Lollipop Update

 I guess I should have confirmed their availability before posting about a planned lesson using lollipops, since apparently finding bags of small lollipops is no easy task after Halloween has passed! I will therefore not be using lollipops in class this week.  I will have made a change of plans and instead will be using microwave popcorn for a visualization writing lesson, but not until after the holiday break. I will post more exact dates closer to the time.

Forgot one thing...

Sorry to post a second time today but I forgot to ask an important question. One of my first activities in my visualization unit involves children eating a lollipop at their desks. Please contact me directly through email at amber.steeves@ocdsb.ca if this poses a concern for you for any reason.
Thank you.

Making Inferences Wrap Up

We have now completed our making inferences unit. We read many books in class to help build our inferring skills. Some favourites were "Duck, Rabbit", "7 Blind Mice", and "Little Green". In each of these books, I read the story without allowing the children to see the pictures. Students had to make guesses on what animal they thought was being described through the story. We discussed how there were no wrong answers as long as they were able to support their inferences using clues left by the author. If you're curious about what animals ended up being described, I won't ruin the surprise and you'll have to ask you child! Children also worked independently on "Inference Task Cards". The task cards were simply pictures of a variety of situations. Children were asked to choose a card that interested them, write what they saw in the card, and then use that information to make an inference about what was actually happening in the picture. I saw a lot of growth in their ability to infer over the past couple of weeks, and I think we are ready to move on to our next unit which will be the reading comprehension skill of visualization.

This week in grade 2 English

Usually when there is a five day week, I have the students visit literacy station rotations for two of the days (usually Wednesday and Thursday). One literacy station centre includes writing independently- either finishing up a writing assignment or choosing a writing activity. Choice writing activities include: class journals, where students write about a specific topic in a journal shared with the class and then read their entry to the class; personal journals written on a chosen topic, list writing about given categories; or writing birthday wishes to classmates that have birthdays that month. Other literacy stations are reading independently, word wall games, and buddy reading where students either read to one another to work on fluency or discuss reading comprehension strategies, or work together to practice a writing skill. While students are working on their literacy stations, it allows me to work on writing or reading with a small group. On weeks that there are only four days of school, such as this week, I do not run literacy stations. I try my best not to skip them too often however since I know that they are a highlight of English class for many students! 

We have now finished our unit on writing friendly letters. You can expect to see your child's letter to the Tooth Fairy arrive home soon. They may ask to put it under their pillow so that the Tooth Fairy can get it... 

Next up will be the reading comprehension strategy of inferring. Good readers make inferences while reading to improve their understanding of the story or text.  An inference is when we understand things that the author does not tell us, but instead use our background knowledge (schema) and clues the author does tell us to understand why things happen, why characters behave the way they do, and how characters are feeling. Next week I will go into more detail of the activities we are doing in order to strengthen our skills of inferring.  

October-Present Update

Due to labour negotiations, it has been a long time since I have last posted. I will provide a short overview of what we have been up to in grade 2 English, and then I hope to return to a more weekly updating schedule. 

For the first few weeks of October we were discussing making connections while we read. There are three main kinds of connections that readers can make: text to self where readers find similarities between what happens in the story and their own life; text to text where they find similarities between two different books; and text to world where similarities are found between the book and the world (or community). This week we will be making text to self and text to text connections using the books "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day", "The Difficult Day", "Oliver Button" and "Amazing Grace". I invite you to encourage your children to make connections in the books that they read at home too, referencing specific examples in the books to support their answers.

I have been using songs about connections as shared reading activities. Here are the words and tunes if you would like to share with them with your child:

Connections Song

Tune: On top of spaghetti

I'm reading a story and my brain says “Hey!”

This story reminds me of the other day.

It's called a connection-

From text to self,

The story reminds me, I've done this myself.

I'm reading a story and my brain says “Look!”

This story reminds me of that other book.

It's called a connection-

From text to text.

My brain remembers and does a quick check.

I'm reading a story and my brain says “Wow!”

This story reminds me of news happening now.

It's called a connection-

From text to world.

It makes my brain flutter, sputter and whirl.

Connections Song 

Tune: Brush your Teeth Song 

When I read a story and my brain says "Hey"
This part reminds me of the other day!
It's called connect- da da da da da da da da da
It's called connect- da da da da da da da da da

When I read a story and my brain say "Whoa!"
This part reminds of my good friend Joe.
It's called connect- da da da da da da da da da
It's called connect- da da da da da da da da da

When I read a story and my brain says "Cool"
This part reminds me of my school.
It's called connect- da da da da da da da da da
It's called connect- da da da da da da da da da

When I read a story and my brain says "Look!"
This part reminds me of another book.
It's called connect- da da da da da da da da da
It's called connect- da da da da da da da da da

When I read a story and my brain says "Wow!"
This part reminds me of my grandpa's cow
It's called connect- da da da da da da da da da
It's called connect- da da da da da da da da da

You probably also saw a writing activity where students were asked to write descriptive sentences about a pumpkin that they had created. We talked a lot about word choice and using a thesaurus to find more interesting words to use in place of other more common ones (such as 'outstanding' rather than 'good'). Students worked through a plan, wrote a rough copy and then produced good copies of their work. 

While learning about media devices, we examined a number of posters to discuss features that helped attract attention and clearly convey a message. We created our own posters in a t-shirt design that had environmental messages, linking to the grade 2 science curriculum. 

In the past few weeks we have been playing with words that contain the long a sound (made by 'a', 'a_e', 'ai' and 'ay') and long i (made by 'i', 'ie', 'igh' and 'y') sound. We also continue to use the class word wall in all of our written work.  It includes many high frequency words and each week children will do a variety of activities to practise four of these words, as well as an additional word chosen by them from their class writing or personal interests. You can find a copy of the word wall words in the "spelling" tab of the blog home page. While there will not be a formal weekly spelling test, children will bring their weekly word lists home each Friday and are encouraged to continue to practise if they have not mastered them yet. Please also encourage many opportunities for reading and writing in English to increase exposure to words.

Our current writing focus is writing a friendly letter to the tooth fairy. We have looked at various friendly letters and identified the key components, including date (heading), greeting, body, closing and signature. We are writing our rough copies right now and will then move to our good copies. Many students have asked if they can leave their good copies under their pillows so you may want to be prepared for that!