I hope you all enjoyed the fantastic winter concert on
Tuesday. What an amazing performance! As the end of the year
quickly approaches, we will finish up many units. Here is a look at the week coming up in
second grade.
Literature: This week, we will transition away from the Greek
myths and read some holiday literature. Part of the second grade Core
Knowledge curriculum is to read a version of “A Christmas Carol” (based on the
story by Charles Dickens) as well as the poem “The Night Before Christmas” by
Clement C. Moore. We have a second grade tradition of students memorizing
sections of the poem and reciting them on the last day of the semester.
On Monday, the students will be assigned their parts of the poem. Each student will memorize eight short lines,
and we will be practicing the poem daily in class.
Grammar/Riggs: This will be the final week of learning new Riggs
words for the semester. Our grammar focus will be on common and proper
nouns as well as plural and singular nouns.
History: We are beginning to wrap up our unit on Ancient
Greece. On Monday we will continue to learn about Alexander the Great’s
accomplishments and conquests. We will then be reviewing important dates
in the history of the Greek city-states by making a timeline together. On
Wednesday, second grade will be having a Greece celebration! Students
will be traveling around the school to different “city-states” and trying out
food, making crafts, and playing some Olympic games. We also have a guest
speaker coming in this coming Friday to talk to our students about Greece.
Science: We have learned so much about insects throughout the
quarter. This week we will be reviewing and looking back on everything we
have learned. On Monday we will be playing a fun game to review the
information that will appear on Tuesday’s test. On Thursday and Friday,
we will be discussing some of my favorite topics: camouflage and mimicry.
Students will get to play a camouflage game outside and we will also be looking
at some incredible insects that either blend in or appear to be a something
scary to ward off predators.
Important Notes:
-We still need a few volunteers to help out with the Olympic activities
on the field on Wednesday afternoon during the Greece celebration.
Students will be rotating around to different “city-states” and we hope to have
an Olympia spot! This slot is found at the very bottom of the sign up: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090E4BAAAF23A75-greece
-Insect projects are due January 7th. I am
collecting all the resource pages that have been completed over the last few
weeks. They will all be sent home on
Wednesday. Please note that the blue
resources paper needs to be turned in with the project.
-Wednesday, December 18 is a half day with release times at 12:15
and 12:30.
-Conferences for all
students (math and homeroom) will be held on January 6-9. I will send out
the sign-up at the end of this quarter. As we have mentioned before, the
evaluations this quarter will only be checklists. When you come in for
your conference with me, we will be discussing specific strengths of your child
as well as goals for continued growth (information that was included in the
narrative portion in the first quarter evaluations.)
I hope you are enjoying the
cooler weather!
Warmly,
Ms. Norris
