Monday

We started the week with a bang today.  Lots of great stuff happening in 2F.  During math, we compared he lengths of many strings and found the difference between the lengths (shortest and longest). This was a cooperative activity that we did in small groups.  So many great skills there!

In computer lab, we went to a site called Into the Book. This site works children through comprehension strategies used when reading a book. Today we worked on synthesizing. It was challenging but fun. We stayed in the lab to work on keyboarding.

In word work: we learned our 5 new words: food, good, room, such, and until. We talked about the vowel dipthong "oo" and the 2 sounds it makes. Then we played Read my Mind.

This afternoon, we did Writing Workshop. Normally on Mondays we write about one thing that happened during our weekends. Today, since we are working on opinion writing, we read a book about adjectives and picked one adjective to describe our weekends. Students had to come up with 3 reasons to support this opinion and then write about it. After this was work jobs.

We read the poems, "Sick" and "Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout" by Shel Silverstein. I have fond memories of these poems being read to me as a child!

Homework went home today.

Tuesday

In math, we are comparing the lengths of different objects. We also learned how to measure with a ruler when you don't start at zero.  Students had fun on Think Central (the math website) with an interactivity with this concept.

In writing, we finished up Weekend News and then looked at each other's blog entries about memorable characters. Comments were made on these. In word work, we did a Making Words activity that compared words with "ow" that made two different sounds.  (snow and plow).

This afternoon, we read a few different books with strong characters. Students filled out a sheet finding evidence of the characters' traits.

Monday: a little late!

Mondays are busy days. Seems like we go, go, go! Our day begins with Morning Meeting. It is a nice transition from the weekend into our school day. We worked on telling time and counting money in this meeting. After that, we move into math. I read a book today about a king and his queen and measurement. We worked on "more than" and "less than" a meter and what this means. In computer lab, we did a cool activity with symmetry. I was amazed at the figures students built which had symmetry!  Later, in writing, we wrote Weekend News. It has been awhile since we've completed this so I will be interested to have students look at the progress they've made.  Our new words for word work this week are: down, found, outside, house, and own.  As you can see, we are working on the vowel dipthongs that make the /ow/ sound.

After lunch and recess, we read a poem about the wind. We found rhyming words, contractions, and words with vowel dipthongs. We did work jobs and finally ended our day with keyboarding.

Homework went home tonight. Let me know if you have questions.

Friday

We began talking about measurement in math today. We are working with metric measures, namely meters and centimeters. We measured and estimated the length, height and width of some things in the classroom. We even measured the length and width of the MPR!  So fun!

This morning, we also did our portfolios, worked on our letters to each other about favorite characters, and completed work in our table folders. We had a spelling test and went outside for recess!

This afternoon, we did centers: iPads (new app: Popwords), Games on the computer and 2 board games.  It was a fun day!

Wednesday

Today, we talked about symmetry in math. Students  built figures that were symmetrical and their partners copied them to show symmetry. Mrs. Jones taught us about time as well. In writing, we explored unforgettable characters in books. Students read books with memorable characters and wrote down what made those characters that way. Tomorrow we will write letters to each other about these characters. This is the beginning of our opinion writing.

I had a meeting this afternooon, but a substitute named Mr. MacLeod came in. We did Scholastic News and wrote our own version of A House is a House For Me.  We ended with keyboarding.

Report cards went home today. Let me know if you have questions. Please sign and send back the envelope.  Thank you! Also, Reach for the Stars assignments went home today.

Monday

We had some fun with tangrams this morning. I introduced the word perseverance to the children this morning. We talked a lot about not giving up if it doesn't come right away. We read a book called Grandfather Tang's Story and built various shapes out of tangrams....fun!  In computer lab, we continued working with geometry by filling in some snowmen with different pattern blocks.

In writing this morning, we began thinking about opinion writing by talking about which pet is best: a dog or a cat.  Students talked with each other about their reasons for selecting the animal they did. We will write about this tomorrow. I also introduced an app called Write About This. This is a place where students are given a prompt and they answer it on the iPad. Eventually, we will put these on our Kidblogs.

In word work, I introduced the 5 words of the week. I sent them home for children to study: boy, catch, even, every, and change. Thanks for your help with that.

This afternoon, we learned about limericks and the rhyme and rhythm patterns in them. We also read a book A House is a House for Me.  We ended our day with keyboarding.

Homework went home today.  It is due Monday.  Have a great week!

Thursday

We had a delightful trip to St. Paul's School to watch the play, "Goldilocks and Three Pigs". The students were so well behaved. It was a pleasure to take them to the theater!

With the field trip, this left us with a very zigger zagger day. We did do a lot of geometry today. I'm looking to end this unit on Tuesday with a test.  Students have done well. It's been a nice break away from all of the hard-core computation that this math program stresses in the beginning of the year. It is still important to stay fresh with those skills, though. I will send home exercises to practice addition and subtraction occasionally for homework.

We also had a spelling test today. This week seemed to have a lot of interruptions and switches in schedules. I am hoping to get back on track next week with a full 5 days!  Have a great weekend!

Tuesday

In math, we worked on attributes of shapes: size, color, thickness. In writing, we worked on our Kidblogs. We will continue to put entries in there this week. If you want to send me pictures that your children can write about, feel free! In word work, we played a bingo game with r-controlled vowel words (ar, er, ir, or, and ur). Kiddos loved this.  This afternoon, we did work jobs and worked on our own verses of The Day the Goose Got Loose. Also, we talked about fluency and what it means to read fluently. Students practiced reading their poems at the end of the day.

Monday

Thank you to all who have returned the permission slip for Thursday's trip. If you haven't yet, tomorrow would be great!

We are working hard on geometry. Today, I introduced words like parallel, perpendicular, intersecting.  Wow!  Students were able to use their geometry sense in the computer lab to do a patterning activity on Kidspiration.

In writing, we changed our avatars on Kidblog. Students wrote about their weekends here as well. In word work, I introduced the new words: girl, different, never, under, winter. We also started making a bingo board that we will use tomorrow in word work.

This afternoon, we had Morning Meeting! Because Mrs. Maynard came in, we didn't have enough time to do this so we made it Afternoon Meeting. We also talked about March coming in like a lion and going out like a lamb and what that means. Finally, we did keyboarding.  Kiddos are working really hard on their keyboarding skills.

Homework went home today.

Thursday

We are still working on our Kidblog entries. Today we learned about editing and what that means. Students went back into posted entries and edited them (checked for word wall words, capitals and periods). All of the writing comes through me so I do my best to check what was missed. Along the lines somewhere there may be a mistake that was overlooked. I also monitor all of the comments being made on others' blogs. I'm not quite ready to go public with this blog. I will let you know when that will happen.

In math, we worked with solid shapes like cubes, rectangular prisms, cones, pyramids, spheres, and cylinders. We are using language like flat surfaces and curved surfaces.  Geometry is a good break from all of the computation that we've been doing all along.

Permission slips went home today for a field trip next week.  Please fill it out as soon as possible and send it back.

Wednesday

Today felt like spring!  We did a money activity with Mrs. Jones and we made placemats for the senior citizens at the Slusser Center. In writing, we were able to do an activity with opinions and supporting details. Then, we learned how to comment on our friends' blog posts on Kidblog.  In word work, we did an activity called Guess the Covered Word.  This afternoon, we read a book called My Brother Dan's Delicious.  We had great conversation after! It was work jobs next followed by keyboarding practice.

Monday

Welcome Back! It was a jammed packed day of lots of good things! We began to learn keyboarding in computer lab this morning. Students are using a web based program called Dance Mat. They are welcome to try it at home as well. Practice is key here. They enjoyed it and did a nice job.

We wrote about our vacations on Kidblog. Nobody finished but we got a good start on it. In math we took a pretest on geometry: our next topic.  In word work, we learned about what r-controlled vowels are and I introduced the new words of the week: car, part, favorite, story and more.

This afternoon, we did an activity where we found problems and solutions to certain read aloud books. After that was work jobs. We ended our day with the Dr. Seuss assembly... always so fun.

All throughout the day, we shared our bird books. They will go into our portfolios.

Homework went home today.  It is due Monday as always, with the exception of the March reading calendar.