Hi 2nd Grade Explorer Families!
Many thanks for all the cards, presents, kind wishes, donations of time and money, and the gifts that are your children! I definitely feel incredibly spoiled with it all and am humbled and grateful for your generosity and thoughtfulness! I will be working on individual thank you's and need some help with one mystery gift. Will whoever gifted me with the "best teacher" ornament email me to let me know who you are so I can properly thank you? Thanks so much!
Homework project over the Break:
In your child's blue folder, please find a "My Road of Life Map" project to complete by January 6th to help launch our unit on map study and our place in the world. They will need your support to help recall key dates and moments in their life thus far (eg. event #1--when I was born; event #2--when I started to walk; event #3--when I started school; event #4--when I lost my first tooth, etc.). I told the kids they may choose to work on it during Break or wait until the week we return since it is due on Friday. Have fun and be creative with it!
Also, please continue to support your child's reading during the break as well. It is so important to make this a mainstay in their day to day life! Our resource page is available to practice Spelling, Math, and Reading as well.
Curriculum Highlights:
*Writing/Science--I introduced the 2nd graders to the OREO writing format (opinion, reason, elaboration, opinion) as a way to pre-write our persuasive paragraphs on our chosen Endangered Animal. We then revised, edited, and are in the midst of publishing on Google docs.
*Math--We took our Chapter 3 test on Addition with regrouping and will be learning about different strategies for Subtraction with regrouping when we return.
*Core Value--Gratitude writing: During our class winter party, we wrote thank you snowflakes with our big buddies and delivered them to Westlake teachers and staff around our school.
Holidays Around the World:
We had a great time rotating through the 2nd grade classrooms, learning about Chinese New Year (Acquisto), Diwali (Martin), St. Lucia Day (Furden), La Bufana (Prokop), and the Nutcracker (Wilson). Click here if you'd like to explore Chinese New Year some more!
I will be sending out another newsletter towards the end of Break, to get our mindset prepped for the return to school. In the meantime, enjoy your children and family. Here's a glimpse of our class party on PJ Day! Many thanks to the parents that helped and contributed and to our BIg Buddies who joined us in the fun!
Seasons Greetings!
Mrs. A