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Looking Ahead to Next Week:
Memory: The First Commandment- You shall have no other gods.

Spelling: ear/ath:  hear, near, fear, dear, smear, math, path, bath, aftermath, Sabbath

Grammar: Adjectives
Phonics: er and est word endings
Reading: Fiction v. Nonfiction
Math: We will begin to learn and practice subtraction facts. We will have a test on Friday. This test includes their regular written test, as well as a 25 subtraction fact test, and a 100 addition fact test. A reminder that the goal for the students is to finish all 100 of their facts in 5 minutes or less, and their 25 subtraction facts in 2 1/2 minutes.
Science: Ch. 9 Lesson 1 Properties of Matter--We will not have a formal test over this unit. Instead, the kids will be demonstrating their knowledge through a poster at the end of the unit.
Writing: 5 paragraph paper over Christmas Break

Important News and Information:
-2nd grade sings at church on Sunday, Jan. 21st at 10:30 a.m.
-2nd Semester means that our class is increasing our required reading homework to 40 minutes, 4 times each week. This increase is to help continue to improve fluency, comprehension, and overall reading ability for our young readers.
-The last day to take AR tests for 3rd Quarter is Wednesday, March 7th.
-Another change for 3rd quarter is that writing will now count as a grade. A writing portfolio of each student's work will be sent home at the end of the quarter so you can see their writing, as well as examples of how I graded their writing. I have conferenced with each student and together, we created an individualized writing goal to focus on for this quarter.

Practicing our 3rd Quarter High Frequency Words

Reading Scholastic News Articles

Each student created a "How many ______ are there in our school" question that they wanted answered. We then walked around and counted what we found. Back in our classroom, the students practiced their double digit addition skills by adding their information together with a partner's information. 

In grammar, we reviewed types of sentences. 

On Friday, Mrs. Helmkamp came to our room and set up an escape room type activity where there were clues and lock boxes all around the room. The kids had to work together to solve the clues in order to open the locks to get their prize. It was a great chance for the students to work on their problem solving skills and continuing to work even when things get tough--"don't give up!"