Peek at the Week

We had a great week! We were so busy that I didn't have a chance to take many pictures. Sorry! I will do better this week!

Our main comprehension focus was predicting. This strategy seems simple (just guessing what happens next), but we really focused on using our background knowledge and what the text says to then make a prediction. Any prediction we made had to be justified with reasoning ("Tell me why you think that"). They loved reading the story Chicken Dance and predicting how the story would end.

We enjoyed watching part of the Pope's speech on Friday. The students then researched additional information about Pope Francis on the iPad's and computers.

This Week in:

ELA:

Phonics Skill: r-Controlled Vowels ar, or, ore, oar

Spelling words:

1. hard
2. born
3. horse
4. before
5. more
6. smart
7. farm
8. porch
9. corn
10. chore
11. score
12. part
13. morning
14. resort
15. organ

Sight Words: family, listen, pull, break, once, heard

Comprehension Skill: Cause and Effect (We will identify cause/effect situations in the books we are reading this week, paying close attention to the clue words because, so, if then)

Comprehension Strategy: Summarize (We will use the strategy *somebody, wanted, but, so, then* to write a summary)

We are reading a wonderful story, Tara and Tiree, and will focus on summarizing and cause/effect relationships.

Vocab Skill: Unfamiliar Words

Conventions Skill: Nouns (Just common nouns this week- person, place, thing, animal)

Religion: We are starting our Reconciliation unit with a look at the 10 Commandments. We also discussed the whole idea of sin and asking God for forgiveness. On Friday we will go to the chapel as a class for Adoration.

In small groups, we are reading nonfiction stories and looking for cause/effect relationships. In centers, we are visiting the website timeforkids.com on the computers, working in iTooch on the ipads, doing a Noun Scavenger Hunt and working on summarizing in our Interactive Notebooks.

Peek at the Week 9/14-9/18

It was a nice (short) week! Even with the holiday on Monday and Grandparent's Day Friday, we still managed to cram a lot into just three days! 

At the beginning of the year (and really all throughout the year) I love introducing my students to new series and authors that I think they will enjoy as 2nd graders. Henry and Mudge always becomes a favorite and the kids are so sad to say goodbye to this fun series. We spent the past two weeks focusing on retelling the plot and analyzing characters. I like to start with simple texts at the beginning of the year so that we can really understand the comprehension skills.

I model the skill of retelling with a lot of whole group read alouds. The first week we practiced retelling together and I guided them through the process in whole group and small groups. This week we were ready to read the text and retell independently and with partners. They did a pretty good job for the beginning of the year! This is a tough skill which we will practice a lot throughout the year. The hardest part for them is writing only the most important parts rather than all of the little details. They write one sentence for each of the four most important parts of the story using the clue words "first, next, then, last." This is a great skill to practice while reading at home. 

We also started working on our phonics skill for the upcoming week, inflected endings (adding -ed and -ing to the end of a word). There are two rules that we will focus on this week: doubling the consonant and dropping the silent e. We have a poem that we will learn:

It was so nice to meet so many grandparents on Friday. We started the morning with a prayer service outside to honor 9/11 and we placed flags around the campus. The kids met up with their grandparents at 11 for mass then came by the classroom before they headed to lunch. I wish I could have spent more time with them. 

This week in:

ELA: 

Phonics: inflected endings -Ed and -ing. Dropping the silent "e" before adding ed or ing and doubling the consonant on a short VC word. 

Spelling words:

Sight words:

Comprehension skil: main idea and details. We will focus on identifying the main idea and details of a whole story and also of specific paragraphs within the text. Students need to be able to understand the difference between the main idea and just a detail. They should also be able to read a paragraph and identify the main ideas and the details that support the main idea. 

Vocab skill: alphabetize 

Grammar/conventions: Declarative and Interrogative sentences. 

Centers:

iPad app: itooch 

Computers: Highlightkids.com

Sentence pocket book

Inflected endings word hunt 

Religion:

Tomorrow during our religion period we are going to take time and pray for our friend Carson. Hopefully you have talked with your children about his surgery and answered many of their questions. We are going to spend the afternoon praying, reflecting, and making cards and a video message for him. I will deliver everything to him as soon as he is ready for visitors. Please continue praying for Carson and the Ugguccioni family. We have such an incredible community at St. James. I am so touched to hear of the outpouring of love you have showed their family this weekend. I know it means the world to them to have you all by their side. 

Peek at the Week

It has been a great week! I will begin by thanking everyone for their prayers and support for the Ugguccioni family. We have an amazing community at St. James. I visited Carson in the hospital on Thursday and delivered cards the kids made. Mr. and Mrs. Ugguccioni expressed their deepest appreciation for your prayers, kind words, visits, and overall support. Carson was so happy to receive the video messages we sent and the cards we made. He will join us back at school again soon! In the meantime we have "Spongebob" to fill his seat :)

This week in ELA:

Phonics: Consonant Digraphs (two or three consonants put together that make one sound)

Spelling words: that, wish, patch, when, what, math, them, shape, whale, itch, chase, bunch 

Sight words: together, though, often, pieces, gone, learn, very

Comprehension Skill: Facts and Details

Comprehension Strategy: Predict and Set Purpose

Vocab Skill: Synonyms

Conventions Skill: Imperatives and Exclamatory Sentences (Students should be able to read different types of sentences with correct expression and write each type of sentence)

Peek at the Week

It was a great week! Our 8th grade faith buddies came to introduce themselves to us on Tuesday and share stories they wrote in history class.

Due to Labor Day and Grandparents day on Friday, we will not have a spelling test this week. I will begin introducing inflected endings tomorrow, but we need much more than three days for this skill, so we will test next Friday.

We will continue sequencing the events of Henry and Mudge stories this week (writing the beginning, middle, end). The kids are absolutely loving this series! We read several stories together last week and they practiced writing the sequence of the story with me. This week they will partner up  and read stories together and write what happens first, next, then, and last.

I look forward to meeting the grandparents on Friday!!