KWL Chart - Asia

Friday we started our module on Ancient Asian Civilizations. To introduce this module, I did a KWL chart with each of my classes. What is a KWL chart you ask? Well, KWL is an acronym for the following...

K = What I KNOW
W = What I WANT to know
L = What I LEARNED

It was really fun to see just how similar and different my two classes were. Some of their responses for what they already knew about Asia where too funny. Especially when one of my students said, "Mrs. Kearson, I know that all of the things we buy are made in China... China makes all our stuff for us". I also loved how my homeroom class wanted to know if Asia had beaches. Adorable!

Here are the KWL charts I made with each of my classes.

Once we finished our whole group KWL chart, the students wrote out three things on their own KWL chart that they already knew and wanted to know. After we have read several of our stories on Ancient Asian Civilizations, we will add what we learned. FUN!

ABC Easy As 123

This is a fun way to practice and master our alphabetizing skills during centers. The students use the ABC worksheet and Saxon alphabet strip (both pictured below) to alphabetize the weekly Saxon spelling words.

For this center, the students look at each letter on the alphabet strip beginning with "A" to see if there is a word on the spelling list that begins with that letter. The students then move on to the next letter in the alphabet, and so on until all 20 words are used. This is a great beginning strategy for the students to use when alphabetizing. 

As the students work on this center with each week's Saxon vocabulary, the need for the alphabet strip becomes less and less, and the students are able to show mastery of this skill. I really like that they work on this in small groups and share their thinking with each other, rather than just copying what is modeled by me in a whole group lesson.

Meaningful Sentences

Next week we begin using our Saxon Phonics vocabulary words to write meaningful sentences in our ELA centers, as well as for homework. 

SO... What is a meaningful sentence you ask? A meaningful sentence is a sentence that has value to the reader. A meaningful sentence needs to make sense, begin with capitalization, and end with punctuation. A meaningful sentence should also paint a picture for the reader by using describing words, or adjectives, to give details. An example of a meaningful sentence is on the Weekly Homework sheet. I have also created a Homework Rubric to make sure your child knows what goals to reach with the homework writing.

Both the Weekly Homework sheet and the Homework Rubric will always be posted in the Newsletter tab of the blog for your reference and convenience.

Here is the Meaningful Sentences worksheet we will be using in centers. At the bottom is a writing rubric to check off and help your child to ensure that the sentences are meaningful.

Thank you for all you do to ensure your child's academic successes in second grade!