Dear Grade 2/3 Families,
It was great to see so many of you at Back to School Night last week. Thanks for spending the evening with us and sending that message to your child about the importance of school. We appreciate that so many of you have come to visit with us or email us with questions. We really want to work with parents since we all have the same goal - success for your child.
Aside from Back to School Night, we were busy in the classroom as well. Here’s what we’ve been up to:
In Grade 2
Math Workshop: Last week Second Graders continued to work with addition and subtraction stories. We used blocks, drawings, and numbers to solve story problems. We will continue this work next week, and we will also focus on fact families. Studying these families help children understand the relationship between adding and subtracting. All children will work with fact families, and we will individualize instruction by having children work with numbers that stretch them a little from the numbers they already are comfortable with.
Readers and Writers Workshop: We will continue our focus this week on selecting the right books. I will continue to conference with the children and help them zero in on how they can improve as readers. We worked on writing lists last week and then turning those lists into poems. This week we will focus on storytelling.
In Grade 3
Math Workshop: Mathematicians continued to work on solving multi-digit addition up to 1,000 using expanded form. The value of solving using this method is so that learners see the breaking apart of number into its place value form. Once comfortable with place value, children will be able to connect to and grow on to the standard algorithm in due time. Learners were also introduced to the Greg Tang Math website (www.gregtangmath.com) which was one of the rotating stations during Math Workshop. They played Breakapart with making 10, 100, or partial sums. During Math Games, learners continue playing O’ No 99 with addition, and subtracting, too (although they feel less comfortable the subtraction way.) Another game they learned is Iroquois Feather which requires 3 players. Ask your child to explain the expanded form strategy for solving multi-digit addition. Also ask them what it means to be an efficient, flexible, and clear mathematician as we continue to drive home these important characteristics of our math work.
Readers’ and Writers’ Workshop:
Readers continue practicing how to choose a “good fit” book, and employing a variety of reading strategies during Readers’ Workshop. Mrs. Vovsi modeled how more “uphill” text might take longer to read and affect her “reading rate” as compared to when she reads a slightly “downhill” piece of text. Each reader is conferring with a teacher about their reading choices as we check fluency, comprehension, and reading rate. For read aloud, the class is enjoying The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, by Kate DiCamillo. Ask your learner about the setting and characters of this book!
In Writers’ Workshop several writers shared a piece they are proud of during Author’s Chair! We heard several Rock Candy pieces, some I Come From... pieces, and even some pieces inspired from gatherings from the gathering journal. We are happy to see many learners truly living a life of a writer by asking if they can jump up to grab their gathering journal during Read Aloud or even Math class! Finally, learners engaged in Literacy Work Stations where they were able to rotate between Word Ladders, Cursive Handwriting, and Independent Reading. Each third grader received their Handwriting Without Tears book where we discussed proper positioning of our books, posture, and feet flat on the floor-- they were SO excited to begin their journey in becoming more comfortable reading and writing in cursive.
In our 2/3 learning community
IB Unit Inquiry: Thanks so much for helping your child conduct an interview last week. We will use those interviews this week in class. Children will share their findings with classmates, and then they will help each other think of ways to further their inquiries into that culture. We will also focus on the word “perspective” this week. Through the book Seven Blind Mice children will start to see that there are many ways to look at things. Then we will guide children to transfer that knowledge to what they know about other cultures.
Math Problem-Solving: During problem-solving on Friday together with 2nd graders, learners had the choice to look closely at several hundreds charts organized in a variety of ways up to, and beyond 100. They colored the multiples of 2,3,4, etc...and looked for patterns that would deepen their understanding of number-- excercising that Number Sense muscle. They also had the choice to solve a variety of Number Stars multi-step problems. There was something for every mathematician-- ask your learner which he/she chose to work on!
Important Dates and Reminders:
It was great to see so many of you at Back to School Night last week. Thanks for spending the evening with us and sending that message to your child about the importance of school. We appreciate that so many of you have come to visit with us or email us with questions. We really want to work with parents since we all have the same goal - success for your child.
Aside from Back to School Night, we were busy in the classroom as well. Here’s what we’ve been up to:
In Grade 2
Math Workshop: Last week Second Graders continued to work with addition and subtraction stories. We used blocks, drawings, and numbers to solve story problems. We will continue this work next week, and we will also focus on fact families. Studying these families help children understand the relationship between adding and subtracting. All children will work with fact families, and we will individualize instruction by having children work with numbers that stretch them a little from the numbers they already are comfortable with.
Readers and Writers Workshop: We will continue our focus this week on selecting the right books. I will continue to conference with the children and help them zero in on how they can improve as readers. We worked on writing lists last week and then turning those lists into poems. This week we will focus on storytelling.
In Grade 3
Math Workshop: Mathematicians continued to work on solving multi-digit addition up to 1,000 using expanded form. The value of solving using this method is so that learners see the breaking apart of number into its place value form. Once comfortable with place value, children will be able to connect to and grow on to the standard algorithm in due time. Learners were also introduced to the Greg Tang Math website (www.gregtangmath.com) which was one of the rotating stations during Math Workshop. They played Breakapart with making 10, 100, or partial sums. During Math Games, learners continue playing O’ No 99 with addition, and subtracting, too (although they feel less comfortable the subtraction way.) Another game they learned is Iroquois Feather which requires 3 players. Ask your child to explain the expanded form strategy for solving multi-digit addition. Also ask them what it means to be an efficient, flexible, and clear mathematician as we continue to drive home these important characteristics of our math work.
Readers’ and Writers’ Workshop:
Readers continue practicing how to choose a “good fit” book, and employing a variety of reading strategies during Readers’ Workshop. Mrs. Vovsi modeled how more “uphill” text might take longer to read and affect her “reading rate” as compared to when she reads a slightly “downhill” piece of text. Each reader is conferring with a teacher about their reading choices as we check fluency, comprehension, and reading rate. For read aloud, the class is enjoying The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, by Kate DiCamillo. Ask your learner about the setting and characters of this book!
In Writers’ Workshop several writers shared a piece they are proud of during Author’s Chair! We heard several Rock Candy pieces, some I Come From... pieces, and even some pieces inspired from gatherings from the gathering journal. We are happy to see many learners truly living a life of a writer by asking if they can jump up to grab their gathering journal during Read Aloud or even Math class! Finally, learners engaged in Literacy Work Stations where they were able to rotate between Word Ladders, Cursive Handwriting, and Independent Reading. Each third grader received their Handwriting Without Tears book where we discussed proper positioning of our books, posture, and feet flat on the floor-- they were SO excited to begin their journey in becoming more comfortable reading and writing in cursive.
In our 2/3 learning community
IB Unit Inquiry: Thanks so much for helping your child conduct an interview last week. We will use those interviews this week in class. Children will share their findings with classmates, and then they will help each other think of ways to further their inquiries into that culture. We will also focus on the word “perspective” this week. Through the book Seven Blind Mice children will start to see that there are many ways to look at things. Then we will guide children to transfer that knowledge to what they know about other cultures.
Math Problem-Solving: During problem-solving on Friday together with 2nd graders, learners had the choice to look closely at several hundreds charts organized in a variety of ways up to, and beyond 100. They colored the multiples of 2,3,4, etc...and looked for patterns that would deepen their understanding of number-- excercising that Number Sense muscle. They also had the choice to solve a variety of Number Stars multi-step problems. There was something for every mathematician-- ask your learner which he/she chose to work on!
Important Dates and Reminders:
- Picture Day: Wednesday, September 28th
- Back to School Picnic: Sunday, October 2nd
- No School (Rosh Hashanah): Monday, October 3rd
- Pizza Wednesday: Wednesday, October 5th
- Goal Setting Conferences (noon dismissal): Thursday and Friday, October 6th and 7th (sign up has been shared)
- No School (Yom Kippur): Wednesday, October 12th