Weekly Update!

Happy Cardinals Opening Day!!!

The Leader in Me: Habit #6 - Synergize!

Together is Better!

Last week, we started learning a lot about our habit of the month, Synergize! We even played a very interesting game on Friday.... it's called the human knot. I helped the kids get all tangled up by holding hands from someone across the circle. Then they had the challenge to untangle themselves without letting go of each other's hands. During our first attempt, I let the kids try any method to communicate - talking, gesturing, screaming - they all wanted to be heard! We talked about how hard it was when everyone was panicking and didn't know what to do! We learned that when we are in a situation at home, at school, or even on the playground, we can work together to solve the problem. We learned that it can be better to focus on LISTENING.... so we tried the Human Knot again, but this time we did it without talking. The kids had to use eye contact and body language while we helped our team mates get untangled! We almost got untangled! It was very hard, but we learned that to be better problem solvers, we have to listen to our team and talk it out. Check out the blog for pictures of this challenge. 

There are MANY things happening this week in 2nd grade!

2nd Grade Circus - Wednesday 

Please have your child wear their blue Circus t-shirt or a solid color shirt to school on Wednesday. We will have a dress rehearsal during school on Wednesday afternoon. Your child should also wear their t-shirt or solid shirt to the performance in the evening. On Wednesday night, kids must be in the music room and ready to go by 5:45 pm. I will send another reminder email on Tuesday afternoon. 

MAP Kick-Off Assembly - Friday

This Friday we will celebrate and encourage our fellow Concord Flyers in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade. They will begin MAP testing next week, and Fredbird is coming to visit for a special kick-off assembly!  Break out that Cardinal red again on Friday!!

MAP Schedule - April 14th - April 25th

During MAP testing, we have a different schedule in order to allow the upper grades maximum time to test in the morning. All of 2nd grade will switch block time with 3rd grade. Rather than having block in the afternoon, it will be from 9:45 am - 10:45 am. Our lunch time will remain the same. This will make our mornings super short and our afternoons seem very long. We will be in the classroom for quite a long stretch without a break. We will have a break for snack and to kind of unwind a little bit in the afternoon. Please be aware of this change, and be sure to send a snack with your child. 

Math

This week we will finish our chapter on graphing. We will collect data and create a graph using a website called Kid's Graphing to create four graphs.  We will also spend some time looking at probability and likely vs. unlikely. 

Reading 

This week in reading, we are going to start discussing beyond-the-text questions that require us to draw conclusions. During Guided Reading, we will take a look at why characters make certain decisions and how the outcome of a story might change if they made different decisions. This will also lead us into next weeks work of studying about-the-text questions, and why authors make certain decisions when writing a story. 

Writing

This week in our poetry writing unit, we will be talking a lot about emotions and feelings, and how poetry can share those feelings. We will also start to work on word choice, synonyms, and other poetic devices that can make our poetry come alive!

Upcoming Dates

April 8th - Election Day

April 9th - 2nd Grade Circus

April 11th - Cardinal Day

April 18th - No School

April 23rd - Early Release (Dismissal @ 1:40)

April 35th - Field Trip to the Zoo

Have a great week! Go Cards!