Happy Halloween!

What a fun Masquerade Parade this morning!  We saw some great costumes!!

Later, we read Room on the Broom and put the story events in order, played Halloween Addition Bump, and then wrote fact families from haunted houses.  Lots of fun!!

Vunce Upon a Halloween

After hearing the story, Vunce Upon a Halloween, we had fun doing a writing activity and then making vampires of our own.

Too cute!! 😊

"Guest" Reader

On Monday, Ella read us a story aloud when she used her fuzzy ticket.  We enjoyed the Pigeon book!

Today, the class learned a little about the reading website/app, Epic.  We practiced finding it and signing in.  We really enjoyed being able to read and listen to lots of different kinds of books using the program.  If you are interested in using it at home, here are the details.
www.getepic.com
sign in using class code: jel5229

Pajama and Stuffed Animal Day

We filled our marble jar!!  The class was excited that we were able to earn our last marble.  They thought of different rewards and then we took a vote.  They had many great ideas of ways to celebrate, but pajama and stuffed animal day won out for this day.  

We LOVED getting the chance to read to our stuffed animal friends!!  😁

Word Work and Science

This week, we've been doing our Word Work a bit different than we had in the past.  We've been learning new routines.  Here we are this past Monday, when we sorted words by their word families of -et, -en, -at, or -an.

We've also been learning about the Scientific Method.  First, we asked a question.  What would happen if we let gummy bears sit in water?  Next, we made a hypothesis about what we predict will happen to either the gummy bear or the water.  We'll keep checking in on our experiment over the next few days to see what happens!

Another friend uses a "fuzzy ticket" to read the class a story aloud.  Thanks!!  We love to hear fun stories!  😊

Writing Celebrations

Today, the students had a chance to celebrate all their hard work in our Narrative Writing unit.  They each went through all their stories in their folder, and then chose their best or favorite story.  They voted to share their stories with their "heart" partners.

New Reading Partners

Life Skills

This morning, Ms. Erickson came to teach us a life skills lesson.  She discussed how to tell whether a problem is "big" or "little".  The class reviewed Kelso's Choices Wheel that gives us options of how to solve conflicts.

One of our friends used a "fuzzy ticket" today to read us a story aloud.  We enjoyed hearing a fun story!! 😊

Jog-A-Thon

Jog-A-Thon Information

Just a reminder that the Jog-A-Thon is Wednesday, October 17th.  To ensure the success of the event, the PTO requires a lot of volunteers that morning.  Click here to sign-up!  Thank you! 

This Week's Learning

Coming Up for This Week:  (October 8):

Word Work:  Long A Digraph Syllable Patterns (Stay eight, complain, obey, and raisin are some examples of this.)

Reading:  Unit:  Second Grade Reading Growth Spurt
Lessons:  Readers Have Strategies to Figure Out Brand-New Words Too, Thinking, "What Does the Author Want to Teach Me?", Reading Celebrations

Writing:  Unit: Narrative Writing
Lessons:  Mining Mentor Texts for Word Choice:  Studying and Revising for Precise and Specific Language

Math:  Understanding Odd and Even Numbers, Using Skip Counting to Identify Odd and Even Numbers

Math Resource Packet

These packets came home today in your child's Take Home Folder.  This is a resource that can give you more information and ways to help your child with the Unit we've been studying in math.

Stop, Think, and Retell

We have been practicing using the reading strategy Stop, Think, and Retell.  After we read several pages of a story, we try to stop and think about what's happening in the book.  Then, we use Post-Its to retell events.  This way, when we come back to our books the next day we can remember what we were reading about.

Artsonia

From Mrs. Shirley and the Art Room:

Please sign your student up for Artsonia!  Each time your student completes a project Mrs. Shirley takes a photo of it and uploads their work into Artsonia (you will see it WAY before they bring it home).  Artsonia is the largest student art museum in the world!  Every child can have an online art gallery and keep their masterpieces in a digital portfolio that will follow them throughout their school years.  Mrs. Shirley will have a sign up at Curriculum Night, or email her (kshirley@deforstschools.org) and she will give you your student's private code. 
www.artsonia.com  Parents who are already signed up love it!  Give it a try!

Life Skills

Today, Ms. Erickson came to visit our classroom.  She's planning to visit all second graders for the next several weeks.  She read aloud a book about 'bucket filling' and then we each made our own buckets of what makes us happy.

This Week's Learning

Coming Up for This Week:  (October 2):

Phonics:  Open-Syllable Patterns (Words such as cry, go, she, fly, and so are some examples of this.)

Reading:  Unit:  Second Grade Reading Growth Spurt
Lessons:  Rolling Up Our Sleeves to Figure Out Tricky Words, Figuring Out What Makes Sense, Readers Are Flexible When They Encounter Vowel Teams in Tricky Words

Writing:  Unit: Narrative Writing
Lessons:  Revising with Intent, Learning Writing Moves From a Text, Trying Out Craft Moves

Math:  Thinking About the Strategy of Making a Ten, Connect and Apply Ideas About Making a Ten, Mid-Unit Assessment

Social Sciences:  PBIS Routines, Behavior Expectations