Didn't we learn this already?

This week was a lot of reviewing of skills from the previous four weeks.  We read a story called A Trip to the Fire Station.  This story is a Readers' Theater, which means each student had an assigned role in a script to practice reading using good fluency and expression.  We practiced Wednesday and Thursday and did our performances for the class on Friday.  With this story we reviewed making predictions and plot.  Our high-frequency words were also review for the week.  We had ten of them, which is more than a normal week, but since they were all review words, it wasn't too bad.  Our words were ago, caught, clear, enough, understand, lose, though, coming, idea, and learn.  Robust vocabulary words this week were new, but we really worked hard to use them throughout the week.  The words were hazard, efficient, instantly, and drench.  We reviewed nouns all week - what they are, as well as singular and plural, common and proper.  We began writing a new story about a snowman.  Ask your second grader to tell you about his/her story!

Next week our story will be Jamaica Louise James.  We will begin learning about author's purpose, which we will tie into our writing as well.  We will learn about three purposes of writing - to inform, to entertain, and to persuade.  High-frequency words will be draw, question, picture, minute, sure, worry, bought, and especially.  Robust vocabulary words will be renowned, kin, original, and adorn.  Ask your second grader to tell you about a renowned person that they like - why is that person renowned?  Discussing kin and ways you adorn your home for the holidays should be easy this time of year!  Point out original objects around your house or in stores as you shop for the holidays.  Our grammar skill for next week will be abbreviations.  Spelling words will have the sh, ch, tch, and th spelling patterns.  Words are:
lunch, shape, wish, chop, show, catch, then, each, bath, such, because, turn, here, why, shadow, bathtub, starfish, matchbox, sandwich

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

Please note that reading logs for December will be due before the end of the month due to winter break.  For this reason, your child is only required to read 200 minutes for the month of December.  Reading logs are due on Tuesday, December 20th.  This allows for one late turn-in day.  I will not return reading logs until after break.  Absolutely NO December reading logs will be accepted after break.

On Monday our school will begin a food drive.  Canned goods and non-perishables will be accepted.  Our class gets one point for each item donated and FIVE points each for peanut butter, full-sized boxes of cereal, and full-sized tubes of toothpaste.  The winning class for each grade level wins a class party!

Our class will be visiting the LEO Santa Shop next Wednesday morning.  Please send any money for the Santa Shop in a baggie or envelope clearly marked with your child's name.  Gifts will be wrapped at the Santa Shop and will come home with your second grader that day.

We have about 75 cup holders for our December project.  We need about 45 more, so keep sending them in!  We will need them the last week before break.

'Twas the Week Before Thanksgiving...

This week we read a story that many of the kids had read before - Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type.  It's a really cute story, and we really enjoyed reading it!  We focused on plot again and talked about characters, setting, beginning, middle, and end.  We even threw in a little bit of problem and solution this week as well.  Ask your second grader to tell you what Farmer Brown's problem was in the story and how the problem was solved by the end of the story.  High frequency words for the week were believe, brought, understand, impossible, quite, early, and enough.  Robust vocabulary words were request, negotiate, compromise, and improve.  The kids did great with request and improve, but negotiate and compromise were tricky, which was to be expected.  Our grammar skill for the week was proper nouns again, but this time we focused more on nouns that can't be touched but still qualify as proper nouns - days of the week, months of the year, and holidays.  

Next week will be spent wrapping up some loose ends from this week and working on a few Thanksgiving themed activities.  There will be no high frequency, vocabulary, or spelling words next week.  I will pass out new spelling lists next Tuesday so you will have them to study over break.  Lesson ten is a review list, so ten of the words will be words we have had before.  The other ten will be new sight words.

Our specials schedule for next week will be:

Monday - music

Tuesday - computer

*There is no school Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday for Thanksgiving break.

Our specials schedule for the week after Thanksgiving will be:

Monday - art

Tuesday - music

Wednesday - gym

Thursday - library

Friday - music

Keep sending in those drink holders for our December project!

Enjoy your weekend, and have a Happy Turkey Day!

Thank You!

I would like to thank everyone who attended conferences this week.  With it being our first year for student-led conferences, I was very impressed at how well the kids did presenting the material and information to you.  It's really special to see them taking ownership in their work and behavior!  It was really great to hear so many positive comments from parents as well.  We are curious to hear your thoughts, too, so if you could just jot me a quick note with any comments (positive or negative), it would be much appreciated.

We wrapped up with The Great Ball Game this week.  As I said before, this is a really unique story and the kids really seemed to like it.  We were focusing on plot again, with an emphasis on telling about the beginning, middle, and end of the story.  High frequency words were ago, accept, half, fair, though, and clear.  Robust vocabulary words were feud, superior, refuse, and insult.  Our grammar focus was proper nouns.  While we did a great job identifying the differences between common and proper nouns, it was easier for the kids to be able to tell whether a given noun was common or proper than to give examples.   But no worries because we'll be talking about them again next week.  Lastly, we wrote stories about what we would do if we were President.  The stories were displayed in the hallway during conferences, so hopefully you got a chance to read some of them.  They were good!

Next week we will read Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type.  I absolutely love this story, and so will the kids.  In fact, many of them have probably read it before.  We will continue to focus on plot - characters, setting, beginning, middle, and end.  High frequency words will be impossible, quite, understand, believe, brought, early, and enough.  Robust vocabulary words are request, negotiate, compromise, and improve.  If you are working on these words with your second grader at home, emphasize the difference between negotiate and compromise - these have proven to be confusing in the past.  However, these seem to be words that are really easy to use in casual conversation at home, so try to use them as much as possible over the course of the next week.  Our grammar skill will be proper nouns again.  We will focus more on abstract proper nouns such as days of the week, months of the year, and holidays.  Often the students don't think of these as nouns because they can't be touched (which is what our noun chant says makes a noun).  Go on a proper noun scavenger hunt with your child - look for them on signs when driving, in books, around the house, and even on TV!  Spelling words for next week have the long o sound spelled -oa and -ow.  Words are:
boat, snow, coat, grow, float, own, low, load, soak, bowl, also, around, form, three, small

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

* We will be needing about 40 drink carriers for a project we will be doing around Christmas, so if you get one from a fast food restaurant or think of asking for one when you are there, please send them in.

Have a great weekend!

Half and Half

This week was spent wrapping up our Gus and Grandpa lesson and beginning the next lesson, The Great Ball Game.  This is a fun story because it is a Porquoi tale - a kind of folktale that explains why something happens in nature.  This particular story is a Muskogee story that explains why birds fly south for the winter.  Ask your second grader what the story says and how it was decided that they needed to disappear for half the year.  Our focus skill for the week was plot - mainly beginning, middle, and end but also including characters and setting as well.  High-frequency words are ago, accept, half, fair, though, and clear.  See if your second grader can use them in a sentence, or if they can use more than one word in the same sentence!  Robust vocabulary words this week are feud, superior, refuse, and insult.  Ask who is having a feud in the story this week.  Challenge them to be superior to their siblings in some way this week - completing chores or finishing their dinner.  Use the word refuse at home (I know they will all refuse to do something at some point in the next week, so point it out to them and use the word).  Let them know if they have insulted you or a sibling, or talk about things that may be insulting and why they shouldn't be said.  Our grammar skill for the week is proper nouns.  We've given lots of examples.  Remind your second grader that a proper noun names a noun and begins with a capital letter - ask them to name some for you.  Lastly, we began narrative writing.  We are writing stories about what we would do if we were the president.  Hopefully these will be up at conferences for you to read - they are looking great so far!

Spelling words for the week have the -ar spelling pattern.  Words are:
car, art, barn, start, farm, card, yarn, part, dark, hard, boy, follow, came, want, show

Don't forget...conferences are next Tuesday and Wednesday.  Remember to bring your child with you so he/she can showcase all that we have been working on!  There is no school on Wednesday.

Tuesday is voting day.  Remember to exercise your right to vote.  Help keep us EXCELLENT - vote YES for Lake Schools!

Specials schedule for next week is:
Monday - music
Tuesday - gym
Wednesday - no school
Thursday - library
Friday - music

Enjoy the weekend!  Don't forget about Vendor Day on Saturday in the Lake Elementary cafeteria and tours of the new high school from 12:30-2:30 the same day.