2nd Week of 2nd Grade

Starters
Each morning the students will begin with a starter called "Math 4 Today". They will do 4 problems each day for the first four days of the week. This is the learning side of the paper. We correct these together and learn as we go. On Friday the students do the 10 problems on the back or assessment side of the page. This lets me know if they have learned the concepts taught during starters during the week. This is what is called a spiraling review. It will continue to bring up similar concepts but with increasing levels of difficulty as we go through the year. It is a very good teaching tool.

Math
This week I will assess the students number sense, addition and subtraction understanding. This will tell me what they already know and where there are weaknesses or holes in their understanding.

We are also exploring several of the math tools we will be using during the year: clocks, connecting cubes, base ten blocks, pattern blocks, number lines and the 100 chart. We will also learn some routines that we will revisit often involving telling time, the number of the day in school and this week or next we will do an activity called "How Many Pockets?"

When a page from our math book comes home marked "Homework" in red, as was sent home today, it needs to be completed and sent back the very next day. It is very helpful if parents correct this page by just marking a big "C" by all correct responses and an "X" by all incorrect responses. Thanks a bunch!

Guided Reading and Centers
We will not begin guided reading until I have completed required testing and also training the students to do independent work or centers while I work with leveled reading groups.

I began the PALS testing today. The children read lists of words that help me focus on what level to begin the reading tests for your child. Then I will have each child read to me and answer questions about the stories they read. I will also time their reading and determine their fluency.

Spelling - I am teaching the children activities that they do during centers to practice their spelling. Some of these activities are: LSCWC (Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check), Fix, Mix, Fix, Rainbow Spelling, Pyramid Spelling, Triangle Spelling, If I Can Spell ______ then I Can Spell _____ .

Writing - Each day during centers the children do one of the following writing activities: News of the Week, Handwriting Practice, Tongue Twister Book, All About Me Book and the 1000 Club.

Phonics - Each day the children do activities to help them really understand the spelling/phonics concept taught that week. Some of these activities are word sorts where the children sort their spelling words by designated criteria. This week they will sort their words by which short vowel is in each word. They will do this with pictures and words.
Please help your child practice the Consonants (C) and Vowels (V) (they know a song about these), and then they need to learn the phonics principle for the week: When a word has a CVC, CCVC, CVCC pattern the vowel has the short sound. The a sounds like the a in apple, the e sounds like the e in elephant, the i sounds like the i in igloo, the o sounds like the o in octopus and the u sounds like the u in umbrella.

Other Activities - We have been making some class books and doing some art activities during this time also.

Writing Workshop
Today we read the book "What Author's Do". We are learning the process of writing. It all begins with ideas. Writers start by thinking about ideas. We will be working on this first step this week.

Rotations
This week we learned the difference between rural, suburban and urban communities. The kids made flip books and drew pictures of each kind of community.

During rotations the students have experiences with music, math games, art, science and social studies.

Comprehension
We will work on the comprehension strategy of previewing a book before reading so that our mind begins to think about what the book might be about.

Busy Day
Tuesday is our busy day. We have PE from 9:15 to 10:00, Library is from 10:00 to 10:30 and Computer is from 12:15 to 1:00. We will fit in all the other good work around these activities.