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L. Watkis (Assistant Principal)

Hello fabulous 2nd grade families! This week will be make-up testing for the CogAT (TAG) that most students completed this past week. Students should also be finishing up their STEM fair presentations in order to stick with the timeline and get them turned in before we leave for the winter break. If you have any questions, please reach out to your teacher for guidance or clarification. Reading: This is our last week working in Unit 2 which has been focused on the part that animals play in the world around us. This week’s essential question in reading is, “What do we love about animals?” The phonics skill for this week is three-letter blends (scr, spr, str, the, spl, and shr) and builds off of last week’s skill, which was consonant digraphs (ch, sh, ph, th, ng, wh, tch). This week, our text selections will be focused on animals in poetry, so we have 4 regular vocabulary words and 4 poetry vocabulary words for this week. Spelling words: scratch splash scrape split spring catch throne sting stripe far strange flower shred until shrub Vocabulary Words: behave- to act in a way that is good or correct express- when you show your feelings feathers- the soft things that cover a bird’s body flapping- to move up and down Poetry Vocabulary Words: poem- a form of writing that expresses imagination or feelings rhyme- when two words rhyme they have the same ending sounds rhythm- the repeating accents, or beats, in a poem word choice- the use of rich, colorful, exact words Math: Last week we began our unit on addition. We will continue working on addition this week! Some of the strategies students will learn are: hundred chart, number line, breaking apart, and compensation. A "cheat sheet" of strategies will come home for your reference! Please take a few minutes each night to practice addition skills at home. We are using various programs to support our classroom efforts. Some of these are great programs to reinforce learning at home: IXL, DreamBox, and XtraMath. CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.2.NBT.B.5 Fluently add and subtract within 100 using strategies based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction. Science: We are continuing in Science Unit 5 this week. Our essential question is still, “What changes on Earth happen slowly?” We will be talking about some slow changes that happen to the Earth like weathering, erosion, and the formation of physical features on our planet that take millions of years to happen! Social Studies: We are plugging along with Chapter 4 and talking about what culture is and how cultures are shared! The target reading skill is still comparing and contrasting, specifically identifying and explaining similarities and differences between different cultures of the world! A great place to visit in DC that shows a vibrant and exciting real-world example of how cultures are shared is the Eastern Market in Capitol Hill (near the Trader Joe’s). If you get a chance, take your student down there (open year round) to see how different vendors creatively share their own cultures through their wares (and maybe do some holiday shopping while supporting local small businesses and entrepreneurs too!).

2nd Grade Team Mrs. Boggess Mrs. Valera Mr. Rowland

Hi everyone! We now have ONE last FULL week left before the holiday break, we are so close! The following week, we have full days Monday - Wednesday, a 3 hour early dismissal on Thursday, and NO SCHOOL on Friday! We have our Q1 Honor Roll Assembly on Tuesday December 14 at 9:00am! Students will be in person and parents will watch on Zoom! The link will be provided on class dojo. Progress reports come out BEFORE the holiday break, so students need to make sure all work is done before break! The window for grades closes on December 20 so let’s make sure all work is submitted! Also, the STEM Fair project and research paper are due before the holiday break as well! Students will turn the project into Ms. Balogun and the papers to Ms. McDonagh. They are due December 20, and we will NOT accept anything at all after that, no exceptions. Let’s have a great last full week! We are doing our best to keep the rooms and desks clean throughout the day so as the holiday season approaches, any cleaning supplies that you would like to donate would be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much and let’s have a great week! Please use our Google Site as it has many helpful resources for you all! There is a weekly assignment breakdown that can help parents keep up with students' assignments, a grade level newsletter, and many other important resources. Here's the link to our google site: https://sites.google.com/pgcps.org/3rdgradeclasssite From your 3rd Grade Team! :)

Leah McDonagh Kylie Fleet Tamara Mathews Rashidah Balogun

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L. Watkis (Assistant Principal)