Mrs. Ballnik's Second Grade

Dearborn Public Schools

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Friday, February 16

Classroom News from
Mrs. Ballnik’s Class My email is ballnic@dearbornschools.org
Friday, February 16, 2018
Important Days to Remember
February 19 -23- Mid-Winter Break

I am sending home the NWEA scores with your child, after going over them with meaningful discussion. I wrote how much they gained from fall which hopefully is 10 points or more. Then I wrote the Dearborn grade level equivalent. This would be 1.5 meaning first grade fifth month. Students should be at second grade fifth month to be on grade level for the January computer test. Some students have trouble with computer tests, but score higher in reading with my human test. They should try to practice tests on the computer. I wrote your child’s reading level on the back of the report card in comments. Please email or contact me with any questions, concerns, or comments.

Valentine’s day party- Thank-you for your contributions. This activity is great for class team building.
Gym on Tuesday-Please remember to wear tennis shoes and bendable clothes (not jeans or slip on shoes).
FRIDAY SPELLING TESTS
Here are the words for the next spelling test. The spelling pattern will be oi and oy vowel pairs.
The spelling words are: oil, moist, toy, royal, broil, soil, hoist, joy, soy, boil.
The Dolch words are never, seven, no, as has.

Every Friday there will be a spelling test. Please practice every day with your child so that they will do well on the Friday Spelling test. Corrected tests are sent home on Monday for you to sign and send back to show me that you know the score.
We started to put the 16th word on the spelling test to challenge the students that get the spelling test correct every week. It is just for fun and no one is required to study these extra credit words. They come home in a worksheet each week, that we go over. They are not meant to be second grade level words and we would usually learn to read them and understand them, but not spell them.

MATH MATH MATH MATH MATH
. We had a test on Unit 6 on Thursday. This test involved higher level adding, subtracting, number stories, graph questions and arrays which help with multiplying. Thank-you for going over the study guide to help your child and sending it in signed by a parent to get a prize (and learn good study habits for the future).
Unit 7 will include all of the higher level adding and subtracting, as well as, counting money. Please practice money over the break.
Science
Our unit continues to be Earth Science and covers explorations that help us learn that Earth events can occur quickly (landslides, etc.) or slowly (erosion that carves rivers, canyons, etc.) We are making observations and discussing landforms and bodies of water.

Social Studies- .
We had a test on our unit on Government which is called “How do Citizens Live Together in a Community? today. Thank-you if you helped your child and then signed the study guide before the test.
Our next unit is on Economics. This includes how our community buys and sells things, resources, production, wants and needs.
Writing
Our next genre of writing will be informational writing. This can a real subject and details. Extra credit is given to any reports written over the break.
Reading- Read, Read, Read!
Dr. Mougni has sent home a reading log for each student to fill in. There is usually a reward for students that bring back reading logs with at least 30 or more minutes a day of reading. I also sent home more books for the book bags. Be sure to have a lot of reading during the break! Ask them questions and have your child retell the stories, along with the lesson that can be learned from the stories.
BOOK BAGS! Please observe how your child does with these books. Every book at level 20 and 24 for March (the level for second grade at this time) for example, may not be read easily depending on the words. Please ask your child to write a list of the words that they do not know, so you can work on them.
Please keep them in the bag and count the books, so they do not get lost. I will trade out the books every other week or so. Students should reread books until they are smooth and fluent when reading. Students record on their log when they read.

Have a great week with your wonderful child and read, read, read!

Categories: Class News

Cheryl Ballnik


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