October Book Orders

Just a reminder-

Our book order for October is due on Friday.  Please remember to send in your order by then.  Thanks!

Fall into a good book!

We worked today on writing short book recommendations to display on our door.  Each student chose a book they've read in the last few weeks or are reading right now that they think others would like.  Then they wrote a short statement explaining why they like it.  I love that they're enjoying reading so much!

Read Aloud

We finished read Edward Tulane and have moved on to another second grade fave, Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary.  I'm always amazed at how enjoyable these books still are; the kids didn't even realize how long ago it was written until last week when Beezus had to pay for a library book Ramona wrote in.  Beezus was upset that the book would cost $2.50 to replace, and my kids seemed to think that was dirt cheap!

Fluency Practice

One of our many interventions right now is a group working to improve their reading fluency.  Although students often think fluency means speed, it's actually much more than that.  We've been talking in this group about what good reading sounds like.  We've decided that reading with fluency means we read smoothly, with expression.  We talked about "reading like a robot" and how that often puts Mom and Dad to sleep when we read to them at night.  (Just a heads up, Mom and Dad, one of our goals is to read so well that you stay awake for the entire story!)

One of the best ways to improve fluency is to reread texts.  In our intervention group we work with a partner and a timer.  Students time their partner for one minute.  Then they repeat the process.  We've found that each time we read the passage, we get a little further and our reading becomes more fluent.  We also reread familiar poems.  One student leads the group in "swooping" under phrases as we read, rather than tapping individual words.  This helps us read smoothly.  Try some of these strategies with your child at home.

Place Value

We began our first place value unit this week.  We're working on building numbers using tens and ones.

International Day of Peace

Art Show

We are walking to the Yuma Art Show tomorrow during specials.  Please remember to have your child wear comfortable walking shoes and a jacket.  Thanks!