What is Instructional Focus???
For a two week period, every class in our school spends 15 minutes daily focusing on a specific tested reading or math skill. On the last day of the two-period each grade level gives a common assessment. Grade level teams analyze the data from those asessments to determine which students need more practice and which are ready for the next level of instruction. The following two weeks, a new Instructional Focus skill is taught daily and the previous skill is "enriched" on A, C, and E days for 30 minutes. This enrichment time is called "ACES". We hope that our collaborative effort to target assessed skills will enhance our students' performance on the Kansas Assessments.

This week our Instructional Focus is on:
Measurement & Estimation
We learned how to measure (exact) and estimate (logical guess) length to the nearest inch, foot, yard, centimeter, or meter.
Measuring with Rulers
Measuring with Yard Sticks
Estimating Measurements

This week we are Enriching on:
Inferences
We learned how to use clues from the story AND what we
already know to help us figure out something that
the author doesn't clearly tell us in the text.
Inference
Practice Drawing Conclusions
 

Below are previous focus topics to review.

Text Structure
We learned that text structure is the way the text is organized.
The text structures that 2nd graders learn about are:
Sequence: tells about a process, step-by-step
Comparison: tells what is alike (compare) and different (contrast)
Problem/Solution: something is wrong (problem) and how we fix it (solution)
Cause/Effect: tells about an action (cause) and the result of that action (effect)
Sequence (Chronological Order)
Compare/Contrast
Problem/Solution
Cause/Effect

Main Idea & Supporting Details
We learned that the main idea is the most important
idea in a paragraph.  The supporting details help you
understand the main idea by telling who, what, when, and where.
Main Idea
Practice Identifying Main Ideas
Details

Types of Text
We learned that text is anything that you read.
The 3 types of text that 2nd graders learn about are:
Narrative:  fiction, tells a story
Expository:  non-fiction, tells information
Technical: directions, tells how to do something
Persuasive: tries to get the reader to think, feel, or believe something
Fiction or Non-Fiction
Expository (Informational)
Writing Directions (Technical)

Context Clues
We learned that we are using context clues whenever we
use pictures or words to help us figure out
a word or an idea we don't understand while we're reading.
Context Clues