November 10, 2015
Hello,
Can you believe we have already finished Oct and are about half way through Nov? Time is flying way to fast!! Your kids have had a great fall and did some fantastic work with insects and spiders. We have now moved into communities!
Exciting things happening!
1) The 2nd grade has started a new reading group block. We have taken the whole 2nd grade and put them in reading groups according to where they are at in their reading right now. Every day each child gets intensive reading practice for 45 minutes with 1 teacher. Besides Mrs. King, Mrs. Violette, Mrs. Bradstreet and myself, we are working with Ms. Davison and Mrs. Dugin. This gives us the ability to have 6 different groups of varying sizes!
2) Class DoJo! We have a new classroom management tracker. I have signed us up for a computer based program that tracks classroom behavior. We have 2 goals we are working on right now. 1) staying on task and 2) staying on the correct voice level. Attached you’ll find more information and a copy of our voice level chart. This has been working amazing. It is also a way for you to see what is happening in the classroom. Reports can be sent home and also you can sign up to follow us! I really hope you do! If you have any questions feel free to ask!
A peek into our learning!
Reading– Besides our new reading groups we are also working on story elements. When you are reading with your child each night have them talk to you about the setting, characters, problem and solution of the story. It is also great to have them retell what they read to you to practice beginning middle and end.
Writing– The students have been working really hard on going through the writing process! We are working on adding details and editing for capitals and punctuation! Next week we will work on a persuasive piece of writing for if people should eat turkey at Thanksgiving!
Math– This week we will be finishing up our geometry unit. We have looked at attributes of a triangle, rectangle, quadrilateral and pentagon. Students have also built and described rectangles and practiced symmetry. Next week we will go back to numbers and operation work!
Social Studies– For the next couple of months we will be looking at
communities. We look at goods and services of a community. At the end of the unit students will create a community brochure of their neighborhood!
As always it is a pleasure to work with you and your children. If you have any questions or concerns feel free to contact me at any time.
Warmly,
Melissa-Jo Coombs
Reminders
School is closed
Nov 11– Veterans Day
Nov 24th is a half day
Nov 25-27 Off for Thanksgiving!
Nuts and Bolts:
· Thank you to everyone who attended Academic Open House! If you were unable to the information packets should have come home today!
· Conference time is upon us. Sign ups are in homework folders!! Make sure to get them back asap! They will be held the week of Oct 12th.
· We do have a classroom blog in which you can stay up to date with what is happening in our classroom. I am still working on updating it but feel free to visit it often! Visit the Skillin school website, then than teacher sites and than look for Mrs. Coombs!
· Raz Kids is a reading program we use in 2nd grade. It is set up to each childs reading level. You can also log in at home to use it. J
Just go to www.raz-kids.com and
type in the username: mcoombs. And look for your childs name!! Then enjoy reading!
Our Week:
Reading: This week we have been practicing the different centers for literacy time. Each kid is learning how each center works so that when I start pulling small groups they will be able to work independently. We have also really been focusing on just right books for reading. Ask your child what the 5 finger rule for picking books is!
Math: Over the last couple weeks we have been setting up a math community. We have also introduced 2 new games. A great way to help students learn money is to go over coins and what they are worth, a great time to do this is when you empty your pockets of change at night!
Writing: The first couple weeks of writing we have been talking about how authors get their ideas. This week we are looking at how authors use sketches of things around them to form ideas for a story! Each student has drawn multiple sketches and then written stories of their favorite one!
Science: Insects!! We continue to look at insects. We have begun our big discussion on life cycles and specifically a butterflies lifecycle. Ask your child to give you the 4 stages of a butterflies lifecycle!
Homework: Currently in 2nd grade we are just sending home reading homework on Fridays.
Remember the best way to become better at reading is to read, read, and then read some more!
If you have any questions feel free to contact me here at school!
Thank you for sharing your amazing children with me!
Warmly,
Mrs. Coombs
Contact me at anytime:
coombsme@spsd.org
773-7375
