Spelling Words

1. market
2. delivery
3. community
4. neighbor
5. herbs
6. celebration
7. parade
8. city
9. urban
10. holiday

These words go along with our new theme: Neighborhood and Community and with our first story from that theme- Chinatown.

MAKE-UP PICTURE DAY

It was originally scheduled for Tuesday, December 1st but has been rescheduled to Wednesday, December 9th from 9am-10am.

WELCOME BACK!

Spelling words:
1. feathers
2. quietly
3. circles
4. branches
5. covered
6. outlined
7. easily
8. luckily
9. curved
10. rarely

Current news...

- On Wednesday, Nov. 18th the H1N1 mist will be provided to students who returned the permission forms.
- On Tuesday, Nov. 24th PCA will be holding a service learning day. Each grade is participating in a community service project. Second grade will be going to Killens Pond in the morning to clean up and collect items (from their nature path) to be used in wreath making classes that Killens Pond will be hosting at later dates. Parents are welcome to join us for our morning of community service. :-)

Spelling Words

1. wildlife
2. shadow
3. meadow
4. echo
5. sight
6. night
7. flight
8. grown
9. mellow
10. marshmallow

Spelling Words - 11/2/09

1. learn
2. explore
3. exploring
4. habitat
5. protect
6. busy
7. tours
8. animals
9. exciting
10. ranger
11. nature

BOOK FAIR

Our homeroom will be visiting the book fair on Monday - to browse and make a wish list- then again on Wednesday for the students to make their purchases. Purchasing books is completely optional, but please send all book fair money in an envelope or baggie labelled with the student's name and the amount enclosed.

Spelling Words - 10/26/09

1. campsite
2. anything
3. backpack
4. campfire
5. everyone
6. someone
7. oatmeal
8. something
9. yourself
10. classmate

The focus this week is compound words. These are words that are found throughout our story Henry and Mudge and the Starry Night. We will also be practicing summarizing this story. Ask your child to summarize the story for you - remind them to focus on main characters and setting, then tell you MAIN details (not every detail) from the beginning, to middle, to end - tell them to make sure they're going in order - the way things happened in the story.

Spelling Words - 10/19/09

1. quiet
2. quick
3. around
4. found
5. mouse
6. aloud
7. shower
8. house
9. vowel
10. hour

WEDNESDAY- 10/14

Students may wear plain (no writing) pink shirts with uniform pants for a donation to support Breast Cancer Awareness on Wednesday, October 14th.

READING - Weekly Spelling List

1. character
2. observed
3. wicked
4. predict
5. infer
6. question
7. monitor
8. clarify
9. compare
10. contrast

** Bonus - hippopotamus **

Spelling Words- 10/5/09

Since this is a short week we will have our spelling test on Thursday. With that in mind, I have decided to make this week's spelling words a review of the previous weeks'. These review words were chosen because they seem to have been the most challenging for the students.

1. surprise
2. delivered
3. brought
4. scratched
5. stories
6. special
7. commotion
8. imitation
9. balanced
10. cried
* Bonus *
11. prediction

Spelling Words - 9/28

1. delivered
2. arrive
3. sliding
4. riding
5. feather
6. wear
7. twice
8. crammed
9. commotion

WEEKLY SPELLING (READING) HOMEWORK

In addition to the following, students should be reading daily. They can read fiction books, chapters from a chapter book, magazines, instruction manuals, etc. So long as they are practicing their reading skills AND enjoying reading in the process!

MONDAY-
Put spelling words in alphabetical order

TUESDAY-
Write spelling words three times each

WEDNESDAY-
Choose five spelling words. Write a thoughtful complete sentence for each of these five words. Only one of the five sentences may begin with the word I.

THURSDAY-
Put spelling words into pyramids. Study for spelling test tomorrow.

FRIDAY-
Make sure you're ready to "Show what you know!" Weekly spelling test on Fridays.

Spelling Words-9/21

1. brought
2. reason
3. special
4. noise
5. crumbs
6. surprise
7. getting
8. shared
9. slurped
10. imitation

Spelling words 9/14
1. stories
2. dancing
3. shopping
4. balanced
5. crunched
6. scratched
7. pushes
8. cried
9. faster
10. rolled

Welcome Back!

Hope everyone enjoyed their summer. If you made it to the Open House you already received our Second Grade Welcome/Information letter. On the first day of school, your child will be bringing home several more information sheets (some of which will need to be filled out, signed, and returned). These sheets will be coming home in your child's Monday folder, which is how the second grade teachers will communicate with you on a weekly basis. Please be sure to check this folder and return everything, signed, the next day.

There will be more information to follow, but I thought you'd want to know that we will have Gym on the first day of school. We will have a six day rotating schedule, which will be identified with letters. Please be sure that your child wears non-marking rubber sole shoes (or has a change of shoes available) on the day of Gym class. Thank you so much for your cooperation.

Enjoy the last day of summer vacation!

Spelling Words - 1/17/09

1. attention
2. listen
3. announce
4. favorite
5. safety
6. officer
7. imagination
8. speeches
9. accident

Spelling Words - 2/9/09

1. punctuation
2. complete
3. directions
4. continue
5. sequence
6. question
7. passage
8. define
9. example
10. strategy

Preparation for the DSTP -
These words were chosen so that students will become familiar with words they may see in sets of directions. We are practicing reading short stories and referring back to the stories to answer comprehension questions. This will not only reinforce the skills we've been learning all year, but also provide practice with the format of the DSTP (Delaware State Testing). We have been talking about the DSTP in class, not to overwhelm the children, but instead to help them feel more comfortable with it and to inform them of what to expect. I have explained that it is simply a way to "show what you know" - in fact, if you use this phrase at home you'll see that they are very familiar with it! Feel free to work with your child on these short stories and questions. Encourage them to go back to the story and underline (or even highlight -with a highlighter) the parts of the story that support their answer.

*** MS Readathon ***

Dear parents/guardians -
Hopefully you've already sent in the little registration card at the bottom of the MS Readathon pamphlet. PCA is participating in the National Multiple Sclerosis Society's annual Readathon. Once registered children are to collect sponsor names, who agree to pay per book read or just a flat amount -the amounts are their choice. Then, an envelope and further information will be sent to your home from the MS Society. All monies collected will be sent directly to the MS Society and need to be received by March 13th. This is something we are participating in to help our students realize that they truly can make a difference. This is not a PCA fundraiser. Everything collected will benefit the MS Society and the services, resources, and research they provide to help those afflicted with multiple sclerosis. We hope that you will emphasize the importance of participating in such an important cause.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Roberts

Spelling Words - 1/26/09

1. station
2. subway
3. plaque
4. collection
5. illustrate
6. surprise
7. community
8. birthday
9. believe
10. picture

Homework as usual, except for pyramids on Thursdays instead of three times each.
Example of pyramid homework:
s
st
sta This will require more focus with spelling the word out - and
stat the students seem to like it!
stati
statio
station

In addition to regular homework, students should be reading and recording the books they've read on their MS Readathon reading log. Hopefully everyone has already sent in their registration cards and has started collecting sponsors. It is wonderful to know that our students are working to help such a good cause! :-)

Math update

We have been learning about plane shapes and solid figures. We learned about finding and counting the sides and angles of plane shapes. We also learned about counting/finding the flat surfaces, edges, and vertices of solid shapes. We learned about congruency and symmetry. We also learned how a shape may change the way it looks (or may just change its position) after a slide, flip, or turn. Each student has a review packet with practice on all of these concepts/skills. We have been working on these packets for the past two class periods and their job (homework) tonight is to "teach" you about what they learned as they go through each page of the packet. Happy learning! :-)

Spelling Words - 1/12/09

1. emergency
2. solve
3. solution
4. disguise
5. costume
6. mustache
7. mirror
8. character
9. creation
10. chief

see previous posts for weekly homework

Social Studies

This week the students had an assignment to interview an adult that they live with. There was a sheet with specific questions for them to ask and they were also to create at least two questions on their own that they would want to know. Please assure that they are truly interviewing you - as that is one of the skills we are learning. So, they should be reading the questions to you and then recording your answers. Some of the students wanted to interview more than one adult from home. I encourage this- they are really excited about this project and I think it's great for them to learn a bit about our "very recent" history. :-) If your child wants to interview more than one adult from home, I simply ask that the answers for the additional adult be recorded on a separate piece of paper. I hope you enjoy this project as much as they are. I love these at-home assignments that promote quality family time, something for us all to cherish.

Spelling Words - 1/5/09

We will be working on writing friendly letters, so this week our spelling words are related to letter writing.

1. letter
2. friendly
3. date
4. greeting
5. body
6. closing
7. revise
8. details
9. topic
10. paragraph
11. organize

With this spelling list we have reviewed how to add endings to a word (-ly, and -ing, etc.). We discussed the rule that when there is a silent -e- at the end of a word, you drop the -e- then add your ending (like in the word closing).

We are also focusing more on using details and descriptive words (adjectives) in all of our writing.