Post 17

HOMEWORK

The fluorescent green sheet that was sent home this week for homework is the new second grade homework format. It is both a reading log and their reading response sheet. You will notice that there are sentence starters on the back of the sheet. We expect students to use these sentence starters when crafting their response. This single sheet is what homework will look like for the remainder of the year; it replaces the packet format we had been following. This one homework product should be returned on Fridays.

Prior to having our new homework sent home, your child spent some time in the classroom learning and practicing homework expectations with an emphasis on achievement and effort. These are two of our school’s core values. We expect to see them represented on students’ homework, just the same as we seek to see these values represented daily in school across all academic and social domains.

The second grade teaching team expects to see this one homework product done well. Sentences should be properly constructed and follow conventions (i.e. capitalization and punctuation used properly). Handwriting should be neat and letters should be properly formed. Work that is less than a student’s best effort or which does not meet these standards will be returned. We thank you in advance for holding these high standards at home.

We appreciate your ongoing partnership and active participation in this process.

Best,

The Second Grade Team

Second Grade Homework Expectations:

·      Total time spent on homework is 30 minutes per night

·      Nightly reading of 20 minutes

·      Nightly reading response

Additional homework resources are available on our website and may be used at the discretion of individual families and/or at your teacher’s recommendation.

IMPORTANT DATES:

Wednesday, February 1, 2017 - 12:30 Release

REMINDERS: 

Wow words: Please continue to help your child gather new words each week through their reading and your conversations at home and bring them in on Wow Word Wednesday. Here are links to an online dictionary (Merriam Webster for kids - Word Central) and our wow word worksheet in case you need a new one. This is an ongoing reminder for the year. Please make acquiring new words part of your home routine.

CURRICULUM UPDATE:

In reading we: 

• Learned about James Marshall and read some of his works, such as George and Martha, Rats on the Roof and some poems from Pocketful of Nonsense. 
• Learned new strategies for learning new words - looking at the picture and reading around the word to get context clues.

At home, talk with your children about the James Marshall books that we have read and about him as a person.     

In Fundations (Word Study) we: 

• Began unit 7, in which we will learn about open syllables, when y acts as a vowel, how to combine open syllables with closed syllables and v-e syllables in multisyllabic words.
• Trick words: eight, large, change  

At home, please refer to the Unit 7 family letter to learn how you can support our word study work at home. Also, look though the fundations/word study section on my website. There, you will find all of the first and second grade trick words. If your child needs practice with these words, please practice through activities such as playing bingo, memory or through reviewing them on flashcards. Here is a link to a great website with different sight word games that you might like to try. 

Next week, we will continue our work in unit 7.   

In writing: 

• We continued writing and publishing informational books. 
• We drafted a how-to chapter as a class to demonstrate how we need to use specific language when writing a how-to.
• We worked to set personal goals for each day.
• We discussed that each chapter should include many important details so that our books truly teach our reading something.

  
At home, ask your child about his/her writing. Have them share the important facts that they wrote in each chapter.    

Next week, we will continue our work on writing informational books and will begin sharing our published pieces.

In math:

• We continued working in our geometry unit.
• We discussed geometric vocabulary, such as parallel lines, intersecting lines, line segments, polygons, quadrilaterals, pentagons, and hexagons.
• We sorted polygons by various attributes and explained how shapes are the same and different.
• Explored 3-D shapes and noticed their attributes, such as their faces, edges and vertices.

At home, find shapes in the world around you. Look for both 2-D and 3-D shapes. Note how shapes can combine to form other shapes.

Next week, we will finish up on our geometry unit and begin a project-based unit called ages and timelines.  

In Social Studies we:

• Read about food in Mexico and learned some other things that come from Mexico.

At home, talk with your child about what comes from Mexico. 

Social/Emotional Learning:

• We have been discussing kindness, cooperation and respect often as a class. This week, we framed this discussion by reading Have You Filled A Bucket Today? A Guide For Daily Happiness For Kids. Talk with your children about what they know about bucket filling and bucket dipping. Emphasize ways in which they can be bucket fillers both at home and at school. 

Enjoy your weekend!