Thursday, January 5, 2017
January
5, 2017
Dear Parents,
Happy New Year!! I hope that everyone had a healthy and
relaxing vacation.
I wanted to let everyone know
about some upcoming units of study here in the second grade. So we have exciting things coming up for the
month of January.
To begin with, in science (and
this will overlap into math) we are starting a unit on “Whales.” We will discuss topics such as where whales
live, migration, baleen whales versus toothed whales, whales are mammals, whales
versus fish, how blubber keeps whales warm and much, much more. We will also compare the lengths and weights
of different types of whales. As part of
this unit I will need your help in two ways.
First, as a class, we will be adopting a Killer (Orca) Whale!!!! This is a great project that I have done
before. The whale is “adopted” through
The Whale Museum in Washington State. As
part of the adoption, we will receive a package including a photograph and
biography of our whale, a genealogy, a book about orca whales, each child will
get his/her own adoption certificate and much more. The museum will then also email me monthly
updates on our whale. There are about 50
whales to choose from, I will pick a few names that I think the students will
enjoy (Oreo and Yoda are two of the whales J) and we
will vote next week. Please send in $3 to help cover the cost of the
adoption. I will also need empty and
clean water/milk jugs (the plastic gallon).
I will be collecting them in an effort to show how many gallons of milk
a baby whale drinks in just one day (some drink up to 100 gallons per day!) At the end of this unit, each student will
choose one type of whale and will write a report about it here in the classroom.
Next, in reading and social
studies we will begin to discuss communities.
We will talk about the people and places in our community and how our
suburban community is different from both the urban city and the rural farms. As a part of this unit of study we will be “building”
communities. In order to build the communities we will need empty and CLEAN
milk/juice cartons. I am looking ONLY
for the cardboard type of cartons (half gallon, quart, pint.) Any size you send will be great. We will then be coving them in construction
paper and turning them into a 3D community.
I know the class will love both
of these projects. They will be great
hands on experiences for them. Please
start to send in the cartons/gallons as soon as you have them and please send
the $3 by Monday.
Thank you, as always, for your
help and cooperation, it truly makes such a difference. Happy New Year!
Mrs. Potter
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