Author: First Baptist Christian School

Dear Parents,

In light of great PTCs, here are some websites that contain audio-books and other reading resources like apps and activity sites. Please browse through the sites before letting students use them independently as some have advertisements that may change. Please let me know if you have a great reading resource that hasn’t been listed or if you find one of these links to be a big hit with your student!

• http://www.storylineonline.net/      Storyline Online is a collection of videos of famous actors and actresses reading aloud storybooks with the visuals being the actual illustrations from the book. This is great for students who like to listen to stories (unfortunately, there are no words shown.)

• https://www.youtube.com/user/MrsPStorytime/playlists      This Youtube Channel has multiple types of videos, but the read-aloud stories with words at the bottom are the best for on-level 2nd graders! Head’s up: Mrs. P focuses on older classic stories and reads with a thick English accent. Preview it with your student to see if it falls within the interest/skill level of your child.

• http://www.storynory.com/     StoryNory is a collection of audio books, separated by genre, and including a vast international repertoire!

• http://en.childrenslibrary.org/         International Children’s Digital Library is exactly what it sounds like: a free collection of international literature (at different levels and in different languages.) A free membership allows you to save favorites. The website is not very easy to navigate for children, so help your student find what they’re looking for on ICDL! *Search by location to support our 2nd grade learning about India*

• Scholastic Article on One More Story     One More Story requires a subscription which comes in different discounts for longer memberships. There are 79 books currently on their site, and multiple modes for children to explore. This article explains the highlights of this online library (if you’re willing to pay for the 3, 6, or 12 month plans.)

• http://www.scholastic.com/parents/resources/article/developing-reading-skills/6-great-reading-apps-kids     6 Reading Apps for Kids, approved by Scholastic and outlined by skill and price.

• http://www.readingrockets.org/literacyapps     Reading Rockets has loads of great resources for young readers. This link is a website of links for apps to support different aspects of reading. The apps range from free to paid, supportive to supplemental. Check out some for the specific needs of your child!

Handwriting, creative writing, and book reports all in printable PDF form for your home writing needs!

Enjoy and print responsibly 🙂

(A great idea for handwriting practice, whether print or cursive, is to print off work and place it in a plastic sheet and have your child practice with whiteboard markers. I found the idea here!)

Book Report Options (Printable) handwriting-paper-medium-lines-picture write-and-draw-paper story-template-for-kids blue-horizontal pink-horizontal

Dear Parents,

Students are learning all seven continents and all five oceans in Social Studies right now. Students will then get to choose the continent or ocean of their choice and do their first research project for the year.

In order to best support them in their learning, the following links are some great resources for geography games and practice, as well as student-friendly websites they can use to enhance their research. Please check the websites first as a few of them have advertisements that may change!

• 7 Continents Song
• Sheppard Software Geography Games (the one we’ve been using in class competitions)
• Click Quiz
• Continents and Oceans online quiz
• Timed Click Quiz for Continents and Oceans
• Click Quiz for World Geography (slightly dull graphics though)
• Advanced** Brainpop game with countries and flags

The week’s learning objectives for October 17-21:

• Spelling:
  • -ear words (PDF of Verse, Spelling, Reminders)
• Bible:
  • Verse: Luke 5:15-16
  • in class we are carrying on with the lessons on Moses’s life
• Literacy:
  • Students have published their first stories of the year!
  • Review of basic sentence and paragraph skills (complete sentences, ending marks, transition words, adding details.)
  • Continue practicing types of sentences (facts, commands, questions, exclamations)
• Reading:
  • Comprehension of text (focus points: plot, making predictions, character description)
  • R-controlled words/vowels
  • Plural nouns with -s
  • Main idea and details
• Maths:
  • Started a new unit which starts with skip counting (forward and backward), odd/even, greater than/less than.  We continue working with math facts and students are encouraged to continue practicing with their 4’s flash cards at home.
• Social Studies:
  • Globe skills (latitude, longitude, hemispheres, Equator, Meridian)
  • Vocabulary: all the 7 continents and the 5 oceans (please check email and blog for links to websites with games and activities to help your child practice!)
• Science:
  • Mammals and the key characteristics that distinguishes mammals from other species (ask your student to name at least 3 of them!).

The week’s Reminders and Updates:

*Weekend Journals need to come back to school every Monday (2A students are struggling a bit with this new habit!) Students write a minimum of five sentences either in a creative story or in description of their weekend. If students forget their specific notebook, they can just write it on a piece of paper.

*FBCS Spelling Bee is on Friday, October 21st at 12:30

*2A and 2B Fruity Fridays were a great success. Thank you kindly to all of you who contributed snacks and helped out 🙂

*Room Parents are meeting together after-school on Wednesday the 19th to discuss November’s International Night.

*Keep up with nightly Reading Log entries and daily math fact practice!

Thank you kindly,

Ms. Maurice and Ms. Mittelman

The week’s learning objectives for October 10-14:

• Spelling:
  • -ack and -ock words (PDF of Spelling, Verse, Reminders)
• Bible:
  • Verse: Luke 5:10-11
  • in class we are finishing with the story of Moses and the Plagues
• Literacy:
  • Students are now on the revising and publishing stages of their first fictional story. Finished books will stay at school for a week or two so all the students can take turns reading each other’s work. Look for the final product to come home by the end of the month!
  • Continue practicing full and interesting sentences.
• Reading:
  • Comprehension of text (focus points: plot, making predictions, character description)
  • Using context clues to build vocabulary skills
• Maths
  • Strategies for two step story problems
  • Using related facts to write fact families
• Social Studies:
  • Review and practice of map skills
  • Moving into globe skills (latitude, longitude, hemispheres, Equator, Meridian)
  • Vocabulary: all the 7 continents and the 5 oceans
• Science
  • Predicting and observing what plants and animals need to grow
  • comparing and contrasting sizes and types of living things

The week’s Reminders and Updates:

*Weekend Journals come back to school every Monday! Students need to write a minimum of five sentences either in a creative story or in description of their weekend activities. If students forget their specific Weekend Journal notebook, they can just write it on a piece of paper.

*2nd Grade will be representing India in the upcoming International Night! We are looking for any parents with background knowledge or resources to help us prepare for this exciting event! Please email Ms. M if you would even consider coming in to school to give a small 15-20 minute presentation.

*Friday, October 14th is Fruity Friday for 2B. Please email Ms. M if you would be willing to volunteer on Friday afternoon! Thank you kindly to the 2A parents who helped out on Friday 🙂

*Keep up with nightly Reading Log entries and daily math fact practice. 2nd grade is such an important year for students to get these basic practices solidified. In fact, look for Mathletics login information to be coming home!

The week’s Highlights:

Wednesday’s Award Ceremony was a lovely time to see how many students are doing a great job with their learning. Special congratulations to anyone who earned extra awards from the Specials Teachers!

Friday’s Cancer Walk was a great activity to raise awareness on the subject. Students shared stories they knew about friends or relatives who have had cancer and are alive and well today!

Hello Parents,

Did you know that reading for 20 minutes daily means that in one year, a reader will be exposed to 1.8 million words in just one year? That’s an incredible amount of learning and growth for such a simple daily action! Please make sure your child is getting 20 minutes of reading each day, whether it be:

• through an app or on an iPad
• reading aloud to other family members
• actively listening to a story being read to them

If your student hasn’t yet developed a love for reading, consider one of the following strategies:

• look into graphic novels (students will use the picture-based plot to help themselves learn new words!)
• choosing books that align with student interest (if they are too difficult for the student to read alone, books on one of their favorite topics are the perfect choice for parent-child read aloud time!)
• find a series that meets a student’s reading level (remember the 5 finger trick – too easy, they’ll get bored – too hard, they’ll get frustrated – right around 2 or 3 hard words per page is the perfect level for their learning!)

Here is a printable PDF for the Five Finger Rule in a neat little bookmark: five-finger-rule-bookmarkpdf

And here is the 2nd grade reading log that should be filled out each night to track reading habits: 2nd Grade Printable Reading Log

Thank you in advance for this joint effort as we help students develop a love of reading 🙂

Ms. Mittelman and Ms. Maurice

Each week the spelling words focus on a different spelling rule with extra practice in their workbook which also correlates with their reading series.  We will also be getting ready for the schoolwide Spelling Bee coming up in October.

Second graders are busy reviewing basic math facts, adding 2 and 3 digits, using doubles and near-doubles as a strategy to quickly solve problems, using a number line for addition and subtraction, and learning to see the relationship with math families, and basic story problems.  They all have flash cards that were sent home for practice and there is a quiz at the end of each week.

Second Grade is such a fun year for reading!

Students will be delving into new genres, series, and levels this year. Students are being trained at school how to choose the best books for their current reading level. Please help support this at home by helping them check new books or library books with the Five Finger Test or the I PICK test! Ms. Maurice and Ms. Mittelman are leading students in these book checking procedures each week during Library 🙂