Hello, families! Can you believe that in just two short weeks your child will be halfway through 2nd grade?! I can’t believe it! I have so much left to teach them even though they grow smarter each day! Here’s a look at what’s happening in our class.
Reading – We have been practicing the comprehension strategy of inferring. We have learned that a solid inference is made when you apply your background knowledge (schema) to the words and/or pictures in the story (text evidence) to think deeply about what the author is really trying to say. Sometimes we call it “reading between the lines” and it can add a lot more meaning to the story. Next week we are going to focus on characters in fiction stories – how they feel, why they feel that way, what actions they take because of those feelings and how they change over the course of the story. The last week before Winter Break we will be studying the stories of Jan Brett with a focus on comparing characters, setting and plot across stories.
Writing – We are continuing to work on our small moment personal narrative stories. We are really starting to understand the idea of a small moment story – a story about one idea that includes a lot of sensory details to put our readers in the moment with us. Our focus this week has been developing ideas and drafting stories. On Monday each child will pick his or her favorite small moment story to further revise and edit before publishing the following week. I can’t wait to hang them in the hallway to share with everyone!
Math – This week we began a new unit of study on money. Our goal as 2nd graders is to count a collection of coins up to 99 cents. This is something that is easy to practice at home. Anytime you have change in your pocket, purse, car, or sofa cushions take it out and have your child count it for you. This week we have reviewed the names and values of the coins and have practiced counting collections of coins. Next week we will compare amounts and continue problem solving using money as a counting strategy. The last week before Winter Break we will review patterns in tables, addition strategies, and graphing before taking our 2nd nine weeks math assessment.
Social Studies – We are wrapping up our unit on government and will take our assessment next Tuesday. We have learned that the government makes laws to keep people safe and to manage conflict and provide order. We also learned that the government provides citizens with services such as police, firefighters, parks, schools and libraries which are paid for by taxes. This week we are focusing on government leaders – President, Governor and Mayor. We can identify them by name and tell what their job is! We will finish out our study of government by holding a class election to understand the importance of voting and we will also learn about the ways citizens can be involved in our government. Next Thursday we will being our final unit of the nine weeks - Our Community and Environment. We will incorporate a mini research project on natural hazards and will discuss settlement patterns, natural resources and the effects of human development on the environment.
With all of this academic learning we are still finding time to build our classroom team through share time and social skills mini lessons. We are focusing on compassion and empathy this month. Today we discussed specific ways we can show compassion to others. The kids have great ideas! They really understand the concept of treat others the way you want to be treated, even though we all need to practice sometimes! 
I hope to see you all at the Winter Party on Friday, December 16th at 1:45. Be on the lookout for more information very soon.
If I don’t see you before Winter Break, have a relaxing holiday season and I will see your kids back on Tuesday, January 3, 2012.
Thanks for all your support and encouragement this semester!
Sincerely,
Jenni Rhea