Teaching and Learning

in a 2nd grade classroom

Academics Update 9/10/12

September10

The first two weeks have been a lot of getting to know each other, learning routines, and setting expectations.  However, we have been working on those academic subject areas as well (shh…the students haven’t all figured it out yet).

Phonics and Spelling

MV School District has chosen the SRA Open Court program for k-2 grades.  The first 2 -3 weeks of this program are review of the letter sounds and spellings and how to use the sound spelling cards as a resource to spell and read unknown words.  So far we have reviewed the short vowels, consonants (c, d, h, l, n,  r, t, w), and consonant blends at the beginning of words (ie. flat, truck). Students have been reviewing how to connect sounds and blend to read words fluently as well as read and blend words to read sentences fluently.

After the whole group lessons, students have explored spelling words with manipulatives like bottle caps with letters on them, Magna Doodle boards, dry erase boards, Wikki Stix, magnetic letters, and alphabet beads. Students were asked to spell short vowel words and words with consonant blends at the beginning.  Differentiating included the chance to use different tools and spell more complex words that had either multiple syllables and/or interesting vocabulary words.  There was also a list of words for students to access as needed.

 

Reading

Students have independent reading time from 9:30-10:00 every day.  This is a time when they are reading “just right books” or “good fit books” and working on improving their own reading.  Before students go read I teach a whole group focus lesson usually with a book modeling the strategy.  Then, I and other adults will conference with each child individually about the focus reading strategy or another one that the child is working on.  Most children are at different reading levels and working on mastering different strategies. As the year progresses students will also be working in small reading groups with me on different days.

We are off to a great start!  This group LOVES to read and has been wonderful at choosing books that are at their own level! We have started the focus lessons reviewing what to do when we come to a tricky word.  This is a review of the strategies taught in first grade.  Ask you child about Lips the Fish, Stretchy Snake, and Chunky Monkey.  No, they are not ice cream flavors.   He or she should be able to explain to you how he/she gets his/her lips ready to read the word and s-t-r-e-t-ch out the sounds to figure out the tricky word or chunk parts of the word together to help figure it out and better understand what he/she is reading.

The book that I have been modeling these strategies is When Lightning comes in a Jar by Patricia Polocco .  We have also found many new and interesting words to add to our vocabulary: croquet, anxious, reunion, flitted, and several others.  Talk to your child about new and interesting words when you come across them in your reading.  Discuss what they mean and how else they can be used.  The more new words a student learns, the better his/her reading comprehension will be. This is also a personal narrative written by the author about an event in her life when she was young.  Wonderful book and highly recommended.

Product DetailsWhen Lightning Comes in a Jar on Amazon.com

Writing

Students wrote their first writing piece during the first 3 days of school.  The prompt was to write about one event that they remember.  We talked about small moments and stretching them out to review what they learned in first grade and then we discussed what good writers do when they write.  Some of the suggestions included use neat handwriting, stay on topic, add interesting details, write in complete sentences, and use capital letters at the beginning of sentences and end marks at the end.

We will be working on writing personal narratives for the fist several weeks of school.  This will expand on the small moment, but still be a real event that happened to them.  Personal narratives are written from the “I perspective.”  Sometimes we read as readers, but sometimes we will be reading as writers to see what writers do. We will be reading personal narratives from published authors like Patricia Polacco to model how others write.  This week we will begin reading Gooney Bird Greene by Lois Lowry. Gooney Bird Greene on Amazon.com  The main character in this book, Gooney Bird Greene tells the most interesting personal narratives and gives lots of suggestions on how to make stories true and interesting.

Math

Unit 1 in the EveryDay Math program is a review of first grade skills and introducing new routines.  We will be working as a whole groups sometimes, but most often in small groups so that I may give more attentions to each student for instructional purposes.  We will also be working on challenges that will require students to think more deeply about a math skill and how to apply it to real world situations.  We are very fortunate to have additional staff members in the classroom to assist students as needed.

Last week, students worked on a challenge to think about and show how math skills are used and why it is important in their lives.  Students created skits and performed them in front of the class.  Skits included driving a cab (reading speed limits, the gauges on the dash, and paying for the fare), classroom and homework times, parents paying bills, and shopping.  We created quality criteria for the skits before the challenge and added some for next time during our debrief.  We also made paper clocks to go over telling time (hour hand, minute hand, counting by fives, etc), used Base-10 Blocks to review place-value for ones, tens, and hundreds, used the InterWrite board playing the Caterpillar game to practice number sequence, counted coins to fin the value up to 99 cents, and did an inquiry on calendars for purpose and structure.  All students have a math journal workbook that stays at school.

Social Studies

Our first social studies/IB unit is How We Organize Ourselves. (How We Organize Ourselves details on class web page)

How We Organize Ourselves
An inquiry into the interconnectedness of humans-made systems and communities; the structure and function of organizations;societal decision-making; economic activities and their impact on human kind and the environment.
Central Idea: People create systems to meet their needs and wants
This unit is a 2-part unit about government and economics. We begin our year learning about government systems and how it relates to us. Then, we move into economic systems and how that they help us meet our needs and wants through learning about goods and services.

 

 

 

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