Week Three of First Six Weeks Update

This week, one of our focuses has been learning to better understand what we read by analyzing characters in selections.

 

Standard 2.9  Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Fiction. Students understand, make inferences and draw conclusions about the structure and elements of fiction and provide evidence from text to support their understanding. Students are expected to: (B)  describe main characters in works of fiction, including their traits, motivations, and feelings.


Interact with Your Child:

You can help your student to be a better reader by encouraging them to think about what characters say, do, think, and how they treat others. You might ask, "Why did ______ (character) say that?", "How does ______ (character) feel right now? How do you know?" Ask your student to tell you what they think a good character trait is for a specific character, and have them prove it with evidence. For example, your student might say, "I think that good character traits for Superman are nice and helpful, and my evidence is that Superman helps other people when they are in need."

We analyzed the characters Hare and Tortoise from the folktale "The Tortoise and the Hare". 
Interact with Your Child: Ask your child to explain to you what a folktale is.

Students are learning to annotate their selections (take notes). We underline our evidence that supports our answers and inferences. All students are expected to note their evidence, use Thinkmarks, and take notes when reading.

 

Interact with Your Child: To practice sequencing, have your child create a flow chart and explain what main events happened at the beginning, middle, and end of a selection. Ask your student how the main character changed from the beginning to the end. Have them find the evidence in the selection that helps show how the character changed and what caused the change.

 

Please note that your student will receive a Reading Log this week that needs to be signed each day. Each student is expected to select a book to read of their choice for a minimum of ten minutes daily. Thursday's are our days to visit our school's library, so they can use those books if they want to; Please be sure they bring them to school to trade in for new books.

 

Interact with Your Child: Your student will also receive "Word Lists" with many of the sounds they are expected to learn in second grade. Keep this safely in their folder, or somewhere at home where they can practice reading, writing, and speaking with these sounds. You can play rhyming games- take turns saying words that rhyme with the words on their list.

 

2.5  Reading/Vocabulary Development. Students understand new vocabulary and use it when reading and writing. Students are expected to:
(B)  use context to determine the relevant meaning of unfamiliar words or multiple-meaning words.

Figure 19.110.13 Reading/Comprehension Skills. Students use a flexible range
of metacognitive reading skills in both assigned and independent reading
 to understand an author’s message. Students will continue to apply
earlier standards with greater depth in increasingly more complex texts
as they become self-directed, critical readers. Students are expected to: 
(D) make inferences about text using textual evidence to support understanding.
(E) retell important events in stories in logical order.

 These are the types of questions we are equipping our students to respond to successfully:

 

Interact with Your Child: Next week your student will be responsible for writing a paragraph about something that happened to them at school. Help them select their main idea, or, what the main thing is that they want their reader to know. You might ask your student, "What is the main thing you remember about school today? This is your main idea." Ask them to describe to you what happened using sensory details (from our 5 senses- sight, touch, smell, taste, and sound). Ask them how they felt at school, and why they felt that way. You can even encourage them to use sequencing words, and to make sure that they are telling their events from the day in the correct order.

Their writing should be neat and on lined paper, with correct end marks (periods, exclamation points, and question marks). If your child doesn't know how to spell a word, help them to learn how to use a paper or online dictionary.