Monday Memo 1/25/16

I hope you had a wonderful weekend.  It was very exciting to see the snow.

Wayland Lunar New Year Celebration

Click here to learn more about this great event on Saturday.  I went last year, and it was a lot of fun.

Student Teacher

We are delighted to introduce Hannah Kosiba, a student teacher from Framingham State.  She will be joining us two afternoons a week.  

Sharing

This week we are sharing favorite songs.  Your child can bring in a CD, you can send me a link to a youtube version of the song, they can sing a song...The possiblilities are endless.  The students just have to be able to name the song, show it in some way, and explain why they like it.  This will be fun!

Snow Gear

Thank you for remembering to send all the snow gear with your child.  Children are not allowed to play on the snowy field without boots and snowpants.  Hats and mittens are very important too.  Please remember that your child should have a pair of shoes to wear inside the classroom every day, in addition to their outdoor boots..  

Science

Check out these pics from the Acton Discovery Museum presentation!
 
 



 

 

Report Cards

Report cards will be sent home Tuesday, not Monday as I had originally reported.  Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Math

An assessment on double digit addition and subtraction will be given this week.  I'm sure your student will do very well.  As always, we always try to describe assessments to kids as an opportunity to "show what you know" to the teachers.  And if you don't know how to do it, that's good information for the teachers to know, and we're going to help you get it.  That's our job.

Next, on to geometry!

Have a great week!  Stay warm!

Monday Memo (Tuesday Edition) 1/19/16

I hope you enjoyed the long weekend!   My children were thrilled to see snow today.  As a result, we have three sets of wet snow pants, gloves, boot liners....Happy winter!

Winter Gear

Please make sure your child has a bag (separate from their back pack--a reusable shopping bag is best) to carry their snow gear to and from school.  Everyone should have a separate pair of shoes for the classroom for snowy days.  It's uncomfortable to wear big snow boots all day, and it makes the classroom messy.  In second grade, students frequently sit on the rug for instruction, so we can't have it getting wet.

At Happy Hollow, we try to have outdoor recess unless the temperature is dangerously cold.  Every child should have:

• Snowpants
• Gloves or mittens (waterproof are best)
• Hat
• Boots

I have extra snow pants, boots, and mittens in the classroom for forgetters, but the gloves are not waterproof and if the snow pants or boots do not fit, obviously they can't be worn.  Kids without boots or snow pants have to stay on a plowed part of the asphalt, and it's not much fun standing there while your friends frolic in the snow.

Thank you for your help with this.

Acton Discovery Museum

We are grateful to the PTO for funding the traveling science program that visited us on Friday.  We really enjoyed the experiments.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Hope to see you at the annual MLK Dinner at the Middle School on Friday at 6PM.  Click here to learn more.  The second graders made posters with our buddies with our favorite MLK quotes (thank you, Ava, for inspiring us!), and these posters will  be displayed at the dinner. 

Math

We are working on showing our thinking in double digit addition and subtraction.  One fun way to do this is with the ShowMe app on the iPad.  It's kind of like using a dry erase board, but a little more high tech.  Ask your child about it!

Social Emotional Learning

 

We've been talking a lot in our classroom about the zones of regulation and how to get back into the "green zone" when you feel upset.  This language may be helpful for you when talking about feelings with your child.  As a class, we are trying to fill a green jar with "jewels" for times when we may feel upset but we use strategies to get back into the green zone.  I may try this in my own home.  For myself :)

Have a great week!  Thank you for your help and support.

Miriam

Monday Memo 1/11/16

It was great to see everyone last week and get back in the swing of things.  We had a great week together, and this week will be fabulous too.

Sharing

This is an example of the Sharing assignment for this week.  The assignment is to bring in an inspirational quote.  Adding a picture of the person who said it makes it very meaningful.

Brainy Quote is a good website for quotes.

Science

We are beginning our new science unit on States of Matter.  Lots of fun experiments in store!  Your children have lots of great questions and background knowledge, too.  We will do our first experiment this week.  We have a special presentation from the Discovery Museum on states of matter.  This is a great event, and the second graders love it.  We are very grateful to the PTO for helping us fund this.

Math

We are working on double digit addition and subtraction. One way strategy we teach is to add and subtract on an open number line.  So, if the problem was 34 + 34 = ______, your child could represent their thinking by drawing this on a number line:

  

                                                                            

34 44 54 64 65 66 67 68

Hope that helps you know what we are doing.

Writing

The post office is being kept very busy in our classroom!  Our latest writing piece has been an opinion letter about a character in a book.  This is a second grade Common Core Standard.  Feel free to click on that link to learn more.  The first grade teachers, President Obama, various relatives, Tom Brady, and Mr. Lee are just a few of the lucky recipients of these letters.  I wonder if anyone will write back???  Thank you for sending in the envelopes with the addresses.  

Have a great week!  Please contact me with any questions or concerns.

Miriam

Monday Memo 1/3/16

Happy New Year!  I hope you had a wonderful vacation.  We just returned from North Conway, where we had a great time skiing.  We stayed at this adorable bed and breakfast that DID NOT have TV's in the bedrooms.  My husband and I felt a fair amount of trepidation at the prospect of three days without TV, but it turned out great and our children actually interacted.

Homework

Please click here for the January Homework Calendar.  Feel free to contact me with any questions.

Spelling

Our word work resumes this week.  Please click here if you need another copy of the Spelling Practice Menu.

Buddies

Check out our gorgeous bulletin board, created by the second and fourth grade buddies.  Each child contributed a pair of hands to make this display:  "We are all beautiful and unique, but together we are a masterpiece."

Have a great week!

Miriam