earth changes. First we learned about slow earth changes, including weathering and erosion. We learned that weathering is like earth's "hammer", breaking down parts of the earth, and erosion is like earth's "broom", sweeping it all up. Then, we dove into the topic of fast earth changes, including volcanoes, floods, earthquakes and landslides. We used the technology tool of Pebble Go to research even more about this topic. Here we are doing some sorting of fast and slow earth changes:

Other Things to Ask Your Child About:
- Studying high frequency words for the month of December
- Surveys and data collection
- Bar graphs and picture graphs
- Double digit subtraction on the number line!
- Studying characters in our books even before the first page

Supply Request:
It's that time of year where noses are running! We have run out of soft tissues and baby wipes to keep tables clean. If your family would like to donate either item, it would be greatly appreciated!

Have a wonderful weekend!
Kelly