Hello families, Jog-a-thon Enjoy just a few Jog-a-thon photos I took while running! I wasn't able to get everyone, but hopefully it captured some of the day. Brain Conversations The first few weeks of school we have discussed what our brains are doing when we learn and when we have emotions, especially strong ones. In reading and writing, we talked about how our brains work like marathon runners. You can’t (at least not most of us) run a marathon on the first try. You have to practice and build up stamina. Our brains work in the same way. In order to train our reading and writing brains, we have added one minute per day to our reader’s workshop and quiet, concentrated writing. We also discussed the “Brain in the Hand” during classroom meeting as a way to communicate how we’re feeling. When a student is stressed or scared, we call it “flipping your lid.” We use hand motions to communicate how we’re feeling and if we’re ready to learn or need to calm down. If you want more information about the brain, ask your student to show you the Brain in the Hand, how many minutes we read for today, or our time-to- beat for quiet writing. Their brains are in training and they are building their stamina! I also learned that there is some research out there that suggests the same part of the brain the receives pain gets activated when people learn new things (I learned this at the Positive Discipline training – actual source is unknown to me at the point). So, it’s actually a little painful to learn new things! How great is that? Now we know a possible reason why learning feels hard and why we can be tired (and maybe a little crabby?) after a full day of working hard. Curriculum Night I have attached the PowerPoint presentation from Curriculum Night and our weekly schedule (Sorry it's a blurry photo. I didn't have a Word copy). In the PowerPoint presentation you will find information on literacy, math, positive discipline, project-based learning, how to contact me and our classroom coordinators (Jody Stewart and Shinae Kim). There were a couple questions from the evening that I would like to answer here. There were a few more (about handwriting) that I'm going to ask around and then report back. 1. Will we be able to use Reflex math at home? The answer is yes! We will do two 10-30 minute sessions (depends on student) in class, and you will complete one at home. Log-ins and information to come soon. 2. Does the 20 minutes of reading include read aloud? The answer I got back from the Laura Cooper, the reading specialist, is that students should try to do the 20 minutes independently. However, if it becomes a battle, just a couple minutes of them reading is ok, followed by parent/guardian read aloud. Feel free to set goals, like 2 minutes tonight, 3 minutes tomorrow! 3. When students start to take home Book Baggies, will the books be at an independent, instructional or interest level? I will at the moment assign books that interest students, and as the year progresses, narrow book borrowing to more specific levels.
2 Comments
Mark
10/10/2015 01:13:03 pm
Thanks for sharing the powerpoint - helpful to see the daily schedule!
Reply
Shinae
10/12/2015 10:01:15 pm
Thanks for sharing the photos of the jog-a-thon! Looked like a good time.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Ms. ThibautOne of the second grade teachers at QAE. Read this blog and stay up-to-date on classroom activities. Archives
March 2017
Categories |
Ms. Thibault's 2nd Grade | Class Blog |