Happy New Year!

It is great to be back in our 2nd grade classroom. Here is what we are up to!


Writing: Before break, we had a lot of fun writing memoirs about our favorite family foods. We are going to be creating our first cookbook as a class. Many of you turned in recipes to share based on your child's memoir. Thank you for your help and participation. Students will be completing their final drafts of this piece. Next week, we begin our "How-To" Writing project based on something that they are good at doing. Students are sharing ideas about what they think that they are good at and gearing up to write a step-by-step book that teaches others how to do it!


Reading: We have begun reading many good books by Tomie DePaola as part of our author study this week. We are practicing writing what happened in the beginning, the middle and the end. The middle is the hardest for students to remember, because so much happens in the middle! The key to getting the middle is to first write about the beginning and the end. Then we ask ourselves, "What is the most important part that happened in between?" This is a great way to practice retelling, an important reading comprehension skill. You will see retelling questions on next weeks Reading Response Log questions.


Mathematics: We have been practicing with coins and dollars to understand how to make change. Each student in class has a Ziploc bag full of various coins to practice making change. Our goal is to know how to exhange money as well. For example, I get 30 cents in change back. What are three ways I can show 30 cents with coins? I encourage all families to use coins this way. Also, a great way to extend this lesson at home is to set out coins for your child to count everyday. Ask them to show you different ways to create 77 cents, for example. This will reinforce a key skill that requires much practice. 


Homework: This week we have begun a new positive reinforcement for homework completion called "Homework Club." Students who turn in their homework in the morning get recognized every morning and receive a brightly colored bracelet (and much applause). At dismissal, students return their bracelet and get a bonus point for being responsible. If a student needs extra practice with a homework problem, they still get credit, but need to re-do the problem based on any notes that I make on their papers.


Charitable Actions: Our school is participating in the Pennies for Patients project this year! The collected coins help children in St. Jude's Hospital. Please send any change that you would like your child to give in our Pennies for Patients class box. I look forward to announcing how much we raise to help the children of St. Jude as a class!