October 21, 2016

News From Second Grade - 10/21/16

Dear Parents,

        We are cruising through October!

Donations towards eliminating Polio - On Monday the Bethel Rotary will be going room to room to collect donations that have been sent in and coloring (optional) any student’s pinkie finger with washable purple if they have donated.  If you have not donated, you can still send in your donations on Monday!  

         Reading - We have begun our afternoon reading groups, where we have grouped students to meet their reading needs.  Each group will focus on what their readers need; fluency, word work, comprehension (both verbal and written), and a lot of reading practice.

Science -What a fantastic Bird presentation we had on Monday with Paul Motts.  He brought in several mounted birds from the Audubon to talk about the characteristics of birds.  The students played a game where they needed to figure out the food and tool to match what a particular bird would eat and the tool to show the kind of beak the bird needed.  Mr. Motts ended the presentation by taking the students outside and doing a simulation on gathering food to prepare for migration.  

Writing - We continue to practice paragraph writing complete with learning how to indent at the beginning of each paragraph.  What a great connection to our whole group reading lessons on retelling a story.  As a class we wrote about the beginning, middle, and end of a story read to them.  This was a great opportunity to revisit paragraph writing.  More teaching on writing a topic sentence and adding details is coming their way.

Halloween Day - There will be a whole school Coyote Coupon Reward assembly on the morning of the 31st.  Part of our Coyote Celebration will be focused on the candy/small items that were donated. The CPS Parade begins at 1:30.  We will be having some Halloween related activities right after lunch and a quick Halloween snack just before getting ready for the parade.  We are thinking one sweet, one healthy snack, and something to drink.  If you are interested in providing one of the items mentioned, please contact your child’s teacher. Our snack will be from 1:00 to 1:15 and then still have time to put on costumes.  You are welcome to join us at 1:00 and parade with us.  

From the Office - The CPS/PTA will once again be organizing the Trick -or-Treating for Halloween; which is scheduled for Monday the 31st from 6 - 7.   Please help if you can!  We are asking for donations of peanut free candy or non-perishable small items.  Donations can be sent in anytime!  Thanks in advance for your generous contribution.

       Enjoy your weekend!!

       Sincerely,

       The Second Grade Teachers

Calendar of Upcoming Events    October 10/25 - Picture retake day (AM)                    11/2 - Flu Shots for Elementary Students @ CPS 10/25, 26 & 27 - Tooth Fairies                       11/2 - PTA Meeting @ 6pm 10/31 - Halloween Parade @ 1:30pm             11/8 - Workshop Day 10/31 - Trick-or-Treating @ CPS 6pm-7pm     11/11 - Holiday

October 14, 2016

News From Second Grade - 10/14/16

Dear Parents,

        It has been another busy short week here in second grade!  Here are some of the highlights…

         Spelling - Spelling Test for Week 4 happened today.  Next week we will be back on track with Week 5 Spelling Homework (oa says long o)  and test on 10/21.

Reading Logs should have been returned today as well. A new log will come home on Monday.

Science -We had a special presentation by the Appalachian Mountain Club this week!  The presenters did a super job! The children played games and learned about adaptations by examining animal skulls and brownie “scat”.  Lots of fun!

Ron Fournier, from Bryant Pond 4-H and Orion Outfitters and Guide Service, came as well to share his extensive knowledge with our eager learners.  Awesome!

Social Studies - Second graders were excited to meet with the Firemen on Thursday afternoon to talk about fire prevention and safety.  Please plan and practice home escape plans and change the batteries in your smoke detectors!!! If you do not have a smoke detector the fire department will give you one at no cost. Preparedness saves lives!!!!  

Writing - This week students had some fun writing about what it might be like for them when they are 100 years old.  So fun to see what everyone came up with!  We also took everyone’s picture with an app that made them look old. The expressions on the faces when they saw themselves with wrinkles was priceless!!! They shared these books and photos with grandparents today.  :-)

Grandparent’s Day -  It was so nice to see all the many grandparents and special friends that came to visit us this morning!  We had a special song that we sang and many fun activities that focused on spiders.  We listened to a story on the smartboard called Sophie’s Masterpiece by Eileen Spinelli and then compared the characters of Sophie and Charlotte from Charlotte’s Web.  We even make spider headbands!!!

       Enjoy your weekend!!

       Sincerely,

       The Second Grade Teachers

Calendar of Upcoming Events    October 10/25 - Picture retake day (AM)            11/2 - Flu Shots for Elementary Students @ CPS 10/25, 26 & 27 - Tooth Fairies                       11/2 - PTA Meeting @ 6pm 10/31 - Halloween Parade @ 1:30pm               11/8 - Workshop Day 10/31 - Trick-or-Treating @ CPS 6pm-7pm    11/11 - Holiday

10/6/16

News From Second Grade - 10/6/16

Dear Parents,

        It has been a busy short week here in second grade!  Here are some of the highlights…

         Lockdown - As you know, a district wide practice Lockdown was held on Tuesday morning. Our second graders did an amazing job with this practice and following the protocol to keep everyone out of site and safe.  Great job Second Graders!

        Coyote Coupon Celebration -Our school wide celebration took place today.  It was fun to see all the scarecrows that had been created by each classroom!  What an amazing show of Team Work!! Second graders were proud to show off their Three Little Pigs scarecrows. Mrs. Lee’s class created Little Piggy #1. Ms. Lavoie’s class created Little Piggy #2. Mrs. Wight’s class created Little Piggy #3.

Math - Math groups continued this week, Tuesday thru Thursday. Our second grade learners are adjusting well to the new schedule and are completely submerged in all things Numbers and Operations in Base Ten. Skills covered in this unit include:

• Understand that the 3 digits of a 3 digit number represent hundreds, tens and ones.
• Read and write numbers to 1,000 using base ten numerals, number names, and expanded form.
• Count within 1,000; skip count by 5’s 10’s, 100’s
• Compare 3 digit numbers using <,>,=.
• Add and subtract within 100
• Add up to four 2 digit numbers
• Add and subtract within 1,000
• Mentally add or subtract 10 or 100 from numbers 100-900
• Explain why addition and subtraction strategies work using place value and the properties of operations.

Spelling - Reminder- Due to this being a four day week and next week being a four day week, our Week 4 spelling homework will continue into next week.This will extend our spelling practice/homework and we will test on Friday the 14th.  

Reading Logs should have been returned today. Next week’s log will be adjusted and sent home on Tuesday. Keep up the great work.

Science - Our very own Gary Innman came in and did an amazing presentation on bees and pollination. It was spectacular with so much great information!  Bees are truly interesting creatures that play a significant role in the pollination of many of our foods!

Social Studies -Second grade met as a whole group today to learn a bit about Christopher Columbus and why we celebrate him on this coming Monday.

Writing - Students have been learning about simple and compound sentences. We have been doing lots of practice with these types of sentences which has included both identifying them and writing them.

Reading - Reading continues to focus on story elements.  Through the use of many wonderful stories, we are asking students to identify characters, setting, problem and solution.  We have been doing this together as a whole group, with partners and now we are asking students to respond to these features in writing on their own.  

         

Have a wonderful extra long weekend!!

Sincerely,

The Second Grade Teachers

Calendar of Upcoming Events

   October

10/7 ~ No School (Workshop day)

10/10 ~ Columbus Day (no school)

10/14 ~ Grandparent’s Day (9:00 - 10:30am)

10/25 - Picture retake day (AM)

10/25, 26 & 27 - Tooth Fairies