Homework

So...we have a little homework now!  This week in 2nd grade, we talked a lot about responsibility and homework.  The students have visited our homework site on our classroom blog and are beginning to learn to navigate our MGSD digital resource page. There is also a kids link page on our blog that has several online sites for them to use for homework. 

Students have been assigned a 20 minute read and to study their spelling words.  I introduced them to a new site called Spelling City.  This site has all of our weekly spelling words and fun games to practice with.  You can check out the site by clicking below.

  

We will be on week 5 next week: Magic e with a & i. 

I will assign spelling words on the first day of the week.  

Below is our list for next week. 

Spelling week Unit 4

Spelling City Week 5

Magic e with a & i

shine, flake, write, grin, grade, mistake, trade, shin, wrap, while, quite, beside

DW: shade, slid, white, snake

Tricky Words: quiet, everyone  

WHIZ QUIZ

We took our FIRST Whiz Quiz ever TODAY!

The class did a wonderful job. I wanted to explain a bit about our WQ. It is very different from the traditional spelling test. Yes, the students will be asked to spell their spelling words from memory. Yes, they will write the dictated sentences.

BUT...with the Whiz Quiz, they will also need to spell Word Wall words correctly. (They are posted during the test.) I want them to learn to use their resources in the classroom. They will be asked to circle spelling patterns and chucks from our Phonics Dance. (To show proof of learning.) They may be asked about syllables, to identify vowels and consonants, or produce rhyming words. I may even throw in some math or science facts. The Whiz Quiz is more than a spelling test. The Whiz Quiz asks students to apply spelling, writing, reading, and many other skills studied in class that week.

*Please know that I give lots of hints on the Word Fun and Sentence/Definition parts of the quiz.

If a student gets all 25 questions correct on the quiz they will be a Word Wizard for the week. They will get a smelly sticker, a special stamp, and will sign our Word Wizard poster.

Check out our Word Wizard this week!

FALL FUN!

We have some really exciting learning activities planned including CANDY CORN Science!
It fits perfectly with our Matter Unit.
We are in need of the following supplies. Thank you so much to all that have already donated:)
You can grab most of this at the $ store!

40 clear plastic cups

3 bags of plastic eyeballs

3 bags of bat rings

3 bags of plastic frogs

1 bag of candy pumpkins

You can read more about our up and coming experiments by clicking the image below. 

In math, we will continue to work on measuring with inches, feet, and yards.  The students are even using centimeters and meters!  The class will interact with a variety of measuring centers next week and work to compare lengths. 

Dates to remember:
Early Release on 9/28
Book Fair Preview on 9/29
Book Fair Buying 10/10
*A picture form went home for Fall pictures on 10/7.

Illustration Investigation and Measurement

We had another successful week in 2nd grade! During our morning meeting time we really focused our our school wide behavior objective: 

BE RESPECTFUL

Here is an awesome video made by some students all about RESPECT.

This week in reading,  we focused on examining our illustrations to determine key details from a text.  We combined the details with the text and created inferences to understand the story!  This is such a tough skill for 2nd graders!  I am so very proud of how the class did with this.  Be sure to check out our hallway display!

Here is a link to a wordless text that we used this week to introduce the skill. 

We will continue to work with inferences next week as well.  
The students LOVED this story element rap we used to continue to get close with our texts. 
It also was an awesome reference for our narratives during our writing time in class. 

In math, we worked to use different tools to measure.  The students used inch rulers, tape measures and cubes. We also learned to compare lengths with centimeters.  

Next week in math, we will be working on estimating lengths and will end the week with a fun measure your body activity.

Homework:

Read for 20 minutes each night

Practice Spelling Words

Unit 1: Closed and Open Syllables e & o

we  to  melt  sled  plot  felt

west  got  clock  flop  shelf  shock 

Tricky Words: when where what

Sentences: 

Where is the shock shop?

What can we do to help you?

Don't forget that Tuesday, September 20th is our Curriculum Night.  

Cooperation

This week in 2nd grade,  we continued to get to know each other and our classroom.  The students were able to work in all of our literacy and math centers successfully!  I am about half way done with our reading assessments and will continue to work on these next week. 

Please know that students will not be placed into leveled groups until all assessments are complete. Once assessments are complete,  the students will be grouped based on levels.  They will meet each week in guided reading and math groups. 

In reading, We read The Crayon Box that Talks and the class did The Great Crayon Exchange to work on cooperation.  Students traded crayons in partner groups until they had the 9 required crayons.  They then followed directions to make a picture using all of the colors.  We continued to focus on answering Who, What, When, Where, and Why questions about a text.  

Here is a video read of the book your 2nd grader might enjoy at home!

Next week, we will be focusing on gaining details from the illustrations.  Students will be introduced to some basic inferences.   

HOMEWORK: Students should be reading for 20 minutes a night. You can read more about homework in 2nd grade here.  There is great site called Scholastic Book Wizard that will help you find books at your child's reading level.  I will send reading levels home as soon as assessments are done. 

2nd graders are working on spelling in their spelling sight word flip books.  Spelling lists will be differentiated once assessments are done. Your child will work on a list that is geared towards their spelling level.  The best part is these are just photo books from the $ Store and I use index cards inside.  

Students can write on the plastic with dry erase markers!

In math, we focused on addition and subtraction facts to 20.  Students glued an addition and a subtraction book into their math notebooks.  They rotated through centers and we started our math fact STICKER BOOKS!  

(We are in need of the foil star stickers from the $ Store if you are interested in helping out.)

Next, Monday is Patriot's Day! Please send your 2nd grader dressed in Red, White, and Blue!


Wednesday, September 14th is a half day of school. Teachers will be in professional development in the afternoon.  

Have a wonderful weekend!  

Our First Week!

Our First Week!

We did it!  Our first week of 2nd grade was amazing! The class did an awesome job learning many of our classroom routines and we really started to bond as a school family.  

Check out our Flipgram below to see some of the exciting events from our word study exploration, Listening Buddy activity, partner work, and Daisy's first time our in the classroom!

Next week, we will continue to learn about our classroom starting with the writing center and then buddy reading.  It is my hope that we will be up and running with centers very soon.  This allows me to work with small groups and run some novel studies.

In reading, we will continue with character education books and focus on answering who, what, when, where, and why questions both verbally and in written form. (Social Studies is embedded in reading as we work on being good citizens.)

 In writing, we will begin our unit on narrative writing.  Students will be putting real life events into written word with a beginning, middle, and end.  We will also focus on basic sentence formation and punctuation.   

In math, we will continue to work on addition facts to 20 and will add in subtraction this week.  Students will work to understand fact families and continue to practice mental math strategies such as counting on and the number line.  We will begin our BUILD centers during our math workshop.  Students will meet in small groups for buddy games, using manipulatives, independent work, learning math, and doing math. (The learning math center will be a small developmental group with Mrs. Schroeder.)   
Check out this fun making 10 game at home!

For our shared reading, we are reading The Incredible Journey  By Sheila Burnford.  If you are interested in purchasing a copy for your child to follow along with you can click the image below. (Totally optional!)  This is a time where I read from the book and the students listen.  This allows them to work on their comprehension skills.  We often stop and discuss events as we read or respond to the text in our reading journals.  

I have begun our mClass assessments and will be checking reading levels all next week.  

Don't forget, No School Monday-Labor Day

Tshirt forms and money are still being collected.