Week of October 30-November 3

Grammar: This week's focus will be on contractions. A contraction is a word made by shortening and combining two words. Words like can't (can + not), don't (do + not), and I've (I + have) are all contractions.

Spelling: Spelling this week will focus on r-Controlled /âr/ syllable patterns. R-controlled a syllable is a type of syllable that changes the way a vowel sounds. It’s called an r-controlled syllable because the r controls the vowel sound. It is important to learn about r-controlled syllables because many words contain these sounds. Being able to recognize and read r-controlled syllables will allow you to read many more words. Here is the regular word list: blare, hair, bear, flare, pair, wear, repair, cherry, barely. The high frequency words are 2nd grade words that need to be spelled correctly when writing. They are: big, important, left, need, off, together, took. Some students have a modified list: hair, pair, fair, bear, wear, tear, repair. The sight words they should practice are: big, left, need.

Reading: We will be focusing on summarizing and synthesizing the elements of a story. Summarizing and synthesizing are both strategies used in reading and research. They are important skills, as they help learners make sense of what they reading. Summarizing is relating the most important points in a text (or a portion of a text) in our own words. In fiction we consider the basic story elements – main characters, setting, plot and sometimes theme in a summary. In nonfiction we pull together the most important information about a topic in a coherent way. Synthesizing takes the process of summarizing one step further. Instead of just restating the important points from text, synthesizing involves combining ideas and allowing an evolving understanding of text. When we synthesize, we pull together the most important points from our reading, but we move beyond what’s stated by the author. We focus on the insights that we gained from reading. We notice how our thinking changes as we read, so that when we finish, we can put our thinking and learning together in new ways

Writing: This 9 weeks focus will be Informational Writing. Informational writing is a type of nonfiction writing that conveys information about something, which means it is factual. Many examples of informational writing can be found in newspapers, almanacs, and reference books.Another difference between informational writing and other forms of nonfiction is that it does not involve characters. Informational writing does not generally focus on a person's life in the way a biography does. Instead, it usually provides information about the natural or social world . This week we will be gathering facts about pumpkin harvest and then create an informational piece from our facts.

Math: Our focus this week will be to continue adding and subtracting to 100 using different strategies such as base 10 blocks, decomposing, and chunking on a number line. Refer to the pink fold-able that you were given at conferences if you need guidance. It is different from just the regular algorithm that most of us were taught. They did great learning the strategies for addition this week and next week we will use those same strategies for subtraction.

Social Studies: This week's focus will be on an important person in Georgia's history. James Oglethorpe was one of the founders of the Georgia Colony. Born on December 22, 1696, he became well known as a soldier, politician, and social reformer. We will learn why he is an important figure in our history.

Important Dates:

November 6-10: Book Fair

November 6-17: Canned Food Drive

November 7: Student Holiday/No School

November 9: Veterans Day Walk/8:00am/Harvest lunch for 2nd grade

November 20-24: Thanksgiving Holiday/No School