S'MORE News from Second Grade
March 30, 2020
Letter From the Second Grade Teachers
Dear Parents,
We know this week hasn’t been easy. Between doing your own work from home to learning how to teach one or more kids at home and then figuring out how to get assignments things got a bit crazy for some. Forget about food. Who has time for that? We are all in the same boat. We have made mistakes, technology has had glitches, and everyone is a bit stressed. But, we must push forward.
Starting on Monday it will help if you can PRINT out the lesson plans that come from Mrs. Powell’s email. The days are listed across the top and the lessons for the day are in a vertical column. We are going to be “scheduling” lessons through Google Classroom again, but they will only appear on the day that they are assigned. That way, the children can’t go ahead of the lesson plans. We want them done in chronological order. With that being said, once the lessons appear on Google Classroom they will remain there for the week. The Second Grade Teachers are keeping track of who is turning in assignments. We really want everyone to be turning them in online so that we can find them all in one place. If you are taking individual pictures of your assignments they may get lost in our emails and we are trying to avoid that from happening.
We think next week will go much smoother since every child should have a Chromebook now. Each child should have logged off the other user from the top right hand corner and logged themselves in. If you are still having problems not seeing assignments, please contact your child’s individual teacher. If a parent is in the classroom we will be deleting that account so that there is no confusion for the child as to where to find their assignments. We don’t want some assignments to go to the parents and some to the kids or even duplicate assignments. We believe that most students have signed on to Google Classroom at this time and can receive their own assignments now.
We want everyone to have a great weekend. Have fun, get outdoors, enjoy the sunshine, play, and make memories with your kids. Even though we are all at home, we can make this fun!
Please reach out if you are having issues with anything that we send.
Sincerely,
The Second Grade Teachers
Students Must Use Their Own Information to Sign Up For Google Classroom
Please Use Your Child's Account and Not Your Name or Email
*Before Monday, we need ALL students to be signed up for Google Classroom under their own accounts and not a parent account.
After signing in to Chrome, navigate to webdesk.pisd.edu which is PISD's portal for digital learning resources.
In the Google browser type: classroom.google.com
It may ask for your child's email and password:
Username: firstname.lastname.1@mypisd.net (ex. mary.jones.1@mypisd.net
The password for Second graders is: Second2!
Once you and your child log into Google Classroom, please enter the code for your child's teacher and ONLY your child's teacher.
The title of the Clasrooms are:
"Second Grade Cyber Kids"
Mrs. Hall: vdrcnc7
Mrs. Mosbarger: kch5pdx
Mrs. Woodard: 6b4absb
Mr. Steele: iv3oinu
Please continue to give us at least 48 hours to review completed and submitted work and make constructive comments.
Dreambox Login
Second grade teachers assign Dream box math for homework. We have been informed that some students are having difficulty logging into Dreambox.. Students must log in through Webdesk. They must type in Webdesk.pisd.edu in the browser. They then enter their username and password:
Username: firstname.lastname.1
Password: Second2!
Students then click on the Dreambox app to practice their math skills.
Dreambox
What is DreamBox Learning Math?
● DreamBox Learning Math, the next generation of web-based learning,
provides personalized math learning in an engaging, fun, game-like
framework.
● DreamBox automatically adapts to each student, optimizing his or her
learning experience. The engine does this by customizing the lessons,
difficulty, hints, pace, and sequence to match a student’s knowledge and
learning style -- just as a great tutor would!
Tips for Parents
● Encourage students to FINISH lessons. Explain to students that
DreamBox is constantly taking into consideration their keystrokes,
strategies, speed and answers to build the best “next step”. However, the
platform won’t register all of that data if a lesson is incomplete. The best
way for a learner to show what he or she knows or doesn’t know is to
finish the lesson. Ask them to not out of a lesson because they want to try
another. Encourage them to finish. If they must close a lesson, have them
start with that lesson when they play DreamBox again. It is okay to get
wrong answers and to try their own strategies.
● Encourage them to use the “Help” (K-8) and “Hint” (3-8) buttons .
● Use only the program. No pencil, paper or calculator. DreamBox will
provide any workspaces needed and break the problem down into
manageable parts. Students should use the tools and virtual manipulatives
to guide them.
● Don’t help students answer problems. The program engine wants to
“learn the learner.” If a student gets help, the software adjusts as if the
student understands the lesson. DreamBox will eventually adapt back to
the “right” level for the student, but if a parent helps, it can take longer and
impede progress.
● Encourage a growth mindset. It is okay for students to make
mistakes and try their own ideas! Let students know that it is okay to
get the “Oops, try again!” notification. When students worry about getting
wrong answers, they are often hesitant to try new ideas. Mistakes are
okay! We learn from mistakes every day. Students should be encouraged
to test their own strategies. This leads to true mathematical discoveries
and thus understandings, and lifetime confidence in mathematics learning.
Curriculum Information
Listed below are topics currently being taught in the Second grade. We encourage you to support what we are teaching in the classroom by asking your child what they have learned each day and discussing these topics with your child.
Math
Fact Fluency
Fractions
Geometry
Science
Membranes
Language Arts
Reading with fluency
Comprehension skills - text features
Writing complete sentences
Capital letters at the beginning of a sentence
Punctuation at the end of a sentence
Prepositions
Writing
Procedural Text
Social Studies
Government
Math Fact Quizzes
Below are a couple of websites for your children to practice their Math Facts online. Please have them practice daily. One of our second grade objectives on our Portfolio Conference sheet is to “Recall basic facts to add and subtract within 20 with automaticity.” Practicing their facts in some way each day will help increase their automaticity.
http://www.factmonster.com/math/flashcards.html
Websites for Home Use
http://www.aplusmath.com/Worksheets/index.html
http://www.superkids.com/aweb/tools/math/
http://www.mrmyers.org/Math_Mania/Math_Games/Jude_e-Clock/clock.htm
http://www.sanchezclass.com/reading-graphic-organizers.htm
www.jamit.com.au/htmlFolder/app1001.html
www.harcourtschool.com/activity/telling_time_gr2
https://www.spellingcity.com/gselec/
www.teacher.scholastic.com/tools/spelling.htm
http://www.readwritethink.org/search/?resource_type=16&grade=9
http://www.worksheetworks.com/
www.playkidsgames.com/games/mathfact/mathFact.htm
www.ws.hmhpub.com (write source)
www.scholastic.com/ups/files/campaigns/src-2013/SCBookList2013_FULL.pdf
2nd Grade Team
Website: http://k12.pisd.edu/mathews-elementary-school
Location: 7500 Marchman Way, Plano, TX, United States
Phone: 469-752-2300
Twitter: @2ndMavs