Welcome Spring!

It's been pretty busy in our class. We had so much fun last week with our Pet Reports! I am really proud of our second graders! We had a visit from "Carrie Cottonwood" and learned about trees. A big thank you to Mrs. Roumpos for organizing "Hands On Science" and for Mrs. Nielsen, Mrs. Stevens, Mrs. Belko and Mrs. Harmer for helping out. The kiddos were fascinated by rocks! It has finally warmed up enough for us to enjoy recess again!

  Second Grade Weekly Study Skills

Unit 5, Week 5 (The Signmaker’s Assistant)

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.)
Responsibility:  What does it mean to be responsible?	How can we be responsible when we make a mistake?
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.)
Vowels  aw, au, augh, al	Vowels  aw, au, augh, al: August   auto   because   caught   chalk   draw   fault   launch   talk   taught   thaw   walk
High-Frequency Words (These reading words should be practiced and memorized.)	Story Words (These reading words are words from this week’s main selection.)

Working Hard!

I'm so proud of the improvement our students have made! They are really moving along in reading and math. Wahoo! This week we will present our "Pet Reports" on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. (Your child can choose his/her day to report) I am so excited to hear them.

Second Grade Weekly Study Skills

Unit 5, Week 4 (Horace and Morris But Mostly Dolores)

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.)
Responsibility:  What does it mean to be responsible?	How can we be responsible friends and neighbors?
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.)
The sounds of /f/ph, gh, ck, ng	The sounds of /f/ph, gh, ck, ng: backtrack   clang   cough   duckling   enough   graph   laugh   phone   photo   rough   ticket   tough
High-Frequency Words (These reading words should be practiced and memorized.)	Story Words (These reading words are words from this week’s main selection.)
bought   people   pleasant   probably   scared   shall   sign	adventure   climbed   clubhouse   exploring   greatest   truest   wondered
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.)
advantage   appreciate   communicate   defiant   demand   ferocious   firmly   respect	None listed

I'm so glad to be back!

Baby Campbell with his lovely Mom, Jana and Aunt Angela

I was very grateful to have a chance to see my new grandson in Sugar Land, Texas and be there with my family for his blessing day... Mrs. Young did a great job with our kiddos while I was gone. Thanks for all of your support!

My children in Texas (who are big "Friends" fans) reminded me of this great quote:
“I love the second grade… It’s so much better than first grade where you don’t know what’s going on, and definitely better than third grade with all the politics and the mind games.” –Phoebe Buffay
     My son (proud daddy) David, his sister Angela and Mr. Garrett

Here is the homework information for this week:
   Second Grade Weekly Study Skills

Unit 5, Week 3 (Bad Dog, Dodger!)

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.)
Responsibility:  What does it mean to be responsible?	How can we be responsible animal owners?
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.)
Silent Consonants:  kn, wr, gn, mb	Silent Consonants: climb   comb   gnat   knee   knob   knock   lamb   sign   wrap   wren   write   wrong
High-Frequency Words (These reading words should be practiced and memorized.)	Story Words (These reading words are words from this week’s main selection.)
above   enough   toward   whole   word	Chased   chewing   dripping   grabbed    practice    treat   wagged
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.)
behavior   companion   confident   consider   cooperate   obedient   properly   reprimand	Cursive Letters z, s, r, f Letter Smoothness

Is it Spring or Not?

The weather can't decide what it wants to do-but we are moving ahead in Second Grade! We'll keep working on pronouns, prefixes and suffixes this week.

Second Grade Weekly Study Skills

Unit 5, Week 2 (Carl the Complainer)

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.)
Responsibility:  What does it mean to be responsible?	How can we be responsible community members?
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.)
Prefixes:  un-, re-, pre-, dis-	Prefixes: disagree   disappear   discolor   preheat   preschool   regroup   rerun   rewind   unlock   unpack   unplug   unsafe
High-Frequency Words (These reading words should be practiced and memorized.)	Story Words (These reading words are words from this week’s main selection.)
become   enough   good-bye   nothing   people   stories   together	annoy   complain   mumbles   P.M.   signature   shrugs
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.)
concern   contribute   fragile   litter   pellets   persuade   pollute   release	Cursive Letters o, w, b, v Letter Spacing