Week 20

I hope everyone had a great long weekend and had a chance for some good rest and rejuvenation!

Midterm Reports:
Midterm reports for 2nd trimester are coming home this week.  Take some time to check it out with your 2nd grader and come up with a plan for the rest of the trimester!

Christian Studies:
This week in Christian Studies we’re continuing to move through the New Testament.  We’ll be looking at the birth of Jesus, as well as the visit of the wise men.  We’ll discuss God always keeping His promises and how Jesus came for ALL people!

Math:
This week in math we’ll finish up our module on decomposing numbers.  This module has given us some mental math strategies to help us add and subtract more accurately and quickly.  We’ll then begin adding and subtracting with regrouping (the vocabulary you probably learned growing up is “borrowing” for subtraction and “carrying the one” for adding). 

Language Arts:
We started our phonics concept of Consonant-le endings last week, so we’ll continue practicing words with those endings.  We’ll learn that these endings have a schwa and the “e” is there because very syllable needs a vowel. 

Social Studies:
This week in Social Studies we’ll continue to learn about North America.  We’ll use a landform map to identify the location of physical features in North America.  We’ll also look at North America from space, and we’ll discuss seasons and climate in North America.

Science:
As we continue on with our unit about plants, we’ll start off by discussing the word “habitat” and analyzing the different components of a habitat that might impact a plant’s growth.  We’ll then use that information to ask questions about the grand spider orchid and why its population has been dwindling.

Week 19

This week has started off pretty differently, but we’re settling in now that I’m back!  Here’s what we’re doing this week:

Christian Studies:
This week in Christian Studies we’ll be learning about some of the prophesies of Jesus and God’s promise of a savior.  We’ll also learn about John the Baptist and how he prepared the way for Jesus.

Math:
This week in math we’re taking apart numbers (“decomposing”) in order to add and subtract more easily.  We’ll be using what we know about adding and subtracting, as well as tens and ones, to solidify these mental math strategies and help us add and subtract quickly and accurately.

Language Arts:
With me being gone the first two days of the week, we’ll be postponing our phonics concept until next week.  We will be looking at informational text and reading it closely to pick out details and clues that help us better understand the text.  We’ll also be writing about our reading.

Social Studies:
We started our unit on North America this week.  We began by looking at the countries in North America, as well as the types of water and landforms in North America.

Science:
We’ll start off our science unit about finding the best place for a plant to grow by reviewing science safety and decorating our workbook covers.  We’ll do a pre-assessment to find out what the students already know about plants and what they need to grow, then we’ll build off of that information as we go through the unit.

Week 18

We’re back for a full week of school, and we’ll be diving in!

Christian Studies:
This week in Christian Studies we’ll be learning about Jonah and the minor prophets, discussing their roles in history and the importance of obeying God in sharing our faith.  We’ll also learn about Nehemiah rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem and discussing God’s faithfulness to His people.

Math:
This week I math we’ll be revisiting addition and subtraction and counting strategies, getting ready for two-digit addition and subtraction.  This week we’ll use a hundred chart and number line to count, and we’ll practice counting strategies to help us be more efficient and accurate in our adding and subtracting.

Language Arts:
This week we’ll be reviewing some of the last few phonics concepts we’ve learned:  diphthongs oi/oy and ou/ow, the “igh” vowel team, and the 3 Great Rules—doubling, drop the “e,” and change the “y” to an “i”.

In reading we’ll be looking at informational texts and discussing the characteristics associated with that genre, as well as looking at text features to help us better understand the text.  We’ll also use the text to answer key questions.

Social Studies:
We’ll review what we’ve learned about location in Social Studies.  Then we’ll talk about maps of the world and we’ll talk about how maps change over time.  We’ll use our magazine to take our test this week, as well.