We had a great second week together in the Dragonfly class. We played many community building games and had fun getting to know each other as new friends. I am in awe at how this class works together and is so determined when it comes to learning and completing classroom tasks. As a class we have been talking a lot about kindness and what it takes to be a part of a classroom family. We have talked about our talents and why each of us is so important. We've also conducted classroom interviews- led by the students to get to know one another. We also wrote our second grade hopes and dreams and expressed ourselves through art.
We have taken time to really practice our classroom routines and establish our jobs within the classroom. The dragonflies are doing such a nice job taking care of our classroom while exploring their new learning space.
Reading
We have settled into our workshop model of reading and the students have worked hard to choose good independent reading spots where they can enjoy their "just right books". We have talked about what a "just right" book is and how they can find them independently. The students have done great with this! We were so successful with book shopping and working well during reading time that we started conferencing and talking about important strategies that readers use. This week we worked on rereading to discover new details and the beauty of "just right" and even "cruise" books that we are really good at reading. It is important that we still allow ourselves to read those fun books that seem easy- that is where we foster happy readers who feel successful!
Writing
We have spent a lot of time in our classroom writing. The dragonflies each came up with a writing topic for our "quick write" box and we were able to do TWO quick writes this week on the topics of Disney (the place or movies) and animals. The students loved writing about these topics and sharing all that they knew. We had a share after each quick write. We also took time to write about an event during our summer vacation. Next week we will work on writing about small moments and really zooming in on one memory and writing about it with detail. This is a hard skill but we will visualize it in fun ways. If you have a photo of your child from this summer doing something that they enjoyed (on vacation, at the beach, on a swing set, at a pool party etc..) please have them bring the picture to school for one of our small moment activities. This much is clear- we have a classroom full of excellent authors!
Word Work
Since we have been back in school we have taken the time to recognize vowel patterns in poems and in practice packets. We have already tackled "short i" and "long i" and we will continue to look at the other vowels and practice seeing them in our reading, and then applying them to our writing. Each day we read a poem and document our understanding through illustration in our poetry books. We have now added another task of finding words with specific vowel sounds. The students have been doing a great job picking out these words. We know that long vowel sounds can have some tricky patterns and can also be rule breakers so we are taking the time to practice for a successful year of reading and writing.
In the upcoming week we will be practicing our word work centers and rotating schedule. This system is complex but runs so smoothly with a little practice. Students will work in word work teams a their just right level and will enjoy poems, handwriting centers, sorting activities, white board practice and mini lessons with their weekly sort words.
Math
In math this week we have worked on number line and coin review. We have also taken the time to play some of our games including dice and dominoes that will be in our math activity bin during our math centers. These games include a lot of math fact practice and coin recognition. As the year progresses we will add to our math activity bin but we always take the time to practice how the games are played so when we are moving through math centers, we are successful. We began working in our math journals and also completed some additional skill sheets. In the upcoming week we will be working through math centers!
Dragonfly News
This week we met our Reading Buddies. We are so lucky to work with the students of 3P during reading buddy time. It is a great way to share our reading with others and form new friendships within the walls of SMS. Friday Folders were sent home with skill sheets and completed vowel packets. There is also a quick note about your child's week, please initial or write back!
*Chat it up with your dragonfly- here are some questions to promote school talk*
What color team do you sit at?
What is your classroom job?
What was your favorite poem or read aloud this week?
What is your favorite part of 2nd grade so far?
Important Dates to Remember
Thursday- September 15th- SAY CHEESE! It's coming up quick!
Thursday- September 15th- 6:30 PreK-2 Curriculum Night
Friday- September 16th- International Dot Day (Wear polka dots!)
Monday- September 26th- 2nd Grade Johnny Appleseed Day(Wear red! More info to come..)
Wednesday- September 28th- Early Release at 12:50pm
Have a wonderful weekend and I hope to see you on Thursday! :)
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