Friday, January 27, 2023

 Reminders:

• Remember to include your child’s teacher AND Cindy LaWare (clware@cvsdvt.org) on any and all communications regarding dismissal updates and attendance.

• If you have not done so yet please send an updated dismissal schedule to Cindy and your child’s classroom teacher.

Math: Second grade mathematicians are focusing on estimating and measuring using inches, feet and yards. Students had fun measuring using a teacher’s foot (Mr. Pierson’s foot is exactly 12 inches!), giant feet (yards based on Jack & the Beanstalk and the giant), and discovering the circumference of our own head in inches!!

Writing: Second grade writers continue to share their opinions! Students are working to hook their reader, state their opinion, give and explain reasons for their opinion, and then wrap up their writing. We are also learning about the importance of ‘oral rehearsal.’ This is when we talk through our ideas before we write them down.

Readers: We are diving into our nonfiction reading unit, Becoming Experts! In the first bend, or group of lessons, students are focusing on growing knowledge as they pay attention to details, put parts of text together, and ask questions as they read. Students also learned that when they are surprised it is most likely because they are learning something new!

Word Study: Our second graders are ready to work with spelling words with open syllables! An open syllable has only one vowel which is the last letter in the syllable. The vowel sound is long. Open syllables can be combined with other syllables to make multisyllabic words. (ex: humid, bingo) Second graders have learned that y may be the vowel in an open syllable. If y is the vowel in a one open syllable word, the y will make the long i sound (ex: cry, my) and if the last syllable of a multisyllabic word is an open syllable with y as its vowel, the y will make the long e sound (ex: baby). 

Science: Second grade scientists began our new unit… Pebbles, Sand, and Silt. We started our work with an introductory lesson focused on rocks. We watched a Bill Nye video that shared a ton of information about the rock cycle, rock changes over time, and more!

SEL: In Second Step this week we learned that when we have strong feelings, we can use belly breathing to help us calm down in order to use the thinking part of our brain. We had the opportunity to practice using belly breaths and it is important that we continue to practice using these strategies when we are calm so that when a big feeling arises we can use this skill comfortably, confidently, and effectively. Second graders are learning these steps to calm down: