Important dates: Tuesday, April 4 - Museum of Flight (finally!) Thursday, April 6 - Poetry Reading - 8:00am - Looking forward to seeing everyone! April 10-14 - Spring Break - No School This week we had a special guest on Tuesday, Danielle Gregoire, StorySLAM producer for the Moth radio podcast (also Fiona's mom). She came in with a lesson on creating a fool-proof imagery poem. It was an engaging exercise that had students thinking about all 6 sense (feelings were a sense too), performing and illustrating their creations. Using imagery to invite your reader into your world is a skill students will use into their adult lives. It was a powerful exercise that highlighted importance of showing and not just telling your reader. Here are the links to the students performing their poems: I and C. W. Q and Wy M.L. and D T.C. and R. A.C. and M. H M. Y and M. S M. G and K S. E and J.L. F and H. T. C. O and S. M. A.P and J. X W. RD Math - We are reviewing the use of bar models in measurement word problems. Students use bar models to help model the problem in order to ascertain which operation to choose and what part of the problem they're looking for. Reading - Students continue to work with their reading partners, reading the same book. Students are learning to build reading strategies such as making connections, asking questions, visualizing and synthesizing. All of these skills help students think about what they are reading and learn more from what they're reading. We hope to work on these through the rest of the year.
0 Comments
Important dates: Monday, March 20 - Unity Celebration Wednesday, March 22 - Early Release (12:05) Tuesday, April 4 - Museum of Flight (finally!) Thursday, April 6 - Poetry Reading - 8:00am April 10-14 - Spring Break - No School Hi families, Highlights from this week: The Boy Who Cried Wolf - What a great production! Thank you to families and Steph for scrambling together drivers and chaperones so we could go. The performers were talented, and the show was fast-paced and engaging. We even had a a cameo on stage with one of our classmates (Miles was the 2nd course to the wolf!). Students enjoyed the sheep who were funny, and had many questions about the costumes. Overall, we would definitely recommend it to friends and family! Irish dancing - In honor of St. Patrick's Day, we had a troop of you Irish dancers come. Check out the video! drive.google.com/open?id=0BwH8zXvw693WbEduOUg1eU1JaVpxZThxTm5yRE85cXY0Yjdv Unity Celebration - Students earned another Unity Celebration for Monday, March 20th by following routines, getting compliments from Ms. Roy and other teachers for exceptional behavior around the school, cleaning together and working together! We will celebrate by watching Wall-E in the afternoon and eating popcorn in our pajamas with a stuffy that can fit in a backpack. Thank you to all the hard work by the students! Poetry - Students looked at repetition and onomatopoeias as they created poems about wonders they have in the world. Math - Students took the test in arrays and did some problem solving with a 3-Act problem. Here is the link to the first act and third act:1st https://youtu.be/Nlt9CLAlmp0 and 3rd - https://youtu.be/IrSP099jb6Q. Three-act problem solving is a type of math problem that is supposed to encourage students to create questions and think about the tools they need to use using a video or image. If you're interested in reading more about 3-act math tasks read here: http://blog.mrmeyer.com/2011/the-three-acts-of-a-mathematical-story/ Reading - Students started partner reading, reading the same book along with a partner. This facilitates opportunities to talk about books, ask questions and drive interest in new chapter books. As students grow as readers, they read more and more complex books. Having a partner can help students keep track of plot, characters and the growing complexity of conflicts in chapter books. Partner reading is also a precursor to our book club unit, and the kids love it! Important dates: Thursday, March 16 - Play at Rainier Arts Center - Boy Who Cried Wolf Wednesday, March 22 - Early Release (12:05) Tuesday, April 4 - Museum of Flight (finally!) Thursday, April 6 - Poetry Reading - 8:00am April 10-14 - Spring Break - No School Hi families, Poetry Students have been reading and writing poetry this week, building our poet muscles. Included in our routine is discussing and figuring out authors' use of literary language (similes, metaphors and imagery so far), and rhythm created by line breaks. By looking at mentor authors and their use of literary language, students are exposed to the various ways they can write in playful and inventive ways. Students are already noticing and using repetition and rhyming to create rhythm, making comparison in order to see old things in new ways, and playing around with line breaks. Here are a couple students examples: Lima Bean Plant Lima bean plant On window sill Sitting still, Very tall, Never small Sitting there, Very still Sitting on The window sill. Stuff in School Soil feels soft and looks brown. Pencils are hard and long. Clock The clock ticking Tocking like the wind on the window when it hits real hard But now it is sunny and not so windy But sun shines through The window like a clock. Math We started the early stages of multiplication this week with arrays. Arrays in this context are items or pictures organized into equal groups. We find the sum on the arrays using repeated addition. I have asked students to see if they can find arrays in real life and bring them into to show the class. Email me any pictures if students find cool arrays. Good places to look are sky scrapers, boxes of things (pens, crayons, etc.) and at the grocery store. Then see if your student can either make the repeated addition or multiplication equation. Both are acceptable. Seattle Public Schools math curriculum says that multiplication facts truly are underway in the third grade, but no reason not to start early! Reading As we move past the halfway point through the year, readers are working on growing and sustaining stamina, reading longer chapter books. Along with reading longer chapters books comes more characters, complex vocabulary and stories. As a result, we are focusing on reading comprehension skills. Some of these skills include monitoring, clarifying, and questioning. Some common questions are, "I wonder why ...?" "What does _____ mean?" or "How come the character ...?" As you read with your student, check in with them and ask what questions they might have as they read. Important dates: Thursday, March 16 - Play at Rainier Arts Center - Boy Who Cried Wolf Wednesday, March 22 - Early Release (12:05) Tuesday, April 4 - Museum of Flight (finally!) Thursday, April 6 - Poetry Reading - 8:00am April 10-14 - Spring Break - No School Hi families, Welcome back from mid-winter break! Often times, coming back from a break can be challenging for students, getting up early again, re-establishing routines, and putting in a lot of mental work throughout the day. However, your students made the transition beautifully! They got right back into the swing of things. Also, I can tell we are midway through the year. They are growing more self-directed and taking on more responsibility! Weights and Balances Our new science unit focuses on weights and balancing. This week, students explored different types of balancing. First with a balance beam, then mobiles and most recently with an equal-arm balance. Students are exploring how balance changes as weight moves closer to and away from the fulcrum. Students also explore moving the fulcrum and how that action changes balance. Looking forward to exploring more weights and balancing! Math We are finishing up our addition and subtraction focused unit with word problems using a bar models. Bar models came from Singapore math, and are a picture tool to help students organize and solve word problems. If you would like to know more about the progression of bar models you can go to this power point that explains how they are used in each grade. We are finishing up our addition and subtraction unit, however, we will continue to use bar models as we explore money and measurement. Writing Poetry! We are starting our unit in poetry this week. We started by sharing some of our favorite poems and then we practiced writing poetry by looking at everyday objects in new ways. Here is the poem that inspired our initial practice: Pencil Sharpener I think there are a hundred bees inside the pencil sharpener and they buzz and buzz and buzz until my point is sharp! -Zoe Ryder White We will have poetry reading on Thursday, April 6 in the morning (8:00am) to share the work we've created! Hi families! Airplane PBL Thank you to all families that were able to make it to the Airplane Showcase on Wednesday night. Students were so excited to share their projects with you. For those of you who weren't able to make it, that's ok! I've attached pictures of the projects that didn't go home on Wednesday and you can share them with your child. I hope you had fun. I know I did! Orange Folders This Week Students took home writing (Writing Gripping Fiction), reading (Analyzing Characters and Their Stories) and PBL work today in their orange folders. Check it out, ask questions and listen to what your children have been working on. Museum of Flight Field Trip The Museum of Flight field trip has been rescheduled! We will go on Monday, March 13th. Stephanie Yurcisin is organizing drivers and chaperones again (Thanks, Steph!). Looking forward to going. Whale Watching Field Trip Second grade is in the baby steps of planning our whale watching trip in May for our whale PBL. We have already talked to our contacts at Island Adventures and they told us they have a new boat this year! However, that also means our costs have increased. We discussed with classroom coordinators and Ms. Roy and we plan to send out a survey to get family feedback on how to proceed with these increased costs. Look for this survey the week we come back from break. Valentine's Day Celebration Enjoy some photos from the celebration! Tuesday, February 14 - Valentine's Celebration - Compliments and Valentines
Wednesday, February 15 - Airplane Extravaganza - 5:30-6:30 Monday, February 20 - Presidents' Day - No School Tuesday - Friday, February 21-24 - No School Hi families, Snow Day (No Field Trip :( ) ! Monday (2/6) was a snow day and we missed our Museum of Flight field trip! I was pretty bummed, but I heard the students had a pretty good time playing in the snow. I have talked to Jen Dickens who is coordinating with the Museum of Flight and we are working on setting a new date. I will let you know when I find out. Even though the field trip is after our PBL project, the experience will hopefully reinforce what students have learned and possibly provoke even more questions for further personal investigation! Valentine's Day Tuesday we are going to celebrate Valentine's Day. Make sure students bring in the compliments to pass out to other students. In return, your student will come home with their own book filled with compliments! Let me know if you need any more notecards. I have extra! The letter said they must be in tomorrow (2/13), but if you need another night that is ok, just make sure to bring them in on Tuesday. Airplanes this Week in the Classroom This week we have been busy planning and preparing for our upcoming Airplane Showcase. Students have chosen a wide range of projects, from commercials to newspapers, models to presentations on ExplainEverything (app on the iPad). Some students are working in groups of four, other are working in pairs. Students are all answering the question, "How have airplanes changed our community?" in their own way. You should expect to see a wide range of student work. Students are leading their own work, planning, choosing materials, drawing, and using technology with little direct teaching. We have discussed time management, delegation of work to teammates, and compromise, all the important skills associated with group work. Group work can be full of problem solving at any stage, and we are lucky to start building these skills early. We are excited to share are work and look forward to seeing you all on Wednesday at 5:30pm! Monday, February 6 - Museum of Flight Tuesday, February 14 - Valentine's Celebration - Compliments and Valentines Wednesday, February 15 - Airplane Extravaganza - 5:30-6:30 Monday, February 20 - Presidents' Day - No School Tuesday - Friday, February 21-24 - No School Hi families, FIELD TRIP ON MONDAY- Museum of Flight - Make sure students bring a sack lunch and walking shoes. If you student is under 80 pounds or under 8 years old, they will also need a booster seat. We are super excited! Airplane PBL Students are in the midst of research and development of their airplane projects, becoming experts on their topics answering the question, "How have airplanes changed our community?" Some of the topics look at various ways airplanes have changed the military, nature, food transportation, and travel. Students use resources such as Epic, KidRex, and books from the library. Students self-selected groups with other students of similar interests, and started reading and taking notes with their group members. After completing research and answering questions about their topics, students will create a plan to create a project of their choosing to share out the information they have learned. Projects include posters, videos, commercials, newspapers, or building a model. Valentine's Day Compliments On Thursday, I sent home note cards for students. For Valentine's Day, students will write a compliment to each student in the class. It needs to be specific, true and well thought out. On Valentine's Day, students will deliver compliments and glue them into a book that they will get to take home. The sheet I sent home with the note cards gives the details of how to complete the compliments. On the list of students, I did not put Kai Williams on the list. Make sure he gets a compliment (Sorry Williams family :\)! I have attached a revised class list to this week's newsletter if that's helpful. Please email me if you have any questions about writing the compliments or decorating them. Writing - Students are crafting fiction and working to revise for tension and stretching moments out using senses to describe details. Reading - We are examining how characters respond to events by looking at plot and acting out our characters' dialogue. Math - Subtraction strategies we are learning and using new strategies to subtract! We have three main strategies - Subtract in Parts, Decompose Method and Add to Subtract. We also have the option of drawing and using manipulative. This week we relied heavily on an open number line to subtract. Look at some of the examples for a better idea.
Important Dates:
Wednesday, January 25 - Book-It Theater - Going Some Place Special Thursday, January 26 - Author Visit - Javaka Steptoe Wednesday, February 1 - End of Semester - No school Monday or Wednesday 6 or 8 - Museum of Flight Tuesday, February 14 - Valentine's Celebration Wednesday, February 15 - Airplane Extravaganza - Evening time TBA Monday, February 20 - Presidents' Day - No School Tuesday - Friday, February 21-24 - No School Hi families, I ended this week thinking about reflection and making time for reflection throughout the day. On Thursday, I went to my STAR mentor training through the Seattle district, and one of the ways students engage in learning is through reflection. Often times we get so busy in our day that we miss this reflection piece. When we rush, we can eliminate examining what we learned and how well we learned it. However, moving forward with all that is happening in the larger world outside of school (politics, budgets, families, friends), reflecting on why we make certain decisions, making sure we have facts to support our decisions, and how other people respond to these decisions is a major part of becoming a responsible member of the community. In class, as a community, we will continue to emphasize the importance of reflection for its many benefits. Math Subtraction! We are practicing our subtraction strategies, drawing connections between subtraction and addition and organizing our work on the page. Writing Students continue storytelling. We focused on different elements of a story (introduction, problem, climax (solution) and the ending (the "new" normal). We also thought about different ways students could end their stories. Reading We examined characters' motivations and hidden lessons the author wants to teach within the story. Students keep track of their stories as they read on post-it notes, helping them retell at the end of the story. Important dates: Monday, January 16 - MLK Jr. Day - No school Wednesday, February 1 - End of Semester - No school Monday or Wednesday 6 or 8 - Museum of Flight Tuesday, February 14 - Valentine's Celebration Wednesday, February 15 - Airplane Extravaganza - Evening time TBA Hi families, Mercer Slough Mercer Slough was a hit! We lucked out with the weather. It rained for about 20 minutes at the beginning and then stopped enough for us to enjoy the swamp and forest habitats provided by the Slough. Students had a lab session exploring forest and swamp decomposers (worms, beetles and other invertebrates). and a field session in which they searched looked for them and other swamp features (spongy soil, stinky smells and fungus). It was a great outdoor learning experience for students as a refresher to our soils unit. Airplanes William the Engineer One of our families has a friend who works at Boeing as a airplane engineer. He came in and talked to us about how an airplane flies. He answered all of our questions ranging from, "Why do they put ducks into the engines (For testing)?" to "Why do they paint the planes white (For heat regulation)?" He finished his talk with a demo from a quadcopter. So cool! Thanks William. If anyone else is or knows someone in the "airplane field", let us know. We would love to have you in. Writing We looked at how master authors create and start gripping fiction. Producing gripping fiction can be tricky! Students thought about stretching out important moments and starting stories right in the thick of the action. Reading We are looking at character traits by looking at ourselves as character! We also examined how characters change over as a reaction to events in the story. Math We reviewed our addition strategies with math games and took an end of unit test to wrap up addition strategies. Important dates:
Tuesday, January 10 - Field trip to Mercer Slough Friday, January 13 - MKL Jr. Assembly Monday, January 16 - MLK Jr. Day - No school Wednesday, February 1 - End of Semester - No school Wednesday, February 15 - Airplane Extravaganza - Evening time TBA Hi families, It is great to see everyone back this week! I hope everyone had restful breaks (hopefully without getting sick). I had fun in Milwaukee, hanging out with my partner's family and enjoying Lake Michigan. Airplane Project-Based Learning Wednesday we started our first PBL activity of the year. Airplanes! For our kick-off event, students created three different models of airplanes and tested them out, comparing how well the different models flew. We also reflected on our own experiences with airplanes, whether we have flown on them, seen them in the sky, or had fun constructing paper airplanes at home or in school. The rest of the unit will involve looking at the development of flight, how it has afftected our local, national and global communities, and issues associated with air travel. Project-based learning leads students through a process of asking questions, researching, writing and presenting on a real-world issue or topic. Students initially gain general knowledge of the topic through videos, books, newsarticles, speakers, and field trips. Then, after building this knowledge, students start asking their own questions and crafting their own solutions and ideas. Students create presentations to share their knowledge and solutions. Students often work in small groups to complete these projects. In second grade, learning the skills to work with a group is as imporatnt and the academic content. Students will start to learn to delegate, share, build and resolve conflict together. It's an exciting time and we're looking forward to it! Reading We started a second fiction unit: Studying Characters and Their Stories. In this unit we will dive into the lives of the characters and start noticing their motivations, emotions and changes throughout their stories. Writing In conjunction with the fiction reading unit, we have started our third writing unit: Writing Gripping Fiction. This is an exciting unit as students get to apply all of the skills they learned in the Small Moment Narrative unit to their own fictional characters. This is one of the few writing units in elementary school that students will get to take free reign over setting, characters and plot. We are looking forward to it! Math We are practicing different methods for adding 2-digit and 3-digit numbers both in equations and word form. Next week we will move on to subtraction strategies. |
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 |