Mrs. Bice's Second Grade

Writer’s Workshop

This week we had a fabulous time celebrating our narrative writing pieces! On Monday students were able to “fancy and fix up” once piece of writing. They were able to revise, edit, create a cover, and color their piece! Writers loved making their piece so special.

Finally… the time had come! We were ready for our celebration on Tuesday. Writers came in their fanciest attire ready to PARTY and celebrate all their hard work. Writers found a spot that they were most proud of in their stories and shared this spot with the class. Then they shared in small groups and read by “finger flashlight.” We finished with an apple juice toast and Oreos. I overheard some kids say that “this was the best day of 2nd grade.” I couldn’t have agreed more!

Next week we will begin our unit on poetry. As you go about your every day life with your “poet” try to point out things that would make a fun poem! We will be looking at simple objects and thinking how we can create poems and bring them to life!

Phonics Workshop

In Phonics Workshop we learned all about capital letters and where we might find them! We don’t just see them at the beginning of a sentence or someone’s name, but we find them in lots of other places! Students learned about these special rules and went on a hunt to find them as well as write them!

We also started to explore homophones (words that sound the same but are spelled different). We learned about homophones through several jokes. Kids loved giggling and listening to how these words are easy to mix up! For example, why was 7 afraid of 9? Because he ate eight.

Readers Workshop

This week we continued to help our 2nd grade reading muscles to grow. We looked at some multisyllabic words and realized that they look scary at first but once we break the word up part by part, the word becomes so much easier. For example, outstanding can be broken up into a few familiar parts- out-st-and-ing. We broke several words up part by part and I could see the light bulbs go off. Readers confidence was growing by the minute and sometimes, that’s all it takes for readers to take off! Please encourage your reader to see a word and try all they know to decode it. I have included a picture of our chart to help you better assist your reader at home!

Math

We revisited odd and even numbers through games and addition sentences. Mathematicians were asked to look at a number and decide what doubles facts could be added together to equal that given number. Students discovered that any even sum (answer to an addition number sentence) was the product of a doubles fact! Then we dug deeper to see that an odd sum had to have a doubles fact plus one! Incredible inquiry and learning by the students. It is so important for kids to see the connections between numbers and build up that number sense. Please continue to help your child build up their fact fluency! The standard by the end of 2nd grade is to fluently add and subtract within 20. In class, students have been learning to strategically add numbers so they have a better sense of how numbers are connected.

Science

We continued to learn about solids, liquids and gases and the many properties of matter. On Wednesday scientists were able to explore the many properties of 5 different types of crackers. They described the texture, shape, color, etc. Scientists loved exploring these crackers and thinking about them through a “science lens.” Today students were able to explore different objects and think about the texture, flexibility, buoyancy and absorption with water.

Growth Mindset

This week we began our social emotional unit on growth mindset. Our mindset is our attitude and thoughts about our ability to do and learn things. Some have a fixed mindset while others have a growth mindset. Someone with a fixed mindset avoids a challenge and assumes that character, intelligence and creative ability are unchanging. A growth mindset loves a challenge and sees failure as a way to grow, learn and stretch our abilities. Through the year, I will be helping students to have a growth mindset and realize that they are capable of anything through hard work and determination.

We read “Your Fantastic Elastic Brain” and learned how kids brains are growing and changing immensely in the first ten years of their life. Out brain is like a muscle and we must exercise it daily for it to grow and grow. We will continue to talk about growth mindset next week too!

Friday, October 30

Next Friday, we will have our Husky Hustle and fall celebration! We should be receiving our Husky Hustle shirts in time for the kids to wear them on Friday! Please be sure to send your child in running shoes and comfy pants! As a reminder, no Halloween costumes! We will be running laps outside in the afternoon and then having a celebration of cider, donuts and some fall fun! I have created a Signupgenius to help supply some of the party/classroom supplies! If you are able to help out, please click the link and sign up to bring something! Thanks in advance for your generosity!