Acrostics, Subtraction, and Inquiry

Wow...what a busy week we've had!  I am so proud of my 2A kiddos - they have been working so hard for me this week! 

Literacy: We took a break from our Lead 21 mini-lessons and reading groups this week.  The students were put into groups and they started their inquiry projects.  We have been discussing communities this unit in Lead 21 and our theme question is "What makes a good community?".  So...in their groups students had to look at a list of cities in the United States and decide which one they wanted to learn more about.  They had to think about the resources, services, and goods that the community provides.  Once they had a city picked they had to look at pictures of the city and determine 3-5 interesting features the city has.  Finally, they used the pictures and make a mural of the city.  As you can tell they really had to use cooperation for this project.  After 4 days of work the murals are almost complete.  They look awesome!!

Math: At the beginning of the week the kiddos took a math test.  I am in the process of getting those checked.  They will come home when I get them done.  It probably won't be for a week or so since I will be gone next week.  Our next math unit is going to teach students subtraction strategies.  Next week they will learn the subtraction algorithm.  Look for the homelinks to come home!

Writing: We are in the middle of our poetry unit.  This week the kids worked really hard and wrote 3 different kinds of acrostic poems.  They wrote one about themselves, one about Martin Luther King, Jr., and one about a friend.  They did great with this and were really using good word choice towards the end of the week.   Some were even looking in the dictionary for help!!  Way to go writers!

As you can see your children have been working really hard.  Please continue to read with them at home - their reading skills are really improving!  I want to let you know that I will be gone next Tuesday through Friday.  Nick has a business trip/awards ceremony and this year it's in Florida!  I will be here Monday.  They all know that I will be gone but please chat with them about this and remind them to show the same respect towards the sub. 

Thanks and have a great weekend!

Geometry, Poetry, and Communities

I hope everyone is staying warm!!  This weather is slightly ridiculous...if you ask me.  I'm really not a fan of cold weather.  And, the way it sounds, snow is probably coming our way tomorrow.  Please make sure that you listen to the radio/TV for any weather related announcements.  Also, make sure your child is dressed warmly in case they are able to go outside.

We have really been pushing forward in literacy.  Our theme is communities and we are learning what makes a good community.  Students are learning about goods, services, and resources -  how do they effect communities.  The two comprehension strategies that we have discussed this week are cause and effect and asking questions.  You may have noticed that I listed all of our comprehension strategies on the right side of the blog page.  I will highlight our focus strategies in red. 

**Asking questions - readers can ask themselves questions to better understand a text.  They may be able to find the answer to those questions in the text, by thinking on their own, or by consulting an outside text.

**Cause and Effect - readers can identify cause and effect to understand how events go together.  They learned that a cause is the reason something happens.  What happened is the effect.

I modeled both of these strategies with stories during mini-lessons these last two weeks.  Please discuss these with your child and encourage them to continue to monitor their comprehension. 

Math: We are wrapping up our unit on geometry.  Yesterday we learned about symmetry.  We learned that the imaginary dividing line is the line of symmetry.  Some objects can have one or more lines of symmetry.  They may not have a line of symmetry at all.  At the end of class we played a symmetry game online - which most of them loved.  I have posted the link on the left side of the blog page.  We will either start the test tomorrow or Monday. 

Writing: Last week we learned that writers can fancy up their words by using a thesaurus.  Students were given a boring word and they had to use a thesaurus book or the one online to make a list of better choice words.  During literacy we learned that words that mean the same thing are called synonyms.  I introduced acrostic poems to them yesterday.  I hope that they will make good word choices when writing their poems.  We will continue with the poetry unit for the next couple of weeks.  By the end of the unit they will know how to write three different kids of poems.

I hope that everyone has a super weekend!!  Stay warm and enjoy the snow! 

Is this January??

Wow!!  Can you believe this weather??  I had a student yesterday ask me if they had to wear a coat since it was so warm!!  That's crazy!  It sounds like it's going to be getting colder next week so please make sure your child is still bringing appropriate winter clothes.  The playground is muddy so boots are a must.  It's also cold in the morning so please make sure your child is bringing snowpants.

Our snack closet is empty so if you're shopping this weekend snacks would be appreciated.  Your student and their stomach will appreciate it!

We did a review of the Daily 5 this week during literacy.  I was impressed...the had 20 minutes of stamina for Read to Self and Read to Someone.  Way to go 2A!  We struggled a little with Work on Writing.  It was hard for them to write the whole time.  We will continue to work on building this stamina back up to 20 minutes.  During work on writing time students are able to write several forms of writing: personal narrative, fiction story, Fairy Tales, letters, lists, non-fiction.

When we reviewed Cadet Pride they did a super job in the hallway!!  They are so quiet I have to look to see if they are behind me :)  Unfortunately, they have been quite chatty in the classroom.  I would like them to work on this. 

We started a new unit in Social Studies.  We will be exploring Earth and learning about states, our country, and the continents and oceans. 

I hope everyone has a super weekend and you enjoy the nice weather.