Week 4!

We are continuing to work on our writing skills using adjectives, nouns and verbs.

As part of Daily 5 we Worked on Writing in our classroom journals.

 We check each writing piece for S.W.A.G

 We use our Word Wall when we need to remind ourselves how to spell some Rule Breaker Words.

 Students use their sound friends to help spell decodable words.

 We also use a dictionary to help us spell.

 Each week we add our word work words to our dictionary.

In math we worked on sorting items by characteristics.

We also worked on creating patterns.

We celebrate jobs well done and expected grade two behaviours with quarters.  Once a student has earned a dollar (four quarters) they can cash in for a reward.

We practiced our bus evacuation this week.

Mrs.  Morgan came to help us learn how to log on to and off of our Chromebooks.

Mr.  Walker came to share with us St. Teresa of Calcutta's message of doing "small things with great love".

We have had a nasty flu virus move through the class.  I was very ill on Thursday night as were several students who didn't make it to school on Friday.  Please emphasize the importance of staying healthy through hand washing as we move into the cold and flu season.

Please be aware that Picture Day is Tuesday, Sept. 27th.

We will be going on our first field trip of the year to Prairie Gardens.  Please make sure students have a disposable lunch.  Also, much of the day is spent outside so please ensure students are dressed for fall weather.

We are still in need of volunteers for this trip.  Please email me if you can attend.

If you have any questions, comments or concerns please don't hesitate to ask.

Daily 5!

Daily 5 is a structure that promotes responsibility, independence and confidence.  When students know they can do something independently they increase their self-esteem.

We started our Read to Self Daily to build our reading stamina. 

 Students are practicing in class how to pick a good fit book for their home reading.

 Ask your child what the 5 finger rule is.

Here we are building stamina.

At the beginning of each week the students are given a list of commonly used decodable words and rule breaker words. They will work with those words in class all week using a variety of activities.  At the end of each week each student will be responsible for creating sentences using words from their word work.   

We can practice our word work words with dry erase crayons and white boards.

We can practice our word work words with ghost writing.

We can practice our word work words with chalkboards and chalk.

We can practice our word work with dry erase markers and white boards.

We can practice our word work words by adding.

We can practice our word work words using ink and stamps.

We can practice our word work words using magnetic letters.

We can practice our word work words using smelly markers.

We can practice our word work words using scrabble letters.

We can practice our word work words using the Roll and Write game.

Read to Someone is another Daily 5 activity that is mostly done at home but is sometimes done at school too.

When we Read To Someone in class, we sit in EEKK!  but at home you can pick a comfy spot that works for you both.

 Our book boxes for Read to Self are different colours along the top of the shelf.  Each student has their own box with their "Good Fit" books inside.  The large white bins below are where we pick our Read To Someone home reading books.

Students will bring home reading to share with you each evening.  Please enjoy this time with your child.  We are trying to create lifelong readers who read for pleasure.  

If home reading is becoming stressful please contact me and we can explore ways to relive some of the stress for both you and your child.  There are three ways to read a book with your child.

Please record your reading and sign your child's READO sheet each evening.  At the end of the month your child will return the READO sheet to school.  The fridge is a great place to keep the READO sheet so that your child can take ownership for bringing you the sheet to initial once they have completed their reading. Please feel free to write any comments you feel might be useful for me in the space provided on the READO sheet.

Reading is an important part of your child’s education, therefore the students can bring home a book or pick a book from home to read each night.  The same book may be read more than once.  This serves as practice and reinforcement of reading skills which will be assessed in class.  Please do not be alarmed if your child chooses to bring home the same book several times.  Although this may be boring for adult readers this is developmentally appropriate for children this age and promotes confident fluent readers.

Listen To Reading can be done by listening to stories read by others.  

http://www.storylineonline.net is a terrific website for this activity.

Work on Writing is worked on in class.  Students can write about what they choose or they can use any of the suggestions provided in class.  Students are asked to check their writing has superhero SWAG before handing it in.

 They are also asked to rate their writing using the rubric below.

The last part of the Daily 5 includes learning a variety of strategies for becoming good reader through our CAFE.

When reading students are encouraged to use the "Check for Understanding" CAFE strategy.  This strategy was modelled and practiced in class.  

Each student has a Mr.  Check In bookmark to help them remember to check for understanding at the end of each page.

We will fill our CAFE Menu with many strategies to help us become good readers.  

 If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact me.