Second Grade at Shaker Lane - Room 202

I put together a video that walks you through how to log in and has some tips on using Spelling City on a computer or chrome, safari, etc. browser. This should help if your child is unsure of where to click or how to find the current week's word lists (They are always under "lists not in group"). This video is from early 2017 so Spelling City may have a few minor changes since then. Unfortunately I can't quite make a video showing how to use Spelling City with the app, but I did show both ways in class and we will be using Spelling City in class regularly so I can imagine the students will get very adept at it pretty quickly. Many of them are savvier than I am with technology!

This week we have three homework assignments: 1) Math homework, which is a NumTanga puzzle. This is due  tomorrow.      We did several of these together in class last week. Students look at neighboring cards and find a number that is represented in both cards and write that number in the box between thr cards. We did one on Thurs. and one Friday. If your child was absent or forgets how to do them,  here is a brief explanation on Youtube.  Skip ahead to 1:40 or so for NumTanga. 2) Reading log - just like last week the reading log is simple and students just fill in the number of days they read and have you sign it. This is due  Friday. 3) Spelling: This week everyone has the same spelling words. On the back of the reading log are 4 choices on a spelling menu Your child needs to do one, and bring it back on  Friday. I f your child does Spelling City you need to just sign the sheet.For the the others, your child needs to return the activi...

SPELLING ROUTINE AND SPELLING CITY Here are some details to help explain our spelling program and how it works. ● We work on a spelling pattern(s) for one week, starting on Monday and ending on Friday. ● Each Friday I give a preview of the next week’s words. The preview is usually the words from the regular spelling list. How students do on the preview helps determine which list they work on for the week (there are multiple spelling lists for differentiation). If your child knows all the words or only got one wrong, he will do List A for the week. Otherwise, your child will do List O, the regular spelling list. Occasionally, but not always there is a third list which your child might get if they only knew a couple of the preview words. ● Later in the year, (not until at least November), on the spelling quiz itself, there will usually be 2-5  bonus words – words that have the same exact spelling patterns we worked on but are not on any of the lists students studied. Afte...

Hi everyone! This week we will start homework procedures. I would like to explain the usual routines. There are two types of homework: the weekly reading log and nightly homework (occasionally there is a long term project). Our Language Arts "Week" starts each Monday and ends on Friday. Therefore, on Monday nights your child will bring home a reading log which also includes their spelling words. Their reading log is to be kept at home until Friday. Reading logs are  due on Friday . I won't take them early because students may read on Friday morning before school and need to record it.  The second grade home reading policy is that students read about every night for 10-15 minutes. The spelling quiz is on Fridays. Your child will receive a spelling menu on Monday attached to their reading log and they will write their spelling words on it so they know what words they need to practice. Your child will choose one activity from the menu to complete on Wednesday . Of cours...

1) Due to the short week, there will be no spelling quiz tomorrow. The quiz on the ee/ea words will be a week from Friday. 2) The class earned a special activity and voted for "toy day" . We will do this tomorrow. Students may bring in one non electronic toy.  Toys could be a stuffed animal, doll, game, action figure... etc. For "collections" like Shopkins which are tiny, student could bring in a small ziploc bag with them. No Pokemon cards, baseball cards, etc. Students will get a special time period to share and play with the toy they bring. Participation is of course option. We have fun things in the classroom students could do/use if they do not want to bring a toy in. 3) Reminder - tomorrow is Patriots Spirit Day 4) Mismatch Day has been moved to next Wednesday 5) I sent out a Google Doc via email. We are in need of supplies for our STEAM challenge day and if you can send anything in, please add your name to the doc. Thanks!

I put together a video that walks you through how to log in and has some tips on using Spelling City on a computer or chrome, safari, etc. browser. This should help if your child is unsure of where to click or how to find the current week's word lists (They are always under "lists not in group"). This video is from early 2017 so Spelling City may have a few minor changes since then. Unfortunately I can't quite make a video showing how to use Spelling City with the app, but I did show both ways in class and we will be using Spelling City in class regularly so I can imagine the students will get very adept at it pretty quickly. Many of them are savvier than I am with technology!

SPELLING ROUTINE AND SPELLING CITY Here are some details to help explain our spelling program and how it works. ● We work on a spelling pattern(s) for one week, starting on Monday and ending on Friday. ● Each Friday I give a preview of the next week’s words. The preview is usually the words from the regular spelling list. How students do on the preview helps determine which list they work on for the week (there are multiple spelling lists for differentiation). If your child knows all the words or only got one wrong, he will do List A for the week. Otherwise, your child will do List O, the regular spelling list. Occasionally, but not always there is a third list which your child might get if they only knew a couple of the preview words. ● Later in the year, (not until at least November), on the spelling quiz itself, there will usually be 2-5  bonus words – words that have the same exact spelling patterns we worked on but are not on any of the lists students studied. Afte...

Hi everyone! This week we will start homework procedures. I would like to explain the usual routines. There are two types of homework: the weekly reading log and nightly homework (occasionally there is a long term project). Our Language Arts "Week" starts each Monday and ends on Friday. Therefore, on Monday nights your child will bring home a reading log which also includes their spelling words. Their reading log is to be kept at home until Friday. Reading logs are  due on Friday . I won't take them early because students may read on Friday morning before school and need to record it.  The second grade home reading policy is that students read about every night for 10-15 minutes. The spelling quiz is on Fridays. Your child will receive a spelling menu on Monday attached to their reading log and they will write their spelling words on it so they know what words they need to practice. Your child will choose one activity from the menu to complete on Wednesday . Of cours...

So you may have seen that Spelling City has dozens of games. It is a terrific website, but in my opinion, not all the games are appropriate or helpful if a child really needs some repetitive practice to learn and master words. Here is a short video showing you which games I think are best and I will also list them below! Thank you. Initial Sound Speller Final Sound Speller Sound it Out Spelling Test Me - Practice Tes t Speedy Speller Test N Teach Aim to Spell

Hello everyone! If your child likes to do Spelling City at home you may have noticed a few changes. I went over them in class but a few students were out so I thought I would share here as well. When your child logs into Spelling City, the first thing he will notice is they have some assignments that pop up. They are games or practice activities. He simply needs to complete each activity once and then Spelling City will allow him to do any other activities he likes. Some of the activities are not ideal for practicing spelling, so I selected ones that were best for really learning how to spell the words. If your child is confused, please have them ask me. We also do Spelling City in class once a week so it is okay if they do not do it at home, as long as they practice their words in another way. Your child will not be penalized if they do not complete their Spelling City online assignments during the week either. Thank you!

Hi everyone! I made  a 10 minute or so video, going over some information about a few things you may find helpful about room 202. If you've been following the blog and getting the emails from me, you know most of this but there is one or two pieces of new information you could catch. Thanks!

I put together a video that walks you through how to log in and has some tips on using Spelling City on a computer or chrome, safari, etc. browser. This should help if your child is unsure of where to click or how to find the current week's word lists (They are always under "lists not in group"). Unfortunately I can't quite make a video showing how to use Spelling City with the app, but I did show both ways in class and we will be using Spelling City in class regularly so I can imagine the students will get very adept at it pretty quickly. Many of them are savvier than I am with technology!

SPELLING ROUTINE AND SPELLING CITY Here are some details to help explain our spelling program and how it works. ● We work on a spelling pattern(s) for one week, starting on Monday and ending on Friday. ● Each Friday I give a preview of the next week’s words. The preview is usually the words from the regular spelling list. How they do on the preview helps determine which list they work on for the week (there are multiple spelling lists for differentiation). If your child knows all the words or only got one wrong, he will do List A for the week. Otherwise, your child will do List O, the regular spelling list. Occasionally, but not always there is a third list which your child might get if they only knew a couple of the preview words. ● On the spelling quiz itself, there will usually be 2-5  bonus words – words that have the same exact spelling patterns we worked on but are not on any of the lists students studied. After all, the point is not for them to only get 100% on...

SPELLING ROUTINE AND SPELLING QUIZZES Starting next week there will be a small change or two in the spelling program. Here are some details to help explain. . ● On the spelling quiz itself, starting next Friday there will be 2-5  bonus words – words that have the same exact spelling patterns we worked on but are not on any of the lists students studied. The words will be of similar difficulty to the words that are on the spelling list. After all, the point is not only for students to only get 100% on a quiz, but also to carry over the skill to spell other words correctly. Using different words as well as monitoring their spelling in their writing will help you and I know how they are doing. Doing spelling the traditional way (ie giving students a list of 10 words, having them memorize the words for  the weekly quiz) sometimes results in"Friday Spellers" who may or may not be able to translate the spelling skills into their daily writing. Here are two teachers who use th...