Dr. Gerwin's
Second Grade Class
Weekly Newsletter - Week of T1.W9
Fun Learning Facts
Over the next several weeks, I will be discussing the traits of a lifelong reader. It is my hope that the new Reading Log will better support these traits and inspire lifelong reading.
The first trait of a lifelong reader is reading widely. It is important for kids to read widely for a number of reasons:
· increase vocabulary,
· learn about various sentence structures,
· develop an understanding of story arc and/or text format,
· expands knowledge of self and the world,
· improves speaking and writing,
· cultivates empathy.
One way to read widely is to read variety of genres: realistic fiction, fantasy/science fiction, fables/folk tales, historical fiction, biographies, informational, and poetry – to name a few. Kids can also read widely, by reading texts in a variety of different formats/modalities: traditional print (chapter book), picture book, graphic novel, eBook, and audio book. We read widely when we read to see and learn about ourselves in books AND when we read to learn about others and the world we share in books. Reading diverse books is critical to reading development and to the development of our basic humanity.
Typically, we still think of the various genres and formats as “school reading.” Reading that is done to learn about reading in school or research a topic for an assignment. Reading widely also means we read across a continuum ranging from reading for enjoyment/entertainment to reading for didactic/pragmatic (practical) reasons. To help debunk the "school reading" mentality, as educators we need to value reading of all genres and formats across the continuum. We also need to encourage and value the reading kids do in their everyday lives like: magazines, articles, blogs, recipes, directions, etc. With the busy schedules so many of us keep these days, we often tend to read in the “cracks of our lives” (I will expand on this next week), so all types of reading, deep reading for hours and reading in the “cracks of our lives”, need to be acknowledged and valued.
Happy Reading!!!
Reading Widely (and Wildly)
Weekly Specials Schedule
Monday: Week A – PE/Week B – Music
Tuesday: Library/STREAMand PE
Wednesday: Music and Art
Thursday: PE
Friday: Music
PTO Family Movie Night - Hocus Pocus
Friday, October 25th
Doors Open at 5:30p and Movie Begins at 6p
FREE Popcorn Bar
Concessions - $1.50 for slice of pizza
All students MUST be accompanied by adults
Raffle Tickets
Mystery Reader
Mrs. Shauna Daniele
Kept Us..
Reading...
Reading Widely in Multiple Modalities
Print Format
Movie Format
Augmented Reality Format
Curriculum Update
Literacy:
Reading - During reading this week, we continued rehearsing our reader’s theatre script—Jack and the Beanstalk. I can tell the kids have been practicing at home as well. I love watching the kids who are typically shy gained confidence during reader’s theatre – it fills my heart with joy for them. We hope to perform the reader’s theatre sometime during the week of 10/28 and will invite parents to join us for the performance.
A second group of readers began a book club reading and responding to Dan Gutman’s Miss Daisy is Crazy(part of the Weird School series). Next week they will begin piloting the FlipGrid online platform we will be using after winter break to participate in book clubs with students at an international school in Puerto Rico.
Writing - This week, we focused on story endings. For personal narrative, story endings are typically circular in that they bring the reader back to the start of the story to provide a sense of closure. Circular endings also highlight the reason the writer wrote the story.
Word Play - We are continuing to work in Spelling City and/or in small groups on various word play activities. We are also talking about ways we can incorporate fun words in our writing and use what we are learning to edit our spelling when we write.
Math - This week, we continued working on measurement concepts. Friday we completed a measurement checkpoint. We also continued to practice using strategies for solving word problems (write equations and draw a picture) and writing about our math thinking.
Social Studies This week we applied what we have learned about geography by making maps of our neighborhood.
Contact Information
Email: cgerwin@d15.us
Location: 195 Greenway Drive, Bloomingdale, IL, USA
Phone: 630-351-3416
Twitter: @cggerwin