Math Snowball Fight

Today was the perfect day for a snowball fight!

Click the link to see a video of our indoor Math snowball fight!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yWuC38NYVg






We also did a STEM activity and finished up making "snowflakes" on our tables.

Halloween Bash

Here are a few pictures from our Halloween celebration! What a fun day we had!!

Some of our craft stations

FLASHLIGHT Friday

How fun is FLASHLIGHT FRIDAY?!

Every Friday we turn out the lights in our classroom and turn on our flashlights for Readers Workshop! On a rainy day like today it was extra dark. Everyone reads quietly and we all have a lot of fun. This is a fun way to promote reading at home too!

Schema

One of my favorite "craftivities" that I do... In Readers Workshop I explain how Schema is your background knowledge or all the stuff you already know about. I have the kids create self portraits and then I "open their brains" so all of their schema can pour out! They scream when I cut their beautiful portraits but they LOVE it and it really helps them remember an obscure word like schema.

See if you can guess who is who...

Ok this one is a giveaway

Writing Boot Camp

Writing boot camp has begun in our class! 

Here some soldiers are ready to begin!

We started with step on of the writing process Brainstorming

Here some of our soldiers are beginning their writing

We worked on complete sentences and incomplete sentences but working together to figure out what they were missing or what they had that made them complete. 

Next we help each other edit because we don't leave a man (proper noun) down (they should be capital) 

Finally we army crawl back to work

Writing Workshop Play-doh Day!

Today we began our writers workshop. Iintroduced  the writing process to the class. 

I modeled the important steps

But instead of jumping right into their stories I had the kids move through the writing process with playdoh!

Brainstorming

They had to think about what they were going to make before they even began

Drafting

They were given a few minutes to start their project

Conference/Edit

They met with their partner to help give them suggestions on how to improve

 Revise

Back at it to add more detail 

Publish

Table 1

Table 2

Table 3

Table 4

Table 5 

Tomorrow we start our "Writing Boot Camp!" We will work hard on the basics of each writing step to make our writing really great! I'm so excited to share this new "boot camp" writing process with them I think they are really going to enjoy it and it think it will defiantly help improve their writing! 

RED

Our RED (Read Every Night) folders start this week! Click on the link for some great tips.

http://www.cultofpedagogy.com/reading-homework-tips-for-parents/?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=postplanner&utm_source=facebook.com

Week One Fun!

What a great start we had! Our first week is done and before you know it we wil be zooming right through the year! 

We began our first day with a a few nerves but calmed them right down by drinking some jitter juice! 

We practiced our new routines and celebrated the second day of second grade by making pencil toppers, writing about things in 2s and how we felt to be a second grader.

The next day we took an adventure around the school looking for the gingerbread man who was on the loose! And we did a scavenger hunt in the classroom looking for things that began with each letter in the alphabet! Some of them were very tricky!!

We have been enjoying the playground and the children were THRILLED to hear that I believe that recess is an essential part of the day! They cheered when I told them that I have it planned in our day for the entire school year. 

We have already started our grammar lessons, one of my favorites- I'm a grammar nerd!!! We  have been learning the parts of speech by completing Mad Libs together and they are a big hit! 

We have been reading a chapter book together (that we almost have finished because they keep asking for more) The Magic Tree House is a GREAT adventure series of books that is the perfect pick for early chapter book readers. Most are around a level M. And if your child isn't quite ready to read it on their own, it's a nice bedtime read aloud for you to read to them. 

We really have had a great week. Next week starts the "serious" learning buisness but I just know we are ready! 

Please make sure to read the Peek at the Week and practice the spelling words and have your child read over the sight words to make sure they know them. It is located in their take home binder on the back of the weekly news.  If you have any questions please let me know. And keep sending in those water bottles! It has been very hot upstairs! Also, I will begin posting more photos soon I'm  just waiting on a few more permission slips. 

Almost Ready 2016

It's almost time! I've been working on setting up the classroom and getting some exciting activities ready to go!

On the first day of school we will be trying Jitter Juice and reading First Day Jitters to help calm our nerves!

Then our big celebration day will be the second day of second grade! We will do everything in 2s to celebrate that we are second graders now! We will even get a special second day treat to bring home to eat!

I'm looking forward to a great school year! 

Don't forget open house is Thursday September 1st