Mrs. Bice's Second Grade

Reader’s Workshop

This week was a big week for the readers of rm. 248! It was a big change for all of the students in building reading stamina having our entire class there each day! There are a lot more distractions when the whole class is there! We began the week by talking about norms and expectations during Reader’s Workshop. I also shared the “Book Shopping Schedule” with the class and assigned each of them a day of the week to change out the books in their book box. Each night your child should bring home 2 books to read each night and then return their bag the following day!

We also learned that authors leave clues in their stories that help readers know how to read so they can bring the characters to life! Readers look out for punctuation and special print (bold words, capital letters, etc.) that signal how a page is meant to be read. Paying attention to these important pieces, can help readers become more fluent! Readers will be working all year on changing their bumpy reading to a smooth 2nd grade smooth reading voice.

Scholastic Book Orders

Today your child will bring home a Scholastic Book Order. This is a great opportunity for you to purchase books that are cheap and on your child’s reading level! At Parent Teacher Conferences (which will be at the end of October) I will share with you, your child’s reading level. I am happy to let you know your child’s reading level if you would like some help in finding some “just right” books for your child to read at home! Click here to place a Scholastic Book Order online! All orders are due by Monday, October 12.

Writer’s Workshop

This week in Writer’s Workshop, the writer’s celebrated their hard work by sharing something they are proud of! Some writers said “revising” while others said that they are proud to be writing across three pages! These writers have grown a ton already! They are looking so much closer at their work and really attempting every strategy they learn!

At this point in the unit students start to think “I don’t have any more true stories to write about!” We spent some time brainstorming emotions we feel and thinking of stories from our life where we have felt that way! Try to have your child always thinking of different story ideas! Whether you are at the park, playing soccer in your front yard, or losing a tooth, these are all great stories for them to write about in Writer’s Workshop.

Phonics Workshop

We have been having a ton of fun in Phonics Workshop! Readers learned that in addition to to reading to think about characters, storyline, and craft, they can also read to learn more about how words work! We looked for vowel teams in poems, in books, in excerpts… we looked all over! Check out the “Vowel Teams” chart below.

Students also reviewed 1st grade Snap Words! These are words that they should know in a snap! Students shouldn’t try to stretch these words out but rather know them in a snap! Students received a special Snap Word Book that will be in their book boxes to help them store their snap words. They can reference these books during Writer’s Workshop as well to help with their spelling of the snap words!

At the end of the week, I reminded students that when they are writing words, it helps to listen with their ear muscles to distinguish between the sounds /ae/, /er/, and /or/ and spellings in car, tiger, and fork. It’s important for the readers to really use their ear muscles to help them hear the difference in the r controlled vowels!

Math

We will be finishing up our first unit in math which was a review of first grade skills. This has been a great opportunity for me to see who is exceeding math standards and who is below grade level and needs more support. During the next unit, I will be able to differentiate and group students more to meet their individual needs! Prodigy is a great way for your mathematician to reinforce math skills at home!

Self Management

This week we began learning about self regulation! We talked about all the feelings and emotions that overtake us sometimes as 2nd graders: anger, disappointment, worry, anxiety, etc. Then we talked about how we react to each of these feelings and some coping strategies to overcome and deal with these emotions! This led us into a discussion about stress! We defined stress as well as talked about the good stress and sometimes bad stress we face! The class also talked about how sometimes the adults in their lives are stressed and what can we do when they feel stressed! These are great conversations to have with your 2nd grader. They pick up on all of our physical and emotional cues so its important to chat with them about it! Check out the list of good stress/bad stress that the class made below!

Specials Schedule

Our weekly specials schedule has been finalized! It is as follows:

Monday: Music

Tuesday: Art

Wednesday: Culture

Thursday: Mrs. Bice + Digital Citizenship (30 minutes every other week)

Friday: PE

On Thursdays the students will be with me doing some sort of enrichment work. It may be science, current events, nature, directed drawings , etc. For 30 minutes every other week, students will receive a digital citizenship lesson! These lessons will focus on safe ways to access technology!