March 3: Newsletter

UPCOMING EVENTS:

March 10 - Early Release - Dismissal at 12:15

March 15 & 16 - Parent/Teacher Conference 

March 17 - St. Patrick's Day - Wear Green  

March 30: Beach Day (students bring in beach towels to cozy up and read)

                 Students should be at 75% of their SRC goal

May 5: Students should be at 100% of their SRC goal

READING:

March is reading month!  Our theme this year is “Oh, the places you’ll go”.  Mrs. VanBergen read to the second graders this week to help build excitement for reading.  One of our goals this month is to notice the places our reading can take us.  At this point, students have noticed that they traveled to Connecticut, Africa, New York,  Antartica, and even under the sea!  In class, we will track all the places we travel to in our reading on a map.  I think our map is going to fill up quickly!!

Also, I have challenged the second graders to find a fun, crazy place to read this month.  I am hoping to get a picture of all of the second graders reading in a crazy place or in a crazy way (with a hula hoop or while eating breakfast) to post on our classroom door.  Many students wanted their spot to be somewhere at home.  If you are interested in participating in this project with your child, please send me a picture of them reading in a crazy spot or in a crazy way.  I will then print the pictures at school to post for all to see.  If you aren’t able to complete this activity at home, we will take a fun picture at school.  We already have pictures of students reading under desks, in lockers, in the teacher’s lounge, and even in Mrs. VanBergen’s office!  You will be able to check out all of the pictures when you visit for Parent Teacher Conferences.  

WRITING:

We have officially completed our first opinion writing piece.  I am excited to share their writing with you at our upcoming conference.  Each day I am amazed at their progress as writers.  Their writing is becoming very convincing as they add in details, examples, evidence, and their fun personalities!  Next week we will write another opinion piece based on a favorite book/movie.  Students will choose between Horton Hears a Who, Charlotte’s Web, and the Boxcar Children.  Students will write to convince the reader that their chosen book/movie is the best.  I will read their writing to decide our next read aloud book.  The most convincing writing piece will make our decision!  We will even be able to celebrate all of our hard work by watching that same movie!

MATH:

Students couldn’t have worked harder on the Unit 4 math assessment.  I am proud of their determination as they worked through these difficult concepts.  I will keep your child’s assessment to go over with you at conferences.  Next week we will continue to work through Unit 5: Time, Graphs, and Word Problems.  Students already know how to tell time to the hour and can identify the difference between A.M. and P.M.  Next week we will begin to tell time by five minute intervals.    

OTHER NEWS: 

Next week we will begin a three week unit on typing.  Each day we will spend 30-40 minutes in the computer lab learning the basic skills of typing.  Each morning we will head to the computer lab at 10:00.  We will begin by focusing on proper hand placement on the keyboard and will learn the home row keys (a, s, d, f and j, k, l, ;)

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