Fundations

We just finished Unit 1!  Throughout this unit, students reviewed concepts from first grade.  We reviewed the importance of vowels and consonants, and how every word has to have a vowel to be a word.  Digraphs (2 letters that make one sound), blends (2 or more consonants that make 2 separate sounds), digraph blends, and triple letter blends were reviewed too!   Students "tap out" words.  This means using your fingers to "tap out" each sound they hear in a word.  Towards the end of the unit, students reviewed a closed-syllable (a consonant closes in a short vowel.)  An important part of Fundations is "marking" the words.  Students show they understand the learned concepts by marking and explaining learned concepts.  We also reviewed Level 1 trick words.  Click here to view the Unit 1 resources, as well as upcoming unit resources!

Reading

2G Readers have been learning a lot about Reader's Workshop and the jobs they will have as readers this year!  We talked about what Reader's Workshop should sound and look like.  Students completed reading surveys and we discussed that it will help me know them as readers and help them know how to set up their best reading.  We explored different types of books and learned that different types of books have different purposes. Additionally, students learned how to "shop" for books and how to take care of our classroom library.  Readers learned strategies to pick a book that is a good independent reading level, using the "I PICK" strategy.  After choosing some books, students practiced "real" reading vs "fake" reading.  Students were reminded that good readers think about who they are as a reader, and find ways to help themselves become better readers.  Checking for understanding helps readers become better readers, such as: stopping and asking questions, creating an image in the reader's mind- "stop, close your eyes, and visualize", and retelling parts of the story.  Lastly, readers also learned that it is important to stop and jot down notes. 

Writing

We began Writer's Workshop by discussing the writing process: brainstorming, planning, drafting, editing and revising, and publishing.  Writers spent a lot of time brainstorming ideas for a new story.  We talked about ideas that make a good story, such as stories with strong emotion, stories that they remember a lot of details about, ideas close to the heart, and recent memories.  Next, students narrowed down their idea by explaining why they chose their story idea.  Writers planned the beginning, middle, and end of their story using a graphic organizer.  As a warm-up to writing, students wrote their first story across 3 pages.  They were excited to learn as second grade writers they will be writing across 5 pages!  We also had a few grammar lessons about nouns, proper nouns, and verbs, as well as capitalization and punctuation. 

Math

Wow!  What mathematicians we have!  They have been doing a wonderful job displaying their math skills and taking the opportunity to solve "bonus" questions!  Students have started math rotations, which include rotating through small-group teacher work, independent work and math games.  We have been working with numbers to 1,000.  Students used base-ten blocks to represent numbers in a place value chart.  After building numbers, students showed how to add 1 more, 10 more and 100 more.  They even explored using the same 3 numbers, but changing the position of the number and realizing how it changed the value of the number.  Next, students used their number knowledge to represent numbers in base ten block, Standard Form, Expanded Form, and Word Form.  Example: Standard form: 123 Expanded form: 100+20+3 Word Form: one hundred twenty-three.  Now, students are learning how to compare numbers using their place values.  We are using the terms "greater than", "less than" and "equal to", as well as learning the symbols (<, >, and =) to compare numbers.  Please click here to view the school-to-home parent letters.  

Science

Students discovered that things are made of materials (what an object is made of) such as plastic, wood or rubber.  They also discovered that materials have properties (a way to describe a material) like smooth, fuzzy or hard.  One thing scientists do is try to make sense of the world.  They look closely at different objects and the materials they are made of. They classify objects by their properties. This means they put them into groups so that all the things in a group have the same property.

Recess Fun