2nd Grade Weekly Update 9-15-14

Apologies for the delay in the weekly update - I try my best to send updates on Fridays.  The good news is my blog is up and running.  Updates, Spelling lists, photos of cool stuff from 2nd grade, etc. can be found by accessing the blog.  Stop by at least once a week for the weekly update, plus other times here and there for a look into what we are doing in our classroom.  You can find the blog at www.buster2ndgrade.blogspot.com

This week's Spelling words are...tap, tape, fin, fine, tub, tube, rob, robe, cap, cape, slid, slide, hop, hope, scrap, scrape.

I've had a few comments that the Spelling words are "too easy" for second graders.  A few things to explain my process and technique...first of all, in order to build confidence in our procedures for Spelling, we started with just 12 words that are phonetically based.  Phonics, even for children with higher levels of comprehension, is always a good thing to practice.  Being able to decode harder and harder words is based on a strong phonics background.  Also, being able to spell the words on the weekly test is an important first step, but the goal in second grade is to use those correctly spelled words in the children's every day writing.  I will closely monitor the children's writing skills to look for this.  As we move further into the year, we will increase the number of Spelling words for some children and later, will provide alternate lists to those children who are BOTH consistently spelling words correctly on tests and in their writing.  I hope that gives you a little more information on our Spelling program for this year.  Please let me know if you have further questions.

We have our Chapter 1 Math test Tuesday.  It will cover place value, which we've been working on since school started.

Also, we will begin going to the school library next Monday.  The schedule is sporadic, so I will try to include Library week information in the updates, so the children know when to return library books.

That's the short story from here.  Please email me with any questions or concerns, and please be sure to check the blog going forward for weekly updates and other 2nd grade news.