Classroom Newsletter 10/21-25

Important Dates:

Tuesday, 10/22- JERSEY DAY! (Spirit Day from Owl Sprint)

Wednesday, 10/23- Half day of school due to evening conferences; school opens at 12:45 p.m. Instruction begins at 1:15 p.m.

Thursday, 10/24- Half day of school due to evening conferences; school opens at 12:45 p.m. Instruction begins at 1:15 p.m.

Friday, 10/25- FAVORITE GLASSES DAY (Spirit Day from Owl Sprint)/Half day of school due to afternoon conferences; schools open on time, but dismissal begins at 12:!0 p.m.

Conference Information:

If you have not yet signed up for a time, please follow the directions below to sign up. Go to https://www.ptcfast.com/parent_registration1.php. Type in our class access code: N521285368. If you are unable to sign up online please send me an email with your preferred date and time and I will try to find an available slot around that time.

Wednesday, October 23 and Thursday, October 24: School doors will open at 12:45 p.m. Instruction begins at 1:15 p.m. No lunch is served on either day. Conferences are held in the evenings.

Friday, October 25: School dismissal begins at 12:15 p.m. Lunch is served. Conferences will take place during the afternoon hours.

Please be on time (or 5 minutes early!) for your scheduled conference time. I will try to do my best to start on time. Conference will be 15 minutes long. I will need to adhere to this time frame in order to fit everyone in at their scheduled time. I will have a schedule posted outside the door in the hallway. There will be chairs and a table for a waiting area. Please wait here and I will come out to greet you when I am ready to begin the conference. Thank you for supporting me in this! 

Spirit Days to Celebrate Owl Sprint Donations:

Tuesday is Jersey Day and Friday is Favorite Glasses Day (sunglasses, wacky glasses, etc.) 

Owl Sprint update:

Our class has reached our third class goal of $2,000. The change days really made a huge impact and helped us reach this goal. We were able to collect over $165 in loose change! You guys are amazing and we are holding 1st place strong due to your support. Thank you!!

Oakdale Elementary Families Outreach:

If you are in need of assistance for the upcoming holidays, please contact Jason Brier, guidance counselor, by Friday, October 25th.  Mr. Brier has a packet of resources to share with you which includes time-sensitive applications for local holiday assistance programs.

Math

Our class has begun Unit 3 on Time and Money. We will focus on Money this week and next Monday. Then we will switch our focus to Time for the remainder of next week and early November. This will be our last math unit of Quarter 1. Below is the family math connection menu. This menu can be used for homework or extension ideas at home.

Grade 2 Unit 3 Family Resource

Unit Name: Time and Money

What’s my child learning in Unit 3?	What does this mean?  What does it look like?	How can I help my child at home?
Students will tell time to the hour and half hour on an analog clock, applying the knowledge of a.m. and p.m.		AM/PM- Read the activity and tell if it’s AM or PM. Starfall Time- Match the digital time with the analog time.
Students will identify coins (dimes, nickels, and pennies), applying skip counting strategies to determining the value of a mixed set in real life situations	Example: What are some possible combinations of coins (pennies, nickels, dimes) that equal 37 cents? Example: What are some possible combinations of dollar bills ($1, $5 and $10) that equal 12 dollars? Example: Sandra went to the store and received $ 0.76 in change. What are three different sets of coins she could have received?	What Coins Do I Have?-  Great activity to help your child identify and count money. Matching Money - memory game with coins and money amounts Counting Money - count a given amount of coin

Writing:

We are continuing to write small moment personal narratives. There is a focus of using rubrics to self-assess and check to see what needs to be added to student stories. Writing conferences will also be taking place to help improve student writing. Students are also working on mechanics like handwriting, finger spacing, punctuation, and capitalization. We will continue on mastering our craft and mechanics in narrative writing through the rest of the quarter. 

Reading:

We are continuing fictional text and we will be learning about context clues, vocabulary, and comparing/contrasting our text with a previously read text. Students should be continuing to bring home new little books in their reading bags from small groups. We usually spend 3 days in a book, working on various reading skills and writing about the text.

Word Study:

Students are reading, sorting, and spelling long and short e words. They will also need to identify "out of sorts" words that do not fit the pattern and tend to be "rule breakers." (I.e. "great" makes the long a sound instead of an e sound.) Later in the week, students will be sorting into the different long e vowel teams (magic e, vowel teams like ie, ee, ea, etc.). Students are getting into this new routine that is part of Daily 5 time. 

Social Studies:

Our class has transitioned from Unit 1 on Our Community to Unit 2 of Impact of Geography. Students will be learning about different geographical terms as well as how cultures adjust how they live based on the geography of the land. 

I look forward to meeting with each of you this week at parent teacher conferences! I can't wait to discuss your student is already making strides and some areas for them to improve upon. Second grade is such an exciting academic year as students truly start putting together all of the foundational skills that were taught in Kindergarten and First grade.