Our class has been so busy during this first unit of Readers' Workshop! This unit builds upon the work of first grade and is helping to grow our decoding and comprehension skills. During this unit we have focused on strategies to help decode, or sound out, tricky words by using strategies involving word parts and meaning. We have also focused on our comprehension by stopping, thinking, and jotting about the books we are reading. We are building our reading stamina by reading more and more. We are retelling parts of the book and noticing lessons that the story is teaching us. Students are noticing powerful moves from the author and jotting them down to try during our Writing Workshop time. They are busy applying all of these strategies using their independent texts! One tricky strategy that second graders have been working on is the Making Ten to Subtract strategy. In this strategy, students will break about the second number (the subtrahend) in a Math problem by thinking about what you would take away from the first number (minuend) to make 10. Then we would continue to subtract what is left. We practiced this strategy with number lines and graphic organizers. Splitting apart numbers in this way to subtract helps students build their Math fluency and helps with solving tricky Math problems with Mental Math. Did you know that KES students follow the three core values of being caring, respectful, and responsible? These core values are posted throughout the school and in our classrooms. The core value charts show students how they can exhibit these values in and out of the classroom. Room 31 students have even signed a contract to show that they will be caring, respectful, and responsible. Students throughout the school can earn core value tickets when they are showing that they are following one of these core values. Second grade has moved towards having Core Value Cards as one way of positive reinforcement in the classroom. Students can earn a hole punch everytime they are caught being caring, respectful, or responsible. Once a student earns 20 hole punches, they can earn a reward such as bringing in a stuffed animal from home, sitting at the teachers desk, extra computer time, etc. |
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May 2017
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