Happy Friday

I cannot believe that we have less that two months of school left!  Time flies when so much learning is happening! :)

Important Things That You Need to Know:

• Early Dismissal: On Wednesday, April 11, we will have early dismissal.  School will dismiss at 12:10 on Wednesday.  If your child will be going home a different way, please send me an email or a note to school.
• Shakespeare's Fundraiser: On April 12, we will have our monthly Eat Out & Support RBE fundraiser at Shakespeare's Pizza.  A flyer is coming home in your child's Friday Folder - you must either bring the flyer in or show an electronic copy on your phone.  You can click here for the flyer.  This fundraiser is good ALL day & at ALL Shakespeare's locations!  
• Next Year Paperwork: Is your child returned to RBE next year or will your child be going to a different school.  A paper is coming home in your child's Friday Folder today for you to fill out & return.  This paper helps us to plan for next year's class placements.   This form and money needs to be returned to the office by April 20.
• Salina Yoon: Salina Yoon is an award-winning author of young children's books.  Some of her books are the Be A Friend, Penguin, Bear, Duck & Porcupine book series, and lots of others.  We have read several of her books in class and the kiddos LOVE them!!! :)
• On April 19, Salina Yoon will be visiting RBE!!!!
• Coming home in your child's Friday Folder is a yellow paper where you can order an autographed copy of Salina Yoon's books.  This form and money needs to be returned to Mrs. McKinzie by April 18.
• RBE Spirt Day Change: Friday, April 20 is our next Spirit Day at RBE.  Originally, it was scheduled to be a Career Day, but since it we just had Career Day with Read Week, this has been changed.  April 20, will be Sports Day - your child can represent their favorite team or sport!

Summer School

We know that with summer comes a lot of different opportunities, but it is important for ALL students to continue to read, write and work on math over the summer.  A great opportunity that CPS provides is FREE summer school to ALL students!  If you would like your child to be enrolled in Summer SunSation please complete the enrollment form online or click here to print off the form.

Library Field Trip

We will be going to the Daniel Boone Regional Library on April 17.  We will be leaving around 8:45 and returning before lunch.  If your child brought back his/her library card application, I am taking them to the library this weekend.  If you did not return the application, and you still would like your child to receive a library card, you have two choices: 1) you can send in the application to school before April 17 and your child's card will be mailed to you or 2) you can take the application to the library. 

April Snow brings May Variety Show

The Variety Show is a RBE tradition.  If your child would like to try out for the show, the form must be filled out and returned to Mrs. Sharp by April 27.  You can click here to print off the form, or your child can request a copy from me.

Look What's Been Happening in Moss World!

Math

• This week we started our geometry unit.  We have learned that when you are describing a shape that you are telling it's attributes.  This unit is FULL of vocabulary words!  Below are the vocabulary words that we have covered this week.  It will be important to keep reviewing these vocabulary words with your child.
• Polygon: a shape that is made up of straight line, is closed, and lines never cross
• Parallel Lines: lines that will never cross
• Angle: space created when two line meet
• Right Angle: a 90 degree angle (the corner of a piece of paper)
• Vertex: the point where to sides meet
• Side: edge of a shape
• Quadrilateral: a shape that is a polygon and has 4 sides, 4 angles & 4 vertices
• Pentagon: a shape that is a polygon and has 5 sides, 5 angles & 5 vertices
• Hexagon:  a shape that is a polygon and has 6 sides, 6 angles & 6 vertices
• Next week, we will continue to work on geometry.  We will learn about: 3-D shapes and partitioning (dividing) shapes into equal parts.

Writing

• We started opinion writing this week.  This week, we talked about the importance of using VALID reasons to support your opinion, and developing a counter argument or reason.  Our first opinion piece was on our favorite ice cream.  The students came up with 3 valid reasons (reasons that could only be used for their ice cream).  Being yummy was not a valid reason, but because "Cookie 'n Cream ice cream has Oreo chunks, and Oreo's are my favorite cookie" was a valid reason.  They also tried their hand at a counter argument also.  You need to come and check out all of our opinion ice cream writing - they are hung up in the hallway.
• Next week, we will go back to our Which is Better writing and write our final opinion paragraph.  We will take everything that we just learned this week and put it into this paragraph.  We will edit our writing and start to publish next week.  The kiddos are super excited about this piece of writing.  We will be having a writing celebration and inviting parents in when we get finished with this project!

Reading

• We continued to work with fairy tales this week.  However, instead of comparing different fractured fairy tales, we were looking at the same story from different point of view.  
• Next week, we will be looking at author's purpose and comparing texts on the same topic. 

Science

• This week, we started a new science unit on weathering and erosion.  We have learned that "Weathering makes the mess and erosion cleans up the mess."  Weathering is the process when wind, water or ice breaks down rocks into small pieces.  Erosion is when wind, water or ice moves rocks, sand or topsoil to another location.  Weathering and erosion changes the Earth's surface.  I know that I shared with you the proficiency scale for this unit before Spring Break, but I wanted to share it again. 

• Next week, we will talking about how the Earth has changed, but specifically looking at the Earth's History and comparing the Earth's surface changes over long and short periods of time.  We will be discussing how volcanoes, earthquakes, flooding, landslides, and weather & erosion have changed the Earth's surface.  Below is the proficiency scale that we will be learning from next week.

Nutrition Class with Mrs. Zapata!

• If your child has been at RBE in previous years, you may have heard about Mrs. Zapata and her Nutrition Classes!  These classes are a part of the Family Nutrition and Education Program sponsored by the University of Missouri Extension.  If you would like to check out their website you can click here.  This week, we learned about how to keep bacteria from growing and spreading as we cook in the kitchen: clean, cook, chill and separate.  We also sorted food into the five food groups: dairy, protein, fruits, vegetables and grain.  Ask your kiddo about what they learned!  Mrs. Zapata is also known for her taste testing sessions - this week we taste tested Wheat Thins and flat bread.

Pictures From the Week

Checkout everything we have done this week!  We had nutrition with Mrs. Zapata - twice, wrote our ice cream opinion piece, built shapes out of straws and bread ties, went to Mrs. Blumberg's class to see their nonfiction show case, and read some great books!

Have a fabulous weekend!

Mrs. Ross

Happy Spring Break!

I cannot believe that Spring Break is here and we are down to a little less than eight weeks together in second grade!  We could definitely tell that spring fever was in the air this week because the kiddos were super excited.  We will be revisiting classroom expectations when we start back to school in April.  Please continue to reinforce with your child that we still have plenty of learning to complete during second grade and that they need to continue to be focused and ready to work when we return to school!

Field Trip to Daniel Boone Regional Library

On April 17, we will be going on a field trip to DBRL.  During this field trip, the kiddos get to learn about the different parts of the library and the history of the library.  It is a super neat field trip and I learn something every time that we go!  Coming home in your child's homework folder today is a library card application.  If your child does not already have a library card and you would like to sign him/her up for one, please fill out the application and return to school by Friday, April 6.  We will mail the applications into the library & your child will get his/her library card the day of the field trip.  Your child will NOT need a library card to go on the field trip because we will NOT be checking out books.

Look What's Been Happening in Moss World!

Math

• This week in math, we finished up Unit 7.  In this unit we focused on measurement and collecting data to make a line plot graph.  Overall, the kiddos did really great in this unit.  We tested over this unit on Thursday.  This assessment will come home after Spring Break for you to review with your child.  
• Our next math unit will focus on geometry.  We will be learning about different shapes and their characteristics and making arrays during this unit.  Below are the learning targets off the geometric shapes and partitioning shapes proficiency scale.  As a reminder, we are using these proficiency scales to allow students to know what their learning target is and to help guide our instruction.  The use of proficiency scales are new to CPS but the kiddos are doing great with knowing what they should be learning!  By the end of the unit a student should be performing at a level 3.

 

Writing

• This week in writing, we finished up identifying the best nonfiction text feature for each of our topic paragraphs and wrote introduction paragraph for our Which is Better writing.  We started talking about what makes a good opinion.  We learned that you have state your opinion and then provide evidence to support your opinion.
• We will continue to work on opinion writing when we get back from Spring Break.

Reading

• This week in reading, we focused on comparing and contrasting two similar books.  We used fairy tales and their fractured fairy tales to work on this concept.  Students had an opportunity to read various fractured fairy tales and determine similarities (compare) and differences (contrast) between the two stories.  The kiddos did great with this concept!
• After Spring Break, we will continue to use fairy tales, but focus on different viewpoints of the characters (example: the Giant's point of view from Jack and the Beanstalk).

Word Study

• The kiddos continued to learn about r-influenced words.  We talked about "or" and "ur" words.  R-influenced words are hard for kiddos, so when your child is writing please encourage them to think about what sound they hear.
• We will continue to work on r-influenced words when we get back from Spring Break.  We will focus on words that have are, air, and oddball words.  Next week's words are: hare, stare, square, hair, chair, pair, heart, pear, where, wear.

Science

• We finished up our geography unit on water this week!  The kiddos have AMAZED me with their understanding of the different bodies of water.  They have learned SO much.  Today we did an experiment that allowed them to see how rain and melting snow from the top of a mountain can turn into a source of a river.  We also did a quick check on their understanding of water today.  You should ask your kiddo about everything they learned during this unit - you will be impressed.  They should be able to tell you the level 3 on the proficiency scale.  Then challenge them with level 4!

• Our next focus for science will be looking at weathering and erosion.  Below is the learning target on the proficiency scale that we will be focused on.

Check Out Our Pictures From the Week!

We had Maker Space on Monday!

This is our science experiment today with where rivers start!

Just some other fun things throughout the week!

I hope that you have a wonderful and safe Spring Break.  Please remember to send in pictures of your kiddo during Spring Break so that we can hang them up on our bulletin board!

Mrs. Ross