Blog Back in Business

Welcome back to the blog!

I have a lot to share and pictures to go with it, so I thought this was a good time to return to the blog (since finding out that I can still use it).

         Your child may have told you we made Thanksgiving cards for our Pen Pals (in my daughter’s second grade class in Virginia).  It’s nice to have an activity that utilizes several skills in an authentic way.  Connecting with another person with just letters really makes you think about what to write and what questions to ask.  Here’s a picture of the cards.  You might remember they sent us Halloween cards.

         We have been working on our “Seed Experiment” to find out if plants need water to grow.  So far it appears they do.  We also came up with this question:

We are learning to support our claims (in Science, opinions when discussing literature, and answers in math) with evidence.  

Here’s a picture of a table we made in Language Arts to keep track of our opinions and evidence regarding a story we read about a character named Myron.

         As you will see on the math work in the folders, we have been using tables to show our thinking in math (and science) as well.  We worked on problem solving again this week.  The problem in the folders is about “Feet at the Feast.”  We use these kinds of problems to help students become familiar with the problem-solving rubric.  Not everyone finished but we did go through some papers as a whole class using the rubric.  I included a student paper in the folders just to give you an example of the ways students might show the different parts of the rubric.  The paper I included has some great examples of showing math thinking.  It does not have the last “I noticed…” connection/reflection.  The rubric is comprehensive, so it takes a while for the kids to become proficient with all the parts.  I sent a copy of the problem-solving checklist home a few weeks back.  I will also have a copy of it on the blog if you want another look at it.

Upcoming dates:

Thanksgiving break   November 27-29 (Wed-Friday)

Chorus Concert for Parents, Friday, December 6, 1:30 pm.  Students can dress up if you/they want, they should wear a solid color shirt (snow date December 9^th).

Class Holiday Special Snack, Thursday, December 19^th, 1:00 pm

         Not to sound cliché, but I do enjoy and am thankful for the opportunity to work with your kids.  Thank you for your support to me and to your child.  I hope you have a relaxing and enjoyable break.

Caren

America's White Table in honor of Veterans Day

Our STEM work, sshhhhh, don't discuss because I am going to have the students do the same project again.  This structure above got style points because of the flag on top.

The above pictures are of students making observations about their seeds.

Me Collage Homework

BREAKING NEWS!

            The first homework assignment is a Me Collage.  Each year in my class, we begin the new school year by reading Judy Moody was in a mood.  Not a good mood.  A bad mood. by Megan McDonald.  I pick this book for a couple of reasons.  First, I love the very first sentence, "Judy Moody did not want to give up summer."  It always seems so fitting for the adults and the kids!  Also, a large part of the book centers around a class project called a Me Collage.  It focuses on each child's strengths and interests and is a great way to get to know each other, appreciate differences and similarities, and learn new things about each other.  In fact, through this project, Judy discovers that someone with whom she thought she had nothing in common, is in fact a perfect friend because of common interests.

        Your child now has the opportunity to create their own Me Collage.  I have shown them one at school.  I will also provide a work sheet for brainstorming ideas.  Me Collages are best constructed on a heavy piece of poster board.  It's great if kids can find pictures in magazines or glue actual objects to the me collage (legos or pasta--for favorite activities/favorite food).  You don't have to do every category, and they shouldn't be a whole poster board of photos.

     Me Collages are due Monday, September 23rd.  If you are done before that, they can come in early.

         Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Me Collage Example

Dates for your Calendar

Monday, 9/23/19 Me Collages due

Monday, 9/23/19 Picture Day

Thursday, 9/26/19 Parent Information & Open House Night 5-6 pm

The First few days of Second Grade...

Breaking News...

     There's lots of fun and learning going on in room 207.  Our main focus in these first weeks of school are things like learning everyone's name, how to greet, where everything is located, appropriate times for various activities, expectations, etc.  At the beginning of the year we go slow in order to go fast later.

Academic Highlight

    In light of talking about expectations, we read the book, Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle.  It's a simple children's book with an expected theme that some might describe as, "Be nice."  When I first came across this book a number of years ago, I was surprised at the deep discussions I could have with my classes about what it says about how people treat each other and what we would like to be true in our classroom.

     Here's a picture of the sticky notes your kids made to indicate whom they would like to have as a classmate in our classroom (Little Blue Truck, Animals, or Big Yellow Truck).

 

     Later, we discussed as a whole group how the characters treated each other.  We talked about the evidence that someone was nice or not nice to another character.  Here's a picture of how we summarized that information.

 

     You can ask your child which character(s) they would like to have as a classmate.  They may have changed their mind after our discussion.

     On Friday afternoon I asked the kids how they might describe the first few days of second grade, here's what they said.

     "Super fun, terrifyingly hard (the first day), different--when we go to recess, very confusing (getting use to everything), a lot of explaining, super easy, first day I was very shy--then I got use to it" (many "me too's" for this last one).  Sometimes we forget how hard new situations can be, your kids are handling it well and are learning the second grade routines.

     Here are some pictures of what kids were doing during our Friday Choice time.

                    

     Enjoy the long weekend!

     Caren