First Week of 2013 Wrap-Up

Hello 2-3 Families!

Happy Friday!  It has been a great week back school.  This is our third class post this week, so if you haven't checked our blog yet this week, please make sure to check out our posts from Monday and Wednesday too.  Here is a look at what we have been up to this week and some helpful info for upcoming weeks...

MAP TESTING

Next Thursday (1/17) our class will take the winter MAP test in Math and on Friday (1/18) the class will take the MAP Reading test.  Our tests are both in the afternoon so please make sure your child has a good lunch to eat!

ODYSSEY FOOD DRIVE

Our Odyssey are leading another food drive to help the Wheeling Food Pantry. The 2nd graders are collecting peanut butter and jelly jars for the drive.  Thank you for helping stock the shelves for the Wheeling Food Pantry!

MATH

We've had a very busy week math-wise in 2-3.  We've work on partial sums, finding the difference, and completing Part/Part/Total diagrams.  If you have not checked out the video I posted on how to do partial sums earlier this week, please do so.  As the math problems and concepts are increasing in difficulty, I am expecting the kids to SHOW THEIR WORK so I can see how they solved the problem.

TREASURES

This week in Treasures, our theme was PERFORMING!  We continues working on the comprehension skill of SUMMARIZING and also worked on the digraphs (consonant blends) -sh, -ch, -tch, and th.  I also introduced alliteration to the kids this week.  When identifying alliteration in stories and poems, the kids know to look for words that have the same BEGINNING sounds in the same sentence.  It is normal for the kids to confuse rhyming and alliteration when it is first introduced. I keep reiterating to the kids that alliteration is found with the BEGINNING letter sounds and rhyming is found with the ENDING letter sounds.  As you read with your kids at home, keep an eye out for alliteration patterns in the stories and see if the kids can identify them.  PRACTICE MAKES PROGRESS!

2nd GRADE ROCKS!

This week we launched our ROCKS AND MINERALS unit in 2nd grade.  The kids have learned the basics this week about what a rock is and the 3 categories of rocks.  On Tuesday, January 15th, the staff of High Touch -High Tech will be visiting our classroom to present their rock and mineral presentation called DIG IT.  Other schools in the district have participated in this and gave it rave reviews.  I will take lots of photos to share of the kids' experience.  This weekend, you children should be looking for 4 rocks to bring to class with them.  While I usually do not give homework on Fridays, I wanted to give them plenty of time (and daylight) to go on their rock hunt.


Have a safe and fun weekend!

Danielle