Friday, March 15, 2013

March is Reading Month!

Did you know that the single-most important thing you can do for your children is to read to them (and with them) for twenty minutes, every day?

Consider just a few of the benefits, especially when you start reading with your children at an early age:

• Listening skills are built
• Children learn to sit still and stay focused
• Comprehension and understanding of events (cause and effect relationship) is enhanced
• Vocabulary is increased as children discover new words
• A child's ability to guess meanings of new words grows
• Children become more confident because they know they are cared and loved and because they can express their thoughts and needs
• Imagination and creativity is encouraged and fed
• Children are better-enabled to make friends and good relationships because their communication skills are increased
• Learning in all subjects become much easier because the brain is literally being wired to learn and take in new information
• Family bonds are strengthened and reinforced, creating an atmosphere of love, trust and communication in the home (for which you will be grateful when your kids are teenagers)

Adapted from PKE's PTA Press-March 2012

Reader's Workshop: 

We continued our Nonfiction Study this week in Reader's Workshop.  First, we decided that we had to do something about the "on the fence" books that we've been reading.  We thought that the name "on the fence" books would confuse other readers who may visit our room.  So, we brainstormed some possible names for the new "genre" that we discovered and felt that informational fiction would be the best name for books that teach us new facts (frogs are cold blooded amphibians), but are fictional in some of its content (frogs can't talk and draw a picture of the pond that they live near).  Students worked hard scouring our classroom library to find books that will fit into this genre.  Next, our readers took a closer look at the nonfiction text features that are found in books.  We discovered that:  the table of contents page, labels, maps, photographs, life-like illustrations, glossary page and close-ups are all examples of nonfiction text features.  Students went on their own scavenger hunt to find examples of different nonfiction text features in their "just right" books.

 

Writer’s Workshop:

We have moved onto the illustration phase of our Small Moments. Our writers needed to zoom in on one important part of their writing piece and create a detailed sketch of that moment. They also needed to make sure that their illustrations matched the words in their stories. We will be celebrating our writing in the next few weeks.

Calling all bird experts!! We are just beginning our Non-Fiction Unit of Study on Michigan Birds! If you have any field guides, books, magazines, etc. at home that have information about Michigan Birds please send them to school (with your child’s name visible on them). We will be spending the next few weeks sifting through field guides and bird books as well as listening to bird calls, watching for them outside and even learning about their nests and more! Next week students will begin learning about different types of books to use for research and create wonderings of their own about birds.

 

Word Study:

This week we took a look at words that end in a "y" and how to make them plural.  This is a difficult task for second graders to do because they need to remember several different rules.  Who made the English language so tricky anyways?  We ended the week by taking a word and adding letters to it in order to create a new word.

 

Math Workshop:

Our mathematicians practiced finding the area and perimeter of objects. Ask your child our chant that we learned for area and perimeter. We also talked about capacity and what units are used to measure liquids. A practice packet for our benchmark assessment was sent home on Thursday. Please make sure your child is preparing for our math benchmark, which will be on Tuesday, March 26th.

Science:

What a crazy science week in science! We finished up some important journaling from last week and colored some wind catchers.  On Wednesday, we talked some more about air and the students participated in a balloon rocket race! Students learned that air can expand things (i.e. the balloon) and used their balloons to race one another on a rocket course. They also learned that the escaping air from the balloon propelled it across the rocket course.  We ended our week by learning about an instrument that meteorologists use to measure the wind speed...an anemometer!  Students learned about the different levels in the wind scale and we built a classroom anemometer and took it outside to test the wind speed (Friday was pretty windy).

 

Social Studies:

Opportunity Cost has been the topic of discussion this past week. We learned how in life we have to make choices and the opportunity cost is the item we give up when making a choice. For instance, if I had to choose between summer or winter, I'd choose summer and winter would be my opportunity cost. We also took a look at resources this week: human, natural and capital.

Important Dates and Reminders:

Our Beach Day basket is looking a bit sparse.  We have only received an inflatable float and a pair of goggles. If you can donate items to our basket, please send them in ASAP!

 

• Friday, March 22nd – Spring Pictures: Our class doesn't have a time yet.

 

 

Friday, March 8th

Another 4 day week, but still much was accomplished.

Hope you’re enjoying the reading activities on the March is reading month calendar!

Thank you to families for participating in our fundraiser this week to help a teacher in our community.

Reader’s Workshop:

We continue with our Non-Fiction book studies.  This week we enjoyed a book by Cynthia Rylant, one of our favorite authors, called The Whales. The first day we read it for enjoyment and discussed the genre of the book.  Students recognized almost immediately the poetry elements of the book.  Next, they brought up that it was also full of information about whales.  As we reread this book throughout this week we pulled out the non-fiction parts and then discussed the fictional elements the author included.  Finally, students were given a copy of the text used to highlight the fiction and non-fiction parts of the story.   Independently students continue to shop for  an assortment of books that are just-right for them as well as books that are non-fiction.  During independent reading time they examine these books for elements of fiction and non-fiction.  Many students are becoming very confident in identifying features of both.

Our making meaning  Read-Aloud this week was It Could Still Be a Worm by Allen Fowler.  With this non-fiction text we made connections to previous knowledge on worms, came up with wonderings about worms and read the text for new information.  We also identified how this text was divided into sections such as where they live, what they looked like etc.

Writer’s Workshop:

It has been exciting to see students finishing their personal narratives and some moving on to write more.  We have spent a great deal of time discussing and practicing revision and editing.  Our goal this week was to have each child finish at least one personal narrative having gone through each stage of the writing process.  We will be publishing these pieces over the next weeks.  If there is a parent who would like to volunteer to type any of these, I would love the help.  Next week students will begin learning to write non-fiction pieces.

Math Workshop:

We have begun our measurement unit and students are learning about the importance of standard measurements and why/how measuring should be exact.  For 2^nd grade that means though we have demonstrated how an inch is broken into 16ths, we try to measure to the nearest ½ inch.  This is still difficult for some and we will continue working on it.  Students are also learning when to use which unit, such as using inches vs. yards.  For example we won’t be using inches to measure a school bus.  We’ve also moved into measuring perimeter and will soon begin area.

Word Study:

This week our students learned about adding suffixes (endings such as es or ed) to words ending in y.  During this lesson students really had to think about the root words to know if they changed the y to ies or ied, as not all words ended in y.  I noticed too that some are forgetting our lesson about doubling the consonant when adding ed when the word ends with a vowel and consonant, such as hop to hopped.  We also revisited ed endings and how they can sound differently at the end.  For instance the ed in hunted sounds like id and the ed with jumped sounds like t.

Social Studies:

We continue our study of our local economy.  We’re still looking at jobs and discussing producers, consumers and how they offer goods and services. 

Important Dates/Reminders:

April 11^th: Sock Hop!  Mark the date down  - We still need donations for our "Beach Day" basket ASAP!

Friday, March 1st

It’s been another FANSTASTIC week in Second Grade… And we all decided that a Snow Day midweek was the perfect way to adjust back to school life after February Break!

Reader’s Workshop:

Our readers have continued their look into Non-Fiction books. Independently they are shopping for an assortment of books that are just-right for them as well as books that are non-fiction. Partners this week have been working on comparing books that are fiction and non-fiction on the same topic, such as alligators or frogs. We have spent time reading It’s a Frog’s Life by Steve Parker as a class and noticing how this story, while told by the frog, is filled with information about frogs and life in a pond. Partners have been using different graphic organizers including a t-chart and a Venn Diagram to compare different books. As a class we have been discussing the different features of texts that are fiction compared to Non-Fiction.

Similarly, in our Interactive Read-Alouds this week we have taken a look at a book called The Art Lesson by Tomie dePaola that depicts his own childhood as an artist and how he learned about art as a young child starting elementary school. This book also appears to be fiction until we learn that the story is true about Tomie’s childhood and the teachers he interacted with in school, helping to shape his artwork today in the stories he creates.

Writer’s Workshop:

Our writers have been deep in composing personal narratives this week. Our writers’ have been looking at adding more details to their written work to help their audience better understand their story. We have spent time talking about how as a writer on one hand you tell the events of the story and on the other hand you need to tell the feelings/emotions that you were feeling as the events of your story were playing out. Most of our writers’ are preparing to take one of their narratives to the revising and editing stages, a part of the writing process that we have begun to introduce at the end of this week. In conferences, I have been able to take time with each writer to focus on either their lead or the details of their written work. It has been awesome to see such growth in their writing across this unit of study.

Math Workshop:

Fractions! Fractions! Fractions, oh my! This week we have spent a great deal of time working with fractions. We have spent time talking about equivalent fractions as we learned to play games like “Equivalent Fractions” and “Fraction Top-It”. We have worked on fraction number stories and explored different ways to draw fractional amounts. This tends to be a tricky unit for many students! We took our Unit 8 Assessment this week and are now moving onto a unit on measurement! As students learn the Metric and US Systems of Measurement, look for a Study Sheet to come home with equivalencies they will need to know.

Word Study:

This week our students have taken a look at high-frequency words with the use of a word search game. Then we moved onto homophones, words that sound alike but have different spellings and meanings (ie. no and know). We practiced writing sentences about the homophones to review our understanding. We also played a word grid game to practice different homophones.

Social Studies:

This week in Social Studies we have been doing a couple of different things. We have spent time talking about producers and consumers. We have talked about times when we were producers and when we were consumers. Then we moved into a fun activity on jobs! We determined your child’s future! Well not quite, but each child selected a profession out of a bag of ”mystery” professions. Students worked in cooperative groups of three to talk about what they would like and what they would not like about their job selection. Please make note of the homework assignment, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” This needs to be colored and look neat for the hallway! J Remind your child to do their personal best!

Happy 100's Day!!

This photo album made with Smilebox

Happy Valentine's Day! Love, Room 204

Personalize a picture slideshow

Friday, February 1st

BRRRR!  It sure has been a cold week!  Please make sure that your child is dressed appropriately for the cold weather.  They have stayed inside a lot this week, but we ask that you pay careful attention to the changing weather as it seems to be different hourly. Remember, if the wind chill is below zero degrees we will have indoor recess. This can fluctuate during the day, so if it is below zero before school but warms up during the day, we will go outside for recess!

Thanks to everyone who came out to the Rolladium for January's Dublin Skate Night!
We sure did have an awesome time skating!

Share Time during Writer's Workshop this week. After seeing Mrs. Weckstein
in a Writing Conference, this is a mandatory (but rather exciting) bonus
for our writer's... a chance to share their Good Leads!

These Weckies spent their Responsibility time decorating the Woods,
and boy were they proud of their hard work taking care of our classroom!

Reader’s Workshop:

Our readers have been busy the past few weeks with making wonderings about the books that they read.  We talked about the difference between a “thin” or a “thick” wondering and the need to s-t-r-e-t-c-h their thinking a bit when they are reading.  As a class, we practiced making wonderings together as we read the books: Galimoto  and The Paper Crane.  Next, students read from their “just right” books and made wonderings on their own.  This is a very important comprehension strategy that your child should be comfortable using in order to have a deeper understanding of the books that they read.  We also took some time to revisit the different type of dialogue styles and highlighted our noticings as a class.  Next, we created a list of strategies that help us read dialogue.  Students were asked to practice using these strategies when reading independently during workshop. They were amazed at how many strategies that they used when reading their books and shared these noticings with their reading partners.

Reading Goal Bags - NEW!!

You will notice something NEW with your child! Each child has been asked to set a goal for their reading based on their progress on their latest Reading Assessment. Each child has a specific goal so that they can improve on one area of focus. I ask that you spend time with them and use the books that come home for a couple of nights, not just one night. These are familiar books that they have selected from our classroom library. If you receive a FLUENCY book bag, there is a laminated card giving you ideas for building your child’s fluency with their books – meaning you will want to read the books several times, helping them to build their speed and expression. If you receive a COMPREHENSION book bag with a laminated “Book in a Day” paper, laminated means your child needs to practice orally retelling the different components on that paper. If you receive a COMPREHENSION book bag with a “Book in a Day” paper that is not laminated, your child should complete and return the paper. If you receive a VOCABULAR book bag, your child is simply keeping a running list of new words they have learned on their mini-word wall paper. Please keep your book for approximately a week and return when ready. As I notice growth and progress with your child’s reading, new goals will be set and the contents in the bag will reflect this change.

Writer’s Workshop:

Our writers continued to create watermelon ideas and break them down into smaller seed ideas.  Next, students selected one of their seed ideas and learned how to draft a story board with illustrations from the beginning, middle and end of their small moment.  We talked about the importance of adding details to their illustrations in order for their stories to be juicier.  It was very difficult for some second graders to stick to one moment.  Next we learned about "Good Leads" in our writing as a way to hook our reader. We learned how to craft a: dialogue lead, an action/sound lead and a question/wondering lead. Next week, we will be selecting a piece to start drafting our personal narrative.

Math Workshop:

Assessments, assessments, assessments!  That’s what we’ve been doing in math these past few weeks.  You should have received benchmark feedback in your child's folder this past week. We also started unit 7 which focuses on patterns and rules.  Students learned how to extend to multiples of tens by playing a game called “Hit the Target”.  They also explored the concepts of estimation, weight, patterning and division through some interactive math stations.  Lastly we worked on measurement - using both centimeters and inches to measure a standing long jump as well as the arm span of each child. We created tables and graphs of our data after finding the median value for each.

Word Study:

This week our students reviewed some high frequency words by sorting them by: beginning vowel sounds, middle sounds and first letters in a word.  They also completed a contraction sort with a partner.

Science:

Our botanists have spent a lot of time finishing up their observations of the new plants that they started to grow during this unit.  We completed labeling the parts of a brassica plant, put the finishing touches on our table of contents and jotted down some of our new learning.  Students also completed a flow chart about the growth of grass. Then we spent time reviewing for our end of the unit test which will be on  Monday, February 4^th.

Important Dates/Reminders:

Monday, February 4^th:  New Plants Science Test

Wednesday, February 6^th:  PTA DAIRY QUEEN FUNDRAISER on Union Lake Road from 4:00-8:00 PM.  We will receive 15% of the profits that night. The money raised will go for new technology for our school. Second Grade Teachers will be there from 6-7pm on Wednesday night! 

Friday, January 11th

Here's a preview of our trip to the Outdoor Center - an awesome day to be a Weckie! Mrs. Weckstein is working hard on a video for next week looking back at our first field trip! :-)

 It has been a fantastic first full week back in second grade! With the holidays behind us, we’ve moved on to new units, been reviewing for the upcoming benchmark and even found some time to squeeze in some fun too!

Reader’s Workshop

This week in Workshop we shifted our focus onto punctuation we see within text. We’ve taken a specific look at the: period, comma, quotation mark, exclamation mark, question mark, hyphen, elipses and apostrophe. We spent time creating a huge anchor chart about: how the punctuation mark looks, what the job of the punctuation mark is and gave examples of the punctuation mark used within text. Our Reader’s each created their own smaller version of this anchor chart to keep in their Reader’s Response Logs. This week I continued to do reading assessments and am happy to say they are almost complete! Soon we will re-align reading groups, partnerships and independent book choices based on the new data that I have been collecting.

Writer’s Workshop

Our Writer’s began a new unit this week as we move into our Narratives Unit. Students will be learning how to write personal narratives and to zoom in further to write small moment narratives. This week we looked at familiar texts like “Frog and Toad” and “Poppleton” to read sample narratives. We also spent time in mini-lessons watching Mrs. Weckstein create “Watermelon and Seed Ideas” for stories. The idea is that the watermelon represents a big event (my examples included: a golf outing in Florida, our road trip out east and a summer up at camp). Then we looked in to the watermelon and pulled out a “seed” where each seed represents different things that happened in that big event. These seeds will be the inspiration for our future small moments. Right now our writers’ are simply collecting watermelon and seed ideas so that they have several narrative ideas to choose from when we move into the drafting phase of writing.

Making Meaning

This week we began a new unit in Making Meaning where we are taking a look at “Wonderings” we can make about texts. We read two very different books, The Incredible Paintings of Felix Clousseaux and The Ghost Eye Tree. Both provide excellent examples of different stories with unknown themes where our kids can do awesome wonderings about what might happen next or even after the story ends! We will expand on our look into ‘wonderings’ next week in Reader’s Workshop.

Word Study

Word Study began this week by looking at contractions. This was perfect timing with our Reader’s Workshop as we got an early preview of one of the many jobs of an apostrophe. We practiced omitting letters and adding the apostrophe in the place. Next we moved on to sound patterns in words. We made connections between words with similar patterns. Last we took a look at consonant digraphs (ex: ch, th, sh, etc.) and did a sort where we noticed differences between these digraphs in the beginning and endings of words.

Social Studies

We also began a new unit in Social Studies this week! We began our look into “Our Local Economy”. We focused on goods and services this week and talked about the importance of each. We read the story If You Give A Mouse A Cookie and upon the second reading, we played a game where we identified the different goods (such as a cookie) and services (and pouring him a glass of milk). We created a chart about different goods we use daily and the services that provide these goods or are associated with these goods.

Science

This week we made observations on our garlic and our wheat. We learned how seeds can travel.

Math Workshop

In Math Workshop this week we began the week looking at Data and created a graph of our favorite foods sorted into their respective food groups. We talked about the data and spent time looking for the minimum and maximum! On Tuesday we spent time looking at mixed addition and subtraction stories. Our Mathematicians have been taught different strategies to use to solve these problems including: part-part-total diagrams, change to more diagrams and comparison diagrams. We talked about how we might choose which diagram would best fit the different number stories. As the week went on we learned how to subtract with borrowing using base-10 blocks. This will continue to be a new and at first tricky skill for our students. As the week ended we spent time doing multiplication with equal group illustrations and also by using arrays.

Please make sure to review at home for our Math Benchmark, this Wednesday, January 16^th! Study Guide packets came home early in the week and do not need to be returned to school.

Important Dates

-Thursday, January 17^th – End of the Second Marking Period
-Thursday, January 17^th – Rollerskating at the Rolladium, 6:30-8:30pm.. AND MRS. WECKSTEIN WILL BE THERE!!!!
-Friday, January 18 – Monday, January 21^st – NO SCHOOL (Friday is a Staff Professional Development and Monday is Martin Luther King Jr.)
-Monday, January 21^st – Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration at Walled Lake Northern, 5:00pm Dinner Starts, Speaker is at 6:30pm