Week in Review--Bugs/Insects (Week One)

Reading:

-We had TWO sight words this week-- “look, out”.

-The CAFÉ strategy we worked on this week was the strategy.

“Make a Picture or Mental Image”

Teaching students to form pictures in their mind improves comprehension and thinking skills. We do this most effectively through direct modeling and student practice. It is also beneficial to encourage peer sharing and illustrations of mental images.
How can you help your child with this strategy at home?

1. Remind your child that when making a picture or mental image, readers put themselves in the story or text by making a mind movie. They also look for important details that help them make pictures in their minds.

2. Explain that there are many ways pictures help readers remember what they are reading. They can do this by:

 

-thinking about what they know about the text before they read

 

-using sensory details to create mental pictures (what did it smell like, feel like, look       like etc.)

 

-looking back at the picture in your brain after the story to remember what has happened.

3. Read to your child and model how you make pictures in your mind. Then, give your child a chance to try it. Read a selection to your child and ask:

 

-What do you see in my mind as I read this selection?

 

-Can you see yourself in this selection?

 

-Explain to me the picture in your mind.

Math:

-This week we practiced finding the different ways to make 10. We have touched on this multiple times throughout the year and every day when we complete our number of the day activity, but this week we solely focused on finding those ways and practicing memorizing them. We used various manipulatives in groups of ten and would split them apart to find a way to make ten. A similar activity was then placed into Number Work where students practice finding the different ways and putting them into an addition sentence.

Writing:

-We focused on how to add a good beginning to our writings by making sure we tell the reader WHAT we are writing about. For example, if I am writing an information book about weather I would start the book off by saying “I am going to teach you about weather.” Then I would continue my writing on by adding my three or more facts about weather. We also discussed how our pieces need to have an ending. We practiced ending our writings by using a feeling. My writing about weather ended by me saying “My favorite type of weather is sunny because it makes me happy.” The students are expected to write 5 parts when it comes to their independent informational writing pieces. They need to have the beginning, three facts and finish the story with some type of ending—most use a feeling. We refer to our checklist to help us keep on track with this!   

Content:

We started our week of learning off to a great start! The class was excited to come back and get right into the swing of things. Our theme this week and next is all about bugs and insects. We learned what characteristics make an insect differ from a bug. Insects have to have 6 legs and “feelers” or antennae. We also learned that some insects have wings, but not all and they have three body parts—the head, thorax and abdomen. We watched a few videos and read many books! We completed an insect yes/no chart where we separated pictures of various animals/bugs into YES they are an insect or NO they are not. We continued our learning by labeling the three body parts of an ant using a flip paper and finished the week beginning to learn about caterpillars and the butterfly life cycle. Our plan was to go out on an insect hunt, but the stormy weather had other plans for us. We will be sure to squeeze that in next week! We finished up our Friday by painting a kite first using a crayon to outline the designs/lines in the kite to keep the paint colors from mixing together!








































Other:

Second grade teacher, Mrs. Call taught our class about the baby chicks they have had in their classroom for the past couple of weeks. We learned how long they stay in the egg until they hatch, what they eat and what they look like when they are first born! We each got to pet the chicks too!

Practice at home:

Gather ten small items and mark two areas where you can place the items. Have your child move items from one area to the other and come up with the various ways to make ten. After completing several of these ways, check your child’s memory by asking what number plus another numbers get them to ten. For example, what number plus 8 would get me to 10?  8 + ___=10? Your child can also use his/her fingers to help them solve the answer!