Bear-y Good Newsletter
Mr. Nakano's 2nd/3rd Grade Classroom
A Note from Mr. Nakano
We hope to see many of you at either the Family STEAM night and/or Restaurant Night this Thursday! Look for more information to come about STEAM night in Mr. Jetzer's newsletter.
Dates to Remember
February 5th: 100th Day of School
*Students are encouraged to dress up as if they are 100 years old!
February 6th: Global School Play Day
February 7th: Family STEAM Night 5:00-6:00pm
*Sign up here
February 7th: CPK Family Night @ the Alton location
February 11th: No School (Teacher Work Day)
February 14th: Valentine's Day
February 18th: President's Day (No School)
February 21st-22nd: Mr. Nakano out at State P.E. Conference
Global School Play Day
On February 6th, all of Eastwood will be participating in Global School Play Day! Global School Play Day is one day set aside to bring awareness to the importance of play in a child’s healthy, well rounded, development. Psychology Today speaks on this very new and much needed day of awareness in our school systems globally.
Imagination Machine
They will have writing time available to work on this project during school. However, they are more than welcome to continue this work at home.
The deadline to submit a piece of writing to be submitted to the Imagination Machine is Wednesday, February 13th.
Valentine's Day
We want to remind you that Eastwood has a no sweets policy when it comes to events like these at school. Please do not send treats to school for Valentine's Day. If your child brings any food product to pass out at school it will not be distributed but will instead be sent back home with them.
We will be completing activities at school that will replace the need to bring store bought valentines to school. If your child would like to pass something out (as long as it does not include food of any kind) they are welcome to, however there will not be a formal card exchange outside of what we are making here at school.
If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact your child's teacher.
The Learning Pit
This time of year is when a third grader begins to transition from a primary student to an upper grade student. This means building responsibility, autonomy, problem solving skills, critical thinking skills, and academic grit. As we focus on these things in class, challenges will come up for your child. These challenges will feel difficult and we hope you will help guide them to believing in their capacity to learn, grow, and persevere through these challenges. We hope you will help them lean in to what is difficult and to come out the other side successful. The best way you can do this is to model it yourself. Often times kids think adults never feel challenged, never make mistakes, never have to struggle through learning - because from their perspective we're doing all the stuff that's hard for them- and we're making it look easy. Find times to show your child that you too are still learning things. Take up a new hobby, try something new as a family, talk about what you're learning at work, show them what productive struggle looks like. Dive together into the learning pit.
2nd Grade
2nd Grade at a Glance
Language Arts
This week, we will begin to take a closer look at informational text as we dive deeper into the lives and impact of heroes around us. We will use text and graphic features, such as pictures and captions, to help us better understand what we read.
Math
This month we will focus on adding double and triple digit numbers together with regrouping! This week we will focus on adding double digit numbers together using picture form and expanded form.
Science
Last week concluded the end of our states of matter unit! To end our science unit, we are extending an optional Home STEAM Project that students can work on. Please read below to learn more.
Social Studies
This month's Social Studies unit is Heroes! To learn more about local heroes, students will be creating interview questions and will be interviewing heroes at Eastwood! Students will also be reading about various historical heroes and how they have shaped the world we live in today.
Matter Home STEAM Project
This project is optional and is an extension of what we have been learning in class.
This project was discussed in class with the students, but please make sure to bring it up to your child as well! You may begin brainstorming ideas with your student to see what they are interested in creating!
Since this project is very open-ended, students are encouraged to be as creative as possible to come up with something that they are interested in. Please note that the project will not be brought into school, as it will melt. Please document the progress of your child's project by taking pictures! A Google Slide assignment has been added to your child's Google Classroom for them to complete and turn in. Below are a few sample projects that you can look over and discuss with your student!
*Students that choose to complete this project will be able to present their project in class throughout the month! If you choose to complete this project, the last day to present is February 28th.
3rd Grade
3rd Grade at a Glance
Language Arts
This week, we are looking at descriptive adjectives and incorporating dialogue into our writing. We are using a lot of mentor text examples to see the great choices authors use when describing details and communicating in their stories.
Math
We are continuing our spiraling units. Over the course of the next two months, we will be concurrently teaching fractions, time, geometry, and measurement. Some students are "leveling up" on many units, while others are choosing to focus on a unit that matches their particular needs before they move on.
Science
We are learning about forces and motion. Topics include: "How to beat adults at a game of tug of war," "What makes bridges so strong?" and "How can you go faster down a slide?" (We'll have to wait for the rain to cease before testing it on the playground ourselves.) Next up will be investigations with magnets.
Social Studies
This month's Social Studies unit is "Our Place in the World." We are building on our knowledge of communities from 2nd grade to expand our "Living History." Incorporating what Jacque Nunez taught us about the Native Americans that lived here before, we are doing a lot of comparing and contrasting between the past and the present.