Writing Workshop
The children loved having Illinois author, Anne Grall Reichel, visit us to share her new book, The United Forest of Kind. Anne talked about the process she followed to write the book, and the students noticed they've been doing the same things to write "Gripping" realistic fiction stories during writing workshop. This unit builds on their knowledge of writing personal narratives, also known as small moments, and allows students to create their own realistic tales. The writers in our class seem to love this work, and they are finding success by creating characters with the same age, same gender, and same interests as themselves. We have done some shared writing about video clips from Toy Story and Sandlot to help students understand the importance of detailed descriptions using adjectives, comparisons, and onomatopoeia. We've also talked about how to build tension in their stories by adding unexpected but believable details.
Reading
For the past three weeks, the children have been reading books in a fictional series and have been part of a series book club. Five clubs are reading different series of books and are having discussions about them. The five series we started with are: Nate the Great, Cam Jansen, Judy Moody and Stink, Poppleton, and A to Z Mysteries. Next week, students will begin working with a different series. The students are striving to become experts about the characters in their series. Here are some of the strategies we've discussed: Making observations about the characters, noticing how characters respond to problems, asking and answering questions about the characters, using what they know about characters to predict what the characters will do next, and noticing how characters treat others.
The students have also used their series to become experts on the author's craft. Some of the strategies we've discussed are: Notice how the author helps us make vivid pictures in our minds, use author's precise words to understand the story better, think about how the author uses literary language and understand what it really means, predict how the story will go based on other books in the series, and notice how the author uses special print and punctuation to bring the story to life.
At the end of each reading period, the students share ideas about their books with one another. These talks have generated much greater thinking about reading! We look forward to more of this work.
This week, we began reading The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, by Kate Di Camillo. We use this story to support our deep thinking about reading. Rather than think about what is "right there" in the text, many students are making inferences and using evidence to draw conclusions about the characters and the author's craft. Make sure to look for your child's thinking strip in their folder each Friday to see his/her thinking grow each day.
Math
We are working on Unit 5 in Investigations Math. The first investigation in this unit was about combinations of 100. Students added and subtracted 10, 20, and 30 and 1, 2, and 3, to or from 2-digit numbers as they try to capture 5 chips scattered around a 100 chart. They solved 2-step story problems about money and stickers, and they figured out how much more they needed in order to have 100 or $1.00. Students continued to review and practice addition and subtraction facts and considered the relationship between adding 9 and 10 and subtracting 9 and 10. They also worked with adding and subtracting 7 and 8. The fact cards for 7 and 8 were sent home before spring break so you children can practice their facts. Hopefully, you have seen these, and your child has been practicing these.
We are working on the second investigation now. It is about adding within 100 and counting to 1000. Students will think about combinations that make 100 as they try to find pairs of 2-digit numbers that equal a number close to 100. They also revisit activities that extend the rote counting sequence to 1,000. They practice reading, writing, and comparing 3-digit numbers, skip counting within that range, and adding 10 or 100 to any 3-digit number. They use the stickers to represent 3-digit numbers as hundreds, tens, and ones.
The third investigation will be about fluency within 100. Students will solve story problems, including comparison problems with a bigger unknown and problems with more than one step. They will focus on developing efficient and accurate strategies for adding 2-digit numbers within 100, specifically those that involve adding tens and ones and adding on one number in parts.
Erin's Law Presentation Next week
On Monday, April 8 we will be partnering with Ms. Linda Conway from the River Forest Police Department to present to our annual Erin's Law discussion to second graders. “Erin’s Law” requires that all public schools in each state implement a prevention-oriented child sexual abuse program. I am linking an overview of the Erin's Law second grade content. If for any reason you wish for your child not to participate, please let me know.
Science: New Theme - Light
We started a new science unit about light this week. The children brainstormed all they thought they knew about light, then they planned and conducted their first experiment. The children discovered that light travels in a straight line out in all directions from the source. We will conduct more tests next week.
Social Studies: Working World
We wrapped up our study of economics last week with the unit assessment prior to Spring break. They did a great job with this unit!
Word Work
The sorts from the last three weeks have been increasingly challenging. Before spring break, the children looked at vowel au/aw and ou/ow. They noticed the au and aw sound the same but appear in different places in a word or syllable. Au appears at the beginning or middle of a word or syllable (like August or caught), while aw appears at the end of a word or syllable or before l, n, or k (like draw or hawk). The pattern is similar for ou and ow. Ou appears at the beginning or middle of a word or syllable (like ounce or pouch), while ow appears at the end of a word or syllable or before l, n (like plow and gown). We also talked about how ou can say a short u sound, as in tough or southern.
This week, the children learned that the letter c can say a hard or soft sound. Hard c says k and comes before a,o,and u as in calendar, common, and customer. Soft c says s and comes before e,i,and y as in cell, circus, and cyst.
The children loved having Illinois author, Anne Grall Reichel, visit us to share her new book, The United Forest of Kind. Anne talked about the process she followed to write the book, and the students noticed they've been doing the same things to write "Gripping" realistic fiction stories during writing workshop. This unit builds on their knowledge of writing personal narratives, also known as small moments, and allows students to create their own realistic tales. The writers in our class seem to love this work, and they are finding success by creating characters with the same age, same gender, and same interests as themselves. We have done some shared writing about video clips from Toy Story and Sandlot to help students understand the importance of detailed descriptions using adjectives, comparisons, and onomatopoeia. We've also talked about how to build tension in their stories by adding unexpected but believable details.
Reading
For the past three weeks, the children have been reading books in a fictional series and have been part of a series book club. Five clubs are reading different series of books and are having discussions about them. The five series we started with are: Nate the Great, Cam Jansen, Judy Moody and Stink, Poppleton, and A to Z Mysteries. Next week, students will begin working with a different series. The students are striving to become experts about the characters in their series. Here are some of the strategies we've discussed: Making observations about the characters, noticing how characters respond to problems, asking and answering questions about the characters, using what they know about characters to predict what the characters will do next, and noticing how characters treat others.
The students have also used their series to become experts on the author's craft. Some of the strategies we've discussed are: Notice how the author helps us make vivid pictures in our minds, use author's precise words to understand the story better, think about how the author uses literary language and understand what it really means, predict how the story will go based on other books in the series, and notice how the author uses special print and punctuation to bring the story to life.
At the end of each reading period, the students share ideas about their books with one another. These talks have generated much greater thinking about reading! We look forward to more of this work.
This week, we began reading The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, by Kate Di Camillo. We use this story to support our deep thinking about reading. Rather than think about what is "right there" in the text, many students are making inferences and using evidence to draw conclusions about the characters and the author's craft. Make sure to look for your child's thinking strip in their folder each Friday to see his/her thinking grow each day.
Math
We are working on Unit 5 in Investigations Math. The first investigation in this unit was about combinations of 100. Students added and subtracted 10, 20, and 30 and 1, 2, and 3, to or from 2-digit numbers as they try to capture 5 chips scattered around a 100 chart. They solved 2-step story problems about money and stickers, and they figured out how much more they needed in order to have 100 or $1.00. Students continued to review and practice addition and subtraction facts and considered the relationship between adding 9 and 10 and subtracting 9 and 10. They also worked with adding and subtracting 7 and 8. The fact cards for 7 and 8 were sent home before spring break so you children can practice their facts. Hopefully, you have seen these, and your child has been practicing these.
We are working on the second investigation now. It is about adding within 100 and counting to 1000. Students will think about combinations that make 100 as they try to find pairs of 2-digit numbers that equal a number close to 100. They also revisit activities that extend the rote counting sequence to 1,000. They practice reading, writing, and comparing 3-digit numbers, skip counting within that range, and adding 10 or 100 to any 3-digit number. They use the stickers to represent 3-digit numbers as hundreds, tens, and ones.
The third investigation will be about fluency within 100. Students will solve story problems, including comparison problems with a bigger unknown and problems with more than one step. They will focus on developing efficient and accurate strategies for adding 2-digit numbers within 100, specifically those that involve adding tens and ones and adding on one number in parts.
Erin's Law Presentation Next week
On Monday, April 8 we will be partnering with Ms. Linda Conway from the River Forest Police Department to present to our annual Erin's Law discussion to second graders. “Erin’s Law” requires that all public schools in each state implement a prevention-oriented child sexual abuse program. I am linking an overview of the Erin's Law second grade content. If for any reason you wish for your child not to participate, please let me know.
Science: New Theme - Light
We started a new science unit about light this week. The children brainstormed all they thought they knew about light, then they planned and conducted their first experiment. The children discovered that light travels in a straight line out in all directions from the source. We will conduct more tests next week.
Social Studies: Working World
We wrapped up our study of economics last week with the unit assessment prior to Spring break. They did a great job with this unit!
Word Work
The sorts from the last three weeks have been increasingly challenging. Before spring break, the children looked at vowel au/aw and ou/ow. They noticed the au and aw sound the same but appear in different places in a word or syllable. Au appears at the beginning or middle of a word or syllable (like August or caught), while aw appears at the end of a word or syllable or before l, n, or k (like draw or hawk). The pattern is similar for ou and ow. Ou appears at the beginning or middle of a word or syllable (like ounce or pouch), while ow appears at the end of a word or syllable or before l, n (like plow and gown). We also talked about how ou can say a short u sound, as in tough or southern.
This week, the children learned that the letter c can say a hard or soft sound. Hard c says k and comes before a,o,and u as in calendar, common, and customer. Soft c says s and comes before e,i,and y as in cell, circus, and cyst.