Mrs. Lindsey's Second Grade Language Arts Class Notes

696-8758 EXT 130
lindseyv@duvalschools.org

***Updated 2/10/12.

         ***Indicates the most recent updates or important items to remember written below.

Dear Students and Parents,

***With all of the changes that are occurring with your child's education (and our adult world too), please reflect on how much your child is learning and growing each year. As I listen to them throughout the day and look at their work, there really is substantial growth. They may not be where we'd like for them to be, but they are unique individuals and are learning every day. Thanks so much for your continued support!

***Optional: Bring Valentines on Tuesday.

***By the end of the school day, the spelling, vocab, and reading test grades will be posted on grade portal.

***Please discuss appropriate restroom and lunchroom behavior. Standing on toilets or lunchroom benches, throwing food at lunch etc... may be funny to them, but not acceptable or safe. Also, discuss appropriate choices if a student is "bothering them." It is NEVER acceptable to hit, kick, pinch or hurt someone. No excuses! Immediately tell the adult in charge!

***This week the classes were able to tell me the main idea and details, but they could not tell me what Officer Buckle and Gloria learned or the deeper meaning (reading between the lines, theme) which was working together, cooperation, and teamwork. Please work on the questions that are listed below with your child. We are also working on reading between the lines (inferences, conclusions) with some poems.

***On Monday 13th, the weekly selection is a nonfiction article about different kinds of ants and their habitats. Remember these tests are open book with help/support throughout the week. I will be giving 4 items (poem, story, a recipe and a nonfiction article) to "cold" read next week to see how they are reading/comprehending independently.

***I want to thank you again for your support in this project!!!! The reading projects are graded and recorded. If your child had all of the requirements and could tell/explain the story, was turned in on time the grade was an A. Three display boards were chosen from each class to enter the school wide contest at the end of this week. I have kept those projects; the others were sent home today. One disqualifier was the size of the display board which required the standard science fair size board.

***Papers will go home Fri. Feb. 17th.

***Valentines Day is next week (Tues. 14th). The names list went home last week. If your child lost the list, please send in 18 valentines signed from your child. Candy and party favors for their bags would be great. If you wish to send in a snack/treat, I know the kids would enjoy it. However, we do not need a lot of cookies and cupcakes :) so please notify us. Alternatives would be vegetables, fruit, or cheese sticks. Otherwise a simple snack/drink will be provided. Remember, this is not a party.

***Class pictures are next week. Please send in the money on or before picture day.

***Please discuss testing behaviors with your child especially when they have earned a grade of C,D, or F. Mrs. Tucker and I are observing a lot of careless mistakes due to not listening and/or not following written or oral directions. Some students begin the work before or as the directions are given. Some students are rushing through and guessing; they are finished in a couple of minutes. More often than not, these are the reasons for the poor grades. How do we know? First, we observe the students during testing. Then when we hand the test right back to them, most students tell us the correct answer. Another possibility is over confidence and "thinking" the work is easy and they know what to do, so they don't read and/or listen carefully. Let's work together to help your child understand that it is his/her responsibility to take work/tests seriously and to understand the consequences when they do not do their best.

Please scroll down to the new multisyllabic word list and see if your child can read these words. Multisyllabic words are tested on the FAIR test. These are 3 or more syllable words often with prefixes and suffixes.

***There are some Parent Meetings about the FAIR test throughout the county.

Feb.27: South East Regional Branch of the Public Library; March 26: West Regional Branch and April 30: Main Branch-Downtown. All times are 5:30-7:00pm.

***Please ask these questions to your child about the weekly story or any book they are reading: 1) What is the most important part of the story? Why? (with very specific reasons) 2) What is the author trying to tell you in the story? The answers should focus around a lesson/moral learned, central idea, big idea, and theme. (Family Ties, Love, Kindness, Patriotism, Helping others, Forgiveness,Friendship, Honesty) Clues are found with the main characters and their actions, thoughts, and dialogue. Story events, conflict and solutions will have clues, too. Students will need to know how to back up their answer with details from the story. Students will need to read between the lines, draw conclusions, and make inferences.Writing a reflection and evaluation of a story is crucial for moving into the third grade reading levels. Parents please read award winning books TO your children  and discuss the deeper meaning of the text. Children need this modeled for them many many times so they can recognize the theme independently and explain it (on paper). We are doing this with our weekly story and level books as well as any story that I read aloud to them.

Persuasive writing requires: 1) an introduction paragraph with 3-5 sentences, has topic sentence that explains what the writer wants the reader to do or believe. 2) Has a middle paragraph that contains at least 2 major reasons with 2 supporting details/facts that support EACH reason (6+ sentences) 3) An ending/summary, conclusion paragraph that restates the topic, summarizes the reasons, and encourages the reader to do or believe.

***We are starting functional writing in the classroom now. Students call them "How Tos".

Here is a web site for you to see a book title list of leveled books. If you google DRA level book titles you will find more.  Level 18= J, Level 20= K, Level 24= L and Level 28= M. A good estimate is one level per 9 weeks. In August to start 3rd grade Level M or N is recommended. You may find several variations of what level equals what grade, but this is the one we use.This web site has a list of book titles for all levels including fiction and non-fiction. Please have your child read both types. 

  http://wces.ucps.k12.nc.us/php/DRA_list.htm   (There' an _ underscore between the DRA_list.)

Our upcoming 3rd nine weeks reading skills are drawing conclusions, making inferences, solving problems, making generalizations, cause (reason) and effect (result), sequencing many story events,and text structure.

Thank you for working with your child and checking their planner and homework every day.

Mrs. Lindsey and Mrs. Tucker

                                                                              ***Important Dates:

Black History Month

Feb. 8th: Early Release Day

Feb. 14th: Valentines Day (No party- We will provide a snack. Students may bring in valentines, candy, or party favors (pencils, erasers etc...). Your child's homeroom class list of names (18) went home Wed., Feb. 1st.

Feb. 22nd: Early Release Day

Feb.  20th: Presidents' Day  NO SCHOOL

***Homework:

1)Your child will read and log at least Mon.-Thurs. night. ( I would prefer nightly. :)

2)Know how to spell your words by Friday for the weekly test.  Learn the social studies, reading and vocabulary words by their due dates. (A sheet was sent home with the fluency list and menu.)

3)Choose only one "choice" from one box each night. (Some boxes have more than one choice.)  Each box should be signed by an adult when fully completed. The boxed sheet should be returned to me when signed and completed for credit. (Some assignments will be graded; other assignments are reinforcement activities that will be tested.) The DUE date is March 1st.

***February's Homework Menu Box Choices: *Timed fluency list and story,* Web sites listed at the end of this page, *SCHOOL wide reading project/Persuasive Writing, *Make 5 lists with 8 words in EACH list of nouns, verbs, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, *Parents read challenging books to child and ask different questions, *Read weekly reading words AND write an evaluation and reflection of the story OR give an oral RETELLING of a book to an adult, *Read and discuss the tested vocab (wonderful writing words), *Spelling meaning clues or words in a story or written practice test and missed words 5x's each or crossword puzzle, or word search.

***Weekly Word Lists: Spelling, Reading Vocabulary, Fluency, and Social Studies Words from the text are listed below:

Spelling:

Feb. 10: large, market, quart, charm, arch, carve, scarf, tarp, mark, card, barb, snarl, lark, farther, wharf,scar

Feb. 17:bend, bank, wink, hang, junk, spend, song, send, strong, wrong, friend, second, drink, stink, clang, ping

Feb. 24:snow, load, moan, phone, close, choke, coast, poster, vote, most, coach, row, told,pillow, elbow, pony

Reading Book Words are from the weekly story.  Please discuss these words.

Tested Feb. 10: accident, attention, audience, commands, officer, safety

Tested Feb. 17: antennae, larvae, fungus, cocoons, colonies, tunnels

Tested Feb. 24: accept, advantage, argument, penalty, quarrel

****Multisyllabic Words :  Can your child read these words using the prefixes and suffixes we've been studying? swelter, tempting, refresh, innovative, satisfied, miniature, ambition, gracious, inscription, famous, nervous, honorable, rehearse, misplace, fraction, motion, humorous, ridiculous, dependable, grateful, trifle, combination, compromise, tremble, fragile inventive, tradition, treasure, dangle, fortunate, magnificent, inquisitive, marooned, collaborate

prefixes (in front of base words): de, dis, in, mid, mis, pre, re, tele, un, con, sub, be, pro, for, enter, inter  suffixes/endings: ed, able, est, ing, less, ly, ness, er, ied, ful, ic, view, tion, ion, ture, al, el, le, on, ment, sel, or, en, ly

Vocabulary Words (Wonderful Writing Words): *Many of these words have prefixes and suffixes. Multisyllabic Words.

Tested 2/10: predicament, compete, latched, assorted, cling, defeated, combat

Tested 2/24: plead, infest, groom, discover, compassion, exceptional, treacherous

Tested 3/9: sketch, flustered, stern, precise, lure, chaos, sensational

Tested 3/16: vivid, illusion, quirky, brilliant, transform, bewilder, solution

Tested 3/30: moist, crumble, edge, wistful, exaggerate, overcome, motivate

February's Fluency List:  company, radio, view, underline, we'll, action, effect, division, capital, factories, seat, sir, settled, yellow, located, arrived, isn't, southern, track, cows, truck, fair, conditions, tools, printed, wouldn't smell, substances, ahead, chance, corn, entire, horn, level, details, apple, triangle, molecules, cotton, rope, France, repeated, evening, determine, column, western, deal, total, church, sister, steel, doesn't, oxygen, plural, win, match, various, agreed, difficult, British, opposite, wrong, create, nothern, chart, prepared, march, led, pretty, solution, bought, women, fresh, shop, Greek, Washington, suffix, especialy, workers, fear, shoes, actually, allow, rose, nose, afraid, experience, stretched, dead, sugar, forward, score, adjective, fig, death, similar, office, huge, gun, nor

***Social Studies Words:  Tested in Feb.13th and 14th.  Please have discussions about these words. They are listed in the order we will begin to study them next week.

***needs, shelter, wants, producer, sonsumer, income, goods, factory, services, price, bank, savings

***MATH NOTES

Enrichment: 1) Count to 1000. 2) Be able to tell numbers that come before, after and between numbers to 1000. 3) Understand ones, tens, hundreds and thousands place 4) When to regroup (borrow) and when not to 5) Addition regrouping 6) Counting back change from a one dollar bill 7) Elapsed time: Its 11:00. The movie starts at 1:30. How much time until the movie starts? 8) Measuring items: cm, dc, m, inch, foot, yard, pounds, cups, pints, quarts, gallons, liters 9) multiplication and division facts 10) Telling time to the minute

Reinforcement:  1) TIMED Addition and Subtraction Facts  2) Story problems 3) Recognizing coins and bills front and back 4) Counting a mixed group of 4-6 coins (Being able to count by 5's, 10's, 25's and 50's)  5) Telling time (hour, half hour, quarter hour) 6) Place Value: ones, tens, hundreds 7) Addition regrouping and when to regroup and when not to regroup 8) Days and Months in sequence

How to access DESTINATION SUCCESS:

1) https://success.duvalschools.org/lms

2)Type in their log in and password. Students log in information is in their planners on the front white address page.

The parent technology helpdesk is 348-7740.

*****Other Web sites:

http://florida.lexile.com

www.MathisFun.com

www.AAAmath.com

www.storyit.com

www.nationalgeographic.com

www.justreadflorida.com

www.storylineonline.net

www.primarygames.com

www.pbskids.org

www.starfall.com

www.gamequarium.com

www.scholastic.com/magicschoolbus/

www.mathplayground.com

www.brainpop.com

www.nasa.gov/

www.eduplace.com     www.weeklyreader.com

www.scholasticnews.com/sn2