Weekly Updates SY 23-24

Week 5 though it was shorter, this week was so much fun! Check out some highlights from this week!

SEL:

• This week in SEL we focused on happiness. What does happiness look like at school and home? What makes us happy at school?
• We also spoke about how we can share our emotions with adults and peers.

Math:

• This week students had a "snowball fight" to review Chapter 1 math concepts!
• This week, Students took an assessment on Tuesday for Chapter 1.
• This week we started Chapter 2- Addition and Subtraction. Students are enjoying learning about mental additions. Students created addition and subtraction expressions and equations.
• This week students enjoyed doing a math project where they came up with their own word problems and wrote the expressions to go along with it.

Foundations:

• This week students completed a Spelling Check.
• This week students worked on word operations. This means that students took a word and changed it to create new words. Students changed consonant letters at the beginning or end of the given word (ex. same→tame→tale)

Reading/ Writing:

• This week students began plotting points in read alouds and independent reading books. 
• This week students identified the beginning, events, the high point and ending of the fiction book “How bad could it be?”
• This week the class started working on narrative writing skills. Students identified a problem at school and then created solution attempts that students might take to solve their problem.

Science/ Social Studies:

• This week for science, we investigated the question: Why aren’t new Chalta trees growing in the Bengal Tiger Reserve? Students are having fun investigating systems in Bengal Forest.
• This week for social studies, students compared daily life long ago and life today. Students took a closer look at schools, homes, computers, and communities long ago and how they are the same or different now.

Week 6

The second graders had a fantastic week of school! Check out the highlights from this week!

SEL:

• This week in SEL we focused on the importance of sharing our feelings with friends and adults. Students drew feeling pictures based on the focused questions. 

Math:

• This week we learned strategies to do mental Addition, Subtraction, and strategies to make 100 and 1000. The class loved playing the games where they were making 100s and 1000s. 

Foundations:

• This week students found CVVC, CVCe, and oddball words in their independent reading books.
• This week students worked with their partners to sort CVVC and CVCe words. 
• This week the focus was also to understand that  long ‘a’ can be spelled with the ‘a-e’ as in ‘bake’ and also with ‘ai’ as in wait. 

Reading/ Writing:

• This week students focused on understanding the characters, their feelings, and traits. 
• This week students showed their understanding of the lessons by reading the book ‘The Spelling Bee’ and identified the characters' feelings and traits with evidence from their reading. 
• This week the class continued working on narrative writing. Students identified the problem, setting, solution, and attempts they might have made to solve the problem.

Science/ Social Studies:

• This week for science, we continued our investigation of the question: Why aren’t new Chalta trees growing in the Bengal Tiger Reserve? 
• This week students read “My Nature Book” and made their observations on different habitats that will help us learn about the broadleaf forest habitat in the Bengal Tiger Reserve.
• This week the essential question for social studies was ‘Why did people move to new places?’ Based on the reading, students also answered the question  ‘What did immigrants and Black Americans who moved to Chicago have in common?’

This week students had their first visit to the library! Student’s checked out books and will be able to do this again on Wednesday!

Week 7:

Hello 103 Families here is the weekly post for Week 7 (sorry for the delay),

SEL:

• This week in SEL Students got to know their new SEL partners by asking them thick questions. 
• The students worked with their partners and also participated in whole group discussions. 
• The focused questions were: Why is it important that we treat one another with respect, both in the classroom and on the playground? How can we respect each other's boundaries? 

Math:

• This week we worked on understanding word problems and coming up with the expression of the problem.
• Students also learned part- whole bar model strategies to solve the addition and subtraction word problems.

Foundations:

• This week students took a spell check in foundations based on short and long ‘a’ vowel spelling patterns.
• They started short and long ‘o’ sounds. They sorted CVC, CVVC and CVCe words in their foundations book.
• Also, students searched and recorded short and long ‘o’ sounds from their independent reading books. 

Reading/ Writing:

• This week in reading, we focused on finding Text Evidence.
• The class read the book ‘True Colors’. They showed their understanding of the characters, their traits, and finding text evidence for those traits. 
• In writing, students learned about dialogues and added dialogues to their writing Graphic Organizer as well as sensory details.

Science/ Social Studies:

• For science, we continued our investigation of the question: Why aren’t new Chalta trees growing in the Bengal Tiger Reserve? 
• This week's Investigation Question was: How do scientists study habitats?  Such as the habitat in the Bengal Tiger Reserve.
• This week students got a chance to be plant scientists. They investigated the habitat outside the school. This helped them understand how scientists in the Bengal Tiger Reserve do their investigations and research. 
• In Social Studies, The essential question was "How do families and their past shape our community?"
• Students learned about “how families share cultures” and “what are their favorite traditions to follow”.

Week 8:

Happy Friday Room 103 Families! Check out this week's highlights!

SEL:

• This week in SEL our focus was “Who works in our school”, the students went around the school and interviewed the adults who work at our school!
• This week in SEL our talking circle focused on Safe Bodies, and how we can all have safe bodies throughout our school day.

Math:

• This week in Math we finished our Chapter 2: Addition and Subtraction- Part 1.
• Students reviewed word problems around the classroom.
• Students took an assessment on what we learned in Chapter 2.

ELA:

• This week in Foundations students completed their Tic-Tac-Toe worksheet which focused on CVCe, CVC, Oddball and CVVC words.
• This week in Foundations students completed a spell check.
• This week in Reading students analyzed fiction books by using text evidence to find: Title, Author, Characters, Setting, and the Plot.
• This week in writing students started on their narrative rough draft.

Science/Social Studies:

• This week in Social Studies, students focused on the EQ: “How do people in the past affect our lives today?” and learned about “Brave Bessie”.
• This week in Science, students studied maps of the Bengal Tiger Reserve and investigated habitats.

Week 9:

103 had a wonderful week including the Jogathon! Thank you to all of the parents who came to support the second graders!

SEL:

• This week in SEL our focus was on kindness and what steps we are taking to show kindness towards our friends and adults in the classroom/school. 
• We had a visit from Mr. Murray and a member of the student counsel to come and talk to us about Bullying,

Math:

• This week in Math we continued to work on Chapter 3. Students have been learning addition, subtraction, rounding, and estimating problems.

ELA:

• This week in Foundations students completed short and long ‘u’ sounds.
• Students showed their understanding of the lesson by doing the word sort for CVC, CVCe, CVVC words
• This week in Reading students were introduced to different types of context clues. The class learned about finding the meaning of a vocabulary word by searching for the definition, synonym, antonym, or examples in the sentence. 
• This week in writing students worked on their final drafts on personal narrative writing.

Science/Social Studies:

• This week in Social Studies, students finished Chapter 1 on Life Long Ago and Life Today. We ended the chapter by reviewing the main ideas of the lessons and by taking the assessment. 
• This week in Science, students investigated, observed, and learned about different seeds to better understand the investigation question on ‘Why Chalta Trees are not Growing in Bengal Tiger Reserve?”

Week 10:

Though it was short, 103 had a fantastic week! It was great getting to speak with parents at conferences as well! Check out these highlights!

SEL:

• This week’s SEL focus was on emotions and deep breathing. We discussed different kinds of breathings such as, snake breath, bunny breath to help us calm our mind and bodies.

Math:

• This week in math we finished Chapter 3: Addition and Subtraction-Part 2 
•  This week in math the students took the Chapter Assessment.

ELA:

• This week in Foundations students took a spell check on short and long ‘u’ sounds.

• This week in Reading, the class identified different elements of poetry. The students analyzed what metaphors look like in a poem. 

• This week in writing, students finished their final narratives.

Science:

• This week in Science, investigate how new plants such as, Red Silk Trees, and Chalta Trees Grow?
• The class made predictions on what seeds need to grow and learned to measure plants using the centimeter ruler.

Week 12

SEL:

• The SEL topic for this week was Kindness. The class learned and shared ideas about kindness.The class worked with their SEL partners and wrote words that are considered as kindness which are: care, concern, and gentleness.
• The focus questions were “What are some ways to show kindness?” and “How do you think being kind will affect our school and classroom community?”

Math:

• This week, the class continued working on Multiplications and Division problems.
• The students have been learning about properties of multiplication, the relationship between multiplication and division, finding the quotient and remainder of the expression. The class is enjoying practicing math using their whiteboards.

ELA:

• This week in Foundations, students practiced substituting, adding and deleting consonant letters to come up with a new word.
• Students reviewed short and long ‘e’ words and took a spell check to show their understanding on long and short ‘e’ words. 
• This week in reading, students explored different types of nonfiction books. They explored: informational, narrative, and biography books. The students showed their understanding by doing nonfiction sorts and worksheets. 
• This week in writing, students finished their character worksheet and sketched a plan for their fictional story. 

Science/Social Studies:

• This week in Science, students explored science books with their partners. Students investigated and predicted "Why are Chalta trees not getting what they need to Grow?” The class explored the facts that a plant is a system with parts that help it get the things that it needs to grow. For example, plants have leaves that get sunlight and plants have roots that get water from the soil. 
• This week in Social Studies, We finished Lesson 1: Use a Map. The class learned about road maps, political maps, and physical maps.

Week 13

This week was so much fun! Thank you to all who came in to make this week extra special! Happy Thanksgiving!

SEL:

• This week in SEL our focus was on showing respect to adults and peers. We also focused on identifying who and what we are thankful for!

Math:

• This week in Math we finished out Chapter 4 on Multiplication and Division. In this unit students were introduced to Multiplication and division by solving multiplication and division equations, division with remainders, 1 step word problems and 2 step word problems. Students completed a chapter assessment on Friday.
• Next Chapter, Chapter 5, will focus on Multiplication.

ELA:

• This week in Reading students learned more about nonfiction books. Students read the paired text called: The Hottest Place on Earth and The Coldest Place on Earth. They used this text to identify the main idea, key details, and compare and contrast the texts.
• This week in writing students continued to write their fiction narratives and worked with their writing partners to finish their writing.

Science/Social Studies:

• This week in Social Studies students finished their unit on maps and created maps of their neighborhoods, school or classroom.
• This week in Science students continued to learn about what a seed needs to grow. This week students investigated why the Chalta Trees are not growing in the Bengal Tiger Reserve. Students identified water, sunlight and space as what seeds need to sprout and grow.

Week 15

SEL:

• This week in SEL our focus was on identifying negative emotions and discussing how we can manage these emotions. Student’s came up with a bunch of coping skills they can use when feeling; frustrated, sad, mad, anxious, etc.

Math: 

• This week in Math students took their Chapter 5 Part 1 Assessment on multiplication.
• This week in math student’s have been focusing on multiplication with and without regrouping.

ELA:

• This week in reading student’s read “Into the Dark Waters”, and identified text evidence, cause and effect, and assessed their comprehension on the reading about the Titanic. Students also had a mystery read come in on Friday!
• This week in writing student’s edit and revise their narrative fiction writing.

Science/Social Studies:

• This week in Science student’s studied the way that seeds can be dispersed. Students engaged in an investigation where they created their own models to represent different types of seeds. The student’s used cotton balls, paper, paper clips and a fan to investigate.
• This week in Social Studies students focused on the essential question: How is the Environment Where We Live is important?

Week 16

SEL:

• This week in SEL our focus was on identifying the positive emotions. The focused questions were, “How do positive emotions look and feel?”, “What can you do to make your surroundings positive?”
• During Cultural Corner, the class had an amazing time learning about Hanukkah.

Math: 

• This week in Math, students finished the chapter on multiplications and took the assessment on part B & C.
• The class started Chapter 6- Divisions. 

ELA:

• This week in reading students read “The Amazing Penguin Rescue ” and identified the genre, author’s message, and the problem/solution.
• This week in foundations, the goal was to understand the Long vowel sounds and practice long vowel teams (ai, ay; ee, ea; oa, oo) 
• This week in writing student’s started writing their final books on fictional narrative. 

Science/Social Studies:

• This week in Science students are finishing up the Unit on Plant and Animal Relationships. Students will take the end of the unit assessment to show their understanding of the unit.
• This week in Social Studies students focused on the essential question “How People Move”. The class finished the Unit on People, Places, and the Environment and took the end of the unit assessment.

Week 17

SEL:

• This week in SEL students talked about Feelings and Challenges they might face at school or at home. The focused questions were “What are some challenges you may face in friendship?” “What are some challenges you may face over the winter break?” 
• Students played a feelings game where they took turns guessing the feelings picture and shared a time when they faced that feeling.

Math: 

• This week in Math students worked on divisions. Our goal this week was to become familiar with the long division symbol and connect the position of the dividend, divisor, and quotient to the equation form. 
• Students learned dividing a number up two digits when there is no remainder. Students also learned dividing a 2 digit number with 3,4, and 5 when there is a remainder.

ELA:

• This week in reading, students read the poem “Titanic Remembers April 16, 1912”. Students learned new vocabulary words related to the poem, drew and wrote about what they visualized while reading the poem. Students enjoyed learning about personifications and ended the lesson with a game.  

Science/Social Studies:

• This week in Social Studies the class was introduced to Unit 3- People and Places Connected. Students were part of whole group discussions and shared the prior they have on the unit. 
• This week in Science, students were part of a learning video. The class then wrote about the facts on winter and created a diagram. 

Week 18

SEL:

• This week in SEL we focused on relearning school routines. Our focus was on working with partners, following classroom expectations and creating a positive classroom environment.

Math: 

• This week in Math students worked on division. Students are dividing up to 3 digit numbers by 3, 4, and 5 with and without remainders.

ELA:

• This week in reading, we started our Novel unit. The novel we are reading is a biography called Frida Kahlo. This week we learned more about what a biography is and started chapter one in Frida Kahlo.
• This week in foundations, we focused on long vowel sounds. Students sorted their words and wrote a sentence for each word they sorted.
• This week in writing, students wrote about what they did over winter break!

Science/Social Studies:

• This week in Social Studies we focused on the community's wants and needs. We discussed the difference between a want and a need.
• This week in Science, we started our new unit called Properties of Materials. The student’s have been tasked with creating a new glue recipe for our school. Our Unit Question is How can you design a mixture for a certain purpose?

Thank you to our mystery reader! The students had snow much fun!

Reminders: 

• This upcoming week students will receive the Sexual Misconduct and Title IX Student Training if you wish for your child to be excused from this training you must email to opt out.
• This upcoming week we will also be going over Allergen training with our students.
• Students will be completing the middle of the year iReady testing over the next two weeks.

Week 20

SEL:

• This week in SEL our focus was on friendship. Our 2nd graders wrote letters to their 5th grade buddies and got to meet them!

Math:

• This week in Math students learned about graphs and charts. Students created their own charts, graphs, collected data and inputted data into bar and picture graphs.
• This week in Math students assessed their understanding of graphs and charts.

ELA:

• This week in Reading students continued reading Frida Kahlo. Students identified important details in the book and identified nonfiction text features.
• This week in Foundations, students focused on Long vowels I and E. Student’s completed a spelling check on their understanding.
• This week in writing, students practiced opinion writing and started their opinion planning that goes along with the article Finders Keepers.

Science/Social Studies:

• This week in Social Studies, students focused on the essential question: How do producers and consumers depend on one another? The goal of the week: Describe goods and services produced locally. Identify positive and negative effects of consumer choices.
• This week in Science, students conducted an experiment to test mixtures that might be used in glue. Students mixed water with baking soda, flour, cornstarch, and salt.

Week 22

SEL:

• This week in SEL our focus was on teasing. We discussed what teasing looks like and feels like. We talked about the difference between “playful teasing” with friends and “hurtful teasing”.
• We also met up with our 5th grade buddies to make Valentine’s Day cards for people in a nursing home!

Math:

• This week in math we assessed our understanding of Multiplication and Division. 
• This week in Math we continued with our Multiplication and Division with numbers 6,7,8 and 9.

ELA:

• This week in Reading students finished reading their novel Frida Kahlo. We also had a special virtual visit from the author! The students were able to ask questions to the author and show off their love and understanding of the novel!
• This week in Foundations students sorted words with -air, -ar_e and -are.
• This week in writing students finished up writing their opinion pieces. The question being: Would you keep $20 you found on the sidewalk?

Science/Social Studies:

• This week in science students tested the stickiness of cornstarch and water (not heated) and cornstarch and water (heated and then cooled). The students' design goal: make a glue that is sticky.
• This week in social studies students centered around the essential question: How do people’s wants and needs connect our community?

SEL:

• This week in SEL our focus was on taking the responsibility. We discussed how taking responsibility means acknowledging what you did, apologizing, and offering to make amends.
• The students were able to think and share a time when they took responsibility for their actions and apologized or gave space to others. 

Math:

• This week in math students took the second part of an assessment on Multiplication and Division.
• This week in Math we started a new chapter on Fractions- Part 1. Students explored manipulatives to get a better understanding of fractions.

ELA:

• This week in Reading students learned about poetry. The reading for this week was “Winter Poem”. The students explored the vocabulary of the poem. We learned what poems always and often have, and the difference between personification and alliteration in a poem.  
• This week in Foundations our focus was on R- influenced vowel spelling. Students sorted words with -air, -ar_e,  -are and -or.
• This week in writing our focus was on adjectives. Students learned about comparative and superlative adjectives.

Week 24: 

SEL:

• This week in SEL our focus was on happiness and creativity. The students completed a “happiness self assessment” which allowed the students to identify what makes them happy.

Math: 

• This week in Math students worked on Fractions. The students finished the chapter: Fractions Part 1 and took an assessment to assess their understanding of fractions. The students will continue to learn about fractions in the next chapter!

ELA:

• This week in Reading students read the paired text: Ketchup and Mustard. The students read the paired text, compared and contrasted the main ideas and identified important facts of the text.
• This week in Foundations students sorted r-influenced words (-er, -ear, and -eer). Students completed a word sort during center time.
• This week in Writing students started to plan their opinion writing on “The best parts of me”

Social Studies:

• This week in Social studies focused on the essential question: How does our work together?

Thank you to all of our parent helpers this week!

Week 25: 

SEL:

• This week in SEL students learned about Self-talk. The focus questions were “How can self-talk help you focus?” “How can self talk help you handle distractions in the classroom?”

Math: 

• This week in Math students worked on Fractions- Part 2. We learned how to make Equivalent fractions and Simplify fractions. Students had various opportunities to explore the manipulatives on fractions.

ELA:

• This week in Reading our focus was on Folktales. Students learned about the characteristics, elements, character traits, and lesson vs. theme in different folktales.
• This week in Foundations students explored the R- influenced vowels for the sounds  -er, -ear, and -eer. 
• This week in Writing students finished their first draft on opinion writing “The Best Part of Me.”

Science/Social Studies:

• This week in Science students continued to experiment with materials in order to make a strong glue substance. Our design goal: make a glue that is sticky and strong
• This week in Social studies our focus was on understanding how people in our  community can work together to follow the rules and law.

Week 26:

SEL:

• This week in SEL our focus was on accepting differences. Students focused on what it means to accept differences and we had a talking circle that focused around the importance of accepting differences.

Math:

• This week in Math students assessed their understanding of Fractions with our Part A assessment at the beginning of the week.
• This week students focused on adding, subtracting and simplifying fractions.

ELA:

• This week in Reading the students read about an Orangutan named Gherhana. Students sequenced the events in the story, sorted for important details and created a final poster, mini book or newspaper about the reading.
• This week in ELA students focused on -ir, -ire, and -ier words. Students completed a word sort to go along with the different word sounds.
• This week in Writing students edited and revised their rough draft. Their writing is an opinion piece based on “The Best Part of Me”.

Science/Social Studies:

• This week in social studies students learned about working with leaders in government to make changes. Student’s learned about action steps people can take when someone believes a law is unfair.
• This week in Science students read the story “Jess Make Hair Gel” and learned about different properties of a good hair gel. Student’s added to our design goal: Make a glue that is sticky AND strong. Students tested out a new mixture for glue containing gelatin and corn syrup.

Week 27:

SEL:

• This week in SEL our focus was on Showing Compassion. Students learned and shared about what showing compassion means to them. Students answered the question: What is one way you can show compassion in the classroom?

Math:

• This week in Math students took the Assessment on Fractions Part B. 
• This week the class started a new chapter on Measurements. The class focused on meters, kilometers, adding | subtracting meters and kilometers from the whole number. 

ELA:

• This week in Reading the students read the books “Hottest, Coldest, Highest, Deepest.” The students learned the new vocabulary related to the text. We learned about making connections, and main ideas using important details.
• This week in ELA students focused on the ‘R’ influenced words with -or, -ore, and -oar. Students completed a word sort to go along with the different word sounds.
• This week in Writing, students started using their ipads and wrote their final draft of “The Best Part of Me” on the google classroom.

Science/Social Studies:

• This week in social studies students the essential question was: How Can We Work Together Around the World? Students explored how people and lawmakers work together to make decisions about their community and understood how people can petition their leaders to take action.
• This week in Science students used different ingredients to make their glue and did the strong test. Students found evidences on what ingredients would help them make a glue that is strong and sticky.

Week 29:

SEL:

• This week in SEL our focus was on Importance of settling back into a routine. The focused questions were “Why is it important to have a routine?” and “What are some important school routines?”

Math:

• This week in Math students started a new chapter on Geomentary. The class explored shapes and learned to find the center, radius, and diameter of a circle.
• The class learned about Triangles, Angles, and identified Right Angles in shapes

ELA:

• This week in Reading, students learned about the history of the Great Chicago Fire. The students explored, wrote, and visualized Chicago with mistakes that led to the Great Chicago Fire. 
• This week in Writing students wrote about their spring break. Students also learned and sorted words to increase their knowledge on verbs, nouns, and adjectives. 
• This week in Foundations students started a new unit. The class learned about Diphthongs and Ambiguous vowels and their sounds. 

Science/Social Studies:

• This week in Social Studies students started a new unit “Making a Difference.” The essential question was “What does it mean to be a Hero?” 
• This week in Science students started a new unit on “Changing Landforms.” Students took part in a pre-unit assessment and explored the book “Landforms Postcards” with their assigned partners. 

Week 32:

SEL:

• This week in SEL our focus was on Building Positive Relationships. We spoke about what qualities make a healthy relationship and what to avoid when a friendship becomes unhealthy.

Math:

• This week in Math students continued to work on Area and Perimeter. Students created their own shapes and found the area and perimeters of their partners shapes. Students will assess their understanding of this Chapter next week, on Monday.

ELA:

• This week in reading students continued to read their novel I Survived the Great Chicago Fire, 1871. Students focused on sequencing events and identifying conflict.
• This week in Foundations students completed a spelling check with words that contain au and aw.
• This week in Writing students finished their instructional writing about Sea Slugs.

Social Studies/Science:

• This week in Social studies students focused on the question What does it mean to be Strong?
• This week in Science students used books and models to represent how rocks and landforms change over time. Students used hard candy as a model for a sand grain.