Fundations

Students have been reviewing sounds that they learned in first grade and are now learning how to apply them to their spelling.  Glued Sounds- these are sounds that when they are together they do not say their normal sounds, but rather create a slightly different sound. The sounds are: all, am, an, ang, ing, ong, ung, ank, ink, onk, unk.  Students have also been learning about the "r-controlled vowel" sounds.  An r-controlled vowel is any vowel followed by an "r". The "r" changes the sound that vowel makes.  A new concept we have been learning about are long vowel patterns.  Students are learning these sounds and are expected to know the sound and read the sound in a word, but not apply it to their spelling yet.  Another new concept we have learned is adding a suffix to a base word.  A base word is a word that can stand along.  A suffix is what is added to the end of a word.  For example: base word: “jump” suffix: “s”.  New word: “jumps”.  We have learned many suffixes and their meanings: -s, -es, -ed, -ing, -er, -est, and -ed.  There will be more suffixes to come!  Students continue to mark words to show they understand the concept being taught.  Our words of the day emphasize the concept being learned and introduce new vocabulary.  We continue to practice previously learned trick words and new trick words. 

Reading

This month, we learned readers have many jobs while they read!  We spent some time on learning how to pick a good book for each individual reader and then how to retell a story.  One of the methods to help retell a story is to use a 5-finger retell.  Thumb- Characters, Pointer- Setting, Tall Finger- Problem, Ring Finger- Events and Pinky Finger- Solution.  Another way to retell a story is to state what happened in the beginning (characters, setting, and problem), middle (events to solve the problem), end (solution, last event).  We also talked about Making Connections to the text.  This is when the reader reads something in the book that remind them of something that has happened to themselves in their life.  Readers also learned to Visualize- "Stop, close your eyes and visualize!"  This is when readers use the authors vivid words to create an image in their head.  This will be an important skill as second grade readers move into chapter books.  Students are also starting to look closely at characters and realize how characters have certain characteristics that stay the same throughout the story, but they also change throughout the story.  By looking at the characters actions and words throughout the whole book, readers can come up with a character trait (a describing word) to describe their character.  Most recently, we started discovering the author's message.  This is when the author teaches us a lesson through their story.  The lesson doesn’t apply just to the story but something in life!  All throughout the year, we will continue to practice story retells, orally and written. 

Writing

At the beginning of the month, writers celebrated their first writing piece of the year!  Then, writers began brainstorming ideas for a new writing piece- a personal narrative!  This is a story about the writer that may happen over time or a smaller moment and is really special.  Writer's brainstormed ideas about their "first" and "last" time they did something, celebrations and traditions, and special family memories.  After a lot of brainstorming, writers picked their story idea and began planning.  Writers drafted their beginning, middle and end of their stories.  As second grade writers, students learned specific things to include, such as dialogue and properly punctuating it, transition words and  specific types of hooks and closures.  The writers are going back into their writing piece and adding these elements and well as continuing new pieces and incorporating these elements.  

Math

We are just about to wrap up our Addition to 1,000 chapter!  We added 3-digit numbers without and with regrouping.  Regrouping in addition is when the sum of a place value is 10 or more.  For example, if the digits in the ones place value were 6 and 8, 10 ones would have to be "regrouped" for a ten and there would be 4 ones in the ones place value.  (6+8=14) Students learned how to show their thinking by drawing base-ten blocks in a place value chart, and once they were comfortable, students moved to solving in just an algorithm.  We also practiced real-world word problems.  This is tricky and we will continue to practice this skill throughout the year.  It was super fun to add 3 and 4 2-digit numbers!  Students loved sharing their methods!

Science

We are working through our unit on Materials and Their Uses!  The scientists of 2G read, observed, investigated and discovered many topics-

1. What is Everything Made Of?

2. How Are Liquids and Solids Different?

3. How Are Materials Used for Different Purposes?

Students investigated the sizes of different containers. They compared their sizes by measuring how much water each container holds and making a graph of the data. Students then analyzed the data to answer questions about the container sizes.  After that, students learned that different properties of materials are suited for different purposes. Sometimes more than one kind of material has the right properties for a purpose. Engineers test designs to see what material works best for an intended purpose. After reading, students applied their understanding of properties to make a model bridge! Their engineering group designed a waterproof bridge. Lastly, we tested the bridges to see if they were strong and waterproof.

RECESS FUN!