Hi friends!

We’re beginning another week here in Room 107, and things are getting very exciting.  It is a very busy week for us!  Here is everything you need to know.  Please email me with any questions you might have!

Harvest Party  – The Harvest Party is on Friday morning.  If you’re coming in to help, that is fantastic! Thank you in advance for all of your hard work and donations.  If you signed up to bring something, feel free to send it with your son or daughter before Friday.  I’ve already started a collection of supplies.

Star Party – Our star party reward for great behavior is on Friday afternoon.  We’ll be watching a movie, and students that averaged 4 or more stars for the month of October will be getting a special treat!

BMX Show – Because of the overwhelming participation in the PTO fundraiser, the school raised enough money for all of the students to watch the BMX show that is coming to the school.  This is Wednesday at 9:15.

Language Arts – This week we are reading a story called Scarcity and learning about producers and consumers.  Our spelling words will focus on r-controlled vowels.  We’ll be learning about singular and plural nouns.  Hopefully we’ll finish typing our personal narratives too.

Math – Today we officially finished time.  We’re moving on to measurement and will be having our unit test right before parent-teacher conferences in two weeks.  Even though we’ve moved on from time in class, continue to practice analog clocks with your child.  I found a fun online clock game that we’ve been playing in class.  Here is the link if you want to practice at home!  http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/StopTheClock/sthec3.html

Science – We are continuing our life cycles projects.  On Friday we began an experiment to see what eggs look like on the inside.  Today we were able to complete our experiment and saw that the shells of the eggs had magically disappeared.  It was really neat!  I’m hoping to pick up eggs on Thursday to begin our incubation and hatching process.  Stay tuned for updates!

Hi Families!

This is Mrs. Snader giving you an update on what is happening in Room 107!  Mrs. Henn had a baby girl, Addison Grace, on Thursday!  The students sent congratulatory wishes to Mrs. Henn, and she loved it.

Here is what is going on this week:

Language Arts: This week we’re going to be reading a story in our anthologies called Abraham Lincoln.  Students will be focusing on writing and reading contractions along with identifying the author’s purpose of a story.  We’re also going to explore how text structure can be helpful in reading.  For writing, students will be continuing to type the final draft of their personal narratives about the best day of school ever.

Math:  This week continues our practice with time.  Students have moved on from telling time to the hour, half hour, and quarter hour, and now we are working on telling time to five minutes.  Please continue practicing this at home!  Students are progressing through addition Minute to Win It and some are even on subtraction!

Science: We are continuing work on life cycles.  Last week students learned the life cycle of a frog.  We’ll be continuing that life cycle along with learning about the life cycle of a butterfly and a chicken.  Students planted seeds to visualize the life cycle of a plant, and they’re starting to sprout!

Other Important Items: Wednesday is our Fire Prevention Day.  After lunch, we’ll be going outside to participate in some fun activities with the local fire department and learn about how to be safe if there is ever a fire.   On Friday, you should have received a salmon-colored paper asking you to confirm your time for parent-teacher conferences.  Please return the form this week, so the second grade teachers can plan accordingly.  I look forward to meeting you all, if not sooner.

If you have any questions, concerns, or just want to say hello, please do not hesitate to contact me.  I’m almost always available through email.  nicole_snader@elanco.org  Enjoy your week!

Classroom News- I am excited to announce that Mrs. Snader will be taking over for me during my six week maternity leave. The students have already met Mrs. Snader and she knows the routines and expectations of our classroom. We are hoping that this will be a smooth transition for all of us. If you have any questions or would like to contact either of us, you can do so at our e-mail addresses. My e-mail address is lacey_henn@elanco.org. I will be checking my e-mail throughout my leave. You can contact Nicole at nicole_snader@elanco.org.

Language Arts- This week, we will be reviewing our first unit about exploration. Your child will be bringing home a spelling list that might look familiar. The spelling list this week consists of the 12 words that the most students spelled incorrectly on their spelling test during the first 5 weeks.

We will be focusing mostly on writing this week. The students are currently still working on writing in complete sentences and adding details to our writing. One thing we have been talking about the past few weeks is making sure we are using correct handwriting. A lot of the students have been adding random uppercase letters throughout their writing. Although we are trying to rectify the situation at school, it would help if you would work with your child on this skill at home as well.

Our district wide writing sample is coming up. The writing sample for the month of October will be a personal narrative. Students will be graded in the following categories: focus, content, organization, style and conventions. We have been discussing and working on personal narratives at school. We have also gone over the writing rubric and changed it into kid-friendly terms so the students know exactly what the teacher’s scoring the writing samples will be looking for.

Math- We are switching to unit 2 of math on Wednesday. Your child’s math teacher could be changing on this day. Please check their homework folder for a note containing the name of your child’s math teacher along with a unit 2 study guide. Unit 2 of math consists of time and measurement. We will mainly be focusing on telling time to the 5 minute mark using both analog and digital clocks. Students will also be expected to be able to differentiate between a.m. and p.m. After the students have a firm grasp of time, we will be moving onto measurement. In our measurement unit we will be discussing different tools we use to measure as well as word problems containing measurement.

Science- We will be starting our first science unit this month. I am excited to announce we will be starting our Life Cycles Unit. This is one of my favorite units in second grade! The students will be learning about life cycles in plants as well as animals. The students will get a chance to plant a seed and watch it grow. Our class will also be hatching chicks! We will have an incubator in our room so that the students are able to watch a chicken’s life cycle starting from an egg! The test will be around the end of October or beginning of November. Mrs. Snader will make sure to give at least a 1 week notice prior to the test. The study guide will be coming home sometime this week.