Ms. Anderson's Classrooom Connection

Hello Parents,

Welcome to my blog site. I will update this site monthly with general information regarding our classroom activities.

Well, we're off and running! During our first week of school we concentrated on "fun" activities that helped me gleen some insights into the students' abilities.

Our second week was spent doing some formal assessments in Reading and Math. We also started easing into some of our subjects: English, Social Studies, Religion and Penmanship.

Our third week will be full steam ahead! This week will see us working in all of our subjects. Be sure to look in your child's assignment tablet and take home folder each day, especially on Mondays. This is where you will find the "What We're Working On" weekly newsletter previously mentioned in one of my letters.

The students are slowly becoming familiar with homework. As we become more comfortable, we will kick things up a notch with assignments that are more challenging and projects that encourage us to further explore our topics of study.

Listed below you will find websites that are sponsored by the publishers of some of our texts. They have activities that your child can do at home that will support what we are doing in the classroom.

Text Websites:

Reading - Scott Forseman = sfreading.com
Math - MacMillan/McGraw-Hill = mmhmath.com
Religion - Silver Burdett Ginn = blestarewe.com
Social Studies - Scott Forseman = sfsocialstudies.com
Science - Scott Forseman = sfscience.com

Until October...

Miss Anderson

Hello Parents,

In this communication I would like to keep you current with some of the activities we're doing in the classroom:

So you are aware...
During the first half of the year our Spelling words will be phonetically based. This means they will follow a phonetic spelling pattern and will coordinate with the sounds we are concentrating on in Phonics for that week. Thus the reason for our current Spelling lists being labelled the Phonics/Spelling Word List. You may also discover that as you read the first Reading story for each week that you will find many words with our weekly phonics sounds in the text.

Early Childhood theory (which 2nd grade is a part of) supports that this practice reinforces the connection between reading, phonics and spelling; building more proficient readers who are able to decode and spell new words on a more independent basis.

Our current spelling lists usually contain 12 words. If you would like for your child to be challenged by more difficult words that follow the weekly pattern we are studying - please let me know by filling out the form I'll be sending home. I will then accommodate the list to meet his/her needs. If you feel the current lists have been appropriate for your child's level, then let me know that on the form also.

To take note of - the grades for the Spelling tests and Phonics quizzes will be combined under the heading Spelling/Phonics on the report card. However, so you are aware, our spelling focus will change mid-year with the introduction of our Vocabulary Workshop Series.

One of the activities we did recently in class to reinforce the phonetic / spelling connection between words was to create tongue twisters with words that begin with the sh, ch, th and wh combinations. The students worked in groups and came up with some creative ideas! We will soon type our tongue twisters in Computer Class With Mrs. Rosellini. The students are currently illustrating their pages. We will then have them laminated and turn them into a book. It will be coming to a home near you soon! Enjoy reading them with your family.

Until next time...
Miss Anderson