December Field Trips

Thursday, December 17, 2015– Rockefeller Center

In second grade, the students study the five boroughs of New York City and important landmarks.  Therefore, on December 17^th we will be going to see the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center!  The tree is famous all around the world as an important symbol of the winter holidays.  Students will get to view the tree, hear information about the tree, watch the ice skaters and see famous stores in Rockefeller Center. 

Information:

·      Cost: Free! (All parents are welcome)

·      Time: We will leave the school at 9:30am and return by 1:30.

·      Dress Code: Please make sure your child is dressed warm as the trip is outdoors! They should wear many layers of clothing, as well as a hat, scarf, gloves and a jacket.  Additionally, they should wear shoes that are comfortable to walk around in and will keep their feet warm.

·      Lunch: We will not return to school in time to eat lunch in the cafeteria.  Children will be provided with cheese sandwiches to eat in the classroom upon returning to school.  If your child does not like cheese sandwiches please be sure to send them to school with lunch.

December Read Aloud

In the beginning of December we will be finishing up our read aloud unit on character change.

We will then start working on a Non-Fiction read aloud that connects with our reading and writing unit for the month of December. Each class will be reading different books depending on the animal they chose to study. (You can refer to the reading and writing unit)

The students will connect what they learned about researching in Endangered Species to this unit. They will understand that when we study something, we do not rely on one source. We collect a variety of mediums, and read them through to get a full understanding of our topic.

As we read, we might look at all of the facts and some questions we may ask ourselves are:
- Do I have a point of view or opinion about this topic?
- What specific facts support this point of view and are they reliable?
- Did I read them in more than one place?
- How will I write and illustrate my book to convey this point of view to my readers?

 

December & January Math Workshop

December and January Math Workshop   

                             

Addition and Subtraction Within 200 with Word Problems to 100

In this 35- day unit, the children will be building fluency in two-digit addition and subtraction within 100 and applying that to one and two step word problems.  They will continue working on place value understanding, which will help them to compose (e.g. bundle ten ones to make 1 ten) and decompose (e.g. breaking apart 1 ten to make 10 ones) place value units to add and subtract within 200. Students will also be adding up to four two-digit numbers using strategies based on place value and properties of operations.  The children will be going from the concrete (e.g. place value materials) to the pictorial (e.g. drawing place value disks) to abstract. For example:

           Concrete                                              Pictorial                             Abstract    

    

Key Vocabulary

• Algorithm: a step-by-step procedure to solve a particular type of problem
• Compose: to make a larger unit from smaller units (e.g. 10 ones = 1 ten or 10 tens = 1 hundred)
• Decompose: to break a larger unit into smaller unites (e.g. 1 ten--> 10 ones or 1 hundred--> 10 tens)
• Simplifying Strategy: e.g. to solve 299 +6, think 299 +1 +5= 300 +5 = 305

How you can help at home:

• Ask how many ones, tens and hundreds are in numbers that you and your child come across when adding and subtracting.
• Encourage your child to make math drawings and use place value language to explain what they are doing when adding or subtracting (e.g. composing or decomposing a ten or hundred)
• Continue to review addition and subtraction skills.

December Word Study

Unit 5 

The students will also be learning new suffix endings:   -ful,  -ment, -ness, -less, -able, -ish, and -en

* Remember that students must underline the baseboard and circle the suffix. 

Trick Words:  water, knew, know 

Unit 6 

The students will be learning about the v-e syllable(vowel, consonant -e).  For example the word cape has an e at the end and makes the vowel say its name. 

We also will be learning how to combine closed syllables and v-e syllables such as the word reptile. 

The students will also be learning about the letter S. 

When the letter S is between 2 vowels, it makes a /Z/ sound such as rose or wise. 

However, in the word base, it makes the /S/ sound. 

Lastly, the students will be learning that there are NO English words that end with the letter v. Therefore, words have an E at the end and the vowel becomes short such as have or give. 

Trick words: often    house     move 

                       right     place       together

December Writing 2015

In December, students will be continuing to work on their second realistic fiction pieces.  They are wrapping up the drafting stage and will begin revising and editing their pieces before they recopy their final drafts.  A writing celebration will be held on Friday December 18^th at 8:40am. 

While students are finishing their realistic fiction pieces, we will also begin a nonfiction research reading and writing unit.  The beginning of the unit will be taught through reading workshop and read aloud. Students will research a nonfiction topic of their choosing and create a narrative nonfiction piece based on their topic.  The writing focus of this unit will be teaching students organized note-taking skills, citing text evidence, as well as using elaboration techniques, such as comparisons (similes and metaphors) and using adjectives in description.