Welcome to 2nd Grade!

Hello second graders and parents! I am Mrs. Topoll.  I am very excited to be your child’s second grade teacher. I have been teaching for 17 years. I am originally from the suburbs of Chicago. I graduated from Illinois State University in 1998. I taught 2 years of middle school in Peoria, IL and moved to NC with my husband in 2001. I taught in Cary at Weatherstone Elementary for 8 years and then came to Brassfield in 2012. I absolutely love teaching at Brassfield!

            When I am not teaching, I enjoy spending time with my family and friends.  My husband (Mike) and I have 3 children, Lily who is 14 and is going into 9th grade at Wakefield, Brayden is 10 and is going into 5th and Gavin is 8, and will be in fourth this year at Brassfield. We love traveling as a family, playing outside, watching movies, playing games and taking walks with our two dogs, Daisy (age 3) and Bella(age 4), when we are not in school.  I am excited to meet you all and learn about your families!  Looking forward to a great second grade year!

May 10, 2019 Newsletter

Here is what we have been learning in fifth grade:


In EL, students are working on researching items to put in their emergency preparedness kit in case of a natural disaster. They are also writing an essay stating their choices and explaining their rationale for including these items. Next week, we will be review for the reading EOG.

In math, students finished our last math unit of quadrilaterals and coordinate grids. We started our EOG prep and review this week and will continue it into next week. Their homework for math next week will be 20 mins on Dreambox each evening, instead of paper pencils worksheets.

In social studies, students learned this week about the causes of the civil war and now are working on their Civil War Bonanza project. This will be completed after the EOGs.

In science, next week, we will start our review for the science EOG. The 4 units we covered this year are ecosystems, motion and design, human body systems/genetics and weather. The students have a study guide covering all four units  they received last week. They should continue to work on this at home and when they are finished with their work in class.

April 12, 2019 Newsletter

Here is what we have been learning in fifth grade:

In EL, Students have been reading literary and informational texts to better understand the impact of natural disasters on places and people. Students researched a natural disaster of their choice and thought about how authors used reasons and evidence to support particular points. Later,students used this research to conduct a science discussion. Next, students are learning about and researching to write a PSA explaining how to stay safe during a natural disaster.  (W5.2, W5.4, SL5.4, SL5.5 and SL 5.6)


In math, students have finished their measurement unit and multiplying fractions and mixed numbers unit. They will be having their final assessment for this on Monday. The next unit the students will be studying is quadrilaterals. They will be comparing, contrasting and classifying quadrilaterals. (5MD1, 5NBT7, 5NF4, 5G1, 5G3)


In science, we have started our weather unit, which is our last science unit of the year. Students will be learning to understand weather patterns and phenomena, making connections to the weather in a particular place and time. Students will also need to be able to compare daily and seasonal changes in weather conditions (including wind speed and direction, precipitation, and temperature) and patterns. They will also need to be able to predict upcoming weather events from weather data collected through observation and measurements. (5P2, 5P2.1, 5E1, 5E1.1, 5E1,.2, 5E1.3, 5P3, 5P3.1, 5P3.2)

February 22, 2019 Newsletter

This is what we have been learning in fifth grade:

In EL, students are working on their last unit of Module 3. Students began the unit by reading about Jim Abbott, another professional athlete who effectively led social change in the acceptance of athletes with disabilities in professional sports. They then compared and contrasted the factors that contributed to his success as a leader of social change with those of Jackie Robinson. Students are currently researching a new athlete leader of social change. Next, they will write an essay comparing and contrasting factors that were important to this new athlete with those of Jackie Robinson. Lastly, they will create a poster based on one of these factors and present this information to the class. Students are also learning about correlative conjunctions and including them in their writing pieces.
(RI5.3, RI5.7, RI 5.9, W5.2,W 5.4, RI5.1,SL5.4, SL5.5)

In math, we have been working with decimals. Students have been multiplying decimals with products to thousandths.  They also have been dividing whole numbers by a decimal and dividing a decimal by a whole number. Students have also been using various models and strategies to compute and solve real-world problems involving multi-digit whole numbers and decimal numbers. 
(5NBT5, 5NBT6, 5NBT7)

In social studies, students are continuing their study of  Government and Westward Expansion.  They spent time answering the essential questions – What influenced the development of US government ? They summarized the organizational structures and powers of the US government. (legislative, judicial and executive branches of government.) Students also learned the process of a bill becoming a law. They created bills and put them through our classroom congress to see if they could get them passed and signed into law. Students are now exploring factors that brought change and growth to the US. Next week, they will become experts on an important event during Westward Expansion and create a presentation to share with the class. (5.C.1, 5.G.1, 5.G.2, 5.H.1)

*The last week before track out we will be starting Human Growth and Development during our science and  
 soc. studies time.

February 4, 2019 Newsletter

Here's what we have been learning in fifth grade:

In EL, students are about halfway through the second unit of our 3rd Module. They have been continuing to study Jackie Robinson and build their understanding of the factors that led to his success in leading social change. They have been working with different texts and videos, describing and comparing each author's point of view on the factor that was most important in Jackie's success. On Friday, the student participated in a a text-based discussion on what they believed to be the most important factor in Jackie's success. (RI 5.1, RI 5.4, RF 5.3, W. 5.1 W. 5.2,SL 5.1, SL 5.3, L.5.2, L.5.4)

In math, we have been working on multi-digit multiplication and division. Most recently, students have been working on using various strategies and models to find quotients with remainders. They have also been solving word problems and interpreting and making sense of the remainders.
(5NBT 5;  5NBT6)

In social studies, students have started studying the topics of Government and Westward Expansion.  They will spend time answering the essential question – What influenced the development of US government ? Later, they will summarize the organizational structures and powers of the US government. (legislative, judicial and executive branches of government.) (5.C.1, 5.G.1, 5.G.2, 5.H.1)

January 4, 2019 Newsletter

Happy New Year!

This is what we have been learning in fifth grade:

In EL we started our 3rd module, entitled "Athlete Leaders of Social Change". The book we are focusing on this quarter is Promises to Keep by Sharon Robinson (Jackie Robinson's daughter). The students will be learning how he and other athletes contributed to social change in America. Some of the skills we will be focusing on while reading this book are finding the main ideas of the text, how they are supported by the key details, and summarizing. (RI 5.1; RI 5.2)

In math, we are starting to add and subtract fractions and mixed numbers with unlike denominators using various models and strategies. (NC.5.NF.1, NC.5.NBT.7, NC.5.OA.2)

In science, we have started our human body unit. We have been discussing genetics and inherited traits and how traits are passed from parents to offspring and that siblings may or may not receive the same traits from their parents. Next week, students will create and decode a "DNA recipe" for a dog to observe how variations in DNA lead to the inheritance of different traits. They will also be comparing and contrasting plant and animal cells and learning the organs and functions of the human body systems. (5L1.1; 5L1.2; 5L3.1;5L3.2)

*Human Growth and Development portion will be taught at the end of the quarter. There will be an informational email about this coming home soon.

November 28, 2018 Newletter

Here is what we have been learning in fifth grade:

In EL, students recently took their Unit 3 mid assessment. They had to write a first person narrative story about an event, through one of the characters eyes, from the text, The Most Beautiful Roof in the World. (W.5.3, W.5.3a, W.5.3e, W.5.4) Students are currently editing and revising their narratives to include dialogue, and concrete and sensory details. In the next few days, for their performance assessment this quarter, they will be turning their narratives into an ebook.

In Math, students finished Unit 4 where they looked for patterns using the place value system by multiplying and dividing by 10 and related it to the metric system of measurement. (5.NBT.1; 5.NBT.3; 5. MD.2) Students are now working on Unit 5 where they are using a variety of models to add and subtract decimals. We will have our first assessment over unit 5 Monday 12/3. (5.NBT.7;  5.OA.2)

In Social Studies, students are continuing to study the American Revolution. Students have been learning how European settlements changed the land and people of North America; the causes of the Revolutionary War, battles, important figures and the aftermath of the American Revolution. They will have an open note test on Monday, 12/3.