October News

CLASSROOM NEWS

Mrs. McCarthy's Classroom Newsletter
October 2013
October
Dear Parents,
Now that Parent Seminar is behind us, and classroom volunteers are in the process of being established, I now want to share what your child has been learning in second grade! Lots of exciting learning is taking place in grade two!
Sincerely,
Diane
 Important Dates Coming Up!
Audubon Field Trip: On Thursday, October 10th (raindate Thursday, October 17th), the children will embark on an insect exploration at the Audubon. The grade two teachers would like to thank TESPTO, who financed this field trip. More details regarding this field trip are located in the ‘classroom news' section of this parent letter.
Columbus Day: No school on Monday, October 14th
Teacher Professional Development:  No school on Tuesday, October 15th
Progress Reports: Will be sent home on Monday, October 21st .
Early Release for Teacher Professional Development: Friday, October 25th-dismissal @ 1:15.
Halloween Party: Thursday, October 31st from 1:15-2:15. (More details to follow in a few weeks.)
Classroom News!
Audubon Field Trip On Thursday, October 10th, your child will take part in an Audubon Insect field trip. We will be in the Audubon from 9:00ish-11:30ish. This field trip will take place even if it is mildly raining. Should we have torrential downpours, this field trip will take place on Thursday, October 17th. Please dress your child appropriately for this field trip experience. All children are to wear long pants and a light colored long sleeve shirt. A reminder letter explaining the proper dress will be sent home early next week.
The permission slip went home yesterday, Monday, Semtember 30th . If you would like to volunteer as a chaperone during this field trip, please check off the appropriate box. Four parents can chaperone. All chaperones must have an updated CORI on file with the office.
Coming Up This Week-Super Star Program! On Monday, September 30th, your child has his/her first Superstar writing assignment of grade 2. Please know, each Monday night's homework will be dedicated to this assignment. I sent home a detailed parent letter explaining this program to you, and also the paper your child is to fill out. This assignment is due in class the following Friday. Should you have any questions, please contact me.
Curriculum Information

OverviewDuring the month of September, significant time has been dedicated to teach students new routines and procedures. Also, the children have been learning a great deal in each curriculum area. Please read on to hear the exciting learning your child has been a part of thus far!

Science-The World of Insects!In science, students have been learning the characteristics of insects, and the butterfly life cycle. Students are learning that all insects have certain characteristics such as, three body parts, and six legs. Our caterpillars arrived and the students have observed the caterpillars' develop into the pupa stage. We are waiting for the chrysalides to turn into adult butterflies.
The children are recording scientific observations as they witness the metamorphosis which takes place during the butterfly life cycle. Students have enjoyed taking on the role of scientist as they begin to learn the fundamentals of the scientific process-observation and recording information both in written sentences and in detailed diagrams. Our Audubon field trip will allow children to solidify the concepts taught in class as we will conduct a field study during our upcoming field trip.

Reading As mentioned during Parent Seminar, your second grader will take part in the reading framework/structure of the Daily Three and the Literacy Café, in conjunction with guided reading groups. A big difference between first and second grade reading time, is that second graders do not take part in center activities while their teacher is conducting guided reading groups. Rather, your child will take part in the Daily Three of Read to Self, Read to Someone, and Work on Writing. A significant amount of time has been dedicated during the month of September as students develop their stamina and muscle memory to work independently during each facet of the Daily Three. Also, students are using important reading strategies in the areas of comprehension, accuracy, fluency, and expanding vocabulary as taught in the Literacy Café.
I am in the process of conducting a DRA reading assessment with each student. DRA is an acronym for the Developmental Reading Assessment, which assesses student's fluency (words read per minute), accuracy, individual reading habits, and comprehension. In addition, your child was also administered a dictation sentence assessment, which assessed students ability to spell high frequency words, and knowledge of sentence structure. All of these assessments are administered to your child with one end in mind, to determine an accurate reading instructional level.
Soon, the class will begin small guided reading groups. The groups will be constructed based on the assessments administered. These groups are fluid, meaning that as children progress and grow in their reading, they may find themselves grouped with different children to fit their learning needs as ‘readers'.
As small guided reading groups take place, the lessons are specially designed to meet each child's reading instructional level. Depending on student need, groups may focus on decoding strategies, predicting, fluency, comprehension, inference, vocabulary development, and higher level thinking skills. Writing in response to your child's reading is a huge part of the grade two reading curriculum. Each day, your child will use part of their reading time (Work on Writing) to respond in writing about the story he/she has read. This writing prompt will be directed by myself and geared specifically to the text your child is reading. This is an important stepping stone in preparing students for the reading MCAS test which will take place in grade three.
The grade two reading program is multifaceted, as it is differentiated to meet the needs of individual learners, and promotes growth in independence, reading ability, and self-esteem for all students.

Writing Writing is an area which crosses all curriculum areas in grade two. Not only do students write during a ‘writing block', but they also write during science, reading, math (and later this month, social studies). Over the past few weeks, your child has been involved in a number of writing endeavors. Students created ‘heart maps' and topic lists highlighting things they would like to write about. As students embarked in our writing workshop, they were re-introduced to the stages of process writing-prewriting, writing a rough draft, conferencing, editing, revising, and publishing-writing a final copy. The Tri-Town Writing Program breaks down the skills/traits good writers' exhibit. Presently, we are focusing on the trait of ideas.
Now we are studying personal narrative. Your child has written a brief auto-biography about him/herself. After completing a web of ideas, and writing a rough draft, students conferenced with one another following the ‘three stars and a wish' conference model explained in class. While students shared their stories one-on-one with another classmate, the listener is expected to give three compliments and ask one question about the story heard. Based on the question asked, students will revise their writing from their classmates input. The next step in conferencing was for the students to meet with the teacher, as the same ‘three stars and a wish' model is followed. After revision, students edited their work with teacher assistance, and wrote the final copy in a second grade booklet. This process will continue throughout the year as students complete writing projects.
Also, your child is writing his/her first research report about an insect in science. Since it is early into the school year, this research project is very teacher directed. However, as the year continues, students will conduct future research projects more independently.
In preparations of the insect research project, our librarian, Mrs. DeFrank, put together a ‘book cart' which contains books about various insects. This cart is used by all second grade classes. In class, I will share with students how to utilize the table of contents, index, and the glossary to find the information they seek. We are in the beginning process of learning research skills and techniques. How exciting!

Math in FocusStudents completed chapter 1 of Math in Focus, which focused on place value to one thousand. During this unit, students learned to construct two and three digit numbers using base-10 blocks. As we continued our exploration of three digit numbers to one thousand, children are became familiar with writing numbers in standard, word, and expanded form. The terms greater than and less than, along with the mathematical symbols (< >) were introduced as students learned to compare and order three-digit numbers. Students learned to construct number patterns in the hundreds, tens, and ones. Last week, the children completed the chapter test for this unit. Yesterday, I sent this test home for you to review with your child. Please sign the front of the test and return. Thank you!
We have begun our study of chapter two, adding three digit numbers with and without regrouping. Over the next few weeks, your child will have a number of homework assignments which practice three-digit addition with and without regrouping.

In Closing!Parents, if you have any questions regarding the information I have shared with you in this news letter, please let me know.
Sincerely,
Diane McCarthy