Autumn is here!

We are now a month into school and have settled into a great routine! It has been a busy few weeks in our class. Please read on for information about upcoming topics of study and important dates!

Guided reading groups are beginning this week! If you have questions about your child's reading level, please let me know. During our language block, we will be spending some time looking at how to write a complete sentence and how to identify subject and predicate. Students will be working on several sentence writing activities. This will lead into our first paragraph writing activity in just a few short weeks. We also continue to work on long vowel patterns and will begin working on consonant diagraphs (sh, wh, th, ch, and ng) this week.

Thank you for helping your child study for our weekly spelling test! Students are receiving new spelling words each Wednesday and being tested the following Wednesday. Please continue to help your child with one spelling homework assignment of his or her choice each week.

In math, we continue our unit on strategies for solving basic facts and story problems. Students are making progress on identifying the partners and total in a missing partner problem (such as 6 + __=17). I have really enjoyed seeing some of the strategies students are coming up with! The first week of leveled math groups was a success. Four days a week, students are working on leveled skills with a group of other 2nd graders working on the same skills. It has been fun mixing things up a little!

Practice on speed and accuracy with basic addition and subtraction facts would be beneficial for all 2nd graders. There are some math games in list of links to the right of this post, and I will be sending home flashcard practice logs soon. At that time, students will spend a few minutes one night a week working on speed with basic facts. Let me know if you would like more ideas.

You may have heard that we saw our first Monarch butterflies this week! Two butterflies emerged from their chrysalises, and we expect to see more in the coming days. The butterfly and moth assessment for this unit will be on Friday, September 23. I will send home a study guide mid-week. Next week we will begin our next health unit. During this unit, students will be learning about the different body systems and taking care of their bodies. This unit will last through the month of October.

Please make note of the following dates:

September 23 - Library checkout

September 28 - Birthday Breakfast

Thanks, as always, for all that you do!