Common Sense

I am very pleased with how well week 2 went!

We finished our first reading unit where we studied plot structure: beginning, middle, and end, as well as characters and settings within the stories we read. First graders practiced their phonics skills with words that all had the short /a/ sound that you hear in the word man. Second graders practiced short /a/ and /i/ found in words like hit and bat. We also focused on becoming better readers by reading to ourselves and listening to books on CD every day. Next week we will continue our reading study, practicing the skill of retelling events in order.

In math we used hands on manipulatives to deepen our understanding of plane shapes and 3-D solid figures. Students also practiced paper pencil skills to show knowledge of shape names, vertices (points), angles, faces and edges. Next week we will review shapes and move into a study of spatial sense.

We all use our 5 senses every single day to observe the world around us. In science class we spent time exploring our sense of sight using scientific tools like hand-lenses and microscopes to increase our ability to see. We used cup-telephones, whisper-phones and head-phones to explore our sense of hearing. At the end of the week we all took part in a smell experiment to see which liquid we might prefer to drink. All the while we used our Science Journal to record what we learned in class. Next week we will finish up our study of the 5 senses with a look into our sense of touch and tase.

In social studies we learned about communities, cultures, families and traditions. We discussed the thing we do in our families and communities over and over again as well as some other cultural aspects like food and holidays we celebrate due to the vast varieties of cultures we have in the United States. Next week we will look more carefully at our Nation and some of the Symbols that represent our country.

As a final note I would like to share that at our Health Screening on Tuesday our 1-2 Enrichment class was told we were the most well behaved class that participated. Due to this achievement Mrs. Conrad gave each student and myself a Panther Paw. With this and other times we were caught doing what was right by other staff members we earned 22 Panther Paws total in the first two week. I am so proud of the good behavior demonstrated thus far!