Happy Holidays from 2nd Grade!

I hope everyone is enjoying this holiday season with family and friends.  We had a great time at our classroom party. The students were beyond excited to share their gifts with a classmate.  It is so sweet to see their giving spirit.  Happy New Year!

We've Got Mail!

Once we returned from Thanksgiving break, we started our letter writing unit.  This is one of my absolute favorites because the students get to put all of their skills to work in writing letters they actually send out throughout the school!  It also feels very much inline with the holiday spirit, as families are sending and receiving holiday cards at their homes.

We began our unit by learning about the parts of the letter and the expectations of the letters we write.  Our letters need to have the date, a greeting, at least 4 sentences in the body, a closing, and a signature.  Our process includes writing letters, conferencing about the letter with Mrs. Howard, addressing it and including a "stamp," and placing it in our mailbox.

Each day, 2 students deliver the mail we have written around the school.  Mail we have received is passed out in the classroom.  The students open their letters and respond.  It's so much fun!   The students are very excited to receive mail, and they are motivated to respond with quality letters.

Feel free parents to drop a letter into our mailbox for your child if you'd like.  If you aren't able to make it into school, you could place it in your child's take home folder with instructions for me.  I'd be more than happy to get it into the mailbox for you!

Cute Holiday Reindeer

December is such a magical time in a primary classroom.  You can feel the holiday spirit in the air! We began one of our holiday art projects on Thursday- these adorable reindeer.  The students followed step by directions for drawing their reindeer, but I always emphasize that I want them to look unique to each student.  I love how our projects all look different and special based on the student that made it.  These will be up in our hallway soon!

We Are Thankful

Before our Thanksgiving break we took time to reflect on everything we are thankful for.  The students came up with a very long list.  A few examples included our families, friends, school, our homes, food to eat, books to read, soldiers who protect our country, and so much more!  I'm thankful for such a kind and considerate group of students.  They make every day in 2nd grade a great place to be!  The students wrote about what they are thankful for, and we used watercolors to make some very colorful turkeys.  Our final day before break was closed with the annual tradition of Turkey Bingo. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Below are Turkey Bingo pictures.  Turkey Bingo is played K-12 with numbers announced over the loudspeaker.  Students who get a bingo have to gobble their way down to the office.  Our classroom had 1 winner!

Edible Place Value

Last week we started learning about expanded form in relation to place value.  We had already used place value blocks to represent 3 digit numbers.  In order to mix it up and make it more fun, we used crackers to represent hundreds, pretzel sticks to represent tens, and marshmallows to represent ones.  We used an interactive dice on the smartboard to create 3 digit numbers that the students had to represent with the crackers, pretzels, and marshmallows and write on their white boards in expanded form.

Fall Tree Art Project

I just love these beautiful trees the 2nd graders finished last week!  Doing art in the classroom is one of my favorite things because it allows to the students to show off their creativity.  Even though with this project we are creating a similar image, I tell the students that I think it's fantastic that all of our projects are unique to the student and look different from each other!

First Grade Writing Share

On Friday afternoon, we ended our day by meeting up with the first grade class to share a few pieces of writing we've recently completed that will be added to our classroom library.  The 2nd graders read their favorite piece of writing that we published from first quarter, and they also read their funny "Letters to the Farmer..." turkey writing.  The first graders have been working on "How To" writing, and it was great to hear their writing as well!

Awesome Adjectives

Last week we read "Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late" by Mo Willems to learn about adjectives. After reading this much loved book, the students brainstormed a fantastic list of descriptive adjectives!  We then called up a classmate and the students called out adjectives to describe their friend.  We found the words to describe our friend to be quite different than that crazy pigeon!  Later in the day the students drew a self-portrait and used adjectives to describe themselves.

Thank You Veterans!

On Veteran's Day the 2nd graders had a very thoughtful conversation full of gratefulness for the men and women who have served and currently serve our country.  The students were full of stories about family members or friends who have served in the military.  We wrote notes to send to soldiers to say thank you for their service and sacrifice to defend our freedom.  Thank you Veterans!

Spunky Punky

Thank you to all who were able to make it to our performance of "Spunky Punky."  We had so much fun preparing and putting on this class play for our families!  I'm so proud of the students for how hard they worked to memorize their lines and the great performances they put on!  Way to go 2nd graders!

A Crankenstein Halloween!

In anticipation of Halloween coming up we read Crankenstein by Samantha Berger.  This very funny book details the events that make this Crankenstein very cranky.  In the end, you find out the main character is just a boy.  We had a great and humorous discussion about how we can all get cranky from time to time.  The class brainstormed different ideas for what turns them into Crankensteins.  The students made their own Crankensteins and wrote about what makes them most cranky! 

 

 

Happy Halloween from the 2nd Grade!

Comfy Cozy Day

Last week we earned that final banana to make a banana bingo!  This is always so exciting, and the class couldn't wait to brainstorm a list of possible ways to celebrate this.  The class ultimately voted on comfy cozy day.  The students were able to wear comfy clothes or pajamas.  They also brought in additional items like blankets, pillows, and stuffed animals.  We were able to do all of our learning in a very comfy classroom on Wednesday!

Daily 5

We use the structure of Daily 5 for our reading block.  This structure teaches the children to make independent work choices that help them grow as readers and writers.  In 2nd grade we have 3 rounds of Daily 5 everyday.  I meet with a group of students each round to work on reading skills and strategies, writing, phonics, vocabulary, and comprehension.  When not meeting with me, the students choose from read to self, read to someone, work on writing, word work, or listen to reading.

Each choice was introduced slowly at the beginning of the year with an emphasis on building habits to help make us as successful as possible.  We revisit these expectations often of staying focused, working quietly, and reading or writing the whole time.

Our Daily 5 block opens up everyday with a read aloud in which we focus on a skill or strategy for the students to be using and practicing in their own reading.  We are currently working on word attack strategies to help us work through tricky words in text.  A few examples are "chunky monkey" which means to look for chunks in the word you may know or "skippy scott" which means to skip over the word and read the rest of the sentence to gain some context clues to help out.

The students are doing a fantastic job in Daily 5.  They are excited about books and reading!  There is nothing that makes me happier than students rushing up to me with a book they just have to share, or to tell me about making it through a tricky word, or that they finished a story they've worked really hard on!

Fire Prevention Week

This year the theme for Fire Prevention Week is "Hear the Beep Where You Sleep."  We discussed the importance of fire alarms in our homes.  We also talked about making a fire exit plan with your family in case of a fire.  On Friday we walked down to the fire station to learn about the equipment the firefighters use.  Thank you to the Lanesboro Fire Department for the tour!

Math Mania!

We have been working hard and being creative in our math block this week!  Two skills the students have been reviewing are odd and even numbers and the doubles facts.  At the beginning of our week the students made these super fun odd and even monsters.

At the end of our our week, we reviewed odd and even numbers along with pictographs while using M&M's.

Since the beginning of the year we've been practicing the doubles rap.  We came up with the idea of taping ourselves performing the rap to share with our families.  This was taped on Friday, and the students were so excited to dress the part. Enjoy the video below!

We are Writers

Our Writing Workshop is up and running in 2nd grade!  At the beginning of the year the students decorated their writing binders to make them into a very special place to hold the students' writing.  As writers, we've learned to pick a writing topic, add details to our topic in both words and pictures, and use spelling tools to help us with unknown words in our writing.  Every student has a story to tell, and reading their stories amazes me each day!

Homecoming Fun

On Friday we had a fun day being "Buggy for the Burros" as we celebrated Homecoming!  Here are some pictures from cupcake decorating, the classroom, and the parade.

Our 5 Bee Promise

In the last 2 weeks of school we have been slowly adding to our 5 Bee Promise.  Our 5 Bee Promise sets the expectation for how we plan to work together and support each other throughout our school day.  Here are the 5 Bees:

1. "Bee" a good listener
2. "Bee" a hard worker
4. "Bee" responsible
5. "Bee"lieve in your yourself
6. "Bee" kind

During our read alouds and discussions about our 5 Bees, the students had so many great examples for each one.  They were able to relate their experiences from not only in school, but also at home and in our community.

Once our fifth bee promise was added, the students received their bee punch ticket.  At the end of each day, I recognize 1 student with a specific example of following our 5 Bees.  The class does a silent cheer for that student and he or she gets a punch in the bee ticket. Every student who returns completed homework on Friday also receives a bee punch for "Bee"ing responsible.  There are a total of 8 punches on the card.  Once a students receives all 8 punches, he or she has the opportunity to choose something special from our Best "Bee"havior Catalog.  Some of the special choices include eating lunch in the classroom with a friend, sitting in a special chair for the day, bumper seats, and many more!

Our promise promotes a classroom community of students that work hard, try their best, and care for others!

Good Morning Second Graders!

Here is a peek at how we start our day in 2nd grade.  The students come into the classroom and do a few morning jobs of choosing their snack and drink for snack time and also reading the morning message.  Then the students get right to work on their wake up work.  After this is finished the students make a quiet choice of reading, writing, shopping for books, or drawing in their notebook. A favorite choice has been reading books from our read alouds on the rug. This class is doing a fantastic job at coming in each morning with a focused attitude, and they waste no time getting their jobs done and making a great choice!  What hard workers we have in 2nd grade!

First Week!

We had such a great first week in 2nd grade!  We started our first few moments together with a book that couldn't be more fitting... "You're Finally Here!" by Melanie Watt!
                                                       
Through this read aloud we laughed a lot and answered this question: "Where  have you been?"

Through all of this fun my ultimate message was... You're finally here, and I'm so glad.  I'm so excited for your child to be apart of our 2nd grade community!

During the first few weeks of school we begin building habits based on our "5 Bee Promise."  The 5 Bees that we strive to follow are:
1. "Bee" a good listener
2. "Bee" a hard worker
3. "Bee" responsible
4. "Bee"lieve in your yourself
4. "Bee" kind

We have been practicing our stamina for read to self in our Daily 5 block, and in our math block we focused on 2 of our 3 stations: math game with a partner, and assignment station.

Throughout this week the students learned to shop for books in our library, choose a good reading spot, and build independence for read to self.

It is so fantastic to be apart of their first experience to get into the classroom library.  You can feel the excitement in the air when they get their hands on the books they've been eyeing up all week!

We practiced and reflected on the expectations of our math stations: to be a hard worker, stay focused, cooperate with your partner, play fair, and try your best.

What a week!  What a super bunch of students.  I couldn't be more happy and excited to teach, laugh, and learn with these children!

Open House

It was great to see many of our 2nd graders and their families at Open House.  I'm looking forward to our first day together!  We will have a fantastic year!

Welcome Back to School!

I'm so excited to meet you all at our Elementary Open House on Wednesday, September 2nd from 5:00-7:00.  Please bring your school supplies to put in your desk.  A supply list is listed below.

Backpack (no wheels, doesn’t fit in locker)

2 spiral notebooks

2 folders

#2 pencils

Scissors

8 glue sticks

3 dry erase markers

1” white binder with clear plastic sleeve on the front

½” white binder with clear plastic sleeve on the front (or another 1" binder)

Box of 10 markers

4 boxes of 24 crayons

Colored pencils

Pencil box

Watercolors

Gym shoes

Paint shirt

*Additional supplies will be stored away for your child to use throughout the year when items run out.