We are approaching the half-way mark in second grade, so our learning is off and running!
Our November writing project was writing a persuasive paper to convince others to prepare a new dish for the Thanksgiving meal. We had some interesting wishes, such as spaghetti and chicken legs. After the paragraph students wrote their own recipes for the dish. These also were interesting to say the least! I hope you were able to take the time and read your child's work when it was sent home last week.
We finished our read aloud of Little House on the Prairie. Some students enjoyed the book and have ventured out on their own to read some of the other novels written by Laura Ingalls Wilder. We have just started the book, "The Mouse and the Motorcycle", by Beverly Cleary. So far they are enjoying it, and at least one other student has gone on to start another Beverly Cleary book. I hope to introduce students to at least one character, or author that encourages them to read for enjoyment.
Regrouping has been the focus in Math for several weeks now. It has been a challenge, but most students seem to be keeping up the concept of when they need to regroup. We will be testing their knowledge this week and then move on to adding and subtracting money amounts. We are still hard at work on addition and subtraction math facts. Times tests seem to be a necessary evil in getting them to learn the facts quickly and automatically. We practice every day and they do seem to be getting quicker.
We tested last week on landforms and maps in social studies. We moved on to Science and will test at the end of this week over Plants and their life cycle. Then we will go back to Social Studies with a new unit over Resources.
I hope you are enjoying our new reading series as the children bring home their book at least once a week and read to your from them. I hope you are seeing an improvement in their reading ability.
Christmas will soon be here, so we have made Santas for the room and are currently working on a narrative fiction story, "How I Got a Shiny Red Nose." I am enjoying reading their creative ideas as we work in reader's Workshop.
