Second Grade Happenings December 18-22

Our last week before Winter Break is already here! It is sure to be a fun one both at school and at home!

Our field trip to Barlow Planetarium is on Thursday. If you volunteered to chaperone, please be at school by 8:55. We will leave at 9:00 and will return by 11:00.

We will also have Pajama Day on Thursday. We'll be nice and cozy at Barlow!

Just a reminder that there is no school on Friday or next week. Classes will resume on January 2.

Curricular Notes:

-We continue to read fiction this week. We'll be studying how important it is to pay very close attention to the beginnings of our stories so we can identify the main characters, describe the setting, and retell the important events that have happened. We'll also work on summarizing the important parts rather than retelling every tiny detail.

-We are finishing up our measurement unit in math this week. We'll review and take the test right after break. Our next unit will focus on subtracting 2- and 3-digit numbers.

-The kids are enjoying our new writing unit which focuses on realistic fiction! We have generated ideas for stories that can keep our readers at the "edge of their seats" with a real problem that real kids could encounter. We are using all we learned in our small moment narrative unit from earlier this year to make our fiction stories come alive!

-We started a new unit in science which focuses on solids, liquids, and gases. We've been studying water and the forms it can take. We'll focus on evaporation this week before moving into a lessons on mixing and separating solids and mixing solids with liquids.

I truly hope that you enjoy your time together as a family this winter break! I'll be looking forward to reuniting with the kids in January!

Second Grade Happenings December 11-15

December continues to fly by! We are starting many new units this week.

Tuesday, December 12 - No School (inservice for teachers)

Wednesday, December 13-Holiday Wear

Thursday, December 21 – 2^nd Grade AM Field trip to Barlow Planetarium

Thursday, December 21-Pajama Day

December 22-January 1 – No School Winter Break

Tuesday, January 2 – Classes resume

Reading - This week we start our third reading unit - Studying Characters and their Stories. We move from studying main ideas and key details to characters and life lessons. Our first week in the unit centralizes on recalling what we already know about reading fiction. Readers start reading by thinking about what they know about the characters and how the story might go. This is a favorite unit for both students and teachers!

Writing - Our writing genre changes this week too. We begin our third writing unit, Writing Gripping Fictional Stories. This unit has the writers use their previous small moment writing skills to write 'edge-of-the-seat fiction stories', stories that have made up characters and events, could happen in real life, and have the reader on the edge of their seats. This is also a favorite unit for all of us!

Math - We continue working our way through Unit 3, Length and Shapes. This week we continue to work with triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons and hexagons. We will be measuring using centimeters and comparing 2-D and 3-D shapes.  

Science - We're finishing up our planet presentation, and will be moving into our new unit at the end of the week-Changes. This unit focused on solids, liquids and gases and how they change. 

Tour Guides

We ended our Nonfiction Reading Unit by giving tours of our favorite nonfiction book.

December 4-8, 2017

Wow! December is here and it is going to be a busy month of fun and learning!

Monday, December 4 - PSC Meeting - 6:00
Tuesday, December 5 – Kaukauna Holiday Parade - 6:00 
                       (NDLC will gather in front of the Bank of Kaukauna.)

Thursday, December 7 – Pizza, PJs, and Publishing Family Night 5:30-7:00

                       - Pajama Day

Tuesday, December 12 - No School (inservice for teachers)

Thursday, December 21 – 2^nd Grade AM Field trip to Barlow Planetarium

December 22-January 1 – No School Winter Break

Tuesday, January 2 – Classes resume

Reading ~ We are merging our reading and science this week! Students chose a planet to research and small planet groups were formed at the end of last week. Groups have begun reading and recording important information on their planets. We've also been using our Chrome books to research on Epic and Pebblego. Research will continue through the week and students will prepare for presentations the end of this week and the beginning of next week.  

Writing ~ Our informational writing unit has been an enjoyable one. Second grade writers have loved writing informational texts with lots of information and text features. This coming week will be spent fine-tuning, revising different parts of the text, editing, and adding the finishing touches to our published pieces. We will have these published pieces out for family night on Thursday.

Math – Unit 3 begins this week. This unit focuses on length and shapes. Students will use measurement skills to collect and organize data as they display measurements on line plots.  They will analyze measurements given in different units to learn the relationship between the size of a measuring unit and the number of units. During the first week of this unit, we will be learning how to measure with centimeters and how to distinguish different shapes by their features. 

Have a GREAT week!

Lisa

Second Grade Happenings November 27-December 1st

I hope that your extended weekend was memorable and lots of fun! 

Here are some important dates for the upcoming month:

Tuesday, December 5 – Kaukauna Holiday Parade 

Thursday, December 7 – Pizza, PJs, and Publishing Family Night 5:30-7:00

                       - Pajama Day

Tuesday, December 12 - No School (inservice for teachers)

Thursday, December 21– 2^nd Grade AM Field trip to Barlow Planetarium (Permission slip will be coming home Monday.)

December 22-January 1 – No School Winter Break

Tuesday, January 2 – Classes Resume

Curriculum Updates:

We are continuing to grow our knowledge through reading and writing nonfiction. Reading ~ This week will be spent learning how to connect information across books on the same topic. We will be noticing how information is connected, similarities and differences among books on the same topics, and how to use the information from several books to retell about the topics. 

Writing - Editing, revising, and setting goals are the big topics for our writing lessons this week. Rereading our own writing to find places we can make our writing stronger is not always easy for second grade writers. Our lessons will break up this process and show students that all writers need to practice this skill. 

Math - We are working on identifying each coin and knowing the values of pennies, nickels, dimes, and dollars this week. We will also work on recording the value of 114 cents as $1.14. Lessons will also involve counting mixed coins such as 3 dimes, 2 nickels and 3 pennies. This is a skill you can work on at home as well.  

Science ~ Orbit, rotation, and revolution are three key vocabulary words we will focus on this week. We will study what these words mean and how they relate to our solar system.It is an exciting week in science! Students will choose a planet to begin researching. Groups will decide what we would need to learn about each planet and will create a research template from there. This research will happen over the course of the next few weeks. 

Have a GREAT week!

Second Grade Happenings November 13-17

Whoa! What a change in weather we've had in the past few days. It is starting to feel like Thanksgiving is right around the corner!


What's Coming Up?

Tuesday, November 14 - Conferences
Friday, November 17 - Half Day - Dismissal at 11:30
Wednesday-Friday, November 22-24 - No School


Curricular Updates

Reading - Nonfiction reading continues in second grade! We will focus on reading and using the "lingo" (vocabulary) of the books we are reading this week. Our goal is to 'Talk the talk! Read to Learn the 

Lingo'.  We will be learning to use the text features, everything on the page, and comparisons to better understand new keywords.

Writing - Editing, revising, and setting goals are the big topics for our writing lessons this week. 

Rereading our own writing to find places we can make our writing stronger is not always easy for 

second grade writers. Our lessons will break up this process and show students that all writers need to 

practice this skill. 

Math - We will continue to learn and practice strategies to add two 2-digit numbers this week. We will 

also be working on identifying each coin and knowing the values of pennies, nickels, dimes, and dollars 

this week. We will work on recording the value of 114 cents as $1.14. Lessons will also involve counting mixed coins such as 3 dimes, 2 nickels and 3 pennies. This is a skill you can work on at home as well. 

Content - Second graders will be learning about the solar system! 


Have a great week!

More Wisconsin Presentations!

Wisconsin Presentations

We learned a lot about the geography of Wisconsin from each other's presentations!

Second Grade Happenings November 6-10

Hello,
Conferences are right around the corner. I look forward to meeting with you Thursday or Tuesday to share your child's progress so far this year in 2nd grade.

We re-opened our online store through Eagle Graphics if you are interested in ordering any items. It will be open through November 19. 

https://ndlcspirit2017.itemorder.com/sale

This month New Directions is showing how to BE Thankful!  As a way to bring us together as a school community we are going to have an "Appreciation Station" set up for students and families to use at conferences.  At this station you will be able to write a note to someone you are thankful for in your lives. It can be someone from the school or someone from somewhere else in your lives.  Please look for the station outside the cafeteria by the 4K classroom and stop by to let someone know you are thankful for them!  

What's coming up?

Monday-Packer Wear
Wednesday-Dress like your parents
Thursday-Portfolio ConferencesFriday-Wear Red, White, and Blue (for Veteran's Day)

Reading - Last week we started our Informational Reading unit. We are learning how to pay close attention to the details. Readers of nonfiction notice, learn, and wonder throughout their readings. This is such a fun genre to teach and to read!

Writing - We are carrying much of what we are learning in our nonfiction reading unit into our informational writing. We have been planning our chapters using a table of contents, and working on writing main idea sentences.

Math - We will begin to learn strategies to add two 2-digit numbers this week. We will also begin working with money in the next couple of weeks. When you have some time, please review the coins and their value with your child.

Content: We're wrapping up our study of Wisconsin Geography and will be moving on to our study of the Solar System. We've been learning a lot from students' Wisconsin Geography presentations.

Reading with 4th grade buddies

Second Grade Happenings October 30-November 3rd

Who would have thought that we were already at the end of October?!?! It's hard for me to believe that we are rolling into November this week! These next few months will continue to fly by, I'm sure.

We have a couple extra events this week:

Monday - Pajama Day

Tuesday - Orange and Black Day

Conferences are on November 9 and 14. Please sign up for a time if you still need to. A like to the sign-up was sent by email last Thursday. Here is the link for your reference: https://ptcfast.com/schools/NDLC. I am looking forward to meeting with all of you to share your child's growth and goals.

The Food Drive, which is organized by the National Honor Society at the High School begins on Monday. Please consider sending in any non-perishable food items for this event. 

Curriculum Updates:

Reading ~ We are beginning to grow our knowledge through reading informational texts. Our learning for this unit centers around three main reading goals: identifying the main idea, questioning, and comparing and contrasting. 

Writing ~ Our Informational Writing Unit officially begins this week. We will take what we are learning as readers and put many of those same skills into our writing. We will be writing to teach on topics that we are experts on or topics we have researched.  

Math ~ Students did well on the first unit test. They will be shared at conferences. Unit 2, Adding and Subtracting to 200, begins with reviewing numbers to 200. We will work to understand that the three digits of a three-digit number represent amounts of hundreds, tens, and ones. In this unit students will have a mix of standard equations and story problems with numbers through 200. 

Content ~ We will continue studying maps and the geography of Kaukauna in comparison to the rest of our state. We will explore four types of maps through centers this week: road maps, product maps, elevation maps, and population maps. Please remember to complete the homework by this Friday. A copy of the assignment can be found here.

Have a GREAT week!

Kathy

Second Grade Happenings October 16-20

Hello,
We've had another great week in second grade! Our field trip on Friday was a great way to end our butterfly unit. The Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary is full of amazing learning opportunities. Thank you to all of our volunteers! 

What's coming up?

Monday, October 16th-Badger Sports Wear Day

Tuesday, October 17 - Family Night - Grandparents, Games, and Goodies 6:00-7:00 PM

Thursday and Friday, October 26 & 27 - No School

RED RIBBON WEEK

October is Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug Abuse Awareness (ATODA) month. October 23rd thru October 31st is National Red Ribbon Week… a week dedicated to celebrating a healthy and drug free life. Kaukauna Elementary Schools have several activities planned during the month to promote awareness. The following is a list of dates and activities planned at school:

       Dress up Days: Monday, October 23rd -Wednesday October 25th

      *Monday, October 23rd- “Teaming Up Against Drugs is NO SWEAT!”

       Wear your favorite Sweats and/or Team Apparel!

      *Tuesday, October 24th-“My Future is BRIGHT DRUG FREE!”

       Wear BRIGHT or NEON colors!

      *Wednesday, October 25th-“Red Day!” “Be United Against Drugs!”

       Deck yourself out in Red apparel!

Curricular Notes

Math - We continue to work on solving a mix of word problems, including compare problems, problems with extra information, problems with hidden information, and 2-step problems. Here’s an example of a comparison problem: Mrs. O'Brien has 24 cookies. Ms. Zobel has 16.  How many more cookies does Mrs. O'Brien have than Ms. Zobel? Students should also notice that they could say this as, "How many fewer cookies does Ms.Zobel have than Mrs. O'Brien?" 

Reading – We have been working on our word solving muscles by noticing when our reading is fuzzy and then rolling up our sleeves to fix it. We can ask ourselves, “Does it look right? Does it sound right? Does it make sense?”

Writing – In writing we are continuing to work on our Small Moments stories. We have been studying Owl Moon by Jane Yolen to notice craft moves we can try in our own writing. Some things we have noticed are how she makes you feel like you are there by saying what she sees, hears and feels. 

Science - Releasing our butterflies last Monday was a highlight of the week. Although it was sad to see them go, we were excited to see them fly free. We also enjoyed our visit to the Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary. Be prepared to learn a lot of information about Kaukauna soon! Our next Social Studies unit is the Geography of Kaukauna. This unit is a favorite with kids (and teachers) as they learn about an area they are already familiar with. 

I hope everyone has an awesome week! 


Kathy

Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary

We had a great time on our field trip!