LANGUAGE ARTS: This week we read and discussed a collection of poems called Whatever the Weather. We also watched and discussed a video called Rain Cloud in a Jar. We worked on skills such as decoding words with /ar/ as in "star," using forms of the verb "be" (is, am, are, was, were,) decoding words with inflected endings -ed and -ing, using story vocabulary in context, and learning ten new high-frequency words.
MATH: We are wrapping up our chapter over money and time. This week students wrote the time in different ways using words such as "quarter past," "half past," and "quarter to," and used reasoning to state if the event is happening in the A.M. or P.M. Next week we will begin chapter 9 over numbers to 1,000.
BOOK ORDERS: I have enclosed book orders in the take home folder. There is also a wide selection of books available to choose from online as well. If you are interested in ordering, please order online at clubs.scholastic.com. Our classroom code for ordering online is LJWD4. Book orders are due Friday, February 13.
GUIDANCE: On February 6 we will discuss lesson 4 in our guidance book. Lesson 4 is called "I Can Choose." In this lesson students will identify how they have grown and changed. They will also develop a strategy for making good choices.
VALENTINE'S DAY: We will have our valentine exchange next Friday, February 13. Students are welcome to bring valentines to school anytime next week to place in valentine bags decorated by each student.
CHAPTER BOOKS: In second grade chapter books become a part of a child's reading time for many students. I look forward to reading to the students each day. I read various picture books to the class but also enjoy reading chapter book to them as well. I have already read Ramona the Pest and Henry and the Clubhouse by Beverly Cleary, The Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark by Mary Pope Osborne, Junie B. Jones Smells Something Fishy by Barbara Parks, Aliens for Breakfast by Jonathan Etra and Stephanie Spinner, and The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner. Right now I am reading No Flying in the House by Betty Brock. It was a favorite chapter book of mine when I was in elementary school! I am glad to see that students are showing an interest in reading and listening to chapter books.
