Readers Grow Like Beanstalks
Week #5 September 24-28, 2018

We enjoy reading and discovering books in our classroom library!  We officially began our first unit of reading entitled:  "Second Grade Reading Growth Spurt".  Research shows that second grade is an amazing period of growth for readers.  We are learning that now that we know how to read, we will grow stronger as readers and make many more decisions about our reading.  We learned to think about HOW we read texts, to give ourselves an introduction to books, and to read for meaning with a partner.  Did you hear that we read common text (There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly) in different ways?  We read the words as a song, as a reporter, as a sad person, and some of our peers used Italian and British accents!  Other objectives of this unit will include:  making sure our reading makes sense, and increasing our stamina.

Not only are we readers, we are writers as well.  We have many stories to tell!  Our objectives this week were related to how to get ideas for writing stories and how to plan our stories.  We know our best stories come from our own heart so we created "Heart Maps" of people, places and big feelings for topics and ideas for our narrative writing.  We also used inspiration from Stella Tells a Story to plan and organize our topic before we even begin writing.

Other things to ask your child about this week:
*google slides and google classroom
*Battling Bugs and Find the Difference math games
*the similarities and differences between 3 math models:  number racks, bead strings, number lines
*morning meeting activities:  Coseeki, Down by the Banks, Tossed Salad, Is There Another Way?
*Whole-school assembly led by 4th grade about Cooperation

Have a wonderful weekend!
Mrs. Hock