Mrs. Alden's Second Grade Class: September 14-18

Writing

We will continue to practice having an effective conference with other writers using kind, specific, and helpful feedback. We will be talking about how to incorporate that feedback into our work, and what we can do when we are finished with a piece to make it even better. Also, we will be examining the structure of a good fictional story, and incorporating these elements into our own stories.

Reading

This week in reading we will continue assessing student reading levels, so your child will be instructed on their individual reading level during guided reading.

Reading with a partner is a great way to share awesome books! Students will learn how to discuss books and be an attentive listener. We’ll talk about respecting your partner when they are reading to each other. Students will learn how partner reading can be beneficial to them as readers. We’ll also learn how to retell a story to yourself so students can better understand what they are reading. When reading a book with chapters, students don't always finish it in one sitting and when they start again, they might forget what has happened in the story. Students will learn before picking up a book and keep reading, they can ask, ‘What has happened so far in this book?’ In their head, retell the most important events of the story. Once their memory is refreshed, then they’re ready to keep reading. We’ll teach how write down on a sticky note what is happening in the story after they’re done reading for the day. They can use their sticky note as a bookmark. Then, the next time they sit down to read, they can read the sticky note before you get going on your story again. Your child can use this sticky note reminder strategy throughout the year at school and home. Another sticky note strategy students will learn to enjoy is when reading a nonfiction book, they can use a sticky note to write a question they might have about the topic or an interesting fact they learned.

Please remember to read 100 minutes a week at home. If students read 20 minutes at least 5 days a week, they will reach this goal.

Math

We are finishing up place value this week as we focus on the value of each digit. We will also practice determining if a number is even or odd and what the number looks like in word form. We will check our learning with an assessment on Thursday. Friday will be fun as we prepare for our addition unit with a day of games! We will review our facts to 20 by playing Chutes and Ladders, Addition Bump, Bingo, Top It, and Swat the Fact.

Here are some different games to reinforce our learning at home: http://interactivesites.weebly.com/place-value.html

Social Studies:

This week we will focus on innovators and inventors in history. We will work in teams to master a “mind mission” on Robert Fulton. We will also play a game where we’ll compare the accomplishments of historical figures. Have your child practice being a good citizen in our community by picking up litter or helping someone in need.

Science:

We will be continuing to learn about states of matter this week. We will be describing the attributes of matter and looking at how matter can change. We have lots of fun experiments planned for this week and we will need some materials so that the kids can get some real hands on experience with matter.

If you can donate any of these items please email me.

Butter

Orange juice

1 box of cherry jello (not pudding)

7 boxes of cornstarch

Vanilla ice cream
2 liter of grape soda
Clear plastic cups

Aluminum foil

Straws

2 fly swatters- write your name on it so we can return it to the proper place

Thank you so much for helping to support your child’s hands on learning!

Your child can also learn more about matter here:

http://www.chem4kids.com/files/matter_states.html