We are busy in Second Grade!

We appreciate your help with your students in their baggy books.  There is quite a lot of variety in every level, so we hope that you will give several books a try before you decide they are way too easy. **Thanks to the baggy book volunteers for beginning to help us this week.

Some important Math information:

Your children do a "color sheet" to start each topic with our whole class. This is basically "in class" practice.  We do other activities to reinforce the concept too. Next, we take a "quick check" to see how they are doing with that topic. I keep a record of the quick check and spiral review scores for grading purposes. They are mini-assessments. I do not keep scores of the whole group activities since we help each other. I also keep a record to see if they are completing math homework. You have a new October math packet. Just one page a day will get it done in plenty of time!

Second Grade Weekly Study Skills

Unit 1, Week 5 (The Strongest One)

Below are the skills and vocabulary we will be working on for the next 5 days.  (*Please note: our literacy lessons are based on 5-day plans that may or may not align with a M-F schedule. In an effort to teach the entire grade level core, we will send home the “weekly study skills” on the day that we begin a new 5-day instructional sequence.)  You can support your child’s literacy skills by reviewing, discussing, and practicing the skills and concepts below:

Big Idea/Big Question (This is the theme of our unit in class.)	Question of the Week (This is the theme/question for this week’s instruction in class.)
Exploration:  What can we learn from exploring new places and things?	How does exploration help us find answers?
Phonics Skills (These are the letters and sounds we are learning in class.)	Spelling Patterns and associated Words (These patterns connect to our phonics skills we are learning this week.)
Consonant digraphs	Consonant digraphs: bunch   chase   itch   math   patch   shape   that   them   whale   what   when   wish
High Frequency Words (These reading words should be practiced and memorized.)	Story Words (These reading words are words from this week’s main selection.)
gone   learn   often   pieces   though   together   very	dangerous   gnaws   narrator   relatives
Oral Vocabulary (Try using these words in your conversations at home.)	Handwriting Practice (Students can practice the writing of these letters in manuscript this week.)
delicate   exhibit   genius   inquire   resist   satisfaction   stun   sturdy	Tt, Hh, Kk Word spacing

                                                      We Love our Tanner Dance time!
     This is going to be another great week-our students are really getting into the swing of things in Second Grade! Thanks to the volunteers who have helped get things going for us in Practice Stations, the students just love that time! You will notice that most of the words tested in Spelling are on the practice worksheets daily, but they are also listed below. I give the students 2 story words to write as well, and they are still up on the wall where we have been using them all week. It is like using our room as a dictionary, but some students forget to look. (We'll keep practicing!)
     Baggy books will go home this Friday. They are chosen by the lexile score your child got on the first reading assessment of the year. If you find that your student is repeatedly finding the books too easy (more than one..) please let me know on the form.
  What a cute group of children-I'm enjoying having them in my class!

Second Grade Weekly Study Skills

Unit 1, Week 4 (A Walk in the Desert)

Below are the skills and vocabulary we will be working on for the next 5 days.  (*Please note: our literacy lessons are based on 5-day plans that may or may not align with a M-F schedule. In an effort to teach the entire grade level core, we will send home the “weekly study skills” on the day that we begin a new 5-day instructional sequence.)  You can support your child’s literacy skills by reviewing, discussing, and practicing the skills and concepts below:

Big Idea/Big Question (This is the theme of our unit in class.)	Question of the Week (This is the theme/question for this week’s instruction in class.)
Exploration:  What can we learn from exploring new places and things?	What can we learn by exploring the desert?
Phonics Skills (These are the letters and sounds we are learning in class.)	Spelling Patterns and associated Words (These patterns connect to our phonics skills we are learning this week.)
Base Words and Endings –s, -ed,    -ing	Base Words and Endings –s, -ed,    -ing dropped   dropping   excited   exciting   hugged   hugging   lifted   lifting   smiled   smiling   talked   talking
High Frequency Words (These reading words should be practiced and memorized.)	Story Words (These reading words are words from this week’s main selection.)
animals   early   eyes   full   warm   water	cactus   climate   coyote   desert   harsh
Oral Vocabulary (Try using these words in your conversations at home.)	Handwriting Practice (Students can practice the writing of these letters in manuscript this week.)
arid   dunes   extinct   forbidding   haven   landform   ledge   precipitation	Ff, Bb, Ll

We're Having Fun in Second Grade!!

    We have been working hard learning about space last week and we took some time to paint our rocks and relax on Friday after we had learned about the caves in Lascoux, France and taken several assessments. (Those tests will be in your child's Friday folder next week.)  I appreciate the number of reading minutes I saw recorded last week. It really makes a difference!! Here is our theme for next week-we are going to explore nature with Henry and Mudge...

Second Grade Weekly Study Skills

Unit 1, Week 3 (Henry and Mudge and the Starry Night)

Below are the skills and vocabulary we will be working on for the next 5 days.  (*Please note: our literacy lessons are based on 5-day plans that may or may not align with a M-F schedule. In an effort to teach the entire grade level core, we will send home the “weekly study skills” on the day that we begin a new 5-day instructional sequence.)  You can support your child’s literacy skills by reviewing, discussing, and practicing the skills and concepts below:

Big Idea/Big Question (This is the theme of our unit in class.)	Question of the Week (This is the theme/question for this week’s instruction in class.)
Exploration:  What can we learn from exploring new places and things?	What can we discover by exploring nature?
Phonics Skills (These are the letters and sounds we are learning in class.)	Spelling Patterns and associated Words (These patterns connect to our phonics skills we are learning this week.)
Consonant Blends	Consonant Blends ask   brave   breeze   clip   hand   mask   nest   state   stop   strap   stream   twin
High Frequency Words (These reading words should be practiced and memorized.)	Story Words (These reading words are words from this week’s main selection.)
bear   build   couldn’t   father   love   mother   straight	drooled   lanterns   shivered   snuggled
Oral Vocabulary (Try using these words in your conversations at home.)	Handwriting Practice (Students can practice the writing of these letters in manuscript this week.)
detective   fascinating   fledglings   galaxy   secure   slimy   tranquil   wildlife	Ee, Ss

Sweet Second Week of School!

   Oh, we have been busy diving in to our new reading program this week! The children (and I!) are both learning a lot and I am very pleased with their progress. We still took time to finish up our "smart cookies" from the first week and they will be going home with some great words to remember on the back.
   We will be starting a new unit of study this week about "Exploring Space with an Astronaut." Some of our Amazing Words with this unit are really cool, like: ascend, descend, orbit and universe. I'm looking forward to an out-of-this-world week!

Second Grade Weekly Study Skills

Unit 1, Week 2 (Exploring Space with an Astronaut)

Below are the skills and vocabulary we will be working on for the next 5 days.  (*Please note: our literacy lessons are based on 5-day plans that may or may not align with a M-F schedule. In an effort to teach the entire grade level core, we will send home the “weekly study skills” on the day that we begin a new 5-day instructional sequence.)  You can support your child’s literacy skills by reviewing, discussing, and practicing the skills and concepts below:

Big Idea/Big Question (This is the theme of our unit in class.)	Question of the Week (This is the theme/question for this week’s instruction in class.)
Exploration:  What can we learn from exploring new places and things?	What can we learn by exploring space?
Phonics Skills (These are the letters and sounds we are learning in class.)	Spelling Patterns and associated Words (These patterns connect to our phonics skills we are learning this week.)
Long vowels:  vowel_e   (VCe)	Long vowels:  vowel_e blaze   fine   huge   late   mice   nose   page   race   rice   size   space   vote
High Frequency Words (These reading words should be practiced and memorized.)	Story Words (These reading words are words from this week’s main selection.)
everywhere   live (/liv/)   machines   move   woman   work   world	astronaut   experiment   gravity   shuttle   telescope
Oral Vocabulary (Try using these words in your conversations at home.)	Handwriting Practice (Students can practice the writing of these letters in manuscript this week.)
ascend   descend   enormous   journey   launch   meteorite   orbit   universe	Gg, Cc