We've Been Busy Little Elves

Whew, what a week!  Things were a little out of the ordinary for a few days, but we survived.  Mrs. Lawniczak had a few meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday, so we had subs for a little while each of those mornings.  We also visited the Santa Shop on Wednesday morning.

This week we were reading a story called Jamaica Louise James.  We started talking about author's purpose and thought a lot about why different texts may have been written.  We learned that the three main purposes spell P.I.E. (persuade, inform, and entertain).  Ask your second grader to give you examples of each.  When your second grader reads for his/her reading log next week, ask what they think the purpose of each text may be.  Persuade is the hardest, so look for examples in newspapers and magazines (such as advertisements).  High-frequency words for this week were draw, question, picture, minute, sure, especially, bought, and worry.  Robust vocabulary words were renowned, kin, original, and adorn.  We did really well with the word adorn - ask your second grader how Jamaica adorned the subway walls in the story.  Ask how some of the second grader teachers adorned their classrooms, and discuss the various ways you may have adorned your house for the holidays.  Our grammar skill this week was abbreviations.  We learned that most abbreviations begin with capital letters, and they all end with a period.  We focused on abbreviations for days, months, titles, and locations (street, road, etc.).  We wrote snowman stories.

Next week we will read a nonfiction selection called At Play:Long Ago and Today.  This story details many ways that toys, games, and recreational activities have changed from long ago to today.  It is a more difficult story than we have been reading so far this year, but the students usually seem to like it.  We will continue with author's purpose.  High-frequency words will be imagine, favorite, year, enjoy, cook, board, popular, and expensive.  Robust vocabulary words will be recreation, leisurely, ramble, and archaic.  Our grammar skill will be possessive nouns.  We will finishing our snowman stories and beginning letters to Santa.  In these letters we will be practicing our persuasive writing and explaining whether we think we should be on the naughty or nice list and why.  This writing assignment will be part of a contest!  Spelling words for next week will have the long e sound at the end of the word and will be spelled with a y or ey at the end.  Please note that we now have three different spelling lists between the two classes.  Your child's list may vary from week to week.  Please check the list in your child's folder on Friday for confirmation of which list your second grader should study for the week.  Words are:
very, messy, lady, happy, key, baby, money, funny, candy, sunny, chimney, nobody, breezy, twenty, keyhole, ask, went, men, read, need
Challenge list:
chimney, nobody, breezy, twenty, keyhole, activity, absolutely, monkey, family, anybody, probably, eighty, mystery, everything, crybaby, ask, went, men, read, need

Also note that reading logs are due early this month - December 20th.  Your second grader only needs to read 200 minutes for the month of December.  I will not accept late logs after break.

Next week we will be working on a holiday craft.  If you would be willing to help prepare materials in advance, please let me know.  You can do it at home - I just need someone to cut pipe cleaners and squares/strips of fabric so they are ready to go for the kids on Thursday.  Let me know if you can help us out!

I think we have all of the drink carriers we will need for the week before the break.  A big thank you to everyone who donated!

Our holiday party is scheduled for Wednesday, December 22nd at 2:30.  At some point next week I will be sending home a list of what everyone signed up to bring.

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