Wecome to the Webpage of the Helping Hands Community also known as Mrs.DeStefano's Second Grade Class of 2008-2009.
This webpage is to give you information of what we will be learning in the month to come. The current webpage is giving you information for March.
Are you as happy as me that March is here! Hopefully it will bring more outside play time. If by chance that white stuff falls again please make sure you send in the clothing necessary to play in it. If we are lucky to avoid that need, that would be fine with me!
Reading: As a class we are exploring how questioning helps a reader better understand the meaning of a book. The students feel questioning, "keeps your head into the story". They are realizing that the answers to the questions aren't necessarily directly in the words but in their own thinking based on the words. They are also realizing that their peers come up with different answers and both can be right because of how people think and experience a book differently. This is great learning and discovering! I am impressed. In fact I am learning that children are so ready for being book thinkers and having book talks. I love it! This month we will begin a reading unit on Understanding Dialogue. Most books have dialogue and it gets confusing figuring out who is talking and what authors do to add information to a story through dialogue. The goal is that the students will find a system to figure out the speaker and sort out the information that helps the story.
We also are learning how to use a dictionary. This is a challenge because the students need to learn that a word falls in a range of words. They are slowly getting this. I will be sending home some vocabulary words to look up just to get some added practice.
Writing: The children are improving all the time with their creative writing. They love this time of the day. They also love learning the new enhancements to use for their writing. Personification was particularly fun. We learned that when we use an animal that talks in a story it is best to add some behaviors of that animal as well so that the reader believes it is a talking dog (or whatever animal).
We are learning how to use simile and hyperbole as well. Then we will learn how to use dialogue in our writing with the proper punctuation. You will see some worksheets coming home with this included.
Spelling: As we continue to emphasize spelling patterns of long vowels we are also learning the rules of adding suffixes. We will do a lot more work with various suffixes. We will also learn about homographs and syllables. Besides learning to spell specific words we are learning strategies to use when we need to spell an unknown word. You can support this when your child asks, "how do you spell....." I tell the students to listen for a word that sounds like the word you are spelling that you know how to spell example: lightening. I say if you know l-i-g-h-t spells light then listen to what else you know: i-n-g spells ing. What else do you hear? "en" "That is part of the word ten". The child will relize they can spell the word lightening. It just takes teaching them the thinking steps. I also tell them if they don't know which way to spell something to try and see if it "looks" right. That works wonders!
Math:We just started unit 5. This unit is all about double digit with regrouping addition. We do a lot of manipulating of place value cubes. Then we begin the paper and pencil task of adding numbers. The students must absorb the concept of the ones equaling the ten cube. This is taking an abstract concept and making it into a concrete concept. The hope is when we get to using just paper and pencil your child will see those blocks in their head as they write their numbers. Its the foundation of a lot of future math lessons.
As you know we started Rocket Math. The emphasis in the classroom is on working hard to learn our math facts. The students keep wanting to compete with their peers and I tell them it is impossible to compete. Each brain develops differently just like each body develops differently. You cannot race. You can only study, study, study and you will get to the goal of being at letter Z by June. Let me know if your child is upset with this process. Don't forget the game booklet I sent home. There are some great games in that booklet that you can use with your child to learn the facts in a fun setting and not just saying the facts on the Rocket Math paper.
Science: We were going to start an Enrichment study about the environmental issues affecting Tewksbury but the resources we want to use suggest doing this study when the weather gets warm so instead we started our unit on Habitats. In this unit we will learn about the interdependence of living and non living things within an ecosystem. Later in the unit we will delve deeply into 5 different habitats. Later March we will do our Enrichment study with the goal of finding a way to help illeviate the problem.
Social Studies: We will explore important americans in our next social studies unit. We will place the emphasis on searching for the answer to an essential question: What makes a person a great leader? What common traits do important americans have that are important for us to pursue?
REMINDERS:
We are always in need of school store items. Anything that costs around $1 or less, that you think your child and their friends would like, pick up and send it in. Please send it in a bag so no one knows until the store opens what is available. I ask this so no one has their hopes up for an item and when their turn comes it is not available because someone else bought it.
REMEMBER we are collecting money for the Pennies for Patients program. We have $20 collected from our homeroom already.
Thanks to everyone who sent in canned foods for the Canned Compassion program. We collected 157 cans.
In a week I will be sending home an assignment for your child to design and create a Leprechaun trap or home. I just wanted to give you the heads up in case you are out shopping and you want to pick up some gold money or St Patrick trinkets. More information will come home soon.
Some Favorite Links:
View classroom photos 2008-2009 Browse classroom photos from many events that have occurred in our class. You can order them for your own memory books.
Fact Family Home Ideas This website has all kinds of resources for you to download and use at home to assist your child learning their math facts from 0-18.
Online Math Facts Games & More Great list of games to play to practice math facts and other math concepts for all kids at all levels of skills.
Online Math Fact games Another wonderful online site to have your child use so they can practice their math facts while having fun.
Games for Double Facts At this sight your child can practice their additon double facts.
Addition Attach Great game to practice adding math facts while saving the world from an alien attack.
Name that Bone Game Your child will have to point to the bone on a skeleton when the bone name appears. It is age appropriate because they give the body part the bone is near.
Making Change Game to play for practicing how to make change for $1.
Time Game Play game to practiace telling time on five minute.
Robot Math Using addition you power up a robot. As you answer questions successfully you move up to higher levels with harder problems.
Leon's Math DoJo Karate character kicks bag as you anwer problems correctly. You try to beat your own score. Youc an do additon, subtraction even multiplication
Practice Math Facts Do adition/subtraction math facts to beat last time. Shows your progress.
Money Smart You use subtraction to figure out your budget as you show in town. Fun!
Telling Time Play board game on computer as you and partner set clock for time on board.
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