Here's what we're working on this week:
Language: Reading/Writing/Oral: Final performances of the retelling of Knuffle Bunny. If possible, I'll try to film and post on the blog for your viewing pleasure. We will be moving towards written retelling. This week, we will be looking at story maps and we will do a shared written retelling of a book about a family that lives inside a snow globe. By next week, I'm hoping that the class will be ready to begin drafting an independent retell of a familiar text.
Word Study: Capitalization is an area of need in our class. We've already done a little work on when to use upper case and lower case letters. This week we go deeper. Miss Conti will also continue working with the class on synonyms. We weren't able to get to "ei" words in spelling last week, so we'll tackle them this week at our spelling centres.
Math: Our student teacher, Miss Conti will be teaching a unit on place value. Students will have numerous opportunities to learn through the use of math manipulatives to understand the big ideas. I'm holding off sending math home this week until I feel that the class as a whole really understands place value. If you would like to give your child extra practice at home, you can Google "place value worksheets grade 2 or 3." Working on problem solving is never a waste of time either.
Social Studies: Rural and urban life in Mexico, with a close look at natural resources. What are the advantages and disadvantages of living in an urban or rural setting. We will also listen to Mexican music and learn about their festivals.
Science: The 3s continue soil with Miss Lowen. The grade 2s will go deeper into water pollution and they will construct a water purification system using a pop bottle.
Homework:
1. Zooming in on capital letters. Students will fix two sentences that need capital letters. Watch out - someone in our class has his name spelled with a lower case letter! Students will then write a sentence without using proper capitalization. A classmate will fix it this Friday.
2. Reading log. (I'm very close to completing the DRA reading assessment and will soon be sending home reading at your child's reading level). Guided reading will be starting soon in class.
* Please remember pizza lunch forms and also small empty cardboard boxes. Thanks so much. Have a great week.
E. Hawkins
