Students will use proper end marks at the ends of statements, commands, questions and exclamations.  Students practice this skill when completing Daily Language Reviews (Editing sentences #1 & #2) and should be using in their own daily writing. 

A statement is a sentence that tells something.  It begins with a capital and ends with a period.

I have learned several facts about Earth.

A command tells someone to do something.  It begins with a capital and ends with a period.

Ask me something about Earth.

A question is an asking sentence.  It begins with a capital and ends with a question mark.

How many continents are on the planet Earth?

An exclamation shows surprise, excitement, or strong feeling.  It begins with  a capital and ends with an exclamation mark.

What a sight!

Complete Sentences

 A sentence is a group of words that tells a whole idea. A complete sentence tells about someone or something and what happens.  A sentence must have a noun and a verb.  The noun is called the subject and the verb is called the predicate.  We have talked about identifying subjects in sentences and will continue this skill, as well as identifying the predicate of a sentence.

The cat meowed.

subject--- The cat

predicate--- meowed.

Now we make our sentence better by adding describing words for our noun. 

The small, fluffy, orange cat meowed.

Then we can make our sentence even better by adding an adverb. 

The small, fluffy, orange cat meowed loudly.

Finally, we can make our sentence even better by adding a detail. 

The small, fluffy, orange cat meowed loudly at the little boy with the open can of food.

Narrowing the Topic

        Students often choose too broad a topic to write about, making their writing general, containing few details.  Second graders will go on and on just to fill the page and really not say many details about the actual topic.  Narrowing the topic can help students to improve their writing.  Parents can work closely with the child by following some of the following steps to guide the child into writing a more focused topic.

"Animals" is a broad topic.  There are many kinds of animals.

A specific animal, such as "dogs" would be narrower and easier to write about.

"Dogs" is still a very broad topic.  We can narrow it to a particular breed of dog, such as "golden retriever."

We can narrow the topic even more.  Writing about "a certain golden retriever that you know” really makes the topic more manageable. 

STUDENTS NEED TO WRITE ABOUT WHAT THEY KNOW. ASK YOUR CHILD TO THINK ABOUT THE SUBJECT, AND THEN SKETCH FROM THE IMAGE IN THEIR MIND A MOMENT/PICTURE (TINY MOMENT) THAT THEY CAN USE TO FOCUS THEIR WRITING TOPIC.   " I like dogs."   is too general. "I taught my dog, Cassie, to do three tricks." is more focused.

 PLEASE DISCUSS THE TOPIC YOUR CHILD DECIDES TO WRITE ABOUT FOR 3-5 MINUTES BEFORE THEY WRITE AND/OR ENCOURAGE HIM/HER TO JOT DOWN EVERYTHING THEY KNOW ABOUT THE TOPIC (PHASES, KEYWORDS, OR PICTURES). THEN IF YOU SEE THE TOPIC IS GENERAL USE THE ABOVE IDEAS TO HELP YOUR CHILD NARROW THE TOPIC. THANK YOU!  :)

Good Spelling

Many of the spelling rules listed are integrated during spelling instruction using Make a Word, McCracken Spelling, in the Daily Language Review (DLR) and while I model writing daily for writing mini-lessons.

We can use spelling patterns from words we know to spell new words.  (float, boat, coat, gloat, goat, throat)

We can add endings to base words to create new words.  (kick, kicks, kicking, kicked, kicker)

In class, students have been shown how to use our Word Writing Steps chart to help them when they come to a word they need help spelling.

                   1.      Say the word two times.

         2.      Hear the first sound, Spell that sound.

  3.      Read it, Say the next part of the word.   

      Write that.

 4.      Hear the next sound. Spell that sound.

 5.      Repeat steps three and four until you  can’t hear any more sounds.

 6.      Reread it.    

Double the final consonant when the word has one short vowel followed by one consonant. (run, running, swim, swimming, stop, stopped)

Drop the silent e (make, making, skate, skated, joke, joker)

Change the y to i (pretty, prettiest, happy, happier, baby, babies)

Plurals:  add -es when the base word ends in s,z,ch,sh,x (boxes, dresses, lunches, brushes)

Possessive ('s shows ownership)  Dad's tools, Rachel's bike

Homophones: words that sound the same, but are spelled differently and mean different things (their, there, they're, to, too, two, write, right)

Contractions:  (did not = didn't, do not = don't, I have = I've)

a or an:  use "an" before a word that begins with a vowel sound (an umbrella, an apple, an elevator)