Tashlich and Learning

Tashlich

We read the book Tashlich at Turtle Rock in class about a family that completes a four part Tashlich ceremony. In class we created books with personal reflections about something good from the past year, something we want to throw away, and something we promise to try in the next year. Ask your child what they wrote about.

Today we emulated the family’s trip with a four stop walk around the neighborhood and to the park. Thank you to Elliot’s mom Shirley for joining us!

Writing and Reading

We started reading our class read aloud- a true classic story, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl! In Writing Workshop this week we studied authors who have written meaningful small moment stories. We read the story Owl Moon by Jane Yolen, and noticed how she described this one night of owling and stretched it over so many pages! We got to writing our small moment narratives, using ideas from our decorated writing folders, and studying Jane Yolen’s writing to help us stretch our stories. With our new writing buddies, we talked about our ideas, brainstormed ways authors decide on their small moments, and shared our writing. We can’t wait to read The Leaving Morning by Angela Johnson next week to see how another author describes their small moment.

Ask your child what they are writing about.

Science

After an exciting Science trip to Uncle Louie G’s last week to kick off our unit about changes in matter, we had our first experiment on Monday. We observed how a solid tablet (alka seltzer) changes when we placed it into a liquid (water). We used our scientist skills and knowledge that we’ve been practicing since the beginning of the year to predict and observe the changes. Today, we delved deeper into the definitions of the three states of matter: solids, liquids and gas that are now hanging on our “Science Word Wall.” Here is the video in class we watched to help us remember the new vocabulary.

Ask your child about a change in matter they’ve observed at home.

Math

In Math this week we continued learning about place values in the hundreds, tens and ones. We began comparing numbers using math symbols (< and >) for greater than and less than. We began to use our new math notebooks, and made folding tabs to write numbers in three different forms- standard form, word form, and expanded form. Then, we learned how to write problems in our math notebooks, which is a first for second graders, and practiced writing the symbols. To remember the symbols, we turned them into hungry alligators who always want to “eat” the greater number. We also practiced these skills in our workbook, through a game, and ipads during math stations.

Have your child think of a number in the hundreds and try to guess it by having them tell you if your guess is greater than or less than their number.