Welcome to Marking Period 2!!

Today begins the second marking period...hard to believe, huh?? Since it is also the morning after trick-or-treating, it was a bit bumpy at first! :-) Nevertheless, we marched on...

Our focus in reading and writing is on non-fiction or informational text. This morning, I distributed our latest issue of the National Geographic magazine. The students were given time to preview the issue before we got into the instruction. Today's lesson focused on determining the main idea in text. We discussed the importance of text features, as well as the actual text, in determining the main idea. Tomorrow we will begin reading the text and identifying the main idea.

While I met with reading groups the students read the article on spiders and identified three new facts they learned from their reading. Then they identified plural nouns. Finally, they practiced writing U, Y and V in cursive.

Cheetahs: We continued reading Ostriches and identifying examples of cause and effect in the text. For homework they students need to reread pages 2-11 and get a parent's signature in their planner.


In math we began making conversions between inches and feet. There is a measurement worksheet for homework.

Following PE, lunch and recess I handed out the next spelling packet. We will be focusing on the /oe/ spelling patterns and plural nouns.

While the children continued working on their independent work, I finished meeting with reading groups.

Bears: We began reading and discussing chapter 14. For homework the students need to read pages 106-108 and explain how Aunt Rose found Ben and Hana (on a provided sticky note).
Lions: We discussed the chapter titled A Letter. For homework they need to reread this chapter and get a parent signature in their planner.
Crabs: We got a new book (non-fiction) called Soccer. We shared what we know about soccer and previewed the text. Then we read the introduction and answered questions orally. Tonight they need to reread pages 2-5 and get a parent signature in their binder.