Second Grade Rock Stars
Tour News!
Our Highlights: What We've Been Rockin' At!
This week we learned more about poetry and even shared our own diamonte poems. Diamonte poems use parts of speech, such as nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Diamonte poems also focus on synonyms (words that mean the same thing -ie. big and huge) and antonyms (words that mean the opposite -ie. big and little) to make them more interesting. Ask your kiddo if they can tell you the difference between a synonym and antonym and where they might be able to find them! (They can look in a thesaurus to find synonyms and antonyms)
We also learned about the Underground Railroad through learning about Harriet Tubman's role in it and then later in the week learned about the Montgomery Bus Boycott through learning about Rosa Parks' role in it. These events and discussions are ones that deal with a lot of weight and making sure there is no confusion. Considering students have very little background knowledge, it therefore makes it hard for them to make those much needed connections. These events are also a hundred years apart, which I emphasized greatly, but wanted you to reemphasize as well. We spoke in detail about these events, the cause of them, their effects, and made the connection between the two. However, please make sure that you speak with your child about these events to alleviate any misconceptions that they might have because they do not have that prior knowledge and very little to connect it to. They are key events that made a difference in our world, they are also important to teach about to make sure that history (and oppression of any people) does not repeat itself. It leads to amazing discussions between standing up for what is right and what role models looks like. Please, once again, discuss these events further with your child so that there's absolutely no misconceptions about these events.
We also began our Rock Star Classroom Economy! Students are THRILLED about this idea of a classroom economy and it provides such rich learning and lots of practice through a memorable experience. Students have applied and received their jobs. They also picked out their desks as well. Not all desks have the same rent. We discussed prime locations and when there is higher demand for it, it makes the price go up. They decided which desks are most in demand and should cost more. Ask your child what their classroom job is, what it entails, and which desk area they chose (tier 1- in front of the white board, tier 2- by the soothing mountains and clouds, tier 3- also in the front of the room, but not in the center or mountains, or tier 4- near the back. Didn't receive the explanation of it in your child's folder? I have attached it just in case they didn't all make it home. Please fill out the extremely short and quick form at the bottom of the newsletter to let me know what you think about the Classroom Economy! I've included the overview of our Classroom Economy below the survey.
Rockin' and Rollin' into Next Week!
Classroom Economy: Keeping track of your money using a ledger, deposit, debit, balance, transaction, salary, and budget.
Reading: Vocabulary, expression, rhythm, rhyme, beats, alliteration, repeated lines, and tone
Writing: Poetry, word choice, and using a thesaurus
Grammar: Me vs. I, Possessive Nouns, Glossary Skills, and Suffixes
Conventions: Possessive Apostrophes and Contraction Apostrophes
Social Studies: Events That Made a Difference leading to People that Made a Difference
Spelling: Double Consonants (ll, ss, ff)
Life Trait: 7 Habits to a Happy Kid: #3 Put First Things First (I spend my time on things that are most important. This means I say to things I know I should not do. I set priorities, make a schedule, and follow my plan. I am discipline and organized. - For example, doing homework before I play!)
Next on tour: Upcoming Events
- 1/13- WAVE Meeting 6:30pm DP Campus
- 1/14- Middle School Information Night 6:00pm PW Campus
- 1/16- WCS Board Meeting 6:30 PW Campus
- 1/20- No School (Martin Luther King Jr. Day)
- 1/22-1/24- Mrs. Martin sent by WCS to see and be trained by High Tech High in Project Based Learning (San Diego)
- 1/22- Field Trip to B Street Theatre to see The Conductor: Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad (with Mrs. Maloney) Students dress up in fancy attire!
- 1/23- Monday is Thursday Day (We will have no Spanish, but we will have Art in the afternoon)
- 1/27- Progress Reports go home today
- 1/27-1/31- Early Out Week (the entire week)
- 2/3- NWEA begins
- 2/6- Parents Go To School Night 5:15-7:30pm DP Campus
Question of the Week
Also, don't forget to answer Mrs. Battin's Math Monday question (the link is below the video)
Math Monday (Mrs. Battin's Question of the Week)
Contact the Band Manager!
Second Grade Teacher
Westlake Charter School
Email: jmartin@westlakecharter.com
Website: http://MrsMartinsRockStars.weebly.com
Phone: 916-567-5760
Twitter: @MrsMartinsRoom
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to the phone number: (925) 203-1369