On Monday be on the lookout for our special invitation to our first learning show"Second Grade ANTics". I try to give lots of advance notice so working parents can arrange to come (if possible). The students are learning so much about ants and are looking forward to sharing it all with you!!!
I am enjoying parent conferences and sharing our observations about your student.....teamwork is the key to success!! Be sure to ask your child about our fire safety assembly and fire truck visit today!
The Raffe report for next week:
Monday we will have a PEACE assembly in the afternoon. I am at a district meeting so a sub will be here. Our second grade idea for this year is to compromise to keep peace. There aren't any problems we can't solve with our brains and our words.
Math: starting unit 3 Subtraction strategies (keep working on addition facts at home, we use these to help us solve subtraction) We played a great math facts game in computer lab. Here is the link: www.mathplayground.com Math Lines Target 10, you can target facts up to 20 so it is a fun way for the students to practice. We will learn Whisper war using subtraction facts too.
Reading: we are working on reading Fables (Ant and the Dove, Ant and the Grasshopper) and figuring out the lesson or message of the author. Ask your child to explain Personification to you!!! We are learning to create Venn diagrams as a way to compare(same) and contrast(different) information using evidence from the texts. This week each reading group is going to be practicing a fable for reader's theater(builds fluency and is fun) to present at the end of the week. Ask your child what story he/she is doing and the lesson from it. While groups are practicing I will be working with small groups of students to do "research" on their kind of ant. We will be teaching all the rest of the class facts about the ant we are studying and we will teach you too at our show. Ask your student what ant they are learning about. We will use non-fiction features to look up the information we need to know., learn to write facts in our own words and compare fictional ants to real ants.
Writing: we are continuing to work on adding details to our writing. we are beginning to focus on how stories start (Bold Beginnings) to reel in the reader. We are practicing to be good writing partners, listening carefully and offering one compliment and one suggestion to our writing buddy.
Science: continued observations of ant farm, comparing ants to people and looking at the world from an ant's "point of view"
Spelling: Unit 5 ack words
Word work: to, too, two
Next Friday we will be having Third grade buddies again. We are looking forward to it. Thanks for your commitment to school and your child's education. As you do things with your child remind them to jot down those ideas for story writing!! We are living "writerly lives" and noticing how we can write stories with details using our five senses.
