Happy Mayday!

I can't believe that, in less than a month, this school year will be drawing to a close! We are in the process of wrapping up some things and fine-tuning some 2nd grade skills. It's going to be a busy month!

Guided reading groups ended last week. During the next two weeks, I will be using our Daily 5/Language block to do some year-end reading testing. Students will also be doing some reading comprehension and word work activities in class during that time. When testing is finished, we will begin our "Teach the Class" week. I will be sending an information letter home this coming week. Now would be a good time to start talking with your child about possible ideas for teaching the class. Some lessons that have worked well in the past are various cooking lessons, sports lessons, small craft projects, how to play different board and card games, how to take care of animals, and how to draw something. Be creative!

This week will be the last week of spelling groups. On Wednesday, all students will begin working on a "commonly mis-spelled words" list. The following week, all students will begin working on a fun spelling list including words from our curriculum this year. Students should still plan to turn in some sort of spelling homework for these two lists, and will still be tested on Wednesdays.

Our current math unit includes a lot of different information, as you have probably noticed! So far in unit 13, students have worked on multiplication, division, fractions, and geometry. Next week, we will spend a couple of days on probability and statistics, and then do some more work with geometry. The unit 13 assessment will be on Wednesday or Thursday.

I haven't looked at the amphibian/reptile test that students took on Thursday, but our guest teacher from that day, Mrs. Sullivan, reported to me that they all worked really hard and seemed to know their information! This coming week will be our Junior Achievement week, and we will be welcoming Sydney's mom, Mrs. Smetak, into our classroom to talk about production. For the rest of the month of May, we will be using our science/social studies block to study about animal adaptations, United States symbols, and so some geography review.

We had a great day at the Kansas City Zoo yesterday! The weather was beautiful, the animals were active, and every member of our class did a great job of following directions and being respectful to our parent helpers. Thanks so much to Shannon, Nami, Gretchen, Ashley, Bethany, and Jenn for joining us on our trip and being excellent group guides.

Please check with your child one last time about school supplies. I know that many students are working with dry markers and almost-empty glue sticks. Those things will definitely come in handy with some of our end-of-the-year projects. Our treasure box is also running low again. If you are interested in donating small items to re-stock it, let me know!

I will be sending out our final book order for the year on Monday. Now would be a great time to stock up on 3rd grade types of books for the summer! Let me know if you need suggestions!

Thanks, as always, for all that you do!