Themes, Concepts and Objectives for January 29-Feb 3

Reading-  We will begin our tenth reading theme Work That Matters by reading the selections City Green and Pass It On in class. We will practice the strategy of visualizing as we proceed through this theme. A good reader visualizes what is happening as they read. We will practice and discuss this strategy in both whole group and small group reading.

Spelling-   This week our pattern is -oi and -oy. Test Friday, February 3rd

Cougar Reading-   This week we will read about famous Black Americans  such as Harriet Tubman, Jesse Owens, and George Washington Carver and discuss the character traits that make these people heroic.

Math- We will continue to learn about place value of numbers, compare and contrast given numbers and skip count by 5, 10, 100 and 100! In addition to completing math homework each night, please take time to reinforce basic addition and subtraction facts with your child to insure speed and accuracy when doing computation problems.

Writing- In writing we will create a Black American Scrapbook and continue learning lower case cursive letters.

Social Studies- Beginning this week we will embark on a journey back to the Pioneer days as we learn about covered wagon travel on the Oregon Trail.

Concepts, Themes and Objectives for January 23-27

Reading- We will continue practicing the strategy of making text to self, text and world connections as we read the selections Grace For President and Our Class Pet this week. We will define and practice using the vocabulary words: government, duty and election. Theme 9 test will be administered on Friday, January 27th.

Spelling- In word study we will analyze, define and spell words with the -age and -arge spelling pattern. Test on Friday, January 27th

Cougar Reading- This week we will build on our Rigby Reads theme by having a classroom election. Spiderman and Batman are our candidates and they are running for the title of Worlds Greatest Superohero. We will compare and contrast these heroes as well as make text to world connections! May the best hero win!

Students will also study and practice linking, helping and action verbs during Cougar Reading this week.

Math- We will complete Topic 9 with a test on Monday the 23rd.  We will then begin Topic 10 on Tuesday the 24th. We will learning about place value to 1000.

Writing- We are working on poety in class. Last week we wrote Cynquain. This week we will write a Persona Poem and and Acrostic Poem in class.

Social Studies- We will continue our study of Inventors and Innovations this week by learning about the invention of  items such as bubble gum, mayonnaise, balloons and soup in a can!

Themes, Concepts and Objectives for Jan 17-Jan 21

Reading-  We will be reading Grace for President this week and practicing the strategy of making connections. In class we will use our story to make connections to ourselves, other stories and the world.

Spelling-  The spelling pattern -ice will be studied next week. Test will be on Friday January 21st.

Cougar Reading- We will begin the week by reading The Sneetches by Dr. Seuss and A Picture Book of Martin Luther King Jr. by David Adler. We will discuss the meaning of the word "equality" with the sneetches and learn about the life and works of Martin Luther King Jr. 

Helping verbs will also be learned and practiced during Cougar Reading this week.

Math- We will complete our topic on subtraction this week and take a math test on Monday, January 23rd.

Writing-  Our focus for this week is poetry. We choose a topic and learn how to write a cinquain.

Social Studies-  Our study on Inventors and Innovations will conclude on Friday, January 21st after learning about airplanes with Mrs. Dolan and The Pony Express with Miss Davis.

Themes, Concepts &Objectives for January 9-13

Reading- We are kicking off the new year with the theme Magnets Are Amazing. In class we read a procedural text Amazing Magnets depicting how to create your own puppet theatre using paper clips and magnets. On Friday we had a blast following these procedures and creating our very own puppets.  Our current reading strategy is called Monitoring for Understanding and we are using it to maximize our level of understanding by rereading and asking questions when we are unsure of meaning in a text.

Small reading groups will resume next week. Be sure to ask your child about their reading groups. Many students are switching groups and or teachers.  Look for reading homework to come next Friday the 13th.

Spelling- Our word study will feature the "ood" and "ook" pattern this week.

Cougar Reading- We have begun a genre study on mysteries in second grade. So far we have identifed necessary "ingredients" for a mystery such as : detectives, witnesses, victims, red herrings, and clues. Next week we will read several mysteries in class as we pick out the above mentioned elements and use our knowledge to solve cases!

Math- In math we are learning how to subtract with regrouping.  In class we are using manipulatives to model the concept of regrouping as well as teaching the paper/ pencil method of "borrowing and "carrying" in class. Your child will  receive small group instruction to reteach or extend upon these objectives as necessary in class.

Writing- Word Choice is our topic for this week. We are going to use a thesaurus to find alternatives for over used words such as: nice, good, bad and funny. We will then practice using these new words in sentences and stories. As a  culminating activity we will  have a retirement party for our "tired" and pledge to use our new "interesting" words from now on.

Social Studies- Our current theme is Inventors and Innovations. So far we have defined these words and learned about amazing inventions such as earmuffs, popsicles and sticky notes!  Over the next two weeks your child will rotate through the second grade classrooms learning about  inventions and innovations in communication with Mrs. Smith, aviation with Mrs. Dolan, Henry Ford's Assembly Line with Miss Davis and steamboats and trains with Mrs. Kremer.