This class is designed for advanced second grade and third grade level students.  It is divided into 4 sessions, each lasting 8 weeks.  We will target challenging spelling patterns such as diphthongs, homophones, contractions, and easily misspelled words.  We will strengthen reading comprehension skills such as locating information in text, using non-fiction text features, inferring, predicting, sequencing, evaluating, and more to truly understand what is read.  We will work to strengthen writing skills by applying correct language arts standards for capitalization, punctuation, composition, and organization.


This class will make use of three Spectrum workbooks as a guide to navigate these subjects.  We will discuss each topic, explore multiple examples, and have multiple opportunities for students to practice newly learned skills both with teacher assistance and independently.  

Students should have a solid mastery of short and long vowel spelling patterns, digraphs, and consonant blends, along with a minimum reading level of DRA 24/Fountas and Pinnell Level L/Lexile 530 to have success with this level of instruction.  

Classes will be held over Zoom with a combination of teacher slides and projected pages to enhance learning.  We will have a lot of discussion and interaction as well as the possibility of publishing one or more writing pieces.  My behavior expectations are that students will be polite to others, prepared each day with completed assignments, and know how to utilize the Zoom features such as chatting, pinning, and annotating.  Spelling quizzes will be given using whiteboard.fi and students should be able to follow directions for accessing that site.  Materials for class should be readily accessible for each class period and students should come to class eager and ready to work.

Course Agenda

Week 1
Spelling:  Words with Short /a/ and /o/
Reading:  Two Boys, Big Plans
                One Tent, Lots of Stuff
                How to Pitch a Tent
                One Tent, What Next?
Language Arts:  Common and Proper Nouns, Abstract Nouns, Pronouns

Week 2
Spelling:  Words with -ed and -ing Endings
Reading:  Night Lights
                Thunder and Lightning
                Smokey the Bear
                Planting Dreams
Language Arts:  Verbs, Adjectives, and Articles

Week 3
Spelling:  Words with /oi/
Reading:  Dreaming of the Harvest
                Peppers
                The Pie Man
                Once a Pie Man, Always a Pie Man
Language Arts:  Adverbs, Conjunctions, Statements, and Commands

Week 4
Spelling:  Words with /ou/
Reading:  New York City's Gem
                Soccer Blues
                Mom to the Rescue
                Power Snack
Language Arts:  Questions, Exclamations, Review Sentence Types

Week 5
Spelling:  Words with au, aw, os, and alk
Reading:  And It's Out of the Park!
                History of Soccer
                Why Soccer?
                A Teacher's Journal
Language Arts:  Subjects, Predicates, Sentence Fragments, Run -On Sentences

Week 6
Spelling:  Homophones
Reading:  A Student's Journal
                The Great Volcano Debate
                The End of a Volcano Tale
                Volcanoes
Language Arts:  Combining Sentences
   
Week 7
Spelling:  Contractions
Reading:  And the Next Unit is...
                So Many Ideas
                Too Many Ideas
                Forest Mammals
Language Arts:  Capitalization

Week 8
Spelling:  Easily Misspelled Words
Reading:  Snakes:  Love them or Leave Them?
                 Redwood Giants
                 Problem Solved
                 The Hamster from Room 144
Language Arts:  End Marks and Abbreviations