Sunday, May 5, 2013

Fun Science Day and Field Trip!



A BIG thank you to all of the Mom's who made Hands On Science so great this year!Mrs. Roumpos headed it up, assisted by Mrs. Belko, Mrs. Stevens, Mrs. Nielsen, and Mrs. Harmer. The kids loved it!
Our field trip was fabulous! Again, it would not be possible without the many volunteers (In this case, Mrs. May, Mrs. Cullimore, Mrs. Herbstritt, Mrs. Loveland, Mrs. Taylor and Mr. Weaver) who came along to help us make sure everyone was safe. THANK YOU all!
Keep practicing oral reading-our final assessment is May 14th.
Second Grade Weekly Study Skills
Unit 6, Week 1 (Just Like Josh Gibson)

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.)

Traditions:  Are traditions and celebrations important in our lives?

Why are sports traditions important in our country?
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.)
Inflected Endings
Inflected Endings:

heavier   heaviest   lighter   lightest   liked   liking   planned   planning   skipped   skipping   tried   trying
High-Frequency Words
(These reading words should be practiced and memorized.)
Story Words
(These reading words are words from this week’s main selection.)
guess   pretty   science   shoe   village   watch

bases   cheers   field   plate   sailed   threw

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.)
athlete   challenge   champion   dainty   disguise   effort   professional   shortstop

Cursive Letters U, V, W, Y
Letter and Word Spacing
Second Grade Weekly Study Skills


Saturday, April 27, 2013

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.)

Sunday, April 21, 2013

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

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

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