Room 322 News
A weekly review
November 30th-December 4th
Math- We have officially began our geometry unit. This week has focused on identifying 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional shapes then building on that knowledge by describing and sorting those shapes by their attributes. We have done plenty of anchor charts, games, challenges and even a read aloud of The Greedy Triangle to practice these skills. Next week I have a fun activity that will apply all the things they're learning and we will begin learning about how to partition shapes.
>>>Home Connection--Have your child find examples of 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional shapes in real life and talk about it (example--Superman symbol is a pentagon, stop signs are octagons, your television is a rectangular prism, a soda can is a cylinder, etc.). One of our main goals for the unit goes beyond just identifying the shapes to have students realize that there is geometry found everywhere in the real world!
Word Work-Over break, I tweaked our word work block to make it even more engaging to students. Now we will begin every word work period with a speed sort (students having 3 minutes or less to sort their words correctly as quickly as they can) followed by rotations. Our rotations consist of regular sort, choose and do, blind sort with partner, spelling city, and small group with myself. Next week I want to have each group independently working and focused on their tasks and I think students will do a great job rising to those expectations! They were especially excited about using Spelling City. If they mention wanting to do it at home (it is not required homework, but a lot have said they want to do it at home) I've listed the instructions below.
- Go to the Odell page, click staff, click second grade, click Emily Sivak
- Scroll to the bottom of my page and hit the spelling city link
- There you will see all the spelling sorts for the future--make sure your child is practicing their own list! It can be found at the top of their spelling words. Then if they hit the green game button any of the green games are free to play!
Writing- Writing was VERY exciting this week as we had a unique opportunity to take our letter writing skills to a whole new level. One of my best friends (who I actually met in second grade!) is currently teaching English to upper elementary students in Korea. So, our classroom wrote letters to students in her class to tell about ourselves and ask them some questions about their culture there. I will be mailing out these letters within the next couple days and know our kiddos in room 322 are eagerly anticipating the response!
Reading- Reading this week has focused on introducing our new unit of study on non-fiction books and completing our pre-test on their current non-fiction skills. Next week should be an exciting one of getting a deeper understanding of these texts and working in guided reading groups.
Social Studies- One of our social studies units is cultural expression and this means...Christmas Around the World has began! 5 of the 2nd grade teachers have teamed up to do Christmas Around the World for our students: myself, Mrs. Barber, Mrs. Ingram, Mr. Dally, and Mrs. Guerity. This week, students rotated between my classroom and Mrs. Ingram's classroom. In my room, we are learning about how Christmas is celebrated in Mexico. We learned about their four traditions (poinsettias, posada, pastorela, and pinatas), read a book on the Legend of the Poinsettia, and created a craft. In Mrs. Ingram's class they learned about Italian Christmas traditions. In each room they will learn about that country's traditions, foods, flags, language, and more! After completing each 2 day lesson, students receive a stamp for their suitcase from that country. They are *loving* it and seeing them so excited gets me excited!
Play-Students went to see Hiawatha at Cox Mill today. It was a great opportunity for them to learn more about Native American culture and legends.
--Sorry for the lack of photos this week, like I said it's been a busy one!
Math Group
1000s Club
...And Beyond Club
December 18th is the Winter Holiday Party-look for a donation sign-up sheet next week!
ENCORE
Tuesday-Chinese
Wednesday-PE
Thursday-Art
Friday-Music
**remember appropriate footwear for gym days**