Spelling, Week of 12/2/19

Spelling Words

2^nd grade sight words, 70-75

final blend –mp

1. land

2. different

3. home

4. us

5. move

6. bump

7. stump

8. clump

9. stamp

10. camp

i-Ready Winter Diagnostic started today.  Students will not be able to work on i-Ready at home until they have completed the diagnostic.  I hope to have everyone finished by Wednesday.

December calendars also went home in the Red Folders today.

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope you have a wonderful day full of family, food, and good times!

November Events

We had a busy month.  Here are some of the highlights:

We had an author visit.  The author was Jason Bloom and he wrote the exciting adventure story, Malia's Ravine.  Here we are attending the author's presentation...

Link to book

We learned about messages in stories.  Here is an activity we did with the story, "The English Roses" by Madonna.

Link to Book

We also helped many turkeys hide to see another day with our "Disguise a Turkey" project.  Oh well, I guess we'll be having ham!

Spelling Packet, Week of 11/18/19

Spelling Words
2nd grade sight words, 66-70

-or pattern
1. ask
2. went
3. men
4. read
5. need
6. short
7. core
8. sport
9. report
10. escort

School Pictures

School pictures went home today.  If you didn't pre-order proofs were sent home if you would like to order through Leonard's.  Make-up picture day will be December 4, 2019 for those who were absent on picture day. 

EARLY RELEASE

Tomorrow (11/13/19) is an early release day.  We will walk at 1:00 PM.

Spelling, Week of 11/11/19

Please note because this is a short week there is one less night to complete homework. Plan accordingly...

Spelling Words

2^nd grade sight words, 61-65

r-controlled “e”

1. such

2. because

3. turn

4. here

5. why

6. germ

7. herd

8. clerk

9. nerve

10. serve

Disguise-a-Turkey Project

The "Disguise-a-Turkey" projects went home in the red folder on Thursday, 11/7.  The project is due on Friday, 11/22/19. 

Here is the link to the project on Teacher Pay Teacher
Disguise a Turkey Project

What is a "Scoot"?

A scoot is when the students move through stations scattered around the classroom as they complete a task or activity.  At each station there is a question or task that must be performed within a certain number of minutes (usually 3-5 minutes per station). The students usually have a response sheet, or some other accountability document in which they record their work.

Why is a "scoot" preferable to more traditional methods?

• The movement from task to task is good for students with a kinesthetic modality or ADD/ADHD.
• It fosters group-work and helping others get through tasks.
• It has accountability.  Students must respond to tasks and activities on some type of response sheet.
• It creates community.  When the class reconvenes, all students have a better grasp on the topic and can more confidently converse and answer questions.
• It places the responsibility for learning upon the learner.
• The kids think it is fun!  It is like sneaking broccoli into a recipe, it makes something less palatable easier to take.

Here are some pictures of the students hard at work on a "scoot"...

What Happened and Where Have I Been?

So, what happened?
My laptop crashed and had to be re-imaged.  When I got it back, I needed to log on to Google to be able to make changes on the blog, and I entered what I thought was my password.  Google wouldn't let me in.  Long story short, the account was under review, and I finally got a code to access my account again.

So....I missed updating a lot of activity at school over the month of October.  I am going to try to update you a little in this post.

We completed the Life Cycles Unit by creating a hall display about the life cycle of butterflies:

We had a successful PTA presentation...

We participated in a march celebrating kindness during Red Ribbon Week.  We wore orange to support anti-bullying and took a "bite out of bullying!"

The students did pumpkin book reports...

Had a literary character parade (let's be honest and call it the Halloween costume parade!)

And had some fun centers on Halloween...

All in all, a pretty busy month.  I will try to update you on what we did academically throughout October in another post.

Thought of the Day...

Fall PTA Program

Second grade will be the featured performers at the October PTA Meeting on October 8, 2019.  Please check your child's red folder for the permission slip to be part of this performance.  The children will need to be present on 10/8/19 by 6:30 PM for the performance.  They will be singing a selection of Fall and Halloween themed songs.

Please return the permission slip by Tuesday, October 1st.

Cause and Effect

Here is the Cause and Effect focus poster hanging in the classroom.  Recognizing cause and effect is one way to make connections between concepts within text.

Spelling Words, Week of 9/23/19

These are the spelling words for the week of September 23, 2019

1. say

2. great

3. where

4. help

5. through

6. gold

7. fold

8. mold

9. sold

10. colt

The Spelling Packet is due Friday, September 27, 2019

Making Connections in Science

We will be working on making connections within scientific text.  Our reading this week is The Life Cycle of a Butterfly. 

In science information is usually connected sequentially.  This is vitally important with a science experiment, when the sequence, or order of how things are done, is important to the success of the experiment.  Also think of the life cycles of animals.  Most life cycles follow an organized, sequential pattern.

How can I help my child this week?

• Think of steps in a process to make something transform.  How does water become ice.  How does tea become sweetened?
• Discuss animals life cycles.  How do frogs start life?  
• Ask probing questions about the life cycle of the butterfly.  What is metamorphosis?  What are the stages of a butterfly's life cycle called?

EARLY RELEASE

We have the September Early Release tomorrow, 9/25/19.

We will be moving to the dismissal areas at 1:00 PM