Challenges

A new week brings new challenges. In the home folder, you will find a letter about a new reading incentive. The students are VERY EXCITED about the reward we will earn together for this program. Be sure to remind your kids to keep track of minutes read on the white calendar. Most of the class has been doing an excellent job writing their titles down (in their own handwriting!!) on the homework sheets, so this should be a simple addition and I hope not stressful at all. Most parents have also been doing a great job at signing the homework sheet every night. I cannot begin to tell you how much you will appreciate developing these good work habits NOW with your child. If you are finding that you are needing to remind your child of what is expected of him or her each night, sit down and talk about your expectations. The only change for you as the parent is to initial the weekend minutes so your child can earn the maximum gift sheets for the minutes read. If minutes are recorded on a weekend day, they will not be counted if there are no initials on the day.

Another challenge for tomorrow is to find out what Roman Numeral is used to represent the number 50. We talked about this earlier in the year, but some kids were getting a little confused trying to remember it today. Some kids are confident they know, but should check to be sure. That will be our secret letter tomorrow.

Our challenge for the week is to figure out how many days we have been in school so far this year. This will require going onto Young's website, click on the left link titled, "Online Calendar" and count the number of days from the start of the school year to this Friday (minus days off and the weekend days).

We are starting to take Accelerated Reader tests in 2G. Today, the kids took a test over a book they had read to them called, Dear Mrs. LaRue (yes, that should be underlined but the blog isn't allowing it right now). This is a program we have where the kids read a book (either assigned to them or a book they have chosen to read) and take a test checking their comprehension of the book. Students will need to fill out a little slip of paper to let me know they are ready to take a new test on a RECENTLY READ BOOK. Many times, kids think they can take tests on books they read last year or a few months ago. Taking Accelerated Reader tests should be done soon after reading the book so that the material is still accessible. Students earn points for these tests if they pass them. All students in 2G will have a goal of 10 points to try and reach by the end of the second quarter (this is the Friday after we get back from Winter Break). Most picture books that are around the second grade reading level are worth 1/2 point. Some books will be read to the kids. Also, they will be able to earn points taking the test for the read aloud book, The BFG, when we finish that story (which should be soon!). That type of chapter book is worth MULTIPLE points. The longer the book and the higher the reading level, the more points the test is worth.

We will also be challenging ourselves with new word sort activities this week, so check the homework sheet carefully and have your child explain it to you. Being able to teach someone else how to do something is extremely important.

The word wall words this week are words that have proven to be a great challenge for the majority of the class in their independent writing. Please take the time to go over these, as well as MATH FACT CARDS, nightly for at least 5 minutes!!

Are you up to the challenges??