Month: October 2017

What have second graders been doing?

Second graders have been writing a narrative story focused on a memory with a special person. The process started with brainstorming ideas. Writers then told their stories across their fingers to make sure there were enough details to create an interesting narrative. After a few days of writing a first draft, many writers were surprised to find out that…

 

If your first draft is done, you as writers have just begun!

The revision process is where the real work begins. Stories become really “juicy” as we add details and other craft skills. Students were modeled good story writing by sharing many books including Stellaluna – a favorite of ours by Janell Cannon. As we were reading, writers were able to identify what the author did to make this such an amazing book. Our list included:

• painting a picture using words

• substituting boring words with snazzy synonyms

• including dialogue

• using word repetition

• adding a dash of humor

• exploring similes (the bat’s wings were as limp as wet paper)

• trying to include sound effects

• trying out different action words

  Before each writing period, each student choose one of the craft skills to polish up in their book. Writers will be completing the revision process this week and will spend a few days editing their stories next week. Students will be handwriting the first three pages of their books and we will print the other pages out for you to see during Parent Teacher Conferences starting next Friday!

  During our publishing party, second graders are able to share their final drafts with other grades. It is an earned celebration for the dedicated work second graders have devoted in creating a published story!

2nd Graders Are Spellers!

Mastering spelling is difficult for English speakers! We teach phonics rules and children quickly learn that there are many exceptions to the rule! Memorizing rules is a way to apply patterns when learning to spell new words.

This week, students used books to collect words that contained the /k/ sound. We worked as a class to sort the words into the categories: “c”, “k”, and “ck.”

The general rules we came up with include:

Use “c” before an: a, o, u, l or r.

Use “k” before an: “e” or “i”.

Use “ck” at the end of syllables or words – never at the beginning of a word.

When your child is writing at home, you can encourage them to use the phonics rules learned in class as one strategy for correct spelling of words. In addition to the “k” sound, 2nd graders have reviewed the spelling of digraphs (2 letters that make 1 sound): sh, ch, wh, th, and ph. We also reviewed the spelling of short vowel sounds: “a” as in apple, “e” as in Ed, “i” as in itch, “o” as in octopus and “u” as in up.

Students have also learned that many words are not spelled the way they sound. We call these Trick Words and have been practicing at least 3 new words a week. These are posted in the classroom because they are frequently spelled words in 2nd grade. We recommend that you and your child keep a list near their desk at home. We will continue to post the new Trick Words in each blog posting. You can access the list here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GUQbF2ZRubpO8Oxi8ancBvdsqcn-UctQf_xCnFG6lTU/edit

Happy spelling!