Wednesday

This week is a little bit mixed up! With yesterday being off, some of us thought today was Monday!
In math, Mrs. Jones came in to do a great little activity with a book she read about Spaghetti and Meatballs and tables. We acted it out a little.

We went to the library to learn about nonfiction text features (headings, captions, labels, etc.) It was fun. We played a fun word game during word work. This afternoon we did bar models on the computer at a site called Thinking Blocks.  Then we read How the Grinch Stole Christmas, one of my favorites!

I am not seeing a lot of books for the book swap. Please let me know if you need me to get one for your child. Thanks!

Friday

We worked on comparison bar models today. This is a tricky concept.  We will continue to practice. The next step in bar models is practicing 2 step problems.  I'm looking toward testing at the end of the week or beginning of next week.

We did our portfolio reflections on Google Classroom. The students are really internalizing this process.  It's great to see! They know how to log into the Chromebooks, find Google Classroom, click on their assignment and then turn it in electronically.

During word work, we talked about words with long i and the magic e.  Then we did work jobs. We ended by reading/singing Hannukah, Oh Hannukah.  

Have a fabulous weekend!

Wednesday and Thursday

What a concert!  The kiddos did a wonderful job. It was so nice to see all of you there!  I was so proud and I'm sure you were too.  We didn't do much of anything yesterday but practice for the concert and do it!

Today, we are continuing to work on bar models in math. In writing, we classified books by their type of lead: Action; Shocking statement, dialogue or setting.  We will try new leads in our writing soon,

We played Sparkle in word work and had work jobs after handwriting. I began a book about Christmas in Mexico and Las Posadas. We continue to talk about traditions.

Make sure to remember the book swap!
Thanks!

Tuesday

Emotions are running high in 2F!  We are getting excited for the concert tomorrow!  In math, we continue to practice bar models. In writing we began to talk about what a lead is in a piece of writing. In word work, we practiced writing word wall words with the rainbow words activity. This afternoon we read a book about Hannukah and practiced the dreidel song again. In that, we talked about contractions and verbs.

Monday

It was for sure a zigger zagger day!  We began with a visit from Mrs. Maynard, the town children's librarian. She read us some great books about traditions. Next, we had concert rehearsal in the multi-purpose room. The kiddos sounded great!  In computer lab, we learned about computer programming and practicing coding.  Ask your child about it!  Karen Locke came down from Maple Street to teach us about this.

In word work, we took an assessment that we didn't have time for on Friday. This afternoon, we read a poem about dreidels and did work jobs. We learned about fact and opinion. We read The True Story of the Three Little Pigs and did an activity with that.

Homework went home today. Let me know if there are any questions.  I hope to see you at the concert on Wednesday!

Friday

Today we did a wonderful art project with Mrs. Guay. She read a book called Goodbye Geese and they we made our own Canadian geese with sponge paint. So fun!

We also worked on our portfolios by using Google Classroom.  In math, we went over bar models using subtraction. We had some time catching up on unfinished work.

Tuesday

In math today, we worked on recognizing word problems as addition and subtraction. This chapter mixes them up so this is an important skill.  We also practiced bar models with subtraction. In writing, we did a pretest on informational writing. This will be our focus for the next few months. We did a Making Words activity in word work and did work jobs this afternoon.

Our class will have its holiday party on Monday, December 22.  Part of the that party will be food and a book swap.  Please send in a wrapped gently used book or new for your child to swap with a classmate. You may write on the tag To My Friend; From _______________ (your child's name).  Let me know if getting a book is a problem.  I have many to choose from!  Thank you!

Monday

Welcome Back! Today was a typical day in 2F. We began bar modeling in math. This is a strategy to help solve word problems. I love it because it's so visual.  It really makes a problem make sense to me. I'm hoping our class feels the same way.  We did an activity with subtraction in the computer lab. It was challenging because we had to do the problem but then explain our thinking. In writing today, we read a book about Traditions to kick off our discussion of Family Traditions. There will be lots happening around this topic this month. In word work, we did a long a word sort.  Ask your child about the word "Fame".  (I couldn't help but break into song on that one..... "remember my name... Fame!")  During work jobs this afternoon, students cleaned out their book boxes and replenished them with some nonfiction books. This nonfiction reading will go with what we are talking about all month. We did a Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How chart at the end of the day.

Homework went home tonight.  Please remember those reading calendars.  Many were not turned in for October and November.  Also, book orders went home. They are due by Friday.  If you are ordering for the holidays, please let me know and I can set the books aside for you.  Thanks!

Tuesday

We had a day of fun!  We played some math games and did a fun Reader's Theater. This afternoon we watched Charlotte's Web and had popcorn!

Happy Thanksgiving!

No homework this week but to read!

Monday

We had a test on subtraction today as well as a review test as I look to do report cards. I knew a few kiddos were out tomorrow, so I wanted to do this today.

In computer lab, we learned how to make a graph on the computer and to write data statements based on our graph. Afterward, we put them into our portfolios.

This afternoon, we went to a Scholastic website that gave us a virtual tour of the Mayflower.  We worked on a book about the differences between the Pilgrim times and our times. I finished the day with a book about Thanksgiving.

Tomorrow is Pajama Day in 2F! Students may wear their pj's to school if they want to (they do not have to). We will also watch a movie and have popcorn in the afternoon.  FUN!

Thursday

We have been doing a lot of assessments for report cards. We are also finishing up a few units: Cinderella comparisons and subtraction.

In word work, we played a fun game called Word Lotto with end blends.  Mrs. Kleiner came in for her last Second Step lesson.  It was about safety rules.

Thank you for the donations of trash bags. I am all set for now!

Monday

We had lots going on today! This week we vote on Ladybug books so we are trying to write about each book during our work jobs. We went to the library at the end of the day to catch up on some of the ones that we haven't yet read. This is a work in progress for the week.

In math, we had the lesson of subtraction with 2 regroupings! We will practice on paper tomorrow as we worked with the blocks today.  I will be doing some  other assessments as well this week for report cards.

For writing, we did a writing benchmark where we wrote about a fun time we had with friends. I was impressed with how much writing students did!  In word work, we highlighted last week's words and this week's words on our personal word wall lists. We are working on ending blends.  We sorted words with ending blends in work jobs too.

Friday

Happy Weekend!

In math, we are regrouping in the tens and hundreds.  We will attack double regroupings and subtraction across zeros next week.  Then, I'm happy to say we will move on from subtraction right before Thanksgiving.  Our next unit is word problems!

During Ketchup Time we worked with the Chrome Books and bookmarked sites that we will frequently use. Next, students imported new spelling lists into Spelling City to work with next week.

We had a spelling test and did work jobs this afternoon.

We still need garbage bags!  Not out of the woods yet!

Wednesday

Today was a Wednesday that felt a little like a Monday! We went to the computer lab to learn how to log into Think Central. This is the site that goes with our math program. Students will do this at a station when we start math stations.   They have a lot of log-in user names and passwords. We try to keep them all consistent. Sometimes, that is not easy to do.

We had to follow up with an activity that went with Monday's Veteran's Day Scholastic News. This was determining main idea and details from the article. After this we used our Weekend News to frame our sentences (make sure we are writing capitals and using end punctuation) and we found the subjects and verbs in our sentences. I am trying to get children to write complete sentences containing these elements.

For word work, we played Be a Mind Reader. We read the last of the Ladybug books and did work jobs.

Monday

Our day started with a Veteran's Day assembly. We saluted some local veterans and sang God Bless America. We also saw some photos of veterans who are related to staff at HMS. When we came back to our class, we finished Morning Meeting and had snack.  Math was practicing some subtraction with regrouping. In computer lab, we logged into a site called Moby Max.  I use this for math stations, which we haven't started yet. Students took a pretest to see on which math concepts they need to focus. It will be an independent station once we begin math groups.

In writing, we worked on Weekend News. I'm being a little more strict about the details that students are using in their writing. Since we read Screaming Mean Machine and talked about good details, I want students to follow through in their own writing.

This afternoon, we did work jobs. We also read a Scholastic News about Veteran's Day.
Homework went home today.

Friday

Today we had math.  We regrouped a lot and used base 10 blocks with 3 digit numbers. In PE, we played volleyball and we played Lighthouse Tag.  After snack and Morning Meeting, Mrs. Patterson talked with us about Space Invaders.  Ask your child what that means.  Then we did Ketchup work and had a spelling test.
This afternoon, we did work jobs and read another Ladybug book.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Thursday

I finally added pictures of the scarecrows (finally!).  Just go to the top tabs and click on 2F in Pictures and Scarecrows to see the photos.

We worked on some subtraction without regrouping today. Then we had a special visitor: Mrs. Kaplan came and read us a Ladybug book. After that, Mrs. Kleiner came in to talk about filling a bucket. (Ask your child)  We had a late morning meeting and ended our morning with how to proofread for word wall words.

This afternoon, we learned about the full moon tonight (The Beaver Moon) and then did work jobs. We read some of Gooney Bird Greene and then had time for a game at the end of the day.

Wednesday

Mrs. Jones came in today and did a lesson called an empty number line. This is a different way to look at subtraction.   In writing today, we read a book called The Screaming Mean Machine.  It was a great example of an author taking a small topic and exploding it with details. We wrote our own piece with lots of details.  In word work, we did an activity called Making Words. Finally, during work jobs, we were able to Read to Someone, work on a new poem from the book Chicken Soup with Rice, and do Tumblebooks on the computer.

Tuesday

We are getting that subtraction!  The unifix cubes are the key.  It's exciting to watch as the light bulbs go on.  We started writing it on paper as well.  We'll keep on keeping on!

In writing today, we wrote for 3 minutes to a prompt. I will be doing this monthly to see improvement. Also, we worked on a scarecrow story starter and many students began to write stories in their writers' notebooks.

In reading this afternoon, we read Scholastic News about geese migrating. We had some great discussion.

Students are on the look out for words that begin with blends.

Monday

Wow, last week was busy hence, not a lot of blog posts. Sorry!  It's a new week!

We are working hard on subtraction.  It is a difficult concept. We are using Unifix cubes to regroup. Children are able to break apart the 10 trains in order to make more ones if needing to regroup. Again, we are taking it slowly.  There is a subtraction game that came home for homework tonight.

In computer lab today, we learned about Google Classroom.... fun! Students typed an assignment and submitted it via the Chromebooks. It's just like handing out paper and passing it in to the finished work tray but minus the paper!  We did Weekend News this way.  I hope to do a lot more with reading group work or just journal writing in general.  Stay tuned! Children need to learn to compose their writing on the computer so this is a good way to do it.

In word work, we learned the difference between a blend and a digraph.  A blend is 2 or more letters combined where you can hear all the sounds (ex. 'st', 'bl', 'cr').  A digraph is 2 letters combined to make one sound. We searched for words with blends during guided reading work jobs.

We read another Ladybug book: The Very Inappropriate Word. Students are writing summaries of these books for their Write about Reading work job.   Finally, we began working with the terms compare and contrast. We looked at 2 pictures of scarecrows and found the similarities and the differences.

Homework went home today.  Let me know if you have any questions.

Tuesday

Sickness has hit HMS... we have had quite a few people out.  We are washing our hands a lot!  One thing is that Mrs. Guay, our helper teacher, has been out both yesterday and today.  I appreciate her and miss her help a lot!

In math, we are subtracting with blocks. Students lined up their problems on paper today too. In writing, we read a Ladybug book and then finished Weekend News. We are writing about the Ladybug books too as part of Guided Reading work jobs.

Students learned that words which end with a vowel followed by 2 consonants usually have a short vowel sound. We did an activity with these words in word work.  This afternoon, we read a book called Rough Face Girl with a great message This is a version of Cinderella.  In work jobs, we learned about using our reading binders.

Keep checking those heads!  Thank you for your help.

Monday

We learned about  a new site today called Spelling City.  Students have their own log in information and can access it at home if you like. This is a site where they put in their own individual lists of spelling words (taken from words misspelled in their writing) and do activities with these words.  I love this site because it is totally differentiated, meaning each child is working at their appropriate challenge level. This was also opened as a work job today during Guided Reading so students could finish or play a game based on these words.  Good stuff!

In math, we worked on the subtraction strategy of count on.  This is when 2 numbers in a subtraction problem are very close together.  You take the number being subtracted (the part) and count up to the biggest number (the whole) to get the difference.  For example, 9 - 8.  You start at 8 and count up 1 to 9.  The answer is 1. We played a game as well to reinforce the subtraction facts.   Any help on this at home would be great.

In writing, we worked on really making sure our 5 Finger Planner for Weekend Ends was a brainstorming sheet.  I am trying to get children to not write sentences on these papers but just the main idea of what they want to say. This was difficult for some, but we will keep at it!

There is still time to hand in scarecrow items for Thursday!

Friday and all week!

I enjoyed meeting with all of you for parent conferences. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to talk about your children.  I feel like I talked a lot!  If there were things that you didn't get a chance to say (!), please let me know.  I'm happy to follow up with you at some point. Shoot me an email even and we can go from there.

Next week will be busy again with Scarecrow Day (Thursday).  We will not be having a Halloween Party as the Harvest Celebration will take its place.

Today flew by! We had math this morning and created fun story problems with subtraction. We read a Scholastic News about fire fighting goats!  There was lots of catch up time and we had a spelling test.  This time I did a pretest for next week's words as well as dictation sentences.

This afternoon we did many reading activities.  Also, we took out our scarecrow stuff to see what was needed.  Some children still need to bring in some supplies.  I am still in need of money for the Scarecrow Day snacks.   Thank you for that.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Monday

Sorry for the late post.  With parent conferences happening all week, the blog updates may be a bit sparsehis week.  I'll do the best I can.

Today in math, we had a test on addition with regrouping.  2F students did quite well.  We will move into subtraction next.

We had computer lab today where we learned how to access Tumble Books for one of our work jobs during guided reading time.  Students know how to log in, find Google Chrome and sign into Tumble Books. Once in Tumble Books, students choose a book to listen to and record specific information on a Listen to Reading response sheet.  All students were able to do this today for practice and some got to have this as a work job too.

In writing, we wrote Weekend News. Children are expected to write 7 sentences about one event which happened on their weekend. I'm looking for them to tell a story in sequence, to introduce their topic and to provide some closure to the paragraph containing details.  Phew!  That is a lot of work... all along spelling word wall words correctly, capitalizing and using end punctuation.  It's a work in progress!  I'm impressed how far we've come in just a short amount of time.

In word work, we had a pretest on the 5 new words: pick, much, watch, both, and which.  We continue to work on digraphs, both beginning and ending.  This afternoon, we began work jobs for the first official time!  While I'm meeting with groups, students are working independently on such things as word work, book shopping, reading to self, or listening to reading on the computer.  There are a few kinks to work through but for the most part, students did well.

I'll look forward to seeing you this week!

Friday

Our day began with a wonderful assembly with Daniel Dancer.  We saw the culminating video of our Art for the Sky experience.  There is talk of maybe being able to purchase the movie from PTA.  I'm hoping this is true.  It was amazing!

We wrote thank you notes to Daniel Dancer this afternoon. We talked about our experience with Art for the Sky before we wrote. It truly was powerful.

In math, we did a chapter review on Addition with Regrouping. We will have a test on Monday. Ketchup Time was great because we got a lot of things completed from our table folders.

I ended the day with the story Cindy Ellen, a version of Cinderella in the wild west!

Thursday

Today in math we practiced double regrouping!  Impressive!  I'm proud of how well 2F is doing with this tough math.  We had an extra long morning meeting today because we missed it yesterday. Mrs. Kleiner came in to talk about apologizing properly. In writing workshop, we finished up Weekend News. I read Gooney Bird Greene aloud and then we worked on Scholastic News and some word work with digraphs.

Please have your child wear his/her Art for the Sky t-shirt tomorrow (or a white shirt). Daniel Dancer will be coming back to show us the picture!

Wednesday

What an amazing experience we had today!  I can't wait to see the picture to find out how it turned out!  I took lots of photos too so I'll try to post them at some point.

Mrs. Jones came in this morning to do a lesson with mental math. We also had Mrs. Pond come in to teach us about Chrome books.  Now we can get into Google Docs and make documents to share with others.  I'm excited about the possibilities!

Our day ended with Art for the Sky!  All the children were very well behaved.  It was a great day!

Tuesday

Phew!  We did a lot of things differently today!  It started with an assembly with  Daniel Dancer, our Art in the Sky artist.  He showed us some of his other art and clued us into what we are doing TOMORROW!  The Art for the Sky project is now TOMORROW due to the yucky weather predicted for Thursday.  Have your child wear neutral colored pants tomorrow if possible.

In math, we learned how to regroup the tens for a hundred.  We are successful with the blocks but making the leap from blocks to paper is where it is tricky.  If you'd like to help your child at home with this process, that would be great.

In writing, we did Weekend News.  This spilled over into our reading block as well.  5 new words were introduced today: children, should, would, think, and why. We will focus on digraphs this week  (2 letters put together to make one sound).

Friday

We had a fire drill this afternoon. The children were very safe, respectful and responsible.  We also went outside to do some science: a nature hunt. We found lots of good things in nature including things that weren't even on our checklists.

Mrs. Bohlman and Mrs. Marino came in today to introduce the Ladybug books.  2F is very excited about reading them.  In math, we took our regrouping skills with addition to paper. We had a bit of time to catch up on the work in our table folders and we had a word work assessment.

Please remember that Art for the Sky is Thursday.  The T-shirts that were ordered will be in on Wednesday after school so that your child can change into them on Thursday at school. Please have your child wear neutral colored pants on Thursday.

Have a fabulous long weekend!

Wednesday and Thursday

Apologies for not posting yesterday.  I had to run out right after school and didn't get a chance.

The play Harry the Dirty Dog was fabulous! I hope your children thought so.  It was a musical and had very funny parts in it as well.  As I watched the children's reactions, it looked as though everyone was having a good time.

Yesterday, Mrs. Jones came in to do math with the hundreds boards. We also played a game called Make a Hundred.  This got children used to trading or regrouping 10 ones for a ten and 10 tens for a hundred.  We played that game again today in math.

Mrs. Marino (our librarian) came in with brand new books from the library.  This was so fun to watch because the children were so excited! I love second graders' enthusiasm!

Mrs. Kleiner came in today for a quick lesson due to our pictures being taken. We did some work with words and sorting them into syllables on both days.  Children have all read a Scholastic News about Columbus' ship the Santa Maria. We worked in our handwriting books today.  I'm starting in the back of the book with number formation.

Don't forget to send in a white T-shirt with your child if he/she did not order one for Art in the Sky.  They should be here by tomorrow.  Thank you!

Tuesday

Once again, there is a lot going on in 2F!  In math, we learned about regrouping today.  I'm so impressed!  We are starting small and will "kick it up a notch" as we are ready. It's always fun to watch as the light bulbs come on for each child. We also practiced writing our math problems on graph paper to practice lining them up.

In writing, we finished up Weekend News. We also read a book about verbs since we are talking about writing in complete sentences.   In word work, we learned about closed syllables (consonant, vowel, consonant) where the vowel sound is a short vowel sound.

This afternoon, we read a book called Bedtime for Frances.  We looked at identifying character traits of Frances and using proof from the book to support what we think.

Tomorrow is the field trip to Capitol Center for the Arts. Thursday is Picture Day.

Monday

Welcome to Jacob today!  It was a fabulous day in 2F.  We had Mrs. Maynard come in from the town library this morning. She read us some books and told us about some events happening in the library soon. She will come every other month. It's great to have her!

In math, we worked on word problems. Students learned how to line up 3 digit math problems with the ones places lined up, the tens place lined up and the hundreds lined up. Then we applied that to the word problems. Tomorrow we tackle regrouping!

We had computer lab today! We learned how to log into the computer and how to make Google Chrome our default browser. Also, we bookmarked Tumblebooks - a site we will use during Guided Reading time in the near future. (Also one of the reasons we have headphones)

In writing, we learned about what details are in our own writing. Students were able to talk together about their Weekend News before writing.  Oral rehearsal is so important when writing pieces.

We learned our new word wall words today and did an activity called: If You Know How to Spell....

This afternoon, students book shopped, did Scholastic News and Read to Themselves while reading groups were happening.  I ended with reading a version of Cinderella.  We will do more with these stories in the future.

The Week in Pictures

We are Trees!

3B's Parade

3B's Assembly

Friday

We had a fabulous Friday today!  There was a lot happening today. We met our new student, Jacob, who starts on Monday. He got to go out with us to snack recess and have morning meeting with us. We welcome him on Monday as part of our classroom community!

In math today, we did more work with addition of 3 digit numbers. We had a lot of Ketchup time to finish up work in our Table Folders. For word work, we did a sentence dictation assessment on the short vowel words we've been working on.

This afternoon, we became trees by making our vests and headbands of leaves.  We went outside to take a picture of us with the tree we draw!  It was very fun!  We also used our "whisper-ma-phones" as part of read to self and fluency folder work.

Have a great weekend!

Reminders for next week:
Wednesday is our field trip to the Capital Center for the Arts to see Harry the Dirty Dog
Thursday is Picture Day

Thursday

In math today, we added 3 digit numbers together - very exciting!  We have not tackled regrouping yet.  That is coming!  We will continue to strengthen our make a ten strategy too.

After art, snack, and morning meeting, Mrs. Kleiner came in for Second Step. We then, had writing workshop where we wrote a story about one of the special places on our maps. Writing share took us to lunch and recess.  This afternoon, we read aloud and then did guided reading groups. Children worked on their spelling words by writing them in rainbow colors. They also worked on their fluency folders or read to themselves. At the end of the day, we went outside to do tree rubbings and leaf rubbings.  Tomorrow we become trees!

Please  remember the Art for the Sky permission slips as soon as possible.  Thank you!

Wednesday

It was a busy rainy day in 2F! We had the 3B's parade.  I have photos!  Perhaps I can load them this weekend along with the I Pick Rap. This time we were able to get everyone in it and it is fabulous.

We had Mrs. Jones come in today for math. She did more work with the hundreds board. We did some puzzles too.  We are working on Making a Ten as a strategy still. Yesterday, we did this with tens frames and number bonds. Today we transferred this to number bonds and a worksheet.

In writing, we read a book called All the Places to Love a wonderful story. Then we drew maps of special places in our lives. Tomorrow, we will write about these places for writing workshop.

In word work, we worked with short vowel sounds. Some students made some words with short vowels. Others worked with passages that contained short vowel words.

We read a poem about September that I've been meaning to get to all week!  It mentioned thistledown and goldenrod as well as other great vocabulary like harvesting and reluctantly.

Tuesday

We did some tree rubbings and leaf rubbings today.  It was so fun!  This happened after guided reading groups.  During the guided reading groups, children worked hard too! We practiced in our fluency folders or read to ourselves.  

We filmed the I Pick Rap today.  I will work on getting that video on the blog as soon as possible.  In writing, we talked about completed sentences.  We classified groups of words into either sentences or not sentences.

We played Be a Mind Reader in word work. In math, we worked on the Make a Ten strategy for addition.  We used tens frames and number bonds.

Don't forget Black and Yellow tomorrow!

Monday

This morning, we used Cuisenaire Rods to learn our doubles plus one facts.  This was really a visual way to represent what a doubles plus one fact actually is.  For example, if we know 5 + 5 = 10, then we know 5 +6 = 11 because 6 is one more than 5 and 11 is one more than 10.  We will keep working on this concept as we tackle 3 digit addition.

We made black and yellow chains for our 3B's parade on Wednesday. Please remind your child to wear black and yellow for this.  Thank you!

In writing, we wrote about our weekends using the 5 Finger Planner. Some children even finished both the planning and the writing.  During word work, we talked about short vowel sounds in the words: got, stop, ran, want, hid.  These are the word wall words for the week.

This afternoon, we started reading groups.  If children did not work with an adult today, they were book shopping, making their paper chains, and/or reading to themselves.

Homework went home today. Let me know if you have any questions!

Thursday

Please remember that today is Friday for the kiddos.  We are meeting as teachers tomorrow, but there is no school for the students.

It was a bit of a different type of day. We had morning meeting first thing and then word work. I assessed them on the 20 review words on which we have been working. We had Mrs. Kleiner came in to talk about how we deal with anger. Students brought home a drawing they completed as part of her class. In math, we used Cuisenaire Rods to think about the double numbers: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20.  This activity spilled over to the afternoon as well.

The rest of the afternoon, we took the STAR assessment in reading. Students worked hard and should feel proud!

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

Wednesday

We had STAR testing today in the computer lab. It was the math test today and we have the reading test tomorrow.  Your children worked really hard and did a fabulous job!

We read 2 Kevin Henkes' books today: Owen and Sheila Rae, the Brave.  Tomorrow we will vote for our favorite!

In math, Mrs. Jones did some fun activities with the Hundreds board.  Ask your child if he/she knows the sum of the digits in a two digit number.... for example the sum of the digits of 52 is 7.

In word work, students were mind readers!  Ask them what that means!  We finished up Weekend News and had a lot of friends share their writing today.

Tuesday

We have increased our stamina for read to self up to 3 minutes!  This is great news!  I know that doesn't seem like a lot of time, but it is important for students to practice correct reading behaviors from the start.  If a child is off task in any way, we stop (not singling out that child of course) and review proper behaviors.  I talk about building stamina in reading like building stamina for running a marathon.  We start slowly and train correctly.

I did a comparison with shoes today with picking good fit books. Ask your child about that.  Mrs. Patterson came in today to talk about empathy. Some friends went to the library today. In writing workshop, we wrote Weekend News based on yesterday's 5 Finger Planner. We discussed homophones today (words that sound the same but are spelled differently).  Our focus mainly are our/are; here/hear; there/their; where/wear.

In math, we began talking about addition strategies and reviewed different areas of place value.

Monday

Busy, busy, busy!  I hope you find the brief newsletters helpful.  I try to highlight what is happening each week for you.  I figure you can get the big picture and then come here for the details.  Hope that is working for you.  Check out the new design.  I'm trying to embed a calendar, but it's a bit clunky. I'll keep working on it so you have a reference of important events to come.

In math, we took a place value test.  I will look forward to looking at these tonight to see if we need more time on this topic.  After Morning Meeting and snack, we did our portfolios. Students wrote about the 5 items they brought in for their Me Bags as well as picking an assignment from last week.

In word work, we reviewed the last 10 words from the first grade list. In writing, we planned our "Weekend News" and will write that tomorrow. I read a book called Meanwhile...and we discussed temporal words (first, then, next, after, finally).

We read The Year of Billy Miller and then did a shared reading on the September poem from the book Chicken Soup with Rice (FUN!). We reviewed rhyming words.

Finally, in reading, we sang a rap song (I Pick).  We will video this after more practice.  It's a catchy one.  Also, we began building our stamina for Read to Self.

Homework this week is to memorize their password (student identification number) and do a math sheet with place value.  Don't forget to keep reading and recording on that reading log!  I'll collect those next week.

Friday

We went to the library this afternoon and learned about how to pick Just Right/Good Fit books for ourselves.  Students had the opportunity to choose a book from the library for their book boxes. We will continue this conversation next week as this is a difficult skill for many. We filled our book boxes in the classroom with Just Right books as well. This is something we will do once a week. Again, it is a learning process as make decisions about the books that we can read independently,

In math, we worked with the concept of 10 more, 10 less, 1 more, 1 less, 100 more, 100 less than a number. This rounds out our study of place value for now.  I will assess students on Monday and we will move on to addition with regrouping!

In writing today, we brainstormed topics that we could write about in our writers' notebooks. During word work, students did another activity about contractions.  We ended our day with Ketchup Time (work in our table folders).

Thursday

Today was another busy day in 2F! We did a lot of work with ordering and comparing 3 digit numbers. We were able to move around and order some numbers. Then we did a workbook page about this topic.  After art, we had snack and a movement break outside. Mrs. Kleiner came in to do a lesson about cause and effect. Next, we had morning meeting and talked about our birthday graph. Students then wrote data statements about the graph for writing workshop.

This afternoon, we did  a sorting activity with contractions. We also read another Kevin Henkes book: Chester's Way. Next, we did an activity about identifying the beginning, middle and end of a story.  We did read a chapter from The Year of Billy Miller as well.

Wednesday

Mrs. Jones came in during math class today and did some activities with the hundreds board.  We counted by 10's (forward and back) and by 1's (forward and back). We also talked a bit about ordering 3 three digit numbers and how to write that in a sentence. For example, 299 is greater than (insert symbol here) 108 is greater than 99.  We did a monthly math assessment too on computation.

Today is Constitution Day! We learned what the Constitution is and even watched School House Rock.  Students colored a book with information about the Constitution in it.  Then, students signed the 3B's Constitution for our classroom.

In word work, we learned about contractions. Students played a game called Cloudy Contractions. It was challenging at first, but we were able to spend some time on it after lunch to understand it more. For writing workshop, we worked on a page for a class book about our names. We used the information you sent in from the homework about how kiddos got their names. I loved reading those tidbits! We ended with something we learned today.

Tuesday

I was out at a meeting today.  Mrs. Kaplan was the substitute.

Monday

Please remember that order forms for T-shirts for the artist in residence are due tomorrow.

New homework came home today.  Let me know if you have any questions.

We had a blast today sharing our "Me Bags"!  We took each person's items out one at a time and tried to guess whose bag was whose.  Then, students explained a little about themselves based on the items in the bags. It was so fun.  I have taken a picture of each child with his/her items for their portfolios.  At the end of our day at closing circle, students shared one thing they learned about a classmate from the items in the bags.  It was so fun!

In math, we reviewed greater than and less than and how to compare 3 digit numbers. We learned a new way to draw the greater than and less than symbols using dots... ask your child!

Another exciting thing that we did today was pick the first assignment that went in our portfolios! All of the rest of the work came home today.  I will do this on a weekly basis (usually Fridays) so you will see all of the weekly work coming home on Fridays after your child has chosen one item for his/her portfolio. Students reflected on why this item will go into the portfolio (something he/she is proud of, worked hard on, learned something from, enjoyed, etc.) in writing which is in the portfolio as well.

In writing today, we began a weekly assignment called Weekend News. I asked your child to pick one thing that he/she did this weekend about which to write. We planned our writing today on a 5 Finger Planner. We will turn this brainstorm sheet into sentences tomorrow.

For word work, we are focusing on 5 words: don't, her, here, how, mother.  This afternoon, we learned about the third way to read a book which is by retelling it.

Friday

Happy Friday!  We made it through a 5 day week!  In math, we did the workbook pages that go with the lesson that I did yesterday about standard form, expanded form and word form. We also made numbers by having digits and standing up in front of the class.

After PE and snack, we went outside for a movement break. We had morning meeting where we counted by 10's starting at 11.  We made it all the way to 201! In writing, I read a book about a famous author who had struggles with writing in her early years. We talked about how writing is hard work but very rewarding at the same time. In word work we read/sang "I Went to the Animal Fair" and identified rhyming words.

This afternoon, we began our unit on trees! We read a very informative book and talked a lot about trees and what they give us and how good they are! Students made a flip book with the parts of a tree: the crown, the trunk and the roots. Mrs. Crouch came to read us a book about math too.

One very important paper went home today about the Artist in Residence program.  To go with the program, students are being offered T-shirts to wear for the actual photograph.  The order forms for these shirts are due by Tuesday so there is bit of a rush order on that. Let me know if you have any questions. Mr. Chamberlin sent an email out about this sometime during the week.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Thursday

It was so nice to see so many of you at Open House last night! Most of you signed up for a parent conference but if you didn't get a chance, please let me know.

In math, we learned how to write numbers in standard form, word form and expanded form. Expanded form is the one we are most proud of!  If the number has 3 hundreds, 2 tens and 4 ones, the standard form is 324; the word form is three hundred twenty four; and the expanded form is 300 + 20 + 4.

We did not go outside this morning for a movement break because it was raining. Instead, we had choice time inside.  Then, Mrs. Kleiner did a lesson for Second Step. After that, in word work, we worked on syllables with word wall words. Some friends shared during writing workshop.

After lunch and recess, we read aloud and did a reading lesson. We worked on 2 ways to read a book.  One way is by reading pictures and the other way is by reading words. I modeled this with Lily's Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes and students practiced with their own stories.

At closing circle, we talked about what we were most proud of for today.  It was a great day!

Wednesday

Tonight is Open House!  See you at 6:30.  The children have worked hard getting ready to show you our classroom.  They are very excited.  I will have a conference sheet on my table for you to sign for a time in October.

In math, we finished the workbook pages from yesterday. These were a bit tricky! In writing we did a sheet called Writing Bingo... ask your child!

For word work, we are working with those review words. Finally, for reading we read aloud, did a lesson about conflict and characters' responses to conflict and we did some stations as well.

Tuesday

First thing today, we had math where we talked about place value.  Students are learning how to count by 10's and 100's with numbers like 398 and 402 etc. We build with blocks to show that as soon as we have 10 of one kind of block, we need to trade for the next size block.  This is the beginning of regrouping! It's very exciting to see those light bulbs going off as they show understanding!

After PE, snack and a movement break we signed our class rules which we came up with yesterday. You will see them tomorrow night at Open House. We read 2 picture books today: Officer Buckle and Gloria and The Best Story. The second book was a springboard for conversation about what we can write about.  Then we launched our writing workshop where students wrote about topics of their choice! I modeled by giving them ideas of what I would write. They had time to talk before writing and then we took out our writer's notebooks.  We had time for a few shares before lunch.

In the afternoon, we read our chapter book and then read a poem called "My Good Ol' Backpack". We picked out the rhyming words from this poem and talked about apostrophes. Finally, we did some stations today: fluency folders, multi-link cubes, and portfolio papers.

We ended our day with Cooseeki, a game we play where one student has to guess the secret leader.

Open House is tomorrow night: 6:30.  I hope to see you!

Monday

We had a busy day in 2F!  There are no specials on Mondays so we have a lot going on. Math is how we start the day. We are working with place value in chapter one of the Math in Focus program. Students are building numbers with base ten blocks and are working on counting by ones, tens and hundreds! We also count during Morning Meeting as well.

After our Morning Meeting and snack we went outside for a movement break.  It was so gorgeous out! Next, we came in and finished our Hopes and Dreams for Second Grade on the iPads. Wait until you see them at Open House! Students then shared them and we created class rules based on these goals.

In word work, we cheered 5 words from the review list: after, are, because, before, could. Students wrote them as many times as they could fit on the line.

After lunch, we began a new chapter book by Kevin Henkes. Next we read a poem together about a lunchbox. Finally, during reading, we had "stations": pattern block building, a Wemberly Worried fun pack and Scholastic News. I was able to do a few reading benchmarks while children did this.

No time for closing circle today....maybe tomorrow!  Homework went home today. Let me know if you have questions about this!

Thursday and Friday

Happy Weekend!

We've had a HOT day in our room today (Friday).  The kiddos have been great through this heat wave!  Mrs. Cannon came in today and yesterday to do a lesson while I was able to work with some students on the benchmarks for reading. Assessment is a big part of our opening and it's always tricky trying to balance getting them done with fun activities to build classroom community. I also gave students a pretest in math today to see what they remembered from first grade.

We took out the iPads today and used them to produce our Hopes and Dreams for second grade. Not all kiddos got to this, so we will finish on Monday. Yesterday, we had a fire drill. Mrs. Condon came in as well yesterday because I had to take my youngest daughter to the doctor.

Have a wonderful weekend.  Homework is due on Monday.

Wednesday

We are doing some great work with Cuisenaire Rods in our class! Students are tagging numbers to colored blocks and making number sentences.  Our class is full of excellent mathematicians.... I can tell already!

In writing today, we did a writing benchmark pre-assessment. Students worked really hard!  We had library orientation today too. We got to take out 3 books each.  To end our day, we did a word work activity with our names.

Tuesday

Today in 2F, we worked with Cuisenaire Rods. We made a staircase and learned that each time you add a white block, it makes a block of a new color.  In PE, we ran around and played tag. We stretched and we worked in groups and did a handshake. We went outside for snack recess (movement break).  Some people played soccer. We had a mid-morning meeting. Ariana, Anika, Nolan and Morgan all shared today. In word work, we took a word wall pretest. Then we read Chrysanthemum.  After lunch we finished the book and talked about where our names came from.  We talked about fire drills, lock down drills and how to play at recess. We put together our classroom puzzle.  It was so fun!  Next, we read a poem called Let's Be Friends to the tune of Three Blind Mice.  We had the chance to illustrate it.  We ended with Closing Circle.  It was a great day!

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

It was another great day in 2F! We had an assembly after music today.  Odds Bodkin is a story teller that was here. He was fabulous.  It was a long assembly so we had a late snack and then took a movement break outside in the hot weather!  When we came inside, we made Get to Know You bracelets. In the afternoon, we shared them. The read aloud today was The Teacher from the Black Lagoon.  This was a funny book! In the afternoon, we read a poem called Summer's Over which was sung to the tune of You are my Sunshine. We did some math with the Cuisenaire Rods and started an ABC book about ourselves.  Our closing circle ended our day!

Have a fabulous long weekend!

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Today was a great first day of school!  I hope you are hearing good things!  We began our day with Morning Meeting where we greeted one another, did calendar and went over the day's schedule. We had Cole and Noah as our leaders and they shared about their summers. We played a name game called The Blanket Game.  Ask your child about it!

Our special today was PE and then we had snack. We had a movement break outside after we ate. It was hot.  Next, we worked with Cuisenaire Rods and began a Get to Know You Bingo activity.  Each child wrote three things about themselves as clues.  After lunch, we played the Bingo game and got to learn new things about one another.  We read a poem called The First Day of School.  Finally, Mrs. Guay read a book called First Day Jitters.  It had a surprise ending!  At closing circle, we talked about our favorite part of the day or least favorite part of the day.

I'm happy to meet my new class.