Weekly Update 10/11/13

Even with a half day this week...we've been very busy!  We met our buddies for the all school assembly, started math groups, and had pajama day!
* There is no school on Monday, October 14, for Columbus Day.
* Students should be working on Xtramath ( or other fact practice) 2x a week, read 20 minutes, and write an online reading response 1x a week.  I check these at the end of the week to see the students' progress.
* Starting next week, students will have 1 math sheet and 1 Fundations (phonics) sheet for homework.  These should be review and your child should be able to complete them independently.  If they have a great deal of difficulty, please write a note at the top so I am aware.  If you help them, add a note as well.
What's been happening in room 235?
Literacy - We've been working on making meaningful connections to stories we hear and read independently.  We have been using our own just right books to make connections that help us understand how the characters are feeling or why they did something, to make predictions, and understand the information we read.  In Fundations, we've worked on glued sounds, trick words (done, goes, and pretty), and vowel teams.  In writing workshop, we began using a student narrative checklist to help us focus our work.  Students completed the checklist based on their stories as they are right now and after they've edited their work, they will complete the checklist again.  This helps students have goals for their writing and helps lead them in the right direction for a strong narrative.
**Ask your child what a meaningful connection is.
Math - Doubles, doubles, doubles!  We've worked quite a bit with doubles facts this week.  The better students know their doubles, the better they can use those facts to solve others (ex. doubles plus 1 or doubles minus 1).  We also began story problems and made sure we had equations and labels for each problem.  Next week, we'll be working on fact families.  The better students know the fact family, the easier addition and subtraction will be.
** Ask your child some doubles facts and see how quick they can be.
Math groups have started and it's very exciting for everyone!  Two times a week, students among all four 2nd grades, are getting extra math practice in each of our rooms.  Students will work with one of the 2nd grade teachers or Ms. Paollilo (our math interventionist) on various math skills.  Mixing the students up in each classroom allows students to work with others who are focused on the same math need or number.  We're going to try this for awhile and see how it goes.  So far, students are excited about switching and the benefit for them will be great!
Social Studies - "Me on the Map" has been our focus this week.  We learned about continents and oceans and where we are on the map.  We talked about cities, counties, states, countries, continents, and planets.  The students have been very interested in geography and I'm thrilled we're off to a great start with the social studies unit.
**Ask your child what continent, state, and city we live in.