We've been really busy in 2A lately...I'm trying to keep their mind off the nice weather!!! It's kind of working:) So what have we been doing...
For the past couple of weeks we've been learning about fractions in math. I quickly learned these are REALLY difficult for my 2A kids!! Oh boy... One thing they must know is that the bottom number tells them the number of equal groups. The top number tells them the number of groups we need to count. I think we have that under control! I encourage them to use counters so they can be dividing out the equal groups. Unfortunately, when we were finally understanding equal groups I had to teach them equivalent fractions. This added some confusion!! We are getting toward the end of the unit so we''ll have the test next week. A lot of the skills were beginning/developing so please keep this in mind when your child brings the test home.
In science we've been studying butterflies/moths. We got our "friends" a couple of weeks ago in the larva stage. The butterfly larvae quickly changed to the pupa stage. They are hanging in the butterfly net and we are anxiously awaiting Painted Lady Butterflies. They have been in the pupa stage for about a week so the 'big change' should happen fairly quickly. During Daily 5 time students are researching a butterfly of their choice. They need to find 3 facts about their butterfly and then think about where in nature it would best camouflage itself and explain how camouflage helps. Then they need to make their own paper butterfly just like the real one. They need to hang it in the classroom so it is camouflaged.
This is the site we used to research them:
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/butterfly/During Daily 5 we started visualizations...what??? This is when kids make pictures in their minds as they read books. They don't really do this much when they're a beginning reader since all the books have pictures. However, now that many are reading chapter books it's important that they are thinking about the words and imagining what's happening. We just started this today so we will continue to practice for a couple of weeks.
Finally, in writing we've been learning all about word choice. We've practiced using a thesaurus to look up fancier words and we acted out energetic verbs yesterday. They started a writing project where they need to make a descriptive riddle about an animal. They must use good word choice so I can imagine the animal in my mind.
That's our past couple of weeks in a nutshell. I have about 5 full weeks left with the kids so the push is on. I have a lot to get accomplished so I hope Spring Fever stays away!!!
