DECEMBER fun in...
READING:
This month we will review schema, visualizing, and questioning as we read.
Some skills we will be targeting are cause and effect and fact and opinion. We
will work in reading and in language on letter writing.
Your child is bringing home a leveled reader every Tuesday and the book is
to be read with a parent to practice fluency. You can also have your child
practice retelling the story for comprehension. Some of my higher readers will
need to actually write the retell. The leveled readers will need to
be returned every day as we use them in class for our reading groups.
LANGUAGE:
We are learning how to manage our writing workshop. This month we will work
on the craft of revision. Learning how to reread our writing and revise and
edit it.
We are also working on identifying NOUNS in sentences, which includes proper
nouns, possessive nouns and plural nouns. We are now adding awesome adjectives
to our writings. Be looking for Mountain Language in Friday folders. This is
a great developer of skills. Please encourage your child to write with
complete sentences, remembering to use correct capitalization, punctuation,
and spacing of words.
SPELLING:
The list will come home each Monday with spelling homework to be done in a
yellow spelling journal. A spelling tic tac toe worksheet will accompany the
journal with things you may pick and choose to do for homework over the next
3 nights. You will need to let your child pick 3 things to do in a row for
tic tac toe. Sign off that your child did the homework. Return it by
Thursday. Thursday will be our testing day. The test will not be a list of
called words. I will call out 5 sentences with the words for that week in the
sentences. The students will write them correctly, remembering to put correct
capitalization and punctuation and spell the words right. I will sometimes be
giving a handwriting grade on this test. IF there is a CHALLENGE word for
that week, it can ONLY HELP their grade, not hurt it. They get one point
added to the grade if they get the word correct. Please help your child study
his/her spelling words each week.
MATH:
Timed tests will be explained at Parent Night. I will be handing out a blank
copy of each test at that time. You will need to make copies of the tests to
practice at home on whatever test & time your child is on. PLEASE help your
child practice the math facts, especially on Monday and Wednesday nights.
This 2nd 9 weeks we will begin taking a grade once a week on each timed facts
test. This will begin on the Thursday before Thanksgiving. The first grade
will be given on the RED test (facts 0 to 5 + & -). They will get 10 minutes
on this test. The following week, Dec. 3rd, will be a grade on the PURPLE
test. Then, on Dec. 10th, a grade on the BROWN test. Dec. 17th will be a
grade on the ORANGE test. The GREEN test grade will be taken the first week
we get back in Jan. All of these test grades will be taken with 10 minutes.
We began the year working on strategies for problem solving. Now we are
working to use those strategies to solve problems. We are learning strategies
to help us with the basic addition and subtraction math facts to 18. We just
finished all kinds of graphing and probability. We learned how to add 2 digit
addition with or without regrouping to the tens place. Now, we are working on
subtracting 2 digit numbers. Learning to decide when we need to regroup a ten
and move it to the ones place so we can subtract. We will work all of December
on subtracting 2 digit numbers with or without regrouping. Before we leave
for the Christmas holidays, we will take our second Math benchmark which will
be over everything we have learned, so far, in Math this year.
SOCIAL STUDIES / SCIENCE: We alternate studying half the 9 weeks on Social St.
and the other half on Science.
We began the 9 weeks at the end of Oct. and all of Nov. studying in Science
the unit on How People Grow and Change. Then, we learned about the HABITATS of
Plants, Animals, People, and what can change these habitats, like pollution,
weather, etc.
The last part of the 2nd 9 weeks, we are studying about Thanksgiving and
December Celebrations in Social Studies.
HANDWRITING: Second grade is an exciting time when we are now learning
cursive. Bad habits are hard to break. Please do not try to teach your child
cursive. We seem to have more success when we learn it together correctly.
Right now we are reviewing our printed letters and numbers as we learn to
write neatly on all our work.
Thank you for a wonderful beginning of school. My arms are open wide for as
many hugs that are needed at the beginning of school and all year long. I try
to make our classroom environment as warm and welcoming as I can. As a class,
we are learning to follow the "Golden Rule" and take care of one another,
remembering to consider others' feelings. Your child is also being encouraged
to take responsibility for his/her behavior.
I am enjoying getting to know your child. I look forward to this year being
a huge success.
Thank you,
Karen Kirkpatrick
