Back Among the Living - ready to teach!

So sorry for not posting last week but the strep bacteria visited with me for a few days. I stayed home so as not to spread the germs.

We have been working on a few Christmas/Holiday projects. Several of the math and language arts papers we have worked on have also been holiday themed. It is fun for the children to have themed papers but they still contain significant academic learning concepts such as: abc order, contractions, graphing, writing, controlled coloring (eye/hand coordination and small muscle control) and spelling.

Those types of pages and learning experiences will continue the next week and a half as well as our regular spelling/phonics, math, reading, writing, vocabulary, P.E.and music.

Spelling

This week we are working on words with long i such as: I, i_e, and igh spellings. Their challenge words are: north, south, east, west, traditions, and reindeer.
In social studies we are working on map skills. That is the reason for some of the particular challenge words.

Vocabulary

Following our current theme of Christmas Around the World we will read the book "Everybody Cooks Rice" by Norah Dooley. The vocabulary words will be:
boarder
community
grumbling
gulped
appetizing
diversity
Our comprehension focus in the book will be to follow the changing setting.

Math

We will be doing an investigation to help the children see the reasoning behind the Commutative Property of Addition. We will work with number strings and the children will find that they can beat the calculator. The games "Close to 20" and "Beat the Calculator" in the math games concentrate on these skills.

We will revisit the Near Doubles (also called Doubles + 1 or Doubles - 1). These are the math facts such as 6 +7 which can be solved by doubling 6 which = 12 and then adding 1 more from the 7 to equal 13 or to double the 7 which = 14 and then subtracting 1, because the 6 is one less than 7, and this strategy also = 13.

We will review solving addition and subtraction story problems and related story problems. We will learn how to solve an addition problem with an unknown change such as:
"Kira had a bunch of 8 balloons. Sally gave her some more balloons. Then Kira had 11 balloons. How many balloons did Sally give to Kira?"
Though it is an addition problem 8 + __ = 11 it can be solved using subtraction. Example:
11 - __ = 8 or 11 - 8 = __

We have also really been concentrating on adding using tens and ones and have learned to draw pictures to represent base ten blocks which we can use to solve these problems. We have also related this to the 100's chart and are beginning to understand the process of using the chart as a tool for adding larger numbers.

Reading Tests

Because I was absent three days last week I am behind in my progress of testing the students on their reading skills. I am still hoping to complete that before we recess for the holidays. After the holidays I have a different reading test which will need to be done.

Thanks to those of you who are coming to share different cultures with the 2nd graders.

Reindeer grams will be sold during lunch each day this week. The child may purchase a reindeer gram for 50 cents. Their friend will receive one bag of goodies and tags wishing them a Merry Christmas from all the friends who purchased a gram for that child. The proceeds from this fun way to give gifts to friends at school will purchase a wish through the Make a Wish Foundation for a child named Zach who has leukemia.

The students have earned a reward for earning 100 points as a class. They have chosen to have a Readathon. It will be this Wednesday from 12:15 - 1:15. They may each bring a small blanket a pillow and a stuffed animal. They may bring a small healthy snack and a book or two to read if they would like. Following the readathon we will have rotations, recess and a 2nd grade song practice.

There will be no formal Christmas music program on an evening at the school this year. The children will participate in singing around the Christmas tree at 9:00 am on Wednesday December 23rd. Parents are invited to attend. You will sit in chairs around the perimiter of the gym. The students will sit in front of you and the tree will be in the center of the room. This means you probably should sit across the gym from your child's class. Each grade will present 2 musical numbers.

This week's keyword is "the Grinch".