The Second Grade Newsletter

We learned about trees and leaves. There were a lot of trees in Muir Woods. The deer had antlers with fuzz on them. It was on a hill. The deer was brown. The trees were redwood trees. We saw a family of trees with burls on them. We picked up a leaf and rubbed it. It smelled strong. It was yellow with orange spots. It was a bay leaf. We saw lots of leaves falling. There were trees that fell down. We saw three banana slugs. Farah's mom kissed a banana slug. Two banana slugs were on the ground and one was on a leaf. The banana slug was yellow-green. It was slimy. We saw a squirrel. It was brown. It was cute. It had a bushy tail. We saw salmon in the creek. They were brown and wiggly.
Reporters: Farah and Mahlika

Every month we walk down University to the West Branch of the Berkeley Public Library. When we get there Marge reads us a story. Then she gets all the books out that are on a theme and on our reading level. The themes we've had are friends and mysteries. We get one book that is on the theme and one that we want to take home and read. Then we do book reports on the books that are on the theme.
Reporters: P.J. and Mike

Henri Rousseau was our first artist. We did art with different shades of green. Then we glued animals on our green jungles. Henri Matisse was our second artist. We got pieces of paper and we cut a shape in one color and then we glued the paper onto a bigger piece of paper. Then we had two pieces of paper that looked like one big piece of paper. Rene Magritte was our third artist. We made pictures of anything. Then we unfolded them and drew something on the top that was related to the thing on the bottom. Then we talked about how funny they were.
Reporters: Sasha and Laurel

Each Monday in our class we change the words for our tests. We decide what words to write. The way we pick our words is that we have a theme. One of the subjects was the days of the week. On Monday we put the spelling words in alphabetical order. On Wednesday we either do spelling sentences or a spelling story. On Thursday we do a practice test. On Friday we do a real test for the people who got the practice test wrong.
Reporters: Spencer and Aris

Poison is a math game we play when we finish our math work. You start with thirteen objects. You can pull out one or two objects at a time. Tangrams is another game you could play. You play it by making shapes without touching tips together. Time is what we are doing in our books.
Reporters: Levi and Devon

First, Iris showed the class part of her mask collection. Then we drew an idea on a piece of paper. After that we drew everything we wanted her to cut out of our paper plates. If we wanted horns or antlers, Iris gave us another paper plate and we drew the horns or antlers. Then she cut it out. After that we painted them. Then we painted them with lacquer to make them shiny and smooth. The last thing we did was glue on small things.
Reporters: Maya and Sarah

We had a Halloween parade. There were lots of games and lots of booths. There were tattoos. There were also donuts you could bite off a string. There was a game where you took four coins and tried to get them in a cup. There was a haunted house. The fifth graders were in the haunted house. We got cool prizes. There was a beanbag toss and a hula-hoop contest. At the end of the day we had cookies and rice crispy treats.
Reporters: Sheridan and Alex

We are studying California Indians. A woman can ask a man to marry her. The California Indians have a mortar and pestle to grind their acorns. They store their acorns in a granary that will keep the acorns safe from little animals and insects. The California Indians can catch fish when they're bathing with soap root. They can weave baskets so tightly that water can't get out. Then they make a fire and use a special kind of rock. They put the rock in the fire and put it in the basket and in a minute the water will start bubbling and cooking. The Indians lived in teepee-like things called kotcas.
Reporters: Kerim and Lucia

We are going to have two skits about California Indians. One of them is called Chiquaqua and the other one is called Coyote and the Lizards. Isabelle is the third girl in Chiquaqua. Vincent is the second narrator. Some of us will use clapper sticks. Some of the songs sound weird. One of the songs is Aye-Aye Yo Way Yah. Another song is Way-Way Yo Oh Well-in-na. The song we dance to is Hay-ee-yo-ho. The words donšt mean anything. In our dance the girls are on the outside of the circle and the boys are on the inside.
Reporters: Vincent and Isabelle

We wrote our names and where we live. We made up weird creatures as pets. We made up names like Pogelkel-foo-foo and Yufur. The Pogekel-foo-foo is fuzzy. It has twenty-five legs, fifty-two pairs of ears and two heads. It is kind of smart. A Yufur is furry and has four eyes. It has three horns and is kind of smart. Our group is called The Mice. Our teacher is Menna.
Reporters: Parker and Jimmy

There you have it in their own words. I'm always amazed at their interpretation of events. I enjoyed speaking with all of the parents at our conferences. If you have any further issues you wish to discuss or if any concerns arise, please do not hesitate to contact me. In math, we have essentially finished the unit on time and have progressed to the unit on counting money. If your child continues to be somewhat confused about telling time by five-minute intervals, please practice with him/her at home. Practice counting by fives is helpful. Practical experience in real-life situations is the best teacher. As mentioned, we are preparing for our first second grade assembly on Friday, November 21. It will begin in the music room promptly at 9:00 a.m. and will last approximately twenty minutes. It should be fun. All second grade parents are invited to attend. On that morning, please say "good-by" to your child when you leave him/her off at the classroom before school starts. Then go to the music room and get yourself a seat. After the assembly, I will be taking the children back to the classroom to return to a normal day. This coming Friday, November 14, we are going on a field trip to the Kule Loklo, the Coast Miwok Cultural Exhibit in Point Reyes, also known as the Miwok Village. We will leave BPC at 10 a.m. and return by 3:00 p.m. Let's hope for good weather. Please dress your child warmly on this day with clothes and shoes that are appropriate for walking outdoors. If all goes according to plan, we will be eating lunch at the Miwok Village. Each child should bring his/her lunch in a bag and drink in a disposable container. We will not be carrying backpacks or lunch boxes. Parents who are accompanying us on this trip, please dress warmly, bring your lunch, and be at BPC ready to go by 9:45 a.m. We will celebrate Thanksgiving in the second grade by making Friendship Soup. We will make the soup and eat it with our third grade buddies. Each child will be asked to bring one vegetable to school for the soup on Monday, November 24. We will peel, chop, and cook the vegetables in class on that day. The next day, Tuesday, November 25, the second and third graders will eat the soup together. It's sort of like stone soup without the stone, and it always tastes good. Another notice will go home reminding each child to bring a vegetable. The soup is not intended to take the place of lunch. Wednesday, November 26, is Grandparents day at BPC. This event has really grown in popularity. If your child does not have a grandparent on hand to invite to the event, please do not feel that you must produce someone or your child will feel left out. The program works the best in our classroom when we have about half as many grandparents as there are children in the class. Ten grandparents are just about right. We can comfortably accommodate about that many in the room. We can assign two children to each grandparent and the grandparents are always delighted to have the special attention of two children. They are usually more than willing to give careful and impartial attention to all the children that have been assigned to them. Wednesday, November 26 will also be a minimum day ending at 12:00 noon. Thursday, November 27 and Friday, November 28, school will be closed for the Thanksgiving Holiday. Hope you and your families enjoy the holiday.

Sincerely, Iris Sabre