This week we learned more about each other, our class, and started to get into some academic content. I've quickly learned that our class loves to put anything to a song! We've had a lot of fun coming up with songs and jingles that help us remember a variety of concepts within the classroom. Ask your child if they can tell you about one of them!
Here is a summary of what we worked on this week:
Hopes and dreams
students completed their hope and dream for the year in 2nd grade. These will be hanging from the ceiling for you to see next week at back to school night!
Edit and Revise
Since our students are such avid writers, I really want to focus this year on strengthening their writing. We introduced the concept of editing and revising our work. The students helped me make a checklist of the key elements we should look for when we edit and revise our work, and we created this song to help us remember the purpose of the process:
"edit and revise!
edit and revise!
We make our work better
and get it ready for public eyes!"
Students practiced the process first with their hopes and dreams, and are now choosing creative stories from their journals to edit and revise.
Daily 5
We introduced a second rotation to daily 5, work on writing. During this rotation students are writing daily learning reflections, writing a creative story, or editing and revising previously written work.
We built our independent reading and writing stamina up to 19:49! Our goal for the week was 16 minutes, and we passed out challenge with flying colors by Thursday. It is important to note too that at 19:49 the students were still engaged with their work, but I had to stop our practice in order to get to Art on time!
We also had a very important but very FUN conversation about Good Fit Books.To show the importance of a good fit book, we had two brave helpers model what it feels like to wear shoes that don't fit quite right. Look below for pictures of the experience! We also learned the 5 finger check that helps us decide whether or not a book is a good fit.
"I am" tile project
This beginning-of-the-year project helps us recognize our identities as individuals and learners, and the beautiful community we can create when you put us all together. We started by looking at our unique characteristics that describe us on the inside. We investigated the concept of characteristics through fun writing prompt activities and these read alouds: Sheila Rae the Brave, Chrysanthemum, and Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed.
Students brainstormed a list of characteristics that make the special and successful. They chose one characteristics that was most meaningful to them, and created their first draft of their "I am" tile. We are excited to share our tiles with you at back to school night next week!
Critique
Our "I am" tile project is also a way to launch the critique process in our classroom. I was excited to see that the students have a fabulous foundational understanding for the drafting and critique process from their experiences in first grade! Please see an upcoming blogpost to learn more about our launch into critique and the structures in place to support the process in our classroom.
The Numberline
We investigated the concept of a Numberline in a variety of ways. Students worked in pairs to put a Numberline 1-100 together, and then practiced finding numbers on the Numberline using the language greater than and less than
Class jobs
Students applied for one of our 20 class jobs. In their job application, students indicate which job they want, and why they beleive they are a good fit for that job. Students will keep these jobs for the month of September, then apply for new jobs each month.
Here are some pictures of our learning and experiences this week: