Change in Plans...

In order to accommodate our busy holiday schedule this week the reading test and spelling test will be on Thursday. Thank you!

Week of Dec. 16

Amidst the holiday fun this coming week we will still have a spelling test on Friday December 20th. 

You can support your child’s literacy skills by reviewing, discussing, and practicing the skills and concepts below:

Big Idea/Big Question (This is the theme of our unit in class.)	Question of the Week (This is the theme/question for this week’s instruction in class.)
Creative Ideas:  What does it mean to be creative?	When does a creative idea lead to a surprise?
Phonics Skills (These are the letters and sounds we are learning in class.)	Spelling Patterns and associated Words (These patterns connect to our phonics skills we are learning this week.)
Long i:  i, ie, igh, y	Long i:  i, ie, igh, y blind   bright   child   cry   find   flight   fly   myself   right   sky   spider   wild
High Frequency Words (These reading words should be practiced and memorized.)	Story Words (These reading words are words from this week’s main selection.)
alone   buy   daughters   half   many    their   youngest	chiles   luckiest   tortillas
Oral Vocabulary (Try using these words in your conversations at home.)	Handwriting Practice (Students can practice the writing of these letters in manuscript this week.)
abundant   assist   beam   dismay   efficient   forever   generous   situation	Manuscript to Cursive Letters a, d, c, n, m, and x/ Letter Formation

Volunteers

Just a reminder to check out www.signupgenius.com to sign up to help in the classroom and especially to help with our class Christmas party next week. Thank you for all you do!

Field Trip

Don't forget we have our field trip to the Capitol Theater on Tuesday to see The Nutcracker! Please make sure your child wears nice clothes and eats a good breakfast. We will be eating a snack before we leave but will not eat lunch until we return to school at approximately 1:00pm. It should be a great day!

Week of Dec. 9 Spelling

You can support your child’s literacy skills by reviewing, discussing, and practicing the skills and concepts below:

Big Idea/Big Question (This is the theme of our unit in class.)	Question of the Week (This is the theme/question for this week’s instruction in class.)
Creative Ideas:  What does it mean to be creative?	How can creative thinking solve a problem?
Phonics Skills (These are the letters and sounds we are learning in class.)	Spelling Patterns and associated Words (These patterns connect to our phonics skills we are learning this week.)
Compound Words	Compound Words: backyard   basketball   bathtub   bedtime   birthday   driveway   mailbox   raindrop   riverbank   someone   something   weekend
High Frequency Words (These reading words should be practiced and memorized.)	Story Words (These reading words are words from this week’s main selection.)
been   believe   caught   finally   today    tomorrow   whatever	delicious   justice   lazy   weave
Oral Vocabulary (Try using these words in your conversations at home.)	Handwriting Practice (Students can practice the writing of these letters in manuscript this week.)
boast   consume   contentment   cure   gloat   incident   prey   shrewd   snicker	Manuscript to Cursive Letter Formation

Help Please!

Jennifer Fray is our fabulous room mom and is looking for some help these next two weeks. If you are willing and available to help with the class Christmas party or teacher appreciate week would you please email her at :  jlfray@hotmail.com
Thank you!

Welcome back!

I hope you had a wonderful and relaxing Thanksgiving break. The weather is supposed to turn snowy and cold this week, please send your child to school with the appropriate winter clothing as we will still be going out to recess. 

As a reminder the 12 spelling words that are tested on Friday are under the "spelling patterns and associate words" box. The high frequency words are on the weekly reading test, they are not tested on how to spell them, but rather using them correctly in a sentence. 

You can support your child’s literacy skills by reviewing, discussing, and practicing the skills and concepts below:

Big Idea/Big Question (This is the theme of our unit in class.)	Question of the Week (This is the theme/question for this week’s instruction in class.)
Creative Ideas:  What does it mean to be creative?	In what creative ways do we communicate?
Phonics Skills (These are the letters and sounds we are learning in class.)	Spelling Patterns and associated Words (These patterns connect to our phonics skills we are learning this week.)
Long o:  o, oa, ow	Long o:  o, oa, ow ago   bowl   float   goat   hold   most   open   show   slow   toad   toast   told
High Frequency Words (These reading words should be practiced and memorized.)	Story Words (These reading words are words from this week’s main selection.)
answer   company   faraway   parents   picture   school   wash	envelope   persimmons   photograph   smudged
Oral Vocabulary (Try using these words in your conversations at home.)	Handwriting Practice (Students can practice the writing of these letters in manuscript this week.)
correspond   cove   deaf   footprint   imitate   postage   transport   sign language	Numbers 1 – 10 Number Formation

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tomorrow (Nov. 26) is an early out day and there is no school Wed-Fri this week. There will be no homework or spelling either! Hope you have a great break and we will be back December 2nd.

Money!

We have been studying money in math. Everything from what coins are worth to adding them and learning to make different amounts of money with different coins and dollar bills. Some of the students have got this concept down! Others need some more practice. Will you please reinforce this topic at home to give your child the added support they need. If you have specific questions regarding your child please feel free to email or call me. This is a fun topic that has direct connections to the real world, have fun with it! Thank you for your support.

Spirit Week

This week is spirit week! The schedule is as follows:

Monday-Crazy sock day

Tuesday-Crazy hat day

Wednesday-pajama day

Thursday-Hawaiian day

Friday-Crazy hair day and wear your Butler Bobcat t-shirt

Next Week's Spelling

Below are next week's spelling words and reading concepts. Also, as the weather changes please remember to send your child to school with the appropriate winter clothing, as we still go outside to recess. Thank you!

Second Grade Weekly Study Skills

Unit 3, Week 1 (Pearl and Wagner:  Two Good Friends)

Below are the skills and vocabulary we will be working on for the next 5 days. You can support your child’s literacy skills by reviewing, discussing, and practicing the skills and concepts below:

Big Idea/Big Question (This is the theme of our unit in class.)	Question of the Week (This is the theme/question for this week’s instruction in class.)
Creative Ideas:  What does it mean to be creative?	When does support from others help with a creative idea?
Phonics Skills (These are the letters and sounds we are learning in class.)	Spelling Patterns and associated Words (These patterns connect to our phonics skills we are learning this week.)
Long e:  e, ee, ea, y	Long e:  e, ee, ea, y deep   easy   feet   leave   party   read   seat   sleep   team   teeth   wheel   windy
High Frequency Words (These reading words should be practiced and memorized.)	Story Words (These reading words are words from this week’s main selection.)
guess   pretty   science   shoe   village   watch   won	electricity   robot   trash   wad
Oral Vocabulary (Try using these words in your conversations at home.)	Handwriting Practice (Students can practice the writing of these letters in manuscript this week.)
construct   contraption   daydream   foolproof   project   scrap   sidekick   unique	Zz, Xx and Word Spacing

Review Week Spelling Words

This week’s spelling test will be a review of the previous 5 weeks of spelling. If your student has mastered these spelling patterns, they shouldn’t have any problems at all with the words. Please review these spelling words with your child. The test will be any 15 words from this list.

Week 1
r-controlled ar, or, ore

• 1. part
• 2. hard
• 3. born
• 4. horse
• 5. before
• 6. more
• 7. smart
• 8. farm
• 9. porch
• 10. corn
• 11. chore
• 12. score

Week 2
Contractions

• 1. didn’t
• 2. it’s
• 3. aren’t
• 4. he’s
• 5. I’m
• 6. who’s
• 7. can’t
• 8. isn’t
• 9. she’s
• 10. haven’t
• 11. I’ll
• 12. hadn’t

Week 3
r-controlled er, ir, ur

• 1. person
• 2. nurse
• 3. dirt
• 4. turn
• 5. birth
• 6. serve
• 7. curb
• 8. curl
• 9. skirt
• 10. purse
• 11. turtle
• 12. her

Week 4
Plural –s – es -ies s

• 1. lunch
• 2. lunches
• 3. story
• 4. stories
• 5. tune
• 6. tunes
• 7. switch
• 8. switches
• 9. baby
• 10. babies
• 11. note
• 12. notes

Week 5
Long a a, ai, ay

• 1. main
• 2. wait
• 3. say
• 4. away
• 5. play
• 6. raise
• 7. brain
• 8. paint
• 9. stay
• 10. today
• 11. tray
• 12. tail

Parent Survery

I will be sending home a parent survey Monday regarding reading practice at home. This is strictly for my information so that I can be of better help to you, as parents. If you could please send it back on Tuesday I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you!

A Busy Week Ahead!

We have a lot happening here this week! Parent teacher conferences are Wednesday and Thursday. I sent home reminder letters last week with your specific times. If you can't make it then or need to change your time please let me know as soon as possible!

Although there is no school on Friday we will still be taking a spelling test and reading test on Thursday. Below are the skills and spelling words we will be learning.

You can support your child’s literacy skills by reviewing, discussing, and practicing the skills and concepts below:

Big Idea/Big Question (This is the theme of our unit in class.)	Question of the Week (This is the theme/question for this week’s instruction in class.)
Working Together:  How can we work together?	How can we work together to solve problems?
Phonics Skills (These are the letters and sounds we are learning in class.)	Spelling Patterns and associated Words (These patterns connect to our phonics skills we are learning this week.)
Long a:  a, ai, ay	Long a:  a, ai, ay away   brain   main   paint   play   raise   say   stay   tail   today   tray   wait
High Frequency Words (These reading words should be practiced and memorized.)	Story Words (These reading words are words from this week’s main selection.)
behind   brought   door   everybody   minute   promise   sorry	armadillo   creature   grateful   groaned   snorted
Oral Vocabulary (Try using these words in your conversations at home.)	Handwriting Practice (Students can practice the writing of these letters in manuscript this week.)
coax   conflict   deserve   mope   pursue   ramp   resolve   startle	Qq, Vv Letter Spacing

 Finally, as the weather changes please remember we go out to recess as long as it is not raining or snowing hard and it is above 22 degrees. Please send your child with the proper winter weather clothing. Thank you!

Halloween

Just to let you know Halloween is a short day and there is no school on Friday. We will be having a class party at the end of the day on Halloween. Students are allowed to wear their costumes to school but absolutely no weapons of any kind and no masks. Face paint is allowed. If you have any other questions please let me know!

Next Week

Although next week is a short week (Oct. 31 is an early out day and there is no school on Nov. 1) we will still have homework and a spelling test. Here are the the spelling words for next week. We will take the spelling test on October 31.

Second Grade Weekly Study Skills

Unit 2, Week 4 (The Bremen Town Musicians)

You can support your child’s literacy skills by reviewing, discussing, and practicing the skills and concepts below:

Big Idea/Big Question (This is the theme of our unit in class.)	Question of the Week (This is the theme/question for this week’s instruction in class.)
Working Together:  How can we work together?	Why is it a good idea to work together?
Phonics Skills (These are the letters and sounds we are learning in class.)	Spelling Patterns and associated Words (These patterns connect to our phonics skills we are learning this week.)
Plurals  -s, -es, -ies	Plurals  -s, -es, -ies babies   baby   lunch   lunches   note   notes   stories   story   switch   switches   tune   tunes
High Frequency Words (These reading words should be practiced and memorized.)	Story Words (These reading words are words from this week’s main selection.)
bought   people    pleasant   probably   scared   shall   sign	excitement   mill   monsters   musicians   robbers
Oral Vocabulary (Try using these words in your conversations at home.)	Handwriting Practice (Students can practice the writing of these letters in manuscript this week.)
depend   familiar   insist   miserable   partnership   solution  struggle   survival	Ww, Yy Letter Slant