Leawood Lions' News - Grade 2 - April

Leawood Lions' News - Grade 2
April News
Dates to Know:
*Wednesday, April 11th - No school - Furlough Day
*Tues., April 17th - B.E.A.R. Reading Test - More info. to follow.
*Friday, April 20th & Monday, April 23rd - Assessment Days - Appointed times only - More info. will follow.
*Wednesday, April 25th - Early Release Day - 1:15pm Dismissal
*Friday, May 4th - No school - Furlough Day
*Wednesday, May 16th - Early Release Day - 1:15pm Dismissal
*Monday, May 28th - Memorial Day - No school!

Reminders:
*Be sure to be filling out the reading minutes for April! Choose a non-fiction book with many text features.
*Turn in yearbook orders and picture money!
*

Literacy
Reading
Comprehension:
*Questioning (who, what, where, when, why, how)
*Predicting characters' actions
*Summarizing stories
*Identifying point of view of the characters
*Compare and contrast characters from two or more versions of the same story
*Compare and contrast two or more versions of the same story by different authors or from different cultures.

Vocabulary :
*Read and understand unknown and multiple-meaning words, such as:
homophones and homographs
*Read and spell compound words

Fluency:
*Vary tone, pitch, and rate of speaking when reading dialogue being spoken by different characters in a text
*Attend to punctuation when reading aloud

Fundations:
We will be wrapping up Unit # 13 in which we focused on the vowel teams: oe, oa, and ow. Unit #14 will focus on:
*The /ou/ sound of ou and ow as in trout and plow
Trick words: Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, bought, library, and piece

Writing
We will be wrapping up our factual description genre in writing. The next genre of study will be writing retells and summaries. The following targets will be covered during instruction:
*Summary in own language
*Includes characters
*Includes important events
*Includes details from the beginning, middle, and end
We will continue to expect students to use conventions and adhere to our writing non-negotiables. During the month of April we will also work on composing a variety of short stories.

Math
We are currently studying decimals and place value in Unit #10.
Some of the concepts we will cover are:
*Notation and equivalencies for money amounts
*Decimal notation for pennies and dimes
*Money amounts with a calculator
*Using a calculator to solve problems with money
*Estimating and finding exact costs
*Making change
*Exploring area, polygons, and geoboard fractions
*Place value
*Place value notation for ten-thousands
*Grouping with parentheses

Science
We are currently studying weather. The following areas will be our focus:
*Weather influences on organisms & environments
*Weather has seasonal patterns
*Tools that measure weather
*Vocabulary; weather, weather tools, seasons, organisms and environment

Parent Tips:
*Students would greatly benefit from home practice of basic addition and subtraction facts (0-18). You may also want to practice making change for $1.00.
Many reluctant learners may be more willing to learn when information is presented in game format. Suggestions:
*Put sight words or math facts on flash cards. Mix in some your child knows really well, some he/she has to think about for a second or two, and some that are unfamiliar to mix success with challenge. As they master the cards, take some out and replace with new ones that they need to work on still.
*Play a basic board game, but have fact questions children must answer before taking their game turn.

We hope you had an enjoyable Spring Break! Welcome back!
The Second Grade Teachers