This week really flew by!
On Monday, I was out for the day and Mrs. Hart was the sub. They talked about contractions, friendly letters, and cause and effect.
On Tuesday, we continued with contractions. The students did a contraction flower activity where they matched a contraction flower with two leaves containing the two words that make up the contraction.
On Wednesday, we had an unexpected two hour delay. We spent all of our language arts time that day doing contraction "surgery." The students got gloves and masks and cut apart words, contracting them and using a band-aid as the apostrophe. It was a really engaging activity, and the students loved it. We thank Miss Murphy for leading the activity. Look for pictures of the day on my Weebly site.
On Thursday, we had a "business" day. We completed our contractions assessment and a practice writing diagnostic test in which we wrote a letter to our best friends about our favorite toy. We discussed how to use a revising and editing checklist to make our writing the best it can be.
On Friday, we blogged and we completed the first part of our second grade diagnostic testing. We wrote a letter to a friend or relative telling them about what we want to be when we grow up.
Next week we will be doing a lot of testing. The students have to complete an additional writing test for me, a reading test, and a math test. In addition, both Mrs. Myerholtz and myself have to administer end of the year tests that align with our reading and math series. All of this testing information is passed on to your child's third grade teacher.
Our specials schedule for next week will be:
Monday - computer
Tuesday - art
Wednesday - music
Thursday - gym
Friday - library
After speaking with Mrs. McPherson about our struggles to listen, pay attention, and follow directions, Mrs. Myerholtz and I have decided to do a small behavior reward at the end of each day. Students who earn green or orange cards each day will be allowed to participate in an extra recess the last 15 minutes of each day. Students with yellow cards will miss half of that time, and students with red or blue cards miss the entire recess.
Don't forget...our field day is scheduled for Thursday, May 17. I still need 2-3 volunteers to walk small groups of students from one station to another. The job is really easy, and it's a lot of fun seeing the kids compete! Our zoo trip will be Friday, May 18. Thank you to all of the parents who volunteered to chaperone the trip. Look for more information next week.
Have a wonderful weekend, and enjoy the weather - summer is right around the corner!
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Thursday, April 26, 2012
18 Days to Go!
It seems like we are so close to the end of the year, but when I stop to think about how much we have left to do, it makes me feel like there's still a long way to go. We are all ready for summer (and it shows) but unfortunately we still have quite a few important things to take care of before we can wrap up our year.
This week we completed our last full lesson using our Storytown reading series. It was our last spelling test, last vocabulary test, and last comprehension test.
On Monday, we introduced spelling and vocabulary words for the week. We learned a few more cursive letters. We discussed cause and effect, a skill that we are learning a little bit about now so that the students will be more prepared to tackle this topic next year in third grade. We also learned the difference between synonyms and antonyms. Ask your second grader to do the chants for you!
On Tuesday, we finished up the lowercase cursive letters. We continued with vocabulary and cause and effect. We read this week's story, called Where on Earth is My Bagel?, and discussed the events of the story.
On Wednesday, we answered R.A.P. questions using our vocabulary words. We sequenced some events from our story, and we talked more about cause and effect. We had BABES with Mrs. Lindquist.
On Thursday, we had our last spelling test. The morning class also finished up the vocabulary packet and took the last vocabulary test. The morning class also wrapped up synonyms and antonyms. The afternoon class was able to work on their blogs.
On Friday, the morning class had their chance to work on their blogs and took the comprehension test. The afternoon class finished up the vocabulary packet and took the last test. They did a few more activities with cause and effect and sequencing events from the story.
Next week will be a hodge-podge of different things. We will most likely have a few loose ends from this week to wrap up. We will begin reviewing for the diagnostic tests that all second graders will take the following week. (This is the second grade version of the OAA). We will take an end-of-the-year test from our Storytown reading series. There will be no more spelling and no more vocabulary to study.
Our specials schedule for next week will be:
Monday - art
Tuesday - music
Wednesday - gym
Thursday - library
Friday - music
Have a great weekend!
This week we completed our last full lesson using our Storytown reading series. It was our last spelling test, last vocabulary test, and last comprehension test.
On Monday, we introduced spelling and vocabulary words for the week. We learned a few more cursive letters. We discussed cause and effect, a skill that we are learning a little bit about now so that the students will be more prepared to tackle this topic next year in third grade. We also learned the difference between synonyms and antonyms. Ask your second grader to do the chants for you!
On Tuesday, we finished up the lowercase cursive letters. We continued with vocabulary and cause and effect. We read this week's story, called Where on Earth is My Bagel?, and discussed the events of the story.
On Wednesday, we answered R.A.P. questions using our vocabulary words. We sequenced some events from our story, and we talked more about cause and effect. We had BABES with Mrs. Lindquist.
On Thursday, we had our last spelling test. The morning class also finished up the vocabulary packet and took the last vocabulary test. The morning class also wrapped up synonyms and antonyms. The afternoon class was able to work on their blogs.
On Friday, the morning class had their chance to work on their blogs and took the comprehension test. The afternoon class finished up the vocabulary packet and took the last test. They did a few more activities with cause and effect and sequencing events from the story.
Next week will be a hodge-podge of different things. We will most likely have a few loose ends from this week to wrap up. We will begin reviewing for the diagnostic tests that all second graders will take the following week. (This is the second grade version of the OAA). We will take an end-of-the-year test from our Storytown reading series. There will be no more spelling and no more vocabulary to study.
Our specials schedule for next week will be:
Monday - art
Tuesday - music
Wednesday - gym
Thursday - library
Friday - music
Have a great weekend!
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Kickoff to OAA Testing
This week didn't start off so great, but boy did we end with a bang!
On Monay, we did some more testing. We continued to work with the vocabulary from lesson 25, and we practiced our Readers Theater performances. We completed another Venn Diagram.
On Tuesday, we were still testing. We answered R.A.P. questions using our vocabulary words, practiced our Readers Theater performances, and reviewed the difference between present and past tense verbs.
On Wednesday, we completed the last of the testing for a few weeks. The morning class performed their Readers Theaters and took the comprehension test. The afternoon class continued to practice their Readers Theaters and worked with Venn Diagrams again.
On Thursday, we had BABES for the first time in a few weeks. The morning class wrote Star of the Week letters to Cole and Korbin. The afternoon class took vocabulary and comprehension tests. We had an assembly to kick off OAA testing next week. Teachers and students participated in relay races to remind us to look back in the text, eat a good breakfast, and get a good night's sleep before the tests. The teachers surprised the students with a flash mob that we have been practicing for weeks. It was great, and the kids loved it! See it here or on my Weebly site.
On Friday, we blogged. We finished up Star of the Week letters and loose ends of the various assessments completed on Wednesday and Thursday.
Next week we will be reading a story called Where on Earth is My Bagel? This is a cute story that the students really seem to like. We will begin reviewing for our own diagnostic tests, which we will be taking at the beginning of May. Vocabulary words for next week will be smothered, fragrant, gently, replied, grunted, and pleaded. Spelling words will have the oo and ou spelling patterns. Words are:
book, should, took, stood, crook, would, look, could, good, shook, cookout, understood, bookstore, cookies, couldn't, important, until, children, side, feet
Challenge list:
cookout, understood, bookstore, cookies, couldn't, crooked, shouldn't, goodness, brook, cooked, bookmark, footprint, wouldn't, looking, stood, important, until, children side, feet
Thank you to all of the parents who sent in candy for our good luck candy grams that we will be sending to the 5th graders before OAA testing next week! We could also use a few healthy snacks to munch on during our own testing in a few weeks. Examples would be granola bars, goldfish crackers,
raisins, etc. Anything that can be eaten neatly while working on the test will work. We could also use some erasers - we are completely out!
Our specials schedule for next week will be:
Monday - music
Tuesday - gym
Wednesday - library
Thursday - music
Friday - computer
Enjoy your weekend!
On Monay, we did some more testing. We continued to work with the vocabulary from lesson 25, and we practiced our Readers Theater performances. We completed another Venn Diagram.
On Tuesday, we were still testing. We answered R.A.P. questions using our vocabulary words, practiced our Readers Theater performances, and reviewed the difference between present and past tense verbs.
On Wednesday, we completed the last of the testing for a few weeks. The morning class performed their Readers Theaters and took the comprehension test. The afternoon class continued to practice their Readers Theaters and worked with Venn Diagrams again.
On Thursday, we had BABES for the first time in a few weeks. The morning class wrote Star of the Week letters to Cole and Korbin. The afternoon class took vocabulary and comprehension tests. We had an assembly to kick off OAA testing next week. Teachers and students participated in relay races to remind us to look back in the text, eat a good breakfast, and get a good night's sleep before the tests. The teachers surprised the students with a flash mob that we have been practicing for weeks. It was great, and the kids loved it! See it here or on my Weebly site.
On Friday, we blogged. We finished up Star of the Week letters and loose ends of the various assessments completed on Wednesday and Thursday.
Next week we will be reading a story called Where on Earth is My Bagel? This is a cute story that the students really seem to like. We will begin reviewing for our own diagnostic tests, which we will be taking at the beginning of May. Vocabulary words for next week will be smothered, fragrant, gently, replied, grunted, and pleaded. Spelling words will have the oo and ou spelling patterns. Words are:
book, should, took, stood, crook, would, look, could, good, shook, cookout, understood, bookstore, cookies, couldn't, important, until, children, side, feet
Challenge list:
cookout, understood, bookstore, cookies, couldn't, crooked, shouldn't, goodness, brook, cooked, bookmark, footprint, wouldn't, looking, stood, important, until, children side, feet
Thank you to all of the parents who sent in candy for our good luck candy grams that we will be sending to the 5th graders before OAA testing next week! We could also use a few healthy snacks to munch on during our own testing in a few weeks. Examples would be granola bars, goldfish crackers,
raisins, etc. Anything that can be eaten neatly while working on the test will work. We could also use some erasers - we are completely out!
Our specials schedule for next week will be:
Monday - music
Tuesday - gym
Wednesday - library
Thursday - music
Friday - computer
Enjoy your weekend!
Thursday, April 12, 2012
27 More Days!
I cannot believe the end of the year is approaching so quickly! We are already starting to do some wrapping up, and unfortunately with that comes testing - yuck! This week we began the first round of tests. We will continue next week and then take a break (while the other grades have their testing) before we finish up in May.
On Monday, we had no school. I hope everyone had a great spring break!
On Tuesday, we had a one-hour delay and tested for the remainder of the morning. We learned lowercase r and s in cursive and read through our story for the week, Town Hall, which is a Readers Theater.
On Wednesday, we tested all morning again. We learned lowercase j and p in cursive. We added the "ed" hunk and chunk to our Phonics Dance board. We introduced the vocabulary words for this week's story. The words are accomplish, feasible, attend, report, area, and serve. We used a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast two students in each class.
On Thursday, we tested for part of the morning. We had our spelling test, and we practiced our Readers Theater in small groups.
On Friday, we tested all morning again. We blogged (be sure to check them out).
Next week we will continue with Town Hall. In addition to vocabulary, we are reviewing compare/contrast and graphic aids. We are also reviewing verbs. There will be no spelling for next week.
Our specials schedule for next week will be:
Monday - gym
Tuesday - library
Wednesday - music
Thursday - computer
Friday - art
Have a great weekend!
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Oh, Rats! What a Week!
This week was quite a whirlwind of activity in second grade!
On Monday, we introduced new spelling words. We added the "ui" hunk and chunk to our Phonics Dance board, and we introduced our vocabulary words for the week. This week we decided to allow the students to make the vocabulary video, so on Monday they were put into groups and assigned one of the six vocabulary words for the week. Each group was required to come up with a way to give the definition of their word, use it in a sentence, and somehow act out a skit demonstrating their word. On Monday we also looked briefly at graphic aids, specifically diagrams. We began a discussion of past-tense verbs.
On Tuesday we added the "ew" hunk and chunk to our Phonics Dance board. We answered questions about our vocabulary words and practiced for the vocabulary videos. We listened to the story for the week, The Bee, on CD, and we continued our discussion of past-tense verbs.
On Wednesday we answered the R.A.P. questions that go with our vocabulary words for the week. We finalized our vocabulary skits, and the videos were recorded. You can see them on my Weebly site. We read The Bee with a partner and worked together to label a diagram of a bee's body parts. We talked more about past-tense verbs. We had BABES with Mrs. Lindquist, and the topic was coping skills.
On Thursday we had a really easy, fun day. The only thing we had time for in language arts class was our spelling test because we had BABES again in the morning, and we had two hours of practice for the music program in the afternoon! Our music program was so adorable and all of the students did a great job! I tried to take a bunch of pictures, but they came out really dark because I was sitting so far away. Here are two that I took before the program and a couple more of the rats during the program - I think I got everyone in! (Please excuse my three year-old...he insisted on being in some of the pictures.)
On Friday we had a "business" day. Because of BABES and the music program on Thursday, we had to squeeze in all of our assessments on Friday. The kids worked really hard and were really good sports about it. Unfortunately we did not have time to blog this week, but hopefully again soon.
Next week we will be reading a story called Watching in the Wild. We will continue to focus on using graphic aids to help us understand what we read. Our vocabulary words will be blended, cradled, raggedy, distance, personalities, and crumpled. We will discuss the different forms of the verb be. Spelling words will have the air and are spelling patterns. Words are:
hair, glare, fair, scare, pair, care, share, chair, rare, stair, airplane, repair, downstairs, haircut, careful, next, hard, open, example, begin
Challenge list:
airplane, repair, downstairs, haircut, careful, staircase, scared, fairgrounds, glare, rarely, armchair, share, careless, hairy, pair, next, hard, open, example, begin
Our specials schedule for next week will be:
Monday - art
Tuesday - music
Wednesday - gym
Thursday - library
Friday - NO SCHOOL
Happy weekend!
On Monday, we introduced new spelling words. We added the "ui" hunk and chunk to our Phonics Dance board, and we introduced our vocabulary words for the week. This week we decided to allow the students to make the vocabulary video, so on Monday they were put into groups and assigned one of the six vocabulary words for the week. Each group was required to come up with a way to give the definition of their word, use it in a sentence, and somehow act out a skit demonstrating their word. On Monday we also looked briefly at graphic aids, specifically diagrams. We began a discussion of past-tense verbs.
On Tuesday we added the "ew" hunk and chunk to our Phonics Dance board. We answered questions about our vocabulary words and practiced for the vocabulary videos. We listened to the story for the week, The Bee, on CD, and we continued our discussion of past-tense verbs.
On Wednesday we answered the R.A.P. questions that go with our vocabulary words for the week. We finalized our vocabulary skits, and the videos were recorded. You can see them on my Weebly site. We read The Bee with a partner and worked together to label a diagram of a bee's body parts. We talked more about past-tense verbs. We had BABES with Mrs. Lindquist, and the topic was coping skills.
On Thursday we had a really easy, fun day. The only thing we had time for in language arts class was our spelling test because we had BABES again in the morning, and we had two hours of practice for the music program in the afternoon! Our music program was so adorable and all of the students did a great job! I tried to take a bunch of pictures, but they came out really dark because I was sitting so far away. Here are two that I took before the program and a couple more of the rats during the program - I think I got everyone in! (Please excuse my three year-old...he insisted on being in some of the pictures.)
Next week we will be reading a story called Watching in the Wild. We will continue to focus on using graphic aids to help us understand what we read. Our vocabulary words will be blended, cradled, raggedy, distance, personalities, and crumpled. We will discuss the different forms of the verb be. Spelling words will have the air and are spelling patterns. Words are:
hair, glare, fair, scare, pair, care, share, chair, rare, stair, airplane, repair, downstairs, haircut, careful, next, hard, open, example, begin
Challenge list:
airplane, repair, downstairs, haircut, careful, staircase, scared, fairgrounds, glare, rarely, armchair, share, careless, hairy, pair, next, hard, open, example, begin
Our specials schedule for next week will be:
Monday - art
Tuesday - music
Wednesday - gym
Thursday - library
Friday - NO SCHOOL
Happy weekend!
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Down the Home Stretch
Today after school Mrs. Myerholtz and I counted how many days are left in the year. If you include tomorrow (Friday), there are only 41 days of school left until summer!
This week we read a story called Serious Farm.
On Monday we introduced our new spelling words, added a hunk and chunk to our Phonics Dance board (or), and introduced new vocabulary words. We learned cursive m and n. We continued our verb discussion from last week and worked on tying up some loose ends from the end of last week as well.
On Tuesday we added another new hunk and chunk to our Phonics Dance board (oo). This one will help us with our spelling words for next week. We answered some questions about vocabulary words in our packets. We read the story for the first time and talked about the problem and solution. We answered a lot of other oral questions about the story as well. We completed a verb assessment.
On Wednesday we learned cursive v and x. We played a "Memory" game with vocabulary words and answered R.A.P. questions. The morning class read the story with a partner and worked on a brochure with questions from the story. The afternoon class read the story using the Smartboard, and they began working on problem/solution puzzles. We discussed subject-verb agreement.
On Thursday we had a "business" day. We have a lot of things we are trying to get through on Thursdays lately so we have time on Fridays to work on our blogs. We took our spelling test. We finished our vocabulary packets and watched Miss Murphy's and Mrs. Schulte's vocabulary video before we took our test. We read the story again and finished up the projects we started on Wednesday. We read the book If You Were a Verb... and completed an assessment on subject-verb agreement.
On Friday we welcomed Cole, a new student to our room. We took our comprehension test and worked on our blogs. We wrote Star of the Week letters to Amy (for my homeroom) and Nathan (for Mrs. Myerholtz's homeroom). We added to our blogs, so be sure to check them out this weekend. Also, make sure you check my Weebly site for important information about your child's blog. Report cards went home on Friday as well.
Next week will be a crazy, jam-packed week. We will visit the book fair twice (once for previewing and once for purchasing). The preview day has slipped my mind, but we will be purchasing on Thursday. If you want to send money with your child for the book fair, please make sure it is in a sealed envelope or baggie clearly marked with your child's name and "Book Fair." We have our BABES program with Mrs. Lindquist on Wednesday and Thursday mornings next week. We also have our dress rehearsal for the music program on Thursday afternoon and the performance Thursday evening. Please note that the performance is a part of your child's music grade, and he/she is expected to be there.
Our story for next week is The Bee. It is a nonfiction selection. We will be focusing on using charts and diagrams when reading nonfiction texts. Vocabulary words for next week will be pattern, carefully, crowd, disappear, attack, and sealed. We will be talking about past-tense verbs. Spelling words will have the oo, ew, ue, and ui spelling patterns. Words are:
true, grew, suit, smooth, clue, soup, stew, food, group, fruit, nephew, classroom, cartoon, juicy, newspaper, along, might, close, something, seem
Challenge list:
nephew, classroom, cartoon, juicy, newspaper, jewel, suitcase, cruise, balloon, noodle, shampoo, group, true, swimsuit, screwdriver, along, might, close, something, seem
Our specials schedule for next week will be:
Monday - music
Tuesday - gym
Wednesday - library
Thursday - music
Friday - computer
Reading logs will be due next Friday, and are never accepted if they are more than a week late (unless it is late due to absences). Have a wonderful weekend!
This week we read a story called Serious Farm.
On Monday we introduced our new spelling words, added a hunk and chunk to our Phonics Dance board (or), and introduced new vocabulary words. We learned cursive m and n. We continued our verb discussion from last week and worked on tying up some loose ends from the end of last week as well.
On Tuesday we added another new hunk and chunk to our Phonics Dance board (oo). This one will help us with our spelling words for next week. We answered some questions about vocabulary words in our packets. We read the story for the first time and talked about the problem and solution. We answered a lot of other oral questions about the story as well. We completed a verb assessment.
On Wednesday we learned cursive v and x. We played a "Memory" game with vocabulary words and answered R.A.P. questions. The morning class read the story with a partner and worked on a brochure with questions from the story. The afternoon class read the story using the Smartboard, and they began working on problem/solution puzzles. We discussed subject-verb agreement.
On Thursday we had a "business" day. We have a lot of things we are trying to get through on Thursdays lately so we have time on Fridays to work on our blogs. We took our spelling test. We finished our vocabulary packets and watched Miss Murphy's and Mrs. Schulte's vocabulary video before we took our test. We read the story again and finished up the projects we started on Wednesday. We read the book If You Were a Verb... and completed an assessment on subject-verb agreement.
On Friday we welcomed Cole, a new student to our room. We took our comprehension test and worked on our blogs. We wrote Star of the Week letters to Amy (for my homeroom) and Nathan (for Mrs. Myerholtz's homeroom). We added to our blogs, so be sure to check them out this weekend. Also, make sure you check my Weebly site for important information about your child's blog. Report cards went home on Friday as well.
Next week will be a crazy, jam-packed week. We will visit the book fair twice (once for previewing and once for purchasing). The preview day has slipped my mind, but we will be purchasing on Thursday. If you want to send money with your child for the book fair, please make sure it is in a sealed envelope or baggie clearly marked with your child's name and "Book Fair." We have our BABES program with Mrs. Lindquist on Wednesday and Thursday mornings next week. We also have our dress rehearsal for the music program on Thursday afternoon and the performance Thursday evening. Please note that the performance is a part of your child's music grade, and he/she is expected to be there.
Our story for next week is The Bee. It is a nonfiction selection. We will be focusing on using charts and diagrams when reading nonfiction texts. Vocabulary words for next week will be pattern, carefully, crowd, disappear, attack, and sealed. We will be talking about past-tense verbs. Spelling words will have the oo, ew, ue, and ui spelling patterns. Words are:
true, grew, suit, smooth, clue, soup, stew, food, group, fruit, nephew, classroom, cartoon, juicy, newspaper, along, might, close, something, seem
Challenge list:
nephew, classroom, cartoon, juicy, newspaper, jewel, suitcase, cruise, balloon, noodle, shampoo, group, true, swimsuit, screwdriver, along, might, close, something, seem
Our specials schedule for next week will be:
Monday - music
Tuesday - gym
Wednesday - library
Thursday - music
Friday - computer
Reading logs will be due next Friday, and are never accepted if they are more than a week late (unless it is late due to absences). Have a wonderful weekend!
Thursday, March 15, 2012
3rd Quarter Has Come to an End!
This week was busy. We tried hard to squeeze in a lot of last-minute things before the quarter ended on Friday.
On Monday we introduced new spelling words and vocabulary words. We added the "ou" hunk and chunk to our Phonics Dance board. The morning class read Strega Nona and the afternoon class read Kitten's First Full Moon. We used these stories to talk about plot. We identified the problems in the stories, the steps that each character took to attempt solving the problem, and then finally the solution to the problem. We introduced our unit on verbs. We learned a verb chant - ask your second grader to do it for you (they love it!) and read To Root, To Toot, To Parachute: What is a Verb?
On Tuesday we added the "ow" hunk and chunk to our Phonics Dance board. We also began cursive! We learned lowercase c and o. We answered questions about our vocabulary words and watched a hilarious video (available on my Weebly site) that Miss Murphy made explaining each of our vocabulary words. We read A Chair for My Mother and practiced using the story to answer some oral comprehension questions about what we read. We wrote verb poems about ourselves, and we began story planning for a St. Patrick's Day story titled "My Lucky Leprechaun."
On Wednesday we learned more cursive letters. We learned lowercase a and d. We answered R.A.P. questions using our vocabulary words. The morning class partner read A Chair for My Mother and the afternoon class read it on the Smartboard. We worked on our leprechaun stories. We also began a program called B.A.B.E.S. that we will be participating in for the next six weeks on Wednesdays. This is a life skills program that teaches second graders about topics such as self-esteem, coping skills, and the dangers of drugs and alcohol using puppets.
On Thursday we took our spelling test. We learned lowercase g and q in cursive. We finished up our vocabulary packets by telling stories using all of our words, and we watched Miss Murphy's video again. We took our vocabulary test. Vocabulary tests will, more often than not, be moved to Thursdays now so that we can squeeze in blogging on Fridays. We re-read A Chair for My Mother and reviewed the plot elements - problem and solution. We worked on our leprechaun stories.
On Friday we blogged again. We took our comprehension test and finished up our leprechaun stories. Some of us got to start on our Star of the Week letters to Emerson and Cassidey. Others will begin them on Monday.
Next week we will be reading a story called Serious Farm, which is one of my favorite stories that we read all year. Vocabulary words will be extremely, barely, admit, serious, hilarious, and witty. We will continue with problem and solution, as well as verbs. Next week our focus will be on subject-verb agreement. Spelling words will have the r-controlled vowel sound spelled or, ore, and our. Words are:
store, fork, pour, score, your, chore, short, more, four, sore, ignore, important, factory, explore, fourteen, saw, left, don't, few, while
Challenge list:
ignore, important, factory, explore, fourteen, morning, support, normal, tornado, stories, shortest, afford, stormy, pour, hornet, saw, left, don't, few, while
Our specials schedule for next week will be:
Monday - gym
Tuesday - library
Wednesday - music
Thursday - computer
Friday - art
Enjoy the warm weekend!
On Monday we introduced new spelling words and vocabulary words. We added the "ou" hunk and chunk to our Phonics Dance board. The morning class read Strega Nona and the afternoon class read Kitten's First Full Moon. We used these stories to talk about plot. We identified the problems in the stories, the steps that each character took to attempt solving the problem, and then finally the solution to the problem. We introduced our unit on verbs. We learned a verb chant - ask your second grader to do it for you (they love it!) and read To Root, To Toot, To Parachute: What is a Verb?
On Tuesday we added the "ow" hunk and chunk to our Phonics Dance board. We also began cursive! We learned lowercase c and o. We answered questions about our vocabulary words and watched a hilarious video (available on my Weebly site) that Miss Murphy made explaining each of our vocabulary words. We read A Chair for My Mother and practiced using the story to answer some oral comprehension questions about what we read. We wrote verb poems about ourselves, and we began story planning for a St. Patrick's Day story titled "My Lucky Leprechaun."
On Wednesday we learned more cursive letters. We learned lowercase a and d. We answered R.A.P. questions using our vocabulary words. The morning class partner read A Chair for My Mother and the afternoon class read it on the Smartboard. We worked on our leprechaun stories. We also began a program called B.A.B.E.S. that we will be participating in for the next six weeks on Wednesdays. This is a life skills program that teaches second graders about topics such as self-esteem, coping skills, and the dangers of drugs and alcohol using puppets.
On Thursday we took our spelling test. We learned lowercase g and q in cursive. We finished up our vocabulary packets by telling stories using all of our words, and we watched Miss Murphy's video again. We took our vocabulary test. Vocabulary tests will, more often than not, be moved to Thursdays now so that we can squeeze in blogging on Fridays. We re-read A Chair for My Mother and reviewed the plot elements - problem and solution. We worked on our leprechaun stories.
On Friday we blogged again. We took our comprehension test and finished up our leprechaun stories. Some of us got to start on our Star of the Week letters to Emerson and Cassidey. Others will begin them on Monday.
Next week we will be reading a story called Serious Farm, which is one of my favorite stories that we read all year. Vocabulary words will be extremely, barely, admit, serious, hilarious, and witty. We will continue with problem and solution, as well as verbs. Next week our focus will be on subject-verb agreement. Spelling words will have the r-controlled vowel sound spelled or, ore, and our. Words are:
store, fork, pour, score, your, chore, short, more, four, sore, ignore, important, factory, explore, fourteen, saw, left, don't, few, while
Challenge list:
ignore, important, factory, explore, fourteen, morning, support, normal, tornado, stories, shortest, afford, stormy, pour, hornet, saw, left, don't, few, while
Our specials schedule for next week will be:
Monday - gym
Tuesday - library
Wednesday - music
Thursday - computer
Friday - art
Enjoy the warm weekend!
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Weebly Update
I have updated my own Weebly website. I will be doing so periodically, so please make sure that you check it once a week or so. I will be continuing to use the current Blogspot site mostly for parent communication, but I would like to encourage your child to use my Weebly site. I will post helpful links (including videos) of vocabulary words and our weekly stories that your child may want to check out. This week I have posted a YouTube video of our story, A Chair for My Mother, and a vocabulary video that Miss Murphy made that we watched in class on Wednesday. My Weebly site is going to be primarily geared toward the students, so encourage them to look at it every once in a while (and leave comments)!
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Surprises!
What a fun and exciting week full of surprises!
On Monday we had an unexpected snow day! It sounds like everyone had a fun and relaxing day off.
On Tuesday morning we had an assembly. Jay Berschback from 13abc news was here to talk to us about weather. We learned about different types of clouds, what causes different types of weather, the water cycle, and different types of weather instruments. We even made it onto the news that night! In class on Tuesday we worked on our vocabulary packet, began practicing our Readers Theater scripts, and were introduced to comparative adjectives (adjectives that use -er or -est to compare two or more nouns).
On Wednesday we continued working with vocabulary. We used R.A.P. to answer questions about our vocabulary words. We practiced our Readers Theater again, and we made flip books showing comparative adjectives.
On Thursday the morning group got to blog again. It went much more smoothly this time, and I was very impressed at how easily some of the students navigated their Weebly site! Some students have even changed their background design, added author information, and even posted from home! The afternoon class finished up their vocabulary packets and made a flip book to review vocabulary before they took the test. Both classes read and performed their Readers Theater scripts and took the comprehension test.
On Friday the morning class reviewed vocabulary with the flip books that the afternoon class had made on Thursday. They took the vocabulary test as well. The afternoon class got to blog on Friday. Both classes reviewed comparative adjectives and wrote Star of the Week letters to Cullen (for my homeroom) and Cole (for Mrs. Myerholtz's homeroom).
Next week we will be reading a story called A Chair for My Mother. Our focus skill will be plot, specifically problem and solution. Robust vocabulary words for next week will be bargain, delivered, spoiled, boost, comfortable, and exchanged. We will introduce our new grammar skill - verbs, which we will be talking about for the next five weeks. We will begin with present tense action verbs. We will begin planning and writing a leprechaun story. Spelling words for next week will have the ou and ow spelling patterns. Words are:
out, town, count, crowd, ground, now, found, crown, sound, down, surround, without, cowboy, powerful, cloudless, light, thought, head, under, story
Challenge list:
surround, without, cowboy, powerful, cloudless, bounce, shower, eyebrow, amount, pouch, coward, crowd, growl, grouch, downtown, light, thought, head, under, story
A few needs:
We are running very low on some of our classroom supplies. We are completely out of glue sticks, and are very close to being out of erasers. Donations of either would be greatly appreciated. Also, please check with your second grader to see if he/she has received a second box of crayons from me or needs a second box purchased.
We have $10 for our carnival basket. This is a joint project with Mrs. Myerholtz's class for the carnival on March 23, and we need your help to make our basket worth winning. The theme is sports - a note went home on Tuesday with specifics. Any donations of items or cash to help us buy items would be great!
Our specials schedule for next week will be:
Monday - library (we have lots of overdue books, so please check at home!)
Tuesday - music
Wednesday - computer
Thursday - art
Friday - music
I now have a Weebly site that is up and running (though still very much a work in progress). The site has classroom information, a blog that I'm using to give helpful tips on how to use Weebly at home, and eventually links to each student's blog. Check it out when you get a chance at mrslawniczak.weebly.com.
Enjoy the weekend!
On Monday we had an unexpected snow day! It sounds like everyone had a fun and relaxing day off.
On Tuesday morning we had an assembly. Jay Berschback from 13abc news was here to talk to us about weather. We learned about different types of clouds, what causes different types of weather, the water cycle, and different types of weather instruments. We even made it onto the news that night! In class on Tuesday we worked on our vocabulary packet, began practicing our Readers Theater scripts, and were introduced to comparative adjectives (adjectives that use -er or -est to compare two or more nouns).
On Wednesday we continued working with vocabulary. We used R.A.P. to answer questions about our vocabulary words. We practiced our Readers Theater again, and we made flip books showing comparative adjectives.
On Thursday the morning group got to blog again. It went much more smoothly this time, and I was very impressed at how easily some of the students navigated their Weebly site! Some students have even changed their background design, added author information, and even posted from home! The afternoon class finished up their vocabulary packets and made a flip book to review vocabulary before they took the test. Both classes read and performed their Readers Theater scripts and took the comprehension test.
On Friday the morning class reviewed vocabulary with the flip books that the afternoon class had made on Thursday. They took the vocabulary test as well. The afternoon class got to blog on Friday. Both classes reviewed comparative adjectives and wrote Star of the Week letters to Cullen (for my homeroom) and Cole (for Mrs. Myerholtz's homeroom).
Next week we will be reading a story called A Chair for My Mother. Our focus skill will be plot, specifically problem and solution. Robust vocabulary words for next week will be bargain, delivered, spoiled, boost, comfortable, and exchanged. We will introduce our new grammar skill - verbs, which we will be talking about for the next five weeks. We will begin with present tense action verbs. We will begin planning and writing a leprechaun story. Spelling words for next week will have the ou and ow spelling patterns. Words are:
out, town, count, crowd, ground, now, found, crown, sound, down, surround, without, cowboy, powerful, cloudless, light, thought, head, under, story
Challenge list:
surround, without, cowboy, powerful, cloudless, bounce, shower, eyebrow, amount, pouch, coward, crowd, growl, grouch, downtown, light, thought, head, under, story
A few needs:
We are running very low on some of our classroom supplies. We are completely out of glue sticks, and are very close to being out of erasers. Donations of either would be greatly appreciated. Also, please check with your second grader to see if he/she has received a second box of crayons from me or needs a second box purchased.
We have $10 for our carnival basket. This is a joint project with Mrs. Myerholtz's class for the carnival on March 23, and we need your help to make our basket worth winning. The theme is sports - a note went home on Tuesday with specifics. Any donations of items or cash to help us buy items would be great!
Our specials schedule for next week will be:
Monday - library (we have lots of overdue books, so please check at home!)
Tuesday - music
Wednesday - computer
Thursday - art
Friday - music
I now have a Weebly site that is up and running (though still very much a work in progress). The site has classroom information, a blog that I'm using to give helpful tips on how to use Weebly at home, and eventually links to each student's blog. Check it out when you get a chance at mrslawniczak.weebly.com.
Enjoy the weekend!
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Blog Mania!
We had an exciting week! The highlight of the week, by far, was blogging. I was so happy to see how excited the kids were about their blogs! Hopefully everyone will get a chance to view their site at home this weekend, and maybe even look at others' pages as well - make sure you leave a comment if you do!
On Monday we brainstormed a list of adjectives for every letter of the alphabet. The students then used these lists to write acrostic poems using their names. They wrote their names vertically down the side of a piece of paper, then wrote an adjective that describes them for each letter of their first name. They decorated them, and they looked great! We also read The Life of George Washington Carver again and worked on our president reports.
On Tuesday we reviewed Table of Contents again. We practiced by completing a worksheet together. The morning class completed their Table of Contents assessment this day. We also took our comprehension test on The Life of George Washington Carver. Look for possible changes in your child's comprehension test grade beginning this week - I am going to start giving one bonus point for every correctly cited page number on the test. I am really working to encourage the students to find the answers in the text before they answer the question - this is an important test-taking strategy that will be very beneficial next year when your child has to take their first OAA test. We also continued president reports, and many of us finished up.
On Wednesday the morning class talked about how to use the glossary and index in their Storytown books. We practiced for a while, and then I gave them a scavenger hunt using the Table of Contents, glossary, and index of their books. The afternoon class took their Table of Contents assessment this day. We also did our pre-writing for the blogging we did on Thursday. The rule is that the students may not type until they have what they want to say written down first, so they will be required to write out all of their posts before they post them.
Thursday was the big blogging day! We began with our spelling tests, and then spent the rest of our time blogging. Overall it went very well, and I was pleased with how each student's site turned out. We are hoping to post again at the end of next week.
Friday was kind of a crazy day. We had very short switches in the morning. We finished up our president reports (FINALLY) and previewed our Readers Theater story for next week. We spent the afternoon switching between each of the second grade classrooms participating in different Dr. Seuss activities to celebrate Read Across America Day and Dr. Seuss' birthday.
Next week will pretty much be a normal week of a Storytown lesson. We will read What's My Job?, which is a Readers Theater about a game show in which players have to guess a contestant's job. Vocabulary words will be sleuths, host, statue, risk, responds, and accurately. There will be no spelling next week.
Our specials schedule for next week will be:
Monday - computer
Tuesday - art
Wednesday - music
Thursday - gym
Friday - library
Have a wonderful weekend!
On Monday we brainstormed a list of adjectives for every letter of the alphabet. The students then used these lists to write acrostic poems using their names. They wrote their names vertically down the side of a piece of paper, then wrote an adjective that describes them for each letter of their first name. They decorated them, and they looked great! We also read The Life of George Washington Carver again and worked on our president reports.
On Tuesday we reviewed Table of Contents again. We practiced by completing a worksheet together. The morning class completed their Table of Contents assessment this day. We also took our comprehension test on The Life of George Washington Carver. Look for possible changes in your child's comprehension test grade beginning this week - I am going to start giving one bonus point for every correctly cited page number on the test. I am really working to encourage the students to find the answers in the text before they answer the question - this is an important test-taking strategy that will be very beneficial next year when your child has to take their first OAA test. We also continued president reports, and many of us finished up.
On Wednesday the morning class talked about how to use the glossary and index in their Storytown books. We practiced for a while, and then I gave them a scavenger hunt using the Table of Contents, glossary, and index of their books. The afternoon class took their Table of Contents assessment this day. We also did our pre-writing for the blogging we did on Thursday. The rule is that the students may not type until they have what they want to say written down first, so they will be required to write out all of their posts before they post them.
Thursday was the big blogging day! We began with our spelling tests, and then spent the rest of our time blogging. Overall it went very well, and I was pleased with how each student's site turned out. We are hoping to post again at the end of next week.
Friday was kind of a crazy day. We had very short switches in the morning. We finished up our president reports (FINALLY) and previewed our Readers Theater story for next week. We spent the afternoon switching between each of the second grade classrooms participating in different Dr. Seuss activities to celebrate Read Across America Day and Dr. Seuss' birthday.
Next week will pretty much be a normal week of a Storytown lesson. We will read What's My Job?, which is a Readers Theater about a game show in which players have to guess a contestant's job. Vocabulary words will be sleuths, host, statue, risk, responds, and accurately. There will be no spelling next week.
Our specials schedule for next week will be:
Monday - computer
Tuesday - art
Wednesday - music
Thursday - gym
Friday - library
Have a wonderful weekend!
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Exciting Changes
Sorry for the lack of a post last week. Being gone for three days was exhausting, and it completely slipped my mind! I had the privilege of attending the Ohio Educational Technology conference in Columbus last Monday through Wednesday with three other second grade teachers, and we came back with a lot of ideas! It was definitely worth missing our first and only snow day! Many of the ideas won't be able to be implemented right away because they are beyond the current budget of our district, but it was exciting to see what is going on in other districts around the state and to see what we may be able to do in the future. As I finish sorting out all of the information I have swarming around in my brain right now, I will be sending home a note (probably early next week) with more details about what I am able to implement (free of charge!) right now and how we will be able to use technology to further our education in second grade this year. I will say this, though...the kids are going to LOVE it!
One thing that I realized I want to do through my weekly posts are to give you a little more insight as to what is happening in the classroom. Rather than giving a general summary of the week and the topics we are studying, I'm going to try to break it down for you, day by day, so you can have a clearer picture of what we do each day in second grade. I'm anxious for feedback, so if you are reading, jot me a note in your child's assignment book (or, better yet, leave a comment right here on the blog) letting me know that you're reading and what you think of the new format. I will have a treat for your child on Monday (and Monday only) if you do! Here goes...
On Monday, we had no school! Wahoo!
On Tuesday, we introduced our new spelling words. Our words this week had the eer and ear spelling patterns. We really put emphasis on the pattern this week, as I'm seeing that many students are not able to transfer that pattern onto their weekly tests. I think it will really help with studying at home if you can point out the pattern to your child while helping study the words. We added the "tion" hunk and chunk to our Phonics Dance board. We also introduced vocabulary words for the week. This week's words were supplies, crop, provide, earn, committee, and experiments. We always begin with a stoplight activity on the first day so I can get a feel for what the students already know about the words and how much time we will need to spend on learning them that week. You can see this on the first page of their vocabulary packets that come home at the end of the week. We used our Storytown book to practice using a Table of Contents (though my afternoon class didn't get to this until Thursday), and we worked on our president reports that we began last week with Mrs. Harpel.
On Wednesday, I was out with strep. The students practiced spelling words on their dry erase boards, read our story for the week - The Life of George Washington Carver, and discussed nonfiction text features (such as headings, pictures, captions, etc.) using the story. They completed a graphic organizer highlighting the three major headings in the story and a detail from each. The students answered R.A.P. questions using vocabulary words, which you can see on the third page of the vocabulary packet. Again, we worked on president reports.
On Thursday, we had our spelling test. We practiced by playing Sparkle first. We reviewed the pattern for the week again. We added the "sion" hunk and chunk to our Phonics Dance board. We finished up the vocabulary packet and made a vocabulary cube that we used on Friday to review before our test. The morning class finished up the graphic organizers from Wednesday, and the afternoon class worked on president reports and practiced using the Table of Contents in the Storytown book.
On Friday, we played catch-up. Many students had president reports to continue working on or finish up, and many others had Star of the Week letters from the past few weeks to finish. We did use the vocabulary cubes from Thursday to review for the vocabulary test. We did not take the comprehension test on Friday because I didn't feel like the students had enough exposure to the story at that point, since the week was short and I was out one day. We will take that test early next week. We continued to discuss using the Table of Contents.
On the agenda for next week is a review week for spelling. We have some more catching up to do, but we have planned to take two weeks for the next story, so I will not be starting the vocabulary packets until later next week or the following Monday. There will not be a vocabulary test or comprehension test next Friday. We will continue discussing nonfiction text features, and we will work on using both the glossary and index in our Storytown books as well. It's been a while since we talked about adjectives, so we will go back to those too. I'm hoping to finish up the president reports and send those home late next week. The kids have worked so hard on them!
Spelling words for next week will be:
know, noise, tough, phone, breath, health, ready, bread, soil, voice, last, school, father, keep, tree, never, start, city, earth, eyes
Challenge words will be:
wrote, enough, photograph, instead, breakfast, sweater, choice, enjoy, cheerful, disappear, last, school, father, keep, tree, never, start, city, earth, eyes
Our specials schedule for next week will be:
Monday - art
Tuesday - music
Wednesday - gym
Thursday - library
Friday - music
* Readings logs are due on Wednesday, February 29th with a minimum of 300 minutes required. These are a grade, and five points are deducted for logs that are turned in late. This is the easiest A your child can get in my class, and the only homework grade. Don't forget to turn it in!
I'm impressed if you actually made it through this entire post - it was a long one! Enjoy the weekend!
One thing that I realized I want to do through my weekly posts are to give you a little more insight as to what is happening in the classroom. Rather than giving a general summary of the week and the topics we are studying, I'm going to try to break it down for you, day by day, so you can have a clearer picture of what we do each day in second grade. I'm anxious for feedback, so if you are reading, jot me a note in your child's assignment book (or, better yet, leave a comment right here on the blog) letting me know that you're reading and what you think of the new format. I will have a treat for your child on Monday (and Monday only) if you do! Here goes...
On Monday, we had no school! Wahoo!
On Tuesday, we introduced our new spelling words. Our words this week had the eer and ear spelling patterns. We really put emphasis on the pattern this week, as I'm seeing that many students are not able to transfer that pattern onto their weekly tests. I think it will really help with studying at home if you can point out the pattern to your child while helping study the words. We added the "tion" hunk and chunk to our Phonics Dance board. We also introduced vocabulary words for the week. This week's words were supplies, crop, provide, earn, committee, and experiments. We always begin with a stoplight activity on the first day so I can get a feel for what the students already know about the words and how much time we will need to spend on learning them that week. You can see this on the first page of their vocabulary packets that come home at the end of the week. We used our Storytown book to practice using a Table of Contents (though my afternoon class didn't get to this until Thursday), and we worked on our president reports that we began last week with Mrs. Harpel.
On Wednesday, I was out with strep. The students practiced spelling words on their dry erase boards, read our story for the week - The Life of George Washington Carver, and discussed nonfiction text features (such as headings, pictures, captions, etc.) using the story. They completed a graphic organizer highlighting the three major headings in the story and a detail from each. The students answered R.A.P. questions using vocabulary words, which you can see on the third page of the vocabulary packet. Again, we worked on president reports.
On Thursday, we had our spelling test. We practiced by playing Sparkle first. We reviewed the pattern for the week again. We added the "sion" hunk and chunk to our Phonics Dance board. We finished up the vocabulary packet and made a vocabulary cube that we used on Friday to review before our test. The morning class finished up the graphic organizers from Wednesday, and the afternoon class worked on president reports and practiced using the Table of Contents in the Storytown book.
On Friday, we played catch-up. Many students had president reports to continue working on or finish up, and many others had Star of the Week letters from the past few weeks to finish. We did use the vocabulary cubes from Thursday to review for the vocabulary test. We did not take the comprehension test on Friday because I didn't feel like the students had enough exposure to the story at that point, since the week was short and I was out one day. We will take that test early next week. We continued to discuss using the Table of Contents.
On the agenda for next week is a review week for spelling. We have some more catching up to do, but we have planned to take two weeks for the next story, so I will not be starting the vocabulary packets until later next week or the following Monday. There will not be a vocabulary test or comprehension test next Friday. We will continue discussing nonfiction text features, and we will work on using both the glossary and index in our Storytown books as well. It's been a while since we talked about adjectives, so we will go back to those too. I'm hoping to finish up the president reports and send those home late next week. The kids have worked so hard on them!
Spelling words for next week will be:
know, noise, tough, phone, breath, health, ready, bread, soil, voice, last, school, father, keep, tree, never, start, city, earth, eyes
Challenge words will be:
wrote, enough, photograph, instead, breakfast, sweater, choice, enjoy, cheerful, disappear, last, school, father, keep, tree, never, start, city, earth, eyes
Our specials schedule for next week will be:
Monday - art
Tuesday - music
Wednesday - gym
Thursday - library
Friday - music
* Readings logs are due on Wednesday, February 29th with a minimum of 300 minutes required. These are a grade, and five points are deducted for logs that are turned in late. This is the easiest A your child can get in my class, and the only homework grade. Don't forget to turn it in!
I'm impressed if you actually made it through this entire post - it was a long one! Enjoy the weekend!
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Happy Hearts, Presidents, and More
I'm finding out that this year, there really is no consistent normal. While this week would be considered fairly routine, next week is going to be another crazy one. But more on that in a bit...
This week we read Annie's Gifts, a realistic fiction story about a little girl who comes from a very musically talented family but finds out she has absolutely no musical talent. Instead, Annie's gifts are her ability to draw and write poetry. Some students are still having difficulty determining the difference between fiction (a made-up story) and nonfiction (a true story that gives facts). Ask your second grader to tell you what each means, and ask the difference between realistic fiction (a made-up story that could really happen in which the characters act like real people) and fantasy (a made-up story in which the characters do things that could never happen in real life). We continued with setting (the where and when of a story). Our robust vocabulary words this week were stomped, sipped, entertain, except, carefree, and screeching. We also continued with adjectives, and we spent a lot of time describing a lot of objects. We even made a list of close to 100 adjectives that we are keeping in our language arts folder at school to help us remember to be more descriptive writers!
Next week will be somewhat different. I will be out Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday for a technology conference in Columbus. The sub will be Mrs. Harpel. The students know her because she was Mrs. Pennington's sub before Christmas when she had her knee surgery. She also did my maternity leave last year when I had Brayden, so I completely trust her and know she will do a great job! Activities next week will be a mixture of Valentine's Day, Presidents' Day (including the president reports that your child needed the can for), and adjective activities. We will not be reading a specific story, but we will begin working on locating information in nonfiction texts. We will still have a spelling test, and words will follow the oi and oy spelling patterns. Words are:
join, boil, joy, soil, noise, voice, boy, point, toy, coin, destroy, avoid, annoy, loyal, enjoy, high, every, near, add, food
Challenge list:
destroy, avoid, annoy, loyal, enjoy, joyful, choice, foyer, joint, oyster, trapezoid, voyage, poison, tomboy, cowboy, high, every, near, add, food
Our specials schedule for next week will be:
Monday - music
Tuesday - computer
Wednesday - art
Thursday - music
Friday - gym
Also, please note that next Thursday, February 17th is a one-hour delay for a teacher inservice. Friday we will have an assembly at 2:30 to kick off our next candy sale fundraiser. Look for information to come home next Friday about that.
Just a reminder that if you haven't sent in a clean can for your child to complete his/her president report next week, we need those by Monday! Thank you to a few parents who sent in extras!
A big thank you goes out to everyone who sent in treats for our Happy Hearts party this week, and especially to Mrs. Hosey, who was brave enough to volunteer to help!
Should you have any questions or concerns about anything next week, please direct them to Mrs. Myerholtz. She can either get in touch with me or answer to the best of her ability. Otherwise I will be back on Thursday and can return any emails or phone calls at that point.
I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
This week we read Annie's Gifts, a realistic fiction story about a little girl who comes from a very musically talented family but finds out she has absolutely no musical talent. Instead, Annie's gifts are her ability to draw and write poetry. Some students are still having difficulty determining the difference between fiction (a made-up story) and nonfiction (a true story that gives facts). Ask your second grader to tell you what each means, and ask the difference between realistic fiction (a made-up story that could really happen in which the characters act like real people) and fantasy (a made-up story in which the characters do things that could never happen in real life). We continued with setting (the where and when of a story). Our robust vocabulary words this week were stomped, sipped, entertain, except, carefree, and screeching. We also continued with adjectives, and we spent a lot of time describing a lot of objects. We even made a list of close to 100 adjectives that we are keeping in our language arts folder at school to help us remember to be more descriptive writers!
Next week will be somewhat different. I will be out Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday for a technology conference in Columbus. The sub will be Mrs. Harpel. The students know her because she was Mrs. Pennington's sub before Christmas when she had her knee surgery. She also did my maternity leave last year when I had Brayden, so I completely trust her and know she will do a great job! Activities next week will be a mixture of Valentine's Day, Presidents' Day (including the president reports that your child needed the can for), and adjective activities. We will not be reading a specific story, but we will begin working on locating information in nonfiction texts. We will still have a spelling test, and words will follow the oi and oy spelling patterns. Words are:
join, boil, joy, soil, noise, voice, boy, point, toy, coin, destroy, avoid, annoy, loyal, enjoy, high, every, near, add, food
Challenge list:
destroy, avoid, annoy, loyal, enjoy, joyful, choice, foyer, joint, oyster, trapezoid, voyage, poison, tomboy, cowboy, high, every, near, add, food
Our specials schedule for next week will be:
Monday - music
Tuesday - computer
Wednesday - art
Thursday - music
Friday - gym
Also, please note that next Thursday, February 17th is a one-hour delay for a teacher inservice. Friday we will have an assembly at 2:30 to kick off our next candy sale fundraiser. Look for information to come home next Friday about that.
Just a reminder that if you haven't sent in a clean can for your child to complete his/her president report next week, we need those by Monday! Thank you to a few parents who sent in extras!
A big thank you goes out to everyone who sent in treats for our Happy Hearts party this week, and especially to Mrs. Hosey, who was brave enough to volunteer to help!
Should you have any questions or concerns about anything next week, please direct them to Mrs. Myerholtz. She can either get in touch with me or answer to the best of her ability. Otherwise I will be back on Thursday and can return any emails or phone calls at that point.
I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Friday, February 3, 2012
Back to Normal
It was really nice to get back into a "normal" routine this week. The kids worked really hard, but as a whole we are really having to work on following directions in a timely manner and decreasing talking.
This week we introduced the concept of setting using the story Mr. Putter and Tabby Write the Book. We also began working on a long unit of adjectives. Our robust vocabulary words were cozy, enchanting, thrilled, review, instead, and celebrate. We added three new hunks and chunks to our Phonics Dance board - kn, wr, and ph.
Next week we will continue with setting. We will read Annie's Gifts, a realistic fiction story about a girl who has a special talent. Robust vocabulary words will be stomped, sipped, entertain, except, carefree, and screeching. We will continue with adjectives, specifically adjectives that pertain to the senses. Spelling words will have the short e sound spelled ea. Words are:
heavy, steady, bread, sweat, head, thread, breath, ready, meant, health, meadow, instead, breakfast, treasure, feather, still, learn, should, America, world
Challenge list:
meadow, instead, breakfast, treasure, feather, ahead, healthy, heaven, weather, thread, ready, weapon, sweater, headline, steady, still, learn, should, America, world
Our specials schedule for next week will be:
Monday - computer
Tuesday - art
Wednesday - music
Thursday - gym
Friday - library
Next Friday is our Happy Hearts Valentine's Day party. Specific information about this party is coming home in your child's traveling folder this weekend, so be sure to check for it.
The week after next we will be doing president reports using an idea from Miss Murphy. Each student will need a clean metal can with the label removed. Anything the size of a soup can or larger will work. We will need a total of 39 cans, and if you are willing to send in extras it would be greatly appreciated. We will need them by Monday, February 13th.
Enjoy the weekend, and don't forget to watch the Super Bowl on Sunday!
This week we introduced the concept of setting using the story Mr. Putter and Tabby Write the Book. We also began working on a long unit of adjectives. Our robust vocabulary words were cozy, enchanting, thrilled, review, instead, and celebrate. We added three new hunks and chunks to our Phonics Dance board - kn, wr, and ph.
Next week we will continue with setting. We will read Annie's Gifts, a realistic fiction story about a girl who has a special talent. Robust vocabulary words will be stomped, sipped, entertain, except, carefree, and screeching. We will continue with adjectives, specifically adjectives that pertain to the senses. Spelling words will have the short e sound spelled ea. Words are:
heavy, steady, bread, sweat, head, thread, breath, ready, meant, health, meadow, instead, breakfast, treasure, feather, still, learn, should, America, world
Challenge list:
meadow, instead, breakfast, treasure, feather, ahead, healthy, heaven, weather, thread, ready, weapon, sweater, headline, steady, still, learn, should, America, world
Our specials schedule for next week will be:
Monday - computer
Tuesday - art
Wednesday - music
Thursday - gym
Friday - library
Next Friday is our Happy Hearts Valentine's Day party. Specific information about this party is coming home in your child's traveling folder this weekend, so be sure to check for it.
The week after next we will be doing president reports using an idea from Miss Murphy. Each student will need a clean metal can with the label removed. Anything the size of a soup can or larger will work. We will need a total of 39 cans, and if you are willing to send in extras it would be greatly appreciated. We will need them by Monday, February 13th.
Enjoy the weekend, and don't forget to watch the Super Bowl on Sunday!
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Um, where is all the snow?!
We sure have been busy the past two weeks! Not only did we complete our mid-year reading assessment, but we also managed to squeeze in a few grammar skills and a readers theater performance as well!
Our story for the last two weeks was called A Birthday Mystery. We reviewed high-frequency words from the previous four weeks. Robust vocabulary words were bewildered, evasive, mull, and startle. I continue to be impressed each week and how well the students can incorporate these words into their everyday vocabulary. It's so fun to hear them speak like little adults, and it makes them sound and feel so smart! We finished up possessive nouns and also learned about pronouns. Ask your second grader to do the pronoun chant for you and to give you some examples of pronouns. We are also squeezing writing in whenever we get a chance, and our focus right now is on writing a paragraph using a topic sentence. We are really working hard to keep our writing on topic and give as many details as we can to support the topic sentence.
Next week we will be back on track with a regular schedule. We will begin lesson 16, which is a story called Mr. Putter and Tabby Write the Book. This story is realistic fiction - see if your second grader can explain what that means. Our focus skill will be setting. We will expand on what the students learned in first grade - that setting means where the story takes place - by adding in a when component as well. We will also be learning how to make our identification of a story's setting more specific than just "inside" or "outside." We will no longer have high-frequency words as a skill or assessment each week. Instead our quantity of robust vocabulary words will increase from four to six. The words will now appear in the story each week, just as the high-frequency words did in the past. The students will continue to be exposed to the words on a daily basis through our vocabulary lessons and now through the reading of the story as well. I suspect that there may be some difficulty transitioning to an increase in the number of words for the first week or two, but please be patient. Your second grader will catch on soon! The words for next week are cozy, enchanting, instead, thrilled, review, and celebrate. Our grammar skill will be adjectives, which will be our focus for the next five weeks of language arts lessons. We will continue to work on writing paragraphs using topic sentences. Spelling words next week have the kn, wr, ph, and ough spelling patterns. Words are:
knot, wrong, know, wreck, graph, wrap, tough, knife, phone, laugh, elephant, photograph, handwriting, knuckle, enough, letter, mother, answer, found, study
Challenge list:
Oops, I left this list at school. Will update this weekend with the list. Sorry!
Our specials schedule for next week will be:
Monday - art
Tuesday - music
Wednesday - gym
Thursday - library
Friday - music
Enjoy the weekend!
Our story for the last two weeks was called A Birthday Mystery. We reviewed high-frequency words from the previous four weeks. Robust vocabulary words were bewildered, evasive, mull, and startle. I continue to be impressed each week and how well the students can incorporate these words into their everyday vocabulary. It's so fun to hear them speak like little adults, and it makes them sound and feel so smart! We finished up possessive nouns and also learned about pronouns. Ask your second grader to do the pronoun chant for you and to give you some examples of pronouns. We are also squeezing writing in whenever we get a chance, and our focus right now is on writing a paragraph using a topic sentence. We are really working hard to keep our writing on topic and give as many details as we can to support the topic sentence.
Next week we will be back on track with a regular schedule. We will begin lesson 16, which is a story called Mr. Putter and Tabby Write the Book. This story is realistic fiction - see if your second grader can explain what that means. Our focus skill will be setting. We will expand on what the students learned in first grade - that setting means where the story takes place - by adding in a when component as well. We will also be learning how to make our identification of a story's setting more specific than just "inside" or "outside." We will no longer have high-frequency words as a skill or assessment each week. Instead our quantity of robust vocabulary words will increase from four to six. The words will now appear in the story each week, just as the high-frequency words did in the past. The students will continue to be exposed to the words on a daily basis through our vocabulary lessons and now through the reading of the story as well. I suspect that there may be some difficulty transitioning to an increase in the number of words for the first week or two, but please be patient. Your second grader will catch on soon! The words for next week are cozy, enchanting, instead, thrilled, review, and celebrate. Our grammar skill will be adjectives, which will be our focus for the next five weeks of language arts lessons. We will continue to work on writing paragraphs using topic sentences. Spelling words next week have the kn, wr, ph, and ough spelling patterns. Words are:
knot, wrong, know, wreck, graph, wrap, tough, knife, phone, laugh, elephant, photograph, handwriting, knuckle, enough, letter, mother, answer, found, study
Challenge list:
Oops, I left this list at school. Will update this weekend with the list. Sorry!
Our specials schedule for next week will be:
Monday - art
Tuesday - music
Wednesday - gym
Thursday - library
Friday - music
Enjoy the weekend!
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Just a Reminder
This week's post is a reminder to make sure you are checking my website weekly if you are not receiving paper copies of each week's posting. If would like to receive paper copies of each posting, please let me know - jot a note in your child's assignment book this weekend.
This week we began lesson 15. We are reading a story called A Birthday Mystery, which is a Reader's Theater. We also took advantage of the days when everyone was present to complete some mid-year testing. Due to this testing, we will be continuing with lesson 15 next week as well.
We are reviewing past high frequency words in lesson 15. Vocabulary words are bewildered, evasive, mull, and startle. We are working with plural possessive nouns this week and will be introducing pronouns next week. We are writing paragraphs in our journals using a topic sentence, and they are coming along so nicely! Ask your second grader to bring his/her journal home and share some of the stories with you! There will be no spelling test next week.
Our specials schedule for next week will be:
Monday - music
Tuesday - gym
Wednesday - library
Thursday - music
Friday - computer
Enjoy your weekend! :)
This week we began lesson 15. We are reading a story called A Birthday Mystery, which is a Reader's Theater. We also took advantage of the days when everyone was present to complete some mid-year testing. Due to this testing, we will be continuing with lesson 15 next week as well.
We are reviewing past high frequency words in lesson 15. Vocabulary words are bewildered, evasive, mull, and startle. We are working with plural possessive nouns this week and will be introducing pronouns next week. We are writing paragraphs in our journals using a topic sentence, and they are coming along so nicely! Ask your second grader to bring his/her journal home and share some of the stories with you! There will be no spelling test next week.
Our specials schedule for next week will be:
Monday - music
Tuesday - gym
Wednesday - library
Thursday - music
Friday - computer
Enjoy your weekend! :)
Thursday, January 12, 2012
We're Halfway Done!
Well, we are about halfway through the school year! I'm really proud of how far the kids have come in the past few months. Progress is good, and I am excited to see what the rest of the year brings!
This week we read a story called Rain Forest Babies. It was a nonfiction selection, and the kids were able to learn a number of facts about several different animals that live in the rain forest - the elephant, the tiger, the poison frog, the macaw, the kangaroo, and the sugar glider. We even got to see a real sugar glider on Friday thanks to Anna from Mrs. Schulte's class. So cool! The kids are in the process of working on fact books that highlight some of the information they learned from this story. They are looking good and should be in the hallway sometime next week.
We finished up our discussion of fiction and nonfiction. We still tend to confuse the two sometimes, but it is a skill we will continue to work on throughout the year. Our high frequency words for the week were care, interesting, father, thumb, touch, and sweat. Robust vocabulary words were adorable, assortment, habitat, and immense. Our grammar skill for the week was singular possessive nouns. This tends to be a pretty tricky skill for second graders, but I know they will learn more about it next year.
Next week and the following week will be an assortment (like how I used a vocabulary word there?) of different activities. We have some mid-year testing to complete, but I'm unsure as to exactly when that will take place. It is much easier for me to give these tests on days where no students are absent, so we will just be playing it by ear until we can get through the whole test. It is lengthy, but we will split it up into several small parts to be completed over a few days.
Also during the next two weeks we will be reading a story called A Birthday Mystery. It is a Reader's Theater, and the students will be performing at the end of the lesson. We will review both author's purpose and fiction/nonfiction. High frequency words will be a review of the words we have had over the past four weeks. Robust vocabulary words will be bewildered, evasive, mull, and startle. Our grammar skills will be plural possessive nouns and pronouns. Spelling words will be a review.
Words are:
wish, catch, very, huge, shadow, sandwich, nobody, celebrate, surprise, learn, change, off, play, spell, air, away, animal, house, paint, page
Challenge list:
sandwich, celebrate, surprise, imagine, gentle, perfect, birthday, twenty, shadow, chimney, change, off, play, spell, air, away, animal, house, paint, page
Our specials schedule for next week will be:
Monday - no school (Martin Luther King, Jr. Day)
Tuesday - library
Wednesday - music
Thursday - computer
Friday - art
A big thank you to all of the parents who attended our awards assembly on Friday. The kids did such a great job all semester, and I am so proud of them! It's always great to see the parents supporting their achievements as well.
Enjoy the long weekend!
This week we read a story called Rain Forest Babies. It was a nonfiction selection, and the kids were able to learn a number of facts about several different animals that live in the rain forest - the elephant, the tiger, the poison frog, the macaw, the kangaroo, and the sugar glider. We even got to see a real sugar glider on Friday thanks to Anna from Mrs. Schulte's class. So cool! The kids are in the process of working on fact books that highlight some of the information they learned from this story. They are looking good and should be in the hallway sometime next week.
We finished up our discussion of fiction and nonfiction. We still tend to confuse the two sometimes, but it is a skill we will continue to work on throughout the year. Our high frequency words for the week were care, interesting, father, thumb, touch, and sweat. Robust vocabulary words were adorable, assortment, habitat, and immense. Our grammar skill for the week was singular possessive nouns. This tends to be a pretty tricky skill for second graders, but I know they will learn more about it next year.
Next week and the following week will be an assortment (like how I used a vocabulary word there?) of different activities. We have some mid-year testing to complete, but I'm unsure as to exactly when that will take place. It is much easier for me to give these tests on days where no students are absent, so we will just be playing it by ear until we can get through the whole test. It is lengthy, but we will split it up into several small parts to be completed over a few days.
Also during the next two weeks we will be reading a story called A Birthday Mystery. It is a Reader's Theater, and the students will be performing at the end of the lesson. We will review both author's purpose and fiction/nonfiction. High frequency words will be a review of the words we have had over the past four weeks. Robust vocabulary words will be bewildered, evasive, mull, and startle. Our grammar skills will be plural possessive nouns and pronouns. Spelling words will be a review.
Words are:
wish, catch, very, huge, shadow, sandwich, nobody, celebrate, surprise, learn, change, off, play, spell, air, away, animal, house, paint, page
Challenge list:
sandwich, celebrate, surprise, imagine, gentle, perfect, birthday, twenty, shadow, chimney, change, off, play, spell, air, away, animal, house, paint, page
Our specials schedule for next week will be:
Monday - no school (Martin Luther King, Jr. Day)
Tuesday - library
Wednesday - music
Thursday - computer
Friday - art
A big thank you to all of the parents who attended our awards assembly on Friday. The kids did such a great job all semester, and I am so proud of them! It's always great to see the parents supporting their achievements as well.
Enjoy the long weekend!
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Happy New Year!
I hope everyone had a relaxing holiday. It's hard to believe how quickly the breaks go!
We jumped right in this week, especially since it was only a four-day week. We read a story called Big Bushy Mustache. Though we have been talking about the differences between fiction and nonfiction all year, it was a main focus this week. We know a song about fiction stories and a chant about nonfiction stories. We found both kinds of books in our classroom library, and we sorted some of the stories we have read so far this year. High frequency words for this week were above, shoes, tough, wash, wear, woman, and young. Robust vocabulary words were route, semblance, distraught, and improvise. We began talking about singular possessive nouns in language. We discussed the difference between using an apostrophe to show ownership and just an s to make a word mean more than one.
Next week we will be reading Rainforest Babies. We will continue to focus on identifying stories as fiction or nonfiction. We will be completing a fact book with information about each of the baby animals we will read about. High frequency words will be care, father, interesting, thumb, touch, and sweat. Robust vocabulary words will be adorable, assortment, habitat, and immense. We will continue singular possessive nouns, which I am hoping to wrap up toward the middle of the week. At that point we will begin looking at plural possessive nouns. Spelling words for next week will have the r-controlled vowel spelling patterns spelled ir, ur, er, or ear. Remember that there are three options for spelling lists, so check the list in your child's traveling folder to confirm which words you should be studying. Words are:
fur, shirt, burn, stir, bird, turn, herd, third, learn, search, perfect, birthday, purple, circus, surprise, try, kind, hand, picture, again
Challenge list:
perfect, birthday, purple, circus, surprise, birdhouse, person, flower, stirring, burned, thirty, dirty, plural, monster, search, try, kind, hand, picture, again
Our specials schedule for next week will be:
Monday - music
Tuesday - computer
Wednesday - art
Thursday - music
Friday - gym
Stay warm this weekend!
We jumped right in this week, especially since it was only a four-day week. We read a story called Big Bushy Mustache. Though we have been talking about the differences between fiction and nonfiction all year, it was a main focus this week. We know a song about fiction stories and a chant about nonfiction stories. We found both kinds of books in our classroom library, and we sorted some of the stories we have read so far this year. High frequency words for this week were above, shoes, tough, wash, wear, woman, and young. Robust vocabulary words were route, semblance, distraught, and improvise. We began talking about singular possessive nouns in language. We discussed the difference between using an apostrophe to show ownership and just an s to make a word mean more than one.
Next week we will be reading Rainforest Babies. We will continue to focus on identifying stories as fiction or nonfiction. We will be completing a fact book with information about each of the baby animals we will read about. High frequency words will be care, father, interesting, thumb, touch, and sweat. Robust vocabulary words will be adorable, assortment, habitat, and immense. We will continue singular possessive nouns, which I am hoping to wrap up toward the middle of the week. At that point we will begin looking at plural possessive nouns. Spelling words for next week will have the r-controlled vowel spelling patterns spelled ir, ur, er, or ear. Remember that there are three options for spelling lists, so check the list in your child's traveling folder to confirm which words you should be studying. Words are:
fur, shirt, burn, stir, bird, turn, herd, third, learn, search, perfect, birthday, purple, circus, surprise, try, kind, hand, picture, again
Challenge list:
perfect, birthday, purple, circus, surprise, birdhouse, person, flower, stirring, burned, thirty, dirty, plural, monster, search, try, kind, hand, picture, again
Our specials schedule for next week will be:
Monday - music
Tuesday - computer
Wednesday - art
Thursday - music
Friday - gym
Stay warm this weekend!
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