What another engaged 2 weeks we had together learning about each other and building a safe learning environment for us all.  Students have learned about routines of our classroom that will help us to be efficient.  Some of these routines include: classroom jobs, morning routines & bellwork, bathroom usage and signing in every morning.    

During read aloud time, Students are really enjoying our read aloud story The War with Grandpa by Robert Kimmel Smith.  This story is about a boy named Peter Stokes who has to give up his most prized possession...his room, when Grandpa comes to live with them.  Peter loves his Grandpa but he wants his room back!

Here is a summary of what happened in our classroom:
Getting to Know Each Other…

• Individually, students took a reading survey that asked questions about what books they like to read, how often they read, what genre they enjoy most, and how they learned (still learning) to read.  It was very powerful to see how everyone reads for different purposes (to be entertained, to learn new things, for homework, etc…) and how books are a very special part in everyone’s life! ​​

In Langauge Arts...

• Students used highlighting strategies to find text evidence in the stories they read from Wonders.  As students were asking and answering questions about the text, they learned to use Q.A.D. = Q=Repeat the Question, A= Answer the question, D=Provide Details from the text.  Students used this nemonic device to help them answer the questions in a complete sentence and with text evidence.  

• Students listened to and watched an interactive story called Giraffes Can't Dance by Giles Andreae.  In this story, Gerald the Giraffes watches all his friends boogie down to the beat at the Africa Jungle Dance and his only wish is that he could dance just as well.  He tries hard to learn, but his clumsy body and his friends telling him "Giraffes can't dance" discourages him to even try.  Finally he meets a cricket who tells him to listen to the music and "find your song."  Gerald soon realizes he can dance he just needed to try again to different music!  After reading this story, students enjoyed two songs which can be found here on our class website Don't Give Up by Bruno Mars and The Power of Yet by Janelle Monae.  Students then thought of an academic and personal goal that they have and posted it on our "Things We Can't Do....YET!" poster.  ​​

• During grammar lessons, students are practicing to capitalize and end their sentences with the proper punctuation.  They are also identifying whether a sentence is a statement, a question, or a command.  They learned how to find root words and can identify inflectional endings such as ed, ing, s, & es.  ​

In math...​

• By grouping 10 tens, students learned that it makes a 100!  Students composed and decomposed quantities of base-ten pieces (blocks) to show that numbers can be represented in more than one way.  This skill of decomposing and composing will help students later with trading and regrouping when adding and subtracting numbers.    
• Students learn about place value, this week going up to the hundreds place.  They also practiced writing numerals and number names for three-digit numbers.  Students learned that with three-digit numbers you say the tens and the ones together, but the hundreds is said separately, so a hyphen is needed between the tens and ones, but not for the hundreds.  For example, three hundred fifty-nine.   ​

• Students reviewed the counting-on strategy from 1st grade. Students learned it's much more efficient when you start at the larger number and count on the smaller number. Using this strategy is faster and leaves less room for error. Students applied this counting-on strategy when solving word problems.  They had to write matching equations with the unknown in the correct position to various math stories.  For example, the following problem would have the following matching equation. 
  • ​​​​​There were 12 lollipops in a bag.  Mom bought some more.  Now there are 16 lollipops altogether.  How many did Mom buy?   12 + ? = 16​ Students learned to count-on from 12 to 16 to find the answer.

• ​Student explored even and odd numbers and investigated the conditions for a number to be even or odd.  

In Social Studies...

• We kicked off our "Stranger Danger" Project-Based-Learning Unit.  So far students have watched some age-appropriate short news clips of children in their community who almost became victims of "stranger danger" but acted in a safe way and prevented themselves from getting harmed.  Not intended to scare the children, but rather these lessons and videos will be used to bring to light the realities of the situation.  Ultimately we all want our children to make smart choices and behave safely in risky situation. ​​

• Students participated in bullying prevention lessons.  They learned how to recognize, report, and refuse bullying.  They also learned how bystanders have a role and just how powerful they can be in stopping bullying.  

• We also began our Culture and Family History Study.  Students are enjoying as they learn about why many groups of people came to America.  After reading a wonderful story called We Came to America by Faith Ringgold, students identified that the author's message was- while we all look very different on the outside, have different cultures, race and religions, we are more alike than we think.  We all want to be loved, happy, and accepted for our differences.  WOW!  What a powerful message!​  

REMINDERS AND ANNOUCEMENTS

• Don't forget to check and sign your child's planner daily!  Thank you!

• Please help your child log the genre he or she reads daily.  It is important to expose them to the correct genre name when referring to the books they read.  The Genre-at-a-Glance chart is located behind the reading log (laminated to the manilla folder).
• Please make sure your child is reading the "Words to Read" lists daily, as this is a reinforcement of the spelling sound they are learning about in class.  ​

The children in Miss Nelson class from the story Miss Nelson is Missing taught us important lessons about mutual respect and attentive listening.  We read another story called My Mouth is a Volcano!  In this story we learn about interrupting others and why we should never do it (unless there's an emergency).  Using both stories, students brainstormed many ways to show attentive listening in our own classroom!