Busy, Busy, Busy

This week we read a story called Frog and Toad All Year.  We talked about characters again, and we focused on ways that Frog and Toad (the two main characters in the story) were different and alike.

Our high frequency words for the week were covered, through, everything, woods, and guess.  The kids did a great job recognizing these words this week.  We practiced using them in sentences every day, and by the middle of the week many of the students were able to use more than one word in a sentence!  Our robust vocabulary words were anonymous, unselfish, satisfied, and neighborly.  The kids picked up on the meanings of these words pretty quickly and were using them like pros all week long!

Our grammar skill for this week was statements and questions.  We practiced labeling sentences, adding the correct punctuation to the ends of sentences, and writing statements and questions.  We began our letter writing study in writing.  We read two stories about a dog named Ike LaRue who likes to write letters to his owner about all of the crazy things that happen to him.  We practiced labeling the five parts of a friendly letter (date, greeting, body, closing, and signature) - see if your second grader can name them all!

Next week we will read a story called Henry and Mudge.  We will focus on main idea and details, which usually proves to be a difficult concept for second graders to comprehend.  Next week's high-frequency words are children, different, ears, finally, hundred, and short.  Robust vocabulary words for next week will be deny, consider, opinionated, and bulk.  Our grammar skill will be commands and exclamations, and we will continue our letter writing unit.  Spelling words will have long vowel patterns with a silent e at the end.  Next week's words are:
same, kite, home, plate, ride, rope, race, rule, broke, tune, mistake, bedtime, homemade, classmate, notepad, live, me, back, give, most

Our specials schedule for next week is:
Monday - gym
Tuesday - library
Wednesday - music
Thursday - computer
Friday - art

Graded paper binders are coming home for the first time today.  Please do NOT remove any papers from the binder unless they are being corrected.  The binder will house all graded assignments for the entire quarter - we will empty them together after conferences in November.  If you wish to correct any D or F assignments, please take them OUT of the binder, help your child correct them, and send them back to school in your child's TRAVELING FOLDER.  Please note that tests may not be corrected (spelling tests and story comprehension tests).  Look for the blue "Please correct" stamp on assignments that need corrections!

Don't forget...next Thursday is also picture day!  Have a wonderful weekend!