Friend Catalog!! Order Your New Friend NOW!!

Great day in 2W friends! First, we had catch up day (not mustard day) on work board and completed all our literacy center work while Ms. W. met with readers! Lots to do, and we will continue to complete neat and thorough work tomorrow! In math we reviewed the ruled for Heads or Tails, only this time, we had more coins and had to write money amounts up and over one dollar! Wow! Great practice in so many ways... counting money, writing money, and cooperative turn taking! Nice team work everyone! In word study we reviewed our word study rule: long o vowel sound with o and silent e, and the vowel team oa ! We focused on antonyms (opposite words) and used context clues (what word makes sense) to complete sentences! Meaning matters, not only with words, but with everything! In writing workshop we took a close look at our writing prompt and thought about how to craft a written response. Today's prompt: Imagine you are about to order a friend from the new friend catalog! What are some qualities you want in your new friend? What will you do with your new friend when they arrive? How will you feel now that you're with your new friend! WOW! Thoughtful! Each new friend from the Friend Catalog has different qualities! Nice work! Tomorrow... Matilda! Roald Dahl knew what he was doing when he created THIS FRIEND in his writing!! Don't be surprised if there are some extra special magical surprises when Matilda's in second grade tomorrow!

Dollar Signs and Decimals!!

Howdy Friends! Another great day in 2W! First we continued working on fluency in reading groups and work board! After that we stretched what we've learned about money and practiced counting and writing money using dollar signs and decimals! After practicing we reasoned with some money challenges and problem solving! In word study we practiced using our spelling rule (long o using vowel teams and silent e) to sort words and write words in ABC order. Madelene had one great morning meeting and Ethan had his first math meeting! Well done meeting helpers! This afternoon we read a wonderful Kwanzaa story called Seven Spools of Thread. 7 brothers learn the value in collaboration and even stretch their learning to include the value of taking care of their village! Everyone prospers when everyone works together toward a common purpose! Great story! We ended the day with a wonderful music event with all our instrumentalist and singers in grades 3-6. What a treat! Great day second grade!

Icy Monday!!

Greetings Friends! We had a late start due to all the icy roadways, but we made the most of every minute! In math we practiced using coins to make a value of $1.00. We also reviewed how to expand numbers by breaking them apart and making them bigger! 359 is really 300 plus 50 plus 9... or... 3 hundreds, 5 tens, and 9 ones! Great work friends! We introduced our new word study principle, long 0 vowel sound, and the different letter patterns we use to make long o (ow, oa, and even just o, like in old and told and sold)! This afternoon we read a lovely story of how Grace opened her home over the holidays and hosted some new family members. Not sure how she would feel, she did her best to try and get to know her cousin, Savannah, and tried putting herself in Savannah's shoes. Doing that helped her understand how her cousin might feel, so far from home at the Holidays. In the end, Grace had the best Christmas ever! In writing workshop we practiced writing words from the word wall, and how to scoop up letters 3 at a time when copying a word wall word. It's very important to get every letter in every word wall correct! After all, these are words we must learn, not just read but spell as well. Now that they're on the word wall, this will be another great tool writers can use during every writers workshop! It was another great day in second grade! Well done friends!

Science = Best Day EVER!

"Ms. Worthley, I don't think I'll EVER forget this day!" Couldn't agree more, Niko! We prepared the day before with a "virtual owl pellet dissection" knowing we would be scientists today.... and every second grader came prepared! After a bit of work board and literacy activities in the morning, it was time for SCIENCE!! Students reviewed what scientist do, and what it looks like to work like a scientist. Then, Ms. W. modeled what our investigation would look like and how to use tools safely. Then we questioned whether 2nd graders are ready for such important work in science, and we all agreed, YEAH!!!! Though very excited, we took our jobs as scientific investigators very seriously, and made some amazing discoveries! After dissecting our owl pellets, we compared what we found to schematic diagrams of moles, mice, and all kinds of creatures owls prey upon. We reconstructed some of the skeletons, and were amazed at how cool the skulls were! All the bones, so different (according to their job) and unique. The teeth in the lower jaws were especially cool! We all agreed, SCIENCE RULES AND WE WANT MORE!!! Well done scientists! I agree with Niko, might have been the best day ever... and with so many more days left in second grade, who knows what could happen!!! Aine also had one super math meeting, and Jason an equally great morning meeting! Happy Birthday to our friend Trey, who baked and shared some delicious blueberry muffins to celebrate with his friends!