Hello Weckie Parents!
Happy Sunny Friday... finally!! We have been super busy here in 202. This week we launched our weekly Show-n-Tell, wrapped up some special goodies for Mother's Day and earned a special Oreo treat just for being such awesome, hard working kids! Thank you for sending in your field trip money this week and a special thank you to all of our awesome chaperones! We will be bringing 14 chaperones with us to the Troy Historic Village - How awesome is that?
Phonics
In phonics last week we spent time reviewing all of the different camouflaged letters/combinations of letters we have learned thus far in the unit. We went on a "Camouflage Hunt" as we scoured books, posters, charts, etc. all around and in our classroom. Combinations we looked for included: kn-, wr-, gn-, soft c, soft g, -dge, gh, qu-, -ck, and ph-. While these are tricky combinations, it was so amazing to see how well our spellers quickly picked up these concepts and began spelling new words. Even if they weren't fluently spelling with them, being able to recognize and read them within words in texts was a huge first step!
This week, we have been working this week with two very important spelling rules:
*Drop silent 'e' before adding -ed or ing to words. (example: live --> living, lived)
*Double the consonant before adding -ed or -ing in short vowel + consonant words (drop --> dropped, dropping)
We spent time working with these words on whiteboards as we: practiced spelling new words, tried using blends, chunks and the two endings to make new words and even did a partner activity where kids formed words together where they needed to follow these rules.
Readers' Workshop
In Readers' Workshop we have embarked on a new unit of study focusing in on reading different genres of books. I have placed books of baskets on each table that we have been rotating that include: fantasy, mystery and realistic fiction books. With fantasy books we are looking for: magical things, magical settings and adventures or quests. We have read two chapter books as a class in this genre including: Dragons in a Bag and Gooseberry Park. In the mystery genre we are looking for things like: detectives, a case and clues! In the realistic fiction genre we have been looking for features including: realistic problems and people who are the same or different from you. As a class we have read: Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Super Fudge, Fudge-A-Mania and are now in Double Fudge, enjoying the challenges an older and younger brother face growing up.
In the baskets we are rotating at the tables, I've tried to place in some books that are also very new including series like: Nate the Great, Cam Jansen, Fly Guy, Mr. Putter and Tabby, Yasmin, Little Shaq and Jayden Toussaint. It has been fun to encourage readers to branch out and try new genres to see if they may find a new favorite genre!
We have about half of our class done with the iReady Reading Diagnostic. I have seen SO much growth from ALL who have finished their diagnostics so far...yay! It's pretty amazing to see the results of all of their hard work really pay off! We will continue working on this diagnostic next week and plan to begin the math diagnostic the week of May 15th.
Writers' Workshop
We have slowly been launching our poetry unit! Our writers' listened to a story called The Important Thing by Margaret Wise Brown and spent time noticing how each double page spread featured a new poem about a different object. Then our students wrote their own "Important Thing" poems! Look for their published poem to come home in the next few days! On Monday, for our poetry writing, kids will be writing about an object and can bring in ONE small object from home if they'd like! Students without an object will be asked to select something from around the room. Ideas might include: a piece of fruit, a special rock, a feather, a lucky charm or any other small object! One of the coolest poem's last year was written about a green crayon, so the objects most definitely do not have to be anything fancy!
Math Workshop
Centimeters, meters, inches, feet, yards... we have been MEASURING everything lately!! We are deep in a part of our math curriculum that focuses on being able to estimate length and then measure to the nearest centimeter, meter, inch, foot or yard! We also have taken time to talk about why some times it's better to use one unit over another! If we wanted to measure the length of our room, we found that yards worked way better than inches or even feet! Soon we will move into Unit 8 which will bring us to a study of geometry! Shapes are always fun for second graders! We'll be learning the names of two and three-dimensional shapes and also spend time noticing shapes around the room and constructing our own shapes from toothpicks and marshmallows!
Social Studies
In our Economy Unit we have been learning a great deal about resources this week. We have learned about natural resources, human resources and capital resources. We spent time watching a few short videos on how different things are made: ice cream, cotton candy and crayons. We took time after each video to list the natural resources that were used (items that come from nature), the human resources that were used (the people who produced the goods), and the capital resources that were used (the tools that the human resources could use over and over again to produce a product). Information has been sent home about our Market Day on May 31st! While this seems like a long time from now, we wanted to give ample time for your child to either select their ten items or make their ten items. Please make sure to keep the note handy as it will serve as your child's business license on the 31st. They will need the signed form to give them permission to sell and shop.
Important Upcoming Dates:
Tuesday, May 16th: Half Day of School - Teacher Professional Development
Friday, May 19th: WLN Senior Walk @ Dublin
Tuesday, May 30th: Troy Historic Village Field Trip
Wednesday, May 31st: Market Day in 2nd Grade
Friday, June 2nd: Dublin Field Day
Friday, June 9th: Dublin Ice Cream Social
