I hope that your extended weekend was memorable and lots of fun! 

Here are some important dates for the upcoming month:

Tuesday, December 5 – Kaukauna Holiday Parade 

Thursday, December 7 – Pizza, PJs, and Publishing Family Night 5:30-7:00

                       - Pajama Day

Tuesday, December 12 - No School (Inservice for teachers)

Thursday, December 21– 2^nd Grade AM Field trip to Barlow Planetarium (Permission slip will be coming home on Monday.)

December 22-January 1 – No School Winter Break

Tuesday, January 2 – Classes Resume

Curriculum Updates:

Reading ~ This week will be spent learning how to connect information across books on the same topic. We will be noticing how information is connected, similarities and differences among books on the same topics, and how to use the information from several books to retell about the topics. 

Writing - Editing, revising, and setting goals are the big topics for our writing lessons this week. Rereading our own writing to find places we can make our writing stronger is not always easy for second grade writers. Our lessons will break up this process and show students that all writers need to practice this skill. 

Math - We are working on identifying each coin and knowing the values of pennies, nickels, dimes, and dollars this week. We will also work on recording the value of 114 cents as $1.14. Lessons will also involve counting mixed coins such as 3 dimes, 2 nickels and 3 pennies. This is a skill you can work on at home as well.  

Science ~ Orbit, rotation, and revolution are three key vocabulary words we will focus on this week. We will study what these words mean and how they relate to our solar system. Students will also be choosing a planet to begin research. Groups will decide what we would need to learn about each planet and will create a research template from there. This research will happen over the course of the next few weeks. 

Have a GREAT week!

Whoa! What a change in weather we've had in the past few days. It is starting to feel like Thanksgiving is right around the corner!


What's Coming Up?

Tuesday, November 14 - Conferences
Friday, November 17 - Half Day - Dismissal at 11:30
Wednesday-Friday, November 22-24 - No School

***Library books are due on Tuesday.


Curricular Updates

Reading - Nonfiction reading continues in second grade! We will focus on reading and using the "lingo" (vocabulary) of the books we are reading this week. Our goal is to 'Talk the talk! Read to Learn the Lingo'.  We will be learning to use the text features, everything on the page, and comparisons to better understand new keywords.

Writing - Editing, revising, and setting goals are the big topics for our writing lessons this week. Rereading our own writing to find places we can make our writing stronger is not always easy for second grade writers. Our lessons will break up this process and show students that all writers need to practice this skill. 

Math - We will continue to learn and practice strategies to add two 2-digit numbers this week. We will also be working on identifying each coin and knowing the values of pennies, nickels, dimes, and dollars this week. We will work on recording the value of 114 cents as $1.14. Lessons will also involve counting mixed coins such as 3 dimes, 2 nickels and 3 pennies. This is a skill you can work on at home as well. 

Content - Second graders will be learning about the solar system! 


Have a great week!

Conferences are right around the corner. I look forward to meeting with you on Thursday or Tuesday to share your child's progress so far this year!

We re-opened our online store through Eagle Graphics if you are interested in ordering any NDLC clothing items. It will be open through November 19:  https://ndlcspirit2017.itemorder.com/sale

This month New Directions is showing how to BE Thankful!  As a way to bring us together as a school community we are going to have an "Appreciation Station" set up for students and families to use at conferences.  At this station you will be able to write a note to someone you are thankful for in your lives. It can be someone from the school or someone from somewhere else in your lives.  Please look for the station outside the cafeteria by the 4K classroom and stop by to let someone know you are thankful for them!  

***Library books are due tomorrow.

***Book orders are due on Wednesday.

What's coming up?

Monday-Packer Wear
Wednesday-Dress Like Your Parents Day
Thursday-Portfolio Conferences
Friday-Wear Red, White, and Blue (for Veteran's Day)

Reading - Last week we started our Informational Reading unit. We are learning how to pay close attention to the details. Readers of nonfiction notice, learn, and wonder throughout their readings. This is such a fun genre to teach and to read!

Writing - We are carrying much of what we are learning in our nonfiction reading unit into our informational writing. We have been planning our chapters using a table of contents, and working on writing main idea sentences.

Math - We will begin to learn strategies to add two 2-digit numbers this week. We will also begin working with money in the next couple of weeks. When you have some time, please review the coins and their value with your child.

Content: We're wrapping up our study of Wisconsin Geography and will be moving on to our study of the Solar System. We've been learning a lot from students' Wisconsin Geography presentations.