Blog Archives

Videos, Pen Pals, and Butterflies

5/29/2015

   We had a visit from a videographer who filmed students for a short film about Nordstrom School that will be available on the MHUSD.Org website. It will be similar to the ones already on the website for Paradise Valley and El Toro. Students were filmed collaborating in the computer lab and in the classroom. Check back later in the summer to view the final product.
We wrote our final letters to our pen pals this week. Also, we kept a close watch on our butterflies. The butterflies emerged from their chrysalises this week. We fed them orange juice for a couple of days. Then we released them on Friday.
One student had the opportunity to be teacher for the day on Friday. This was the prize I offered to the highest bidder at the Nordstrom Parent Night Out Silent Auction.
In math this week we worked on partitioning shapes into equal parts and telling time using analog clocks. Students took home their math and skills books today. They can work on these books over the summer to review skills they learned this year.
Next week is the final week of school. We have several activities planned. Please see the home page for more information.

Open House is Wednesday, May 20

5/16/2015

Please plan to attend Open House this Wednesday, May 20. We will display the student work from throughout the year. This is always a nice evening of sharing the joys of second grade with family members.
    Over the past two months we have been learning about Westward expansion of the United States. Students learned how and why pioneers moved west, as well as the many innovations of the time that helped make expansion possible and more convenient. The children learned how the lives of the buffalo and the Plains Native Americans, namely the Lakota Sioux, were adversely affected by this expansion and innovation. The students have been making paper quilt squares as we read each story and will put the squares together into a quilt to display at Open House. Ask your child how the Lakota Sioux hunted bison and how it was different from the way the pioneers used the bison. Bison, or buffalo, faced extinction during the time of westward expansion because many people hunted them without preservation and the future in mind. The pioneers killed too many and only used a few parts, while the Lakota Sioux only killed what they needed and used all the parts.
    In math, we are working on solving problems involving money using the $ and ￠symbols appropriately. Also, we have been learning to measure length using inches, feet, centimeters, and meters.
    Students returned their dioramas and their animals reports this week. I’ve been told by the substitutes that they all did a great job. Unfortunately, I was down for three days with the stomach flu and missed most of their presentations. I did, however, go in late Friday afternoon to view the dioramas and the pick up the reports and I was impressed with the student work.
    Our Spring Concert has been rescheduled for Tuesday, May 26. Second Grade arrives at 6:30 PM.

Thank You From the Bottom of My Heart

5/8/2015

Thank you everyone for this week of appreciation. I loved getting the flowers and the treats. I am so touched by the notes from the students and the parents. Words of encouragement is my love language, so those notes are very special to me. I am heading to SoCal to see my mom for Mother's Day. I will take them with me on my flight to Southern California and read them over and over. The gift card is very generous as well. I will be working on personal thank you notes this week.
I hope all the mother's reading this have a wonderful Mother's Day. Your child did some writing and put together a project in class.. They loved making these cards and writing about their moms from the heart.
We introduced money in math and took a test on multiplication. The tests are in your child's Friday Folder. In addition, we are learning about data and graphing.
Also, we learned about the job of an entomologist and wrote a paragraph about entomology. You will see this at Open House on May 20.
I truly love coming to work everyday and I am NOT counting the days until summer break. I will miss these children and spending time everyday teaching them and planning what I will teach them. I am so honored that you have taken time out of your busy schedule to recognize me this week. I have the best job in the world and each child in my class is special and important to me.

Awesome Amazing Animals

5/2/2015

This week we focused on research and report writing. All students have been working in collaborative groups to create rough drafts of a report on a specific animal. Students took the work home in a separate folder that is inside their Friday folder. Students are expected to complete the final copy of their animal report as homework for the next two weeks. In addition, students need to make a diorama to go with their report. The directions for the report and diorama are included in the folder. Please be sure your child works on the report for to have it ready by the Friday, May 15 due date.
In Scholastic News we read about the glass frog, which is an animal that lives in the rain forest. We discovered the survival skills this frog uses in each state of its life cycle to stay safe from its predators. Students searched the text for proof of statements such as, "glass frog dads take care of their eggs," and "glass frogs are a mystery to scientists." Then, students had to cite the text evidence that proved these statements were true.
We read about insects that glow and sing and did a firefly art project. And, we learned about the armored tanks of the insect world -- beetles. We learned there are over 400,000 different kinds of beetles. We read about sixteen different types and graphed which one was our favorite. Ask your child to name a few of the varieties of beetles we discussed. See the home page for a beetle slideshow.
Our Project Cornerstone volunteer visited and read Sebastian’s Roller Skates by Joan De Deu Prats. Sebastian is a quiet boy, but has lots of thoughts in his mind. When someone asks him a question he gives one word answers, but in his head he has many interesting things to share. Then, by chance, he finds a pair of roller skates and teaches himself to skate. It takes him several weeks to learn, but after repeated tries and practice, Sebastian gains confidence on the roller skates. Learning to skate gives Sebastian confidence and he begins to voice the thoughts that are in his head. He shares information with his neighbor, his barber, and makes a new friend.
In math, we continue to lay the foundations of multiplication by organizing equal groups into arrays. We used manipulatives to compose arrays one row or one column at a time and expressed the total via repeated addition equations. For example, students arranged one column of 5 counters, then another, and then another to compose an array of 3 columns of 5, or 15 counters. As they compose and decompose arrays, students create different number sentences yielding the same total (e.g., 5 + 5 + 5 = 15 and 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 = 15). Then, students moved to drawing arrays to distinguish rows from columns by separating equal groups horizontally and vertically (e.g., 3 columns of 5 or 5 rows of 3). Finally, we created tape diagrams to represent array situations.

Videos, Pen Pals, and Butterflies

Open House is Wednesday, May 20

Thank You From the Bottom of My Heart

Awesome Amazing Animals

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