September 12th-16th

Hello Room 152!


We have one more MAP test to go today! You should all be very proud of yourselves for the work you have all done this week so far!

In Reading: We have learned this week how to 'Tune into Interesting Words'. Our class has a special name for these words, SPICY words, because interesting words always add extra flavor to the books we are reading or stories we are writing. Ask your second grader what silent symbol they chose to display when they hear a SPICY word while reading.
This week we have also continued to practice our Daily 5 skills, 'Read to Self' and 'Work on Writing'. I am seeing some very creative writers' emerge.
We have also continued to learn how to make connections to the books we are reading. The three connections we have learned and reviewed are: Text to Self connections, Text to Text and Text to World connections. We had an interesting discussion yesterday after reading Everybody Cooks Rice by Norah Dooley about special food dishes our families eat. We noticed similarities and differences across the different cultures that are represented in our classroom. The students have also practiced using venn diagrams to compare and contrast people and books, which will continue through next week.

In Math: There was a great deal of excitement over our first homework assignment this week. Everyone seemed to handle that responsibility well. This week we looked closely at the number grid and students were able to recognize many patterns within the grid. From there, we worked on creating puzzles from the number grid. We practiced playing 'Penny Plate', 'Addition Top-It' as well as the 'Money Exchange Game'. The second graders also learned how to program their calculators to count and solve problems with their calculator when specific keys were "broken".

We began to learn this week, with Ms. Ague, about how we can help ourselves pay attention during lessons. Our class joined Mrs. Zingg's class to learn the first five items on our new class 'Drive Through Menu'. My favorite item to order when we need to take a brain break is item #4- Jumping Bean. Ask your second grader what their favorite number to order is.

Lastly, our Think Tank question was tough last week. Mr. Don gave us a special tool and we had to decide what its use is. There were many creative answers, but the tool turned out to be something that helps Mr. Don take doorknobs off in the school.

Keep up the hard work Explorers!