Winter Break is Here! Give a Big Cheer!

Dear 2B Families,

We made it! Hooray! Thanks for "hanging in there" with us these last few days. 

I hope everyone enjoys their much needed break. Have a wonderful time with your family! I hope you can enjoy several mornings of staying in your pajamas and drinking hot chocolate! And HOORAY for not having to pack LUNCHES until January 9th! That's even better!

I told the students that if they can recite "The Night Before Christmas" (this is a recording of the WHOLE class reciting together and it's pretty cute - ENJOY!) to their family over the break I will give them something special when they return on January 9th! Please e-mail me if your scholar recited this poem for your family! I would LOVE to hear about it!

Scholar Shout-Out:

Livia brought in a book "The Night Before Christmas" by Clement C. Moore. We enjoyed reading it as a class and everyone reciting! What fun! Thank you, Livia!

We made cards for Mrs. Smith and sang to her! "For She's a Jolly Good Teacher..." We love you Mrs. Smith!

Here are a few pictures to share from our Boxcar Feast today. Thank you to all of the parents for helping out!

Here is what we will be learning when we return from break...

Language Arts: We will be moving from Reading Reflection Logs for homework to BOOK REPORTS! The students are so excited to start reading chapter books. We will start with Historical Fiction and books will be sent home with your scholars on January 9th.

Grammar: Students will be editing, classifying, and unscrambling sentences! We will also introduce students to the writing process and they will write their first explanatory piece on their favorite colors. We will be in the prewriting stage where students are brainstorming and organizing their ideas.

Literature: We will start discovering the setting of our next book; Cricket in Times Square! Students will learn about Vermont and New York, as well as plot points on a map! Please send in a copy of Cricket in Times Square with your scholar!

Math: We will start a new unit on mental math! This unit is challenging. Please encourage and cheer on your student, fight the urge to “rescue them”! We will rely heavily on place value, decomposing numbers, and visualizing numbers! We will work to round the number to the nearest 10, and then add from there. For example 68+14 would be 70+12 mentally. Please encourage your students to follow the directions and not use the vertical algorithm! Workbook A may be kept at home...hooray! Math Workbook B will be sent home January 9th.

Science: We will start a new unit on the Human Body. We will begin with learning about the five senses associated with our body and will identify these important systems: skeletal, circulatory, nervous, digestive, and excretory. We will also learn about the significant contributions of Anton van Leeuwenhoek and talk about bacteria!

History: Our studies of Ancient Greece (Athens) will continue through learning about how Athenian boys and girls were educated. We will recognize that men and women were not equal in Athenian society. Next, we will locate Sparta on a map of Ancient Greece and understand the military lifestyle and education in Sparta. We will learn the difference between Sparta and Athens. If we have time we will dive into the Persian Wars and identify some important battles. I look forward to hearing what your scholars have to share as we continue learning about Ancient Greece. We are also busily preparing for our Greek Festival! Stay tuned!

Love,
Mrs. Dombrowski