Important Dates: Tuesday, March 1st - 100th Day (Square Day - 10 squared) Thursday, March 17 - Water PBL celebration (@ night TBD) Monday, March 22 - World Water Day Wednesday, May 11 - Aquarium field trip Hello families, I hope everyone had a calm and restful long weekend. The valentine's party was a hit and we had a busy short week last week investigating the water cycle, irrigation methods and addition and subtraction word problems. This week, I had the wonderful opportunity through the SPS STAR Mentor program to go on a site visit to 3 different school in the Seattle Public School district. I was able to see teachers at Rainier View, Broadview and Coe Elementary Schools. I feel so fortunate! It opened my eyes to the many resources we have access to at QAE, and the many things I can start implementing in our classroom. I feel invigorated and have already started sharing some of the teaching tips I learned on my visit with the class. Quick run down of the week: World Read Aloud Day: So great! Students were able to manage navigating the buildings, and I only heard positive reactions from ALL students. Thanks to all the volunteers! Reading: We have been reading about water and the various properties, locations and effects of it that it has on life. Students have been practicing note-taking skills in reading to prepare for our group work in PBL. Writing: Students have been practicing writing opinion pieces. Today, students wrote proposals about which water topic they want to explore and present! Math: Students have been using bar models to help illustrate and solve word problems for addition and subtraction. AT HOME SCIENCE CHALLENGE: We had a guest visitor, Shaun O'Neil, from King County talking to us about what happens to our poop and pee (yes, he did use those words in front of the kids). He gave us information about how our waste water gets processed on a city- and county-wide level. Here's the experiment: Materials: -3 clear jars with water -toilet paper -paper towel -dirt/soil Put toilet paper, paper towel and dirt in jars (do not mix materials). Shake. Rest. See what happens to the materials in side. You've just created a small version of our wastewater system! Tweet or share your results!
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Important events: Friday, February 12: Valentine's Day Celebration Monday-Tuesday, February 15 and 16 - No school Wednesday, February 24: World Read Aloud Day Hi families, With our first PBL underway, our second unity party celebrated and the QAE word of the month being compassion, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the year so far. First of all, I want to thank all parents and family members who have volunteered their time in the classroom. Your hours of help and creativity have been immensely helpful in growing our classroom and has allowed us to go on some excellent field trips! Secondly, I appreciate the support you have given me as a first year teacher at QAE. It was a bit of a bumpy start to the year and I appreciate the encouragement and patience I've received along the way. I would not be where I am without your support. As we reach the mid-point of the year, we still have a lot of work to do. I hope that I can maintain your support knowing that all students will reach their full potential in different ways, with different kinds of support at different times. It is an honor to be teaching here at QAE. Finally, I hope you all enjoy your long weekend! I look forward to your students sharing compliments on Friday (I will be out), and getting a break so we can come back with renewed enthusiasm and focus. Here’s a run down of the week: Math: Subtraction – Subtract in parts, subtract by counting up, and subtracting with base 10 blocks. Reading: Note taking skills! Students were introduced to different ways to collect and organize information. Writing: Letter to the editor – students wrote letters expressing their feelings and reactions to the Flint, MI water crisis. Some might even be addressed to you! PBL: Students learned about the water cycle and played Bodies of Water Bingo. Can you name all 5 oceans? Important events: Thursday, February 11: Compliment cards due Friday, February 12: Valentine's Day Celebration Wednesday, February 24: World Read Aloud Day Hello families, This week we celebrated the Day of Play and our second Unity Celebration (check out @qaethibault for photos). In addition to these fun events, we kicked off our Water project-based learning unit. As a class, we read about the Flint, Michigan water issue, talking about how even in the United States access to clean water can be difficult, watched a video of a boy name Martin and toasted to clean water! Students then discussed some of the information they know about water. “[Water] can be liquid.” “Water is the earth’s main material.” “Some water can be poisonous.” These were just some of the facts students shared. Next, students wrote down what they wanted to know about water. Here are some of their questions:
Our kick-off was followed by a field trip to the Gates Foundation. This gave us greater insight into one organization showing compassion and helping communities in our neighborhood and in the world. This helped us reach our water PBL question: How can everyone get access to clean water daily? For the next three weeks we will research and problem solve solutions to answer this question. Students will come up with questions and research topics they are interested in, working in teams, to come up with different ideas on how to answer this question. Writing: Finishing our fairy tales. Look for them in your students folder (today or Monday) Math: Addition word problems, solidifying multiple addition strategies. Look for your students work in the orange folders. More on water PBL next week! |
Ms. ThibautOne of the second grade teachers at QAE. Read this blog and stay up-to-date on classroom activities. Archives
March 2017
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Ms. Thibault's 2nd Grade | Class Blog |