~*The Pitzer Post*~

December 12-16, 2016

In this weekly post, you will find information about the academic content and special events happening in the upcoming week. 

Literacy (Reading & Writing)

Due to it being the week before break, we will be reviewing skills and strategies that we have learned so far.  It is hard to believe it but we have had 42 vocabulary words and 37 phonics patterns.  We are learning so many things.

Vocabulary words so far: cabin, visit, memory, tradition, relatives, generation, rely, role, member, identity, sibling, symbol, fascinate, exploration, journal, measure, calendar, interval, daily, orbit, position, solar, ray, rotate, crossing, rural, build, purpose, social, urban, reside,  route, state,  journey, boundary, terrain, essential, wheel, machine, reduce, labor, and effort

Comprehension Strategies so far: Making connections, creating images, asking questions, determining importance, infer, use fix-up strategies, and synthesize.   Can you child explain all seven?  Which one is easier to use?  Which one is harder? Can you use more than one?

Phonics Patterns so far: diagraphs, short vowels, -ake, -oke, -ute, -ine, -ain, -aint, -ail, – ea, -eed, -eat, oat, -ow, -ue, ui, -or, -orn, -art, -urn, -ir, -ear, -eer, -ea, -ore, -are, -ire, -eer, -ear, -air, -oom, –ew, -au, -aw, -awn, -alk, and -all.  These are patterns your child is held accountable for during independent writing.  Please encourage them to apply these skills during writer’s workshop!

Genres so far: Personal Narrative, Expository, Letters, and Biography.  Check out our genre lists below.  Can your child explain each genre?  Do they have a favorite genre and can they tell you why?  How could they use these genre lists to write at home?

Math

Due to the week before break, we will finish up Multiplication & Division by diving into some harder concepts like balancing equations.  We will take this test on Wednesday.  Please stay tuned for review videos that will be posted to the blog as a way to practice.  The chapter review will also come home and is optional.

The rest of the week we will take this opportunity to review Chapter One: Place Value!   We will have fun and different ways to practice and review our number sense.  I included chapter one’s main points below.  We will also take next week to provide students an opportunity to show off all their math skills from chapters 1-6 in the benchmark assessment.  Chapters 1-6 covered place value, regrouping with addition, regrouping with subtraction, bar models, multiplication and division.  This benchmark assessment will be able to provide an insight into the skills your child excels at and some skills your child still needs to practice.

Chapter 1: Place Value
Vocabulary: hundred, hundreds, thousand, standard form, word form, expanded form, greater than, less than, greatest, least, more than
Objectives:

• Use base-ten blocks to recognize, read, and write numbers to 1,000
• Count on by 1s, 10s, and 100’s to 1,000
• Use base-ten blocks and a place value chart to read, write, and represent numbers to 1,000
• Read and write numbers to 1,000 in standard form, expanded form, and word form
• Use base-ten blocks to compare numbers
• Compare numbers using greaten than and less than
• Compare numbers using the symbols for greater than and less than
• Order three-digit numbers
• Identify the greatest and least number
• Identify number patterns

Science

This week we explored more ways that vibrations cause sound and also how our ear works.  Feel free to watch this video below to learn more:

Remember that our Battle of the Bands is Tuesday, December 13, 2016. Please make sure your child’s instrument and paper explaining how their instrument makes sound is due on Tuesday!  Feel free to bring this in early.

Odds and Ends

Polar Express Day with the K-2 hallway will be Tuesday, December 20, 2016.  Students are allowed to wear PJs (weather and school appropriate) and bring a stuffed animal (fits in backpack and school appropriate).  If you haven’t sent in your $1, no worries there is still time.  Please do so by Tuesday, December 13, 2016.

Upcoming Events

Monday, December 12, 2016 

• Lunch: Cheeseburger
• Math Ch. 5-6 Review comes home (optional)
• Work on Biography Interview (Due Monday, December 19, 2016)

Tuesday, December 13, 2016 

• Lunch: Holiday Chicken Nuggets
• Work on Biography Interview (Due Monday, December 19, 2016)
• DHS Cookie Sales

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

• Lunch: Cheese Quesadilla
• Math Ch. 5-6 Test
• Parent Lunch and Learn 11-11:45 am (Bring a Lunch)
• Work on Biography Interview (Due Monday, December 19, 2016)

Thursday, December 15, 2016

• Lunch: Sub Sandwich
• Math Ch. 1-6 Benchmark
• Work on Biography Interview (Due Monday, December 19, 2016)

Friday, December 16, 2016

• Lunch: Corn Dogs
• Math Ch. 1-6 Benchmark
• Work on Biography Interview (Due Monday, December 19, 2016)

 Celebrating Our Greatness!

• Celebrating the #HourOfCode with Mrs. Andrews on Friday! Students worked on basic concepts of computer science using CODE.org.  Check this out for more information: https://code.org/learn
• Earning 5 hearts for #DGSgrinchmas Challenge!
• Creating our first media recording in order to complete our phonics assignment in Canvas
• A Seussville Citizen worked on her Grinchmas Bingo card and shared it using social media
• Navigating our Delightful Division HyperDoc to explore, learn, review, chat, share, and play with Division concepts!
• Practicing typing skills by keeping 2 hands on home row using Dance Mat Typing (available on our Symbaloo page)
• Cozy-ing up with a good book in front of our festive virtual Yule Log during guided reading
• Beginning and LOVING our new read aloud: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

Second Grade in Pictures

~*The Pitzer Post*~

December 5-9, 2016

In this weekly post, you will find information about the academic content and special events happening in the upcoming week. 

Literacy (Reading & Writing)

Click the link to view our upcoming theme skills!
Theme 7 (week two)
Phonics Words:  chalk, small, stalk, walk, wall, food, laugh, boardwalk, solid
Sight Words: past, water, week, soon, ground
Vocab Words:  reduce, labor, effort
Grammar Skill: Commas in Letters

Math

This week we finished learning how to use repeated addition, draw pictures (arrays) and skip count to help us multiply.  Next week, we will learn how to draw pictures and use repeated subtraction to help us divide.

Science

Can your child teach you our sound vocabulary and show you the motions?

We learned vibration is key in creating an instrument that produces sound.  Check out the video below that we used to enhance our learning this week:

Second Step

Empathy involves feeling how someone else feels. This week, 2nd graders took empathy a step further as we discussed how to earn empathy into action. When we do this, we show compassion! To help us apply this to our real life, jump on the #DGSGrinchmas challenge, where we’re celebrating kindness and thinking of others! Learn more here: https://sososeussey.edublogs.org/2016/12/01/grow-your-heart-dgsgrinchmas/

Upcoming Events

Monday, December 5, 2016

• Lunch: Meatball Sub
• “reduce”  note card comes home, due  Tuesday

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

• Lunch: Taco Tuesday
• “labor” and “effort”  note card comes home, due Wednesday

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

• Lunch: Hot Dog

Thursday, December 8, 2016

• Lunch: Homemade Chili
• Phonics Words Practice Paper comes home, due Friday

Friday, December 9, 2016

• Lunch: Bosco Sticks
• Madrigals/Jazz band assembly @ 12:45
• Hour of CODE w/ Mrs. Andrews

 Celebrating Our Greatness!

• One Seussville Citizen completing and returning their musical instrument
• Starting our new genre study: biographies
• Enjoying our reading camp out with our special visitors!
• Learning how to multiply using repeated addition, drawing pictures, counting by 2’s 5’s and 10’s and drawing arrays
• Using the blog to practice digital citizenship
• Publishing 55 stories
• Practicing how to manage our time wisely to meet our November AR goals and work on our Multiplication Mani HyperDoc

~*The Pitzer Post*~

November 28-December 2, 2016

In this weekly post, you will find information about the academic content and special events happening in the upcoming week. 

Literacy (Reading & Writing)

Click the link to view our upcoming theme skills!
Theme 7 (week one)
Phonics Words:  draw, haul, launch, lawn, sauce, show, why, brought, caught
Sight Words: sometimes, paper, let, wasn’t, left
Vocab Words:  essential, wheel, machine
Grammar Skill: Possessive Nouns

Math

Next week we will continue exploring Chapter 5-6: Multiplication and Division.  In these chapters, we will discuss different ways to sort objects, use repeated addition to make multiplication sentences, use repeated subtraction to make division sentences and learn that division is the opposite of multiplication.  This chapter will have lots of hands on activities.  We will also be focusing on Multiplication Tables 2, 5, and 10.  We will learn how to skip count by 2’s, 5’s and 10’s, draw pictures (dot paper & arrays) and use manipulatives (our fingers) to solve math problems.  We have learned that 5 X 2 means 5 groups of 2 or 5 twos.  The main goal is to realize there are several ways to write and say 5 X 2.

Check out this video that can help us practice counting by 2’s, 5’s and 10s :

MIFChapter5
MIFChapter6 

Science

We will continue to explore sound by discussing how we could make our own musical instruments at home! Stay tuned for more information.  Check out this video below to learn more about how sound is made.

Upcoming Events

Monday, November 28, 2016

• Lunch: Chicken Patty
• “essential”  note card comes home, due  Tuesday

Tuesday, November 29, 2016 

• Lunch: Spaghetti
• “wheel” and “machine”  note card comes home, due Wednesday

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

• Lunch: Cheese Omelet
• ROYALS of the Month Announced
• Read out loud: Robot Cat, practice strategies and look for phonics pattern words (-au, -aw, -awn) (signed slip AND book must be returned)

Thursday, December 1, 2016

• Lunch: TBA
• Phonics Words Practice Paper comes home, due Friday

Friday, December 2, 2016

• Lunch: TBA
• Reading Camp Out! (Bring a stuffed animal, pillow, blanket and or visitor 9:30am-10:am)
• Spirit Day!

 Celebrating Our Greatness!

• Discovering how to create a positive digital footprint
• Designing our own positive digital footprint
• Participating in a multiplication flipped homework assignment on the blog
• Comparing multiplication sentences to balanced equations
• Finishing up and publishing our letters

~*The Pitzer Post*~

November 21-25, 2016

In this weekly post, you will find information about the academic content and special events happening in the upcoming week. 

Literacy (Reading & Writing)

Due to the shortened week, we will be reviewing skills and strategies that we have learned so far.  It is hard to believe it but we have had 36 vocabulary words and 29 phonics patterns.  We are learning so many things.

Vocabulary words so far: cabin, visit, memory, tradition, relatives, generation, rely, role, member, identity, sibling, symbol, fascinate, exploration, journal, measure, calendar, interval, daily, orbit, position, solar, ray, rotate, crossing, rural, build, purpose, social, urban, reside,  route, state,  journey, boundary, and terrain

Comprehension Strategies so far: Making connections, creating images, asking questions , determining importance, infer, and use fix-up strategies.  Can you child explain all six?  Which one is easier to use?  Which one is harder? Can you use more than one?

Phonics Patterns so far: diagraphs, short vowels, -ake, -oke, -ute, -ine, -ain, -aint, -ail, -eed, -eat, oat, -ow, -ue, ui, -or, -orn, -art, -urn, -ir, -ear, -eer, -ea, -ore, -are, ire, -eer, -ear, -air, -oom, and –ew.  These are patterns your child is held accountable during independent writing.  Please encourage them to apply these skills during writer’s workshop!

Writing Genres so far: Personal Narrative, Expository Texts, and Letter. Please be sure to check out our genre lists below.  These lists are an ongoing document that we revise and edit as we learn more about the genre.  Each color represents a new day of learning.

Spelling?!

While Mrs. Weiss and I do not give spelling tests, we still take your child’s spelling skills very seriously.  Instead of the focus being on memorizing words, it is our mission to have students master and correctly apply phonics skills during independent writing.  During the week, we have a 10-20 minutes mini lesson that allows students to learn about the phonics patterns.  We also look for these patterns in our reading and find them in our writing.  It is through modeling and practicing that students can move into the independent phase of spelling.  Developmentally, second graders are still becoming familiar with the English language and will rely heavily on phonics and or the way the word sounds, to spell words they don’t know.  However, students are held accountable for first grade site words and or phonics patterns we have learned.  These are words they do not receive help spelling because they have the skills and or resources available to them to determine the proper spelling.   While this may be a different philosophy, it is one that is grounded in best practices with the goal being mastery instead of memorization.   Albert Einstein once said, “Never memorize something you can look up.”

In order to help your child practice phonics at home, please have them show you Spelling City on our 1 Fish 2 Fish Seussville Tech Fish page.  There is a link on our Symbaloo.  This website allows students to practice past phonics pattern words in fun and engaging ways.  It also includes their vocab words and sight words.

Math

Over the Thanksgiving break, practicing your facts would be a great idea!  By the end of Grade 2, students must know from memory facts 1-20.  Practicing at home is just as important.  It can be as simple as doing flashcards for 5 minutes or finding an app/computer game that allows your child to practice at an independent level.

Chapter 5: Multiplication & Division
Vocabulary: times, equal, group, multiply, share, divide, equal groups,
Objectives:

• Use equal groups and repeated addition to multiply
• Make multiplication stories about pictures
• Make multiplication sentences
• Divide to share equally
• Divide by repeated subtraction of equal groups
• Solve multiplication word problems
• Solve division word problems

Chapter 6: Multiplication tables of 2, 5, and 10
Vocabulary: skip-count, dot paper, related multiplication facts
Objectives:

• Skip-count by 2s, 5s, and 10s
• Solve multiplication word problems
• Use dot paper to multiply by 2s, 5s, and 10s
• Use known multiplication facts to find new multiplication facts
• Identify related multiplication facts
• Use related multiplication facts to find related division facts
• Write a related multiplication sentence and a related division sentence
• Solve division word problems

MIFChapter5
MIFChapter6

Upcoming Events

Monday, November 21, 2016

• Lunch: Chicken Tenders
• Math Blog Multiplication HW

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

• Lunch: Cheese Pizza Bread

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

• No School!

Thursday, November 24, 2016

• No School! Happy Thanksgiving!

Friday, November 25, 2016

• No School!

 Celebrating Our Greatness!

• Working hard on our math chapter test on bar models!
• Every student meeting the criterion score for Theme 6
• First field trip success!
• Taking advantage of a reading emergency on the bus ride to and from the Hult Center
• 2 new Yertles moved in to Seussville! #2Psuperimprovers
• Participating in a discussion board to share how we are using Fix-Up Strategies while we read
• Publishing 55 stories in writer’s workshop
• Reaching 40 minutes of guided reading stamina! We made our GOAL!

Second Grade in Pictures

~*The Pitzer Post*~

November 14-18, 2016

In this weekly post, you will find information about the academic content and special events happening in the upcoming week. 

Literacy (Reading & Writing)

Click the link to view our upcoming theme skills!
Theme 6 (week two)
Phonics Words:  bloom, broom, flew, grew, threw, four, river, group, museum
Sight Words: someone, use, small, almost, own
Vocab Words:  journey, boundary, terrain
Grammar Skill: Proper Nouns (Product Names)

Math

We will wrap up Chapter 4 this week by exploring 2 step problems. The review will be sent on Tuesday and is optional but a great way to study for the test.  Chapter 4 test will be Friday, November 18.   Students will be given bar models for questions 1-10.  For #11 and #12, they will be responsible for drawing the bar models.  This hopefully will help alleviate some test anxiety.  Since 10 of the questions will have bar models provided, students can use these as a resource to help them determine whether they are adding or subtracting.

Remember:
You add when you know the part and the part.
You subtract when you know the whole and the part.

I appreciate all the hard work that everyone has been putting in to understanding bar models.  I have been teaching Math in Focus for 5 years, and every year I feel the students are more prepared and walk away understanding a lot more.  While this chapter is not easy, I have noticed that with 5 years of practice under my belt, I even understand word problems more.  The goal of second grade is to introduce students to bar models not to master them.  Bar models will continue to be taught throughout elementary school, so after more practice under their belts, just think how much more they will understand.  Thanks for all the support you offer your child at home and keep it up!

Social Studies

This week we wrapped up our unit on Native Americans.  Here are some discussion points for you and your child:
How were Native American homes and our homes the same and or different?
Do you think the land and or the weather would change the type of home Native Americans would live in and why or why not?
How was communication different between Native Americans in history and we how communicate today?
What do these key vocabulary words mean: immigrant, colony, settler, and explorer?

Second Step

This week, we had Mrs. Barra visit us!  She was able to discuss and share with us about personal space and how we can respect our own personal space as well as the personal space of others.

Field Trip Information

On Thursday, November 17th, the second grade classrooms will be attending their annual Hult Center Field Trip.  In 2nd grade, they will be discussing and learning about healthy habits such as nutrition, dental care, good choices and polite behavior.  They will also be viewing TAM which is a 3D computerized manikin that teaches the kids about parts of their body.  If you have any further questions about this trip please contact me!

Upcoming Events

Monday, November 14, 2016

• Lunch: McRib
• Dress Like a Parrot: Wear Mismatched Clothes
• “journey”  note card comes home, due  Tuesday

Tuesday, November 15, 2016 

• Lunch: Cheese Lasagna
• Shipwrecked Day: Crazy Hair/Crazy Hats
• “boundary” and “terrain”  note card comes home, due Wednesday

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

• Lunch: Corn Dogs
• Show Your Peg Leg: Crazy Socks Day
• Parent Lunch and Learn 11:00-11:45 in the library w/ Mrs. Pitzer and Mrs. Ellis
• Board of Education Meeting @7pm DHS

Thursday, November 17, 2016

• Lunch: Chicken and Noodles
• Mrs. Pitzer is at a Tech Conference in Springfield
• Be Your Own Treasure: Wear Gold
• 2^nd Grade Field Trip to HULT Center
• Phonics Words Practice Paper comes home, due Friday

Friday, November 18, 2016

• Lunch: Cheese Pizza
• Mrs. Pitzer is at a Tech Conference in Springfield
• Dress Like a Pirate Day
• Theme 6 Progress Test!
• Book Fair 2:45pm-6pm
• Family Literacy Night 5-6pm
• Fall Fundraiser Pick-Up

 Celebrating Our Greatness!

• The Hot Chocolate Pass is now available for purchase $120.  Students must bring in a microwavable cup and I will provide the hot chocolate!
• Playing Noun Dunk: http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/basketball/
• Participating in Nets for Vets during PE and having 50% of our class donate money to help a veteran go on the Honor Flight!
• Voting in the school wide election for the name of our school’s mascot. Crownie was the winner!
• Getting pirate patches after a student won the book fair kick off game along with 3M
• Analyzing current AR reports in order to create a new AR goal for November and posting our audio recording on SeeSaw
• 10 families have connected to their child’s SeeSaw account and have been leaving comments of encouragement!
• 3 students moving up to Wocket status #2Psuperimprovers

Second Grade in Pictures

~*The Pitzer Post*~

November 7-11, 2016

In this weekly post, you will find information about the academic content and special events happening in the upcoming week. 

Literacy (Reading & Writing)

Click the link to view our upcoming theme skills!
Theme 6 (week one)
Phonics Words:  chore, dare, fire, more, square, all, should, board, floor
Sight Words: six, give, girl, under, laugh
Vocab Words:  reside,  route, state
Grammar Skill: Proper Nouns (Titles)

Grammar/Target Skill Videos from the week:

Math

Next week we continue exploring Chapter Four: Using Bar Models for addition and subtraction.  Now that we have a better understanding of joining sets (addition) and taking sets away (subtraction), we will explore comparing sets of numbers.

These bar models are two separate bars: one on top of the other.  Each bar then needs to be labeled with the object or person from the problem, so the students can see the comparison between the numbers.  If they look carefully there is still a whole and parts, they just look a little different.  We will learn to draw out the bar model and label it first.  If after we read the problem we are still unsure if we add or subtract, we can use the bar model to help us.  Please remind your child that all of our regrouping skills still need to be applied to these problems even though we are no longer in that chapter.

Social Studies

This week we discussed how Native Americans communicated.  We compared it to how we communicate today and realized there are several differences.  We discussed how oral history was used to communicate stories and or ideas to others.  Oral history is when stories are told out loud (oral) and passed down through generations.  We compared this to playing the game telephone where we all sitting a circle a whisper something to our neighbor.  By the time it gets to the original person, the story can be altered quite a bit.  This lead to a great discussion on how that form of communication could lead to some frustration.

Native Americans used some of the following to communicate with others: smoke signals, beating drums, and pictographs.  A pictograph is a group of symbols formed in a circle that tell a story.  You child brought home a picture dictionary to create their very own pictograph.

Second Step

This week students learned about Being Confident! Being confident helps us do our best and be proud! It helps us be the best learner we can be! We also shared something about which we were very confident. What is your child confident in?  Next week, Mrs. Barra is visiting us to discuss personal space.

Upcoming Events

Monday, November 7, 2016 

• Lunch: Cheeseburger
•  “reside”  note card comes home, due Tuesday

Tuesday, November 8, 2016 

• Lunch: Chicken Nuggets
• route” and “state”  note card comes home, due Wednesday
• DHS Cookie Sales @1:30pm

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

• No School! Veteran’s Day!
• Please read Route 66 out loud and practice strategies. Book and slip must be returned

Thursday, November 10, 2016

• Lunch: Sub Sandwich
• Book Fair Kick off at Morning Announcements
• Nets for Vets during PE
• DGS Night at Chipolte

Friday, November 11, 2016

• No School! Veterans Day!

 Celebrating Our Greatness!

• We have published 48 stories this year
• Learning about decision making and voting in Junior Achievement
• Remembering that good digital citizenship also includes focusing on the task at hand!
• Fluency Races during game day!
• Mrs. Stoller giving us glowing reports for Thursday and Friday mornings!
• Reflecting with emojis on Google Slides about how math workshop is going
• Using wordless books to make inferences
• Writing our first opinion writing piece all on our own
• Finding more phonics pattern words this week so we can fill more of our chart
• Students purchasing the Bumper Seat pass ($800) for the first time this year

~*The Pitzer Post*~

Oct. 31-Nov. 4, 2016

In this weekly post, you will find information about the academic content and special events happening in the upcoming week. 

Literacy (Reading & Writing)

Click the link to view our upcoming theme skills!
Theme 5 (week two)
Phonics Words:  clear, deer, pair, shear, steer, gave, only, barrel, sphere
Sight Words: outside, turn, last, gave, show
Vocab Words:  purpose, social, urban
Grammar Skill: Proper Nouns(Days, Months, Holidays)

Math

Next week we continue exploring Chapter Four: Using Bar Models for addition and subtraction.  We really have been using our inferring skills and clues in the problem to determine if we are adding or subtracting.  The next few lessons will work on joining (add) and taking away (subtract) sets.  These bar models are similar to part part whole so it will give us an opportunity for more practice.  We need to focus the most on remembering the regrouping steps for addition vs. the regrouping steps for subtraction.

Addition: You know a part and a part but not the whole

Subtraction: You know the whole and a part but not the other part

Try using the above terms to help.  We even have hand motions to go with it so be sure to ask your child about them.

MIFChapter4

Second Step

Our focus skill this week was about respecting different preferences.  Student’s sometimes struggle to understand others’ perspectives because they assume that others feel the same as they do.  Perspective taking is a critical skill for working in groups, making friends and successfully resolving interpersonal conflicts.  Next week we will focus on showing compassion.  Empathy helps students perceive and understand what others are feeling.  It also motivates students to show compassion by using caring words and actions with others.  Increasing students’ ability to show compassion helps to create a caring and positive school climate.

Social Studies

This week we learned about different types of Native American homes: a chickee, teepee, longhouse, plankhouse, igloo, and pueblo.  We discussed how each house was designed for the climate and the tools within each environment.  Next week we will learn about Native American communication.

Upcoming Events

Monday, October 31, 2016 

• Lunch: Chicken Patty
• “purpose”  note card comes home, due Tuesday

Tuesday, November 1, 2016 

• Lunch: Taco Tuesday
• “social” and “urban”  note card comes home, due Wednesday
• Vision/hearing Re-screening
• Parent’s Club Meeting @7pm

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

• Lunch: Hot Dog
• How My Family Used Math Activity for HW!

Thursday, November 3, 2016

• Lunch: Chili and crackers
• Phonics Words Practice Paper comes home, due Friday

Friday, November 4, 2016

• Lunch: Bosco Sticks
• Spirit/Popcorn Day!
• Reading Camp Out! 9:30am-10:00am (Bring a blanket, stuffed animal and or a pillow)
• Visitors are more than welcome to attend! Please RSVP!
• Theme 5 Test students must score an 11/15 or higher in order to meet our goal

 Celebrating Our Greatness!

• Cheering on the Cubs being in the World Series but also celebrating good sportsmanship as well!
• Parents volunteering their time and or supplies to make our Halloween parties a blast
• Beginning our new genre study: Letters
• Realizing we infer all the time (even in math)
• Focusing during spotlight on grammar so that we can apply the skill in our independent writing
• Publishing 48 stories this year!
• Learning how to use Chromebook shortcuts to take a screen shot
• A much better week in Math Workshop

Second Grade in Pictures

~*The Pitzer Post*~

October 24-28, 2016

In this weekly post, you will find information about the academic content and special events happening in the upcoming week. 

Literacy (Reading & Writing)

Click the link to view our upcoming theme skills!
Theme 5 (week one)
Phonics Words:  burn, churn, sir, stir, turn, not, when, search, wire
Sight Words: friend, should, only, knew, open
Vocab Words:  crossing, rural, build
Grammar Skill: Proper Nouns (people and places)

Math
Chapter 4: Using Bar Models: Addition & Subtraction
Vocabulary: join, set, take away, compare
Objectives:

• Use bar models to solve addition and subtraction problems
• Apply the inverse operations of addition and subtraction
• Model addition as a joining set
• Model subtraction as taking away
• Model addition and subtraction as comparing sets
• Use bar models to solve two-step addition and subtraction problems

I discovered a wonderful resource to help your child practice at home: Thinking Blocks  This website is a great way to practice using bar models to solve problems.  When you get to the website you will see this:

I circled the three different bar models we will learn in the chapter so feel free to practice all of them.  I recommend starting with the first one.  You can also choose to do numbers 1-50 or 1-300.  We will be working with all numbers so either one is fine.  Once your child clicks start modeling, they can start solving a problem.  At several points in their process, they have to make decisions and then check to see if they are on the right track.  They have to solve 5 similar problems to “beat the level.”

MIFChapter4

Social Studies

Next week we will begin our new social studies unit: Native Americans.

I found a wonderful website for an interactive learning (web quest) opportunity.  Click on the link and travel back in time to the first Thanksgiving:  http://www.plimoth.org/learn/MRL/interact/thanksgiving-interactive-you-are-historian

This website is also a great resource to get some more information about Native Americans:  http://www.native-languages.org/kids.htm

DGS Halloween Activity Reminders

4th Grade Famous Person Speeches are scheduled in the gym from 1:00-1:45pm on Friday, October 30th. Immediately following the speeches, all students will have the opportunity to parade across the stage in their Halloween costume. Parents are welcome to attend. The bleachers will be available for parents.

Halloween parties will begin immediately after the 4th Grade Famous Person Speeches at approximately 1:45 pm. Parties will conclude at 2:30pm. Dismissal will be as usual at 2:45pm.

Children who are participating in the costume parade should wear school clothes in the morning and bring costumes to school. They will be given a chance to change some time before the assembly. Children should be able to put most of their costumes on independently. Students should not wear their costumes to school. Students should not bring play weapons, masks or accessories with make-believe blood.

If there are transportation changes, please let the office know by Friday morning.

As a reminder, any treats that are brought for parties or to share with the class MUST BE nut-free and individually wrapped. No Baked Good/Bakery Items are permitted.

Upcoming Events

Monday, October 24, 2016 

• Lunch: Chicken Patty
• “crossing”  note card comes home, due Tuesday

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

• Lunch: Nachos
• 4^th and 5^th Grade Music Program @6:30pm
• “rural” and “build”  note card comes home, due Wednesday

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

• Lunch” Cheese Omelet
• Student Picture Retakes
• Read: Where is Kitty? Out loud. Practice strategies and or look for phonics pattern words. Book and Slip need to be returned on Thursday!

Thursday, October 27, 2016

• Lunch: Chicken Sticks
• Fall Fundraiser Ends
• Phonics Words Practice Paper comes home, due Friday

Friday, October 28, 2016

• Lunch: Corn Dog
• Students will be changing into their costumes at school
• Please do not bring any masks and or weapons that go with costumes
• Famous People Speeches (4^th grade) @ 1:00pm
• Halloween Classroom Parties start @ 1:45pm

 Celebrating Our Greatness!

• EVery Seussville Citizen has achieved Wocket Status on the Super Improver Wall meaning they have all had at least 10 improvements this year!
• Exploring the wonderful world of Bar Models
• Learning about constellations and creating our very own
• We celebrated Diffendoofer day!  Please be sure to check out our movie: https://youtu.be/gUJTSpqJqXw
• We spent two days practicing for our conference by helping our peers learn how to reflect on their learning
• Students participated in student led conferences by sharing and reflecting on their progress with their families
• Showing parents our online learning portfolio (SeeSaw)
  • Parents please make sure to download the app or visit the website in the directions first then it will prompt you when to scan the QR code.  If you try to scan the QR code first it won’t work.
• 39 published stories during writer’s workshop.

Second Grade in Pictures

~*The Pitzer Post*~

October 17-21, 2016

In this weekly post, you will find information about the academic content and special events happening in the upcoming week. 

Literacy (Reading & Writing)

Due to the shortened week, we will be reviewing our comprehension strategies, phonics patterns and vocabulary words we have learned so far.

Vocabulary words so far: cabin, visit, memory, tradition, relatives, generation, rely, role, member, identity, sibling, symbol, fascinate, exploration, journal, measure, calendar, interval, daily, orbit, position, solar, ray, and rotate

Comprehension Strategies so far: Making connections, creating images, asking questions, and determining importance.  Can you child explain all four?  Which one is easier to use?  Which one is harder? Can you use more than one?

Phonics Patterns so far: diagraphs, short vowels, -ake, -oke, -ute, -ine, -ain, -aint, -ail, -ea, -eed, -eat, oat, -ow, -ue, ui, -or, -orn, and -art. These are patterns your child is held accountable for during independent writing.  Please encourage them to apply these skills during writer’s workshop!

Feel free to use this website to practice phonics pattern words, sight words, and vocab words at home.  It is separated by theme and week (ex. Theme 4.2 means Theme 4 Week 2).  Students have used this in class and our familiar with how to navigate it!
https://www.spellingcity.com/spitzer/ 

Math

Next week begin exploring and introduction Chapter Four: Using Bar Models for addition and subtraction.  We will then start this chapter officially on October 24, 2016.  In this chapter they will learn how to use a bar model to solve word problems.  A bar model is a way for them to visualize the word problem.  This chapter will provide students with a different way to solve problems that you may never have seen before.  Please know that I understand your frustrations with math and how it isn’t exactly the same as it used to be.   Be on the lookout for a blog post explaining the thought process behind bar models and how they have helped me even with math!

Science

This week we started our unit on relationships of bodies in our solar system.  We specifically discussed how the Earth rotates as it orbits the sun and how this affects night and day.  We practiced the scientific method by conducting an experiment involving a foam ball and a flashlight.  Can your child explained what they learned?

Second Step

Our Second Step skills so far:

• Focused attention
• Listening
• Use positive self talk
• Be assertive
• Identify feelings

Student Led Conferences

I am so excited to meet with you on Thursday and Friday for our student led conferences.  Please bring your child with you as they have been practicing and will have so many exciting things to show you.  Your child will conduct their conference for the first 10 minutes.  The second 10 minutes will give you some time to meet with met to go over report cards and anything else you wish to talk about.  During our time, your child will be reflecting on their conference experience in the hallway.

Upcoming Events

Monday, October 17, 2016 

• Lunch: McRib

Tuesday, October 18, 2016 

• Lunch: Cheese Lasagna
• Math Blog Video Homework

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

• Lunch: Cheese Pizza
• Great Shake Out Earthquake Drill
• Board of Education Meeting @7pm (Mrs. Pitzer is presenting during the Superintendent notes about technology in the classroom!)

Thursday, October 22, 2015

• No School – Student Led Conferences 12pm-7pm

Friday, October 23, 2015

• No School – Student Led Conferences 7am-1pm
• Enjoy your weekend!

 Celebrating Our Greatness!

• We have our first two Yertles who moved into Seussville #2Psuperimprovers
• 18/19 students have leveled up to Wocket status on the Super Improver wall!
• Attending the Fall Fundraiser kick off assembly
• Finding out Mrs. Pitzer is going to have a baby boy with special treats!
• Using Code.org to write computer code to move an angry bird
• Learning the subtraction across zeros trick
• Participating in a school wide Padlet and learning how to think mathematically by representing numbers in different ways
• Using Spelling City to practice phonics words, sight words, and even vocabulary words
• Exploring and completing 2 HyperDocs: Subtraction Mission and Expository Texts
• Taking our first World Language quiz on our Chromebooks through Canvas!
• Having two special visitors: Mr. Pitzer and Jaxon came to say hi!

Second Grade in Pictures!

~*The Pitzer Post*~

October 12-16, 2016

In this weekly post, you will find information about the academic content and special events happening in the upcoming week. 

Literacy (Reading & Writing)

Click the link to view our upcoming theme skills!
Theme 4 (week two)
Phonics Words:  or, scorn, smart, thorn, worn, say, white, heart, worm
Sight Words: once, tree, four, jump, set
Vocab Words:  solar, ray, rotate
Grammar Skill: Plural Nouns (regular and irregular)

Math

We will continue chapter 3 with our test on Friday.  I’m noticing that basic subtraction facts need the most practice.  Feel free to check out the Flash to Pass App as well as this following website: http://www.mathfactspro.com/mathfactfluencygame.html#/home

I will send the chapter review home on Tuesday.  This will be optional but a great way to get ready for Friday’s test.

Chapter 3: Subtraction to 1,000
Vocabulary: subtract
Objectives:

• Use base-ten blocks to subtract numbers with & without regrouping
• Subtract from three-digit numbers with & without regrouping
• Apply inverse operation of addition and subtraction
• Solve real-world addition problems

MIFChapter3

Science

We wrapped up our unit on life cycles, by comparing and contrasting a butterfly’s life cycle with a chicken, turtle and a plant.  Check out these videos we watched:

Life Cycle of a Chicken: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tof5b1Qs_OE
Life Cycle of a Turtle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Rdnd3iZw2g
Life Cycle of a Plant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXzOi7-nx_w

Can your child share what is the same and what is different about the life cycle?  We did talk about how the animals/plants are different but what about the cycle is the same or different?  Which life cycle did they find most fascinating and why?  Next week, we will begin our next unit: relationships of bodies in our solar system.  This will go perfectly with our literacy series which focuses on the moon.

Essential Questions:
1. What is an orbit?
2. How many planets are in the solar system?
3. Can you identify the planets in order from the sun by name?
4. What are the four seasons?
5. What are the phases of the moon?

Vocabulary: solar system, orbit, rotation, axis, constellation, crater, phase, season

Check out this videos to get your brain thinking ahead:

Second Step

This week we worked on identifying feelings.  The ability to identify others’ feelings using physical, verbal, and situational clues is essential to developing empathy.  Accurately identifying feelings helps students make friends and avoid conflicts with peers.

Upcoming Events

Monday, October 10, 2016 

• No School! Columbus Day!

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

• Lunch: Cheese Ravioli
• DHS Cookie Sales @ 1:30pm
• Mrs. Pitzer has a treat to share if the baby will be a girl or a boy!
• “solar”  note card comes home, due Wednesday
• Ch. 3 Math review comes home (optional but great way to study)

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

• Lunch: Cheese Burger
• “ray” and “rotate” note card comes home, due Thursday
• DGS Take Over Night at Buffalo Wild Wings 5-9pm (you must bring the flyer with you)

Thursday, October 13, 2016

• Lunch: Chicken Nuggets
• Great American Shake Out Drill @ 10:15am
• Fall Fundraiser Kick Off @ 1:45pm
• Phonics Words Practice Paper comes home, due Friday

Friday, October 14, 2016

• Lunch: Chicken Quesadilla
• End of 1^st Grading Period
• Theme 4 Progress Test
• Math Chapter 3 Test

 Celebrating Our Greatness!

• Reading Stamina: we are up to 36 minutes! 4 minutes away from our goal!
• We have 17 Wockets that life in Seussville now! #2Psuperimprovers
• Prepping for student led conferences
• Snuggling up with great books & visitors for our first Reading Campout!
• We have published 37 stories
• Students researching topics for their expository texts at home and bring the research in to help them write
• Enjoyed a doughnut with a male role model in our life!
• Tackling some tricky subtraction math problems with ease and confidence
• Releasing our butterflies into nature!
• Bowling in math class?!

Second Grade in Pictures