Week of November 30
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
In order to prepare for our second grade winter assembly and winter party on December 18th, we would like to have a meeting on Wednesday, 12/02/08 at 2:35 pm. in room 106. Parents who are interested in assisting with costumes and props and planning the winter party are welcome to attend.
Thursday, 12/3 is Literacy Night at Murray. The second grade teachers will share activities related to balanced literacy beginning at 6 p.m. We hope you are able to attend.
The science quiz on balancing will take place on Wednesday, December 2. A study guide was sent home last week to help your child prepare.
Students will not attend school on Friday, December 4. It is a professional development day for teachers and staff.
Language Arts:
Independent Reading (35-40 minutes at the beginning of each day)
Teachers provide guided reading lessons and/or reading conferences during this time.
Differentiated Instruction:
- DIBLES Progress Monitoring
- Guided Writing
- Guided Reading
- Writing conferences
- Phonics: Identifying the y sound in words -Explain the principle y is a letter that sometimes makes a vowel sound. Y sounds like e on the end of words like happy, funny, family. Y sounds like i in words like my, sky, by
- Students play Two-Way Sort.
Spelling Words for the Week: about, better, clean, cut, drink, right, those, use, why, wish
Day 1:
Independent Reading
Morning meeting/morning message
Reading: Identifying the theme (Big Idea)
Interactive Read Aloud:
Music for Alice by Allen Say
- Read and analyze characters to guide students to make written connections from text-to- self. Begin to identify the theme (Big Idea) of: perseverance.
Writing for Readers (Lucy Calkins and Natalie Louis)
Teaching Skills and Strategies - Writing with Sight Words:
- In this session, students will revisit the concept that writers rely on sight words, not just stretching words and recording the sounds, to write with more fluency.
- Students continue writing their Thanksgiving personal narratives.
- Each day a small group of students share their work in progress.
Day 2:
Independent Reading
Morning meeting/morning message
Reading: Identifying the theme (Big Idea)
Interactive read aloud:
A River Dream by Allen Say (p. 1 – 17)
Writing for Readers (Lucy Calkins and Natalie Louis)
Teaching Skills and Strategies - Spacing Words and Indenting:
- In this session, students will learn the importance of leaving a finger-size blank space when they hear no more sounds in a word. They also learn that each paragraph is indented.
- Students continue with their Thanksgiving narratives.
Day 3:
Independent Reading
Morning meeting/morning message
Reading: Identifying the theme (Big Idea)
Interactive read aloud:
A River Dream by Allen Say (p. 18 – 31)
Writing for Readers (Lucy Calkins and Natalie Louis)
Teaching Skills and Strategies - Checking Content: Focus on the content of the Personal Narratives:
- In this session, teachers will remind writers that their content matters, specifically encouraging them to write focused narratives.
- Students utilize strategies from lessons to fancy up their Thanksgiving narratives.
Day 4:
Independent Reading
Morning meeting/morning message
Reading: Identifying the theme (Big Idea)
Interactive read aloud:
Under the Cherry Blossom Tree retold by Allen Say
Writing for Readers (Lucy Calkins and Natalie Louis)
Teaching Skills and Strategies - Learning More Sight Words:
- In this session, students will learn how to write some words in a snap, without sounding them out.
- Students continue to utilize strategies from lessons to fancy up their Thanksgiving narratives. They use watercolors to illustrate their narratives.
Math:
4.3 Exploring Temperature, Money, Shapes (Day 2)
Objective: To guide students as they explore reading temperatures on a thermometer, practice finding the total value of a group of coins, and develop readiness for classifying geometric shapes
- Mental Math and Reflexes/Math Message
- Math Message Follow-Up (Whole-Class Activity)
- Playing Addition Spin (Partner Activity)
- Exploration A: Exploring temperature using a thermometer
- Exploration B: Coins booklets using groups of coins and the total value and dollar and cent notations
- Exploration C: Students classify geometric shapes according to attributes size, color and shape.
- Students complete Math Journal 1, p. 86, 88, 89.
4.4 Temperature Changes
Objective: To guide students as they read and show temperatures and solve number stories about temperature changes
- Mental Math and Reflexes/Math Message
- Math Message Follow-Up (Whole-Class Activity)
- Solving “How Much Warmer (Colder)?” Problems (Whole-class Activity)
- Reading and Showing Temperatures and Solving Temperature-Change Problems Differentiated Instruction: Students work in pairs using the number grid to solve temperature change problems.
Enrichment: Identifying Situations as Change to More or Change to Less
4.5 Estimating Costs
Objective: To guide students as they use estimation to solve problems for which an exact answer is not necessary
- Mental Math and Reflexes/Math Message
- Math Message Follow-Up (Whole-Class Activity)
- Discussing Estimation (Whole-Class Discussion)
- Solving Problems by Estimation (Whole-Class Discussion and Partner Activity)
Differentiated Instruction: In small groups, teachers use the previously discussed strategies to guide students toward estimating sums of items.
- Enrichment Activity: Using Estimation to Compare Sums of Weights
4.6 A Shopping Activity (Day1)
Objective: To guide students as they develop strategies for adding 2-digit numbers mentally; to provide experiences with calculating the total cost of two items; and to demonstrate making change for whole-dollar amount up to $100
- Mental Math and Reflexes/Math Message
- Math Message Follow-Up (Whole-Class Activity)
- Strategies for Adding 2-Digit Numbers (Whole-Class Discussion)
Differentiated Instruction: Using play money and calculators, students work in assigned pairs playing shopping.
Science:
Lesson 5 (2 days):
- Students build simple mobiles that balance.
- Students describe and compare how their mobiles balanced.
Science Quiz:
Multiple choice, and true and false answers using the following concepts:
- The beam balance has a beam and a fulcrum.
- The fulcrum is the pivot on which a lever moves, that is: the point about which the lever is free to rotate.
- The fulcrum under the beam can be moved from side to side in order to balance objects on the beam.
- When the beam has no weight on it, the fulcrum must be placed in the middle in order for the beam to be balanced.
- If one side of the beam is heavier, the fulcrum must be moved towards the heavier side in order for the beam to be balanced.
- The amount of weight and the position of the weight affect the balance of the beam balance.
Social Studies:
- Practicing for winter assembly
Thank you for your support.
Anh Tuan Hoang, LuAnn Lawson