Wow! Time has apparently been slipping by me. I knew it had been awhile since I posted anything, but I didn't realize it had been so long. My apologies.
Thank you to all of you who I got to see at conference time. It's always so much fun to share children's progress with their families. Report cards will be coming home on December 16th. Please keep in mind that I am ALWAYS available to schedule a conference. If you have questions or concerns, please let me know.
Word Study: We have completed all of our review of first grade skills and have moved into the second grade curriculum. We are currently studying vowel teams "ee" and "ea". Last week we worked on "ai" and "ay". Each week I send home a sheet to let families know what we are working on. I often get questions about spelling and what to hold kids accountable for. These sheets are good references for that purpose. If you get asked, "How do I spell, train?" You can say, "Oh, you know the vowel team in that word."
I might suggest keeping these in a binder or folder at home for quick reference. It's also great practice to spell words on white boards or by cutting out letters from magazines and newspapers and pasting them onto paper. Anything to keep spelling fun!
Math: We are almost through Unit 3 in math. By the end of this unit, children should be able to show coins for different values, know addition facts, count by 5s, read a bar graph and solve an addition number-story problem.
Practice counting by 25s is helpful for counting quarters. Also practicing counting by 25s, switching to 10s or 5s and then back to ones is great practice for counting mixed coins. Keep practicing time on analog clocks too! Second graders should be able to tell time to the quarter hour.
Reading: Reader's ask questions before, during and after reading. They do this to help them understand and enjoy their reading. We have been practicing this during our focus lessons and talking about the ways that reader's answer their questions.
1. Some questions are answered right in the book.
2. Sometimes we have to infer the answer to a question. (This is when readers use clues from the book, what they know and then think, think, think!)
3. Some questions need to be answered from another source.
Most importantly readers must do something with their questions in order to deepen their understanding of their reading.
Writing: We are taking on a big task in writing. We are learning about how writers use their words to change things about our world that bother them. We have been exploring topics this week that matter to us. We've made lists of possible causes and thought about who our audience might be. We've been studying how other authors do this in their books and jotting some notes about what we think is most important. It would be great if you could have a conversation with your children about some issues that are close to home or in our community. I would love for them to have a local audience and discover that they truly do have a voice no matter how young they are.
Special Change: Beginning next Monday our class will have art on Mondays and Wednesdays. This is a change from having library two times per week. Our library day will be on Friday now.
That's all for now. I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Stay tuned for holiday party and writing celebration details...
