Second Grade Notes & News
October 2015
Issue #2
Dear Second Grade Families,
Cool weather is in the air! Please keep in mind that the daily weather may
change quickly. Students need to bring a jacket (and maybe even hats and
gloves) for recess. This past month we have been singing songs about fall and
learning poems about fall. Hopefully the winter weather will hold off for a
little while!
Sincerely,
cathleen.olson@spps.org
shari.mleczewski@spps.org
Frost Lake School: 651-293-8930
Mrs. Olson & Ms. M
Reading:
Writing:
In Reading Workshop we began our
“Small Moments” (Personal Narrative
Genre Study). We read The Fire
(Annette Griessman), Bigmamma, The
Shortcut, and School Bus (Donald
Crews), Two Mrs. Gibsons by Toyomi
Igus, and When I Was Young in the
Mountains (Cynthia Rylant). We used
the reading strategy “Stop and
Think” to help us predict and
summarize these stories. We also
used story maps and character webs
to identify story elements and
character descriptions. Book bags
(from our guided reading groups will
be coming home each Friday). It is
In Writing Workshop, we shared our
expert books “All About Frost Lake.”
Ms. Heurh’s class was our audience,
and we were lucky to have them
share their books with us! It is fun
to spend time with other second
grade friends. We also began our
Personal Narrative Small Moment
Stories. Since we have been reading
examples of personal narratives, we
wanted to tell our own stories. We
started out by thinking about and
writing down many different special
memories that we hold close to our
hearts. It was difficult choosing just
one moment, but began planning our
recommended that your child
practices reading these books at
least three times over the weekend.
All book bags are due on Mondays.
Thank you for your help in supporting
reading at home!
writing using the writing process. So
far we have been working on how
writers begin, extend, and conclude
their writing. Also, how writers make
their stories more interesting (using
describing words/adjectives). We
have been working hard trying our
best to use second grade spelling,
capitalization and punctuation.
Math:
Other:
We began Unit 2 “Addition and
Subtraction Facts.” Our first
problem-solving activity was to
create and solve addition number
stories. We reviewed: addition facts,
doubles facts, turn around facts,
fact families (+ and -), name
collections, and frames-and-arrows
routines. We have been practicing
using multiple strategies to figure
out and solve these math problems.
Math games have extended our
learning using: dominoes, math deck
cards, dice, unifix cubes and flash
cards. All of these daily tasks have
helped us meet our learning targets
this month.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Oct. 30 No School (Teacher Work
Day)
Nov. 12
Frost Lake Movie Night
Nov. 19
MN Sinfonia Concert
Evening Conferences
Nov. 20
No School (Conferences)
Nov. 24
Evening Conferences
Nov. 26-27
No School
Mrs. Olson’s & Ms. M’s Second Grade (Room 1101)