Welcome to Life in Second Grade

Happy New Year everyone! My apologies for the lateness of my post, as our classroom blog has been encountering some technical difficulties. Everything seems to be up and running properly now, so we can now resume our normal communication. Please see this week’s newsletter for the latest second grade news and important dates. 

I hope that you all had a wonderful winter holiday with your families and loved ones. It’s hard to believe that half the year has gone by! We’re half way to grade three! We still have a lot to learn and enjoy before this school year is up. In fact were are currently studying China  in social studies. Students are welcome to share books, pictures or other artifacts from home about China with their classmates. Please label your child’s belongings clearly with their name.  Sharing what we know can help each other learn. 

In conjuction with our social studies unit the Chinese Department is orgainzing and Chinese New Year Assembly on January 22nd, 2009 at 1:00 p.m. for grades PK3 through fifth grade. Please stay tuned for more information regarding the details of this fantastic assembly.

It’s hard to believe that Winter Break is only four days away. The school year is flying by! We are working hard to finishing our work before we headed off all over the world to visit family, travel home, or venture off to a new and exotic place. Wherever you spend your Winter Break I wish you all wonderful and restful two weeks, and best wishes for the New Year!

Speaking of traveling all over the world, we have been on an amazing adventure the past three weeks. We have traveled across the globe and learned about the celebrations of Hanukkah, Finnish New Year, Diwali, Sinterklaas, St. Lucia, Christmas Trees, the Nativity Creche and Kwanzaa. This week we will be learning about Filipino Parol Lanterns, Ramadan and Korean New Year. Without the help of our fantastic parent volunteers and fellow students this unit of study would not have been possible. THANK YOU to all of our  volunteers!

As part of this Celebrations Around the World Unit students wrote about a family celebration. They interviewed their parents about how they celebrated this event or holiday when they were a child. This activity helps students understand how traditions and customs are passed down from generation to generation, as well as how traditions and celebrations can change over time. Stay tuned for our next podcast that will be heading your way very soon! Until then the following websites have some fun games and activities related to this fun and interesting social studies unit. I hope you enjoy them!

• Make Mrs. Bissmeyer’s YUMMY BIZCOCHITOS
• Read an online book about Kwanzaa
• Try These Fun Hanukkah Games
• Play These Ramadan Games
• Play and Learn About Different Celebrations with Arthur and Friends 
• Click Here to Decorate the Christmas Tree

We have been traveling around the world learning about different celebrations. Last week we traveled to Israel and learned all about Hanukkah. While we were in Israel we read a wonderful story about the eight nights of Hanukkah, made Star of David decorations, and played the dreidel game. Then we were off to Holland, where we learned all about wooden shoes and Sinterklaas. We wrote letters to Sinterklaas in hopes that he would stop by, and HE DID! We must have been very good little boys and little girls for him to travel all the way from Holland to visit us!

This week were off to Sweden to celebrate Santa Lucia Day. We will be participating in a Santa Lucia parade on Tuesday, December 9th at 8:30. Boys should wear white shirts to school on Tuesday, while girls will be provided with white robes to wear. On Wednesday we are traveling to India to celebrate Diwali, and will be making candle holders to celebrate the festival of lights. On Thursday and Friday we will be learning about different parts of the Christmas celebrations. We will learn about the nativity creche and Christmas trees. This week is going to be so much fun!

Parents:  Our weekly newsletter will now be posted here on the HOME PAGE. You can view the newsletter by clicking twice on the icon to the left. After next week you can view old newsletters by clicking on Weekly Newsletter found on the right sidebar under Posting Categories.  I hope this new method of posting newsletters will keep you updated more regularly.

Our second graders have been working hard and learning a lot! It is hard to believe that December has arrived! We have a busy three weeks left until winter vacation rolls around. Here’s whats’ new in grade two!

1. December 4th - It’s our turn to BAKE for Treat Day. Send your yummy treats to school on Thursday.

 2.  December 4th - Family Celebration Projects are due back to school on Thursday.

3.  December 4th - Winter Bazaar - Holiday shopping for teachers and parents.

4. December 9th - 2nd Grade Santa Lucia Parade at 8:30 a.m.

5. December 11th - Winter Concert 10:30 for grades kindergarten through second. 

6. December 9th through 12th - Santa’s Workshop.

7. December 17th - Our 2nd grade Winter Party, the fun starts at 12:40!

8. December 19th - School will end at 11:30.   Happy Holidays!

Giving Tree date has been extended to December 11th, 2008.

The Giving Tree Program is a school wide initiative that allows students and their families to give to children in need in Shanghai.  Each classroom has several GIFT BAGS to fill for designated children. Our classroom has 5 children, and 5 gift bags to fill. The gift bags are to be filled with NEW unwrapped clothing, toys or school supplies. All items for the classroom can be sent to the classroom by THURSDAY, DECEMBER 11TH, 2008. What a wonderful way for our students to be GLOBAL MINDED! 

Here are the details of our five children:

1. An Cheng Cheng (BOY) - 7 years old, 123 cm tall, 21 kg and 24cm shoe size.

2. Hu Yong Lei (BOY) - 8 years old, 120 cm tall, 20 kg and 22 cm shoe size.

3. Cao Yue (BOY) - 6 years old, 115 cm tall, 19 kg and 21 cm shoe size.

4. Li Zi Jong (BOY) - 8 years old, 105 cm tall, 16 kg and 20 cm shoe size.

5. Dong Xin Xin (GIRL) - 7 years old, 115 cm tall, 18 kg, and 21 cm shoe size.

During science and technology class we have been learning more about balance and motion. By building our own roller coasters in technology class we have been able to learn more about friction, balance, speed and rotation. We hope you enjoy a video from last week’s technology class that shows what we learned from the roller coaster game. A special THANK YOU to Mr. Romard and Ms. Shirely for all their help!

During science class we have been learning how counter weights help balance things, how things need smooth surfaces to spin, how friction can slow things down, how rotation can make things spin, and how things that spin can make sound. Please enjoy our reflections of what we have learned so far!

On Friday, November 28th, second grade will be celebrating Thanksgiving!  Our second grade Thanksgiving celebration focuses on the concept of giving and sharing with each other. Please help us to make a fantastic fruit salad by sending in a single serving of cut up pieces of two of your child’s favorite fruits! Please cut up the fruit into small bite size pieces, and send them to school in a zippered plastic bag. We will combine all of the fruit for a healthy Thanksgiving treat! Please remember that school ends at 11:30 a.m. this Friday, November 28th. I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

In math we are completing our unit on 2-D and 3-D shapes. This week we have been studying the characteristics of polygons. We went on a shapes scavenger hunt around school, we used pegboards and rubber bands to create our own polygons, collected items for our shapes museum, as well well as learned about parallel lines and lines of symmetry. Our assessment for the unit will be early next week. Please prepare for the upcoming assessment by using the Family Math Kit or the online resources on the Everyday Math website. Here are a few more FUN games that can also help you get ready for next week. Have a great weekend!

Name That Polygon

Lines of Symmetry

We need your help! Last Friday turkeys were sent home. Please help this turkey make it safely past Thanksgiving by disguising him.Turkeys that have made it through in the past have been dressed like ballerina, football players, farmers, hula dancers and Elvis! Think of something unique or special to your family and disguise your turkey accordingly.

Please have fun and be creative! You may use anything you can think of to decorate. Family turkeys in the past have been decorated with crayons, macaroni, craft feathers, tissue paper, dried beans, whatever you like!

Please follow these directions when disguising your turkey:

1. Cut out your turkey.

2. Decide how to disguise your turkey and have fun.

3. Use the attached paper and help your child write a description of the disguise as if the turkey is talking.

4. Return to school by November 25th.

This week we did not have a book of the week, but a MOVIE OF THE WEEK! During  Technology class and watched the movie The Magic School Bus Plays Ball. This movie is part of our new science unit about Balance and Motion. During technology class we reviewed how to write by using Microsoft Word to type comments for our classroom blog. Our second graders wrote comments about what they learned about friction from the Magic School Bus movie. Be sure to have a look!

CLICK HERE TO PLAY A COOL FRICTION GAME!