Wednesday, October 25, 2006

2nd Grade Activities: Week 9

Monday
1. Religion: daily prayer.
2. Math: demonstration of addition and subtraction (of numbers under 10) with base ten materials, and also with dice; demonstration of multiplication and division (numbers under 10) with montessori bead materials; show place value (written numbers) of units, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, one hundred thousands, millions, ten millions, one hundred millions, billions; correctly identified 1,000,000,000; 1,000,000; 1,000; 100; 10; 1; play dominoes; write the numbers 1-12.
3. Art: take pictures of toys (repositioning them for each shot) to make a movie; draw a squirrel.
4. Language Arts: build words with letter tiles representing individual syllables.
5. Telling Time: draw and label a clock.
6. Science/Nature: make a book about birds.
7. Handwriting: write title and author name on the cover and title page of the book; practice a page of handwriting (Victory Pre-Drill Book).
8. Reading: read a postcard.
9. History: read from California Rancho Days.
10. Art: art class: observe outdoors: light and shadows and the various shades of color in living vs. nonliving things; learn about focal point, horizon and perspective; sketch an outdoor scene; paint with acrylics.

Tuesday
1. Religion: daily prayer.
2. Read Aloud: three chapters of Bandit's Moon.
3. History: read about the historical figure Joaquin Murietta and the California State Rangers at the time of the Gold Rush:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joaquin_Murietta
http://www.militarymuseum.org/CaliforniaStateRangers.html
(historical background for today's art class).
Read a brief history of the famous woman mathematician, Maria Gaetana Agnesi (1718-1799):
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01214b.htm .
4. Math: read and solve word problems, and read about problem-solving strategies in the book: Word Problems Made Easy, Rebecca Wingard-Nelson.
5. Art: class: learn about beaded ceremonial aprons worn by Tolowa indian women and make a similar one with feathers, beads, and shells.
6. P.E.: park time.

Wednesday
1. Religion: prayer, girls' group: class with other girls about a saint and a virtue, sing a hymn.
2. Math: mental math: add multiples of 100.
3. History: read about the invention and usefulness of the Conestoga wagon (covered wagon) in Colonial days.
4. Geography: locate Pennsylvania on U.S. Map.
5. Art: make a Fall table centerpiece at girls' group; make a tarantula out of modeling clay.
6. Spanish: story time at the library.
7. P.E.: park time.
8. Science/Nature: observe a squirrel jumping, eating, and hiding nuts.

Thursday
1. Religion: pray, read about the North American martyrs, read Bible readings for the day.
2. Cooking: make a banana/pineapple tart.
3. Art: create a squirrel and nuts out of modeling clay.
4. Math: 2+2=4. 20+20=40, 200+200=400, 2000+2000=4000, 2,000,000+2,000,000 = 4,000,000, 2,000,000,000 + 2,000,000,000 = 4,000,000,000, etc., also with 2+4, 4+4, and other addition problems.
5. Music: watch Wee Sing: Under the Sea (video); attend choir rehearsal.
6. Read Aloud: Is Your Mama a Llama?, Deborah Guarino.
7. Reading: some words in read-aloud book.

Friday
1. Religion: pray; read about the saint of the day; read the book: Prayer, Inos Biffi, with beautiful illustrations by Franco Vignazia; read We Go to Mass, picture book by George Brundage; read The Holy Mass, Coloring and Activity Book, Ancilla Christine Hirsch, FSP; learn the liturgical colors.
2. Music: listen to classical music and contemporary music; music theory with Rabbit Man's Music Book 1: Bass and Treble cleffs and the notes: treble G, high G, bass F, low F; sing.
3. Language Arts: phonics and reading: Explode the Code 2 workbook: initial consonant blend review and final consonant blends: mp, sk, st.
4. Reading: signs, labels, packages, book titles, posters, many words in the environment and on outings.
5. Art: fill a blank book with drawings, "family snapshots".
6. Read Aloud: Animal Ark: Sheepdog in the Snow, Ben M. Baglio.
7. P.E.: soccer.

Monday, October 16, 2006

2nd Grade Activities: Week 8

Monday
1. Religion: pray; read about saints of the day.
2. Math: sort confetti by shapes; fractions 1/4, 1/2, 1/3 (Miquon); locate items by hours on clock face (Miquon); read and solve money problems with dimes, nickels, pennies, quarters (Learn on the Go workbook); count items and write numbers 1-10; review greater and less than signs; match graphs to data given (sample STAR 2nd grade test).
3. Language Arts: correct the grammar in sentences; read a short passage and answer questions; match correct sentence describing a picture (sample LA test book).
4. Read Aloud: from Little Women, Louisa May Alcott, and
Magical Melons, Carol Ryrie Brink.
5. Art: make an indian arrow with a stick, feathers, clay for arrowhead; make a clay and feather decoration; make black cat and ghost decorations.
6. Spelling/Handwriting: copy words of interest into a rolodex of 3x5 cards in alphabetical order [sorted by first letter only].

Tuesday
1. Religion: daily prayers.
2. Math: simple subtraction problems and identifying quantities using 10 bars and units (Learn on the Go Workbook: Addition and Subtraction, gr.1-2); discussion, using examples, of how math is necessary in daily life and work.
3. Read Aloud: Bernard on His Own, Syd Hoff;
Grizzwold, Syd Hoff;
Stop, Stop, Edith Thacher Hurd;
Barkley, Syd Hoff;
"That's Not Fair!", Stephanie Roehe.
4. Reading: signs, directions on worksheets, read some words in the read alouds and some on-line books.
5. Art: sketch a few items; make leaves of various kinds with water droplets on them from modeling clay; watch Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists: Claude Monet*, Mike Venezia (video).
6. History: watch a video showing all the California Missions.
7. P.E.: take a walk.
8. Sign Language: sign some numbers.

Wednesday
1. Religion: daily prayer.
2. History: read brief history of the period from early California rancheros to California statehood, and some stories from California Rancho Days, Helen Bauer.
3. Read Aloud: Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See? and Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?, Bill Martin Jr, Eric Carle.
4. Reading: some words in read alouds.
5. Spanish: Mom reads some bilingual books; story time at library.
6. Math: addition problems with pictured items, coins, numbers.
7. Art: clay creations: miniature pies, cake, cookies, soup, cookbook, story book, spoon, ladle; make paper cow puppet.

Thursday
1. Religion: daily prayer, read about saint of the day; Bible readings for today.
2. Language Arts: listen to stories and answer questions; read directions and parts of stories; write answers to questions about the stories (LA workbook).
3. Math: work out story problems (simple subtraction, counting coins, counting by tens and ones); watch demonstrations of regrouping (10s) and multiplication (rows by columns); tell time to the minute comparing digital and analog clocks.
4. Art: clay creations; color cars for counting.
5. History: read about the Spanish/Mexican founding of San Francisco to the Goldrush and statehood from the book California Rancho Days.
6. Music: attend choir rehearsal.

Friday
1. Religion: pray; read about the saint of the day.
2. Math: two digit addition and subtraction with regrouping using base ten materials (Learn on the Go workbook).
3. History: read about Christopher Columbus and his voyages.
4. Art: draw an Indian girl, corn, and tools; watch the Monet video.
5. Science/Nature: watch Magic School Bus Taking Flight, Magic School Bus for Lunch; collect rocks and leaves.
6. P.E.: soccer practice.

Friday, October 06, 2006

2nd Grade Activities: Week 7

Monday
1. Religion: pray; read about guardian angels; read Bible readings for the day.
2. Math: count by 10s to 100; make up cards with each of these numbers on them; work with fractions: Miquon; count coins; come up with more math equations to equal 10 based on Cuisenaire rod work.
3. Reading: one Reader Rabbit story; read and solve problems in Scholastic Success With Tests: Reading Workbook.
4. Science/Nature: watch Eyewitness Rock and Mineral video. Make different sized "rocks and gems" from modeling clay; ask "What is the difference between a rock and a mineral?"
5. Art: modeling clay creations; paintings to go with Bandit's Moon for art class.
6. Phonics: reading and phonics at Starfall website.
7. Read Aloud: Bandit's Moon, Sid Fleischman; Boxcar Children, Gertrude Chandler Warner.

Tuesday
1. Religion; pray; read about the saint of the day; read Bible readings for the day.
2. Telling Time: show on a clock and write answers to: What time do you finish dinner? What time do you take a bath? What time do you go to bed? (Kumon)
3. Narration: summarize four chapters from Bandit's Moon.
4. Art: draw and paint scenes from Bandit's Moon; attend art class; learn about portrait painting in early California; look at California indian masks; create a colorful mask in a similar style.
5. Read Aloud: Bandit's Moon; Ottie Slockett, Ida Luttrell;
Old Turtle's Soccer Team, Leonard Kessler.
6. Reading: some words in read alouds and instructions on worksheets.
7. P.E.: park time.

Wednesday
1. Religion: pray; read about St. Francis of Assisi; read Bible readings for the day; Mass attendance.
2. Math: demonstrations: odd numbers to 100, even numbers to 100 on 100 board; also add 1, subtract 1 with various numbers; add 2, subtract 2 with various numbers; add 5, add 10. Demonstrate multiplication with Cuisenaire rods: 1x3, 2x3, 3x3, 4x3, 5x3, then division with same rods. Do a fractions page in Miquon red book.
3. Handwriting: several pages of words in Kumon: My Book of Writing Words: Learning about Consonants and Vowels.
4. Read Aloud: Bandit's Moon;
When Martha's Away, Bruce Ingman;
Emile, Kurt Futterer.
5. Art: draw picture from Bandit's Moon.
6. Narration: summarize Bandit's Moon, chaps. 10 to 16.
7. Reading: The Chick and the Duckling, Mirra Ginsburg.
8. Spanish: story time at the library.
9. P.E.: park time.

Thursday
1. Religion: pray; read about the saint of the day; read Bible readings for the day.
2. Math: work with 100 board: odd and even, skip count by 2s, 5s, 10s, 20s, 50s, 100s; more work with fractions and several pages of odd and even items/numbers (Miquon).
3. Language Arts: read and follow written directions, and story comprehension (sample LA test book).
4. Read Aloud: finish Bandit's Moon.
5. Narration: summarize Bandit's Moon, chaps. 17 and 18.
6. History: read about the California Gold Rush in: The Settlement of California, George Sanderlin and The California Gold Rush, Tom Ito.
7. Art: draw and color two more pictures to go with Bandit's Moon; drawings for a book: Cats and Dogs.
8. Science/Nature: read Oh Say Can You Seed? All About Flowering Plants, Bonnie Worth.
9. Reading: Chuckle with Huckle And Other Funny Easy-to-Read Stories, Jane E. Gerver.
10. Music: attend choir rehearsal.

Friday
1. Religion: pray; read about Saint Bruno and Blessed Marie Rose Durocher; read Bible readings for the day.
2. Music: work in Rabbit Man's Music Book 1: learn about treble and bass clefs, notes on lines and spaces, quarter, half, eighth, sixteenth, and whole notes.
3. Chinese: learn to read and draw some chinese characters, including numbers 1 to 12 from Long is a Dragon: Chinese Writing for Children, Peggy Goldstein.
4. Math: make up several addition problems for Mom to solve; telling time: hour, half hour, quarter hour; count Cuisenaire rods.
5. Reading: read a postcard from a friend visiting Hawaii.
6. Geography: locate China, Italy, Hawaii on the globe.
7. Art: clay creations.
8. P.E.: soccer.

Thursday, October 05, 2006

2nd Grade Activities: Week 6

Monday
1. Religion: pray; read about the saint of the day; read Bible readings for the day; read: The Ten Commandments: I Obey God, Lawrence G. Lovasik, S.V.D.; attend Mass.
2. Phonics: Explode the Code: short vowels and consonant blends st, sw, tw; long vowel sounds.
3. Math: Miquon: demonstrate and write simple addition problems; add different numbers to get the sum of 7; simple subtraction problems; watch demonstration of halves with Cuisenaire rods: give answers from 4 to 12; watch demonstrations of simple multiplication problems; measure toys using 1-centimeter cubes; calculate change from lunch: $5.02 - $3.02; telling time: hour and half hour.
4. Art: draw and construct Halloween decorations: Jack-o-lanterns, ghosts, spider and web; construct buildings and towers with Cuisenaire rods, Lincoln Logs.
5. Science/Nature: collect, feed, observe garden snail; watch National Geographic: Really Wild Animals: Deep Sea Dive (DVD); watch Magic School Bus Gets Ants in Its Pants (video).
6. Read Aloud: Magic Tree House: Christmas in Camelot.
7. Handwriting: write names of 13 Pokemon characters when making a book of drawings; write numbers in math problems and phone numbers.
8. Reading: Christmas in the Manger, Nola Buck.
9. P.E.: park time.

Tuesday
1. Religion: daily prayer; read about saints of the day.
2. Math: Miquon pages: addition and subtraction problems; make up problems.
3. Phonics: watch Between the Lions: Step by Step (video); Explode the Code: read and spell with consonant blends and short vowels; spell words with vowel, consonant, consonant blend, and word family blocks.
4. Art: make animals and other items out of modeling clay; construct a "computer" with 100 board for the screen and Cuisenaire rods for the keyboard (show how it is used to calculate math problems).
5. P.E.: soccer practice.

Wednesday
1. Religion: daily prayer.
2. Math: calculate area of rectangles in centimeters using Cuisenaire rods (counting); look at corresponding multiplication problems; make up 14 word problems (orally) for Mom to solve. Example: "Jill has 10,000 cats; John has 20,000 dogs; Jill and John have 20,000 hamsters (half each); Jill has 2,000 birds; John has 2,000 birds. How many altogether?" Observe the solutions being demonstrated.
3. Sign Language: sign L-O-V-E; and various signs for animals.
4. Spanish: story time at the library.
5. P.E.: park time.
6. Art: clay creations.

Thursday
1. Religion: pray; read about saint of the day; read Bible readings for today.
2. Read Aloud: Tillie and Mert, Ida Luttrell; Clara and the Bookwagon, Nancy Smiler Levinson.
3. Math: which set is larger (1 problem); measure lengths of lines and objects in centimeters (using ruler): 2 pages; addition: add from 10 + 1 up to 10 + 10 (out of order -- notice pattern); count by 2s, 4s, 6s, 8s using a number line.
4. Phonics/Spelling: workbook: initial consonant blends, short vowels, final consonant blends: distinguish blends, read and spell words.
5. Art and History: watch Sister Wendy's Story of Painting: Early Art (video); read about early Settler life: the lifestyle and crafts of early artisans: Early Artisans, Bobbie, Kalman; twist-tie and clay creations.
6. Reading: some entries in children's picture dictionary; some words in read aloud books.
7. Computer: practice keyboard and text manipulation skills.
8. Science/Nature: watch Growing up Wild: Amazing Baby Animals video: about kittens and large cats, monkeys, insects, elephants, hippos, rhinos, seals, otters, frogs, ducks.

Friday
1. Religion: pray; read about saints of the day.
2. Math: lay out many different Cuisenaire rod combinations adding up to 10; write addition equations to represent each; learn about fractions: 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/6, 2/3, 3/3; count all the base ten materials (matching each 100 with a 100-square while doing so), total: 1979; simple addition problems; make and decorate a 100-square with lentils laid out on 10 craft sticks; skip counting: 2s, 5s, 10s, 100s; discuss odd and even; make a counting device with craft sticks, pipe cleaners, and beads.
3. Read Aloud: Bandit's Moon, chap. 1.
4. Art: draw the black stallion from Bandit's Moon.
5. Narration: tell what happened in chapter 1 of Bandit's Moon.
6. Music: count and sing along with songs in Progressive Keyboard 1, Method for Young Beginners, Andrew Scott; review note values: quarter note, half note, dotted half note, quarter rest; introduce the locations of notes (in C-B groups) on the keyboard starting with middle-C (the white keys).
7. P.E.: soccer.