January 30, 2015
You can contact Mrs. Anderson at , 608-204-2038, or .
Dear Families,There is no homework for this upcoming, short week. Please see report cards for behavior and academic progress this quarter.
I look forward to seeing you on Friday, February 13th for our Emerson Love of Literacy event: Family Snuggle!
Smiles,
Mrs. Anderson
Internal Motivation
During the second semester of second grade, it is important to start to build on your child’s internal motivation. By the end of second grade, we hope that your child can choose to read by themselves for at least thirty minutes per day (chapter books, comics, picture books, etc.) We also hope that they can complete common, household tasks that you have asked of them (getting dressed alone, tying shoes, taking out the trash, cleaning their room, etc.) In school, all students should be able to work independently on skill-engaging tasks without disrupting peers. This means that they can complete the work that is at their own developmental level.
To work on this, our class has been saying some positive affirmation each day to remind us that: we can learn by taking control of our own actions. We now expect students to be on task because they now know how.
Reading
You are invited to Emerson’s Love of Literacy Day on February 13th! Mrs. Anderson’s class is throwing a Family Snuggle & Read Party at 1:30 until the end of the day. Please allow your child to bring in one small blanket or pillow, and, one stuffed animal if they would like.
bring one small blanket or pillow to class that day for the “Snuggle Time”. Valentines are also okay to bring for the party at 2:00.
Field Trips
Thank you to Gabrielle and Jessica for being our two chaperones for the Aldo Leopold Trip on Feb. 10th. If you want to chaperone for Peking Acrobats (Feb.9th), please send in an extra $5 for your trip cost. Thanks!
Report Cards
Please let me know if there is something that needs an immediate discussion and we can schedule a time to talk. Otherwise, we will be having 3rd quarter Parent-Teacher Conferences in March before Spring Break (March 27th). Please sign up for your preferred conference time by returning the form in your child’s Eagle folder, calling, or emailing. I will confirm your time with you as soon as possible.
Math
We have been working in teams using real-life data. Students can now use a chart of data to create a graph. The types of graphs we studied were: pie charts, T-charts, bar graphs, and scatter plots. Ask your child if they could graph something for you at home to check their skills!
Social Studies
Students have been studying “You are Here” maps and locating themselves within the city, state, country, continent, or even the planet! Students watched many short video clips to help aid the discussion, “Why is Madison different than the rest of Wisconsin?” Students understood these topics very well. There was a short assessment on maps & geography this week too.
Our next school-wide behavior focus is: naming and dealing with our feelings.
Writing
We began a new unit this week: opinion writing. Students began by thinking about their reading. They wrote a short opinion piece about a boy named Will that saved an injured bird. Ask your child what they thought about Will.
Bold words in the academic areas are vocabulary terms we are studying in class. / Page 1 of 2