Friday Nov. 8th

Friday, November 8^th

Writer’s Workshop

We started the week by reading Hailstones and Halibut Bones by Mary O’Neill.  It’s a book that is filled with color poems!  Each poem demonstrated different ways to think about colors using your senses… How would a color look? How would a color taste? How would a color feel? How would a color smell? Using the author’s craft from these poems, we have been working to create our own color poems.  Our poets also selected one of their favorite poetry pieces to bring to publication.  They edited and revised their poems to make them “just right” and conferenced with the teacher.  On Friday afternoon, all of the second grade classes were divided into four groups.  They took their poems to share with other second grade friends during our Second Grade Poetry Jam.  Thanks to all of you who donated water bottles or Oreo cookies…they were delicious!  We’ll be working on persuasive writing pieces during the next few weeks.

Reader’s Workshop

We are beginning our study of dialogue.  Your child should be able to tell you what dialogue is and what types of books have it.  Students searched their books during independent reading for examples of dialogue.  They also are learning about patterns of books that use dialogue.  We used Cynthia Rylant and Kate DiCamillo books to compare how authors choose to use or not to use dialogue in a book.  It was interesting to see that her series Mr. Putter and Tabby  uses no or very little dialogue in them while Henry and Mudge books seemed full of dialogue.  Additionally, we spent time looking for ways writer’s use “said” alternatives in texts. We brainstormed a giant web of different words for “said” and nearly found over 25 variations! We spent time looking at how these ‘alternatives’ can influence how we read a passage, such as if a character whispered or yelled. Students spent time acting out passages from their texts to continue their look into dialogue and using contextual clues from the author to signal dialect changes. Last we spent time looking to see if all books have dialogue. We made some big generalizations, such as non-fiction tends to not have dialogue while chapter books are loaded with conversations.

Math Workshop

Assessments, assessments, assessments!  At the beginning of the week, we reviewed for and our students took their first Benchmark Assessment.  Families will receive the scores during parent teacher conferences.  I was impressed with how well our class scored!  Mid-week, we reviewed making change by counting up.  Making change is a difficult concept. It’s something that needs to be reviewed often at home in order for mastery.  We ended our week by taking the end of the unit assessment for Unit 3.  Our next unit will focus on addition and subtraction facts.

Word Study
We began the week looking at words that have “oo”. Students learned that “oo” can sound like /oo/ as in moon or /uh/ as in look. We also tried adding on the silent ‘e’ to words to see how new words could be created. We ended the week by looking at words with the –am, -ate and –ake word endings.

Social Studies
Our second graders reviewed the cardinal directions and the use of a compass rose. We learned the acronym: “Never Eat Soggy Waffles” to help us remember the cardinal directions. Next, we explored the different elements and uses of maps through some hands-on stations.  As cartographers we used and atlas and explored, globes, and various types of maps.   Students will be given a homework assignment earlier that requires them to draw a map of their bedroom.  These maps will be due on Monday, November 18th.

Special News & Reminders

·        We have been blogging... check it out! http://www.classblogmeister.com/blog_edit.php?userid=118873

·        Thursday, November 14^th  – NO SCHOOL – Parent/Teacher Conferences All Day

·        Wednesday, November 20^th  – Bedroom Map DUE