October 28- November 1

Cougar Reading- In class we will read Halloween poems and do a variety of activities such as practice fluency, visualization and  have a neat handwriting competition! Literature such as The Lazy Witch, and Five Little Pumpkins will be read this week.

Reading- We will complete our unit on Geography this week by finishing up a flip book on maps and review key vocabulary from our unit.  Humorous Halloween literature will also be enjoyed this week as we read  The Hallowiener and The Chocolate Chip Ghost in class.

Spelling- We will study "r" controlled vowels this week with the ir/ur spelling pattern.

Math-  This week we will  learn strategies for mental addition. 

Writing- Last week your child experienced the writing process when we wrote our haunted house stories. This week we will write another narrative about a scarecrow as we utilize the writing process again.

Week of October 22-25

Cougar Reading- This week we will review nouns and adjectives in class and create a chart of Halloween nouns and a chart of Halloween adjectives. These charts will be used to assist us in a writing a story about a haunted house.

ELA/ Social Studies-  Our geography unit is in full swing this week as we continue working on state trivia booklets. Each child chose a state in our country and they are analyzing maps, and learning facts about their chosen state.  We will also read  Me On The Map and create a flip book of maps showcasing our street, town, state and country.

Math-   This week we will compare numbers up 1,000,000 and practice ordering numbers to 1,000,000. We will have a math test on Friday, October 25th.

Writing-  We can't wait to get to get started on our spooky- fun haunted house stories!  These stories will be descriptive and contain many scary adjectives!

Week of October 14-18

Cougar Reading- The second graders will go batty this week as we continue to read and write facts about bats. As a culminating activity we will write mini bat reports using declarative, exclamatory, commanding and interogative sentences.

ELA-  We will begin a brief unit on geography this week as we define the words: reside, route, state, boundary and terrain and read the photo essay Route 66 and The Scrambled States of America. We will do a mini research project on a state of our choice as we complete an informational booklet.

There will be no small group reading groups this week so that I may benchmark students. Small groups will resume the week of October 21st as we begin the second quarter.

Spelling- We will spell words with the ue/ui pattern this week. Our spelling test will be on Thursday, October 17th this week.

 Math-  We will continue to work on place value by reading and writing numbers to 1,000, comparing numbers and ordering them.

ELA/Science/Writing-   This week we will analyze different types of maps in class. We will look at weather maps and discuss how they impact our lives. We will also look at neighborhood and city maps and practice using them in class.

Themes, Topics, and Objectives for the week of October 7-11,2013

Cougar Reading- We will focus on types of sentences this week by identifying telling, question, exclamation, and command sentences in class as we create "bewitching" and "batty" sentences this week!

English Language Arts-   Small groups will meet again this week to work on reading strategies and discuss comprehension questions. Progress monitoring and benchmarking will take place during the next week or two. I'm excited to check for growth!

In whole group reading we will complete our unit on nutrition and food production. We will read the selections A Breakfast Story , Dragon Goes Shopping, and Bonk Gets Healthy and write literature responses in our learning logs.

Spelling- This week we will spell words with the "oa" and "ow" patterns.

Math- We will be learning about place value to 1000, odds and evens, and using a 100 chart. Flexible grouping in math is being conducted as needed to reteach and enrich skills as needed.

Science- The second graders have been enjoying learning about nutrition and the five food groups with the help of a little dragon and a cast of entertaining and magical characters through a series of lessons entitled Little D's Nutrition Expedition. This week we will conclude our unit by participating in a series of food challenges and taking a nutrition test.