Bridger 2nd Grade Dual Language Immersion

Happy Holidays from Second Grade!

December 15 - 19

This will be the last week of instruction prior to winter break. Classes will resume on January 5th. We hope that everyone has a safe and peaceful holiday vacation. Here is what we will be working on in English this week:

Finishing up our snowman stories: the blue class needs to finish writing the final copy and then illustrate, the red class is working on illustrating
writing a Santa tale given a prompt
phonics: letters a, b, f, d, and g
phonics: common word list #1 - the, of, and, a, to, in, is, you, that, it
phonics: building consonant-vowel-consonant words
phonics: nonsense consonant-vowel-consonant words
comprehension strategy: ask someone to define the word
comprehension strategy: cause and effect
comprehension strategy: compare and contrast
math: begin working on the standard algorithm (see below) for two-digit addition with regrouping
on Friday we will have holiday rotations to learn about different holiday customs around the world

November 9 - 12

I am so sorry that I didn't get the blog post up for this past week. Things have been a bit crazy! Hopefully they will calm down, and we can get back to life as normal.
Last year, the entire faculty sat down and determined what was essential for students to know at each grade level in math and language arts in order for them to be able to progress to the next level. We know that there are many things that students need to know, but we came up with one per quarter that we were going to track. We call these our "Big Rocks" because they are goals that absolutely have to be met. Big Rock #1 for math in second grade is that 100% of students will demonstrate fluency with numbers through ten. One of the ways we have been working on this is with ten bonds: 0+10. 1+9. 2+8, 3+7, 4+6, 5+5. 6+4. 7+3, 8+2, 9+1, and 10+0. While we have not reached the 100% mark yet, I am happy to report that 89% of second graders know the ten bonds without having to use their fingers. I sent flash cards home with the six DLI students that are still working on them, and I would appreciate it if you could work with them at home until they have mastered these facts. We are now working towards Big Rock #2: 100% of students will be able to represent number to 1,000 in standard form, written form, pictorial form, and expanded form. I will let you know our progress.
Here is what we will be working on this week in English:

Holiday music assembly: Wednesday @ 1:00
creative writing narrative: What does your snowman do at night? Circle map, flow map with transition words and details, opening (who, what, and when) and closing (who, what, and how) sentences
math: horizontal two-digit addition using expanded form (no regrouping yet) - see below
math: vertical two-digit addition using expanded form (no regrouping yet) - see below
power hour: continuing to work on becoming fluent readers who can effectively comprehend what they read
fluency strategy: using punctuation to enhance phrasing/prosody
comprehension strategy: main idea and supporting details

Here is what we will be working on in Spanish class:

science: the phases of the moon (full - luna llena, half - cuarto menguante, new - luna nueve, quarter - cuarto creciente)
science - color and brightness of stars, constellations (video)
social studies - ponsettias (flor de la nochebuena)
math: two-digit addition vertical expanded form (with and without regrouping)
math: place value quiz (see big rock #2 above)
words with z,c, or s that make an /s/ sound: salida, paso, sopita, hizo, dice, cereal, cima, taza, zorro, lazos, cien, solo
high frequency words: escuchar, encima, tirar, fuerza, igual, facil, malo

We will teach the children three different algorithms for completing multi-digit addition problems. Last week they learned how to use the expanded form algorithm (some people call it the partial-sums algorithm). We have only worked with numbers that do not require regrouping so far. It looks like this:

We have also been working on the expanded form algorithm in a vertical format. It looks like this:

November 17 - 21

Here is what we will be working on in English class this week:

math: greater than, less than
math: hundreds place value quiz
math: using place value to add/subtract tens and hundreds
content: the importance of balance in a diet
comprehension strategy: using pictures, illustrations, and diagrams
comprehension strategy: using text features
comprehension strategy: author's purpose (PIE - persuade, inform, educate)
narrative writing about the best day you ever had - circle map, flow map, adding transition words and details
Daily 5: continuing to work on becoming fluent readers who can effectively comprehend fiction and non-fiction text (ie: read grade-level text with purpose and understanding)
word work: distinguish long and short vowels in regularly spelled one-syllable words

Here is what we will be working on in Spanish class this week:

sight words: algo, caer, fuego, manera, nido, nubes
discussing the characteristics of fiction versus non-fiction
spelling words: gota, llego, apaga, ganso, persigue, regalo, guiso, gato, gol, alguna, guinda, fuego
content: food words (vegetables, fruit, dessert, beverage)
content - making good food choices to maintain a balanced diet
math: review skip-counting, place value (centenas, decenas, and unidades), number words (0-1,000)
math: different ways to write numbers (standard form, word form, expanded form, and picture form)
math: greater than and less than

November 10 - 14

Here is what we will be working on in English this week:

narrative writing - with details and transition words
writing from a flow map
writing a topic sentence
writing a concluding sentence
comprehension strategy: using pictures, illustrations, and diagrams
fluency strategy: adjust rate
comprehension strategy: using text features
Daily 5: continuing to work on becoming fluent readers that comprehend text
math: place value - multiple tens (ie: 14 tens = 140)
math: using place value to add/subtract - subtracting hundreds and tens
math: skip-counting by tens and hundreds when the beginning number is not a ten or hundred (ie: 237, 337, 437, etc)
Tuesday: Veteran's Day assembly @ 1:00

November 3 - 7

Wow, October flew by! Welcome to November. Here is what we will be working on in English class this week:

final assessment for writing a letter (ie: can they do it without my help)
math test on Tuesday: chapter 1 - place value, odds and evens, skip-counting by fives and tens
continued narrative writing practice
reading comprehension strategy: summarize
expanding vocabulary strategy: tune in to interesting words
math: adding two digit numbers (no regrouping yet)
sight words: many, these, time, no/know
how to use a dictionary
Daily 5: we've shuffled a few kids this week that met goals, or who needed different instruction - so, if your child says they have a new teacher for reading, you know why. There will be big changes to Daily 5 for the red class next week.

October 27 - 31

We have a busy week ahead! There will be picture retakes on Wednesday for anyone who was absent last time, or for anyone who was not happy with their last picture. We will be going to the Ellen Eccles Theater on Thursday to see a production of Beauty and the Beast. The buses will be loading at 12:00, and we will be returning at 2:30. We have permission slips for everyone in the DLI program. On Friday, we will have our annual Halloween parade through the school. It will begin at 8:20. Parents are invited to attend (there will be seating in the gym). Please remember, students cannot wear masks during the parade. We also do not allow weapons of any sort, or costumes with too much gore. We want to make sure that the parade is fun for everyone! Students will be required to remove their costumes after the parade, so please ensure they have appropriate clothing on underneath.
Red Ribbon Week schedule: Monday - wear pajamas, Tuesday - crazy hair day, Wednesday - sports day, Thursday - wear red, and Friday - costume day!