Weekly Updates 23-24

Hello 104 Families,

We had an amazing second week of School! The Second Graders are  doing a great job in learning as well as following the expectations of the school and classroom community. 

SEL

• Students have got various opportunities to learn and know more about their classmates and Ms. Fazal. The class has been working together to create a classroom community that looks, feels, and sounds Great! 
• The two focused questions in SEL this week were- What are some things we want to do to treat our classmates kindly and things we want to avoid doing if we are treating our classmates Kindly.
• We also enjoyed being part of the talking circle with the recess monitors this week.

Math:

• During math the class started getting into our math routine. Students enjoyed working with a partner to solve the Greg Tang math sheets. We had hands-on activities where students made 3D shapes out of papers and different addition/ subtraction coloring sheets. 

Foundations:

• This week, the class has been part of word study where we are learning about the patterns of the words. Students have been doing great with sorting, cutting, and gluing the words based on their sounds in their composition books. 

Reading/ Writing:

•  Second graders enjoyed the read-alouds throughout the week. The class has been learning about picking books that are “just right” for them. A “just right book” is a book that is not too easy or too difficult to read. We have also worked on sorting different genres, and how to track their thoughts while reading. In writing, second graders worked on giving details and creating complete sentences.

Science/ Social Studies:

•  During Science, the class learned about different aquatic animals. Students enjoyed their time drawing and writing about the sea animals. 
• In Social Studies, the class has been talking about how families are different but have the same family values. These values consist of love, caring, and respect for each other.  Students also got a chance to learn about their classmates' family. 

I hope you are enjoying the long weekend! I look forward to seeing families next Saturday for the Back to School Picnic!

Hello 104 Families,

The Second Graders had another great week of learning. It was amazing to see families at our Back to School Picnic yesterday! Picture Day is on Thursday, September 28, 2023. Orders can be made directly from this site using code 79631QF. 

SEL

• This week the students worked with their new partners. They got to discuss in groups and then share with the whole class about how to be a good friend and what being a good friend means to them. Also, the class enjoyed solving animal puzzles with their SEL partners.

Math:

• In Math, we started Chapter 1- Numbers to 10,000. The goal this week was to identify the value and the place of each digit in a four-digit number.

• The students enjoyed using Math manipulatives such as:  place value cards and base 10 blocks to solve math  problems. 

Foundations:

• Our goal for Foundations was to recognise short vowel sounds in a CVC word. The class participated in coming up with a CVC word that has a short vowel sound and later shared it with the whole class. 

Reading/ Writing:

• In reading, we learned to understand what makes a book a fantasy or a realistic fiction. The class enjoyed reading “Stellaluna” and “The Can Man”. After reading both books, we reviewed why “Stellaluna” is a Fantasy and “The Can Man” is  a realistic fiction book. The students also explored fiction books and wrote their thoughts about the books. 
• In writing, the focus was to understand Sentences and Fragments. The class enjoyed the Scoot cards game by answering the questions on the cards that were placed around the classroom. 

Social Studies:

• We started chapter 1 in social studies. We are learning about life long ago and the ways we could learn about the past. One of the assignments students enjoyed working on was drawing and writing about their personal timeline. 

Hello 104 Families,

I can’t believe we are in week 4 already! Read below for some highlights:

Social Emotional: 

• This week we had a talking circle about understanding the boundaries.
• This week we spoke about the importance of friendship and what it looks like to make every friend feel included.

Literacy:

• This week in reading we did an author study on Janell Cannon. We read Stellaluna, Crickwing, and Pinduli. We identified the problems and solutions in each story.
• This week in writing we practice taking an idea for our writing and making it more specific.
• This week in foundations we differentiated CVC short vowel words. We also identified CVC words in our independent reading books.

Math

• This week in math we learned about rounding to the nearest thousand and hundred.
• This week in math we created a number line on the board and our own human number line.

Social Studies | Science

• This week in Social Studies we learned about Museums, timelines, and Artifacts. We discussed the Essential Question: Why is it important to learn about the past?
• This week in Science we learned about the Sand tilefish, Lionfish, Flying gurnard and Porcupine fish.

Hello 104 Families,

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.
• We had our first spotlight student this week. The student got an opportunity to sit on the teachers chair and answer to the questions their classmates have to know more about the student.

Math:

• 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.

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. The class had fun playing feelings charades. The class also talked about why it is important to share our feelings.

Math:

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

Foundations:

• This week students learned about oddball words and finding the 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 showing 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 focused questions for social studies were ‘Why did people move to new places?’  ‘How were the journeys people took the same? ‘How were they different?’ ‘What did immigrants and Black Americans who moved to Chicago have in common?’

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 and equation 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 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”.

Students had their first visit to the school library. They checked out books and will be able to do this every Tuesday! Please make sure they bring back the books so that they can check out another one.

SEL:

• This week in SEL our focus was “Who works in our School”. The students brainstormed ideas on who they want to interview and learn more about their job at Decatur. 
• On Monday, the students will be able to interview the staff members they picked. 
• Our SEL talking circle focused on respecting the staff at our school.

Math:

• This week in Math we finished our Chapter 2: Addition and Subtraction- Part 1.
• Students reviewed word problems on scoot task cards around the classroom.
• Students took an assessment to show their understanding of Chapter 2.

ELA:

• This week in Foundations students completed their Tic-Tac-Toe worksheet which focused on CVCe, CVC, Oddball and CVVC words. Students also took a spelling test.
• In Reading, students learned about the settings of different fiction books. Students also analyzed fiction books by using text evidence to find: Title, Author, Characters, Setting, and the Plot.
• In writing students finished 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?” Also, the class learned about “Brave Bessie”.
• This week in Science, students studied maps of the Bengal Tiger Reserve and investigated different  habitats.

Also, the Jogathon is on Friday, October 20th! More information can be found on the Jogathon page. Please help out with the school fundraiser. Looking forward to seeing families cheer the class on! 

104 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 are we taking to show kindness towards our friends and adults in the classroom/school. 

• 104 friends also had the opportunity to interview people who work at our school. Students interviewed Ms. Martino, Ms. Doggett, Ms. Beard, Ms. Cross, Ms. Case, and Mr. Chriss to learn more about their job at Decatur.

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 the vocabulary word by looking at the definition, synonym, antonym, and examples. 

• 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 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?”

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:

• The class finished chapter 3 in Math this week.
• The students took the end of the lesson assessment.

ELA:

• This week in Foundations students took a spell check on short and long ‘u’ sounds.
• This week in Reading, the class learned about poetry, the elements and metaphors in a poem. 
• In writing, we finished the final narratives and took a self reflection.

Science:

• This week in Science, the class 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 scale.

SEL:

• This week in SEL our focus was on appreciating things around us and 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.

SEL:

• This week's SEL topic was on the importance of following school and classroom rules. The focus questions were “Why do you think it is important that we speak softly in the hallway?” “What do you think can happen if we don't follow the rule to walk in the classroom and halls?”

Math:

• This week in Math we started Chapter 5 on Multiplication. 
• Students Explore Manipulatives that can be used for multiplication such as place value disk, multiplication cards and create their own multiplication charts.

ELA:

• This week in Reading students explored more non- fiction books and learned about understanding important facts and Author’s message in non-fiction books. 
• This week in writing students added dialogues and sensory details to their fiction books.
• This week we started literacy centers for reading, writing and foundations.

Science/Social Studies:

• This week in Social Studies students finished Lesson 2 and 3. The Essential Question for this week was “How is the place we live important to who we are?”
• 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 that Plants depend on animals for pollination or to move their seeds around.

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?

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 the 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 finished the Unit on Plant and Animal Relationships. Students took 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.

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.

SEL:

• This week in SEL, students wrote a letter to their 5th grade buddies with whom they will be starting to work with during SEL in the coming weeks. During the talking circle, the class identified ways to take care of each other in the classroom. 
• This week in SEL, students read the book “Do Unto Otters” by Laurie Keller. Students then differentiated good and bad manners as a whole class. 

Math: 

• This week in Math students finished the chapter on divisions. Students reviewed the math concepts for divisions and ended the chapter by taking the assessment.
• The class was introduced to the new chapter- Graphs and Tables. Students learned about Scaled, Picture and Bar Graphs.

ELA:

• This week in reading, the class finished chapter 3 of Frida Khalo. Students demonstrated their understanding of the reading skills such as, visualizing events, character traits, and analyzing facts. 
• This week in foundations, we focused on long E ‘ie’ - Chief, I ‘ie’- Lie, A ‘ei’- Eight. Students were part of the activity Tic- Tac-Toe- Long A, E, I. Later, they sorted their words based on the sounds.
• This week in writing, students reviewed Parts of a Paragraph, Topic Sentence, Supporting Sentences, and Conclusion Sentence. Students picked their first prompt for the opinion writing and wrote three reasons that connect to their opinions. 

Science/Social Studies:

• This week in Social Studies, students build on the previous lessons' understanding of wants and needs to investigate the difference between goods and services and how they are used to meet people’s wants and needs. Students were encouraged to connect the goods and services they see around them every day to the needs of people in the community.
• This week in Science, Students learned about the properties of several materials. Students explored and observed different types of glue and learned about their properties.

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.

SEL:

• This week in SEL our focus was on feelings. Students identified clues in faces, bodies, and situations that help them notice and understand how people are feeling. 
• Students took part in a read aloud of “Red: A Crayon’s Story” and shared “On the outside people think I…” and “On the inside I…”
• The 2nd graders wrote letters to their 5th grade buddies and got to meet them.

Math:

• This week in Math students started a new chapter: Multiplying and Dividing with 6,7,8, and 9. 
• Students had fun creating their own multiplication wheel and were challenged to finish the “DO” worksheet within 10 minutes.

ELA:

• This week in Reading, students finished chapter 6 of our novel on Frida Kahlo. Students also learned about the Settings, Text Connections, and Making Inferences. 
• This week in Foundations, the class started a new unit. Our focus this week was on R influenced vowel spelling patterns ‘ar’ - car and ‘or’- for
• This week in writing, students finished their rough drafts on opinion writing based on the article “Finders Keepers”. 

Science/Social Studies:

• This week in Social Studies, students focused on the essential question: “Where do the Goods We Use Come From?” The goal of the week was to explore how goods are produced and understand the steps in the production process. 
• This week in Science, students learned about how properties of a mixture changes. We explored the book “Jelly Bean Engineer”  to gather evidence that supports our predictions. Students also made their own glue and tested it.

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 admitting 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 behavior and apologized or gave space to others. 

Math:

• This week in math we students took the part B 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 about poetry. The reading text 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.

Science/Social Studies:

• This week in science students explored the books “Interesting Ingredients” with their partners to learn what ingredients have the quality of stickiness. Then came up with a design goal to make a sticky glue. 
• This week in social studies we started a new unit  “Working and Taking Actions together”. The essential question for the week was “ How do people agree to work together?”

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”

Science/Social Studies:

• This week in Social studies focused on the essential question: How does our government work?
• This week in Science students continued to experiment with materials in order to make a strong glue substance.

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 reviewed the book “Jess Make Hair Gel” to learned about different properties of a good hair gel. Student’s added to our design goal for next week on how to make a glue that is sticky AND strong.

SEL:

• This week in SEL our focus was on Showing Compassion. Students learned and shared about what showing compassion means to them? What is one way they 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, 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. Students also wrote a story | poem with the focused words for this week. 
• This week in Writing, students started using their ipads and wrote their final draft on “The Best Part of Me” on the google classroom. 

Science/Social Studies:

• This week in social studies students the essential question was on 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 on what ingredients would help them make the glue that is strong and sticky.

SEL:

• This week in SEL our focus was on the importance of managing our feelings. We spoke about coping skills we can use to help us calm down when we are feeling mad, angry or frustrated.

Math:

• This week in math we continued our unit on Geometry. Students have been using rulers, set squares and tangrams to help with their understanding.

ELA:

• This week in Reading we started reading the Novel: I Survived The Great Chicago Fire, 1871. Students completed annotated drawing of each chapter to identify important events happening in the story.
• This week in Writing students started their information writing process on Slimy Sea Slugs. Student wrote down facts bout the Sea Slugs and started their topic sentence.
• This week in foundations we continued to learn about Diphthongs and Ambiguous vowels. Students completed a word sort and helped create a list of words with the correct sounds.

Social Studies/Science:

• This week in Social studies our essential question was How can we be brave? We learned about Rosa Parks and the Bus boycott and described attributes on what bravery looks like and what the definition of justice is.
• This week in Science students are learning about Changing Landforms. Students explored book to gain understanding of what landforms are.

It was so nice connecting with parents this week! I am so looking forward to ending this year strong! I appreciate all the support you do at home to help our kids thrive in the classroom!

SEL:

• This week in SEL our focus was on ‘Having Confidence’. The focused questions for the talking circle were “What makes you feel confident and why?” “What does confidence look like?”

Math:

• This week in math, students finished the unit on Geometry and took the assessment.
• The class started a new chapter on Area and Perimeter. Students have been working very hard. The goal of the lesson is for the students to understand the formal square units and to find the area of a figure in the square units. 

ELA:

• This week in Reading, the class took an assessment on chapters 1-5 of the novel “The Great Chicago Fire, 1871”. The focused objectives for reading this week was to identify similes, metaphors, and important settings. 
• This week in Writing students finished their rough drafts on the informational writing on Slimy Sea Slugs.
• This week in foundations we continued to learn about Diphthongs and Ambiguous vowels. Students completed a word sort and took an assessment on vowel spelling patterns with -ou and -ow.

Social Studies/Science:

• This week in Social studies our essential question was How does curiosity change the world? We learned about different scientists and how their curiosity changed the world. The vocabulary words for this week were: curiosity, scientist, inventions.  
• This week in Science students are learning about Changing Landforms. Students used their senses to understand the different sands and their properties. The class also learned about how to visualize something even if you cannot see it. 

Below are important updates for the month of April and May:

April 22- 24 | Scholastic Book Fair. E-wallets are recommended, so younger students don't lose or misplace cash. We accept cash from students as well, and credit cards from adults. 

https://bookfairs.scholastic.com/content/fairs/ewallet.html

Reminders to students: 

We do not encourage students borrowing money from each other, or asking for money from friends, to spend at the book fair. If they would like to purchase a book, we can hold the item for 24 hrs so that they may ask their family for money to spend. 

Families may create an E-WALLET for their students for cash-free shopping here: https://bookfairs.scholastic.com/content/fairs/how-ewallet-works.html?fairId=5678645

Anyone can contribute to a student's e-wallet - grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. 

April 25th | Join us for a fun Family STEM Night at 4:30 PM. Ms. Fazal will also be there with her kids!

May 9th | Yearbook orders due. You can purchase the year book by using the QR code attached on the flier below. Please use your information and not your students to complete the order.

May 16- 24 | i-ready testing. 104 will be tested on May 7th and May 10th. 

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 104 will completed a spelling check with words that contain -au and -aw.
• This week in Writing students finished their final draft on informational writing about Slimy 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.

SEL:

• This week in SEL our focus was on Identifying feelings and practicing real life scenarios. Students practiced role playing scenarios with small groups.

Math:

• This week in Math our focus is on Time. Student’s have been practicing calculating amounts of time and differences in time. Student’s assessed their understanding of Time on Friday.

ELA:

• This week in Reading students completed a project based on the Novel, I Survived the Great Chicago Fire, 1871. The students had the option of creating a timeline, map or comic strip. 
• This week in Foundations students have been practicing the silent consonants sounds (kn, wr, and gn). Students created an anchor chart and word sort.
• This week in writing students wrote their rough drafts of their informational writing books about continents. Each student chose one of the seven continents to research and write about.

Social Studies/Science:

• This week in Social Studies students wrapped up their Unit. The unit was about Making a difference. Students completed a project with the focus question being: “How can I make a difference in my school community?”
• This week in Science, students continued to learn about how landforms change. Students used books to gain a deeper understanding on what they could not observe but had to visualize.

SEL:

• This week in SEL our focus was on how we can end the year with positivity. Students talked about what they accomplished in 2nd grade. They shared their favorite memories of second grade and wrote positive notes for each other. 

Math:

• This week in Math students have been reviewing the Math concepts we learned. Students finished the review worksheet on Divisions, Multiplications, Fractions, Geometry, Measurements, Graphs & Tables.

ELA:

• This week in Reading, students were part of read alouds and cut and paste activities on cause & effect, main idea, key details and making inferences. 
• This week in Writing students finished their Second Grade Memory book. The class was excited to share their books with their fifth grade buddies.
• This week in Foundations students took a spelling check on the complex consonants scr-, str-, and spr- sounds to end the unit. 

Science:

• This week in Science students continued to discuss how landforms change. Students explored the book Land and Water to find evidence to answer the question “How Landforms Change Over Time.