Today's reading passage was non-fiction, "A Prairie Guard Dog." I read the passage, pausing to ask questions, make predictions, or explain unfamiliar vocabulary. We found a ruler and a three-pound weight from the PE supplies to approximate a prairie dog's height and weight. I drew a graphic organizer on the board, and Remington helped to fill in the main idea and three key details from the text. I taught the suffix -ly as a new concept, meaning "in a certain way." For example, the prairie dog chirped loudly to warn his family. We brainstormed other words with -ly (angrily, happily, etc.) I put several sentences on the board for Remington to edit, with capitalizing proper nouns (names) as a new concept. To conclude, we co-read several chapters of Dog Man by Dav Pilkey.

Aiden has read up to page 63 in the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. We had a very informative discussion about the main characters: who they are and what they represent. First, we discussed the setting of the Great Depression and the economic and social repercussions wrought by this historic event.

I asked Aiden to name and describe the two main characters: Lennie and George. He has a good understanding of Lennie and George's relationship. The questions Aiden raised are important and thoughtful: 1) What do you do if a special needs person is a threat to herself/himself or society? 2) If you are the caretaker of a special needs person, how much can you help that person before he/she cannot be helped? We discussed how George cares for Lennie and often complains about it, but the two friends are devoted to one another. Lennie loves to pet soft things, but does not know his own strength and often accidentally kills the very thing he's petting.

We discussed the relationship between Candy and his old dog. We talked about Candy feeling older and worrying about his position on the ranch and Candy's dog being put down because he was suffering. We talked about Slim, Curley, and Curley's wife. Aiden then asked to keep reading for the remainder of the class. I told Aiden that he is very intelligent and look forward to discussing more of the book with him!

Pj explained his answers to his homework assignment from "To Kill a Mockingbird." He was assigned more questions that are due Friday. We reviewed what a noun is, and he completed an activity demonstrating his understanding of what constitutes a noun. He learned how to recognize words that are compound words used as nouns.

First, we discussed the definition of a fable, then we read "The Boy Who Cried Wolf." We paused as we read to make predictions and ask questions. On the board, I drew a graphic organizer, and we brainstormed the problem, the steps to the solution, and the solution. Remington showed good comprehension and inference skills. We reviewed the prefixes from yesterday (un, dis), and I introduced the suffix -ful. We read an example sentence from the text, "The villagers did not find a harmful wolf." We discussed how the suffix -ful means "full of" and, therefore, harmful means "full of harm." We brainstormed other words with the suffix (beautiful, wonderful). I put several sentences on the board for Remington to edit, adding capitalization and punctuation (The shepherd boy was bored. He screamed wolf! The villagers ran up the hill.). To conclude, we co-read several chapters of "Captain Underpants." Remington was pleased to realize that he could read many words on each page.

Teddy reviewed his new spelling words and wrote them in ABC order. He read his high frequency words from last week and practiced his new words for this week: school, what, does not, up, down, out, very. He learned how sentences have a proper word order. He completed an activity recognizing which sentences are real and which are not complete. He worked on several word family activities using the endings: at, ap, an, ig. He read his two stories for this week, "Six Kids," and "Go, Pip!"

Libby practiced reading her new spelling words. She wrote her spelling words in her notebook in ABC order. She practiced reading her high frequency words: what, school, does, not. She learned about sentences having the proper word order. She read and discussed the story details in the story, "Jack Can."

Pj reviewed and discussed the meaning of his new Spelling and Wordly Wise words. He completed several activities using these words in context demonstrating his understanding of how these words can be used. He reviewed what a nouns is, and began working on an activity recognizing nouns in sentences.

Teddy reviewed and wrote his new short i spelling words 3xeach. He worked on word families an, at, and ag. He practiced recognizing sentences that needed a capital letter. He recited what makes a sentence. He reread "Sam Can and "Nat and Sam." He read and discussed story details for this week's story, "Six Kids." He practiced reading this week's high frequency words.

I am using McGraw-Hill Reading Wonders, second grade, as my curriculum. We began with a non-fiction passage about meerkats; I read the passage, and we discussed the text. The theme is animal survival and adaptation. As I read, we created a graphic organizer on the board to note details. Next, I read a fictional passage, "A Visit to the Desert." We paused as I read to make predictions and ask questions. After reading, we sequenced the story on the board (beginning, middle, end). Looking closely at the text, we discussed the prefixes in the words "unhappy" and "disappear" and noticed how the prefixes changed the meaning of the root word. We brainstormed other words with the prefixes. I introduced the concept of a sentence (a group of words with an "actor" and an "action" that makes a complete thought. I wrote sentences on the board for Remington to edit (capitalize the first word and add punctuation to the end of the sentence). To conclude, we looked through Remington's "Captain Underpants" book and found words that he could decode.

Libby reviewed and read her new short i spelling words. She wrote her spelling words 3xeach. She completed her calendar activities. She reread the story "Jack Can." She read a story about a cat named Jack and answered comprehension questions about the story. She is learning to recognize the story details in a story. She worked on word families.