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.