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