October 15, 2009 Update...

Hello Parents and Students,

Wow! What a busy week we have had this week! The students handled all the 1st nine week post assessments so well. It is great to see how much the students have learned just since the beginning of school. As stated in my email, report cards will come home on Friday, October 16th. We do not have scheduled conferences until January, but I am always available to meet if you have questions or concerns about your child's progress. Check out below to find out what we've been doing this week in class...

Phonics: We learned the short and long a spelling patterns, in particular the C-V-C, C-V-C-e, and the C-V-V-C patterns. If you don't remember these patterns from your school days, ask your child! Everyone should know which patterns usually mean short vowel sounds and which patterns usually mean long vowel sounds.

Writing: We began learning about our new writing genre, Response To Literature. In this form of writing, the children must identify the main idea of the passage, give a brief summary, then give their opinion of the book that can be supported by details from the story. We are really buckling down with our writing this nine weeks. I've had several "get down to business" chats with the children and they are aware of my expectations in regards to writing. I've let them know that I expect to see their personal best whenever writing is involved. This includes ALWAYS using correct capitalization and punctuation, applying the spelling patterns we have learned, and using 2nd grade appropriate grammar. Please continue to support these high expectations at home when the children are writing.

Math: We completed our unit on Money. We also took the nine week post assessment. We will begin our unit on Telling Time next week. The children will be expected to be able to tell time to the hour, half hour, and five-minute increments. Since analog clocks are quickly becoming a thing of the past in homes, some extra attention may need to be given to this skill. We also completed our +7 computation facts. We will be working on +8's next week. Children who memorize their math facts typically do better across the board in math. Please encourage your child to go to the math facts site located at the bottom of the blog at least twice a week for practice.

Reading: This week, we chose our new shared reading book. The book title is Totally Disgusting by Bill Wallace. The story is told from the point of view of the main character, a kitten. Bill Wallace writes fabulous children's stories. The children are so excited about this story. We also met in small groups to work on various comprehension strategies such as using a Venn diagram to compare characters, asking questions about the story prior to reading, and identifying the cause and effect in a story.

Social Studies: We learned all about Tomochichi, who was the leader of the Yamacraw indians. He helped settle the first colony in Georgia, which is Savannah. He also promoted peace between the native americans and the English settlers.

Classroom News...

Congratulations goes to Maya Dubuc, for being our terrific kid this week! Maya exhibited the trait of "responsiblity" and we congratulate her!

Mark your calendars...Early Release is on Wednesday, October 21st. Students will be dismissed at 12:10.

Congratulations to Madeline Conrad, the first place winner of the 2nd Grade Reflections Contest!

Thank you to Kristie Ketch and all the other parents who helped out at our first AR celebration on Monday.

Extra Credit Project (Due Monday, October 26th): Writing a Response to Literature
Okay, I'm going to be a tough cookie on giving the prize for this one! The following steps MUST be taken in order to receive the reward. First, choose a book to read. Next, follow these steps when writing your paragraph...
1. Begin with a title that is centered and underlined
2. Write your name below the title
3. Indent and begin your paragraph
4. Include the title of the story, the main idea and the important characters in the first sentence.
5. The next three sentences should summarize the story. Make sure you use TRANSITION words to tell the most important parts of the beginning, middle, and end of the story.
6. Tell whether or not you liked the book.
7. Give a detail from the story that supports your opinion about the book. Be specific with your detail!