March 24th

Is it spring yet????  Well, we're going to try to take a leap into spring with a special camp out this Friday.
Camp Read S'more is this Friday, March 28th!  What a great way to end our reading month!  Each 2nd grade classroom will be transformed into a campsite.  But, we need your help from home...

If you have a tent and could come help set it up in our room for Friday we would be eternally grateful! One large and maybe 2 small ones would do.  Thanks a ton!!!!

 We're also still in need of lots of donations for our trail mix.  So far we have 4 donations.  We have no Teddy Grahams or Golden Grahams and could use more marshmallows and chocolate chips.

Reader’s Workshop

In Reader’s Workshop we finished our overview of genres and moved onto a focus on fairy and folktales.  Most recently students examined features such as setting, characters, repetitious patterns and problem/solution.  During this time students are enjoying reading a variety of fairy tales, folk tales and recent fractured versions.  These are newer versions of old tales rewritten over the past 30 years. 

Writer’s Workshop

In Writer’s Workshop students completed drafts and worked on specific revisions of their personal narratives including improvements on transition words connecting parts of their stories.  They also used an editing checklist to fix mechanical errors.  We will continue to conference individually putting finishing touches on these pieces.

Word Study

Students were introduced to homophones and homographs.  Homophones are words that sound the same but spelled differently with different meanings, such as right and write.  Students played matching games, drew illustrations of homophone pairs and sentences using correct meanings with each pair.

Math

We're working on our next math unit learning measurement skills.  Students are learning about standard vs. non-standard units of measurement.  They're also learning about the metric measurements.  This is a confusing skill for most.  Students had fun learning to measure to the nearest inch and 1/2 inch as well as the nearest centimeter and 1/2 centimeter.  

Social Studies

Hope you’ve heard talk about history in your home.  We started the history unit with a fabulous story by Patricia Polacco called The Keeping Quilt.  It’s a story that tells about Patricia’s family and a quilt they created from family members’ clothing from Russia and how the family uses the quilt to create traditions from generation to generation.  We’re also taking time to look through old photos from the Walled Lake area and discussing its past.  Students have been hearing about what our community looked like 100 years ago. Thank you for participating with your child to complete the venn diagram illustrating differences and similarities between school years.  We’ll be using these soon for further discussion and sharing on this topic.

Science

Upcoming Events

Wednesday, March 26^th: DQ Fundraiser…I will be serving ice cream from 4pm to 5pm!  Hope to see many of you thereJ

Thursday, March 27^th: Benchmark assessment

Friday, March 28^th:  End of 3^rd Card Marking Period

• All goal bags should be returned for the end of the card marking.  Also, please help your child look around for all the books borrowed for the goal bag or reading group.  The goal books are mine personally and are cherished by our class members each year.  Thanks for your efforts on this one!!!

Tuesday, April 1st:  All Dublin Reading Calendars are due to Mrs.                                                Entwistle

• Also, all March reading calendars due to our class.  If you just put your minutes on the Dublin calendar, that is completely fine!