The End is Near...

As we approach our holiday break (which FINALLY begins next week), we have been really busy trying to finish up with "business" so we can have some fun next week.

This week we read a nonfiction story called At Play: Long Ago and Today.  This was a longer story with a lot of details, so it proved a little more difficult than some of the stories we have read in the past.  This is the first of the longer, more difficult stories.  Expectations are increasing as we look forward to third grade!  We continued with author's purpose this week.  We completed three separate writing assignments that addressed each of the three main purposes (persuade, inform, and entertain).  Students began with an paragraph written to inform - they wrote a paragraph full of facts about a bag of M&Ms I gave them (size, shape, colors, how many, etc.)  Then they wrote a persuasive paragraph about why you should buy them a bag of M&Ms.  Finally we wrapped up with an entertaining story about an M&M.  They turned out really nicely!  High-frequency words for the week were board, cook, enjoy, imagine, favorite, popular, year, and expensive.  Robust vocabulary words were recreation, leisurely, archaic, and ramble.  I was worried about these words because it seemed at the beginning of the week that these words were all brand new to the students.  BUT we used them like crazy all week long, and by the end of the week I think the students really had a good idea of what they mean and how to use them correctly.  We wrapped up abbreviations at the beginning of the week and didn't begin a new grammar skill.  This week was supposed to be singular possessive nouns, but I know that this is a very difficult concept for second graders so I decided to push it off until after break.  Hopefully we will have fresh minds at that point!  We finished up our snowman stories, and we wrote letters to Santa.  Our letters to Santa were not your typical Santa letter, though.  Students were asked to write a letter to Santa persuading him to put them on either the nice list or the naughty list.  They had to list reasons justifying why they belong on the list they chose.  Some of them were pretty convincing!  We will have Mr. Rethman judge our letters, and he will choose the top three most convincing letters in the entire second grade.  Those letters will be read on the announcements next week!  Stay tuned for winners...

This week we also made our holiday craft.  We used bricks to make snowmen, and boy are they cute!  I really meant to take some pictures while the kids were painting, and I completely forgot.  So sorry!  I'll try to get some of the kids with their finished projects and post them next week.

Next week we will be enjoying several activities that have to do with The Polar Express.  We will be reading the book, watching the movie, enjoying hot chocolate, and more.  Students will be allowed to wear their pajamas to school on Tuesday - the day we watch the movie.  Students will complete a sequencing activity as well as an activity detailing all of the story elements (characters, setting, plot).  A BIG thank you to the parents who have already sent in some of the supplies we will need for these activities.  We still need a few items, and any donations are greatly appreciated. 

We did manage to fill up all of the slots for donations for our Winterfest party on Wednesday.  We will be snacking and having a small gift exchange.  If your child is choosing to participate in the gift exchange, please remember the limit is $5.00.  Boys should buy for boys and girls should buy for girls.  Please make sure your child's gift is something ANY boy or girl in the class will like - do not buy for one specific student.  We will be playing a game to determine who gets each gift.

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

Enjoy your weekend - it's the last one before Christmas!!!