What an AMAZING Open House!

I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed our Open House tonight! It was such a pleasure to talk and get to know you all better. I appreciate the time you took to come into your child's other world outside of the home. :)

The children were so excited to have you come in as well. Their faces were glowing with pride as I watched them show you their writings. I am so proud of them!

The scavenger hunt was a great way for them to be able to (teach) you a thing or two about school. I loved the way I heard them explaining items in our class. Here are my favorite lines of the night":

• "NO MOM! GET UP! You can't sit in the share chair unless you are sharing your writing."
• " Put the book back in the RIGHT reading level!"
• Miss Evanko says, "Books are great presents....much better than a Wii...laugh laugh.."Well I already HAVE A Wii"
• "DON'T put my stuff in my partner's side of the desk!"

Oh the laughs! They really took ownership of their things and our room!

Thank you for all of your support and help throughout this year. I am grateful for being able to teach such wonderful children.

If you could not attend tonight, or want to view it again, I added the PowerPoint Presentation to this blog under "Class Updates." Enjoy!

Till next time, adios!

We've got the MAIN IDEA in our hands!

Last week we were on the hunt for the "Main Idea" of the stories we read. In class we discussed how the main idea is what the story is all about. It is a few short sentences that summarizes everything we read. If you are familiar with the Hokey Pokey, (Don't lie you know you are starting to hum it), we changed the words to help us with the main idea: The main idea is what it's alllllllllllll about!

The students were taught several strategies for catching this sometimes tricky idea. First, we discovered a trend: The title of a book sometimes tells you the main idea. Example-Arthur's Loose Tooth was about a boy who had a loose tooth and wanted it out. Also, we saw that the pictures and first sentence of a story give you a clue. The students were shocked to find how easy it was to figure out the main idea by using these clues!

Later on in the week, they were taught to catch the main idea with their hands. Students used each finger to answer the WHO WHAT WHERE WHEN and WHY to grab the main idea.

Finally we used a 'thinkmark' (bookmark that requires them to think and write on) to find the Somebody, Wanted, But, So of the story. On this 'thinkmark' they wrote who the Somebody-Character, Wanted-What they wanted but can't do/get, But- the problem, So-What the character did to fix the problem...AKA...the solution!

Ask your child to practice these reading comprehension strategies on the books they read at home. Understanding the main idea will help them understand the purpose of their readings and clarify any confusion they might have had with the story.

Happy reading!

Reading tests and grades

As you may know, each week we take a reading comprehension test. Their score on this test is their reading grade on their report card. There actual reading level (I,J,K) is not a factor. In class we have been learning different test taking strategies that will help them not only with these tests, but with all tests the rest of their lives! I have attached this file for you on the right side of my blog. Please go over these with your child as you discuss their grade each Wednesday night. They should know what you mean if you say things such as: Did you find and underling proof? Use snake fingers? Scramble and number your eggs? Cross off ridiculous and wrong? Match the vowel sound? See the odd man out?

As a reminder EVERY READING NEEDS TO BE SIGNED AND RETURNED BY FRIDAY. THANK YOU!

Also, progress reports and scholarship warnings will be sent home early this week. They are due back on Friday. There has been a change in the grades this year. Language Arts and Spelling are now ONE GRADE!! The weekly quizzes over L.A. skills and Spelling tests are now combined.

Their Reading Grade is only based off of the 2 reading tests so far. Therefore, do not panic if they did not do as well as they liked on one and they have a low grade. We will have many other tests and there is still time to increase their grade.

Let's have another great week! We have the Book Fair to go to and we're beginning to write our first Narrative. Check our Newsletter for our scheduled times and other upcoming events in the class.

Woohoo 2nd Grade!

A Peek into Writers Workshop

We had a blast this week exploring the world around us in Writers Workshop. The students were taught how good writers often use their 5 senses and observe their surroundings to get inspiration for stories. I took the children outside where we got to observe and write about all the things we see on the playground and basketball courts. Students journaled about the many sounds they heard, smells, new sights, and they made connections to what each reminded them of. They did a marvelous job expanding on this writing further on in the week when we discussed how to expand on old writings and find treasure "new writing ideas" from trash "old writings". Their seed journals are really starting to grow. Nice job to all of my young authors!