B.E.A.R. Day!

We had a beary good day in second grade today!  This year our school theme is B.E.A.R. or Be Enthusiastic About Reading.  Everyone brought their favorite stuffed animal to school today and from 12:50 - 1:05, the whole school stopped working and started reading! It was an amazing sight to see!  Our room was so quiet, you could hear a pin drop!  The animals loved all the stories and I took a few pictures to commemorate the moment. We are having so much fun in second grade!

 We loved having our animals at school today!

 Sometimes we were a little silly!

 Everyone found  a comfortable spot to read!



 We spread out all over the classroom!

 Someone even took the teachers' chair!

 Second graders were reading fiction and nonfiction books.  One friend even had the Toys R Us Christmas circular catalog.  I thought that was creative; especially when he told me that he was reading the names of the toys and their prices.  He combined reading and math, which always makes a teacher happy!

We had a special day with our stuffed friends.  I hope we can do it again soon!

Reading Workshop

Oh my!! I haven't realized how long it has been since my last post! Report cards and conferences commandeered my time!  Now that assessments are over, we are back to our regular routine!  I have provided a glimpse into our math games, so I thought it was time to introduce you to our reading workshop!  I start every day with a story and some overarching concept. We have been working on the basic story elements of main character, setting, problem, and solution.  We have also started discussing the main idea of a story and how we can find supporting details in the text.  After I read the story and teach the mini-lesson, everyone goes back to their seats to complete some individual work on the day's lesson.  Then students practice the spelling skill of the week or review skills from past weeks. We have been working hard on short vowels, blends, adding -s and -es to words, ABC order, and we have started learning how to use a dictionary.  When students have finished their mini-lesson paper and the spelling review, they then go to clubs. There are 4 clubs that the children rotate through every day except Tuesday.  We have the book nook, the computers, an art center, and word work.  Here is a look into some of the activities that we do!

Here is our reading workshop bulletin board with the student's names and the days they visit each club.  It also gives examples of the weeks work for the art center and word work.  This week, during art time, we painted a turkey.  We assembled, read, and colored a book about pilgrims in our word work center.

 Here is where the supplies are kept for our art projects and our word activities.



The students in the computer club are busy playing reading games at a website called starfall.com.  They love being able to pick out their own game and work on skills of their own choice.

 Here are some students coloring their pilgrim books. When they were done making their book, they had to read it with a friend.

Here is a closer look at some of the pages in the pilgrim book!

 This turkey is colored, so now it is time to add the feathers. I love how the feathers are all different colors. There are some very creative kids in our class!

 Here is a friend contemplating what kind of legs and feet to give his turkey.

 There are many activities that students can choose to do in the book nook. They can silent read or pick new books for their book boxes.  They can use tubaloos like the friend above. Tubaloo's help the children listen to themselves read and helps them improve their fluency.  Kids can also use the magnetic ABC wall, use word dominoes, create word necklaces (that stay at school), and I am almost ready to open our listening center. (If I open everything at once, everything gets boring by February)

A friend has chosen to read a big book about animals on the rug.

Conferences

It is conference time!!  I am so excited to meet with you this week and discuss your child's progress! I sent home reminders about your conference time 2 weeks ago. If you didn't get one, please email me and let me know!  You will receive your child's report card one day before your conference so you have some time to look it over.  Conferences last approximately 20 minutes and during that time, I will explain the report card and your child's marks.  I hope you all had a great weekend and I will talk to you soon!

Harvest Celebration!

Welcome to November!  I love the chillier weather!  October was a great month full of lots of new learning!  To celebrate, we had a Harvest Celebration in class on Friday.  All month long, the children had the opportunity to earn guesses at the candy in my candy jar which was full of chocolate golden coins.  There were many ways that students could earn a guess. A few examples were they could bring in their homework, use their listening ears, take pride in their work, say "please" and "thank you", and be respectful with our classroom materials.  By the end of October, we had over 215 guesses in our box!!  At the end of our harvest celebration we counted the candy and had exactly 200 coins! We had a three way tie with Bridget, Griffin, and Megan all guessing the exact number!  We a great time that led into a very exciting weekend!  What do you think I should put in my guessing jar for November?

We have started to count the coins!

Watching with rapt attention

We are getting so close to an answer!

Success!!! We have a winner! In this case, we actually had 3 winners!

This activity created a lot of excitment, suspense, and fun!

Math Games

Happy Monday everyone!!  We have been working very hard to get into a routine during math time.  I start each lesson with a 10 minute whole class mini-lesson and then I break the students up into groups.  One group comes to my desk to review the skill of the day, another group works on math boxes at their seat, and the last group has a choice of various math games and activities to play.  I am learning to upload pictures onto my blog so I have taken some pictures of students playing different math games! I hope you enjoy this little glimpse into our day!

Broken Calculator is an activity that challenges students to find multiple ways to make a number without just writing the number. For example: my number is 20 but my 2 key is "broken" so I could write 11+9 or 30-10.

Name that Number is a game where children try to make a certain number using the five cards in front of them.  If I have a 5,1,10,7,and 9 in front of me and I draw a 6, I can make a 6 three ways. I can use 7-1 or 5+1 which uses up 2 of my cards.  I can also use 10-5+1 which equals 6 and uses up 3 of my cards. This is a great game where kids can differentiate according to their ability.

Addition Top It  is played just like the card game War.  Each player throws down 2 cards and they add up their numbers.  Each player says their number sentence out loud and the player with the biggest answer wins all the cards.

Balloon Double is a game where kids practice their double facts such as 4+4 or 10+10.  The student rolls a die or two (depending on which gameboard they chose) and they double that number.  Once they have doubled the number, they place a chip on that number on their gameboard.  When every balloon on their gameboard is covered, they have won!



Compliments of Ten Memory  is a great way to learn the compliments of ten.  If you flip over 2 cards and they add up to 10, then you get to keep the match!  The compliments of ten are 0+10. 1+9, 2+8, 3+7, 4+6, and 5+5.  The more practice the students have, the less they will need to use their fingers!

         Here is a group working on the minus 9 lesson from today! We are cramped, but we have fun!

Here is a student working on math boxes at his seat. All of the math boxes review skills that we have already learned. Today we reviewed counting dollars and coins, telling time, writing a fact family, drawing a trapezoid and circling the 3 sides that are the same size, reading a graph, and writing 3 different names for the number 26 (just like the Broken Calculator game)!

Thank You!!

I just wanted to take a minute to thank each and every family that was able to come to Open House on Thursday night! I was so great to see everyone and spend a few moments talking about how unique and special your child is!  I always love it when students have the ability to "show off" some of the work they have been doing.  I am always amazed at how far we have come in just a few short weeks!

Also, just a reminder that there is no school on Thursday, October 21st and Friday, October 22nd. School resumes on Monday, October 25th.

Open House is this week!!

We have been in school for over 6 weeks and it is time to invite parents in to see what we have been working on!  UMS is hosting our annual Open House this Thursday, October 7th from 6:30 - 7:30 p.m.  This is a relaxed event where you and your child can walk through the school and see what has been happening.  There are many wonderful things that your child has to show you in our room!!  I look forward to seeing and talking with everyone!  Just a reminder that I will have a sign up for November conferences at Open House.  Each child is given one 20 minute slot and you can pick the time that fits best with your schedule.  I hope to see you on Thursday!

Homework Time!

Homework has finally started!!  I don't know who is more excited, the students or me!  This week I have sent home two math homelinks and a reading log. Each day I will teach a math lesson that will reinforce the topic of the homelink.  Nothing will ever be sent home that is unfamiliar to the children (they just might not remember what we learned that afternoon)  I will go over each math homelink at school before I send it home and I expect it completed and back at school the next day.  Reading logs, on the other hand, go home on Monday and aren't returned until Friday.  Each child should be reading at least 10 minutes a night, but I would love to see everyone read even more than that!  Next week, I will also send home the spelling skill that we are working on.  I do not want children to memorize any list, just practice the skill and try spelling it in different words.  This week we reviewed short vowels and digraphs (ch, sh, wh, and th).  Next week I will introduce words that have double ll, zz, ff, and ss such as kiss, fuzz, doll, and cuff.  There is no homework assigned for the weekends.

I am still waiting for a few more permission slips before I begin writing more entries and posting pictures on our class blog. I am also waiting for my new camera to help me in this endeavor.  My goal is to post something at least once a week! I appreciate your patience as I get this blog "off the ground"!

Off To A Great Start!

I can't believe that we are almost done with our second week of school!  We are all much more comfortable now that the heat has finally broken!  We have been very busy in Room 9 getting to know one another and working together to create our classroom community.  I feel like I do a lot of talking during the first few weeks of school, but it certainly pays off as the year progresses because everyone is clear on the routines and expectations. 

I am slowly introducing academics such as math and reading.  I think that the students are actually pretty excited to get back into the swing of things!  During math, we spent the first few days just reviewing the compliments of ten (these are the number pairings that add up to ten such as 4+6 and 8+2).  We even made our own abacus to help us learn these facts.  This past Tuesday, we started Unit One of the Everyday Math series.  During math time, everyone has the opportunity to work in a small group with me, complete a workbook page, play a math game like "Egg Head" or "Compliments of 10 Memory", or try a challenge paper that takes the math skill of the day a step farther. 

Reading time is always a big hit!  We have read many wonderful books in the past few days and we even had the opportunity to create our own class book!  We have spent some time talking about how we treat books and I hope to open my Book Nook soon.  We also played many rhyming games which gave us the opportunity to practice our rhyming skills and how to work cooperatively.  We also worked as a team to generate our classroom rules - make sure you look at the list when you come for Open House!

We have all had a wonderful week and I thought of a great way to bring things to a close.We are going to walk to the Village Scoop for some much-needed ice cream! I think everyone deserves a treat after all of their hard work!  I hope this blog gives you some insight into what we do on a daily basis. I am new at this, so please be patient!  Don't hesitate to email me with any questions or concerns!  Thank you for letting me spend each day with your child; I am truly blessed!

Welcome Back to School!

Hello everyone!! I can't believe that summer is already over and school is almost back in session!  I am so excited to start this year.  I am busy getting our classroom ready for September 1st, which is the first day of school. By now, hopefully everyone has received my summer letter and knows that we have an Open House on Tuesday, August 31st from 8:00 - 9:00 a.m. in our classroom (room 9).  This is a very informal event to help ease students back into the school scene.  I look forward to seeing everyone and fnding out how your summer was!  Enjoy your last few days and I will see you soon!