Questions that get at, "What did you do at school today?"

Specific questions are more likely to prompt a discussion about what we've done during the day.  Why not try some of these:

1.  What book did Ms. Monmaney read aloud today?   What happened in the book?  What did you learn?

2.  Who did you play with at recess?  Who did you eat lunch with today?

3.  Tell me about a game you played in P.E.

4.  Can you sing me a song that you learned at school?

5.  What did you write about during writing time today?

6.  What are you most proud of?

7.  What seemed hard?

8.  What happened at school today that was fun?

9. What did you like best about your school day today?

10.  What did you read during independent reading time?

What Did You Do At School Today?

 Our days are so full of learning that I bet it's hard for your second grader to answer this question at the end of the day.  So just what have we been up to?

Word Study-  In word study we have been reviewing first grade lessons, specifically short vowel sounds.  We recently moved into the second grade word study curriculum and are beginning to learn about vowel teams.  The first vowel teams we studied were 'ai' and 'ay'.  We learned that 'ai' usually comes in the middle of words and 'ay' is usually at the end of words.  We've practiced spelling words with these vowel teams and looked for them in our reading.  I was impressed with how well everyone did on our first spelling "test".

Math- We are working incredibly hard at developing "fact power" or the ability to know our addition facts automatically when we see them.  Unit 2 in Everyday Math focuses on addition and subtraction strategies and number stories.  We have also been playing math games that require practice with addition facts.  Tomorrow we will take our October "Facts in a Flash" assessment and will compare it to our September assessment and see how much growth we've made.  Keep an eye out for these coming home.  

Reading-  We have been talking about the importance of being in the "just-right" book and also about what "grown-up" readers do.  We have been practicing using the strategy of looking for parts of words you know when you come to a tricky word. For example; if you come across the word "reached" and you know the word "each" you could use that to help you with the new word.  We have also been talking about the importance of being a "thinker" when you are reading and how expert readers think while they're reading and make sure that they are understanding. 

Writing- We are a class of writers!  I love the motivation and engagement that I see during writing time each day.  We have recently been working on making sure that our writing has capitals and punctuation so that when someone else reads it they will know how you want it to sound.  Our goal in second grade for this first part of the year was to get the kids writing, writing, writing, so they have have had more choice in the genre.  We are getting ready to do some assessment of nonfiction writing skills so that we can plan that unit of study based on what set of skills the second graders brought from kindergarten and first grade and identifying what they still need.  We are excited about writing this year!

Please feel free to contact me at any point during the school year with questions you may have.  You can also post your questions on the blog.  If you have a question, it is likely that someone else is wondering the same thing.  I'd love feedback regarding what you'd like to see posted on the blog.  I'm open to any suggestions. 

Second Grade Scientists

What do scientists do?  What would you study if you were a scientist?  These are the questions that launched this year's science work. 

Before beginning our Earth Science study of soil, we talked about the difference between a prediction and an observation.  The second graders shared what they thought they would find in soil and then had some time to make some observations and record their findings.  We will be practicing recording our scientific thinking and observations in order to share it with others.

 Below are some photos of our first science work.