Reading: Our second reading unit is all about trying something when a word does not make sense. We are working hard not to mumble through words or skip words that are tricky. One specific decoding strategy we worked on was finding familiar words inside of larger words (compound words).
Writing: Our current writing unit is How-To writing. These are specific, step by step directions for a task. We began the unit by brainstorming lists of things we are experts at doing, making, and being. Then we began writing our instructions. A favorite activity of the week was working with a partner to act out and revise our writing to make the steps as specific as possible. Be sure to ask your child about Mrs. Hedstrom acting out the steps of how to jump rope.
Math: We have been busy working with adding and subtracting with base ten blocks. We also reviewed cross number puzzles. Second graders are challenging themselves daily on problem solving work and I look forward to showing you your child’s hard work at conferences.
Next week some of our homework will begin to involve cross number puzzles. In case you are needing some help to understand these puzzles- here is a video tutorial I made that hopefully will clarify how a cross number puzzle works in general.
Fundations: In Fundations we focused on the suffix ed. We learned that ed can make three sounds- /t/ /d/ and /ed/. We’ll continue to review suffixes a bit more next week to make sure we are comfortable with this spelling skill before moving onto multisyllabic words.
Second Step: I realize I have been forgetting to update you on our social curriculum! This week was all about showing good sportsmanship. We have been practicing this skill a lot in second grade!
***Additionally, we also had a special guest teacher, Ms. Bowler (an Occupational Therapist at Newman) come in to teach us about “stress busters”- exercises we can do to calm our selves down when we are feeling stressed. Here is a poster that shows all of the exercises we learned.
Conversation Starters:
What is an example of a compound word you found in your reading?
How are compound leaves and simple leaves different? How are they similar?
How can you show good sportsmanship?
What is a way that you can calm your body down if you are feeling stressed?
Dates to Remember:
November 11th- No School
November 14th- Flat Stanley Project 12:45 PM Room 120
November 24th- Town Forest Field Trip