Mrs. Ballnik's Second Grade

Classroom News from
Mrs. Ballnik’s Class My email is ballnic@dearbornschools.org
Friday, January 12, 2018
Important Days to Remember
No school – January 15- Martin Luther King Day
Gym on Tuesday-Please remember to wear tennis shoes and bendable clothes (not jeans or slip on shoes).
Holiday Gift- I wanted to explain that all the students were able to choose the book that I gave them for the break. I had special coupons that were not as much as the book cost and I let them pick out the book that I wrapped up for them.
NWEA or MAP computer testing starts at 8:50 on Tuesday, January 16, and 10:40 on Friday. Please get enough sleep and eat a breakfast to be ready to do your best on the test. We will start with reading. Friday will be math. On Tuesday, January 23, we will have oral reading into a microphone for a reading test.
READING LOG -Please send in the reading log or a piece of paper dated for all of the days on break and how long that you read. Those people will be included in a pizza party from Dr. Moughni.
FRIDAY SPELLING TESTS
Here are the words for the next spelling test. The spelling pattern are more r- controlled vowels; er, ir and ur.
The spelling words are; churn, clerk, third, first, burn, jerk, bird, thirst, burst, turn. The Dolch words are:sleep, wash, before, been, off.
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
Unit 5 is on Geometry (shapes). Please talk about different 2-D and 3-D shapes over the break, such as, trapezoid and pyramid.
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- .
Our unit is on Government and is called “How do Citizens Live Together in a Community?”.
We have talked about Diversity in communities and how things that are different make life more interesting. Diversity is good.
We will also be discussing Martin Luther King and what he helped do for the United States of America.
Writing
We continue to write real and imaginative narratives, now. The characters start to have dialogue and more details to them, The plot will have a moral or lesson learned. Characters should be acting and reacting to each other or the event. Ask your child about the character that they have developed and story they are creating.
Reading- Read, Read, Read!
BOOK BAGS! Please observe how your child does with these books. Every book at level 18 (the level for second grade entry) 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.

BOOK IT CALENDARS
January Book it calendars came home to keep track of reading. Please send in any more December calendars.
Happy Birthday to Sedrah Aljahmi on January 4!
Have a great weekend with your wonderful child!