Mr. Weldon's 2nd Grade Class

Happy Friday Tiger Families!

I hope you’ve all enjoyed the warmer weather this week! I was very proud of all of the student’s hard work today on the reading Summative today! Keep up the good work!

• Please send in thefield trip form for Pinocchio by March 22nd, if you would like to chaperone there is limited seats at the theater please sign the bottom of the form and I will let you know if you have been selected.
• Field day is April 26th we sent home a pink flyer to order field day shirts, our 2nd grade color is yellow! Please use this site to order, and note there is no www in the url: The site to order from is https://pswear.com/TrevvettFieldDayorders are due by March 29th.
• Spring Book Fair is coming March 18- 22nd!
• Spaghetti Dinneris March 21st!
• MOBY MAX FACT FLUENCYCHALLENGE ENDS MARCH 29TH! Keep working on the math facts!

Upcoming Academics:

Reading: This week we will continue to practice our skill of drawing conclusions and making inferences based on what we know and what we read in fiction text. Students can also get on Read Theory or mobymax to continue to practice reading!

Writing: Our spelling words for this week will focus on the suffixes -ful and -less. careful, helpful, thankful, spotless, fearless, speechless, these, best, going, take We will begin working on a new opinion writing where students will choose what they think is the BEST part of spring.

Science: We are going to begin learning about magnets. Students will learn about different poles, what is means to attract and repel, and other important characteristics about magnets. Students will also have a day to explore magnets. Please look for a study guide attached to Monday’s homework.

Math: We will continue to learn about fractions. This week we will work with identifying fractions, writing the fraction appropriately, and saying the fractions correctly. We will begin to talk a little bit about comparing fractions. Students will need to know important terms like: numerator, denominator, set, whole, half, thirds, fourths, sixths, eighths.

Bowling for Fractions, Fraction Race

Enjoy the weekend and good luck to your teams in the conference tournaments… Let the madness begin!!!! Mr. Weldon

It’s Friday! We had another great week here in 2nd grade. Wednesday the students enjoyed a concert performed by the brass section and percussionist from the Richmond Symphony. They learned about the different instruments and how they are played and make their individual unique sounds. As well as how the sounds come together to make great music. And more importantly, how practicing and working hard applies to all aspects of life and not just school work! 🙂 Check out pictures here!

Upcoming Events & Reminders:

Field Trip Permission Slip – This week the permission slip for our next field trip came home. We will be going to see the play Pinocchio at the Children’s Theatre on April 11th. The cost is $12.00

MobyMax Challenge – Remember the students are being challenged to work on their math facts with the March Madness Math Challenge. 2nd graders should be using MobyMax for an hour a week.

Music Performance – If you haven’t returned the permission slip for the music performance on March 26th (PTA 6:ooPM), please do so. If your child is interested in having a speaking part, I’m selecting from the names of student’s that have indicated they will be in attendance.

Spaghetti Dinner – Envelopes came home this week for the spaghetti dinner that will be held on Thursday, March 21st. Tickets are $5 each or $15 for a family of 4). Hope to see you there and enjoy a great meal that you don’t have to cook! 🙂

Academics:

Reading: We will keep fine tuning our skill of drawing conclusions and inferring to help with overall comprehension. This week we will focus on fictional text. 2nd Grade Language Arts Skills, Read Theory, More Language Arts Skill Games

Writing / Spelling: We will keep working on suffixes with our spelling words this week with a focus on “ed” and “ing”. Our words are played, fixed, asking, calling,  jumped, both, gave,  then, favorite, and how. We will be using our inferring skill with our writing again this week.

Math: We will be moving into a new unit covering fractions.  Students will learn how to name, write and compare fractions! In second grade we focus on halves, fourths, eighths, thirds, and sixths. Identify the Fractions Fractions of a Group Match the shape to the fraction 2nd grade Fractions Games FRACTIONS VIDEO FOR KIDS- NUMBERROCK

Social Studies: We’ll begin a few lessons in Digital Citizenship. Students will learn to appropriately use the internet and understand our expectations of using the new Chromebooks at school. Parents: Interested in more information about online tools for you? Go to Common Sense Media  Towards the end of the week, we’ll explore some more Famous Americans: Helen Keller & Benjamin Franklin. Helen Keller Bio Benjamin Franklin Bio

Remember time jumps forward this weekend. Rest up and make up that hour of sleep at some point. Have a great Weekend. Mr. Weldon

We made through another busy/fun week in 2nd grade. The kids enjoyed celebrating Read Across America Week. Today we had 2 mystery readers come read to the class. Ms. Cocke our Brookland Representative read What Pet Should I Get this morning by Dr. Seuss and Ms. Holland came to read Memoires of a Fish after lunch. The kids thoroughly enjoyed their story times and didn’t want either guest to leave us. 🙂 A huge thanks to both for taking time volunteer with our Tigers! And we have to give 4th grade a shout out for such an excellent job with their African American Living Museum. I hope you heard about this from your student and they shared some interesting facts that they learned. Check out some pictures from the week HERE.

Upcoming Events and Reminders:

Moby Max Math challenge- Check out the red flier that came home today. In March, the students are being challenged to enhance their math fact fluency or overall math skills using Moby Max for at least an hour a week. Let the March Madness begin!

Lewis Ginter Field Trip – We are in the process of trying to reschedule our field trip from the fall. Be on the lookout for more details and new permission slip once all is confirmed.

Academics:

Reading: We will continue to focus on making inferences and drawing conclusions. By the end of the week we will transition to using this skill with fiction text.

Writing: We will finish up our persuasive paragraphs to go on display in the hallway. We will then move to using our conclusion and inferring skills to write a story based on a picture. Spelling words for next week are cleaner, nearest, smaller tallest, longer, which, put, them, thank, and some.

Math: We will continue practicing telling time and fine tuning this skill while transitioning to reading temperature from different types of thermometers.

Social Studies / Science: After wrapping up our last few Famous Americans (Black History), We will be going back to our unit on Matter and discussing how the different states of matter can change when introduced to a different temperature.

Enjoy the weekend! Mr. Weldon

Happy Friday! I hope you’ve enjoyed this crazy week of Virginia weather. Hopefully the rain will go away for us next week! This week we celebrated our reading and math growth shown on the semester benchmark with Krispy Kreme donuts. The kids really enjoyed their sweet treat Monday afternoon. In addition, this week we made it to the 100th day of school on Thursday. I hope you’re ready, 3rd grade is approaching quickly. So you don’t feel they’re growing up too fast, here are a few old men and lady pics. 🙂

Reminder and Upcoming Events:

Tiger Check / Music Permission Slip – In the folder today is the weekly Tiger check and completed papers. Please sign and return (you can keep the papers for review). Also, 2nd grade will be performing at the March PTA meeting, a permission slip was sent home so we can determine which students will be participating in the program. This will also helps us know which students should have speaking parts in the program.

Black History Living Museum( 2/26) – 4th grade will be putting on a Living Museum Tuesday morning from 8-10. Please consider coming to support and learn about famous African Americans.

Read Across America2/25-3/1  (Dr. Seuss Week)– There’s a flier in the folder with the activities for Spirit Week. (wear as many colors as you can, college/career shirt/wacky dress day/cat in the hat/Guest Reader).

Academics:

Reading: We will continue working with our skill of drawing conclusions/inferring when reading nonfiction test. As always, we will be working on reading fluency and comprehension skills of independently read text. Make sure your Tiger is reading daily for at least 20minutes. In addition to books and homework, students can access their Moby Max and Read Theory accounts to practice their skills as well.

Writing / Spelling: Students will work on finalizing their persuasive paragraph. We will also begin learning about suffixes (focus on “ly and “y”). Next week’s words are: chilly, thirsty, dirty, nicely, constantly, quietly, again, pull, after, live.

Math: We will continue working on the skill of telling time to 5 minute intervals. We will add vocabulary terms such as quarter hour, half hour, and minutes past or til the hour.  Links to Telling Time Practice Telling Time Games for 2nd Grade

Social Studies / Science: We will warp up our unit of study on Matter and Move into Famous Americans (focus on Black History) like Jakie Robinson, Thurgood Marshall and Rosa Parks.  A study guide will be attached to next week’s homeworksheet. Please keep this as a study tool at home.

Thanks to the PTO and volunteers for our wonderul lunch on Monday. Have a great weekend! Mr. Weldon

Whew, We made it to Friday. I think we are all ready for the weekend. Thank you all for the Valentine’s, the treats for the party and a huge thanks to Mrs. Karajic for being our parent volunteer! The kids really enjoyed themselves. Check out pictures here.

Upcoming Events & Reminders:

Monday 2/18th – Full Day of school and Benchmark Celebration (Krispy Kreme)

Academics:

Reading: We will move into a new skill of drawing conclusions/inferring. Students will learn to use what they already know along with text and pictures to conclude the meaning of what they are reading. We will begin this with nonfiction text for the next 3 weeks.

Writing: We will continue with our persuasive writing paragraphs focusing on “opinions”. As well, we will keep with our stude of “prefixes”. Our words this week will have the prefixes of “mis, and dis“. Our words for the week are: misfit, misplace, misread, disagree, discover, dislike, from, cold, one, round.

Math: We will wrap up our unit on probability and will begin our new unit on telling time. Students will review the clock and telling time to the hour. We will transition into the half hour and telling time to 5 minutes. We will also learn vocabulary terms for quarter hours and half past.  Links to Telling Time Practice Telling Time Games for 2nd Grade

Science: We will begin a new unit on Matter. Students will identify different states of solids, liquids, and gases. Please look for a study guide attached to the HW packet for next week.

Have a fantastic Weekend. Mr. Weldon

We actually had a full 5 day school week this week. The students worked hard on their Math Benchmark tests and I was happy with their results. Thanks for the practice and work you put in at home to help them succeed. Next week we will review both the Reading and Math tests and will continue to remediate on any necessary skills as we press on through the second semester. And after all the rain, snow, and cold, the kids were thrilled to get back outside for recess with the warmer temperatures!

Upcoming Events & Reminders:

Report Cards & Awards – Awards Presentation will be held Monday at 1:00pm in the classroom and report cards will come home that day in daily folder.

Valentine’s Day – A list of names came home in today’s folder. If participating, we ask that students provide a Valentine for each classmate so no one feels left out. And we will have a Valentine’s celebration Thursday afternoon at 1:00PM. Thank you to those who volunteered to help with contributions or offered your time to assist.

President’s Day – Monday, 2/18th, is now a regular full school day!

Academics:

Reading: We will continue working with fiction text to retell stories using the beginning, middle, and end and to describe character’s feelings and how they may change throughout a story. In addition, we will spend some time reviewing the Benchmark Test. Students are encouraged to read daily and can use their Moby Max and Read Theory accounts for additional support at home.

Writing / Spelling: Our study of prefixes will continue and we will begin introducing some contractions. This week we will be focusing on words with the prefix “re”. Our words for the week are recycle, retake, recall, repay, replay and our sight words are don’t, can’t, could, should, and have. As well, we will cotinue with our opinion/persuasive writing.

Math: We will move into a new unit on probability. Students will learn to interpret data from probability experiments. Students will learn to use vocabulary terms (certain, likely, not likely, and impossible) to apply their knowledge and predictions.

Social Studies:  Due to Benchmark testing, we are little behind with our SS pacing. We will keep with our unit on famous americans focusing on Abraham Lincoln and George Washington.

Have a great weekend… Mr. Weldon

Happy Friday. The kids were so excited to see the snow this afternoon. And wow a snow that won’t actually impact our school week! This week the students worked hard on doing their best on their end of semester Reading Benchmark Test. We spent some time today reviewing math and will continue on Monday. The Math Benchmark Test will be Tuesday and Wednesday. Please take time this weekend to review and practice skills we’ve covered this first half of the year. There are several links to games and practice sites here on the blog!

Upcoming Events & Reminders:

Benchmark Test – Math Test Feb. 5th & 6th

Winter Conferences – February 7th Please click here to sign up

Academics:

Reading: Students will describe characters, setting, and plot events in fiction and poetry. We’ll use a graphic organizer and a retelling model to help us summarize stories and events with beginning, middle, and end in the correct sequence. Students are encouraged to utilize their  Read Theory accounts for the reading homework portion a few nights per week. This is a valuable tool with instant feedback on comprehension questions!

Spelling/Writing: We’ll explore words with the prefix -un in our spelling list next week. New words are: unclean, unhappy, unkind, unfair, untie, green, sleep, stop, think, dream. Students will also practice writing a persuasive paragraph, expressing their personal opinion on a chosen topic.

Math: We’ll have our Semester Benchmark Exam in Math. This county test is taken over 2 days. Our scheduled days are Feb. 5 & 6. Students will take these tests on the computer. Encourage your child to get plenty of sleep, eat a healthy breakfast, and arrive to school on time for them to do their best on this test! Students can use 2nd Grade Math Practice to review any skills!

Social Studies: Abraham Lincoln and George Washington are our historical focus next week. We’ll discuss how their contributions changed and influenced the United States. We’ll learn how President’s Day is celebrated.

Have a great Weekend! Mr. Weldon

Another week in the books for 2nd grade. Yesterday was the PAW Achievement trip and the kids seemed to have enjoyed getting to experience High School classes and the potential career opportunities “the big” kids get to explore. Check out a few pictures on the picture link. Also, I’ve been reiterating to the students this week that we are now over halfway through 2nd grade and working toward becoming 3rd graders. With that said, We’ve been really focusing on making sure we are following directions and using our time wisely. Simple rules and directions that we have had in place since September should not require as much redirection and restating so we have been focusing on this more the past 2 weeks. If you notice more “orange” days on the behavior calendar, your tiger may be struggling a little with this. Your support and encouragement at home is appreciated and will really make for a smoother transition to 3rd grade!

Events & Reminders:

Monday 1/28th – No School, Student Holiday

Winter Conferences – February 7th Please click here to sign up

Kindness Week – Next week is Kindness Week sponsored by Mrs. Bushey. Click here.

Academics:

Reading: We have our Semester Benchmark Exam in Reading. This county test is taken over two days. Jan 30 and Jan 31 are our scheduled days. Students will take these tests on the computer. Encourage your child to get plenty of sleep, eat a healthy breakfast, and arrive to school on time for them to do their best on this test! Students can practice at home with their Moby Max accounts.

Spelling/Writing: No new spelling words next week. We’ll review all word wall words and practice typing proper sentences using homophones in a Google document. 10 Sites & Games to teach kids typing in fun ways

Math: We’re continuing to focus on 2 digit subtraction, reviewing 2 digit addition, estimating sums and differences, and using these skills to solve problems.  Subtraction w/ regrouping Subtraction word problems Addition & Subtraction word problems Subtraction with Regrouping VIDEO Subtraction Rap

Social Studies: We’ll finish up our Native American unit with the Pueblo Indian tribe, compare/contrast all the tribes, and do a writing activity where students will choose one tribe they’d most like to live with and write about their reasons why. American Indian Flash Cards

Enjoy the weekend!  Mr. Weldon

It’s Friday! We had another wonderful week here in 2nd grade. Today the students completed their first Reading Summative Assessment on the computer. They have really grasped  utilizing the testing application and the tools to help with answering questions. I am very proud of them for adjusting to the change from paper and pencil testing and their performance on today’s test.

Upcoming Events & Reminders:

PAW Achievement – If your Tiger earned Citizenship for the 2nd marking period, they will enjoy their PAW Achievement trip to Hermitage Technical Center on Thursday, 1/24th. Permission slips will come home on Tuesday.

SCA Spirit Week – The SCA is raising money to donate to The Children’s Hospital. Each day next week the students can participate in a “theme day” for $1.00/day. Look for the flier in your Tiger’s folder today.

Winter Conferences – Winter Conferences will be held on Thursday, 2/7th from 3:00 – 7:00PM. I will send out the link this weekend to sign up for your desired time. I look forward to meeting with each of you.

READING: We shift into a research unit. We’ll work together as a class to: generate topics of interest, generate questions to gather information, identify pictures, texts, people, or media as sources of information, find information from provided sources, organize information in writing or a visual display, and describe the difference between plagiarism and using your own words. Demonstrating comprehension of independently read text continues to be a focus in small groups and literacy stations. Students can practice at home with their Moby Max account.

SPELLING: Homophones (words that sound the same, but are spelled different and have different meanings) are our focus next week. Students will need to spell correctly and use correctly in context the following words: by, buy, bye, flew, flu, blue, blew, to, two, and too. Homophone Games Homophones with Pictures  Identify Homophones Use the correct homophone

SOCIAL STUDIES: We’ll spend two days exploring all about Dr. Martin Luther King, in honor of the holiday on Jan. 21st. Then we’ll return to the Native Americans unit to learn about the Lakota and Pueblo tribes, and then compare/contrast all 3 tribes.

MATH: Next week, we’ll jump right into 2 digit subtraction with regrouping, and continue to work on problem solving. The students have done a wonderful job working to break apart word problems and understanding what is needed to solve them. Subtraction w/ regrouping Subtraction word problems Addition & Subtraction word problems

Have a fantastic weekend and enjoy the Monday Holiday honoring Dr. King!  Mr. Weldon

Happy New Year Tiger Families! And chilly greetings on this fine Friday. Well we made it through our first full week of school in 2019! The students have enjoyed reading stories this week and not only answering questions but also coming up with questions that they may have or questions for others to answer related to the text. Today we also took our first practice test using the new Chrome Books in Power Assessment. This is a county-wide program that allows the children the tools that allow them to look back in the passage to highlight and prove answers, eliminate answers that are incorrect and expose them to technology enhanced question items. We will continue working on these skills as we transition to our summative assessments being computer based.

Upcoming Events and Reminders:

Winter Conferences – Be on the look out to sign up sheet, conferences will be held Feb. 7th

Student Holidays – January 21st and 28th there is no school for students

Academic Focus:

Reading –  We will continue to focus on Questioning using fiction and nonfiction text. Students will use to text to find and prove their answers and use questioning skills to help them with understanding the text they are reading.

Spelling / Writing – Spelling words for the week :us, ate, around, fly, right, bright, sigh, sign, high, blind (focus on long i). We will also begin introducing the mechanics of cursive writing.

Math – Our focus will continue with 2 digit Addition. We will keep reinforcing regrouping and making sure we remember to add in the extra ten when needed. We will also introduce rounding with addition to estimate sums.  Adding 2 Digit Numbers 2nd Grade Addition Games      IXL 2nd grade math – Focus on Section G

Social Studies: Compare the lives and contributions as well as locate and describe the relationship between the environment and culture of the Powhatan of the Eastern Woodlands, the Lakota of the Plains, and the Pueblo people of the Southwest. A study guide is attached to next week’s hw packet. Click here to read about some interesting Native Americans!

Have a safe, fun weekend and we will see what the weather brings on Sunday! Mr. Weldon