Mrs. Bice's Second Grade

Reader’s Workshop

Readers have been diving in head first to nonfiction! We have been learning to “talk the talk” of nonfiction! Before readers tart a new book, it is helpful to think of all the keywords they know about that topic. For example, when thinking about a book about tigers, “what keywords might I find in this book?” Stripes, predator, meat eater, carnivore, and fur might be keywords in the tiger book. Then we can open the book and start reading! Once we come across those keywords we will say “Aha! You can’t trick me you tricky word. I found you!” This is a great strategy to use when readers open up a new nonfiction book for the first time!

Writer’s Workshop

During Writer’s Workshop we also gained a deeper understanding of how authors organize their nonfiction writing. We looked at some mentor texts to learn from the very best! Writer’s also created Table of Contents and tried to included as many nonfiction feature as well

Map Skills

Students studied maps and looked closely at what makes a a map special! They practiced putting maps together and finished the week creating a map of a place they know well. They also included a compass, title and key! They will be hanging outside of our classroom next week.

Macy’s Day Parade

This week our shared reading began with the book “Balloons Over Broadway,” which tells the story of Tony Sarg and some of the history behind the Macy’s Day Parade. The students were really interested in the parade. We checked out the website to learn more about the balloons. Click here to view the website. Next week we will write letters to the director of the parade and try to convince them which balloon we think should be included in the 2020 Parade. The kids were beyond excited to learn about the parade and it would be really fun for your child to watch a few minutes of it on Thanksgiving Day starting at 9:30 am!

Kindergarten Buddies

Our buddies came to visit today to celebrate Thanksgiving! We read a book and created Thanksgiving turkeys! What a great way for the 2nd graders to practice leadership and guide the kindergartners through art and collaboration!

Gratitude

All week we have been practicing “gratitude.” We read several books about gratitude and have been sharing things we are grateful for. Students were asked to create a gratitude list and write thank you notes to people we care and love! The kids have learned so much through read alouds, conversation and the explicit instruction. We will continue to talk about gratitude and kindness next week!

Next Week

We will not have a homework packet next week! During Thanksgiving break, please have your child read every single day!