Geometry and Gratitude

This short week we will be doing some activities dealing with gratitude and Thanksgiving. We are also finishing up our Math unit on Geometry. We have learned about names for various 2D and 3D shapes, how to use square inches to determine which rectangle is biggest, and we have been doing activities with symmetry. We made really cool symmetrical turkey tails out of pattern block paper pieces.

Look for the November and December Book Order Catalogs coming home on Monday. Please place your orders by Tuesday November 29th. Remember books make great gifts for your children learning to read. If you place an order online we get $3 for class books. Whether you order online or send me the book order and your money you can send a note or email and let me know if you want the order kept a secret from your child. I can then contact you directly when the order arrives so you can keep it secret.

This week we will play a game called "Guess the Covered Word" to help them with their word attack skills. In the game they learn that when they come to a word they don't know they should think of it as a covered word. Then if they follow these strategies they should be able to guess the covered word.
1- Think about what you are reading about - ask yourself "What would make sense in this sentence?"
2- Look at the picture - it will help you think of words that will make sense in the sentence.
3- Say the first sound - What word that begins with that sound will make sense in the sentence.
Usually you will know the word by now - if you don't you can try two more things.
4- Look at the ending of the word to see if it will help you find a word that makes sense.
5- Say the middle, vowel sound then try to blend the beginning sound, vowel sound and ending sound into a word that will make sense in the sentence.

Many children try to sound out a word without thinking about what they are reading. If they first think about what they are reading and then think of what will make sense in the sentence they often will be able to guess the word. Then they employ the other strategies to see if it is correct.

In our Language Arts unit we are exploring Legends, Fairy Tales, Tall tales, and tales of the Wild West. They will be comparing and contrasting a traditional Tall Tale with a modern Tall Tale - "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs". We are also reading several traditional and non-traditional versions of "The Three Little Pigs". They will be writing a narrative piece about The Three Little ________ and the Big Bad ________. Finally we are also learning about collective nouns such as; a school of fish, a herd of cows, a pod of whales, a flock of geese and a pack of wolves.

We will be having a token store on Friday December 2nd. I will use our boxtop money to stock the store but would still welcome donations to make sure we have enough items for the students to use their hard earned tokens on. Thanks to all who have donated. It really makes a difference.

Wednesday at 1:10 we will put on our turkey hats and gobble around the school. This is a fun 2nd grade tradition. If you want to hear a flock of turkeys, come wait for your students outside of the second grade doors at about 1:20-1:25. (Please park in the parking lot, not along the pick up curb if you are going to be leaving your car.)

This week's keyword is "Gobble, Gobble"

We will have a great short week. Have a wonderful week and a Happy Thanksgiving!