Thank you to our room moms, Mrs. Montesano and Mrs. Musolf, for planning a fabulous Halloween party. Thank you also to our other helpers, Mrs. Wells, Mrs. Anderson, Mrs. Fritz, and Mrs. Mazurowski! The kids had a blast!
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We finished Chapter 2 in math, Addition up to 1,000. The kids did a fabulous job on our chapter 2 assessment! These came home in their folders on Friday so be sure to check them out. Below are a few pictures of a math game we played to practice three digit addition. Ask your child to tell you about our game....it is an easy one that you could make and play at home.
Synonym match - we learned about synonyms, two words that mean almost the same thing, and then played synonym concentration with a buddy. Syllables: We learned about breaking words into syllables. We also learned that every syllable has a vowel. This will help us when we are reading and writing new words. We worked in small groups to match up syllables to make words.
We finished our "Me on the Map" projects this week! Each student created a project to show how we belong to many different communities in a school, city, state, country and on a continent. Your child should be able to tell you the name of their city, state and country. They should also be able to share several roles that they play in their community. Next week we will talk about needs versus wants. Then, we will use our projects to complete a short Social Studies assessment at the end of next week.
We published our autobiographies this week! Our second grade authors put their final touches on their books and created a beautiful cover page. Next week, we will use our rough and final drafts to reflect on the writing process, our writing and to create goals for our next unit. The final drafts will come home next week but it will be VERY IMPORTANT that they are returned to school so that we can keep them in our writing portfolio.
This week the students also received a word book to use as a writing tool. The word book has all of our second grade word wall words in it. The can use the book to help them spell and edit word wall words in their final pieces. We can also add words to the book that students use frequently in their writing. We began our studies of the fiction genre during reading this week. We started the week exploring all the books from our unit and categorizing them into different sub-genres, traditional tales, realistic fiction or fantasy fiction. The kids explored different features of these different types of fiction texts. Each child chose their favorite fiction book and drew a picture of it in their reader's notebook. They then had to determine if their favorite book was a traditional tale, realistic fiction or fantasy fiction. We found out that a majority of our friends like to read fantasy fiction! Later in the week we read the story, Little Red Riding Hood A Newfangled Tale, a new take on the old tale of Little Red Riding Hood. We talked about the story structure in fiction stories. Every fiction story has a beginning, middle and end. In the beginning we meet the characters, learn where the story takes place (setting) and get a glimpse of what the problem will be. The second graders collaborated with a partner to complete a beginning, middle, end chart for the story.
The students practice their word wall words each week with a game called "BAM!" Working with a partner, they pull a word out of the bag. They have to then turn it over and spell the word. If they get the word correct they keep the card. If they draw a "BAM!" then all of their cards have to go back in the bag. The friend with the most cards at the end of the game wins! They enjoy playing this game so if you are looking for a fun way to practice at home feel free to make your own game. All you need is some index cards and a bag. Happy practicing!
We had a very busy week in math and the kids worked incredibly hard to master new skills! We began our week using base ten blocks to add to large numbers number together. After understanding the skill with manipulatives (concrete practice), we moved to the dry erase boards to practice with pictures and numbers (pictorial practice). Finally, we moved to practice in our math workbooks with pen and paper (abstract). This process worked well for the students and they worked hard to understand each step. At the end of the week we put all of our skills into practice while playing the game "Scoot." The kids loved this game!! There was a different addition problem (without regrouping) on each desk and table. The kids would solve a problem and when I said "scoot" they would move to the next desk (problem). This game focused on fact fluency and working quickly while practicing and having fun!! It was a great game for a Friday afternoon! We will try scoot again next week with more difficult addition facts! Keep encouraging your children to practice the basic facts at home so they can solve problems more quickly. The goal is to solve problems mentally without using fingers to help. Next week we will work with three digit numbers and our adding will involve regrouping in the ones and tens place. There are many resources online for free worksheets if you are looking for extra practice at home. :)
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