10/16/16

This week Second Graders began the "meat" of the math curriculum- showing their math thinking through solving story problems.  They were introduced to the steps they are expected to take in this process.

As the year progresses, the students will be expected to use a variety of strategies and tools to solve problems.  Some of your children may have been exposed to the traditional algorithm for calculations- stacking the numbers vertically.  We do not use this at school as it is too easy to follow the steps but not understand the concepts behind them.  Please ask your child to show you one of the ways he/she is practicing at school.

This week we will begin a discussion around the upcoming election.  We will talk about the role and responsibilities of the president and the steps leading up to an election.  For what I think are obvious reasons, we will not be focusing on the current candidates in the classroom.  If your child is interested, please talk about them at home.

Finally, in Friday's Open Circle lesson we talked about compliments and how good it feels to both receive and give them.  We learned that compliments must be true and are best when specific.  I asked he kids to be "compliment detectives" this weekend.  I hope they gave or noticed some compliments at home!