Mrs. Bice's Second Grade

Readers Workshop

We took the this short week and a half to work on some comprehension skills while reading nonfiction text! Young kids burst through the door bubbling with questions! As the students read nonfiction and meet new information, they brim with questions. As they try to answer their questions, the discover new information and gain knowledge. Instead of demanding answers all the time, we need to teach kids to ask thoughtful and insightful questions! We had such a fun time reading text, asking questions, and then trying to read on and find our answers.

We also learned about making inferences as readers. Writer’s don’t always spill information onto the page: often they leak it slowly, leaving clues along the way to keep the reader engaged in the act of constructing meaning. Inferring involves taking what you know, your background knowledge, and merging it with clues in the text to come up with some information that isn’t explicitly there! What a wonderful week of diving deeper into nonfiction text!

The 2nd graders have also loved the Tournament of Books! Each morning they have been voting on their favorite books within the Sweet 16. We just began the Elite 8 and should have our Book of the Year announced on Wednesday! Check out our Elite 8 below!

Writer’s Workshop

We had a really busy week during Writer’s Workshop getting ready for our Author’s Celebration next Wednesday! This week we drove deeper into some narrative picture books and worked in small groups to see what craft moves we could take from the books! Writers enjoyed looking closely at their endings to see how they could make them EVEN better! Next week we will pick one piece of writing to revise, edit, and fancy up to share at our celebration on Wednesday! Fancy attire is welcomed :)

Phonics

We have had so much fun in our new phonics unit titled: Word Builders- Construction, Demolition, and Vowel Power. This unit has come at a perfect time for what these 2nd graders are needing this spring! We have been busy becoming word builders and learning how to build bigger, longer and more complex words. Not only are we learning how to read them, but also how to write them! Please encourage your child to use some of the strategies listed below! We have a construction theme so we have been busy creating caution signs to look out for vowels in every syllable! These word builders have become so much more confident!

Tapping Trees

We LOVED tapping trees last week! Unfortunately the weather changed a bit and our class wasn’t able to tap trees on Thursday! But yesterday, we did take a look around to see the holes where we collected the sap from! Next Wednesday (March 31st) we will have a pancake lunch to celebrate the syrup that was created using the sap we collected! The school lunch is serving confetti pancakes! Lunch is free for every child but if your child would like school lunch (and they bring their lunch every day), they will need to let me know that morning. If you would prefer that your child brings a pancake or waffle from home, great! On the other hand, if you don’t want your child to taste the syrup, please let me and/or your child know!

Spring Break

There will be no homework passed out on Monday or over Spring Break! Make sure your kiddos take time to recharge, read, and enjoy the warmer weather!