Writing
Writing in 104 encompasses many different topics: handwriting, creative writing, spelling, grammar, conventions, and word usage. Students write in math, science, reading, and social studies. It is part of every subject taught.
Students receive instruction in the D’Nealian handwriting method. The goal is to produce consistent and legible penmanship with proper form, slant, size, and spacing. In second grade, students will learn to write in cursive. They will simply add a few joining strokes to convert the manuscript letters to cursive letters.
Zaner-Bloser’s Spelling Connections (Level 3) is used on a weekly basis. Students receive a list of 15 words to study. These words all have a certain theme in common. Some examples include short vowel sounds, long vowel sounds, digraphs, clusters, contractions, homophones, and plurals. Within the context of spelling, students also learn about syllables; antonyms/synonyms; base words; suffixes/ prefixes; and dictionary skills (alphabetical order, respellings, and definitions).
Students are given ample opportunity to write for different purposes and in different formats. For example, field trip experiences are described in field trip books that the students create. In the beginning of the year, the teacher models the procedure. Over time, this slowly transitions to independent writing by the students. Another example involves the classroom mascot, Stella Dino. The students take her home, write about their time together in the dinosaur journal, and share their experiences with the class.
Students learn to use proofreading symbols to check sentences, paragraphs, and their own work. They identify and name parts of speech (mainly nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs). Students learn to write in complete sentences using correct punctuation, capitalization, and spelling. They are taught proper writing orientation on lined paper, correct margin use, and indenting to begin paragraphs.
By the end of the year, students will have created several books to take home: a First Grade Memory Book, a First Grade Field Trip book, and a Science Research Journal, They will also have an extensive portfolio of shorter writing projects.
Writing in 104 encompasses many different topics: handwriting, creative writing, spelling, grammar, conventions, and word usage. Students write in math, science, reading, and social studies. It is part of every subject taught.
Students receive instruction in the D’Nealian handwriting method. The goal is to produce consistent and legible penmanship with proper form, slant, size, and spacing. In second grade, students will learn to write in cursive. They will simply add a few joining strokes to convert the manuscript letters to cursive letters.
Zaner-Bloser’s Spelling Connections (Level 3) is used on a weekly basis. Students receive a list of 15 words to study. These words all have a certain theme in common. Some examples include short vowel sounds, long vowel sounds, digraphs, clusters, contractions, homophones, and plurals. Within the context of spelling, students also learn about syllables; antonyms/synonyms; base words; suffixes/ prefixes; and dictionary skills (alphabetical order, respellings, and definitions).
Students are given ample opportunity to write for different purposes and in different formats. For example, field trip experiences are described in field trip books that the students create. In the beginning of the year, the teacher models the procedure. Over time, this slowly transitions to independent writing by the students. Another example involves the classroom mascot, Stella Dino. The students take her home, write about their time together in the dinosaur journal, and share their experiences with the class.
Students learn to use proofreading symbols to check sentences, paragraphs, and their own work. They identify and name parts of speech (mainly nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs). Students learn to write in complete sentences using correct punctuation, capitalization, and spelling. They are taught proper writing orientation on lined paper, correct margin use, and indenting to begin paragraphs.
By the end of the year, students will have created several books to take home: a First Grade Memory Book, a First Grade Field Trip book, and a Science Research Journal, They will also have an extensive portfolio of shorter writing projects.