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May112008
POSTED AT 05:07 PM
Your reader and writer uses writing as a way to deepen his understanding of literature. Through writing about what they read, second graders make new connections between what they read and their own experience. They can consider why a character acted the way he did or compare a particular book to another they have read before. Journal writing, book reports, book posters, short questions about reading, and research reports are all ways in which your child uses writing to deepen his understanding of what he reads. Second graders develop greater ease in writing. For most, handwriting becomes automatic, so they can concentrate more on the content of their writing rather than on the mechanics. In addition, typical second graders are able to generate ideas for stories or journal entries with relative ease. The knowledge of story structures they have accumulated through years of being read to will help them to plan and write stories. By the end of third grade, most children are able to write lengthy stories, reports, and answers to questions. Readers and writers learn that writing is actually a process that involves many steps. It starts with coming up with an idea and organizing thoughts around the idea. Then writers write a draft, use feedback to revise the draft, and edit for spelling and punctuation. With teacher and parent guidance and support, second-graders can use all of these steps in their own writing. Encourage your child to fix errors herself. If your child is editing her writing, see if she can first find and fix some of her mistakes by herself. Typical second-graders are not yet able to find and fix all of their mistakes, so after your child tries herself, it's OK to help her out. Encourage your child to spell common words correctly. Spelling common words, such as "the," "they," and "another" is important. Since these are the words your child uses most often in his writing, writing them incorrectly over and over again will simply help your child to remember an incorrect spelling. If your child often spells these little words incorrectly, you might make a list that he can refer to in his work so that he does not continue to misspell them. By the end of third grade, most readers and writers know the correct spellings of many words. They may still use invented spellings on some complex, unfamiliar words, however. By the end of third grade, most children know when they have misspelled a word. They can either correct it themselves or consult a dictionary or an adult. With support, readers and writers can revise and edit their work. They can use teacher and parent feedback to add more detail, clarify parts of their writing that are confusing, or choose more descriptive words in their writing. With the support of a teacher or parent, they can also apply what they know about spelling and punctuation to edit their writing. They do not yet know all the rules of punctuation, however, so even most third graders will need help when editing. Collect and display your reader and writer's work to help your child feel proud of himself. Many second-graders write a lot. Set aside time to read their work and find ways of displaying and collecting their work. You can display work with magnets on the refrigerator and purchase a large plastic box in which to save your child's work. Collecting and displaying his words shows your child that what he writes is important to you. Share your child's work with family members to show her that her words are important. When your child writes a story or poem, offer her the chance to read it to Dad or to call Grandma and read it over the phone. Also help your child turn her words into books complete with illustrations that you can copy and send to family members as a gift. When you encourage your child to share her writing, you are demonstrating that you are proud of her and that her words and ideas are important to you.
May112008
POSTED AT 04:42 PM
Your second grader understands that words do not always mean exactly what they say.
Children at this age can understand and tell jokes. They are also beginning to understand puns, understatement, and sarcasm. Understanding double meanings helps children to understand humor and irony when they read or listen to stories as well as to use these devices in their own storytelling.Readers and writers listen for extended periods of time and comprehend new facts and information. Whether they listen to a soccer coach explain a strategy, to a science teacher explain an experiment about buoyancy, or to a parent reading aloud from a book about whales, second-graders pay attention to and retain details. With guidance from teachers and parents, they try to connect the new information they learn to what they already know about a topic. Having prior knowledge about a wide variety of topics is important. The more your child already knows about a topic, the more new information about the same topic she is able to learn.Second graders build their vocabularies through listening. Not only do children at this age know many, many words, but they also know a lot about the words they know. Children become skilled at understanding the fine distinctions among closely related words. They might understand the difference among different words for "walk" -- for example, "trudge," "hustle," and "scamper." Despite his growing reading skills, your second-grader still benefits from listening to stories read aloud. When children become more fluent readers and writers, many parents wonder if it is still OK to read to them. After all, the second grader can read by himself. Reading to your second grader is still a good practice. By reading challenging books aloud to your child, you can help him learn new vocabulary words and concepts. Better yet, reading a book to your child is a way of exploring a new world or a new experience together.Being able to listen and contribute in classroom discussions helps your child learn. Most second graders can enter conversations that are already in progress and can sustain a conversation of eight or more lengthy exchanges by listening and building on what the other person said. Being a good listener is important for participating in small groups in which children are expected to collaborate with one another and understand each other's perspectives.Read your child books above her reading level to increase vocabulary and general information. Like younger children, second graders can still understand books at a higher level than they can read. When you read aloud and discuss the books together, children at this age and stage learn new vocabulary words and information about the world. The more background information, or prior knowledge, and vocabulary a child brings to a particular book she reads, the more fully she will understand the information and ideas presented in the book. Read aloud books from a variety of genres to broaden your child's vocabulary and world knowledge. Make sure to vary your reading to include fantasy, biography, informational text, poetry, and even books of jokes and riddles. By reading a variety of books, you expose your child to different kinds of writing and help him to understand different kinds of books he reads at school and at home. He may even use new genres in his own writing.
Let your child's interests guide your read-aloud choices to develop his in-depth knowledge of a topic. Whether your child is interested in horses, airplanes, or volcanoes, try reading aloud some informational books about his passion. Then read aloud some realistic fiction involving his interest. Also offer some theme-related poetry and biographies.
Mar042008
POSTED AT 01:07 PM
Sing these songs....Celebrate Earth Day!
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
(to the tune of "The More We Get Together")
Reduce Reuse Recycle
Recycle... recycle
Reduce Reuse Recycle
It's easy to do
Cause your trash
And my trash
Make up way
Too much trash
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Its easy to do!
Working on the Trash
(to the tune of "I've Been Working on the Railroad")We've been working on RECYCLING All the trash we can,
We've been working on recycling, It's a very simple plan,
Separate your glass and paper,
Separate your plastic and tin.
Take the trash that you've recycled To your recycling bin!
We've been working on REDUCING All the trash we can.
We've been working on reducing It's a very simple plan.
Don't go wasting any products, Use just exactly what you need.
Don't buy things in extra wrapping, Reduce and you'll succeed!
We've been working on REUSING All the trash we can.
We've been working on reusing, It's a very simple plan.
If it's a paper bag you're using, Don't use it once, use it twice!
Give old clothes and toys to someone, To reuse them would be nice!
Go Green - Follow the Three Rs Everyday!
 The Three Rs
Did you know there are three Rs in Green?
Reduce, reuse, recycle.
Everyone likes the convenience of modern life, but we pay in dollars now and garbage tomorrow for a lot of that convenience. So far it's up to each family to decide for itself where to draw the line. When your family wants to start being green, there's help available.
- Many neighborhoods have bulk food stores, that help you reduce the amount of packaging you use.
- Most towns have charity outlets such as Goodwill and the Salvation Army that reuse your old things to help someone else.
- More communities are providing curbside recycling.
We hear a lot about recycling as a way to keep the earth clean, but that's actually the third step in cutting trash down to size. Let's look at the other two first.
Reduce
This simply means, use less stuff! If you bring less stuff home, you have less stuff to throw out!
For every $10 spent on groceries, we spend a dollar more just for the boxes and bags! What are some alternatives?
- Bring your own bags to the store.
- Buy food in bulk, not individual servings.
- Use reusable containers for leftovers and in your lunch bag.
- Cut back on fast food meals, they pollute more than your arteries!
Reuse
There's a used store for almost anything. Just check out the yellow pages.
- When you buy used CDs, books, games, and clothes, you save money.
- When you sell your old stuff, you get money back.
- When you donate your old toys and appliances, you're giving someone else a present!
Recycle
Set up a recycling center in your kitchen.
- First find out what your town recycles.
- Most towns give you a card to put on the fridge that reminds you what can be recycled.
- They usually give you a big plastic bin to hold your bottles and cans between pickup days.
- Get a big paper bag for newspapers.
- Keep a record for a month and record how many garbage bags your family fills up each week.
Watch the number get smaller as you begin to recycle things you would have thrown away!
Some trashy facts
The US produces half of the world's garbage, but has only 6% of the world's people! In the US, each person generates about 4.3 pounds of trash a day. For a family of four, that's 6278 pounds, or more than THREE TONS of trash each year!
What does a family throw away?
- 35% is packaging and containers. That's over a ton a year that we have to throw away just to get to the thing we bought!
- 27.4% is what we call 'nondurable goods', things we use once and throw away, like disposable diapers, paper towels, magazines and newspapers. Each family throws out 10 pounds of paper every week! Think how much you'd save just by using both sides of your printer paper before you toss it out!
- 15% is durable goods: things that are meant to last a long time, from big things, like cars, refrigerators, and last year's computer, to tiny ones, like batteries. That's half a ton every year, just because we got bored with our old toys or couldn't be bothered to fix them!
- 14.3% (Another half ton) is yard trimmings, which should go right back in the yard as mulch!
- 8.3% is food waste. That's 10-15 pounds a week! Think how many meals that could provide!
Sing a song to help your child with strategies....
Sing this one to help with comprehension.
Chorus:
Summarizing and retelling a story
Is not that hard to do.
Remember these five important parts,
And they will sure help you:
Include the characters, the setting, the beginning, too,
With the middle, and the end; it's all you need do.
If you include these things, I'm telling you,
You'll summarize a story!
Bridge:
Now most stories have a problem,
in the middle, or at the start;
But by the time you get to the story's end,
The problem's solved. Now isn't that smart!
Chorus
Let's take Goldilocks and the Three Bears ;
Here's the beginning:
Once upon a time there were three bears
(Characters)
Who had a cabin in the woods without any cares
(The setting)
One morning Mama Bear made some breakfast that was too hot
So they went for a walk.
While they were gone,
A little girl came by named Goldilocks.
(A character)
Now for the end of the story:
The bears found Goldilocks asleep in bed.
She woke up, and was frightened, ran away and then said,
"I'll never do that again!"
The bears' problem was solved; Goldilocks was gone.
And now you know the rest of this song.
Chorus
Do you have techniques that help your child with strategies at home?
Help others by posting on this blog........
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