Second Graders have grown exponentially in reading since the beginning of the year. Now, they are ready to be challenged in new ways, tackling longer and harder books. We have recently been focusing on fluency. The children are not only paying attention to their own reading voices but also listening to the voices of characters and reading in the voices the way the author intended. The children have learned how to make their voice match the mood of the text. We’ve had several lessons on reading at the just-right pace, scooping words into longer phrases. The aim is not reading fast, but rather finding your just-right pace.
Second graders have been hard at work on Opinion Writing in Writing Workshop. They have been formulating their opinions of characters from their favorite books by hooking their reader, backing up their opinions and using samples from the book as evidence. Since it is that time of year for the annual Academy Awards ceremony, second graders prepared for this very special “evening” by nominating their characters for the coveted Oscar statue. The category was, “Best Character from a Children’s Book.” After all the nominations were presented, the winner was… all the characters that were nominated.