Reminder: Back to School Night is this Tuesday, September 30th. I am looking forward to meeting all of you!

Social Studies: We continued with our Teamwork Unit. We discussed the role of leaders on a team and what happens when they do not do their job correctly.

Math: My apologies! In my last post, I said students would be taking the Chapter 1 assessment, but obviously I forgot we were off from school on Thursday. With that being said, we will review for the Chapter 1 assessment on Monday and Tuesday and students will take the test on Wednesday. Be on the lookout for the Chapter 2 home/school connection in your child's homework folder.

Reader's Workshop: I am still getting to know your child as a reader through our benchmark assessments, but one thing is for sure, we have a room full of students that love to read!

Shared Reading: We have been reading a book called Miss Nelson is Missing. We have been practicing making connections, rereading to uncover new information, and responding to literature using writing.

Word Work: Students were introduced to and practice the following sorts: 1. Written Sort 2. Blind Sort 3. Speed Sort 4. Glued Sort. Next week, we will begin our word work rotations.

Writing: This week in writing, we learned that good writers edit their pieces for punctuation and capitalization. We practiced together and then students practiced editing their own pieces. I still LOVE hearing the kids complain when I announce that our writing block is over! :)

Daily 5/Guided Reading:
All 5 of our Daily 5 centers are up and running smoothly. Next week will be our last week of benchmark assessments before our guided reading groups start.

In Full Swing!

Social Studies- This week we have been focusing on making our classroom and school a better place by showing C.A.R.E.S. (cooperation, assertion, responsibility, empathy, and self-control).

Math- Place value, place value, place value! In chapter 1, your child has been working on building numbers, writing numbers in standard, expanded, and word form, as well as comparing 3 digit numbers. If you see that your child is having a difficult time with their homework, please write a note at the top for me. This will allow me to provide them with extra practice in our classroom. Thank you for your continued support! :) Next week, we will be working on ordering numbers from greatest to least. We will also show what we know on our chapter 1 assessment.

Reader's Workshop- We are continuing to build our stamina when reading independently.

Shared Reading- This week in Shared Reading, we read a book called My Teacher's Secret Life. In this story, a little boy thinks his teacher lives at school. After seeing her at the grocery store, the mall, and the park, he suspects that his teacher has a "secret life" outside of school. We practice finding and marking key story elements such as characters, setting, and plot as we read. We then learned how to take that information and transfer it onto a graphic organizer. We used our organizer to help us retell the story and added details when necessary to enhance our retelling.

Word Work- Students completed their first word sort at our "teacher time" center. We set expectations together for what teacher time would look like and sound like and then practiced. Next week, students will learn 4 types of sorts they can work on independently or in small groups when they are not meeting with me.

Writing- We are filling up our notebooks with such creative writing. Yesterday at the end of our writing block, a few students started complaining because they wanted to keep writing! Exactly what I want to hear! :) Students were introduced to writing circles--places where we can share our writing without judgement and students provide positive and constructive feedback to each other. We will continue to model, model, model, and practice, practice, practice before in order for our writing circles to run as smoothly and effectively as possible.

Daily 5/Guided Reading- This week in Daily 5, students were introduced to and practiced working independently at our word work and work on writing centers. Next week, I will introduce our listen to reading center and I will begin our reading assessments to determine guided reading groups.

As always, please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns. Have a wonderful weekend.

Up, Up, and Away!

Wow, what a busy full first week of school! We are spending a lot of time learning about our classmates and how our classroom works in order to make our classroom a safe and fun place for learning.

A Peek At Our Week:

Social Studies: As a class, we developed our hopes and dreams for second grade. Each kiddo created a social and academic goal they would like to accomplish by the end of the school year. We will revisit these goals throughout the school year and discuss the steps we need to take in order to accomplish them. Keeping our hopes and dreams in mind, we talked about what our classroom needs to look like/run like in order to successfully reach these goals. We brainstormed ideas and came up with our three classroom rules: 1. Take care of ourselves 2. Take care of others 3. Take care of our school. Each day, our kiddos are working hard to make our classroom a better place!

Math: This week, I began to get to know your child as a mathematician! We spent time brainstorming what math means to us, and realized there isn't always just one right answer. We know that everyone learns differently, and that is OKAY! We began Chapter 1 midweek. Be sure to read the home-school connection that went home in your child's homework folder. This will show you exactly what your child is learning during this chapter.

Reader's Workshop: We spent the week learning and exploring our classroom library, choosing "just right books" and building our reading STAMINA!

Shared Reading: Ask your child about the wonderful books we read about September 11th and what they learned. I'm sure they have already shared so much with you. They just couldn't contain their excitement about this!

Word Work: Students took their spelling inventories this week. Next week students will be placed into small groups in which they will begin word sorts and learning about how words are spelled.

Writer's Workshop: Since our writer's notebooks will soon be filled with the stories of our lives, I thought it was important for students to make their notebooks a reflection of themselves. Students decorated their notebooks on Monday, and by Tuesday, they were writing away! Our wonderful writer's practiced brainstorming topics to write about and began drafting about topics of their choice.

Daily 5: Students practiced and worked independently at our Read to Self station and our Read to Someone station. Ask them all about it!

I look forward to meeting all of you at back to school night! As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions.

Officially Super Second Graders!

Mark your calendars:
Monday, 9/8/14- PTA Kickoff Carnival
Tuesday, 9/30/14- Back to School Night

Our Special Schedule:

Monday- Gym (remember to send your kiddo to school wearing sneakers)

Tuesday- Art (please send in an art smock)

Wednesday- Music

Thursday- Computers

Friday- Library


The first two days of second grade have been so much fun! We have been busy getting to know each other and our classroom, practicing routines and procedures, and organizing our supplies. I’m so excited to have your child in my class this year and can’t wait to learn and grow with them. Looking forward to a super second grade year!

Reminders:

1. Please sign your child's homework book every night. This is an easy way for me to know that you saw your child's homework assignment for the night and it was completed.

2. We have a very long morning, so please remember to pack your child a small, dry, and healthy snack each day.



If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via email or phone.
Have a wonderful weekend!