Snow Day Today . . Another Writing Celebration Tomorrow!

Just a quick post to let you all know that we will hold our morning Celebration of Personal Narrative Writing tomorrow, Wednesday, December 18th at 8:45.  I hope you'll be able to join us!  Enjoy your Snow Day!

Celebrating Writers -- Day One

Many thanks to all our visitors who joined us for our Second Grade Celebration of Personal Narrative today!  The second graders were so pleased to share their accomplishments; each child has dedicated quite a bit of time and effort to bring a piece of writing through many phases from tiny idea to publication.  Today each student read his or her Personal Narrative story to at least 3 visitors. Some even read their stories five or six times!  The students also shared their About the Writer pages and their Mentor Texts with our visitors.  Stay tuned for more photos from Day Two . . .

Tyler is reading his piece, Playing with Jeff, to Evan.

Sarafina is reading her piece, Rainbow Bracelets!, to Aleks' mom.

Hunter is reading his piece, The Blizzard, to Ms. Girardi.

Aleks and Wyatt are sharing their work with Kaisac's parents.

Samara and Julia are showing Julia's dad one of our Mentor Texts, Owl Moon, by Jane Yolen.

Manguito!!

What a blast we all had at the musical performance by Manguito last week!  In addition to clapping, singing and dancing, we had the opportunity to learn about a wide variety of percussion instruments including the Conga and Bongo drums, the Shekere, the Campana, the Timbale, the Clave, the Maracas and the Tamborra.  The musicians taught us about the role of multiple rhythms in their music and about the combination of European, African and Native American traditions within their compositions.  This was a very special treat brought to us by our generous PTO. Thanks very much, SES PTO!

More Story Maps

During Reading Workshop, second graders are continuing to use Story Maps to organize their thinking about stories and to increase their overall comprehension.  Last week, the children worked with their Reading Partners to create Story Maps for an Old Favorite Story. Some of the Old Favorites they read included Froggy Gets Dressed, Miss Nelson is Missing, Chicken Little, The Mitten, Corduroy and The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything. This week, they are working independently to build Story Maps for appropriately leveled texts.  You'll see a completed Story Map in your child's folder at the end of the week. Until then, check out these photos of Reading Workshop:

Here is the Story Map we created based on a
Read Aloud of Click, Clack, Moo by Doreen Cronin.

This is the Story Map we created last week after reading a
non-fiction passage titled
Safer Roads for Animals (www.readingatoz.com).

Front Page News!! Read all about it!!

When you receive your child's report card this Friday, I predict that your child will want you to take a careful look at the front page.  The first thing you'll see on the report card is a section titled Skills That Support Learning.  I've explained to second graders that this section is comparable to the Front Page News of a newspaper -- it's the biggest story of the day! These essential skills are critical to each child's success in elementary school, middle school, high school and beyond. In order to involve the children in the process of assessment and to encourage them to reflect on their role in their own learning, we spent some time taking a careful look at these skills that support learning.  In second grade language, these include

• following classroom rules
• showing respect to teachers
• showing respect to classmates
• working together with classmates on group projects
• solving problems
• showing kindness
• staying organized
• using classroom tools appropriately.

After a thoughtful whole group discussion, each child worked independently to self-assess using a kid-friendly rubric.  Each child assessed himself or herself on these skills using the following scale: never, rarely, sometimes, most times, and always. Each child worked carefully on this important work and it will be included in his or her report card envelope on Friday. Please take some time to review this self-assessment of Skills That Support Learning as well as my assessment (the report card) with your child.   Check out these photos of second graders at work:

The I CAN statement that accompanied this work was I CAN think about how my behaviors help my learning. 

Story Maps

In Reading Workshop, we have been working on creating Story Maps to increase reading comprehension. These maps are linked to the following I CAN statement: 

I CAN tell who, where, when and what after reading.

The children have also been working on Story Maps as part of their weekly homework packets.  Please be sure to take a look at the Story Map in your child's packet and ask him or her to explain its importance.  We have 2 Story Maps formats and today, after a lesson on how to use the second format, the children read an "Old Favorite" with their reading partners and then began to complete a story map. 

Check out these hardworking readers:

 

Fun Friday!

Friday, December 6 was a very busy day in second grade. We got off to a great start with a Performance Assessment during Math Time  in which second graders demonstrated their knowledge of U.S. Coins.  Whenever we work on this type of assessment, I explain to the children that this independent work is a chance for them to "show what they know" and to help me "figure out what I need to teach".  The information from these assessments, along with our grade level curriculum standards, will help me to plan upcoming lessons. 

We will be learning about money until the start of the December vacation.  Please check your child's folder for a note about bringing some coins to school. Thank you!

We finished up Math Time on Friday with some great math games including Close to 20 and Order Up. 

Close to 20

Order Up

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The highlight of our day on Friday was meeting our new Spanish teacher, Profe Clarita (Claire Huttlinger).  We had a great time learning some key Spanish phrases and a fun song.  You can check out our lesson on Profe Clarita's website.  Click on the link below:

http://translationspot.net/escuela-primaria/

Here is a photo of Profe Clarita.  

 We will have Spanish class each Friday. . . be sure to ask your child about these lessons!