Where has the time gone?

Wow!! I can't believe it's already the beginning of March...where has the time gone? I will be the first to admit, I have not been very good at keeping up with the blog this year. I apologize!!

There are going to be a couple of posts after this one because I have a lot of pictures that I haven't shared yet. I hope you and your kids enjoy. A quick update about me...I have 4 weeks left before my due date. To tell you the truth, I am hoping I go sooner than later. While I am still here we will continue to push right along. I have a lot planned for the next few weeks. Hang in there kids :)

Here is a brief update on what we've been doing lately:
**During the last 2 weeks of Daily 5 the kids have been learning about non-fiction books. We have learned that they have several special features that most fiction books don't have: sections, section headings, labels, cutaways, maps, picture captions, a glossary, an index, a table of contents. We have spent many days examining non-fiction books and locating these features in them. Today, the kids were given their own non-fiction features notebook. They have to be good detectives and search through various non-fiction books for these features. This is my way of knowing if they were paying attention :)

We are going to move into a biography study. The kids sorted books the other day and learned that a biography is a special type of non-fiction book; a book written about another person. I am going to share with them several biographies and then students will choose a famous person that they want to learn more about. They will work on a writing project about that person.

**As I mentioned at conferences, the students have been learning about 3 different types of poems: cinquains, acrostics, and haiku. They have officially written all 3 types. They are now doing a final acrostic poem in groups. Since it's Read Across America week they are doing an ABC acrostic and the topic is school. They are doing a super job...I think it's a little harder than they thought it would be!!

**We started a new Social Studies unit yesterday. We are going to be exploring maps and learning how they can be helpful. The kids are really excited!!! Oh boy...

**We finished up our math unit last Friday. We have spent the last 2 days working on our Unit 6 math test. This is testing them on the trade first algorithm, arrays, multiplication, and division. Look for the test to come home within the next week or so.

WOW!! We have been busy. Thank you for continuing to work with your child at home. I have seen huge progress this year. Keep up the good work 2nd graders :)