Week 28

Welcome to the Grade 2 Newsletter

Important Dates

• March 12 - Shelter in Place Drill
• March 13 - ES Fundraising House Event (more info in this link)
• March 13/14 - Parent/Teacher Conferences
• March 15 - Movie Night 3:10- 4:15 (find here all the information)
• March 18 - May 17 - ASA Session 3
• March 30 - April 9 - Spring break

Field Trip

Students exploring simple machines in farming to irrigate fields

Last week we had a great field trip!!! The Grade 2 team wanted to thank:

• All our chaperones from our 3 classrooms.
• Mr. Tharwat and Ms. Basma for a great and well organized trip.
• All the students in Grade 2 for showing the core values wherever they go.
• All the parents for their support and having all the kids ready for our trip.

Core Value Books

The core value for March is PERSEVERANCE. We will be sending home the core value book about perseverance: Emmanuel’s Dream. Please read it with your child, then return it to school for the next student to take home.
What is the definition of perseverance? The core value definition of perseverance is “never give up and work toward a goal.” What would your students add to this? What does this mean to them?

Discuss with your kids how perseverance...

• Is used by adults in the workplace, 
• Is used by students outside of school, 
• Applies to school situations, 
• Benefits when mastered, 
• consequences of not possessing it.

Shelter Drill

We will be having a drill on March 12 to practice shelter procedures. Teachers will discuss this as “shelter practice” with students in age-appropriate ways, but you may also want to also talk to your child about the subject. Last year, we shared this article with helpful suggestions for talking to children about safety procedures and practices. One of the things addressed is the impact of the terminology we use. Staff members will be going over this in advance, as we work together to ensure that students feel safe, protected, and aware of what to do in different situations. Read this article to find out how to talk to your kid in these kind of situations.

The drill will be held at 12:00 pm, so if you are on campus, we ask that you follow instructions when asked to go to a safe place. Everyone who is outside will be moved to the ES Hall.

ES Talent Show - CAC Theater (May 3rd, 2018)

It is time to prepare for our annual ES Talent show! If your child is interested in participating in this amazing performance of talent, please join me for a mandatory Parent Meeting, Wednesday, March 7th from 10:40 - 11 in the ES Drama Room. If you are unable to make this meeting, you are welcome to drop in during Parent-Teacher Conferences, March 13th and 14th. (Please find the Purpose of our ES Talent Show here.)

Here is the timeline for this year’s Talent Show:

• March 18, 19, 20 : Auditions during Lunch.
• Call-backs (only if necessary) during Lunch/Recess March 25 & 26.
• Acts posted March 29th on the Drama News Board.
• Sign-up to rehearse in the Drama Room during Lunch/Recess with Ms. Dolly last 2 weeks of April. 
• All Acts Rehearsal in the Theater; Wednesday, May 2nd from 3:15-5. 

ES Talent Show program, May 3rd, 2018

• 5:30pm - 6:15pm - Grades PreK - 2 Talent Show
• 6:15pm-6:45pm - Intermission
• 6:45pm-7:30pm - Grades 3-5 Talent Show
• 8pm: Show ends

After School Activities

This week, there are no after school activities. The sign up for the new activities begins on Sunday March 4 at 4 pm. List of activities and Sign up form will be posted on the ASA Website. The sign up will be open for 1 week until March 10.

The 2nd annual Egyptian schools Championship - March 22/23 (Montaza Gardens - Alexandria)
Calling all students, parents, teachers & staff.

Please register in this link.
Questions to Ms. Ereeny (egergess@cacegypt.org)

What’s Going on This Week in Grade 2

Readers’ Workshop

Grade 2 continues to work in our 5th unit Reading About Science Topics to Become Experts. In the first bend, we will focus on reading as scientists to build up a base of knowledge on a topic by reading deeply about the topic. Readers will choose what they want to learn about, read about it, and integrate ideas from the science unit forces and motion. Students will learn to analyze text in parts in relation to the whole by using non-fiction features. Readers of nonfiction texts will learn to use all the sentences on the page to think about what’s most important—the big, main idea of that section. We often say our main idea not just as a word but instead as a phrase and back up this idea with details.

The students will focus on the following essential questions:

• How do readers read non-fiction differently from fiction?
• How can I read non-fiction books to become an expert on a topic?

Some suggested discussions to do at home:
Discuss non-fiction features and how these features help us as readers understand even more about a topic. Also, determine the main idea and supporting details of any think non-fiction such as articles, pamphlets, and books.

Writers’ Workshop

This unit is integrated with our science unit forces and motion. students will learn to write lab reports and science books. In the first bend, we will learn to write as scientists do. When scientists conduct experiments to learn about the world, they have a certain way they usually write - they use a lab report format. They record what they expect to happen in an experiment, and they record what they actually do in the experiment, then they record how things go and what they learn. Students enjoy this unit as it is hands on and they become scientists as they explore simple machines and forces and motion. We are building catapults this week and writing lab reports about, sketching, trying, wondering and writing hypothesis will be only the beginning. Students will build a catapult, they will write accurate descriptions of the process and unexpected issues they find. Finally they will write their results and draw conclusions, ending with wonders that may lead them to new lab reports.

The students will focus on the following essential questions:

• How do I find out information about a topic?
• Why do I need to revise my writing?
• How do I present my findings to the world?

Math - Module 5: Addition and Subtraction Within 1,000 with Word Problems up to 100

This week we will end our Module 5 and the students will be assessed. Next week they will take their assessments home after review with a reflection. Please, have a conversation with your child about their learning progress in this unit, strengths, areas of confidence and challenges.

In Module 5, students build upon their mastery of renaming place value units and extend their work with conceptual understanding of the addition and subtraction algorithms to numbers within 1,000, always with the option of modeling with materials or drawings. Throughout the module, students continue to focus on strengthening and deepening conceptual understanding and fluency. This week we will do the Mid-module assessment and go over it to complete our two stars and a wish.

Some of the objectives are:

• Use math drawings to represent additions with up to two compositions and relate drawings to the addition algorithm. 
• Choose and explain solution strategies and record with a written addition method. 

Essential Questions

• How can strategies help me to quickly add and subtract?
• How do I explain my mathematical thinking and why is that important?

Key understandings of Module 5:

• I can add and subtract numbers from 0 to 1000 using different strategies based on place value and regrouping.
• I can mentally add or subtract 10 and 100 from any number from 100 to 900
• I can explain why various addition or subtraction strategies work using numbers, drawings, or objects.

*Don’t forget to check out Eureka Math.

*Tips for parents: Module 5, Lessons 19-20

Science

This week we will explore pulleys. How does a pulley help us to do a work easier? Check out this BrainPOP movie (username: cacegypt, password: cacegypt) to learn more about pulleys.

Essential Questions:

• How do objects move?
• How does force and motion help me understand the world around me?

Some suggested discussions you can have at home: Discuss how simple machines help us in everyday living using unit vocabulary:

• direction, slide, back/forth, pulley, movement, push/pull force, gravity simple machine - any of the basic mechanical devices for applying a force, such as an inclined plane, wedge, or lever, wheel and axle, pulley
• Force - energy that moves something
• Effort x distance = work
• Discuss motion and forces.

Circles

Focus: displaying perseverance especially when working with others, in the classroom, at school, at home, and in the community.

Counseling Corner

Dear CAC Parents,
In guidance we are discussing strong emotions, how they make our bodies feel and calming down strategies. It is important for kids to understand that everyone gets upset but that we are still responsible for our behaviors.

We discussed the concept of “flipping our lids” and how to calm down when our emotions take over our thinking. We are sharing calming down strategies and practicing different ways to calm ourselves down when upset. Grade 2 students will make a calm down jar that they can use as another strategy for calming down strong emotions.
Please share with your children strategies that you use when you have a strong emotion.

Best Wishes,
Ms. Purpura