Essential Week-Before-Vacation Schedule

Hello Families,

In this busy holiday season I give thanks for your children and your support. Great things are happening! In the interest of efficiency, see below.

Reminders for our last week before vacation:

*Homework: read and be flexible to the plans of your family

*Monday: Kid-made Instruments due for our musical march around the school

*Tuesday: Wheels day! Reward for winning mileage club. Students may bring wheels and a helmet.

*By Thursday: Bring your gift wrapped book(s), gender neutral, for book exchange ($10.00 value)

*Thursday: Winterfest 1:00-2:00ish

wear white shirt and a winter hat (beanie, Ski hat, Santa hat, other winter hat (not a baseball cap)

*Friday Read-In: Pack a bag with books and a blanket To build blanket forts.   

*Monday, Jan. 4: School Resumes

Hello Fantastic and Frozen Families,

Quickly- 

Dec. 14 = STEAM+ project due. Kid made musical instruments for the Second Grade Marching Band (information to come)

Dec. 17= Book exchange, $10 book to exchange 

Dec. 17= Winterfest 1:00-2:30

Dec. 18= Blanket fort challenge and read in.

December calls for celebration. We have had a wonderful first third to the school year, capped off by conference week. Thank you for spending the time sharing perspectives and collaborating on making sure our students grow in both mind and spirit. 

We ended the last week with an enjoyable school-wide Art Day. In class we worked on three different creative projects- a guided drawing, a process abstraction using prints of freshly fallen fall leaves, and a small-group collaborative play written, staged, and performed by the students. These kinds of experiences are critical to helping balance the more direct(ed) academic work that makes up the norm of education. As a matter of fact, including creativity and choice into all academic areas is important to helping students generalize and synthesize knowledge for application. In class, I use many flexible models and choice times to empower students to create using the things they know and are learning. As a quick example, just yesterday while we remain in our secondary classroom (return to our classroom is now imminent) I could look around during our literacy practice time and see a group of students drafting a new book for the Goosebumps series, individuals working on creating the illustrations for their completed narratives, students working in a group to create the model for a store (money work), and readers going through comparing all of the books of our now-completed author study of Chris Van Allsburg’s books. These were not assignments, these were chosen activities that engender and require collaboration and critical thinking. Beyond this, these kinds of activities run parallel to what we as adults do on an ongoing basis: learn, plan, use, reflect, refine, use again.

Yesterday we hosted a therapy dog for a moment in class. This happy pup’s name was Annie and she came with her handler to share a bit about how the companionship of a friend can mean so much. This visit was another in a series of many, many experiences to help students gain a foundation of empathy and compassion towards others in the world around them. With this in mind, our award-winning Understanding Differences program is approaching and we could use some volunteers. Please keep an eye out for information in the next couple of days. 

In science this week we are beginning to understand the properties of sound. This includes experiences based around vibration, sound waves, pitch, volume, and the movement of sound through different mediums. Today we spent time playing xylophones, metalophones, and drums to experience some of these concepts. Future experiments and experiences will only serve to expand our understanding. 

The last day before Winter Break, all of the second grades will have a book exchange. Books need to be appropriate for boys and girls, gender neutral. They can be used or new, and around $10 in value. If you give used books, they need to be in good condition and of good quality. If you would like to use Scholastic, our class will receive free books. Scholastic.com/bookclubs  Activation Code: FQGJJ. Books are due by Thursday the 17th. On the following day, the kids will be building blanket and pillow forts for their read in. They will need to bring in one blanket, one pillow, and as many books as they would like for the challenge, lucky kids. 

The grandparent letters have mostly been read and as a class we have had the privilege of learning about your ancestors as well as hearing their grandparents’ life advice. Almost every letter ended with the same theme, be grateful, be yourself, have fun, try your best, be brave, try new things, be curious, and love everyone. We have also been graced with the sharing of some amazing family heirlooms. To have real interactions surrounding our families’ lives is eye-opening to our young learners. 

Best,

 Andrew Smith

Teacher, Del Mar Heights School

This Week’s Highlights

11/30-12/4

Phonics and word study focus

Long vowels, doubling consonants in –vc words when using suffixes, Syllables

Reading focus

Comprehension focus: Approaching Non-Fiction Texts

Close reading: Connecting texts to questions in Non-Fiction

Book club individualized strategy lessons: Lessons created for specific skill outcomes based on individual and group needs

Focus books: Articles about vision, sharks, and Native peoples, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Writing focus

Conventions- Spacing, Feeling ending of sentences, Periods and Capitals,

Writing skill- Planning Opinion pieces

Topical writing- Opinion pieces, Favorite of our Chris Van Allsburg author studies, The perfect class pet

Math focus

Full Math workshop

Math journal problem solving through visual models

Individualized challenges

Telling time and working with money

Geometry

Social Studies focus

Science focus week

Science focus

Mrs. Minarik’s Science Lab and sound

Homework

Daily reading and homework packet

Smith Update, 11/15

Hello Families of Fearless and Formidable Second-Graders,

I had planned a message about interesting research about math learning but it will have to wait as a quote came to mind during this past week, and certainly seems apt this weekend, and it could not be ignored: 

“There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One of these is roots…the other, wings.” (origin unknown)

Learning about our families’ heritages and the lives of our ancestors while also being reminded of the struggle of the Pilgrims to find freedom here in America has informed the scope of our young students’ understandings. They are wide-eyed as we learn about how some of our relatives and ancestors have been world-famous chefs, Military heroes, creators of public-policy, and builders of buildings. Tracing the histories of immigration while in search of opportunity, freedom, or in escape of danger creates new discussions and opportunities to connect ideas from person to person and family to family. Thank you for helping give your children roots. 

Unfortunately, the world  seem to be engaged in the same cycle that has plagued humanity throughout history; fear and hate leading to violence leading to more fear and hate. I am so grateful to have a school such as ours, where award-winning programs like Understanding Differences and The Kindness Counts Book Club helps to teach our children the lessons that we want the world to own. We want to build empathy, compassion, advocacy for needy, and the confidence to act with wisdom and intelligence. We want to give them wings to be the leaders of their generation. Thank you for helping show your children that they can fly. 

As conferences have arrived, I look forward to sharing conversations about your learner. As always, thank you for entrusting me with your child each day. 

This Week’s Highlights

early release days all week for Parent Conferences

Phonics and word study focus

Long vowels- ing, Syllables

Reading focus

Comprehension focus: Approaching Non-Fiction Texts

Close reading: Connecting texts to questions in Non-Fiction

Book club individualized strategy lessons: Lessons created for specific skill outcomes based on individual and group needs

Focus books: Molly’s Pilgrim, Thanksgiving narratives, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Writing focus

Conventions- Spacing, Feeling ending of sentences, Periods and Capitals,

Writing skill- Planning Opinion pieces

Topical writing- Opinion pieces, Favorite of our Chris Van Allsburg author studies, Small group drama scripting “The First Thanksgiving”

Math focus

Full Math workshop

Math journal problem solving through visual models

Individualized challenges

Telling time and working with money

Social Studies focus

Ancestors

Science focus

Mrs. Minarik’s Science Lab

Homework

Daily reading and homework packet

Smith update, 11/8

-No School on Wednesday due to Veteran’s Day

-Please make sure you have signed up for conferences via our website

-Encourage your child to wear and use an analog clock

-Book exchange is on. Donate this week, select “new” books next week

-Wear Blue shirts for our 50th anniversary of DM Heights photograph on Friday

Hello Families of Super Second-Graders,

As fall lowers the curtains earlier and earlier on our sunlit afternoon activities, the darkness invites more time indoors, among family and books. Can I encourage you to embrace a habit of family reading, storytelling, music, creativity, or conversation in lieu of the ubiquitous screens? Time blinks by, let’s capture it with our kids. 

Second grade students are extending as readers towards independence. Many students are selecting a wide range of books in a wide range of genres. They are reading with added fluency and greater ability to deal with unfamiliar vocabulary. The temptation is to sit back and celebrate our young readers’ successes.

 However, it is important that we monitor for the “three C’s” of reading danger that can trip up readers as they extend through this stage. 

First, we must Challenge Comprehension of texts by reading to and with our children in books that are slightly above or outside their comfort level at least some of their reading time. In this way we coach our children by speaking about our thoughts and the reasoning behind our thoughts as they pertain to the book as we are reading along with them. This gives our readers access to more challenging texts while promoting closeness among parents and children. In other words, reading to and talking about books with our kids doesn’t end when they can read “chapter books” for themselves.

Next, we must make sure the Content of the texts are appropriate. This concerns not just the obvious topics of violence or “romance”, but also the issues of ambiguity that children whose chronological age trails their reading ability might encounter. Ideas of complex emotional interplay or moral ambiguity can be difficult for young readers. Death or loss in a story can be crushing. Make sure you are aware of the books that are being read and do not take for granted that every book written for young readers is content-appropriate.

Lastly, we must provide access to the Context of the text. Though a reader might be able to read all about the love of a boy for a dog in rural West Virginia in Shiloh, they likely will not be able to understand the cultural context of the setting and therefore will have trouble engaging with the narrative completely and will certainly be challenged to deal with higher-level comprehension questioning. Shepherd your maturing reader by filling in the key contextual details that might support the reading of their books. 

On the topic of reading:

 Dear Parents,

In class students have begun to access https://www.raz-kids.com as a way to offer access to quality books in several genres at their own level. This is an online program that allows teachers to assign appropriately leveled texts for home reading and monitor reading remotely. Here are a few guidelines for home use of https://www.raz-kids.com.

1.    It is optional, but reading is not. All students should be reading at home daily. Razkids can be a part of that. It is essentially an online library.

2.    Access is simple. To access to your student’s account, navigate to https://www.raz-kids.com. Please click on the big green “Kids’ Login” button. Then type in my teacher code: asmith178. Select your student’s name and begin reading. 

3.    Bookmark the login page for easy future access.

4.    All books must be read twice before they may listen to the story being read to them by the computer.

5.    Building robots and rocket ships with the stars that have been earned is both fun and completely optional.

Have fun with this new tool and happy reading!

This Week’s Highlights

November 9-13

No School on Wednesday- Veteran’s Day

Phonics and word study focus

Long vowels- ing, Syllables

Reading focus

Comprehension focus: Approaching Non-Fiction Texts

Close reading: Connecting texts to questions in Non-Fiction

Book club individualized strategy lessons: Lessons created for specific skill outcomes based on individual and group needs

Focus books: National Geographic and Time for Kids, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Writing focus

Conventions- Spacing, Feeling ending of sentences, Periods and Capitals,

Writing skill- Planning Opinion pieces

Topical writing- Opinion pieces, variety

Math focus

Full Math workshop

Math journal problem solving through visual models

Individualized challenges

Telling time and working with money

Social Studies focus

Ancestors

Science focus

Mrs. Minarik’s Science Lab

Homework

Daily reading and homework packet

Best,

 Andrew Smith

Teacher, Del Mar Heights School

November arrives

It is absolutely unfathomable that November is here. What a great year we have had so far, and what a great day we enjoyed on Friday. Thank you for coming and celebrating the efforts of our brave students, some of whom were performing for an audience for their very first time. Your support of their growth is appreciated. 

I saw many of you out trick-or-treating on Saturday. Everyone seemed to be in frightfully ghoulish spirits and to have plenty of candy to enjoy. If interested there is a phenomenal way to continue the season’s fun. In support of our work with Rosetta Stone in learning Spanish, it might be fun to take a trip down to Old Town for their annual Dia De Los Muertos celebration. The last day is Monday night and there are many interesting cultural activities. We are so lucky to have opportunities to explore the broader world here in San Diego. Make sure you get out there from time to time. 

This week in class we will be working on finishing up our Narratives for the Reflections show, which is happening this Wednesday evening in our school’s Multiple Use Room. We will also be writing and sending our letters to grandparents in order to gain information about how they lived as children and about family history. This is part of our new social studies unit about ancestors. It is always a revelation to children to learn about their families’ pasts. Unlike adults, they often like to hear the stories of the older generations. Enjoy some time talking about your family together. 

As always, thank you for trusting me with your children each day. They are amazing. 

Smith update 10/25

As part of our STEAM+ work we have been collaborating with our science teacher, Mrs. Minarik in working on ideas of engineering and structural integrity versus different forces. Torsion, tension, and compression were discussed as students planned, designed, built, tested, evaluated, and redesigned bridges intended to hold enormous loads of weight (pennies). To follow this work in the science lab, we will be working on math and art extensions that help solidify and extend understanding. 

Every author in our class is completing work on a narrative entry to the PTA Reflections Program. This year’s theme, “Let your imagination fly!” was a welcome invitation to continue the work we have done in developing the full process of narrative writing. We plan, draft, revise, and publish with a growing understanding of the text structures that support narrative storytelling. In this project we used Chris Van Allsburg’s fantastic book, “The Mystery of Harris Burdick” to inspire tales of great imagination. In the book, there are strange illustrations with only a title left to accompany them. These images beg for stories to tell their tales and our students have been happy to oblige. As we finish this week I will be typing the stories to ready them for the Reflections show. Keep your eyes open for an invitation in the next few weeks. 

Speaking of invitations, Please remember that our performance of “The Ugly Pumpkin” will be staged just following the annual Halloween parade. Plan for a bit of fun and some pumpkin treats between  8 and 9 in the morning. 

If you have not done so, please sign up for a parent/teacher conference using our class website. 

As always, thank you for your ongoing support and for sending your students to school each day ready to learn. 

update, 10/18

Hello Parents of Second Grade Superstars,

We hope you can join the class in a presentation of “The Ugly Pumpkin” following our annual Del Mar Heights Halloween Parade on Friday the 30th. The performance should run from about 840-9 and we will follow up with a bit of socializing and some pumpkin treats. If you’d care to bring a pumpkin snack please sign up through our class website. 

During our Daily Five Reading Jobs time, our young readers extend at their various paces and according to their needs through literature and non-fiction. As part of this time, students are frequently required to use a reading log to respond to “close reading” questioning in order to activate and practice higher-level comprehension work. The questioning is derived from high-quality literature chosen for specific purposes. Currently, Chris Val Allsburg’s fantastic works are our base for learning. His works tend to leave room for inferential thinking and invite the reader to wrestle with issues of character perspective and authorial choices. This can all be a bit overwhelming to a young reader. Sensibly and necessarily, the highest level questioning is supported by series of questions that move from the rote and easily discoverable to the more abstract text-dependent questions. We work in whole group settings, small group settings, and individually towards that end. A sampling of questions from the last couple of weeks includes, “How was the Sherrif’s perspective different than that of the child who was coloring in the coloring book?”, “What did Maggie learn in the story and how do you know that she learned it?”, and “Who was the boy in The Wreck of the Zephyr? How do you know?” The students are showing great progress with justifying their reasoning and refining their thinking. 

As always, thank you for sending well-prepared students to school each day!

This Week’s Highlights

October 19-23

Phonics and word study focus

Long vowels- oa, ow, Nouns and verbs working together

Reading focus

Comprehension focus: Author Study, Chris Van Allsburg,

Close reading: connections and readers’ questions

Book club individualized strategy lessons: Lessons created for specific skill outcomes based on individual and group needs

Focus books: Van Allsburg, Halloween, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Writing focus

Conventions- Spacing, Feeling ending of sentences, Periods and Capitals,

Writing skill- Showing/Telling, Narrative structure and the writing process

Topical writing- expository, Government

Math focus

Full Math workshop (mystery number, number decomposition, word problem, independent practice, personal challenge and three math routines)

Math journal problem solving through visual models

Individualized challenges

Computation- Doubles arrays

Social Studies focus

Government

Science focus

Bridges and Engineering inMrs. Minarik’s Science Lab

Homework

Daily reading and homework packet

Smith update, 10/11

This last week found us beginning work on expository paragraph structure and construction. In contrast to our narrative work so far this year, expository paragraph writing asks the writer to be primarily a teacher, not a storyteller. This requires specific and purposeful planning and structure- a structure that we find repeated into the most complex of expository works in both professional and academic spheres. For this reason we begin with our paragraph work by using color-coding and quick reminder visuals to help student internalize the structures of expository writing. We begun with shared writing experiences based on the maps of the United States that we created during our geography unit. Topic sentences, followed by detail and explanation sentences, were ended with conclusion sentences that help remind the reader of the purpose of the piece. These sentence types are supported by transitional words- sometimes ordinal, sometimes comparative, sometimes procedural. They are also supported by color coding. Green signals the topic sentence as the beginning of the paragraph (“this is what the paragraph is about.”). Yellow requires the writer to slow down and teach something about the topic. Red signals explanations which either expand upon or expelling the detail. We are back to green for the conclusion sentence which restates the purpose of the paragraph in new words. 

Over the course of this week we will transition away from shared writing experiences in this genre and towards more independent expressions of the expository paragraph. Writing about the fictional maps they have created and a favorite place in the world will be the comfortable and familiar topics from which to build our writing. In the future, the expectation will be that each second grader will be able to take what they know about a given subject and translate it into a coherent expository paragraph and later into several paragraph essays. This is exciting work and the kids are well on their way.

Please keep in mind that Friday the 30th is the date of our Halloween Parade, followed by the class presentation of “The Ugly Pumpkin”. Students will be at work memorizing their lines during the next two weeks. If you’d like to bring a pumpkin-themed treat please feel free to sign up through our class website. 

Hopefully your Rosetta Stone Language work is going well at home. Please let me know if I can help get you set up for home use. For a quick reminder:

Web-based:

1.Navigate to /delmar.rosettastoneclassroom.com/en-US/ 

2. Enter username as “first name-lastname”. For example, my username would be "andrew-smith”.

3. Enter the same password as Dreambox.

4. Aprende una idioma nueva

App Based:

1. Download app: “Learn Languages: Rosetta Stone”

2. Click the “enterprise and Education learners” button

3. Enter username as “first name-lastname”. For example, my username would be "andrew-smith”.

4. Enter the same password as Dreambox.

5. Enter “delmar” in the online portal section

6. Aprende una idioma nueva

This Week’s Highlights

October 12-16

Phonics and word study focus

Long vowels, Nouns and verbs working together

Reading focus

Comprehension focus: Author Study, Chris Van Allsburg,

Close reading: connections and readers’ questions

Book club individualized strategy lessons: Lessons created for specific skill outcomes based on individual and group needs

Focus books: Van Allsburg, Halloween, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Writing focus

Conventions- Spacing, Feeling ending of sentences, Periods and Capitals,

Writing skill- Showing/Telling, Narrative structure and the writing process

Topical writing- expository, My Fictional land

Math focus

Full Math workshop (mystery number, number decomposition, word problem, independent practice, personal challenge and three math routines)

Math journal problem solving through visual models

Individualized challenges

Computation- Doubles arrays

Social Studies focus

Government

Science focus

Mrs. Minarik’s Science Lab

Homework

Daily reading and homework packet

October is here!

I find it unbelievable that we are in October already. I suppose time flies….

This month holds lots of promise. We are officially beginning our Spanish Language studies through PTA-sponsored Rosetta Stone practice.   I will supplement with some conversational work as well. Remember, you can use Rosetta Stone at home with your child. You should have received an email with login information during the last two weeks. Let me know if you have any trouble logging on. Fantastico!

Our annual Del Mar Heights Halloween Parade, on October 30th, will be followed with a performance of “The Ugly Pumpkin” by our own young thespians in the classroom at about 8:30. I also invite parents to bring in pumpkin-themed snacks and so forth for a little reception after the play. You can sign up through the class website.

Our PTA -sponsored music assembly program will be focusing on some of the basics of music theory, rhythm, and fundamental musicianship using kazoos and percussion instruments. Choral work in the classroom with me is supplemental, of course. 

Speaking of our PTA, please have your child consider entering a creative piece in this year’s Reflections Art Show. Entries are due on the 23rd. If needed, please allow your child to replace regular homework with a Reflections entry. Simply write a note on the homework packet to let me know. Also, all students in our class will be writing a poem for entry into the show during class time. 

There is a lot of talk about how math is “different” in schools now as compared to a decade or two ago. The truth is that the math isn’t different, it’s simply that we are asked to understand the math concepts, not just complete formulas for computation or memorize facts. Here’s a little video that, though imperfect, might give a touch of perspective.

Thank you for joining the PTA. You help make our school special.  Del Mar Union School District was tied with two other districts as the top Elementary School District in California. Additionally, out of 5,567 California schools, Del Mar Heights was ranked 23rd! 

I am out tomorrow at district-level meetings but our students will have a great day with our guest teacher as they work on readers’ theater of “The Chocolate Touch” and continue to use their geography skills to design their now fictional lands. 

This Week’s Highlights

October 5-9

Phonics and word study focus

Long vowels, Verbs

Reading focus

Comprehension focus: Author Study, Chris Van Allsburg, connections and readers’ questions

Book club individualized strategy lessons: Lessons created for specific skill outcomes based on individual and group needs

Focus books: Van Allsburg, Halloween, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Writing focus

Conventions- Spacing, Feeling ending of sentences, Periods and Capitals,

Writing skill- Showing/Telling, Narrative structure and the writing process

Topical writing- expository, Places I know

Math focus

First Assessment

Full Math workshop (mystery number, number decomposition, word problem, independent practice, personal challenge and three math routines)

Math journal problem solving through visual models

Individualized challenges

Computation- Fluency with groupings and arrays, place value

Social Studies focus

Geography and map skills, introduce Government

Science focus

Mrs. Minarik’s Science Lab

Homework

Daily reading and homework packet

Update, 9/27

Hello Parents of Great and Growing Kids,

First the business:

-Join the PTA if you have not done so yet. It is great and so are you!

-PTA Harvestfest is on Wednesday. I may be at the veterinarian’s office for my little old dachshund, but you should be at Harvestfest!

-Mark October 30th in the early morning for our Halloween Parade followed by a class presentation of the play, “The Ugly Pumpkin”

-Library books are due on Monday

-Thank you Mrs. Linehan for taking on the Room-Parent role. It is much appreciated!

     This last week featured our first foray into several weekly routines or new learning models. Students were able to attend our first PTA funded music class, where we will be learning about theory and using some fun instruments. Flex Fridays allowed students to play chess in one rotation, learn classic playground games in another, while I lead the classes through some great singing and music time. Ask your child to sing along with the music I sent in the recent email for a little fun at home. You might even hear these songs at Wnterfest. We also began using our “Math Journals” to explore problem solving and number sense on a regular basis. In the Math Journal, students select from a menu of word problems and are tasked with solving using both a concrete representation and a numeric algorithm. This duality of performance expectation helps reinforce concepts while informing me of potential opportunities of filling of “gaps” in understanding as students move from concrete to abstract (algorithms). The Math Journal also allows me to offer more personalized work to individuals as I adjust and re-adjust to approach learning a bit differently for the given situation. Finally, our class visited our Innovation Center to work on an engineering project that required good collaboration, problem-solving, and understanding of the design, test, redesign process. Ask your young engineers about how they and their team “Saved Fred the Worm”. 

      Have we talked about reading fluency at all? No? Well let me tell you a little bit about it. As early readers transition into more self-extending, independent readers they begin to establish a backlog of thousands upon thousands of words that have been read in their young lives. These words become more quickly decoded through practice until they literally automatically decoded. This occurs not only with individual words, but with phrases and sentences, allowing readers to see larger chunks of language in one visual gulp and leading to much smoother, more expressive reading. Eventually, readers become truly fluent. That is, they are able to read at an appropriate pace for the tone of the story or text while using expression and prosody as a way of expressing meaning in the text. In the classroom and at home we can work on fluency specifically by rereading familiar texts, reading aloud texts that require expressivity, using plays and short reader’s theater performances, echoing fluent reading in chorus or individually ,and actively self-timing/recording our reading. On a daily basis our students read familiar books that are just at their instructional decoding level for a chunk of time with the goal being added fluency. Children also use a Poetry Journal to repeatedly read poetry- which by its nature requires awareness of pacing- to each other. Already in this young school year students have been steadily improving their fluency. Help keep their progress strong by making sure there is a daily dose of reading time in your household.

Thank you once again for sending me your kiddos each day!

Best,

 Andrew Smith

Teacher, Del Mar Heights School

This Week’s Highlights

September 28-October 2

Harvest Fest on Wednesday the 30th

Phonics and word study focus

-Onset letter clusters, verbs

Reading focus

Comprehension focus: Author Study, Chris Van Allsburg, connections and readers’ questions

Book club individualized strategy lessons: Lessons created for specific skill outcomes based on individual and group needs

Focus books: Van Allsburg

Writing focus

Conventions- Spacing, Feeling ending of sentences, Periods and Capitals,

Writing skill- Showing/Telling, Narrative structure and the writing process

Topical writing- Narrative, “My Version of The Three Pigs” and/or “My Magic Touch”

Math focus

Full Math workshop (mystery number, number decomposition, word problem, independent practice, personal challenge and three math routines)

Math journal problem solving through visual models

Individualized challenges

Computation- Fluency with groupings and arrays, place value

Social Studies focus

Geography and map skills

Science focus

Mrs. Minarik’s Science Lab

Homework

Daily reading and homework packet

Smith update, 9/20

Greetings Families of Super Second Graders!

Our PTA is just amazing! Please make sure you are signed-up! PTA-sponsored Spanish instruction will be starting in the next couple of weeks via the Rosetta Stone program (and some instruction from me in class;). You will be receiving more complete information about login and pragmatics shortly. I am very excited to help pilot this program. All relevant research points towards second-language acquisition as a positive impact on the brain. Of course, we also understand that through language we find and refine meaning. Our worlds open as we engage beyond our limitations and surely among the most essential limiting or freeing factors are language and communication. 

To this same end we have been working steadily in small-group “book clubs” to present texts of varying genres and challenges specifically chosen for individual students. While some work towards decoding and accuracy mastery, others are working towards understanding how non-fiction texts use features to help the reader organize their response to the topic. One group might be exploring the word play of African Folktales while another is spending time comparing different texts on similar topics. In all of this is an overarching expectation that we as readers are active and engaged thinkers. We take the time to anticipate, predict, connect, refine, question, revisit, infer, and synthesize as we read. Let me encourage you to take a look back through our Back-To-School night reading section and try to commit to exploring books with your child this week. They love you and they love books- love the books together for a few moments this week. 

Speaking of individualization, I have been so encouraged by student excitement surrounding our individualized math challenges that I offered an extra this last week as an extension of our frequent “number talk” word problems. Students came back to school with many differing answers and strategies- which provided a platform for further discussion. For the edification of your children during this week, perhaps try a version of the problem that we undertook, but with your own spin. The bonus challenge this week read as so: “How many pockets can be found on all of the people in our class today? How do you know and how can you prove it? If each pocket contained one penny, one nickel, and one dime, how much money would all of the class have together?” In extension, some of us spoke about how we might divide the total for different numbers of pockets and how the coin combinations in the pockets would change out of necessity. Have fun with it. 

Just so you are aware, I keep most of the students’ “significant” work at school in notebooks and folders so that we can review and revisit our work, noting growth and gaining in self-awareness as learners. You will begin seeing papers coming home later this week. These are of the more rote variety, used to practice skills only- these are not the core of growth instruction. Please consult our weekly highlights to see what we are working on in class and as always, drop me a note if you have any questions. 

Thank you for sending me well-rested and charming students each day!

Best,

 Andrew Smith

Teacher, Del Mar Heights School

This Week’s Highlights

September 21-25

Phonics and word study focus

-onset blends and proper nouns

Reading focus

Comprehension focus: Narrative structure and comparisons between different versions of same stories (The Chocolate touch/ The Midas Touch)

Book club individualized strategy lessons: Lessons created for specific skill outcomes based on individual and group needs

Focus books: Character building and variations on the theme of “The Midas Touch”

Writing focus

Conventions- Spacing, Feeling ending of sentences, Periods and Capitals,

Writing skill- Narrative structure and the writing process

Topical writing- Narrative, “My Version of The Three Pigs” and/or “My Magic Touch”

Math focus

Full Math workshop (mystery number, number decomposition, word problem, independent practice, personal challenge and three math routines)

Math journal problem solving through visual models

Individualized challenges

Computation- Fluency with groupings and arrays

Social Studies focus

Geography and map skills

Science focus

Mrs. Minarik’s Science Lab

Homework

Daily reading and homework packet

Quick Geography links

Our young geographers are excited about learning about the great big world around them. We will be investigating concepts surrounding geography for the next several weeks. For a bit of added geography practice, here are some interesting websites that your child might enjoy. Also, please send a map of any type into school sometime soon. Label it with your child's name if possible. Thank you.

http://world-geography-games.com/

http://interactivesites.weebly.com/maps--direction.html

Smith update, 9/12

Hello Parents of Super Second-Graders,

This past week saw our class find familiarity with core routines and individual development as students begin to challenge themselves on a daily basis. 

In math, we begin our instructional sessions with number talks and lessons that teach while empowering students to identify how and why number combinations and operations function. After some practice and discussion students have independent and collaborative work time. When finished, students move to a variety of math routines that require students to think about and use core number sense concepts. Finally, students are offered personal challenge work that is appropriate to their unique placement in math development. 

These individual challenges help to breed a sense of pride as students develop perseverance and resilience. The reactions of individual students helps me to understand both content-area level and unique pragmatic needs. To empower students to understand challenges as opportunities requires a careful ear to know when and how to encourage. To this point, I have seen great responses across the board as I offer algebraic challenges to students. 

In order to help students continue their work with mathematics, your child will be bringing home their Dreambox password this week. Please use Dreambox as you see fit as a supplement to math work being done in class. 

As always, thank you for gifting me time with your children!

This Week’s Highlights

September 14-21

First week of Volunteers

Phonics and word study focus

-double consonant endings f, l, s and plural nouns s and es

Reading focus

Comprehension focus: Narrative structure and comparisons between different versions of same stories (The Chocolate touch/ The Midas Touch and versions of three little pigs)

Book club individualized strategy lessons: Lessons created for specific skill outcomes based on individual and group needs

Focus books: Character building and variations on the theme of “The Midas Touch”

Writing focus

Conventions- Spacing, Feeling ending of sentences, Periods and Capitals,

Writing skill- Narrative structure and the writing process

Topical writing- Narrative, “My Version of The Three Pigs” and/or “My Magic Touch”

Math focus

Full Math workshop (mystery number, number decomposition, word problem, independent practice, personal challenge and three math routines)

Math journal problem solving through visual models

Individualized challenges

Computation- Fluency with groupings and arrays

Social Studies focus

Introduction to Geography

Science focus

Mrs. Minarik’s Science Lab

Homework

Daily reading and homework packet