Dear Second
Grade
Families,
Thank you for attending parent-teacher conferences. It was wonderful to discuss your child's progress in second grade.
Last week we visited the continent of South America by zooming into Brazil and Peru. Thank you to Ruby and Janicee who demonstrated Capoeira - a martial arts dance developed in Brazil
by African slaves at the beginning of the 16th century. Ms. Simrock also shared her slide show of family trips to the Andean town of Tinta in the high Andes of Peru. This is the town where her mother was born and her grandfather worked as an alpaca rancher.
Students have research notebooks where they are writing down "key words" and questions they might have about each presentation. We are also beginning to take notes from non-fiction reading material by jotting down "key words". These "key words" are then used to create a "brain web" of facts and ideas about the topic. Students are learning to organize these facts in a logical sequence in order to summarize what they have learned in their own words.
Students have selected individual countries and will soon begin their research. Teachers will provide a book to each student that will have all of the "necessary" information to complete the writing portion of the report which will be done is class. In addtion to this school provided book, we request that you go to the HMB Library to check out a couple of additional books. We are working with the library to collect books on the countires our students have selected. Please call to see if your child's books have arrived, as they will be arriving at different times from different locations. Then check them out on your library card and have your child bring the books to school. They could arrive at the HMB Library as early as Friday, 3/31.
HMB Library Phone Number: 726-2316.
We also had a chance to visit Ms. Kohrs' sixth grade Makey-Makey Enrichment class. The middle schoolers shared their tech creations using everyday objects, to the delight of our second grade inventors!
Reading circles, journal writing and learning the different patterns for spelling long vowel words (through word studies and word sorts) are keeping us busy during our Language Arts time. This week we have focused on sorting and comparing short and long "i" words using ''ight", "y'" and "i+ consonant+ silent e". Examples: bright, fly, dine.
We continue to write
friendly letters to our Super Star on a weekly basis. This is a fun and special way to honor each class member's uniqueness. Our most recent Super Stars have been Sam D. and Maya. It is a joy to have the Super Stars share more about themselves and so enjoyable for students to appreciate them through letter writing.
