Spring is finally here! The daffodils are coming up in beds in front of the upper hallway classrooms. The children earned their fourth Magical Mystery Tour this week. We took a walk down to the pond Friday afternoon. It’s pretty early in the year, but we did see a few early insects. Thankfully no mosquitoes or ticks yet!
We have begun working on cursive penmanship. In second grade, we introduce lowercase cursive letters. We’ll also continue to practice manuscript penmanship, using isolated letters, passages, and poems.
We’ve finished up our study of China, and have moved on to Australia. We’ve been reading lots of books about Australian animals. Australia has many animals that are only found there, and on no other continent. The kids have each chosen an animal to research. They are reading books about that animal and then taking notes on what they have learned. This week we will begin writing nonfiction books about the animals. In addition to reading these books, the children have seen videos about the life of children in Australia and New Zealand and another about Australian animals.
In math, we have completed our third unit on Numbers and Operations, and began a fraction unit last week. Last week our work focused on “one half”. We talked about ½ in two different ways: 1) ½ of a number, as in 4 is ½ of 8 and 2) dividing an object into two equal pieces. This week we will branch out into thirds and fourths. I’m hearing kids make connections between this work and their daily lives (measuring cups). I’ll be sending home the family math letter about this unit today.

This Week’s Homework:
Please continue daily reading.
Math: There is one math homework sheet (two-sided).

We could still use paper towels in the classroom.
HAVE A GREAT VACATION!!!!