Week 2 Reading Blog from Mrs. Jackson

September 1, 2014

Welcome September! It is amazing to think that we are heading into the fall.  I saw many of  your children at the Labor Day Parade today and it reminded me of how lucky we all are to live in such a small-knit community.  Of course, my girls were hesitant to go to the parade, but they decided they loved it when they hauled home bags of candy!  Isn’t that what parades are about for little kids?

Your second graders really worked hard this week.  We worked on improving our Independent Reading and Writing time.  After practicing reaching writing expectations for 2nd grade, I was very impressed with the writing that all of our 2nd graders produced. 

Many students wrote about pets, sports, friends, family and adventures.  We are working on developing from being 1st grade writers into 2nd grade writers.  Some things that have changed in 2nd grade include longer, more elaborate pieces, the use of sketches without color vs. colored drawings and writing in normal notebooks vs. on larger K-1st grade paper with bigger spaces for writing, dotted lines and a large space for drawing.  

Having taught 3rd grade, I am excited to raise our 2nd grade writing to the next level.  I have been looking closely at the errors made by our 2nd graders and have  many things in store that I know will improve their skills.    Writing is one of my biggest passions and I feel very positive and excited about the growth we will make this year.  

During the beginning of last week, I chose books to fill each child’s book basket for Independent Reading.  On Thursday, after demonstrating effective independent reading, we focused on making good book choices on our own and picked out books to read this coming week during our Independent Reading time.  

This week we are going to begin our Word Work program (focusing on Spelling skills), continue improving our Independent Writing time and on learning the skills for 2nd grade Read to Someone.

It has been a great 2 weeks.  I look forward to another great week ahead.

Reminder-Volunteer Request

We really need 2-3 more volunteers to help during our reading block from 10:15-11:20.  These volunteers will make it possible for me to track sight word and fluency progress as well as to help small groups improve their Spelling through weekly guided Word Work.  These volunteers will begin next week when we will also begin our small Guided Reading groups.

Please let me know if you can help.  Thank you to the  parents who have already volunteered!  

Have a wonderful afternoon with your families!