inside Mrs. Allentuck's classroom

Dear All,

Our trip to Mass MoCA was a bit hit. As you can see from the slideshow below, the children seemed to enjoy all aspects of the day. The docents often had them physically engaged with the art as well mentally and they loved the final art project as well.

Mrs. Clausen and I have decided to extend our work with the current spelling words for another week, so no quiz tomorrow!
A lot of projects are coming to an end and we will soon start reviewing and reflecting on the year. I like to give them an opportunity to reflect upon their own learning processes as well as recognizing the fun and excitement in learning as the year comes to a close.

Many of you have asked for some more practice subtraction sheets and I put some in the weekly packets that went home today. I told the students they don’t have to come back into me and can be done whenever you have the time. I’m all for the additional
practice!

Happy Mother’s Day to all the Moms, here’s hoping that you all get to sleep in at the very least!

Katharine

Dear All,
Slideshow below represents our trip to the NY State Museum, our recent Lunch Bunch and peer editing our Shakespeare projects.
With the desks set up in more of a banquet style for our most recent Lunch Bunch, the children were spontaneously toasting each other, reading poetry and telling jokes….and the food was great too!

The trip to the NY State Museum was filled with great visual information to enhance their study of Native American culture. The Merry-Go-Round at the end was great fun too.
We’re taking another class trip next Wednesday, May 9th, to Mass MOCA. Mrs. Gratz and I will accompany the class and we will be joined by the Kindergartners on the bus who are also traveling to the museum that day. Just as with the NY State Museum trip, the bus on Wednesday will leave at 8:30 and we will be back at school for regular dismissal. Please pack a lunch and snack as usual. (No gift shop!)

The book report/letters were mailed out this afternoon and I sent home copies of the final letters for you to enjoy in your home packets today. No more book reports this year, but I hope you agree that everyone  came a long way this year in learning to choose the right books, manage their time to complete the assignment , retell the story in proper sequence as well as being able to share and highlight what they enjoyed most in what they read.

In Math we’re been making graphs and reviewing subtraction by moving onto 3-digit numbers.

The class really enjoyed their visit to the 6th grade Science Fair, perhaps they have shared which exhibit they enjoyed the most with you already.
The notes, flowers and all the other wonderful goodies that made up Teacher Appreciation Week were a very special treat. Thank you to one and all.

We’re having a visit from the Berkshire Theatre Festival for our end of the day Assembly today. I hear it’s wonderful and I’m sure your children will want to share some of the highlights with you.

Wonderful spring weekend ahead, enjoy it,
Best,
Katharine

Dear Parents,

Yesterday was a day filled with music! First we had a wonderful visit from Mr. McCarthy’s son Matt, a gifted music teacher, to our music class. He did a fabulous program with drums that included both the 2nd and 7th grades. Some pictures are included in my slide show. Then at the end of the day, Mrs. Hilliard arranged for our musicians to practice/preview for the rest of the class the pieces they plan on playing at the recital at BCD this Sunday. Pictures of that are also included on the slide show below.

According to an informal survey in 2nd grade everyone has at least one analog clock in their house, and thank you for that! It makes a great difference if the children have been exposed to a clockface before. They are all doing really well with telling time. We will introduce the concept of elapsed time next week, but just as in introduction, that can be very difficult concept for some, and not just 2nd graders! Any clock reading at home is much appreciated.

I’ve sent home a note as a reminder about our trip to the NY State Museum on Monday. Nothing extra on your part needs to be done. Mrs. Clausen and I will chaperone the trip.We’re leaving at 8:30 and back at 2:30 in time for regular dismissal.

The students have finished their Native American pictographs and they are hanging in the classroom. They’ve chosen a name/symbol for themselves as well.

Rough drafts of book reports aren’t due until next Thursday. They need to re-write the letter in their own hand and include whatever information about their book that they choose to include. Also due at that time is the stamped envelope with the name and address of the person they plan to send the letter to. Final drafts not due until Wednesday, May 2nd.

We will also be taking a trip to Mass Moca with Mrs. Gratz on Wednesday, May 9th. That will be another all day trip….more details to follow. Enjoy the slideshow and the rainy weekend!

Katharine

Hello All,

In Math class, the second graders have done a great job learning about money, coins and their value. We took a few days to review quantitative reasoning and place value with the Guess My Number packets that went home today. We will begin to study clocks and time next week. Your help at home reinforcing the value of different coins was extremely helpful and I hope you are able to do the same with time. Switching to a base 60 system can be confusing after so much emphasis on base 10 computing, unless you’re part Babylonian ! Any time you can ask a question requiring telling time practice, please do so, it’s great practice.

Social Studies: Our unit on Native Americans has begun. Be sure to ask your children about their pictograph stories, their rough drafts began today. We will visit the NY State Museum in Albany for the day on Monday, April 23rd. They have a wonderful permanent exhibit called Native Peoples of New York which includes an actual Longhouse that they can enter and other hands-on activities. We will leave at 8:30 returning in time for dismissal, eating our lunch at the museum.  I will send a reminder as we get closer to the day.

Those who have visited the cubby room recently may have noticed an informal display of the 2nd grade’s  ’found art’ sculptures atop the cubbies. Worth the trip inside!

Spelling words (au, -aw) are on Spelling City as well as in our minds. You may have also heard about Bagels, Pico, Fermi which is a place value game that can be played with 2 digit numbers. I’m sure you can get instructions from your children.

So happy to see so many 2nd graders signed up for the Talent Show. The show is a benefit for the AVJ school in Haiti as well. Can’t wait to see them shine. We’re finishing up our Mexican masks for Art Soiree this afternoon with Mrs. Bernard and Mrs. Gratz.

Sorry, no pictures this week, I promise to get snapping next week.

Katharine

Hi All,

Below is a mish mosh of some recent photos.

A few are from our visit to the Art Room with Mrs. Bernard and Mrs. Gratz designing and constructing paper mache Mexican masks for Art Soiree Decorations.

A few are from our final session with Mr. McCarthy making tortillas…..note some of the ingenious measures taken to flatten them!

And finally, a few candids from Choice Time, where some wonderful creative play is in full force!

Mrs. Clausen and I have decided to extend the current spelling list of soft c and g sounds over next week as well. Sometimes one week is just not enough to really master the spelling rules along with the other reading and writing we do in Reading Class.

We have just begun our study of Native Americans, concentrating mostly on Iroquois and Indians of the NorthEast Woodlands becasue we live where we do.
I am hoping to arrange a trip to the NY State Museum to visit their permanent exhibits on Native American tribes of our region, complete with intact Longhouses and other artifacts. I will let you know the date as soon as I know it.

The students have done an outstanding job of mastering coins and their values. We will be moving onto telling time soon. I encourage you to practice computing making change from a dollar anytime you make a small purchase. (Do things still cost less than a dollar??) It’s a great way to practice mental math and subtraction in a practical usage.

Auditions have been going well for the Talent Show on the 13th. Hope you will be able to make it!

Happy Spring,
Katharine

Trying to post this one more time!

Hello All,

Below are slideshows from last Monday’s  Fiesta and the Lower School  Courage Assembly from this morning. I can’t thank all the parents enough who made the Fiesta such a fun event. The lunch was outstanding and their performance was pretty adorable (though it would be hard to top the play). We came back and made some beautiful Mexican tissue paper flowers with Mrs. Clausen and then Mrs. Brentano and I sat them down for the pinata! We’re finishing up our Mexico books today and when they return we will begin our study of the culture of Native Americans.

The book reports showed good effort by all. We will have two more this year, one for April and one for May.

It’s been quite a busy week. Mr. McCarthy returned and made tortillas with us as well sharing some of his homemade salsa.

The Courage Assembly represented the 2nd of our 3 Social Curriculum themes this year. The 2nd grade wrote stories about instances that they have either witnessed or experienced involving teasing and bulllying. They included how and where courage plays a part in those scenarios. For example, the Penguins wrote that although the character Jessica goes to her mother and shares that she is being teased, she passes up her help and says…, “no, it’s ok”, because she hopes it will clear up quickly. But before dinner she changes her mind and finds the courage to talk to her friends with her mother there.”

Also this week, Mrs. Frantz invited us to watch her slide show on Ghana. As some of you might know, she is returning to the orphanage in Ghana where she volunteered this past summer during the upcoming spring break. Her slides were terrific, giving the class a real sense of where she is going, and what life is like for the kids there as well as the people who work there.

As I mentioned to a lot of you in conferences, keep the subtraction practice going. It takes a lot of repetition to really master the skill. If you’re traveling, postcards sent back here to school are also a fun way for them to practice writing and we can share them when we return.

We’re cleaning out desks and cubbies today so be prepared for a bag or two to come home!

I wish you all a wonderful and relaxing spring break!

Katharine

Questions for Mr. McCarthy

Mr. McCarthy visits 2nd grade

Dear Parents,

We are  winding down working solely on addition and subtraction with regrouping/borrowing in math class. We’ll be moving on to units on graphing, time , money, measurement  and introducing multiplication. All of these units will build on the students  addition and subtraction skills as well as their numeracy. I am confident that everyone has grasped the underlying concepts introduced so far, however they would ALL benefit with more practice in both operations to help make these facts more automatic.  To that end, I have sent some worksheets home in the packets today, but you can make up some problems just as well. Also, it’s always good to emphasize the inverse relationship between addition and subtraction, for example, if 5+5=10, what does 10-5 equal? Skip counting can be great practice as well,  some time in the car can be spent going up by 3, or down by 2, or whatever numbers they might choose to play with.

Also going home today are more blank books for book reports. I’ll be sure everyone has one by the weekend.

The second trimester ends tomorrow. The 2nd graders will miss their theatre class for sure, but there is plenty to be done back here in the classroom. Besides theatre class, there will be no change in schedule.

Mr. McCarthy, who teaches Spanish in Middle and Upper School, joined us yesterday and shared his knowledge of and experience with Mexican culture. He will return in two weeks and we will do some hands on work with the corn grinder and some other tools he brought in for us to learn about.

Finally, sign-up sheets for conferences will be posted online tomorrow. Also, tomorrow, Friday, there is no ski-Friday, we have a full day.

Listed below are some dates to keep in mind these next busy two weeks:

Wednesday, February 29 – Alaska Day

Thursday/Friday 3/1 & 3/2- Conferences

Monday, March 5th-  Fiesta

Tuesday, March 6th- Book Reports Due

Friday, March 9th- Full Day, begins March Break

Enjoy the weekend, Katharine