ST. PATRICK'S DAY
Last week, we read a book called St. Patrick's Day by Gail Gibbons to learn more about this history of this holiday. We also watched a fun time-lapse video of the dyeing of the Chicago River. This week, we will read some Irish folktales and learn a little more about Leprechauns.
The kids began blogging this week and are so excited! We are using a platform called Kidblog that allows kids to publish their writing for an authentic audience in a safe, controlled manner. I moderate all comments before they get posted. We will never post photos with your child's name or post your child's last name. When you comment, please make sure not to include your last name as well. Under the name box in the comment section, simply write "Mom or Dad, or __________'s Mom/Dad/Grandma, etc. Kids are eager to see comments posted and I will approve them at the end of each day. We invite you to read the children's posts and make comments too. We have done several lessons leading up to their first post, a version of the Family Message Journal for this week. Kids are welcome to blog from home and there is a Kidblog app you can download for free.
Blogs are a digital portfolio of sorts, a place to share ideas and learning. Kids should write posts about things they love or know about, places they've visited, book reviews, experiences, favorites, etc. The kids are very excited right now about the comments and we have talked a little about what makes a good comment. We are still practicing our commenting skills. See the photo below and please review it with your child. Print it and have it as a reference when they write comments from home. Make sure your child is logged in before he/she comments so that his/her avatar (or illustrated portrait) shows up instead of the "guest" picture. Feel free to share the link with friends and family. We'd love to see the visitor map grow! Just this weekend, we have had visitors from Washington state, Texas, Ohio, England, Italy and Germany! Blogging has already inspired more writing from the kids and this added interaction with text will improve their reading and writing skills over time. Next week, we will focus on choosing a topic. If you are traveling for Spring Break, we'd love to see posts about your child's experiences!
http://kidblog.org/harrison2013-2014
We are working hard to practice kindness and "catch" one another being kind. We still need your help to reach our goal of 100 acts of kindness! Please email Ms. Harrison if your child has been kind at home. We have some exciting kindness missions planned for Spring Quarter. Stay tuned... Remember, Kindness is contagious. Pass it on!
Last week, we continued practicing the algorithm for double and triple-digit subtraction with regrouping (or borrowing). This fun poem has helped children to remember what to do. To challenge students, we are working with bigger numbers and with problems that have zeros in the minuend (top number) so that children have to borrow more than once. We encourage your child to continue practicing both single-digit addition and subtraction facts are home to build fluency and automaticity. Just 5 minutes a day can help! Happy calculating!
SPRING BREAK
This week is a shortened week, Monday-Wednesday. Please let us know if your child will be missing any school so we can plan accordingly. We will not post a newsletter next week. Please follow along on Twitter (@daysin2ndgrade or on the Home Page of this website) and continue to read and comment on blog posts to find out what we are doing during the week.
Be sure to ask your favorite second grader about our latest read aloud, The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy. It's been a big hit! This is the description according to the author's website:
Prince Liam. Prince Frederic. Prince Duncan. Prince Gustav. You've never head of them, have you? These are the princes who saved Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Snow White, and Rapunzel, respectively, and yet, thanks to those lousy bards who wrote the tales, you likely know them only as "Prince Charming." But all of this is about to change...
Rejected by their princesses and cast out of their castles, Liam, Frederic, Duncan, and Gustav stumble upon an evil plot that could endanger each of their kingdoms. Now it's up to them to triumph over their various shortcomings, take on trolls, bandits, dragons, witches, and other associated terrors to become the heroes no one ever thought they could be. Four imperfect princes. Five audacious princesses. One hilariously unforgettable adventure.