(gentle guitar music starts) - [Presenter] (singing) Good morning to a brand new day, time to learn and games to play.

Learning things is so much fun.

Learning is good for everyone.

(gentle guitar music ends) (fun bouncy music) - Good morning second grade.

Welcome back to another great week of learning.

My name is Mrs. Vang and I'm so excited to have you join me so that we can become amazing readers and writers.

And guest what?

This whole week we're gonna be focusing on the writing part.

So all of our lessons this week is going to be focused on becoming amazing writers.

So make sure you come back each day so that we can build up your writing skills.

Now, I have another book to share with you guys and guess what?

All my books this week has to do with our writing that we're gonna be learning.

Isn't that cool?

I know, I love reading.

Now, this first book is called "The Case of the Incapacitated Capitals."

And it's written by Robin Pulver and it's illustrated by Lynn Rowe Reed.

And I love this book because in this book the capitals in Mr. Wright's room are so neglected because the boys and girls in this classroom doesn't use the capitals.

Isn't that sad?

And so, they write a letter to their principal convincing the principal to do something, and guess what?

And that's perfect because that goes right into what we're gonna be learning this week.

Isn't that amazing?

So I'm gonna keep this book close by because I'm gonna be really using it.

But, boys and girls, if you wanna go ahead and read this book along with me today, or if you want to read it later, try to see if you can find it on Sora or at your county library.

Okay, I'm gonna keep this one close by.

Now, speaking of reading, let's go to our Sora countdown and see which schools came up in our top five.

So remember the more you read, the more you might see your school on our countdown.

Okay?

So today's Monday so let's check which school came in at number five, are you ready?

Let's see, Turner Elementary!

Awesome job Turner.

I know you guys are doing an amazing job checking out those books on the Sora app and reading.

Awesome job.

Okay, boys and girls.

Now, are you guys ready to get started with our lesson?

Awesome.

Remember, all week we're gonna be focusing on that writing part.

We're gonna build up our writing skills.

So we're gonna focus on our grammar and then our mechanics.

Mechanics are just your periods, your punctuation, your capitalization.

We're gonna focus on that.

And then we're also gonna be learning how to write an opinion letter this week.

Okay.

Lots of learning.

So, you guys ready to get started?

Awesome.

Okay.

Let's start off with our grammar for this week and this week we are focusing on verbs and, you might have already learned this but tell me, verbs are what?

Yell it so I can hear you.

Awesome job!

Verbs are action words, right?

They show an action.

Now, we know that verbs are action words.

They show an action and to find a verb, I like to tell my second graders, you ask yourself what is this person or thing doing in the sentence?

So you ask what are they doing?

And that usually tells you what the verb is.

Now, don't forget, when you add a verb, I mean, when you add, when you write with verbs the inflectional endings for S also applies because if a noun is singular we have to add that S to a verb so that it'll make sense.

So don't forget those inflectional ending rules with the S such as if there's one noun we add an S, if a word ends with a Y we change it to an I and add ES, and if a verb ends with S or a CH, or a SH, or a Z we add the ES.

Remember all those inflectional rules?

They still apply because S is an inflectional ending.

Now, today we're just gonna practice on identifying our verbs in our sentence.

So, let's do the first sentence.

The first sentence says "I toss a ball in the air."

So ask yourself, okay, well who did it?

"I," that's my subject.

What did I do?

You're right.

I toss a ball.

So my verb is "toss."

Thumbs up if you were thinking the same thing.

Awesome job, boys and girls.

Let's continue finding that verb in our sentence.

Ready?

The next one says "Gravity pulls the ball down."

Okay.

So, who?

"Gravity" is my?

Subject.

What is it doing?

Oh, it's pulling, it pulls.

So "pulls" is my, good job, your verb.

Because remember verb shows an action.

Can you see that action happening in your mind?

Awesome.

Okay, let's keep going.

Number three is "Jessica spills pins on the floor."

Okay?

My subject, "Jessica," and Jessica is one, "spills", you see that S remember what I was talking about?

Jessica was one so we have to add an S to my noun, you're right, "spills" is what she did.

So "spills" is my, good job, I head you, your verb.

Okay, last one.

"A magnet lifts up the pins."

Again, "magnet" is my subject.

And guess what?

How many magnet?

Just one.

So, because it's a singular noun we need to add the S to our verb.

So it lifts up the pins.

What did it do?

"Lifts."

So my verb is "lifts."

Good job, boys and girls.

How did you do?

Awesome job.

Now, let's go into our mechanics.

And this week we are focusing on capitalization and proper nouns.

And just like in that book, remember I shared, boys and girls, the capital letters were all neglected because they haven't been used because the boys and girls in Mr. Wright's class only use lowercase.

Can you imagine that?

So boys and girls, when you are writing, know that when you see a proper noun which names a specific place, person, or thing, we need to capitalize it.

Okay?

So, I'm gonna quickly go over our rules for adding capitalization.

Again, proper nouns name specific people, place, or things, right?

A proper noun begins with a capital letter.

Some proper nouns are the names of geographical places.

And those are the nouns that we would add a capitalization to.

So, let's look at my worksheet here.

It says "Choose a proper noun that names a place.

Write it correctly on the, write it correctly on the line below."

So let's look at number one in the yellow boxes.

We have the word Africa, land, and place.

Now, which one of those is a proper noun?

Good, is Africa a proper noun?

Yes, boys and girls.

It is a country.

Land is just a noun, place is just a noun.

Doesn't name any places because it's just a regular noun.

So Africa is my proper noun and I'm gonna write Africa correctly with that capital A.

Okay, let's go onto the next one.

State, Alaska, mountain.

Which one names a specific place, person, or thing?

Good, Alaska.

Have you heard of it?

Alaska is a?

You're right, it's one of our states.

Alaska.

Don't forget, it's a proper noun, what do I need?

That capital letter.

Good job.

Okay.

Last one.

Rainforest, stream, Atlantic Ocean.

Hmm, which one is the proper noun here?

Good job.

Atlantic Ocean, it's one of our oceans.

And, here's the tricky part, because it's the name of the ocean, I need the word Atlantic to be capitalized and I also need the word Ocean to be capitalized because it's together.

The Atlantic Ocean.

How did you do, boys and girls?

Awesome job.

Now, don't forget when you're writing to use your capitalization in your writing, okay?

So now, let's go into our writing of the week.

This week, we're gonna be focusing on opinion writing.

So we've already focused on friendly letter and personal narrative.

This week we're gonna really focus on opinion writing, but not just an opinion writing boys and girls, but an opinion letter.

So, what are the features of an opinion letter?

Let's see, it begins with a date and a greeting.

Just like remember, cause it's a letter.

So think back when we learned about writing a friendly letter, we need a heading, right?

It tells a writer's opinion about a topic.

Now, remember, an opinion is how you feel about something.

Okay?

And it gives reasons that supports the opinion.

So we're going to be focusing on giving facts, or reasons and facts, to support our opinion.

It has a concluding sentence.

That means we're gonna end it, so we know that our letter's ending.

And then, because it's a letter, it's gonna have a closing and a signature.

So, I have a letter here to kind of just show you what your writing will look like.

Remember, we're gonna start with a heading.

So we're going to put the date, and the greeting, we're gonna put "dear."

And we're gonna put who we're writing to, okay?

And then our body, that's where our opinion's gonna be.

So we're gonna state our opinion.

And remember an opinion is how you feel, think, or believe about something.

We're gonna state our reasons and our examples here within that body.

And then we're gonna end it with our conclusion and in it, in an opinion writing or in this case, a letter, we're just going to re-state our closing.

And I'm gonna show you how that looks like, okay?

And then don't forget your closing, we put your "sincerely yours," and then don't forget your signature which is your name.

We need to know who wrote it.

Okay?

So, this week we're gonna focus on opinion writing.

Guess what?

As we're writing, I want you to think to yourself, because this is what I tell my students, this is how I'm gonna grade you, right?

So as you're writing, I want you to write to a four.

So we're just gonna look at a four and that's a score of a four, which means excellent.

So I tell my boys and girls, okay, so how do I get a four in my writing?

Well one, you need, we need to use voice to express a clear opinion and supports it with reasons.

So, we need to have a clear opinion with supporting reason, right?

We are going to develop our ideas and use linking verbs, I mean words, to organize them.

We're gonna provide a strong introduction and a conclusion.

Has very few or no errors in grammar, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling.

Okay?

So let me quickly show you what that would look like.

So here's a four paper.

I call this an expert model.

So I think in the second grade this is what your writing should look like.

Let's look at it and I want you to look to see if you see a four paper in this expert writing, ready?

They're starting off there with the date, December 6, 2014.

"Dear Principal Jones.

Last week our class wrote a plan for adding a garden at Oak Hill Elementary School.

I think it is a great idea because it will help students and the school.

I hope you will approve the plan.

One reason for a school garden is that kids can learn about plants.

We can study how plants grow and what they need to survive.

I believe a garden would be a good, would be good because we could grow fresh food and flowers.

Also, a school garden would help the school.

It would look nice, and it would give kids a fun place to spend time outside.

Oh, I lost my place there.

Okay.

A school garden would be a great part of our school.

I hope you agree.

Thank you for thinking about the plan.

Sincerely, Marie Shade."

Now, did you see that writing boys and girls?

That's what we call four writing, isn't that awesome?

And guess what?

All week I'm gonna show you how to write a writing so that you would score a four.

Boys and girls, I'm gonna leave you off with "What we think, we become."

So boys and girls, if you think you're a great writer, guess what?

You'll become a great writer.

Don't forget to come back tomorrow and all this week so that we can continue our writing skills.

Have a great day of learning today, boys and girls, and I'll see you tomorrow.

Bye-bye (soft guitar music) - [Presenter] (singing) Good morning to a brand new day, time to learn and games to play.

Learning things is so much fun.

Learning is good for everyone.

(soft guitar music)