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 every day. I meet with a group of students or individuals during 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 each morning 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 "Pattern Parrot" which means to look at the unknown word carefully to see if there is a spelling pattern we've learned.

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!

At the beginning of the year the class learned about shopping for books in our classroom library.

 The students love partner reading!

 Within a few weeks the rest of our choices were introduced.

We are Bananas for the Burros!

The students were so excited for Homecoming today!  Arriving in Burro colors and filled with school spirit, they couldn't wait to start the day!

We began the day with decorating cupcakes and a pep fest in the gym.

During gym they did face painting, and they were set for the parade!

They could hardly wait to get on that parade route!

Thanks for coming to support us as we were "Bananas for the Burros!"

Doubles Rap

We performed our Doubles Rap yesterday!  The class had so much fun with this, and it's a great way for us to practice our doubles facts.  Check out our video below.

2nd Grade Morning Routine

The way you start the day is so important for setting the stage for the rest of your day!  The 2nd graders are doing a fantastic job on our morning routine.  When the students arrive they put their take home folders in our basket, sign up for their milk and snack, read our morning announcements, then work on their wake up work.  Once all of these jobs are completed, they have a little bit of time to make a quiet choice of reading, writing, shopping for books, or working in their drawing notebook.  This also allows time or our breakfast students to get to breakfast and return to the class in a very productive way as well. 

Once we have everyone finished with their wake up work, we gather on the rug for our morning meeting.  I love this time in our day.  We start with an opening question and each student gets the chance to share an answer.  We then go around the circle and greet each other with a "Good morning!"  Each student is assigned a day to share news and take questions from classmates.

When the students hear the song "I'm Glad You Came," they quickly put away their quiet choice and circle up on the rug for morning meeting.

School Picture Day Reminder

Reminder that picture day is Monday, September 23rd!

You're Finally Here! Books

The students recently finished writing their first book of 2nd grade.  On the first day of school we read the book "You're Finally Here!"  by Melanie Watt.  After we finished reading, the students recorded on a sticky note about 1 event they did over the summer that kept them away from 2nd grade for so long!

The next step in the process was to use a bubble map to record 2 more ideas about where they had been all summer.  They also wrote down an idea about what they are looking forward to in this school year.  We then took our ideas and wrote them into complete sentences focusing on beginning with a capital letter, ending with an end mark, and making sure that the sentence makes sense.  After conferencing their sentences with me, the students wrote their sentences in their booklets and illustrated each page.  They turned out so cute, and the students love reading each other's books down on the rug.

A Special Place for Our Writing

At the end of the week we worked on decorating our writing binders.  The students brought in special pictures, stickers, and magazine cutouts to personalize their binders.  The students couldn't wait to begin this project because they loved their pictures so much.  I love to see pictures of everyone's families and baby pictures and pictures of their pets.  It's so sweet to see how excited they are to share these details of their lives with each other.

This binder will hold all of their creative ideas, fiction stories, and personal narratives of school events, family traditions, play date recounts,  birthday party excitement, and so much more throughout the year!  Often, the students will also look at their binder to spark an idea of what to write.  Looking over the pictures of family and friends will remind them of something that has happened that could make a great story!

Monkeys Art Project

In our first week of school we created our own marvelous monkeys with this guided drawing and watercolor art project.  These monkeys turned out so cute!

Math Stations

In the beginning weeks of school the class was slowly introduced to our math stations.  During our math block the students move through 3 stations: teacher lesson, math assignment, and math choice which includes a partner game, i-pad math skill practice, and and an additional partner station to review a skill. I love this approach because it allows me to see small groups for the lesson and differentiate instruction based on the the needs of the group.  We started the year with this cute "Math About Me" project.

5 Bee Promise

The 2nd graders learned about our 5 Bee Promise this week.

"Bee" a Good Listener
"Bee" a Hard Worker
"Bee" Responsible
"Bee"lieve in Yourself
"Bee" Kind

 The 5 Bees represent how we work, play, and treat each other.  A specific book was read aloud to go with with each "Bee."  We then took time to discuss why each "Bee" is important at both home and school and what it looks like in our classroom.

Once the entire Bee Promise was introduced, the students received their bee punch tickets.  Each day I recognize one student at the end of the day for being a hard worker, good listener, being kind, being responsible, or believing in him or herself.  I explain to the class what I noticed in this student throughout the day that ties into our 5 Bee Promise.   That student gets a punch on his or her ticket. 
Today while discussing our final "Bee"- "Bee" Kind, many students shared examples of all of the kind and helpful things they do at home to help their families.  Examples included helping with younger siblings, helping with dishes and laundry, and helping with pets.  This class is so kind.

Once a student has earned all 8 punches, he or she can look through our Best "Bee"havior Catalog.  They will also have a chance to earn a punch every Friday by bringing back their homework.

Truly Marvelous!

We have had the best couple days in 2nd grade!  This group of students continue to impress me in each thing we do.  The first weeks of school involve a lot of introductions to routines and building good habits in our school day.  We have been learning about our morning and afternoon routines, walking in the hallway, learning our schedule, building our stamina in daily 5, learning to work with a partner to play a math game, implementing our classroom jobs... so much to learn and they are excited about all of it!

After reading the book "You're Finally Here!" by Melanie Watt the students wrote a note about where they've been all summer!  We're working on brainstorming a list of a few activities we've been busy with over the summer which will be turned into our first piece of writing.

 After learning about the importance of practicing our reading and building our stamina the students were excited to dig into their book boxes and begin building stamina for reading books for longer periods of time.   We began our stamina building at our desks.  Today we learned about sitting in different spots around the room to make our reading nice and comfortable.  We learned about all of our classroom pillows and reading spots!

We practiced math with a partner by playing a math game!  We discussed playing fairly, being a good sport, taking care of our supplies, and staying focused on our job with our partner.

I'm looking forward to a great year with these marvelous monkeys we have in 2nd grade!