Halloween Updates and More

 Just a few quick updates for the week ahead...

Math:  We will be wrapping up how to read and write numbers in unit form, standard form, expanded, and word form this week. After that we will be using these forms to read and write numbers within 1,000 with place value disks.

ELA:  We will be reading "Pumpkin Jack" and after introducing vocabulary and doing two reads we will be writing about the life cycle Pumpkin Jack goes through in the story. In phonics we will be working on the vowel teams au/aw. We wrapped up our reports on bats and spiders as well as did some great three part stories on how animals use certain adaptations to in their habitats.

Science:  Last week we introduced the scientific process by doing a simple experiment of testing if certain cookies would sink or float. This week we will continue learning the steps in the scientific process be conducting a science experiment with different colored pumpkins on Monday before we read Pumpkin Jack on Tuesday. We will be seeing if all pumpkins (green, white, black pumpkins) are orange on the inside. After we are done with this experiment we will set up the carving of our pie pumpkin to look like Pumpkin Jack, which will set us up for the beginning of our plant unit in the spring. After we read Pumpkin Jack we will place Pumpkin Jack in a sealed tub to start to decompose and begin his life cycle. We will take data on our pumpkin throughout the year, leading up to our plant unit in the spring. 

Social Studies:  In honor of the end of Filipino American History Month we will be reading "Francesca Isa, Dalawa, Sorpresa!" and listening to it in the Tagalog language of the Filipino people. After we listen to this story about a Filipino girl celebrating her birthday we will make a Pabatin, a game where toys and prizes are hung from bamboo sticks that the kids have to jump to get. We will also be learning about Día de Los Muertos.

Halloween:  As a second grade team we have decided that second grade will all be doing a pajama party on Halloween this year. There were a lot of factors surrounding this decision, the main one being that we are at specials on this day and costumes make it really difficult to run at PE and other specials activities. So instead of costumes all second graders may wear their pajamas this Tuesday. Again - no costumes but it is a pajama party. Please make sure your child has on the appropriate shoes for recess and a jacket for the cold. Also, we will have a small fall/holiday themed "celebration" (standards aligned should anyone ask). I will not send out a sign up sheet for food, I will just hand out what we get. If you wish to send in any treats please make sure they are store bought. Please also make sure whatever you send in does not require any cutting, slicing, mixing, or assembling by me. I do not have the tools or time available to do so. Thank you for understanding. 

Hope you have a restful rest of your weekend. Picture retakes is this Friday and we have not received picture packets as of yet. Hoping they come in by the beginning of the week so you can make a decision on retakes by Friday am. If not, I would advise to do retakes. 💜-Ms. Shaw

Mid October Update 2023

 Happy October, is it just me or is this month flying by? Thank you all who attended conferences, it was so  great to meet with each of every one of you. The partnership between home and school is so important, and the time we have and conferences to communicate your child's academic growth and how to keep working together to build on that is so fundamental. I appreciate you taking the time out of your schedules to make it happen, you all are amazing! October is always a great month, we are so busy while at the same time we really start to settle into our routines. Here is what is happening in second grade for the rest of the month:

Math:  We have moved into our unit on place value. We are working on understanding place value units of one, tens, and hundreds. 

ELA:  We are reading stories from our NatGeo curriculum that are teaching us all about animal adaptations. We are learning about how animals use those adaptations to survive in their habitats. We are also using these stories to learn about plot, beginning, middle, and end, and to write stories that have a beginning middle and end about animal adaptations. We will have a fun art project based on camoflouging to go with our writing. We will also be researching and writing about bats and spiders the next couple of weeks. In phonics we are working on vowel teams. Last week we learned about vowel teams igh and oa, this week we are learning about vowel teams ee and oe. Next week is vowel teams ai/ay and oi/oy.

Science:  We kicked off science by learning what it means to be a scientist. Next week we will begin to learn the scientific process by planting a pumpkin in a jar and making a hypothesis about what we think will happen to the pumpkin. You know we alway tie in literature as much as possible so we will be reading the story "Pumpkin Jack" to help us do a little pre-learning to our spring plant unit as well as build vocabulary.

Social Studies: We learned all about the history and importance behind Indigenous People's Day. We will be learning about Día de los Muertos coming up. 

Lamar Haines:  Our field trip to Lamar Haines was a huge success. The kids did a great job hiking and learning a little more about Flagstaff history and gathering evidence to write how they know there was life up on the mountain. Here are a few pictures from our field trip.

Besides writing about our findings the kids also made their own pictographs on rocks that we put on our cave on the outside of our wall. The really show an understanding of how people used pictographs to communicate and what types of things they were communicating. Here is a picture of the students making their pictographs on our homemade rocks and our rock drawings on our cave. 

Snacks:  I need to give out a very special shout out to my very own mom and dad very supplying our class with snacks. They purchased the snacks shown below, plus some (as well as a special Halloween treat because they just can't help themselves 🤣).

This will cover us for quite some time, so you do not need to purchase any snacks for a while. Also thank you to Yareli and her family for sending in snack the other day without me even requesting, you are appreciated!

First STEAM Night of the Year:  Our first steam night of the year is coming up next week. This month we will be focusing on the M in STEAM - Math! This is a free, family event full of activites, so please join the fun!

 Crede Repertory Theatre:  This has become a tradition of sorts here at Marshall. Crede has been visiting our school for years and giving us bi-lingual and interactive performances that we just love. This year was "The City Dog and The Prairie Dog," a story about exploring the world and learning new things, and coming back home. At the same time teaching about how each species plays an important role in their ecosystem. The students love the music and getting to interact with the play. Here are a couple of pictures from the performance:

Upcoming Dates to Remember:

• November 3rd - Picture Retake Day
• November 21st - Thanksgiving Luncheon

We are not sure what the plan is surrounding Halloween this year. At this time we are pretty sure second grade is probably doing a pajama party instead of costumes, but we have not solidified that as of yet. We have not mentioned any of this to students at all!! When we know I will tell them and notify you as well. We should know early next week at the latest. Either way we will do a small harvest party. We will not do a snack sign up, if you wish to send in non sugary treats that is fine, we will partake in whatever comes our way. Thank you - Ms. Shaw

Conferences

Happy October! The Gallop was a success - thank you to our parent volunteers who made our day a success. Please remember all money is due this Friday, October 6th. If you collected your pledges and want to send them in sooner that is fine. 

This week is Hispanic Heritage Spirit Week. We are super excited about this, as we have been learning all about Hispanic Heritage. Our spirit week are as follows:

Sí se puede day- translated in English as "It can be done", or "Yes you can". Wear your favorite college’s gear
Tejano (tay-hah-no) Tuesday- dress up day. A Mexican American inhabitant of southern Texas. Also, a style of folk or popular music originating among the Tejanos, with elements from Mexican-Spanish vocal traditions and Czech and German dance tunes and rhythms, traditionally played by small groups featuring accordion and guitar. Students and staff can wear their best Tejano dress (jeans, boots, belt buckles, cowboy hats) or rock their favorite music tee. 
Wardrobe Wednesday - Wear traditional clothing, bright colors that represent the various cultures, colors that represent the various flags, or beach attire.  
Hispanic Hero/ Inspiration Thursday - Dress as your favorite Hispanic role model.
Fútbol Friday - Wear your favorite soccer team attire. 

Conferences are coming up the week after this week (October 9th-11th). All three days will be 12:45 early release times so please plan accordingly. Please sign-up on the attached sign-up for your child's conference time (Conference Sign-Up). Please sign your child's name in your conference spot. All conferences will be in person, if you need a phone call or online meeting please feel free to email me to make arrangements for this to happen during your conference time. If you would like a translator present please let me know so that I can arrange for one to be in attendance. In order to honor each families conference time I will do my best to begin and end on time. If you feel you have question that will end up exceeding the allotted amount of time given to discuss your child's academic progress we will have to schedule another conference time to continue our discussion. Thank you for your understanding. School is closed the Thursday and Friday following conferences for fall break. I hope to see everyone at conferences. If you have any questions please reach out via email.

Looking forward to seeing the second graders in the morning, ready to end our last full week of the quarter strong!! -Ms. Shaw