2nd Grade Activities: Week 25

RELIGION: daily prayer; study basic prayers and First Communion and Confession questions in preparation for 1st Communion; attend Mass, receive ashes and discuss Lent and Ash Wednesday.

MATH: solve word problems from Techniques of Problem Solving A involving simple addition and subtraction.

PHONICS: Explode the Code 4: read and spell 2-syllable words ending in -ful, -ing, -est, -ed, -ness.

READING/SPELLING: reading in Catechism, Phonics, and Math books; read some comics, websites, book and video titles, signs; IM with relatives.

READING: read some text Science magazine mentioned below; science workbook; picture book: So Many Bunnies, a Bedtime abc and Counting Book, Rick Walton.
Early readers: Pokémon Junior: Night in the haunted tower; Pokémon Junior: Meowth, the Big Mouth. A Pony for a Princess, Andrea Posner-Sanchez. Comic book: The Amazing Spider-Man #1, Marvel Comics reprint of 1962 edition.

HANDWRITING: one page of handwriting patterns from Italic handwriting Series B, Getty & Dubay.

SCIENCE/NATURE: observation and care of fish and ants; watch Eyewitness videos: Bird; Pond & River; Volcano. Peruse Feb 2007 issue of Scholastic: Super Science kids' magazine. Do Big Science Comics virtual science experiments involving non-standard weights and measures; collect rocks and leaves; finish ant tunnel drawings; workbook pages about care of pets; peruse New Enclyclopedia of the Cat.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE/CULTURE: attend Spanish story time and Mandarin Chinese classes. Practice speaking and writing Chinese characters; learn more about the traditions of Chinese New Year. Meet Chinese author Ying Chang Compestine: some of her books are: The Story of Noodles, D is for Dragon Dance, The Story of Paper, The Real Story of Stone Soup, The Story of Kites, The Runaway Rice Cake, The Story of Chopsticks, Secrets of Fat-Free Chinese Cooking.

ART: Discoveries in Art class: study of lines (observation) and finding the edges (contours) of objects; trace edges of objects in black marker and fill in with bright colors.

MUSIC: listen to classical and contemporary music; read along and sing some music during Mass;

COMPUTER SKILLS: learn about and run some UNIX commands; set up and fill in a calendar on the computer; set up an iTunes playlist of favorite songs and stations.

P.E.: softball practice; park time.

READ ALOUD: Our Old House, Susan Vizurraga;
D is for Dragon Dance, Ying Chang Compestine;
Owl at Home, Arnold Lobel.

2nd Grade Activities: Week 24

RELIGION: daily prayer; attend Mass; read about several saints in Catholic Cardlinks: Patron Saints.

MATH: 2-digit subtraction and compare numbers on workbook pages; count and write total, draw correct number of items: Miquon Orange book; Solve 15 word problems from Techniques of Problem Solving A involving 2-digit subtraction, counting by 2s and 3s, comparing quantities, time and money, calculating distance (addition), measuring, adding more than 2 quantities, subtracting more than 2 quantities, simple multiplication, addition to 3 digits.

PHONICS: work in Explode the Code 4: add endings such as -ful, -ing, -est, -ed, -ness to words to make new words; read and answer questions with compound words and other 2-syllable words.

READING/SPELLING: reading in Catechism, Phonics, and Math books; read some comics, websites, book and video titles, signs; IM with relatives. Review some punctuation: comma and apostrophe from Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, Lynn Truss; play online spelling games.

READING: read word problems for math; read and questions in phnoics workbook. Emergent readers: Our Earth, Lisa Trumbauer;
Our Heroes, Brenda Parkes; Play Ball!, David Martin; Where We Live, Brenda Parkes; read text on websites, IM, and all around her.

HANDWRITING: write greetings on valentines; label diagrams and artwork.

SCIENCE/NATURE: observation and care of fish and ants; watch Eyewitness videos: Prehistoric Life, Planets, Jungle, Cat, Survival; read Leaf Man, Lois Ehlert; watch video again about Koko and other gorillas learning sign language; do some virtual science activities on Big Science Comics CD-Rom, Theatrix Interactive.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE/CULTURE: attend Spanish story time and Mandarin Chinese classes. Practice speaking and writing Chinese characters; learn about the traditions of Chinese New Year; look at native costumes and taste Chinese treats.

ART: make valentines; draw and color; sketch and color fruit; computer art: draw and label parts of a dog.

MUSIC: listen to classical and contemporary music; read along and sing some music (Gregorian chant) during Mass; sing made-up songs.

P.E.: softball practice; park time.

READ ALOUD: The Adventures of Tintin: The Castafiore Emerald.

HISTORY: read from The Story of the World I: Sumeria: King Sargon (2334 B.C.), The Jewish People: God Speaks to Abraham. Also read the story of the call of Abraham in the Bible.

2nd Grade Activities: Week 23

RELIGION: daily prayer; study Good Shepherd Catholic Catechism in preparation for 1st Communion; attend Mass; watch Francis Xavier and the Samurai's Lost Treasure video; research and find a brief history of Xavier with accompanying art:
http://www.artsales.com/ARTistory/Xavier/Xavier_1.html

MATH: solve 5 word problems from Techniques of Problem Solving: Problem Deck A: two-digit addition (carrying tens), counting by twos, fives, tens, 6 divided by 2, and 60 divided by 6; solve 11 word more word problems: division, money problems, two-digit addition of more than 2 numbers (carrying tens), subtraction with 2 and 3 digits (borrowing tens), solve a word problem that gives too much information, counting by 2s, 5s and 10s, 100s to solve problems; solve 5 more word problems: 24 divided by 2, 2-digit subtraction in a money problem (add 8 coins [count by 5s, 10s, 25s], then subtract the total from 99), 50 cents x 3, calendar problem, calculate 7 x 8.

PHONICS: work in Explode the Code 4: compound words.

READING/SPELLING: reading in Catechism, Phonics, and Math books; read some comics, pages from children's dictionary, websites, book and video titles, signs; IM with relatives; spell chicken.

HANDWRITING: review shapes of sandpaper lowercase letters a-e; make large ones and decorate, trace letters in a paste.

SCIENCE/NATURE: observation and care of fish and ants; observe and play with various breeds of dogs at a dog park; watch a video about Koko the gorilla and friends, their behavior, and their ability to communicate with humans using a form of sign language [A Conversation with Koko, Nature Video Library]. Nature videos: Eyewitness Videos: Life, Monster, Pond and River, Reptile.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE: attend Spanish story time; attend Mandarin Chinese class. Practice pronouncing and writing Chinese characters.

ART: color in Catechism workbook; select favorite art for a museum website; attend and paint a night sky in Discoveries in Art class.

MUSIC: listen to classical and contemporary music; read along and sing some music during Mass; sing made-up songs.

P.E.: softball practice; park time; watch Michael Jordan: Above and Beyond, NBA Superstars video.

READ ALOUD: Hattie, Tom and the Chicken Witch, Dick Gackenbach :(
Uncle Elephant, Arnold Lobel; Silly Fred, Karen Wagner.

HISTORY: read from The Story of the World I: The Old Kingdom of Egypt: read from a book about the Rosetta Stone: its discovery and significance to deciphering hieroglyphics; peruse books about the Valley of the Kings, the Great Pyramid, Tutankahmen, and Technology in the Time of Ancient Egypt.

2nd Grade Activities: Week 22

RELIGION: daily prayer; study Good Shepherd Catholic Catechism in preparation for 1st Communion; attend Mass.

MATH: do problems in the book: Can You Count in Greek: Exploring Ancient Number Systems (Judy and Kathy Leimbach): tally, Egyptian: read and write numbers in each; solve 13 word problems from Techniques of Problem Solving: Problem Deck A: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and money problems; use Montessori place value cards to make large numbers (up to the hundred millions).

PHONICS: work in Explode the Code 3: review the sounds of long e, a, and o in vowel diagraphs: ee, ea, ai, ay, oa, ow; watch Between the Lions: Bug Beard and Pigs Aplenty.

READING/SPELLING: reading in Catechism, Phonics, and Math books; read some comics, pages from children's dictionary, websites, book and video titles, signs; IM with relatives.

HANDWRITING: write one-word answers in Explode the Code workbook and Catechism book; do two handwriting worksheets.

SCIENCE/NATURE: distinguish between several different types of birds; rescue ants from the spiders and start an ant farm; write a one-page report about the ant farm; visit academy of sciences: observe penguins, tidepool creatures, fish. Nature videos: Eyewitness Videos: Elephant, Arctic and Antarctic, Amphibian. Care of pet fish, composting worms, garden snails.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE: counting in Spanish.

ART: color in Catechism workbook; draw mascot and make a poster for the Fighting Irish (Notre Dame); draw ants in tunnels in an ant hill.

MUSIC: listen to classical and contemporary music; read along and sing some music during Mass; sing Angels We Have Heard on High and Found a Peanut.

P.E.: attend softball practices; park time.

READ ALOUD: Zack's Alligator, Shirley Mozelle;
Buzby, Julia Hoban;
The Lighthouse Children, Syd Hoff;
No Fighting, No Biting!, Else Homelund Minarik;
Come Down Now, Flying Cow!, Timothy Roland;
Bessie's Bed, Terry Webb Harshman.

HISTORY: read from The Story of the World I: The Old Kingdom of Egypt: Making Mummies and Egyptian Pyramids.
Explore the Pyramid and the Sphinx online:
NOVA Online/Pyramids—The Inside Story
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/pyramid/explore/
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/pyramid/explore/khufuunflo.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/egypt/explore/sphinx.html
Read The Boston Coffee Party, Doreen Rappaport (historical fiction).

CULTURAL STUDIES: watch the video: Children's Stories from Africa 2: music, dance, and African fables, Nandi Nyembe.