Mrs. Bice's Second Grade

Reading Celebration

We had an amazing time celebrating us growing like beanstalks. Their stamina grew so much over the last 9 weeks and it was really fun to celebrate all their hard work! We had a fun morning of eating buttery toast, an apple juice toast, and reading by “finger flashlight.” Thank you to everyone who donated supplies for our celebration! Readers gave speeches on things we can all be proud of now that we are “2nd grade readers!” In the afternoon our Kindergarten Buddies from Mrs.Meyers class visited for the first time! Second graders read with them and shared with them the strategies they have been working on! We will be meeting with the kindergartners every few weeks to celebrate reading and/or writing and special holidays! We are looking forward to meeting with them next week to celebrate Halloween!

Writer’s Workshop

Writers have been busy learning from mentor authors. We have looked very closely at Owl Moon, not just as readers but writers. Jane Yolen has taught us so many things that authors can put into their writing! One craft move that has been really powerful for us to learn has been using our five senses in our writing. Writers have been trying to go back to that moment and try to smell, hear, and see everything their is, and then put it in words in their writing!

Please save the date for November 6, at 9:15 am! We will be having an Author’s Celebration and ALL family are welcome to attend! Your author will share their writing and we will celebrate all of their hard work! I will give more details as the date approaches but I wanted to share the date with you in advance so you can put it in your calendar. Parents, grandparents, younger siblings… any and all family are welcome to attend this celebration!

Math Workshop

This week we began unit 3 in our math curriculum. Some of the instruction will be straight from our book books while other lessons and small groups will be lessons I create to meet the needs of each individual learner. Most days the math block will be more workshop based. They will meet have independent work, games or meet with me! They will meet with me in a small group for differentiated instruction. I gave the students a pre assessment for this unit and have grouped them based on their needs. You won’t seem many math papers come home because it is either done in their book, through games, or through hands on strategy groups with me!

Please continue to work on fact fluency at home! The students have gotten SO much quicker with their facts! They have been loving challenging themselves with the timed fact fluency tests in class!

Book Fair

Today we got a sneak peak of the Book Fair. Your child will be bringing home a half sheet of paper that they wrote down their “wishes” for the Book Fair. On Monday we will visit the Book Fair and they can purchase books. If you would like your child to purchase books, please send money in a ziploc bag with their name on it! If you send your child with a lose $20 in their pocket, I can’t guarantee it won’t get lost throughout the day! We won’t be visiting the Book Fair until the afternoon on Monday! The Book Fair will also be open on both Parent/Teacher Conference nights!

Parent/Teacher Conferences

I am looking forward to meeting with each of you next week to discuss your childs’ progress thus far. The report for quarter 1 is different than years past. The only markings on the report card are for learning behaviors. All of the standards will be assessed for quarter 2.

Halloween

Thursday, October 31st we will celebrate Halloween! If your family does not celebrate Halloween please let me know in advance! There is a Harvest Party they can attend instead of the Halloween Party. Please send your child’s Halloween costume in their backpack or a clearly labeled bag (if it does not fit in their backpack). A huge thank you to Tamra Pell and Becky Takens for helping to organize volunteers and party supplies! Please reach out to them or myself if you have specific questions about the party! The parade will begin at 2:30 and our party will follow directly after!