We had quite a few Flat Stanleys come back today. It was fun to read about what adventures they went on.
You can tell that many of the kids are excited about Halloween. There is already quite the buzz in our room about the events that will take place on Wednesday. We will be having a regular day of school on Wednesday, but at 2:00 students will change into their costumes for the parade and party. If you would like to come to the parade it will begin at 2:15.
We have been working really hard to learn about maps and all of their elements. Some students are working on a "Map Report" and they may be asking to do some research at home. Please sit with them or at least be in the room when they are researching online. I gave them three sites that are appropriate for kids (www.maps4kids.com, www.nationalgeographic.com/homework) but as we all know sites that are appropriate may lead us somewhere we don't want to be. Thanks for your help and support.
-Mrs. Biles
Info on "Blogging" classes will be coming soon!
Monday, October 29, 2007
Friday, October 26, 2007
Pumpkin Day
We enjoyed this morning carving pumpkins and learning about circumferences and weight. We certainly were very appreciative of the parents that helped us out. We couldn't do it without you!
Pumpkin Day was a blast!
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Compound Words
This is one example that I shared at the share fair yesterday. It was playing as teacher librarians came into the workshop that Mrs. Roush and I presented. They liked it as an example of how to be using the SMART board in small groups.
There are so many interesting things that I stumbled upon yesterday that I am excited to use in our classroom. Some of that is a new way to video record what we are doing on the SMART board with the classroom audio. That way I can post the main points of a lesson and if a child is absent they can watch it at home. We can also use it as a review.
A classroom update:
Our focus for October in reading is Questioning Strategies. We have learned that asking questions deepens a readers comprehension. As students start to pay attention to what they are thinking while they are reading they are internalizing comprehension strategies that they can apply to other situations. Tomorrow I am excited to share a questioning web where students pick a question that they want to dig deeper into and then 'web' some answers and where they got those answers.
We are also focusing on fluency (reading like you speak). It is important that students are able to orally read grade level materials, attending to phrasing, intonation, and punctuation. To help students grasp this concept we will be learning a variety of October poems and paying specific attention to those aspects of fluency. I wouldn't be surprised if you started hearing the poems at home. The kids really do love them =-)
Writing has been a blast lately. Our author studies have turned out some amazing work. We will be beginning an intensive study about conventions. This includes things like: Use complete sentences, use capitalization at the beginning of sentences and for proper nouns, use correct punctuation, use correct spelling of high frequency words, regular plurals, and phonetic spelling for difficult words. We will also be talking extensively about proofreading your own writing and noticing and correcting errors. As a second grade team (and part of our staff focus on writing) we noticed that our students were particularly low in the conventions area across all grade levels. Because of this we are jumping right into what our kids need most (right now) to be proficient writers: conventions.
In math we have learned to play Close to Twenty, which I keep meaning to get a video of kids explaining how to play. We are also talking about counting strategies. Today I asked, "How many student legs are in the room?" We talked about using the strategy: Count by 2's because everyone had two legs. As it turned out there were 38 student legs in our classroom today. We will also be talking about multiples of 5 and counting by different groups in an effort to prepare kids for counting coins and coupons. If you have some time have your child count the change that you have in a purse or a drawer. Pay attention to if they know what the coins are and how to count them.
Next week we start learning about mapping. It has been so much fun getting responses about our Flat Stanleys and we will be using that to help us learn more about maps and why they are useful. Students will get the opportunity to locate the places that their Flat Stanleys have been.
Typing club will continue for another week and a half though there will be no typing club on Halloween Day. I am still working on a schedule for November and December groups to learn more about PowerPoint, MS Word, and Blogging. During the December/January break students will be expected to share their special moments on our blog. That's right, they will be doing the blogging! Parents will also be invited to join us for these classes so you can support what we are doing at home. Look for a schedule to come out soon.
Halloween is once again on its way and the second graders will spend next Friday, October 26th as Pumpkin Day. We will be doing all sorts of reading, writing, math, and science activities with pumpkins that day. I am looking for 4 medium sized pumpkins to be donated to pumpkin day as well as extra parent volunteers that can help us for as much of the day as possible. Look for a note to be coming home about that.
I know I've been long winded and I hope you have made it to the end here. If you have then: Way To Go!
Thank you for your support.
A classroom update:
Our focus for October in reading is Questioning Strategies. We have learned that asking questions deepens a readers comprehension. As students start to pay attention to what they are thinking while they are reading they are internalizing comprehension strategies that they can apply to other situations. Tomorrow I am excited to share a questioning web where students pick a question that they want to dig deeper into and then 'web' some answers and where they got those answers.
We are also focusing on fluency (reading like you speak). It is important that students are able to orally read grade level materials, attending to phrasing, intonation, and punctuation. To help students grasp this concept we will be learning a variety of October poems and paying specific attention to those aspects of fluency. I wouldn't be surprised if you started hearing the poems at home. The kids really do love them =-)
Writing has been a blast lately. Our author studies have turned out some amazing work. We will be beginning an intensive study about conventions. This includes things like: Use complete sentences, use capitalization at the beginning of sentences and for proper nouns, use correct punctuation, use correct spelling of high frequency words, regular plurals, and phonetic spelling for difficult words. We will also be talking extensively about proofreading your own writing and noticing and correcting errors. As a second grade team (and part of our staff focus on writing) we noticed that our students were particularly low in the conventions area across all grade levels. Because of this we are jumping right into what our kids need most (right now) to be proficient writers: conventions.
In math we have learned to play Close to Twenty, which I keep meaning to get a video of kids explaining how to play. We are also talking about counting strategies. Today I asked, "How many student legs are in the room?" We talked about using the strategy: Count by 2's because everyone had two legs. As it turned out there were 38 student legs in our classroom today. We will also be talking about multiples of 5 and counting by different groups in an effort to prepare kids for counting coins and coupons. If you have some time have your child count the change that you have in a purse or a drawer. Pay attention to if they know what the coins are and how to count them.
Next week we start learning about mapping. It has been so much fun getting responses about our Flat Stanleys and we will be using that to help us learn more about maps and why they are useful. Students will get the opportunity to locate the places that their Flat Stanleys have been.
Typing club will continue for another week and a half though there will be no typing club on Halloween Day. I am still working on a schedule for November and December groups to learn more about PowerPoint, MS Word, and Blogging. During the December/January break students will be expected to share their special moments on our blog. That's right, they will be doing the blogging! Parents will also be invited to join us for these classes so you can support what we are doing at home. Look for a schedule to come out soon.
Halloween is once again on its way and the second graders will spend next Friday, October 26th as Pumpkin Day. We will be doing all sorts of reading, writing, math, and science activities with pumpkins that day. I am looking for 4 medium sized pumpkins to be donated to pumpkin day as well as extra parent volunteers that can help us for as much of the day as possible. Look for a note to be coming home about that.
I know I've been long winded and I hope you have made it to the end here. If you have then: Way To Go!
Thank you for your support.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Lots of Learning!
Typing Club online
Here is a great website to practice your typing club at home. Just click on the blue words and play the game.
Today I am spending the day with Mrs. Roush learning from other teachers and teaching others how to use the SMART Board. Over the last week we have done some wonderful learning.
We spent an exciting morning yesterday learning about reading strategies. We dissected a one minute video of Adriana reading and the kids were pointing out the strategies that they saw her use.
I hope that your day at school was successful and you learned a lot! We will be back tomorrow.
Here is a great website to practice your typing club at home. Just click on the blue words and play the game.
Today I am spending the day with Mrs. Roush learning from other teachers and teaching others how to use the SMART Board. Over the last week we have done some wonderful learning.
We spent an exciting morning yesterday learning about reading strategies. We dissected a one minute video of Adriana reading and the kids were pointing out the strategies that they saw her use.
I hope that your day at school was successful and you learned a lot! We will be back tomorrow.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Wonderful Kids
We are so blessed to have such a wonderful class of kids. Today we had a writing assignment where they had one hour of silent writing time to respond to a prompt. Next week the teachers will sit down and evaluate where are kids are as a whole and have some discussions about what we need to do next to help our writers grow and learn more. All of the kids were wonderful at sitting for that long time and working. Of course we got a little squirmy toward the end, but we were successful at finishing the prompt.
We had a lot of fun yesterday focusing on nouns, and today we focused on consonant blends. The 'cr' in 'crab' is a consonant blend. If we can recognize these right away we don't have to be sounding out every word.
For writing today we also learned a new song to if your happy and you know it:
What wonderful kids are in our classroom. Thank you for an enjoyable first night of conferences.
We had a lot of fun yesterday focusing on nouns, and today we focused on consonant blends. The 'cr' in 'crab' is a consonant blend. If we can recognize these right away we don't have to be sounding out every word.
For writing today we also learned a new song to if your happy and you know it:
"If you want to write a letter start at the top.
If you want to write a letter start at the top.
If you want to write a letter then you better, better, better;
If you want to write a letter start at the top."
So many kids are forming their letters incorrectly (starting at the bottom) and the third grade teachers are having a hard time teaching cursive. Help us fix this problem now by helping your child in their writing.If you want to write a letter start at the top.
If you want to write a letter then you better, better, better;
If you want to write a letter start at the top."
What wonderful kids are in our classroom. Thank you for an enjoyable first night of conferences.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Today
What did we not do today? I was trying to think of a title for this post but we did so much that I was at a loss of words.
Today we started out focusing on high-frequency words. Those are words like "the" and "and" that are used a lot in our language. We got to play with the SMART Board Speller software and record our voices into it.
There was also a reading group that worked on compound words on the SMART Board.
We had some great learning about nouns today as well. We learned that a noun is a word that is a person, place, or thing. There are also different kinds of nouns. There are common nouns and proper nouns. Common nouns are for general words like "girl." Proper nouns state a specific noun like "Mrs. Biles" and those need to be capitalized. There are also singular and plural nouns. A singular noun describes just one person, place, or thing. A plural noun describes more than one and ends in -es or -s. If it ends in -es you can hear the /e/ sound - like in boxes. If it only ends in -s you can only hear the /s/ sound - like in hands. We also talked about how an 's' or and 'es' added onto the end of a word is called a suffix.
Can you believe that we are having these kinds of conversations in second grade? What smart thinkers we have!
Today we started out focusing on high-frequency words. Those are words like "the" and "and" that are used a lot in our language. We got to play with the SMART Board Speller software and record our voices into it.
There was also a reading group that worked on compound words on the SMART Board.We had some great learning about nouns today as well. We learned that a noun is a word that is a person, place, or thing. There are also different kinds of nouns. There are common nouns and proper nouns. Common nouns are for general words like "girl." Proper nouns state a specific noun like "Mrs. Biles" and those need to be capitalized. There are also singular and plural nouns. A singular noun describes just one person, place, or thing. A plural noun describes more than one and ends in -es or -s. If it ends in -es you can hear the /e/ sound - like in boxes. If it only ends in -s you can only hear the /s/ sound - like in hands. We also talked about how an 's' or and 'es' added onto the end of a word is called a suffix.Can you believe that we are having these kinds of conversations in second grade? What smart thinkers we have!
Monday, October 8, 2007
Typing
Typing has really taken off in our classroom. I am impressed with the kids dedication and enthusiasm that they have for it. We will continue to work on typing, but through the month of Novemember and December we will be doing week long "camps" where kids work on projects in PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, and learn how to blog.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
So much learning.
As a teacher you never really feel like you are caught up, and if you do feel that it is quite a short lived feeling. With so much learning going on there is not a moment that can be cast to the wind. As I now sit at "the end" of my day here at school I am remembering all of the exciting learning we did today, and I wish I had pictures. It was one of those days though where you go, go, go and taking pictures is something you don't remember.
We started our morning by reading a book that has a math connection. It was called Two of Everything and is a Chinese Folk Tale about a magic pot that doubles anything that gets dropped into it. It was quite a blast later in the day when the kids got to make up their own math stories about something that fell into the magic doubling pot. If you are interested in the story there is a version online if you Google the title.
Our reading comprehension strategy for October is questioning. We have been talking a lot about the questions that we have as we are reading. Some of these questions get answered later in the text, some we answer with our background knowledge, and some we get answered through other sources.
Lately in writing we have broken up into groups to study authors. We are looking at what things an author does consistently across different books they have written. Once we have learned about the author the students are expected to "Stand on the authors shoulders" and write something that was inspired by the author. That may be a topic (David Shannon writes a lot about himself when he was young, I'm going to write about something I did when I was younger), or it might be an illustration craft (Eric Carle uses collage, I will do that in my book). It has been fun watching students learn and grow in their writing by studying real authors.
We took our plants test today, so look for a second plant to be coming home soon. What great scientists we have in our room! They knew that a plant can grow from a bean and they had the evidence to back it up. They were also able to tell me that a plant needs air, water, and light in order to be healthy and strong. Way to go kids!
We started our morning by reading a book that has a math connection. It was called Two of Everything and is a Chinese Folk Tale about a magic pot that doubles anything that gets dropped into it. It was quite a blast later in the day when the kids got to make up their own math stories about something that fell into the magic doubling pot. If you are interested in the story there is a version online if you Google the title.
Our reading comprehension strategy for October is questioning. We have been talking a lot about the questions that we have as we are reading. Some of these questions get answered later in the text, some we answer with our background knowledge, and some we get answered through other sources.
Lately in writing we have broken up into groups to study authors. We are looking at what things an author does consistently across different books they have written. Once we have learned about the author the students are expected to "Stand on the authors shoulders" and write something that was inspired by the author. That may be a topic (David Shannon writes a lot about himself when he was young, I'm going to write about something I did when I was younger), or it might be an illustration craft (Eric Carle uses collage, I will do that in my book). It has been fun watching students learn and grow in their writing by studying real authors.
We took our plants test today, so look for a second plant to be coming home soon. What great scientists we have in our room! They knew that a plant can grow from a bean and they had the evidence to back it up. They were also able to tell me that a plant needs air, water, and light in order to be healthy and strong. Way to go kids!
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Tens Go Fish
It is very important that we continue to play Tens Go Fish and Turn Over Ten every night. We have talked about why the number 10 is so important in our base ten number system. We are discovering great things, and the kids that are continually playing these games are picking it up quite fast =-)
Monday, October 1, 2007
Flat Stanley
You wouldn't believe the great response that we have gotten from Flat Stanleys all over the world. Thanks to your wonderful friends and relatives this is quite a success! We even had one Flat Stanley come back to our classroom with a full presentation from his host family.
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