Here is what is happening in second grade during the month of October:
*RELIGION*
We start October by learning more about the sacrament of Confirmation. We will be writing prayers to the God the Holy Spirit and learning the Holy Spirit Song. We will also learn about the church calendar and the church season we are currently in, Ordinary Time. At the end of the month, we will be writing reports about the saints to get ready for the month of November.
Students will have a religion test every five lessons. The dates for the tests are included below. Also included in the links section at the bottom of the page is a website with review quizzes to help prepare for religion tests. The day before a religion test, students will take home pages from the section of their religion book their test is on. Going over key words and ideas from the chapter would be helpful before the test.
*READING*
We continue to have our reading groups and center time in the mornings. As a reminder, part of students’ reading participation grade depends on how well they can do their work independently and how they participate within the reading group.
We begin the month by reading Lemonade for Sale, a story of a group of friends who work together to raise money for their clubhouse. The comprehension skill we are focusing on is problem and solution.
Next, we read A Letter to Amy, a story of friendship and a lost birthday invitation. We will focus on making inferences.
We end the month by reading The Best Friends Club, learning that friendship isn’t always easy. We will be focusing on problem and solution as we read this story.
Some strategies you might want to try when reading with your student at home are:
- Have your student read the same book/story a few days in a row to allow them to get familiar with it. This can allow them to practice their expression while reading and to understand the story elements.
- Ask your student questions as they are reading to make sure they understand the story. Ask them about the story elements-who the main characters are, where the story takes place, the problem and solution.
- Have your student read non-fiction text. Most of what we read as adults is non-fiction, so it is important that students are able to read and understand this genre as well.
When a take-home book or short reading passages has the “Parent Signature” stamp on it, that indicates that your child should read the selection aloud to you. Your signature verifies that they did so. Again, I would like to thank this group of parents for being involved and signing when you see the parent signature stamp. Keep it up!
Study skills we will learn this month include reading a graph and using diagrams.
Phonics concepts we will be reviewing both in our stories and spelling lists are words with oo, ue, ew; words with ow, ou, oi, oy; and words with are, or, ore.
Vocabulary skills that will be studied are prefixes and compound words.
*SPELLING*
In second grade, students have 15 spelling words they are responsible for spelling correctly at the end of each week. The first ten follow a spelling/phonics pattern and the last five are vocabulary words from our reading book.
Included are all the spelling lists on the website for the month, so that students can start studying the words for the next week, over the weekend.
Weekly Spelling Assignment Schedule
Monday- Students will have their spelling pretest. They will take their lists home every Monday. These lists will be kept as a reference at home and practiced throughout the week.
Tuesday- Students will have a phonics/ spelling word sort in class. Students will have a spelling page for homework to reinforce the activity we did in class.
Wednesday- In class spelling activity- spelling sentences. Students sentences will be graded on a rubric sent home on the first spelling sentence assignment. Keep this rubric as a reference. There is no assigned spelling homework, however, students should be practicing their words.
Thursday- In class spelling activity- words in ABC order. There is a spelling page assigned for homework on this day.
Friday- Spelling Test. Students will be tested on all the spelling words and be given two dictation sentences that they will write correctly as part of their test.
Although there is no formal spelling homework on Mondays and Wednesdays, students
Here are some fun suggestions for studying spelling words at home:
-flashcards
-rainbow spelling
-pyramid spelling
-draw pictures of spelling words and write the word next to it
-find spelling words in a newspaper and magazine and cut them out
-In a dark room, use a flashlight to write the letters in the air
-Write words using alphabet pasta or Alpha Bits cereal
-Back writing- “write” the spelling word on a partner’s back and have them guess the word
-Write out spelling words and circle all the vowels
-Write a short story using all spelling words
-Sort the words by number of syllables
For the challenge words that may not follow a particular spelling or phonetic rule, make up a way to remember through a rhyme or saying.
*Note: Due to the 3-day week this month, one spelling list will be assigned on Tuesday, October 14 and students will have until the next week to study those words. Students will be tested on those words on Thursday, October 23.
Week of October 6-10
1. true
2. too
3. new
4. room
5. blew
6. tool
7. clue
8. boot
9. few
10. school
11. announced
12. empty
13. poured
14. squeezed
15. wrong
Weeks of October 14-23
1. down
2. out
3. point
4. joy
5. house
6. coin
7. now
8. loud
9. brown
10. cowboy
11. candles
12. glanced
13. repeated
14. special
15. wild
Week of October 27-31
1. porch
2. care
3. dear
4. more
5. short
6. bare
7. tore
8. year
9. corn
10. shore
11. allowed
12. leaned
13. president
14. promise
15. rules
Thank you for studying the spelling words with your child at home!
*VOCABULARY*
This school year, our community of learners is focusing on vocabulary and being able to recognize and use different words. Every week, vocabulary words are introduced in the form of a short story. We represent the word, using sketches. Later in the week we take the sketches to create our own definitions of the words. We also make up and write sentences using these words to show we know what they mean.
We continue to use the formal five step writing process. At the writing center, we write informally, using only one draft. We continue to share our writing using the author’s chair. Recently, students shared postcards that they created. Not only was the writing descriptive, but second grade did a fantastic job of creating colorful scenery pictures on the front sides of their cards!
We start out the month with a formal writing assignment using the five steps of the writing process. We will be writing descriptive poems about fall and Halloween, making a birthday invitation to our fantasy birthday parties and writing reports about the lives of the saints.
Our weekly spelling/ vocabulary sentences will also help us to practice our writing. Spelling sentences will also count toward our writing grade.
*ENGLISH/GRAMMAR*
We will begin our study of nouns by creating a “Noun Town” of our favorite people, places and things. Also, we will learn to use plural nouns and proper nouns.
Other grammar lessons will include commas in a series, punctuation in a letter and abbreviations.
*HANDWRITING*
This school year, neatness and presentation will factor in to students’ grades. I strongly encourage neat handwriting on both handwriting practice and written assignments.
We continue our regular weekly handwriting lessons in October. We begin a new lesson each week. Each lesson consists of three days of practicing letters and words and one day of copying a Bible verse, applying what they have learned.
Letters we will focus on in the lessons for the month are upper and lowercase c, e, b, p, l, v, m and n.
*MATH*
Math concepts we will learn in October:
…tell time to the half hour
…read a thermometer to the nearest 10 degrees
…count dimes and pennies
…create addition and subtraction fact families
…complete addition facts-sums of 8 and 9
…identify geometric shape pieces that are alike in one way
…create and read a bar graph
…tally
…count by 5’s
…identify horizontal, vertical and oblique lines
…divide a whole into halves, fourths and eighths
…complete addition facts-sums of 10
…weigh objects using nonstandard units
…add 10 to multiples of 10
…find missing numbers on a piece of the hundred number chart
…identify pairs
…identify tens and ones
…identify halves, fourths, and eighths of a whole
…create and read a bar graph
…complete addition facts- sums of 11
…measure with one-inch color tiles
Math Facts:
Every five lessons, students will complete an addition fact test (25 facts total). Students will be expected to complete these facts in 2 minutes. We have a class fact practice page and homework fact page everyday. When your child does their facts at home, it would be helpful to time them for 2 minutes to see how many facts they can complete. If any additional problems need to be completed have your child finish the remainder of their facts.
Facts we will be reviewing and testing this month are doubles facts plus one, sums of 8, 9, 10 and 11. Watch for a parent letter when we begin to review a new set of facts in your child’s homework folder.
*SOCIAL STUDIES*
We begin our unit “All About Earth”, looking at location and themes in geography. We began by reading aloud “The Armadillo from Amarillo”, a story of an armadillo who desires to know what is outside of his town. We will begin learning about location, moving along to identify where we live. We will also learn about different land and water features, as well as the ways weather affects us.
We continue to have our weekly assessments. The weekly social studies assessments will now be every Thursday morning, instead of Friday to lighten the test load. You can expect that your student will have social studies homework on Wednesdays to help them review the weekly lesson.
*SCIENCE*
We finish our study of how plants and animals live together and begin to explore how living things grown and change. We will be learning about the life cycles of different animals and plants. We will also be reading non-fiction books on these topics in a guided reading group setting.
*CALENDAR*
Thursday, October 9- Science Test, Math Fact Test (doubles +1), No Homework Thursday
Friday, October 10- Spelling Test, Grammar Test, Reading Test, Math Written Test
Monday, October 13- Free Day- Columbus Day
Wednesday, October 15- Chapter 5 Religion Test
Friday, October 17- Free Day, Teacher Institute
Tuesday, October 21- Math Fact Test (sums of 8 and 9)
Wednesday, October 22- Math Written Test
Thursday, October 23- Spelling Test, Grammar Test, Reading Test
Friday, October 24- Free Day, Teacher Institute
Friday, October 31- Spelling Test, Grammar Test, Reading Test
*Social Studies assessment every Thursday (10/2, 10/9, 10/16, 10/23, 10/30)
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