1. The Bacher Blog
For parents of students in Room 16
Monday, September 23, 2013
Fundations:
This week we will continue the second half of Unit 2, focusing on bonus letters and glued sounds. Last week we explored the glued sound -all, and we reviewed Level 1 trick words quite a bit, in addition to exploring words with bonus letters. This week we will review the other glued sounds: -am, -an, -ang, -ank, -ing, -ink, -ong, - onk, -ung, -unk. We're talking a lot about chunking...looking for chunks of sounds that we know when reading words.
Please make sure your child is completing his/her Fundations packet a little each night!
Important Announcements:
Be sure to look at the back of this paper for the Homework Log
It can get cold in our building. You might want to make sure your child dresses in layers and has a sweater/sweatshirt everyday. I can't control the air in my classroom
Picture Day tomorrow (Tuesday). I apologize...I thought I sent home picture day envelopes last week when I got them, but apparently I did not. They are in all of the student mailboxes for today.
Consider joining PTA!
Conference times will be coming home this week.
The Daily 5/Work on Writing
We will be finishing DOL Week 2 and taking our 2nd DOL quiz in the earlier part of the week. We will also begin doing a daily writing exercise this week focusing on choosing a good topic and capitalizing names of people, places, and things. I hope to alternate this daily writing exercise with DOL to practice writing skills and grammar/editing skills.
Everyday Math
As this week begins, we will finish Chapter 1 in Everyday Math, which focuses on familiarizing students with the different math tools...clocks, number grids, number lines, coins, game cards, etc. We will have our first math test tomorrow (Tuesday). Please note in advance that not everything on the test is graded. There are questions that give me information about what the student may/may not already know to guide my future teaching.
Toward the middle of the week, we will begin Chapter 2. It will focus on addition facts and number stories. Remember to keep encouraging your child to MEMORIZE addition facts!
Homework:
Reading Log: “Look in a Book” – read every night
Math Log:
Mon. – + wksht Tues. – GMM #4 wksht
Wed. – H.L. 2-1 wksht Thurs. – H.L.2-2 wksht
Fri. -+ wksht
Fundations packet: U2 packet due Friday, 9/27/13
The Daily 5/CAFÉ time/Reading:
My class did a great job on their Readers' Theatre for Constitution Day! We did a lot of repeated reading, and I am excited that a few students came up to tell me that they are starting to feel like better readers (thanks to the skit and our poetry practice)!
This week we will finish Officer Buckle and Gloria. We'll be focusing on finding answers to who, what, why, when , where, and how questions using the book. We will also identify the main beginning, middle, and end events...both are BIG 2nd grade language arts standards!
I am almost done with Reading Interviews! My goal is to finish those by the end of this week and begin to conference one-on-one with each child. As I conference, your child will be given an independent reading goal for Read to Self. Your children also then begin book shopping in my class library.
Science/Social Studies:
This week we begin to explore butterfly migration. It's a great opportunity to explore map skills, citizenship, life cycles/interactions among living/nonliving things, and more!
Recommended Website:
This is a GREAT site! We're using this to guide science/social studies instruction over the next couple of weeks. We'll be focusing on butterfly migration, but there are all kinds of plant/animal information that you can explore. This site features citizen science...we, the people, are actively involved in tracking/observing/learning/etc. Check it out! 1