10- 17-14

Happy Fall!  A HUGE thank you to all the families who supported Dublin’s Fun Run, the kids had a fabulous time today!  Enjoy all the photos at the end of the blog.

                                    

Our district is testing all children using “i-Ready”.  This is an online assessment in reading and math for each child and will be done three times this year.  We started this test last week and will finish soon. 

Our order was placed for the magazine- Time for Kids, hopefully they will be here soon.

Don’t forget, reading calendars are due next week.  This is an important part of your child’s home learning and we are using them in our data notebook collection.

Readers Workshop

Over the past several weeks we have been focusing on these targets…

·      Strong readers go back to find new words and understand their meaning.

·      Readers go back to the whole text to figure out what they read.  Readers read every bit of information that a book gives to help figure out new words and meaning. 

·      Readers can replace unfamiliar vocabulary words with words that mean the same thing to keep the meaning of the text.

·      Readers push themselves to build their reading stamina.

Writers Workshop

Over the past several weeks our writers have focused on the author Jonathan London as our mentor text.  Our second grade writers have been influenced by several of his books which include the “Froggy” series, which has a funny theme.  Other books that he writes carry a more serious theme throughout his story, almost like poetry.  Students have been drafting several stories using some of Jonathan London techniques.  Our writers are using several strategies in their stories, repetition, onomatopoeia (sound words), comparisons, similes, and hyperbole (exaggeration).  As they write, they ask themselves, “Is this how I want this part to go?”  Some students are learning to create suspense using ellipses, dash marks, and other punctuation marks. 

Phonics

In Word Study this week we have taken a look at forming possessives in words.  Second graders learned that to show ownership of something, you add  ‘s to a word. Then we worked with words with double consonants.  Students worked on identifying two-syllable words with double consonants in the middle--lad/der and muf/fin.  Children sorted word parts to create their own two-syllable words.  We learned about forming past tense in words by adding –ed or –d to the end of words.  We talked about when you add –ed to a word, it sometimes sounds like a –d,    –ed, or –t.  Last we finished out the week by sorting words by the syllables.  Students made a list with one, two, three, and four syllable words.  They did this by clapping out the words.

Math

In Math last week we worked on missing addends:  ___+17=20.  Students had to figure out the missing number, we learned and talked about several ways-counting up and subtraction.  This is tricky and will be revisited throughout the year.  Then we moved on to a hard concept called “compensation”, students learned, shared, and had lots of discussion for this lesson.  For example: 17+23 = ____.  Solve by adding 3 to 17 and subtracting 3 from 23.  So… 20+20=40, is just another way to think about the problem.  Next we spent working on counting strategies for subtraction, subtraction from addition and short cuts for harder subtraction facts.  Then we spent some time learning about fact families.  We ended the week by exploring more with numbers in our math stations and students were introduced to multiplication through an egg nest activity.   Fact triangles were sent home with your child last week.  These are for you to keep at home and practice.  It’s important for your child to practice their addition and subtraction facts on a weekly basis.  This will only make future math concepts easier for your second grader.  All second graders need to be able to recall all math facts up to 20 without using fingers, counters, etc.

Name collections started off this past week.  A name collection is another way to write the number, 5---  2+3, JJJJJ, five. 10-5, just to name a few.  Frames and arrows is where we follow an addition or subtraction rule to skip count.  Second graders will need to skip count up to 1,000, by 2, 5, and 10 by the end of the year.  Then function boxes were introduced, students have to decode the rule for numbers going in and out of an imaginary function box -if 6 goes in and 11 comes out, the rule would be +5.   We ended the week with explorations, this is a time when familiar math games are used for students to practice all their math skills.

We are starting our unit on money, the best practice you can give to your child is to practice counting loose change and making change.

Making Meaning

Ibis is a story based on real events of how a real calf whale gets tangled in a fishing net.  Students practiced the “Think, Pair, Share” technique.  We’re learning it’s important to listen to our partners and others during this time.  A Chair for My Mother was the next story.  During this time students are learning about our reading community and how to build a reading community.  They are developing the group skill of listening to one another. 

Social Studies

We read the book But I want It!  This book is about needs and wants, our class made a T-chart of wants and needs.  Many children want things, but it’s not a need.  We discussed the importance of providing for the basic necessities first.  Needs include the 4 categories- food, shelter, clothing, and, water.   Then we moved on to discuss the different communities in our region, they are urban, rural, and suburban.  The Little House book was used to show the students how a house was in a rural area, but things grew around the house to become more urban.  Lastly, students had to pick which setting they would like to live and give a specific reason for living, working, and playing in this community.

A study guide came home -our test will be on Thursday, October 23^rd.  Please help your child review for the test.

Fire Safety

The White Lake Fire Department came for a visit last week.  We learned what should be done in case of a fire. These are just a few…

1.   Have a meeting place in front of your house- the mailbox.

2.   Change batteries twice a year in smoke detectors and check them often.

3.   Show your child how to open their bedroom window and let them practice.

4.   If your family does not have a smoke detector, please call the fire department.

Of course we learned much much more!

Upcoming events-

^·           Thursday, October 23^rd : Social Studies Test

·      Friday, October 31^st:  Halloween Parade at 2:15.  Our classroom party will follow from 2:45-3:30.

·      Tuesday, November 4^th:  No school.   Please remember to vote!

·      Thursday, November 13^th:  Parent/Teacher Conferences