2Lithium Monthly Newsletter Feb-March
Welcome to the 2Lithium SchoolZine!
Hello Families! I am so excited to share with you our SchoolZine stream where you will be able to stay connected and updated on what is happening in our second grade classroom. Here you will find monthly updates from our classroom teachers, and pictures of your child, the activities we are doing, and class project updates. Please check back the 1st of every month!
For the Love of Reading!
This month we had a school wide reading contest! Each class worked hard to read for as many minutes as they could, and the class that read the most minutes received a pool party. Although we weren't the school winners, I am so proud of how active 2Lithium was this month with their reading! Our very own Tina received 3rd place for the most minutes read in grades 1 to 3 with 1,992 minutes read! Congratulations Tina! :) Reading English books its such an easy, friendly way to support at home learning and to help our kiddos improve their literacy skills. Great job readers!
Classroom SET Updates
Humanities Class with Ms. Edna
In the last month 2Li covered root words and verb tenses, practiced writing and speaking in past tense. We celebrated Lunar New Year and made dragons and we reviewed the Author's Purpose (persuade, inform, entertain). We had a book tasting, took virtual field trips to Pennsylvania for Groundhog Day and Rome for Valentine's Day. We learned how to determine what is important vs interesting in texts, and we had a guest reader visit class! Hamiton actor Christopher Young, read us a story, and the students came up with questions to ask him while he answered them all the way from Colorado, USA. The class completed their first research project, a group country report on countries in South America and Africa, and presented their posters to the class. This year our homework has included a monthly homework calendar. Please make sure your child is completing this and continues to read for 15-20 minutes a night.
Math & Science with Ms. Ashley
Trimester 3 has been off to a great start in math and science! We have been focusing primarily on multiplication and fractions. Students are getting stronger fluency with their multiplication facts, recognizing fractions, and comparing fractions of different sizes. Lithium also competed in World Math's Day on March 23rd. This is the world's largest online math competition where students can complete against each other for different math topics such as addition, multiplication, fractions, and more! Our class placed in 192nd in the world and in 5th place for all of Thailand. I'm super proud of the work they put in. For science, we've been exploring different topics within Mystery Science such as magic, fossil traits, and climate in the world. Moving into the second part of the trimester, we will be focusing on measurement, division, and number lines in math. For science, we will begin the anticipated Space Unit following the Songkran holiday. We are continuing to send homework on Mondays with a Friday due date! Please make sure your child works on these packets throughout the week. There is no pressure to get these completed Monday evening.
~Miss Ashley
Engineering with Mr. Martin
Hello engineers,
We are working on different forces and energy. We have talked about different forms of energy and now working with forces and energy together. We have lots of projects to work on, some that fly, some that shoot, and some that splatter all over the garden.
Good craftsmanship and a well-thought-out plan will help your project soar!
Have fun!
Art with Ms. Dash
1st and 2nd Grader Socially Distanced Community MuralThe students began the New Year by reading the book "Maybe Something Beautiful: How Art Transformed a Neighborhood" by F. Isabel Campoy and Theresa Howell, Illustrated by Rafael Lópeza. The book centers around the power of art and its ability to bring the community together. The students aimed to transform their school into something beautiful like Mira and the Muralist in the book! The students overcame the challenge of working together in a pandemic by swapping their painted papers between grade levels. The 1st Graders used the 2nd Graders' painted paper to make trees for the mural, and the 2nd used the 1st' to make the houses. Ms. Dash used 1st and 2nd Graders' painted paper to create the sun that shines brightly over the vibrant neighborhood. "A splash of color is all you need to change your day from drought to a flowery field!" - Ms. Dash.Please take a moment to congratulate your child on this accomplishment! In February, the students worked on Jim Dine inspired hearts and will be proudly displayed in the school next week.
Music with Ms. S
It's been an exciting few weeks in music class as we have been learning all about the different instrument families and how they make sound. Connecting our music lessons to Ms. Janelle's/Ms. Ashley's science lessons has been a great way to see how music can be found in all our school subjects! Now we know all about sound waves, pitch, and vibrations and how they connect to musical instruments. Experimenting with different instruments and seeing videos of unique instruments from all around the world-like the Titanic Tuba!-showed us that bigger instruments make lower pitches, and smaller instruments make higher pitches.
Drama with Mr. Kyle
Wow, the first month of the new Drama Class has been a rollercoaster!It is so wonderful getting to know all the students and assisting in sparking their dramatic ability.As the students would tell you, rule three of Drama Class is Embrace Your Inner Weirdness!This means creativity and imagination are in abundant supply.Farewell February: We have written poems, practiced fun tongue twisters and even transformed into super heroes.Moving into March: We will be embarking on our first courseware adventure, entitled A Hero’s Journey.We will also be designing our own pin hole cameras.The show will go on!Mr. Kyle
Connections with Ms. Megan
Connections Class has been full of some really exciting projects this year! We started off 2022 with a 3 week Ancient China study, which fell right in the middle of Chinese New Year, where the students learned the importance of the holiday, the ancient Zodiac Calendar, and Chinese Lanterns. In the month of February we transitioned back to our American studies, learning about the wants and needs of human beings, covered wagons, and the journey west across America on the Oregon trail. Mr. Martin helped us incorporate our Engineering skills in a mobile covered wagon building project, which lead us into the Oregon Trail Live Game! Groups of students acted as families, and had to face challenges and make wise decisions about how they would prepare and journey across the Oregon Trail together. In March we will begin our Observing the World unit. In this unit the students will analyze people, animals and plants to discover what makes them unique.
