Friday, December 22, 2023

 Reminders:

• No school Monday, December 25, 2023 - Monday, January 1, 2024. Students return to CCS on Tuesday, January 2, 2024.

• Here is the Pease Mountain Volunteer Sign Up. Please join us if you are able to! (Remember, volunteers will need to complete the CVSD Procedure for Supervised Volunteers & Chaperones. This will include a background check and fingerprinting. Please refer to the CCS Family/Student Handbook 2023-2024 for more details on this procedure.) 

Math: We have begun our third unit in math; ‘Addition & Subtraction Within 100.’ This unit will focus on solving addition and subtraction story problems & using place value understanding to compare and compose numbers.  In our first group of lessons, we are focusing on:

• Adding by 1s, 5s, and 10s on the number line

• Skip counting by 5s and 10s

• Understanding that the digits in a 3-digit number represent ones, tens, and hundreds

• Solving two digit addition and subtraction problems using place value strategies

Writer’s Workshop: We have wrapped up our poetry unit! Second graders celebrated their hard work with a ‘hot chocolate house.’ As a group, we made hot chocolate and then enjoyed a cup while reading each other’s work. Thank you to Mrs. Huestis for allowing us to use the library! We enjoyed our hot chocolate making so much that we created Cups of Love - our own second grade recipe book!

Word Study: In word study we wrapped up unit 5 and began unit 6. Students have become comfortable and confident using 1 syllable, closed syllable words. Units 5 and 6 ask students to use their understanding of closed syllables to create longer words including words with more than one syllable and/or that have a suffix. In unit 6 our second graders were introduced to a new syllable type, the v-e syllable. In this syllable the first vowel is long while the e is silent. We also learned that the vowel u has TWO long vowel sounds, like in the words rule and mule.

Readers’ Workshop: We wrapped up our ‘Power Up! Next Level Word Solving Skills’ unit! Students have learned about the six syllable types and 7 syllable division strategies. In your child’s home school folder you will find our anchor charts. Please support your child to practice these strategies at home. Now that students have been exposed to these skills, it’s important that they try them out and hold themselves accountable for stopping when their reading does not make sense or sound right. Once they stop, they need to use their new strategies! If a child uses one strategy and it does not work, have them try a second strategy. If the second strategy also does not lead to the word, please tell them what the word is. Our goal is not to cause frustration but rather support students as they begin to apply these strategies independently. 

Winter Projects: This week, our class worked on creating recipes for our cups of love project. This project included each student creating a recipe of their choice to share in a whole grade recipe book. Each student worked really hard on their recipe card. Please look in your child’s purple folder to see our squad’s creations. We are so excited to share them with you!

Following our writing celebration, our squad also participated in a hot chocolate craft this week! Students used construction paper and glue to make their own personalized hot chocolate mug. 

SEL/Theme:  This week second graders met with Betsy Lloyd, our school counselor for the third lesson in our protection unit. This week's lesson focused on two different types of touch. Our squad learned that there are both wanted touches (such as high fives and fist bumps), and unwanted touches (such as hitting, kicking, or any touch that makes us uncomfortable). Betsy explained to the class that if someone does use an unsafe touch, it’s important that we use our assertive voice to say “stop” and to tell a trusted adult.

Quiet Time: We had fun ‘visiting’ Guatemala and Antarctica!

Second graders learned the card game Spit this week. We had an absolute blast and they wanted us to share it with you all! Here is the video we watched to learn how to play. Good luck! 

Photos from our week...