Mrs. Lummis’s Classroom:
Newsletter – September 24, 2015
Hello everyone! We have been very busy in second grade! Read on to
find out what we have been learning. Also, please note the following
important upcoming events and dates:
-Friday, September 25: No School – Teacher Institute Day
-Wednesday, September 30: Early Release Day
-Tuesday, October 13: This is our field trip day to Ryerson Woods.
Our classes will participate in two hands on programs about plants, animals,
and birds! This goes along with our plants and animal unit that we teach in
science. I will need two parent volunteers for this field trip, so please email
me if you are interested.
In reading, we continue to learn from our launch unit by reading all
different kinds of texts! We recently started reading and discussing poetry.
One poetry book was called Nasty Bugs. We learned how to check for
understanding by asking ourselves questions after reading some of the
poems. Some of those questions were: Do I understand what I am reading?
Are there any tricky words? Do the words and pictures help me create
images in my mind? Can I retell what I read? How do I feel about what I just
read? We also practiced the visualizing strategy by completing an activity
called “Making Movies In Our Minds.”
In small reading groups, we discussed our at home reading logs. We
also read nonfiction books and completed a KWL chart. In addition, our
class also practiced how to retell information from nonfiction text.
Students should have a September reading log at home and reading
at least 20 minutes a night. Your child should be filling out the reading log
and at the end of the month, have a minimum of 400 minutes. Of course, I
love seeing when students read more! The September reading log will be
due on October 1. Please have your child use MyOn to practice reading at
home. This is an excellent resource to improve your child’s skills!
During writing, we continue to write in our journals and practice our
creative writing skills. Our class started handwriting with printing books and
learned letters t, a, d, and g.
During math, we have completed chapter one and started chapter two.
This chapter includes working with addition/addition stories, turnaround
facts, fact families, related subtraction facts, and using a place value chart
and number line to add two digit numbers. It also includes time on the clock
(including hour, half hour, five minute intervals, and duration with hours and
minutes.)
In science, we continue to learn about pushes and pulls, and will be
doing an experiment using wind-up toys! We have also studied some
information on plants and animals in preparation for our field trip.
In social studies, we learned all about the three different types of
communities urban, suburban, and rural. We discussed the differences and
will play a game to identify these next week
In our 4 R’s social/emotional curriculum, we discussed giving people
“put ups” instead of “put downs”. Our class had a great discussion about
being respectful to others and building each other up. We were able to
brainstorm feeling words and discussed feelings that are experienced when
put ups are given.
Have a wonderful evening!
Mrs. Lummis