Mrs. Connor's
Newsletter
December 11, 2015
Have a safe and enjoyable holiday
season with family and friends! I am
truly blessed to be part of such a
wonderful learning community here at
Sarah Adams!
Thank you so much for taking time out of
your busy schedules to attend
parent/teacher conferences this year. I
enjoyed meeting you! If you ever have any
questions or concerns, please do not hesitate
to call, email or write me a note.
The boys and girls often work together in
small groups during Daily 5, Reading/ Math
Workshop activities, and Words Their Way
word sort practice. During these 15 to 20
minute activities, it is my expectation that
students stay focused on the task and follow
our listen attentively rules for small group
discussions. If your child should receive a
parent contact think sheet, it is because
they needed more than 2 reminders to stay
on their task during this time.
Thanks to everyone for supporting our
Scholar Dollar School Store. The store will
be opening once again this week!
Scientist of the Day
This week, several students looked
through many different science
experiments searching for the perfect
experiment they would like to present to
the class. Look for a parent letter about
this activity coming home this week!
Enjoy!
Reading Workshop
Second graders have begun a unit on nonfiction
literature. Last week, I reviewed the three types of
nonfiction books that the boys and girls will be reading.
They are literary nonfiction, reference books, and
biographies. Students will learn how to identify common
nonfiction text features. These features help all readers
organize information and figure out which facts are
important to focus in on while reading. I will send home a
copy of the text features and their definitions to be stored
in your child’s reading log folder. While reading nonfiction
with your child, have them show you examples of the
book’s text features and ask them to explain how each
text feature helped them understand the information
they are reading.
Students are learning strategies to help activate their
prior knowledge before reading nonfiction text. Those
strategies are previewing (look at the title and overview
on back cover), skimming (read headings, captions and
labels), and scanning (look at photos, maps and read
diagrams). I will be modeling these strategies while
reading aloud to the class, reading workshop lessons and
during science and social studies lessons.
Next week, the boys and girls will do an author study
of Gail Gibbons. Gibbons writes a variety of non-fiction
books. The boys and girls will view an interview with
Gibbons and read many of her books.
Reading Tip of the Week: It is important to think about what you already know about a topic before reading a nonfiction
text. Your child should practice asking questions before, during and after they read. This will help them read for meaning. Encourage
your child to read non-fiction books with you. Point out when their questions have been answered and new facts have been learned!
Email address: molly.connor@lz95.org
Phone Number: (847) 540-2874
Science
Next week, students will begin learning
all about weather! Students will view a
video where National Geographic
highlights the work of severe-storm
researcher Tim Samaras. Mr. Samaras is
a scientist that follows storms to learn
more about them. Ask your child all
about a weather instrument he uses
called a tornado probe.
The first lessons teach that air is all
around us, and moving air is wind. We
will define weather as the condition of
the outside air at any particular moment.
The sun’s energy directly and indirectly
warms the water, land and air. Students
will learn about how weather moves in a
cycle between the ground and sky.
Chapter 1 Vocabulary: cloud, condense,
energy, evaporate, temperature, and
water cycle
.
Social Studies
As we begin Trimester 2,
students will begin Unit 2
Exploring Earth. Lessons in this
unit include learning about
location defined as where
something is. They will learn
about Absolute Location-the
exact spot- and Relative
Location-where an object is
compared to other things. Also,
students will learn where they
live beyond their community;
state, country and continent.
Finally, we will learn all about
landforms found in the United
States and Earth’s many natural
resources.
Math
We have begun lessons in Module 4.
Students have been practicing using a 100 chart to count
forward (addition) and back (subtraction) by single digits or
10’s from any two-digit number under 100.
Students have been using multiple strategies for solving double
digit subtraction problems. They have subtracted using a
number line, a hundred’s chart and column subtraction without
borrowing. Given time and practice, students will begin using
mental math to count back for subtraction and forward for
addition for numbers under100. They have done an awesome
job practicing these different strategies! They enjoy
discovering multiple ways for getting the same answer!
Last week, we worked on writing addition and subtraction
sentences to form fact families for the doubles and near
doubles facts. We also investigated strategies for doubling
two-digit numbers that do not result in bridging a multiple of
ten. For example, we doubled 2 to get 4; then, we doubled 20
to get 40. Doubled 3 to get 6; doubled 30 to get 60 and so
on…..So, to show how to get 24 + 24 = 48
Double 20 to get 40
Double 4 to get 8
So, 40 + 8 = 48
Writing
Everyone has a story to tell! The boys and girls will begin
writing Narrative Paragraphs. Writing stories about themselves
helps young writers discover that good stories come from one’s
own experience.
I will model good storytelling by reading the boys and girls an
autobiographical story by Patricia Polacco called My Rotten
Redheaded Brother. Also, the students will read another
wonderful narrative story by Patricia Polacco called
Thundercake.