Mrs. Raynor and Ms. Levangie's First and Second Graders: December 2012

Sunday, December 30, 2012

What would you like to see?

I'm writing this quick post to ask parents what else they would like to see on the blog? This is my first year blogging and would love to know how to make this site more friendly for parents and students. So I am wondering:

*What else would you like to see here?

*What would you get rid of?

*What would be helpful to have here when helping your child be successful at school?

Let me know your suggestions and thank you for your time!
Mrs. Raynor

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Happy Holidays

Many thanks to the second grade families and the CES community for the gifts, cards, and well wishes I received this holiday season. Thank you all so much for your kindness ~Mrs. Raynor

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Door Decorating

Our door received the Biggest Door Award

Exercising and Happy

Dog Sled Teams in Physical Education! So much fun!

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Second Grade News: December 20, 2012

Things to Note:

Have a Great Holiday Break – December 22, 2012 – January 1, 2013

First Fun Fitness Friday will be on Friday, January 4, 2013

Literacy: Students have begun to learn what a personal narrative is and have chosen a topic for their own personal narrative. We have discussed how a good personal narrative has a great lead, starts at the heart of the story, has dialogue, and has interesting details. We will continue to work on narrative writing when we return from break. During reader’s workshop second graders have been learning what it means to infer. We have talked in detail about how inferring is figuring out something that wasn’t completely explained and how it’s using clues to make a good guess. Students infer all the time in their lives now I am trying to help them bring that skill into their reading.

Mathematics: Students have been focused in on learning how to read an analog clock. We have practiced reading the clock to half an hour times and many students are comfortable with this skill. Recently, we have been learning how to read the clock by five minutes increments. This is proving to be a little more challenging.

Homework: A great way to help your child practice counting is to do it as a family daily. One way to do this and keep it fun is to set a timer for 2 minutes; for those 2 minutes you and your child skip count taking turns saying the next number. For example, skip counting by 5’s, child: 5, parent: 10, child: 15, parent: 20…… see how far you can get in 2 minutes.

Happy Holidays – Mrs. Raynor

Estimation with a Friend

Estimation: Is it more or less than 10? What is a good estimate?

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Second Grade News: December 6, 2012

Things to Note:

· Holiday Break – December 24, 2012 thru January 1, 2013

· Drama Performance – December 14 @ 6pm

The second graders have been working on writing about the water cycle. This will be the first writing piece of the year that students are graded using a rubric. Students will also be making an illustration to accompany their writing. I cannot believe how well written their pieces are and how clearly they are explaining the water cycle! Nice job second graders! After we complete this water cycle writing we will move on to a study of personal narratives.

As part of reader’s workshop second graders have been learning how to complete a story map on what they have read. They have been learning how to draw out the important parts of the story. Story map components include: characters, setting, problem, solution, beginning, middle, and end.

As part of our upcoming math curriculum we will be looking closely at analog clocks and learning how to read the time to the nearest 5 minutes. A great gift for your child this holiday season might be an analog wrist watch! Having a watch will help them to practice telling time as we continue in our math curriculum!

Have a Great Week! – Mrs. Raynor

Happy Holidays