Geology and Geometry!

How serendipitous that we are studying rocks and shapes at the same time in Room 210!

Second Grade geologists have been describing and sorting rocks by their properties- size, color, shape, texture, among others.  They have learned that minerals in rocks make them different colors and that weathering is when rocks are changed by wind, water or other rocks.  Next they will learn some new vocabulary to describe rocks based on their size: boulder, cobble, pebble, gravel, sand.  Ultimately they will ask- and answer- the question "Is there an earth material smaller than sand?"

In math, students have been describing and sorting shapes by their properties as well.  There are alot of new geometric terms to learn. Students have learned that polygons are closed shapes with more than two sides.  Four-sided polygons are called quadrilaterals and those that have four right angles are called rectangles.  A rectangle that has four equal sides is called a square! Next they will explore fractions as equal parts of shapes.

Back to the Routine

A week after what felt more like April vacation than February, the kids (and teachers!) in Room 210 are back into the routines of the classroom.  We returned from the vacation to start up some exciting new curricula and activities. 

Our non-fiction books are finished and published and the students are enjoying reading each other's work.  The authors feel pride when they see classmates picking their books out of the bin.  On Thursday, March 2, we celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday by reading what we think is one of his first books, Thidwick, the Big-Hearted Moose.  I own what appears to be an original printing- it certainly looks old!  We took away the message that it is important to be kind and generous, but sometimes you have to look out for yourself and speak up for what you need. 

For the past few weeks we have been reading a variety of fables and talking about the morals they present.  We will next move onto discovering the elements of folktales, specifically those from Japan, as we begin our cultural study of that country.  The students will start their study groups to learn about certain aspects of Japanese life so they can teach the rest of the class.  We hope to gather some knowledge of Japan before we go to the Children's Museum in a couple of weeks.

This coming week we will be putting on our "poet's eyes" so that we can explore writing poetry.  We will read and analyze all sorts of poems to develop our craft.  

We are well into our "mix-up math" routine to tackle our place value unit. It has been fun for both students and teachers alike to work with different children on a variety of assignments.  

You may have heard from your child that we are helping a friend of mine pilot a kids' program called "Imagination Station." It consists of group games and activities that incorporate drama and improvisational skills.  Lynda will visit our classroom several times over the next few months.  

As always, everything we do in the classroom is underscored by the basic courtesy and respect we expect from one another.  Thanks for all you do at home to support this!

Halfway Day!

The students in Room 210 marked the 90th day of school with an A+ day on Friday.  They were focused on their work, being productive, but more importantly, they worked together on various tasks, both academic and playful. We did an activity where, sitting in a circle, kids can share anything on their minds.  Each child can have only one turn or choose not to share at all.  What makes this something new is that we didn't go around the circle, nor did we raise our hands.  We just waited for the right time to share in a conversation, much the way adults do.  The class loved it!

As we begin the second half of the year (!!!), we are finishing up our information books in Writers' Workshop.  The students have been able to share their expertise on a topic by producing a book containing the non-fiction text features we have learned.  We will share our finished books with other Second Grade classes in the coming weeks.  Our next writing unit is Poetry- something completely different!

We also conclude our science unit- Pebbles, Sand and Silt.  Your children are quite the geologists! We have learned that clay is the smallest earth material that we can barely see.  We have been introduced to new vocabulary and concepts such as weathering and erosion.  We will take a short break from science as we spend time learning about Teosinte, our sister city in El Salvador.

In math this week we begin to focus on place value, an important building block for much of the math that comes in the future.  The class has done some activities that require them to apply not only their math skills, but also their cooperation skills.  I have been very proud of them in this area!

Finally, in reading, after several weeks studying non-fiction books (nicely complementing our written work), we will spend time reading folktales and identifying the characteristics of this genre. 

10/24/16

Today in Room 210 we began our study of geometry.  We will look at the attributes of both 2-D and 3-D shapes.  The children have already been introduced to sophisticated mathematical vocabulary: faces, vertex, rectangular prism, triangular prism.  We had someone talk about how they knew that "tri" means three, and we listed the words we know that start with "tri" and have something to do with three: tricycle, tripod, triceratops.  The students will be detectives later this week looking for certain faces of shapes at home.

We continue to write our small moment, narrative stories in Writers' Workshop.  It is exciting to see those children ready to try certain "craft moves" introduced to them: similes, suspense, dialogue or detailed action.  We have been reading aloud 26 Fairmount Avenue, Tomie dePaola's memoir growing up in the 1930s.  We hope to be inspired by the small moment nature of each chapter.

In Open Circle, the word of the week is cooperation.  We have learned that it means "working together to get the job done," and not necessarily "follow directions."  An easy mistake to make when you might hear "Why won't you cooperate?"  We understand that we can get a lot more done in our classroom if we learn to cooperate.

Finally, the students are really engaged in our discussions about the election.  Today we learned the steps leading up to the election, beginning with a person announcing her/his intentions, all the way up to Inauguration Day.  The process takes about a year and a half, if not longer!  When asked who in the class would like to be president someday, about 2/3 of the group said they would and said it's because they want to help people and make he world a better place (yay, second graders!).  We may make some campaign videos so these students can share their platforms....

10/16/16

This week Second Graders began the "meat" of the math curriculum- showing their math thinking through solving story problems.  They were introduced to the steps they are expected to take in this process.

As the year progresses, the students will be expected to use a variety of strategies and tools to solve problems.  Some of your children may have been exposed to the traditional algorithm for calculations- stacking the numbers vertically.  We do not use this at school as it is too easy to follow the steps but not understand the concepts behind them.  Please ask your child to show you one of the ways he/she is practicing at school.

This week we will begin a discussion around the upcoming election.  We will talk about the role and responsibilities of the president and the steps leading up to an election.  For what I think are obvious reasons, we will not be focusing on the current candidates in the classroom.  If your child is interested, please talk about them at home.

Finally, in Friday's Open Circle lesson we talked about compliments and how good it feels to both receive and give them.  We learned that compliments must be true and are best when specific.  I asked he kids to be "compliment detectives" this weekend.  I hope they gave or noticed some compliments at home!

Settling In

Students in Room 210 are settling into the new routines and procedures nicely. We have had some good talks about how important it is to follow directions and keep our bodies safe- how can we possibly learn and have fun otherwise?!  In Open Circle, we talked about "non-negotiable rules." Please ask your child what he or she understood from that conversation.

We noted that there are also non-negotiable rules outside the classroom and even in "real life" for grown-ups, often called LAWS!

Now that we have mastered the basic components of maps, we will begin to look at maps of real places that connect to our lives directly: Arlington, Massachusetts, the United States, North America, and the world.  We will learn how to "zoom out" from our immediate surroundings.  From there, we will embark on our trip around the world.  For those of you who signed up to share about another part of the world, I will be contacting you soon to schedule your visit.  We hope to schedule for November and December.  For those of you who were not at Parent Night, or did not sign up yet, it is never too late!  We love to have visitors come and share about their experiences in other parts of the world.  Please let me know if you would like to participate.  

And speaking of visiting the classroom, through out the year we will host both "Math-Ins" and "Read-Ins."  Stay tuned for more information on these.  They are a wonderful way for your children to share a glimpse into their classroom experience.

A Great Start!

We are off to a great start in Room 210!  The children seem happy and engaged in all we are doing. We have been setting up our routines and procedures and have begun to delve into many areas of the curriculum. 

In math, we are reviewing some basics that the students have been exposed to in First Grade so we can get going on building on those skills and thinking deeper- like Second Graders.  The children have already learned that the big thing in Second Grade math is explaining how you know the answer to a math problem.  

The class is excited about Writers' Workshop.  The students seem to have lots of stories to tell.  Our first unit of study in writing is Narrative, and we will be learning how to stretch out the small moments in our storytelling.

The children love to read and they have been developing stamina for reading independently.  So far, as a group, they can sustain about 10 minutes without talking or getting up and moving around the room!

As you may have heard we have started our mapping unit in Social Studies.  This will lead us into the study of the world's continents and oceans.  We have compared maps to globes and have identified the key components on each.  

Maybe more important than all these academic topics is developing our classroom community.  We start the day greeting one another and sharing about ourselves.  You have probably heard about the "All About Me" bags.  The students have enjoyed showing their classmates the items brought in.  We have generated a list of hopes for our Second Grade year and the students have drawn pictures to show the one most meaningful to them.  

I am excited to tell you more at Curriculum Night on the 27th.  Hope you have it marked on your calendar.