Mrs. Ballnik's Second Grade

Classroom News from Mrs. Ballnik’s Class My email is ballnic@dearbornschools.org
Friday, April 13, 2018
Important Days to Remember
Thank-you to all of the chaperones that went on our Dearborn Historical Museum field trip. Thank-you to Murtada’s dad, Jana’s dad, Sally’s mom, Ayatt’s mom and Ayah’s mom. Thank-you also to all the parents that volunteered, if we didn’t have enough. We had such a great time because you came. The class wrote about what they learned at the museum.
Gym – 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 words ending with air or are.
The spelling words are; stare, dare, chair, rare, fair, share, care, pair, bare and hair.
The Dolch words are; once, open, today, myself, keep..
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
I am very proud of our class Unit 8 fraction test scores! There were 14 students that got them all right or only missed 1 out of 10. I will send them home upon request. The tests have to be returned.
We are now studying Measurement, as you hopefully have seen. Please buy your child a ruler (they are sold at the dollar store usually) and help him/her measure items.
Science
We now will be studying Live Science, including how plants and animals adapt. Social Studies- .
Our new social studies unit is History. We discuss what it was like in the past and compare it to the present. We go back about 200 years or so. We also talk about how we learn about the past and to consider the source when learning about the past. Writing
We worked on a narrative story about when we had fun. Next week, we will research an animal that each child chooses and learn to write an informational report about the animal.
Reading- Read, Read, Read!
Reading Level for second grade is 24 for the third card marking and 28 for the last card marking. Our class is really gaining levels and I am proud of them. If your child is not at grade level, it is really important to stress more reading practice (be sure to ask them to retell stories and answer questions) for these last 2 months. It will help your child enter third grade at grade level or above. It will help them score higher on the NWEA computer tests in May. Of course, it will make their lives enriched and successful!
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. They can also ask me anytime for new books. Students should reread books until they are smooth and fluent when reading. Students record on their log when they read
Have a great weekend with your wonderful child and read, read, read!

Cheryl Ballnik