Happy May Room 9 Families! We have been hard at work and having so much fun. Here is what we have been up to, where we are at, and where we are headed....
Math: After finishing our money unit we dove back into measurement and data with unit on graphing and interpreting the data to solve word problems as well as learning how to measure using inch length units of measure with a ruler. From there we focused on solving various word problems involving measurement and data. We have been working on word problems on and off all year and this was one more push to have them really focus in on terminology that helps them determine how to solve a word problem successfully. Our second graders crushed it!! We are now beginning our Geometry unit.
ELA: Our ELA has been so intwined with our science and social studies units. We wrapped up our economics unit where we read stories such as "How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World" and books about saving, spending, and giving to help our students understand money concepts as well understand global trade and being producers and consumers. We are now reading stories about the lifecycle/parts of a plant. This week is our last week in phonics, which will be a review of the six syllable types. The last few weeks of phonics launched an intro into third grade skills, and our students have been rocking it!!
Social Studies/Science: As part of our economics unit the students had an opportunity to be paid for jobs they did as part of our classroom community (this was fake money given to them is piggy banks we quickly made). After earning money they were able to purchase items to make things they wanted to sell in their class room stores. Before they went shopping at each other's stores we read "3 Cups" and they had to decide how much of the money they had left from their jobs they wanted to spend on buying from the stores, how much they wanted to save for the next days activity, and how much they wanted to give to charity. Money collected for charity was used to "purchase" a few cans for Ms. Murray's food bank here at Marshall. Money they saved or earned at their stores they were able to use the next day to purchase movie tickets and snacks to a Bluey movie of their choice. As part of the unit we also learned about how people often traded goods and services and the students had to play a game to go with our "Apple Pie...." book where they worked in teams to travel a trade route to collect resources they would need from other countries to make an apple pie. This is probably on of my favorite second grade units, and I think they kids walk away not only having a lot of fun but with a real grasp on money, trade, being producers and consumers, and saving and spending. I loved seeing them think about how much money to give to charity vs. saving it for themselves.
We are now onto our plant unit, learning all about photosynthesis and the jobs of parts of the plant. We have planted our plants and are eagerly waiting for something to grow, lol. This will take us into our ecosystems unit, which we helped launch with a walk over to the duck pond to observe the pond and life at the pond. We also peeked another glance at the demo of FMS.
Heritage Square Performance: This Thursday May 9th will be Marshall's K-2 Heritage Square Suzuki Violin performance. This is your students chance to show you what they have been busy learning in violin all year long, and for some since kindergarten!! If you have not returned your child's permission slip in I will send one more home on Monday, I need it back by Tuesday. If you are able to help out in any of the ways indicated on the permission slip, please let us know. We need help transporting violins to the square and walking with our class to and from the square. If you signed up to take water please let me know if you can just take it with you to the square, and we can meet you there with it. If you cannot send me an email letting me know you will be dropping it off at the school and I can coordinate with helpers to get it to the square. We have enough water donations for our class, we just need volunteers to accompany us. I would feel super comfortable with a couple of extra walkers because I will not be in attendance for the first time in all my years at Marshall :(. I will be out on Thursday and Friday of this week. The kids will be in the super capable hands of Joni's mom, Mrs. Goff. She has subbed for me previously and knows the kids well, but it would be nice for here to have some extra help on this busy field trip day. Please make sure to also dress your child appropriately. They need to be sunscreened, and a hat and proper walking shoes would be a good idea. If they have a Marsall T-Shirt this is they day to rock their Marshall pride!! Shirts will be on sale the morning of the performance. Also, please make sure to pack an extra snack for your child this day. We will be giving them otter pops to help cool them off when they get back to school, but they are always super hungry when we get back to school. If you could please make sure to send them with extra snacks from home I will be letting them eat those along with their otter pops when we get back.
Snacks: Speaking of snacks, we are completely out once again so I am asking for one more round of snack donations for the year. With only a few weeks left of the school year this will be the last time I should have to ask for snack donations. Thank you so much to all who have given recently and throughout the year. Our second graders have really appreciated it as well. There have been days some have skipped breakfast or could not make it until lunch, or just were so hungry they needed a second little snack to make it until 12:20. Your donations have made a huge difference to them, and we cannot begin to thank you enough!! At this time we only need enough for 11 of the remaining days. Thank you in advance if you can help!!
Field Trips: After Heritage Square we have a couple of other field trips as we head into summer. On Tuesday May 14th we will be going on a mural walk downtown, and possibly stopping into BrightSide Bookshop for a story time and tour with Ms. Fahy. On Wednesday May 15th we will be heading to the public library for a tour and story time and to learn about their summer reading program. On the last day of school we will be headed to the park, we just haven't decided which one yet. I will keep you posted. I will be sending home permission slips for these at the same time sometime this week so please be on the look out.
Dates to Remember:
- May 6th-10th - Teacher Appreciation Week
- May 9th - Heritage Square Suzuki Performance at noon
- May 14th - Field Trip Downtown Mural Walk
- May 15th - Library Field Trip
- May 15th - School Carnival 4:15-6:00 All students must be accompanied by an adult
- May 16th - Special Early Release Day @12:45 Please plan accordingly
- May 20th - Specials Finale - 2 hour extravaganza - our specials teachers are having a field day for our second graders from 9-11 and need some parent volunteers. Please let me know if you can help.
- May 23rd - Last day of School - Park Field Trip - 12:45 Early Release