September 11, 2020

The students are doing an excellent job asking questions, working independently and with partners, and paying attention during lessons. We have already begun our reading, math, and spelling curriculum, and throughout the next few weeks, we will begin many new subjects, like writing, vocabulary, and grammar. Below is the material we learned this week and what is coming up next!

Reading

The students are practicing two reading strategies, visualizing what they read, and asking questions. First, we practice these skills with our class chapter book, Roxie and the Hooligans. Then, the students have a chance to practice the skills while they read books on their reading level. These are skills that the students can practice while they are reading at home too! To check their thinking, you can ask them questions like what part of the story really stuck out in your mind? What are some things you are wondering about your book? What do the characters or setting look like in the story?

Spelling

This week the students studied words containing the long and short “i’ sounds, like in the words lick and like. Next week, the students will learn to spell words containing the long and short “e” sounds, like in the words sell and seal. These skills are also helpful phonics patterns that strengthen their reading skills.

Writing

Next week, the students will learn how to pick strong writing topics from their lives. They will have a chance to write a paragraph about something they did this summer, anything from the second grade school year or they can write a paragraph about something they are an expert on like frogs or the Titanic. Vacations, quarantine adventures, meeting new friends, and seeing family all count as great paragraph topics.

Math

The students practiced the rituals and routines of math class (like how to work with partners and use materials like whiteboards and dry erase markers.) They worked on place value up to one thousand, reviewed coin values and how to add them together, and worked on reading calendars. For place value, the students are working on solving problems, like what comes after 1,029? Some of the calendar concepts they are studying can be tricky, like what is the date of the third Wednesday in September, or what is the date two weeks from tomorrow? Next week, we will continue practicing these skills and work on telling time, adding up dollars, and finding values that are greater than, less than, or equal to one another.