NOVEMBER fun in...
We have just completed our first READING and MATH BENCHMARKS & our first
Report Card. You should have received information of all of these in your
child's Friday folder on Oct. 30th. I am so proud of how my students did on
all of these.
READING:
This month we will review schema and visualizing as we read. This is using
your senses and emotions to make a picture in your mind during reading. We
will be working on inferring as we read books. Inferring is going beyond the
literal meaning of a text to think about what is not stated but is implied by
the writer. Letter writing in our reading and in our language is soon.
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. We wrote about our "small
moments" in Oct. Now we are working on writing so that others can read our
writing. We will be doing a lot of self-examination of our writing and the
writings of others. Looking at what we can improve on and do better to make
our writing more enjoyable to someone who reads 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 and punctuation.
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. Now we are working on probability. Next, we
will begin 2 digit addition without regrouping. This will lead into 2 digit
addition WITH regrouping of the ones to the tens, if needed.
SOCIAL STUDIES / SCIENCE: We alternate studying half the 9 weeks on Social St.
and the other half on Science.
We will begin studying in Science the unit on How People Grow and Change.
Then, we hope to touch on 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 will study about Thanksgiving and
December Celebrations in Social Studies.
HANDWRITING: Second grade is an exciting time when we will learn 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
