Second Grade, Reading, Set Two

We are back to reading Story Train. We are having fun with the Playmaking is Fun section, acting out stories. We spent a couple days in the fourth week making a story into a play and acting it out. One week K. had a sore throat, so instead of her reading aloud, we detoured and did a short unit on poetry. I read poems to her and then she would tell me if it was written to (1) express thoughts, feelings, or emotions; (2) tell a story; (3) describe something or someone; or (4) teach a lesson.

Comprehension Skills: Sequence of Events, The Reading Corner:

• We read a story and I asked some of the questions provided on page 71.
• I read Because a Little Bug Went Ka-choo! by Rosetta Stone. We talked about the order of the events and how the story wouldn't make sense if they were out of order. (#1 on page 71)
• I started a story with "Once there was a boy who got lost" we told and short story and I wrote it down. Then I cut the sentences apart and had K. put it in order. (#2 on page 71)
• I read The Old Woman and Her Pig adapted by Eric A. Kimmel and we talked about how one event leads to the next.
• We did the magic tricks provided in the book and I have checked a couple simple magic books out of the library. K. is enjoying learning the tricks. Incredible Tricks and the Dinner Table and Amazing Tricks with Everyday Stuff  both are by Steve Charney
• I read a mystery story to K. Then we wrote the main events on a paper and I cut the strips apart. K. had to put them back in the correct order. Then I mixed up some of the strips and we talked about if it would work that way in the story. K. really enjoyed mixing up the strips. She made some pretty funny combinations.
• We were supposed to make a timeline. I had planned to do it on the development of water navigation -- to go with our history studies -- but when I was looking on-line to find pictures of the various things I found a timeline that someone else made, so we just looked at and discussed it. In history we are doing a timeline of the explorers.

From Games for Reading:

• Chain Game  page 130
• Jigsaw Puzzles -- while cleaning out my parents garage, we found some puzzles that have 63 large pieces. These are perfect for K. They offer a challenge, but can be finished in a short amount of time.
• Hard Listening page 83
• Alphabet Words page 100 -- K. wanted to do animals. We are both coming up with an animal for each letter. We completed through M and will finish it during our "off schedule" week.