Week of February 25th Update

Hello Second Grade Families,

This has been a fun and busy week back from break.  The students have been getting back into the swing of things and working hard!

Announcements and Reminders:

-This Friday at 9:25 am the students in 2-5^th grade who have been practicing routines with Josh (from Circus Smirkus) will be performing in the all school assembly.  It will be about 40 minutes to an hour long.  It will be a great show.  The students have kept many acts and their tricks a secret, so it is exciting to be able to see what they have been practicing.  Thank you to all the families who have invited Josh to stay with them or by giving him gift certificates and cards to local restaurants while he has been at DBS.

- Tomorrow night at 6pm is also Movie night at DBS.  The students will be watching “Wreck-it Ralph Breaks the Internet” and the parents will be able to watch the Resilience Documentary.

-The class has really improved with their computer skills, and have been writing and typing papers about their February break.  From the sounds of all their papers, everyone had a great time!  We will also be continuing to write and type about non-fiction interests in this month as well. I have been keeping all their papers in their files and I can show you this at parent conferences.  You will get all these papers at the end of the year.

-Students have been doing a wonderful job with their spelling homework and quizzes.  All students have increased levels since December.

- Reading logs are back on track now that we are back from February break.  Since we are more than half way through the year I do expect student to write one or two sentences about each the reading they did each night.  Each night they will be able to get 2 points.  1-if they did the reading and wrote the number of minutes and 2-if they wrote 1-2 sentences.  I explained to the students that from this week until April Vacation I will be keeping track of how many minutes each child read and I will be giving all students their final minutes of reading they completed before April Break.  Students who make it to 420 minutes by the Friday before April break will get prizes.   To get to this goal, it only takes 15 minutes of reading a night. 

-In science we have started learning about how seeds of trees and plants travel through wind, water, and animals and this is why you can find the same trees in completely different environments.

-In math the students have been diligently practicing adding two and three digit numbers.  We have been really focused on identifying place value of the hundred’s, ten’s and one’s place as they practice their addition and using math manipulatives.  We have also been dedicated to skip counting by 100’s and 10’s from any number: 5, 105, 205, 305, and for tens: 135, 145, 155, 165, and so on.   Our goal is to be able to teach students all the numbers up to 1000 and have the students feel comfortable skip counting at any number between 0-1,000.   The class has been doing a great job!

The classroom blog has more pictures from before and after break.  Here is the link so you can take a look: http://macsclassroom.blogspot.com/

If you have any questions feel free to email back.

Sincerely, 

Ms. Mac 

Amazing Students!

In the past month our school has been identifying hobbies, passions, and talents that the students feel they are amazing at.  We all have different skills and interests, and as a community we celebrate what makes each one of us unique.

Building Blue Prints

The second grade class had another visit from the Growing Change Dartmouth students before our February break.  The college students were helping our class construct blue prints for the green house ideas that the second graders had in a previous lesson.  Everyone was engaged and excited to particpate in creating the blue prints.

Valentine's Day Decorations and Activities

The students had a wonerful time celebrating their classmates and friendships on Valentine's Day before the February Break.  We recieved many decilous and generous cards and treats!  We are very lucky to be part of the Dothan Brook School community and that there are so many caring people!

Green House Prototypes

Last Friday, Growing Change came in to teach a lesson and had the class brainstorm ideas of how to grow plants even during the winter.  Later during the lesson, the Dartmouth students and the class discussed green houses and asked the students to create their prototype of how they think they should design a green house.  These pictures are some of the beginning steps of the projects that came home yesterday.  This coming Friday, February 15th, the students will be reflecting and creating more solid structures.