Second Grade Newsletter January/February
What's New!     Welcome to a new year!  Over the next months in second grade we will be striving to get students ready for third grade.  You will notice a “Brain Booster” folder coming home each Friday beginning this semester.  This folder has two additional activities, one writing and one reading, for your child to complete.  The folder will be due the following Friday.  These activities will need guidance from parents.  Thank you for assisting your child with this folder.        Science/Social Studies:     Our units of study in Science and Social Studies will correlate with many of the stories we will be reading these next two months.  We will begin the year in science with our “Night Sky” unit.  “Weather” will follow before we switch to Social Studies.     In February we will begin our unit entitled “Our Country Today.”  This unit ties in with our biography study.  Vocabulary from this unit will include; government, mayor, citizen, governor, Congress, President, freedom, motto, and monument.	Reading/Language:   This month all second grade will be reading Follow the Drinking Gourd by F.N. Monjo. This is story about a family that helps escaped slaves reach safety using the stars as a guide.  Students will also learn about real Americans, like Harriet Tubman, who helped free many enslaved African Americans by establishing the Underground Railroad.  A website to visit with your child relating to this unit of study is: www.nationalgeographic.com/features/99/railroad/ This unit will also tie in with our study of  Martin Luther King, Jr.       In February we will dive into our biography unit.  Each child will choose a famous American to read about and research.  Students will then use the information learned to write a speech that he/she will recite while dressed like the famous American during our “Living Museum.”  This is a wonderful culminating activity that you will enjoy coming to.  Information regarding our “Living Museum” will be come home with your child as February gets closer.

Math:

We will begin the new year with subtraction with regrouping.  This skill is one of the most difficult students will learn this year and will require extra practice at home.  Please continue to work with your child with the subtraction facts since mastery of these is crucial for success with regrouping as well as many skill taught in third grade.  We will continue to reinforce addition with regrouping during this unit so students will retain this skill as well.  Following the subtraction unit will be the time unit.  This is a great time to consider purchasing your child a watch with hands so he/she can practice telling time to the minute anytime!      Math Olympics are just around the corner on February 24th.  Skills students have learned throughout the year will be practiced and reinforced in fun games set up in each second grade classroom.  Students will spend this morning rotating through each classroom and participating in the math activity set up there.  What fun!