We had a visit from a Santa Clara County Sheriff's deputy. One of our classroom parents was the high bidder at the Silent Auction. The student and one friend from the class got to ride to school in the Sheriff's patrol car. They brought donuts and the officer did a presentation for the class. He told them about his job and talked with the students about staying safe from strangers. Then the students got to see inside the patrol car. It was a fantastic learning experience for everyone. We are so thankful for the opportunity.
Students presented their own lessons on a self selected project this week. Three students presented the slides presentations they created on bats, deer, and coyotes. Two students taught different origami techniques. We learned to make notebooks, funny eyeglasses, hamburgers, and cookies. We had lessons in doing cartwheels, the splits, and tae kwon do. Our art lessons included painting a ladybug on a rock, coloring an American flag, and how to draw a dog. We had a math lesson on subtracting 4 digit numbers and a student read a story to the class and then checked for understanding by asking related questions. We learned to play soccer and basketball as well. We had a science lesson on how to grow a cherry tree and another science lesson on turning a solid and liquid into a gas and filling a balloon. We learned a number of new skills and gained valuable information. We had a visit from a Santa Clara County Sheriff's deputy. One of our classroom parents was the high bidder at the Silent Auction. The student and one friend from the class got to ride to school in the Sheriff's patrol car. They brought donuts and the officer did a presentation for the class. He told them about his job and talked with the students about staying safe from strangers. Then the students got to see inside the patrol car. It was a fantastic learning experience for everyone. We are so thankful for the opportunity.
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Our Project Cornerstone volunteer read The Recess Queen to the class on Friday. In the story Jean is in charge of the playground and all the children kowtow to her. Then one day a new girl comes to the school. Katie Sue stands up for herself when "Mean" Jean confronts her. Katie Sue turns "Mean" Jean into a friend by inviting her to play with her. At the end the playground is a happier place for all the children because Jean has learned how to make friend and be a friend. Then, we did a review game to remind us about the lessons we learned from the eight project cornerstone books we read this year. There were prizes for everyone. Ask your child to tell you which book was his or her favorite and why. These books all have great messages about being an upstander. Simon’s Hook is my personal favorite because it teaches children techniques for dealing with teasing and taunting. Check out some of these books at the library. Read them with your child to help reinforce the message. When you work with your child on these important social skills you are helping him or her build confidence and become a problem solver. In our listening and learning strand we are studying the human body. We read about Anton van Leeuwenhoek, a Dutch scientist who discovered bacteria more than 400 years ago. We learned that Anton van Leeuwenhoek kept detailed journals about his discoveries, which is how we know about his work today. Ask your child to name some human body systems and show you the hand motions we learned for each system. Writing skills was our focus this week. We finished up our animal reports, we created Google Slides Presentations using our report, first graders wrote about their field trip to Happy Hollow Park and Zoo, second graders wrote about the job of an entomologist. We have been working hard getting ready for open house. I hope you are planning to come on Wednesday. The classroom will be open from 6:00 to 7:30 P.M.
We created special Mother’s Day writing as a gift for our moms. The second grades took their gifts home on Thursday. I was out on Friday, but I left instructions that the first graders should take their home on Friday. If they didn’t make it home, I will make sure all you wonderful moms get them next week. They are sure to bring a smile to your face. Second Grade Math In second grade math we lay the foundation for multiplication and division. Students with a solid foundational understanding of using repeated addition, forming equal groups, skip counting, and odd and even numbers are better prepared for the higher level multiplication and division concepts taught in third grade and beyond. Up to this point we have focused our attention on place value units. Now, we are discovering that numbers other than 1, 10, and 100 can serve as units. We began by making making equal units of objects and related these units to repeated addition. For example, a student is given 15 counters and told to make three equal groups. Then, the student adds the three equal groups to find the total amount. Next, we worked on creating arrays. Students learned to organize objects into columns and rows with each having an equal number. We learned that rows go across and columns go up and down. So students would arrange 15 counters into rows of 5 across to make three rows of 5 counters, Then, they decompose that array and make rows of 3 counters. They now have five rows of three counters. First Grade Math First graders are learning to add like units within pairs of two-digit numbers. For example, students interpret numbers such as 25 as 1 ten and 15 ones as well as 2 tens and 5 ones and as 25 ones. Working with this concept supports student understanding in the upcoming lessons, when students add pairs such as 14 + 16 and initially make 2 tens and 10 ones. Then we move on to adding two-digit numbers where the ones digits produce a sum less than or equal to 10. For example, when adding 23 + 15 , students decompose the second addend into 10 and 5. They then add 10 to 23 , making 33, and then add the remaining 5 ones. Geometry Both grades are learning about geometry. We are focusing on 2D and 3D shapes and rectangular arrays. Students are learning to identify shapes by their attributes and follow directions to draw shapes. At home you can support your student in the study of geometry by making shapes cut from paper. Cut a variety of shapes (for example, squares, rectangles, triangles, circles, and hexagons) for your child to glue onto a background. You might like to do this as a family mural, adding shapes over a period of time to create a scene. Shapes can be combined. Markers and/or crayons can be used to add details. In class, we read the Greedy Triangle by Marilyn Burns to study geometry using literature. Here are some other children’s books that contain ideas related to our work in this geometry unit of study: Friedman, Aileen. A Cloak for the Dreamer, Hoban, Tana. Shapes, Shapes, Shapes, Greene, Rhonda Gowler, When a Line Bends . . . A Shape Begins. |
AuthorHello, I am Renee De Villez. This page is about the activities going on in my classroom. My audience consists of the parents of the students in my class. Other parents and teachers are welcome to read it as well. Archives
May 2017
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