Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday with family and friends. It is great to be back with your children; we're off to a wonderful start!

In Reading...

We read a fantastic folk tale this week called, "Head, Body, Legs." While reading, we focused on the comprehension skill of cause and effect. Cause and effect is a tricky concept for second graders to grasp. The way I explain it is that the cause is the "event" or "occurrence" that happens, and the effect is what happens as a result of that event/occurrence. I also teach the students to put the word "so" between their cause and effect statements. For example if the cause was, "I slept through my alarm" and the effect was "I was late for school" I would tell the children to think of it as, "I slept through my alarm so I was late for school." I feel like this strategy really puts things into perspective for the students.

In Grammar...

We are talking about verbs. We were already introduced to verbs in the beginning of the year when we learned that all sentences have a "who" (a noun) and a "do" (a verb). We had a lot of fun practicing verbs in the classroom (I think "run" was their favorite to act out!). We have also played fun games on the Smartboard, as well as partner guessing games, to further practice the concept.

In Writing...

We have begun a fun unit called "How-To." This type of writing requires students to explain to their reader how to do something. I introduced this subject by having my students verbally explain to me how to make a PB&J sandwich. To reinforce the significance of being specific and detailed in our explanations, I followed their directions exactly as they were told to me. So, when they said "take the peanut butter and put it on the bread," I ended up doing so with my hands, as they never said to use a knife. Hopefully, the image of my hand covered in peanut butter will remain engraved in their minds, and they'll remember to consistently add in important details to their writing!

In Math...

We have started our unit on geometry. So far we have discussed points, line segments, lines, and parallel lines. While around your house or out and about, please ask your child if they notice any parallel lines. Hopefully, they will be able to identify them, and be able to explain to you the definition of a parallel line.

We will continue to practice partial sums math as well as ball park estimates. I understand these are difficult concepts for second graders, and we will continue to practice this skill as the weeks progress.