What is going on in ELA?

We have been hard at work with our second English Language Arts Unit: A Season of Chapters.  Our guiding question is how do the parts contribute to the whole?  In writing we started small and learned what makes a complete sentence.  From there we learned what are the three parts of a paragraph; topic sentence, the body, and the closing sentence.  Right now we are focusing on each of those parts and becoming experts in paragraph writing.  In reading we learned to look at a story and answer the 5Ws and How.  We learned that these questions help us to figure out 4 very important story elements; the setting, characters, problem, and the solution.  We also learned that fiction stories are written in a very organized way; the beginning, action in the middle, and the ending.  We also looked at nonfiction writing and text features that author's use to organize their writing.  Next week we are going to start looking more closely at poetry and some literary devices like rhythm, rhyme, simile, and metaphor.

Friday is our celebration for reaching our school goal of $12,000.00 dollars for our Walkathon.  The kids will be watching the movie Dolphin Tale.  Make sure to send in the PG movie permission slip.  They will also be celebrating by having a water day in activity.  They will get the opportunity to dunk some teachers and have a Popsicle reward.  I am so proud of our class for setting a $500 dollar goal and surpassing it.  We raised $750 as a class!!!!! Thank you so much for helping your child get their pledges in and supporting our school.

Early Release Day

Tomorrow is our first Early Release Day. Make sure your child knows how they are getting home or where they are going after school.

Mrs. K

In Full Swing

We have finally gotten things going in full swing this year.  After a very rushed and crazy two day move in, our classroom is finally starting to look like itself again.  Students have been working very hard to learn the routines and procedures of 2nd grade.  With the help of music and some furry quiet critters, they are really starting to get the hang of things.  We have been discussing what community means and setting up our classroom community. As part of this, students have been bringing in pictures of themselves to keep in OUR classroom the rest of the year.  We have also discussed what it means to be a Wildcat, how we can be Bucket Fillers this year, what qualities a good citizen in our classroom would have, and the rights and responsibilities of students in our rooms.  

In reading we have worked on Daily Five activities, reviewed metacognition, and practiced the workshop routines.  We are trying to become deeper thinkers this year by really being aware of our thinking while reading.  In writing we have been working on setting up our writer's workshop.  Students have used many activities to get ideas for writing and have been practicing extending these ideas by writing long.  Math has been really fun because we start with a crowd pleaser, measurement.  We have been investigating different tools that we use for measuring like the ruler, measuring tape, yard stick, and meter stick. Students have also been learning how to organize data using tally charts and line plots. Last, but not least, we have been learning the Phonics Dance. Ask your child to show you how to do it.

Mrs. K