This week in Room 11 - December 8-12

This week we will work on the following skills:

Reading:  Acknowledge differences in the points of view of characters; describe how words an phrases supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song

Math:  Identify real-life connections between words and their use

Spelling:  Variant vowel /oo/ syllable pattern

Math:  Add two-digit numbers

Spelling Words:  brook, push, pull, bush, look, full, bully, bookshop, seagull

High Frequency Words:  away, got, head, later, leave, read, saw

Homework

Every night:  study spelling words and read "Good Dog"

Monday:  math

Tuesday:  math, get test papers signed and return to school on Wednesday

Wednesday:  math, reading

Thursday:  math, write spelling words 4 times each

Place Value Activities

For several weeks we have worked on place value.  We did several activities to help us with this concept.  It takes a lot of practice to realize that a 1 in the ones column or the tens column mean different things.  First, we did a button activity.  We had a lot of buttons in a jar.   We estimated how many buttons we thought it was.  The class divided into small groups.  Each group had some buttons in a bowl to count.  Ten buttons went into a paper cup.  If a group had ten paper cups of buttons they were put into a plastic bag.  When the groups finished counting, we counted all the plastic bags (hundreds), paper cups (tens) and left over buttons to get the grand total.  We had over four hundred buttons!!

We also used base ten blocks to work on place value.  We compared the units, rods and flats.  Ask your child how many units make up a rod or how many rods make a flat.  

This week in Room 11 - December 1 - 5

Block test tomorrow --Tuesday, December 2
Scholastic book orders are due by Thursday, December 4

This week we are working on the following skills:

Reading:  Describe how words and phrases (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song

Spelling:  variant vowel /oo/ syllable patterns

Math:  Add and subtract 2-digit numbers

Language:  Distinguish shades of meaning among closely related adjectives

Spelling Words:  brew, soup, blue, clue, blew, group, cashew, cartoon, pursue

High Frequency Words:  through, enough, off, soon, try, why

Homework:

Every night:  study spelling words, read "Blue Goose"

Monday:  Math

Tuesday:  reading, get test papers signed and return on Wednesday

Wednesday:  reading

Thursday:  Math, write spelling words 4 times each

Spelling Words for December 1-5

Well, I messed up.  I had the list of spelling words in my bag to bring home with me.  I took them out to copy so I would have them ready for Monday and left them at school.  I got in touch with Ms. Calloway and she left them at school as well.  I am trying to find out if Mrs. Boatman has them at home.  I checked on my computer to see if I had them from last year and apparently do not.  If I find the list I will post them as soon as I get them.  I am so sorry I left them at school.  I believe a few of the words were:  blew, blue and pursue.  I will keep looking.  Thanks for your understanding.

November 24-28 in Room 11

I apologize for not posting last week.  Some weeks just seem very hectic and it is hard to find the time.  This week we are reviewing our same skills in reading and language.  There are NO spelling words this week.   We are continuing with place value and numbers in math.  We are also reviewing for our next block test in reading.  We will review in math on Monday when we return from Thanksgiving break.  Our block tests will be December 2 for reading, writing, and math.

Several reminders:

You can bring box tops whenever you have any and I will turn them in to Nurse Jodie.

November book it forms are due by December 1.

Early dismissal on Tuesday, November 25 at 2:00.

Thanksgiving Break -- Wednesday - Friday (November 26-28).

Students brought home math homework today (Monday).

I plan to put spelling words for next week on here by Wednesday in case anyone wants a head start in studying them. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!!!

This Week in Room 11 -- November 10-14

Last week was a short week so many of our skills are staying the same.

Reading:  Identify main topic of a text and describe how reasons support point author made in a text

Spelling:  vowel diphthong /oi/ syllable patterns

Math:  Place value

Language:  Form and use the past tense of frequently occurring irregular verbs

Spelling Words:  point, broil, boy, joint, spoil, toy, enjoy, poison, oyster

High Frequency Words:  big, both, left, must, plant, play

Homework:

Every night:  Study spelling words, read "The Mess"

Monday:  Math

Tuesday:  Reading

Wednesday:  Language

Thursday:  Math, write spelling words 4 times each

Math Bee

Each week we take timed math fact tests.  The students who have an "A" average at the end of the nine weeks participate in the math bee. Our class had one student to be in the math bee.  

Congratulations to Keliah.  She placed third in second grade students!!  Everyone needs to study so you can be in the math bee next time.

This Week in Room 11 -- November 3-7

This week we are learning the following skills:

Reading:  Describe how characters in a story respond to major events or challenges

Spelling:  vowel diphthong /oi/ syllable patterns

Math: Place value

Language:  Form and use the past tense of frequently occurring irregular verbs


Spelling Words:  point, broil, boy, joint, spoil, toy, enjoy, poison, oyster

High Frequency Words:  big, both, left, must, plant, play

Homework:

Every night:  Study spelling words and read "The Mess"

Monday:  Reading

Tuesday:  Get test papers signed and return on Wednesday.

We are introducing spelling words this week.  These will also be our words for next week since this is a short week.  (No school on Thursday or Friday.)

Math Facts

Each week we have a math facts test.  This is a timed test--students have one minute to answer 20 addition facts.  Many students are struggling with this.  Please practice at home.  A packet was sent home in September with practice materials.  You can also purchase flash cards at Dollar Tree or make your own with index cards.  Below are a couple of links to some online games that will help your child with their facts.  I will keep looking and let you know when I find some more.  You can also google math facts practice for more sites.  Please let me know if I can help you in any way.

http://www.abcya.com/math_facts_game.htm

http://www.factmonster.com/math/flashcards.html

This week in Room 11 -- October 27-31

Monday - Parent-Teacher Conferences
               Begin at 2:30

October Book It forms are due by Friday.  Keep reading!!

This week we will be working on the following skills:

Reading:  Describe how characters in a story respond to major events/challenges

Spelling:  long i digraph syllable patterns

Math:  Telling time

Language:  Reflexive pronouns

Spelling words:  bright, brightly, pie, lightning, sigh, tighten, high, flight, lie

High Frequency words:  always, even, idea, later, still, took, went

Homework:

Every night:  Study spelling words and read "No More Light"

Monday:  Reading

Tuesday:  Reading, get test papers signed and return on Wednesday

Wednesday:  Math, language

Thursday:  Math, write spelling words four times each

Candy corn guys, pattern blocks, tangrams, and bats

I am going to try and get caught up on what we have been doing.  I am sorry I never posted anything last week.  Sometimes things are just hectic and it's hard to get to everything.  I will try to do better.

We have worked with tangrams and pattern blocks to learn about shapes.  We learned about sides and angles of shapes.  We also used smaller shapes to make larger shapes.

I think everyone enjoyed making different shapes with the tangrams (in the top picture) and with the pattern blocks. Be sure and ask your child about trapezoids, hexagons, pentagons, and quadrilaterals!  We also used the pattern blocks to learn about fractions.  We discovered that two trapezoids make a hexagon, so each trapezoid is one half of a hexagon.  It takes three rhombuses to make a hexagon, so each rhombus is one third of a hexagon.  The hands on learning with manipulatives often makes it easier to understand.









To decorate our hallway for October we also made Candy Corn Guys.  I found this on the internet at ilovedoodlebugs.com and thought they were so cute.  It was also a lesson in following directions. These look really cute hanging in the hall.

The students worked hard on our Candy Corn Guys and I think they turned out cute.  They are a very colorful addition to the hall!








This past week we have been working on retelling a story.  The students listened to Stellaluna and had to tell the important parts of the story.  To make this a little more interesting, we wrote our retelling on a bat cutout.  The class rewrote their retelling on white paper shapes that would fit on the black bat.  They cut everything out, glued the retelling on the bat and then added wiggly eyes.  So cute!  This was based on an idea I saw on The First Grade Parade blog.

I will try to keep you posted about what we are doing and showing some of our work.

This Week in Room 11 -- October 13-17

Tuesday -- Block Test

This week we will be working on the following skills:

Reading:  Recounting stories and using information from illustrations

Spelling:  long o digraph syllable patterns

Math:  Shapes, equal shares as halves, thirds, and fourths

Language:  Reflexive pronouns

Spelling Words:  float, doe, grown, boat, shown, toe, below, yellow, toenail

High Frequency Words: began, big, off, once, saw, went, while

Homework:

Every night:  Study spelling words, read "The Goat and the Crow"

Monday:  Reading

Tuesday:  Reading, get test papers signed and return on Wednesday

Wednesday:  Math, language

Thursday:  Math, write spelling words four times each

Stomp Out Bullying, Fact Families, Sparky, Graphing, Timed Tests

This past week was very busy.  The first Monday of October is Blue Shirt Day World Day of Bullying Prevention.  A lot of teachers wore Stomp Out Bullying shirts and students were asked to wear a blue shirt.  About 9 students in our class had on blue shirts.  This was to join in solidarity to stop bullying and cyberbullying.

On Tuesday we worked on fact families using dominoes.  Students had to write the two addition and two subtraction number sentences to go with each domino.

Wednesday we had a very special visitor come to Maddux.  The West Memphis Fire Department came and did a fire prevention and safety show to the students in kindergarten, first and second grades.  We had a good time learning about stop, drop, and roll, and things that we shouldn't play with to prevent fires.  They also brought a special visitor the students always enjoy...Sparky!!!  Several students were picked to demonstrate stop, drop and roll with Sparky.  A few were also picked to dance with Sparky.  It was a good program.

All week in math we worked on graphing.  We learned about collecting data and making a table using tally marks or numbers.  We also learned about picture graphs and bar graphs.

We are also doing a timed test each week on math facts.  Please continue to study.  I am happy to announce that this week 9 students made an A on their test.  Congratulations to the following students:  Briana, Tammial, Keliah, Shanyia, Somer, JaDarious, Jaydon, Deterrian, and Jeremiah.  Keep up the good work!!!

This week in Room 11 - October 6-10

This week we will continue working on some of the same skills from last week.

Reading:  Asking and answering questions

Spelling:  long a digraph syllable patterns

Math:  Graphs

Language:  Produce, expand, and rearrange simple and compound sentences

Continue to study math facts.  We have a timed test each week.

Homework for this week:

Every night:  Study spelling words, read "Zebra and Snail"

Monday:  Math, reading

Tuesday:  Math, reading, get test papers signed and return on Wednesday

Wednesday:  Math, language

Thursday:  Math, write spelling words four times each

What we will do this week -- Sept. 29-Oct. 3

This week we will work on the following skills:

Reading:  Asking and answering questions

Spelling:  Open-syllable words

Math:  Two-dimensional shapes

Language:  Produce, expand and rearrange simple and compound sentences

Spelling Words:  cry, go, she, fly, we, so, baby, robot, tidy

High Frequency Words:  because, done, don't, know, once, together

Homework:

Every night:  Study spelling words and read "The Snake Kite"

Monday:  Math, reading

Tuesday:  Math, get test papers signed and return on Wednesday

Wednesday:  Reading, language

Thursday:  Language, write spelling words four times each

***Be sure and study math facts.  We will have a timed test each week.

Homework for September 22-26

Every night:  Study spelling words, read "The Flat Tire"

Monday:  Math

Tuesday:  Reading, get tests papers signed and return on Wednesday

Wednesday:  Reading, language

Thursday:   Language, write spelling words four times each

***Be sure and study your math facts every night.  We have a timed test each week.  These will  be averaged for one grade for the nine weeks.

What we will be learning -- September 22-26

Reading:  Predicting
Spelling:  r-controlled /ar/ syllable patterns
Math:  Two-step word problems, CGI problems
Language:  Irregular plural nouns

Spelling Words:  blare, hair, bear, flare, pair, wear, repair, cherry, barely

High Frequency Words:  big, important, left, need, off, together, took

Interactive Notebooks

I am excited!! This week we began using interactive notebooks.  I have been reading about them and decided to give them a try.  Students will glue pages related to our skill and write about them. Students were very engaged during the lesson.  I look forward to working in them again next week!

The class really seemed to enjoy working on these.  The notebooks will be a resource for the students when they have questions about these skills.  This lesson was on story structure.  We reviewed that a story has a beginning, middle and end that makes up the plot of the story.  I got this wonderful resource from Reading Notebook for 2nd Grade by Nicole Shelby.  We will be using this resource a lot for our notebooks!

Technical Difficulties

Since I'm still new to blogging it looks like I'm having a few difficulties getting the homework information to post on the Homework tab. This week it looks like it will be on the Home page!  Oh well, I'll keep working on it.

Homework: Sept. 8-12

Every night:  Study spelling words, read "Who Snored?"

Monday:  Spelling word sort (you may have your child write the words in the boxes if you don't have scissors and glue)

Tuesday:  Math, get test papers signed and return on Wednesday

Wednesday:  Math, reading

Thursday:  Math, language

Spelling words:  score, fort, horn, shore, short, thorn, before, forest, hornet

High Frequency Words:  began, don't, here, never, next, second, went

What we will be learning--Sept. 8-12

This week we will be working on the following skills:

Reading: Non-fiction text features (captions, bold print, subheadings, glossaries, indexes, electronic menu icons),  Determining the meaning of words and phrases in a text

Spelling:  r-controlled o syllable patterns

Math:  Relating addition and subtraction, missing addends

Language:  Capitalize holidays, product names, and geographic names

You may click on the homework tab at the top of this page to see spelling words and homework for the week.

What we will be learning this week - Sept. 2-5

This week we will be working on the following skills:

Reading:  Continue learning about story structure (beginning, middle, and end).
Spelling:  r-controlled a syllable patterns
Math:  Subtraction
Language:  Compare formal and informal uses of English

You may click on the homework tab at the top of this page to see the spelling words and homework for the week.

Reminders:  Scholastic book orders are due this Friday, September 5.  You may also send box tops to school.

The First Two Weeks of School

We have been very busy during these first weeks of school. We have learned about my classroom procedures and rules and are practicing these every day.  We want the classroom to run smoothly to maximize our learning time.  In spelling we have reviewed initial and final blends, digraphs and long vowel words with the VCe pattern.  We learned that we are all mathematicians and made a hallway display.

These cute mathematicians came from Let's Get Started...beginning of the year math lessons and activities by Amy Lemons.  We also used numbers to tell about ourselves.  This By the Numbers activity is from Donna Boucher.

We have also been working on addition facts up to 20.  Every day we also count to 200 and skip count by tens and fives to 200. In reading we have been learning about story structure.  This includes setting, characters, and the beginning, middle and end of the story. In language we are reviewing sentences and sentence fragments.  We are also reviewing sentence punctuation and capitalization.  Room 11 has been very busy these first two weeks.

Getting the classroom ready -- Almost there!!

This week I had to go back to school for staff development.  I worked last Friday in my room and have worked this week when not in meetings.  My room is coming together.  There are still several things I have to do but it is almost ready for the students next week.  The following pictures are how it looked this afternoon before I left.  I will post pictures of each area of the room when I get finished.

I have tomorrow to finish getting the classroom ready. School starts Monday!

Getting the classroom ready--Day 3

This morning I went back to school to work on my room.  I was pleased with my efforts.  I still have a lot to do before school starts but I did make progress.  I cleaned out one of my big cabinets.  I put labels with the DRA level on my library books.  I even got them into the library cart.  I just have to go buy some more ink to print my labels for the library tubs.  I filed some papers away and got rid of some old papers I found. My table is getting much better and the desks are as well.  I still have a way to go but I'm getting there.  The pictures from today show the desks and my table looking better and my library cart.  Right now I just have post-it notes on the tubs to show the levels.  Tomorrow I hope to get a lot more done.  Next week I will be in meetings and won't have as much time. 

The desks are looking a little better! No stacks of books!

The classroom library cart is where the students choose books to read on their own.

Getting the classroom ready--Day 2

I took a day off on Tuesday to do a program at my parent's church.  So I came back Wednesday and got to work.  In the past my classroom library books were sorted by genre (realistic fiction, holidays, biographies, fiction, etc.).  This year I am sorting my books by their DRA level.  I feel this will make it a lot easier for students to be able to find books that are appropriate for them.  However, I spent a while on the computer looking up the books and finding out what level they were.  I also kept unpacking as well.  Wednesday's photos show books stacked up on desks by their level.  The cubbies are also beginning to be empty. I also put up my number line over the student computers and my Word Study pocket chart by the smartboard. Now I just have to find a place for everything to go!

Getting the classroom ready - Day 1

When the calendar is turned to August it is time to begin to get the classroom ready.  On Monday, I went back to school to begin work in my room.  When I walked in everything was packed up for the summer. The floors had been waxed and desks were back in the room.   It was time to unpack the cubbies and begin to put things where they belong.  The problem with this is that my room becomes a big mess before it gets better.

These pictures show the class when I first walked in. Paper is covering the cubbies, a lot of things are stashed in the boxes and tubs on top of the cubbies and the big cabinets.  Computers are covered up to keep out dust.  The bulletin board is even covered. The paper comes off and the fun begins.  I started to take things out of the cubbies and also get things down from the cabinets.  After several hours work, I had a big mess on my hands.  I left school Monday afternoon very tired.

I had taken out a lot of things.  Books were piled on top of desks.  My table was very messy.  But I knew it would get better--it just takes several days.  

The pictures below show the room at the end of day one.  I'll keep you updated on the progress of the room.

Summer Reading

I have been reading two books to improve classroom procedures.  These books have a wealth of information that will help the classroom run smoothly. There is  work to be done to modify these procedures for my classroom.  I am looking forward to putting this information learned into practice when school begins!

Out for the Summer

I have been out of school for 2 weeks now.  I have already been to a 2 day workshop about teaching science through trade books.  I learned a lot of information that can also be applied to teaching social studies.  As soon as I learn what our content will be at the beginning of school I will begin planning with the knowledge I learned.  During July I will attend a few more workshops.  I have already been doing quite a bit of thinking about how I want my class to be arranged, my PGP, and this blog.  I will practice so I will be ready when the new year begins.  It will be here before we know it.