Friday, March 30th

Happy Friday 2nd Grade Families! It has been a fun-filled week here in 204! We ended the week with a special celebration for “March is Reading Month”! Not only did we go to Camp Read S’More (aka The Weckstein Woods) we also had a few visitors from the Detroit Free Press! Mrs. Weckstein’s Mom, Patti Phillips generously donated an assembly for “Reading Month” which brought us the Free Press mascot, the Yak! Three ladies from the Free Press read us stories, helped us write a story about our school and led our teachers in a dance with the Yak! Thank you Mrs. Phillips!!

Reader’s Workshop
This week in Workshop we’ve been focusing on two different texts, Cynthia Rylant’s The Whales and Faith McNulty’s How The Whales Walked. Both lend to great conversation about texts that can be both fiction and non-fiction. After looking through the actual text of both books, we spent time talking about The Whales and worked to figure out which sentences of the book were fiction and which sentences were non-fiction. We are getting very close to naming this category of books! As you may have noticed, Reading Groups have not been meeting the past week or so as during our Independent and Partner Reading times in Workshop, the kids are engaged in meaningful activities with partners, which would be hard to interrupt with reading groups. Your child should still be reading each night at least 20 minutes!


Writer’s Workshop
We are diving deep into our Non-Fiction Unit on Birds as our kids did several things this week in Workshop. First they completed a T-Chart listing all of the information they know about their specific bird and listing all of the questions they want to answer by becoming experts on their bird. Next we took a look at a bird diagram and learned to label all of the common parts of a bird using “bird” language. Then our Writers’ had the chance to create, color and label their own diagram for their bird. As the week ended, we began talking about the physical descriptions of our birds. Please take time over break to continue researching your child’s bird with them. We have sent home a list of five excellent websites you can also use at home!


Math Workshop
“Money, Money, Money, Money… MONEY!” We have been working all week with coins and dollar bills in Math. We have practiced making ballpark estimates with monetary amounts, we have practiced adding money and now we have been working on making change with money. This is a tricky concept for our students and one that you can practice at home usually actual coins and money or the next time you are out shopping! We ended the week with work reviewing place value in numbers up to the ten-thousands place.


Word Study/Writing Skills
This week in Word Study we have been playing letters in words. First we worked with combinations of vowels in words (i.e. –ai, -oa, -ea, -ee) and reviewed the rule which says: When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking and the other does the walking. We did a sort with these vowel combinations and played a game of Crazy Eights using word cards with these vowel patterns. Next we reviewed consonant clusters in the beginning and endings of words and did a blind sort. In Writing Skills this week we wrapped up our mini-unit on “Good Leads”. Each child has now created a “Good Lead” scoring 4 points on a 4 point rubric that include one dialogue example, one wondering example and one action or sound for the topic, “My Most Memorable Trip”. It is important that we continue to encourage them to begin any piece of writing with a strong lead.


Science
This week the scientists talked about many things that are seen in the night sky… the list included- moon, stars, planets, comets, planes, and clouds. Then we discussed how we know when it’s windy. They shared many things, including looking at a weather vane, an anemometer, or even looking at trees moving in the breeze. Everyone had the chance to use a thermometer and record the temperature on a paper thermometer. The amazing meteorologists have been telling the class about the daily weather. Thank you parents for your help! The Air and Weather Unit is coming to an end soon, we’ll have a science test on Thursday, April 12th. Look for the study guide after vacation.


Social Studies
We started a new unit in social studies about Our Local Economy. Students reviewed the concepts of goods and services with at sorting activity. Then they wrote to the prompt “Are goods or services more important to our community?” Students needed to support their opinions with three detailed reasons. Next, students learned about consumers and producers in their families and community. They listened to a West African folktale, The Hatseller and the Monkeys and learned the importance of producers in a local community. When we return from break, we will be creating a Business Guide of White Lake. A homework assignment was sent home on Thursday that will help your child prepare for this assignment. The homework assignment is due Monday, April 9th.


Important Dates/Upcoming Info
-April 2nd – 6th – No School – Happy Spring Break
-Monday, April 9th – School Resumes
-Monday, April 9th – Social Studies homework DUE
-Thursday, April 12th – Science Air & Weather TEST

Have a FANTASTIC Spring Break!! :-) Mrs. Weckstein :-)

Friday, March 23rd

Reader’s Workshop:
We continued working with our nonfiction reading partners to complete a Venn diagram about our fiction and nonfiction text sets. Students also shared interviews about reading nonfiction in our everyday lives. We ended the week by noticing and naming different nonfiction text features and discussed how to use these features as readers.


Writers’ Workshop:
Our writers’ have transitioned this week from writing personal narratives to exploring non-fiction books about birds! Our next unit takes an in-depth look at non-fiction writing as we begin to research Michigan birds to create magazine feature articles. To familiarize our students with the types of books we will be using, students explored books that were: bird field guides, general about birds, or specific to one type of bird. We then took time looking at ways that these different types of non-fiction books can help us in our research. Next we practiced finding facts within these books and recording the facts we learned in our own words onto post-it notes! This is a tricky skill to learn but an important one to practice. Look for info home this week on the bird your child will be focusing on for their research.


Math:
Our mathematicians have been doing lots of shopping in math! We have been working with reading and writing money amounts in decimal notation, using equivalent coin amounts to show equivalent amounts of money, and even using a calculator to compute money amounts. We’ve played a game along the way called “Pick a Coin” which your child could teach you at home!


Word Study/Writing Skills:
This week in Word Study we did a couple of different things when looking at the beginning and ending of different words. We played with ways you could either add to or remove letters from the beginning of one word to make a new word (i.e. chair - hair). Then we took a look at the ends of words and found ways to add letters to change the word (i.e storm - stormy). In our Writing Skills we continued our work on “Good Leads”. This week we focused on the “Action/Sound” lead. Students are learning what makes a “Good Lead” and earns them a 4 out of 4 on a four-point rubric. As we prepare your child for writing prompts in the future, we want them to learn to start out with a lead that INSTANTLY hooks their reader.


Social Studies:
Students spent time putting their finishing touches on their Then and Now assessment. They were required to use some of the information that they learned about Walled Lake’s history to do comparison writing. Students will be assessed not only on their content, but also on their sentence structure and quality of work. We ended the week by sharing some very interesting pieces of history in our Artifact Museum. Students shared many wonderful artifacts, some of which included: a 50 year old toy train, old photographs, books, jewelry, an alarm clock, a beverage crate, and a cherry knot maul that was 125 years old!


Science:
The scientists explored the wind this week. We made a class anemometer and students made their own with paper. An anemometer shows how fast the wind is blowing. We also made a pinwheel, which is similar to an anemometer. The scientists had fun exploring with the pinwheel! There are so many ways to make it work. We talked about the moon phases and how the moon is always changing. The moon is always a big ball, but we only see the part of the moon that’s lit. The sun shines on the moon and lights it up. The scientists also had fun exploring “bubbles in the wind”. With this experiment the students could see where the air was moving.


Don’t forget- Night Sky homework is due on Monday and the weather calendar on Friday.


Important Dates/Reminders:
• Monday, March 26th- Night Sky homework DUE


• Friday, March 30th- Weather Calendar DUE


• Friday, March 30th- Camp Read S’more! Don’t forget you donations for our trail mix, books to read, flashlight, blanket and pop-up tent!


• April 2nd-5th- SPRING BREAK! NO SCHOOL


• Monday, April 9th- RETURN TO SCHOOL


Here are some fun photos from the end of our week :-).
 

A special THANKS to ALL that came out to eat dinner at McDonald's on this past Thursday night... what an experience for the Teachers!

Here's how cute we looked on picture day/30th Birthday Day in 204!

  

We had a SURPRISE visitor from California - Mrs. Weckstein's sister Rachel showed up out of the blue... GROUP HUG!!

Mr. Weckstein came as our Guest Reader on Friday as well!

And Mrs. Simon's provided us with a DELICIOUS Birthday treat for my 30th!

THANKS FOR ALL OF THE LOVE 204!!! :-) MRS. WECKSTEIN

Friday, March 16th

A leprechaun is small and green,

He hides where he cannot be seen.

But if you catch one on this day,

He must give his gold away.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY!!

Reader’s Workshop
Is this book fiction or non-fiction? Can some books be both? This week we started comparing fiction and non-fiction texts. We took a look at Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel and compared the frog and toad, to the frog in, It’s a Frog’s Life by Steve Parker. We began talking about the characteristics that define a fiction book from a non-fiction book. Students began working in partnerships with text sets that presented them with a fiction and a non-fiction book on the same animal to compare.


Writer’s Workshop
Calling all bird experts!! We are just beginning our Non-Fiction Unit of Study on Michigan Birds! If you have any field guides, books, magazines, etc. at home that have information about Michigan Birds please send them to school (with your child’s name visible on them). We will be spending the next few weeks sifting through field guides and bird books as well as listening to bird calls, watching for them outside and even learning about their nests and more! This week students began learning about different types of books we use for research and created wonderings of their own about birds.


Math Workshop
In Math this week we wrapped up our Unit of Measurement by working with weight. We learned about ounces and pounds as we explored measurement using a spring scale. Then we took our Unit 9 Test and began preparing for the Math Benchmark we took on Friday. We spent extra time reviewing fractions, ballpark estimation, area/perimeter, measurement units and more.


Word Study
We did two different things this week in Word Study. While we spent two days working on word endings (-s, -ed, -ing, -ies, -es) we did a make and write as well as a sheet comparing plurals. The second class with Mrs. Weckstein was spent working on something entirely different. As a grade we are working on a project to improve the “good leads” our students use in their writing. This is a major component to the scoring on the Writing portion of the MEAP test. We spent time working on crafting a 4 point (the highest score you can get) good lead using a dialogue opening for “My Most Memorable Trip”. We learned how to start with dialogue and then establish the setting and the characters in the written piece. This is something we will continue working on throughout the rest of the year and something we began working on in September!
Social Studies

In social studies this week, the students continued to explore different perspectives about historical events by discussing the increase in pollution caused by population growth and a new amusement park in Walled Lake.  We brainstormed ideas why the amusement park polluted the air, land and water around Walled Lake.  They also discussed how the cities of Novi and Walled Lake cleaned up Walled Lake in 1979 in order for its citizens and visitors to enjoy the lake again.  Students ended the lesson by choosing a partner to create an illustrated booklet about how people could protect the environment in the Walled Lake area, so history won’t repeat itself.

Important News/Dates


• Thursday, March 22nd – Author Visit – Author Mark Newman of “Sooper Yooper” will be visiting Dublin. Book order forms have come home with your child.


• Thursday, March 22nd 5:00-7:00pm– Dublin McDonald’s Night The Dublin Staff will be working from 5-7pm volunteering time behind the counter at McDonald’s. Come for dinner and help support the Literacy Libraries at Dublin (where we get ALL of our guided reading group books from).


• Friday, March 23rd – Spring Pictures are FIRST thing in the morning


• Friday, March 23rd – Money DUE for “In School” Bird Field Trip – Please remember to send in $2 to cover the cost of this project we will be doing with Indian Springs Metro Park


• Friday, March 23rd – Big Catch Party in the afternoon… Info coming home next week! If you haven’t heard, we’ve filled the Big Catch once again. We are working on our plans for the party and will send info home at the beginning of next week!

Friday, March 2nd

 

Reader’s Workshop:

This week in Reader’s Workshop we did several different things! Students spent time working on a comprehension strategy with their independent and partner reading work. We practiced visualizing, making a picture or mental image of the text we are reading to help us comprehend the story. We also spent time welcoming in “March is Reading Month” as Friday, March 2^nd is Dr. Seuss’ Birthday! We took a look at two of his books, The Cat in the Hat and The Cat in the Hat Comes Back and then did a written retelling about the sequence of events (including illustrations) as well as used a Venn Diagram to compare the two texts!

Writer’s Workshop:

In Writer’s Workshop this week our writers’ finished putting their final touches on to their Small Moment pieces.  Once more students revisited their “Editing” and “Revising” Checklists looking for ways to improve their writing. In Conferences I worked one-on-one with students focusing on their content and ideas, making sure they have fully developed their story with good details. We are eager to see the illustrations they are going to create next week!

Math Workshop:

1 foot….18 inches… 5 decimeters… 6 yards…We’ve been learning about standard and informal units of measurement (2nd graders). We’ve measured just about everything in our classroom including our classmates and our teachers! We began this measuring unit talking about standard and non-standard units of measure, such as why an activity we did using 2^nd graders to measure the length of our classroom was not a “great” way to measure our classroom.  A “cheat sheet” came home with your child explaining the conversions they will be responsible for knowing using both the Metric and the Standard Units of Measurement.

Word Study:

 In Word Study this week we spent the first day looking at the –ight ending in words. We brainstormed a giant list of –ight words prior to playing a “Follow the Path” game that involved only being able to complete a turn when you could read the –ight word on the card. Then we spent time working with high frequency words by creating a word search for a partner to solve. Lastly we spent time looking at homophones, words that look the same but can have two different meanings.

Social Studies:

 In Social Studies this week students learned about timelines by working together to create a picture timeline of some of Walled Lake’s history.  While working on the timeline, students learned the concept of decade and then practiced placing events in order by decade.  They were also introduced the concept of decade and were able to include 1800, 1900 and 2000 to our picture timeline.  Students then completed a simple timeline about Walled Lake to reinforce what they learned.

Science: 

This week the scientists explored air using syringes and flexible tubing.  We talked about how air takes up space in the syringe, but when the plunger is pressed the air is compressed.  The plunger moved back without any help, the kids were so amazed with this.  The next lesson the students had two syringes and one flexible tube.  The scientists “air wrestled”, explored, and then they had to make one plunger “pop off” with only using air pressure.  We learned… the plunger can’t be pushed in all the way when air is trapped inside the syringe.  Plunging one syringe creates pressure and pushed the other syringe out.  In our writing observations we’re using the “cause and effect” terms.

We also talked about weather words and what is a meteorologist.  Your child has been assigned a day (during the month of March or April) to be the class meteorologist, so be on the look-out for this sheet.

Important Upcoming Date/News:

-Tuesday, March 6^th – NO SCHOOL – Professional Development for Teachers 

 Only      

**I wanted to extend a HUGE THANK YOU for all of your help and support with our Surprise Party for Miss Danielle Mossoian on Friday! While her time was way too short with us, we REALLY enjoyed our last 8 weeks with Miss M. in the room. Thank you for taking the time to do the book pages at home as well as for picking up a Children's Book she can use to start her own classroom library! We totally shocked Danielle on Friday and had a blast sharing the book we made, sharing the books we brought in as well as eating chocolate cake and ice cream! :-) JEN**        

 Now, take a look at all of the fun we had on the 100th Day of Second Grade...

This free picture slideshow personalized with Smilebox

Your 9:13pm Reminder!!

Hello Weckie Families!

 As the "reminder" 9:00pm alarm just sounded on my phone for tomorrow's Field Trip, I wanted to make sure to remind all of you. Tomorrow for the entire day we will be at the Walled Lake Outdoor Education Center for a "Winter Camp". We will spend time both in and outside and we ask that ALL children have: SNOWPANTS, BOOTS, HAT, GLOVES and a proper COAT. Please make sure to dress your child in layers as they can always take off a layer, but we can't replace missing layers.

Each child will also need a "brown bag" lunch tomorrow. There will not be a "snack" time so please make sure your child has a hearty breakfast and a good lunch packed. Remember that anything we bring with us for lunch will be thrown out after lunches, so please refrain from sending lunch bags, tupperwares, etc.

Thanks for your help - We are looking forward to a FABULOUS day tomorrow... besides, 38 degrees and sunny is PERFECT weather for our day!

Friday, February 17th

It's been such a FANTASTIC week in 204... Take a look at our Valentine's Day!

Slideshow customized with Smilebox

Reader’s Workshop:
We continued with our Character Study in Reader’s Workshop this week. Students selected another character from their “just right” books to form character traits by what their character says or does. Students also logged in their books at the end of the week.

Writer’s Workshop:
We were busy putting the finishing touches on our Small Moments in Writer’s Workshop this week. Students went back through their stories and added things they were feeling (inside emotions) or things they were doing (outside actions). After their middles were filled with details, students learned how to write short and effective endings to their stories. Next we used Revising and Editing Checklists to help us: create a title, use more exact words, take out confusing parts, fix spelling, add missing punctuation and make sure the sequence of our story made sense.

Math’s Workshop:
We finished up our unit on fractions this week. We worked with fractions of collections of things, fraction number stories and equivalent fractions. Students learned a new game, Equivalent Fractions to help them with the new fraction concepts. Our mathematicians also learned to compare fractions and we worked with fraction number stories. The week ended by taking our Unit 8 test to close up our work with fractions. Our next unit will focus on measurement.

Science:
Students made and tested out parachutes this week. For the parachute to move through the air, it must push the air out of its way. The air pushing back makes the parachute fall slowly to the ground. When any object moves through air, it is always slowed down by something called air resistance. Some other examples are: a feather or balloon falling slowly to the ground, or a person walking against a strong breeze.

Word Study:
In Word Study this week we did a multitude of things! We took known words to help us figure out new words in a game called, "Word Race". Next, we took a look at letter clusters to help us solve words. We did a Word Grid Game to reinforce this concept. Last, we took a look at onsets and rimes (ex: p-, r-, m- beginnings and -ain, -ail and -an endings).

Social Studies:
We only met once this week for Social Studies. Students further explored the concept of change over time by listening to informational text about Michigan schools and the history of Walled Lake Schools. They discussed the relationship between population growth and the growth of Walled Lake Schools. We even look a look at a kindergarten report card from Dublin in 1955 and compared it to the kindergarten report card that Dublin uses today. Students were surprised to find out that kindergarteners in 1955 were graded on: keeping things in their mouth, relaxing at rest time and using a handkerchief properly. Things sure have changed! Finally, students drew pictures to compare schools today to schools in the past.

Important Dates/Reminders:

• We all had a fantastic time at our Valentine’s party on Tuesday! A big round of applause goes out to the fantastic parents who planned a very special day for our second graders.

• Everyone had a fun 100th day of school! Room 204 was overrun by senior citizens with plenty of wrinkles, canes and gray hair! We wrote about what we will be doing when we are 100 and played several rounds of BINGO with fellow senior citizens from other classrooms!

• February 18-26th – February Break – NO SCHOOL

• February 27th- First Day Back AND Field Trip to the Outdoor Center!!( Please remember to dress your child for the weather as we WILL be going outside. They will also need one long fuzzy sock!)

• Wednesday, February 29th- Rain Gauge Extra Credit Due

• Friday, March 2nd- Plymouth Whalers Game at 7:00 pm.

I hope you have a safe and fun week off from school! :-)

Friday, February 10th

Computers:
It was an EXCELLENT week in Computers as we transformed the Weckies into Bloggers! You should have received two documents at home this week – one blogging contract and one direction sheet for accessing the blog! As the kids become more familiar with the routine of logging on, you may find that they will be excellent resources to help you access the blog and leave comments! If you need this information again, please feel free to drop me a note/email and I can send more directions home. If you have visited the blog, you will notice a map and a globe where we keep track of visitors around the WORLD (literally) who will visit our blog! Enjoy the slideshow below highlighting our first blogging experience!

A picture slideshow by Smilebox

Reader’s Workshop:
This week in Workshop two different things were happening simultaneously! New reading groups have formed and each group has met at least one time to start on a new book. Please remember, if a book comes home more than one time in a row, we are using that book to work on building fluency in our readers. Paying attention to punctuation, voice of the characters and reading new words smoothly is all being practiced with a re-read of a book. Also this week in Workshop we did a Character Study. We spent time looking into the actions and statements made by a character in a book. We made inferences based on these statements and actions activating our own prior knowledge about the character. We even took a look at how a character’s behavior can change over time in a story.


Writer’s Workshop:
This week in Writer’s Workshop we continued our work on a personal narrative, a small moment. Each child has selected a small moment to edit and revise, stopping to make sure that their narrative not only includes: a good lead, actions, a problem and a solution but also includes “inner” thoughts – how the character was feeling, what the character was thinking, what the character was wondering. Next we used Revising and Editing Checklists to help us: create a title, use more exact words, take out confusing parts, fix spelling, add missing punctuation and make sure the sequence of our story made sense.


Math Workshop:
In Math this week we have been looking at fractions (naming the numerator and denominator), equivalent fractions and fractions of groups. We have been learning how different fractional amounts can mean the same thing, such as ¼ is the same as 2/8! This is a tricky concept for most 2nd graders (especially fractions of groups) and it is helpful for them to use hands-on manipulatives, including: counters, pennies, cereal, etc. This is still a developing concept for 2nd grade.

Word Study:
In Word Study this week have looked at patterns in words that end with a short vowel followed by a consonant when adding “-ed” and “-er” endings. Learning to take words like: jog  jogged or run runner has been the focus of Word Study this week. We looked at words that already end in “e” such as “write” and realized we only have to add the “d” or the “r” ending. Then we looked at words with consonant clusters at the end such as teach and learned you only have to add an “ed” or “er” ending. Last we ended the week making “Word Ladders”… we use them to make new words from existing words. For instance, if we have the word trip at the top of the ladder, we can do tree right below because it has the tree and next we could write three because of the last three letters and so on!


Social Studies:
In Social Studies this week we shared our findings from our homework assignment that compared schools in the past to schools today. We added our findings to a classroom Venn Diagram. Second graders were shocked to find that students in the past had three recesses everyday! As a class, we revisited the changes in East Lake Drive (formerly known as Main Street) in Walled Lake and jotted them down in a t-chart. We then used this graphic organizer to write a paragraph describing three ways that Walled Lake’s Main Street has changed between 1900 and 2007. Learning how to write using a compare/contrast text structure will be useful as they grow as writers.


Science:
Air and Weather is the focus for the last science unit. The kids explored air using cotton balls, feathers, straws, baggies, paper, styrofoam balls, and balloons. Many interesting inventions were made… a dancing cotton ball in the baggie and sucking up the objects using the straw, just to name a few. The next lesson we used a tub of water to explore. Students had to make bubbles using a vial, keep a paper towel dry in a vial, move air from one vial to another, and transfer a foam ball from one vial to another all under water. WHEW- all in one day! The scientists realized that air was captured in the vial with the paper towel, so water couldn’t get in as long as air was taking up space.


Air Toy homework is due February 16th.


Rain gauge- extra credit homework is due on February 29th.


A special Thank You!
Over the past two weeks I have been working feverishly on a “Donor’s Choose” grant where we would be receiving $600 in grant money to purchase two Apple iPod Touch for our classroom… and today, we received a package in the mail from Best Buy!!! :-) More to come next week!! Thank you to all who donated and voted for our project! These iPods are going to be an incredible teaching and learning tool!


Important Dates/Reminders:
Tuesday, February 14th – Valentine’s Day Party 2:30-3:30pm in Room 204 :-)

Friday, February 17th – Last Day of School before February Break… 100th Day of School (look for a note coming home today about this!!)


February 18-26th – February Break – NO SCHOOL


February 27th- First Day Back AND Field Trip to the Outdoor Center!!(Please remember to dress your child for the weather as we WILL be going outside. They will also need one long fuzzy sock!)