Back From Fall Recess

I hope you all had a great time over Fall Recess. I attended the UEA Convention on Friday and have been alternating between spending time with my family and cleaning house.

Reading
This week we will begin Guided Reading Groups. I will teach reading to small groups while the other students are engaged in center activities. Some of those activities are spelling practice and phonics activities that will help the students with their spelling. This Guided Reading time is the most important time for volunteer parents to be in the classroom. They help to answer questions and to assist students while I am teaching the small reading groups.

Spelling
We are continuing our study of the diagraphs- th, sh, ch, ph, and wh. These may be used at either the beginning or at the end of words. Please help your child study their spelling words. The test will be this Thursday the 21st.


Math
Last week we read two books - "Two of Everything" and "Double Trouble". They were the same folk tale but told in the setting of different cultures, one hispanic and one Chinese. They were about a magic pot that doubled everything that was put into it. We then had a fun experience with my magic pot. It also doubled everything that was put into it. We let these experiences lead us into learning about doubles. The students are now working on memorizing their doubles facts. The cards I sent home only go up to 10+10 but I really would like the students to learn a lot more doubles facts. These will help a lot as they move into more advanced math. Please help them work on all of the math fact cards that I have sent home.

We are also still trying to help all the students to understand how to use fact families. When you know 3+4=7 it can help you when you are trying to figure out 7-4= .
Following the first Block Math Test there are still 10 students who scored below 70%. I would hope to have all students above 70% in all areas of math before the end of the year. Please take little moments to let your student count some money or tell you the time. These things will help your student.

Vocabulary
We have read the book "Picnic at Mudsock Meadows". The vocabulary we are working on from this book are the following words:
bleak
legend
reveal
eerie
mischievous
mortified
Please try to use these words around the house and see if your child picks up on hearing it and then talk about what it means.

PE
In PE we have been working on strength, flexibility and endurance. We walk and run laps around the gym, we do some exercises and stretches and we also play games that involve running, throwing, catching, following rules, and being good sports.

Science
Please help your student continue to observe and draw the moon on a nightly basis. This is the first time that the night sky and moon phases has been part of the 2nd grade curriculum. It is new information to the students and will be fun for them to talk with you about what is happening in the night sky.(We can't have that exact experience with the children so we appreciate you taking time to help your child with this part of the learning process.


This week is Red Ribbon Week. It is a time to focus on making commitments to stay away from drugs and other harmful substances. On Monday the students are to wear red and I will let them write with a red pen all day. The schedule for the rest of the week was sent home last week and can also be found on the school web page.

The keyword for this week is "Hunt for Red October". It is one of my favorite movies but the kids won't get that. They will just be thinking of red leaves during the month of October.