Teaching and Learning

in a 2nd grade classroom

Fairy Houses

September19

Today the children started their own market system without even knowing it!  Since several of them had brought in things(from nature only) to use building their fairy houses I let them know that they were welcome to share if they felt it was fair.  Wow! In no time at all, they were trading all sorts of commodities!  After, students got together with their groups and discussed their trades and weather they were fair or not.  These seven year olds had some very insightful thoughts about the process.  I’m excited to see how this evolves with our other lessons about needs and wants, systems, how people participate in a system, and how people’s decisions affect systems.

Here are some of the things that I heard out in the woods while the students worked and traded today:

"Look! Fairies!"
"Are those fairies or just flies." 
"I think we might need to rebuild." 
"Timber!" 
"Stop your complaining. I did all the hard work." 
"Jackpot! We found the jackpot!" 
"Some fairies or animals visited our house 
again and ate all of our food!" 
"We made a deal and traded some bark for seashells."
 "Dude, it has a whole in it!" 
"Whoa! Check this out!" 
"I like your fairy house! It's really nice!" 
"Do you want to make a deal? We have tons of bark. 
Do you have anything?" "We want to trade something!" 
"Come to our fairy house and see all the stuff we have." 
"Thank you."
"We have to build more on our house."
 "Look what I just traded guys." 
"Can you help me find some berries?" 
"We are just trading, trading, trading so much stuff. 
We're getting better "There are so many customers!" 
"We have leaves. Really great leaves!"
 "Found a mushroom." 
"We could use these for booster seats if there are any 
kid fairies." 
"It was fair, but we got lots of stuff for just wood."

And back in the classroom:
“It was all fair, but we got some really cool stuff for just some wood.”
I was able to trade for so much with only seashells.”
“We found some berries and then everyone got so excited and wanted to trade for them. We weren’t really thinking about it and in the end, all we had left were some sticks and stuff. all of our berries were gone.”

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The End Is Drawing Near…

June10

It is so hard to believe that we are at the end of the year!! I am amazed at how independent all of my students have become and how much they have grown academically and socially.  I will truly miss this group of second graders, but they are most definitely ready to become third graders.

Here are a few reminders and updates:

Report cards will be issued on the last day of school and will include next year’s teacher assignment.

Work will be going home pretty frequently these next 2 weeks, so be on the look out for work in different areas and be sure compliment your son or daughter on the commitment and hard work that he/she has put into this year.

We have several things planned for the end of the year in our short Camping Unit.  During this unit, we incorporate ideas, concepts, and skills that we have learned about throughout the year such as “needs and wants,” reading comprehension skills, scientific process, computer skills, writing, and more.  Ask your child daily what he or she did for camping.  They are having so much fun!

Dates to remember:

  • June 14-S’MOREs
  • June 17-Make trail mix
  • June 18-Walk to Boscawen Public Library and ice cream at Alan’s (send in $1.50)
  • June 19-Hike in back of the school & setting up “tents” in the classroom
  • June 20-Last day of school & Field Day

Cracker Challenge

March28

Today in math, students were faced with the challenge of finding out how many different combinations could be made using 3 different shape crackers and 3 different colors of frosting.  They worked in groups of 3 to discuss a strategy and then to create the combinations.  Then, they used the Interwrite board to present their strategies to the class.  We discussed similarities and difference in the different approaches and how it was effective in answering the question, How many different combinations can we make? Finally, students wrote about the challenge and reflected on what went well and how their strategy was effective.  Below are some photos of the process. Click on the images to view them in full screen.

Where We Are In Place In Time

March28

The Task: Students worked in their book groups to create a How to..writing piece explaining how to send a message using an assigned form of communication technology. Then, groups presented their information to the class.

Quality Criteria: All members shared the work equally, include some sort of visual to help the audience understand what you are talking about.

The communication devices that were presented were the telegraph, the internet/e-mail, telephone, post office, and the Pony Express.

March Update

March20

 

Where We Are In Place and Time

Changes in in communication technology have changed the way we work, live, and play together.

We are inquiring about the various forms of communication technologies and how they have changed over the years. We are currently working on a challenge to share what we know about sending a message using different types of communication technologies.  groups will be presenting on Friday.

Reading

We have been focusing on being curious readers and asking questions about the books that we read.  We often wonder about things, but when reading, we can actually keep track of our questions and find the answers.  Ask you child about the questions that he/she has been wondering about while reading.

Writing

Students are writing “How to..” pieces about things that they know a lot about.  they are finding that writing directions for something has more to it than they originally thought.

Recently, students finished writing a story about a conflict that had a peaceful solution.  They posted them on their Learning Blogs and then gave feedback to their peers. Go to your child’s Learning blog and check out the story that he/she posted.  Leave a compliment and some constructive feedback.  Constructive feedback may take the form of a question.

Math

Students continue to practice their addition and subtraction facts for improved fluency and automaticity. We are learning about fractions as parts of a whole unit, object, or group of something. It is a lot of fun exploring and playing with fractions and is amazing how quickly students pick up and begin to understand how to manipulate and identify fractions.

Report Cards and Student-Led Conferences

Report cards will be issued next Friday.  The following week we will be having our student-led conferences.  A notice with sign-up times will go home this week as I arrange my schedule. These conferences are important to your child’s progress and confidence and hope that you will make every possible effort to make it.

Weather, Recess, and Clothing

The weather is still fairly unpredictable her in NH and would like to make sure that students are still coming to school prepared for outside recess.  This includes hat, mittens/gloves, and boots.  Our playground can get very muddy during the spring with thawing ice and rainy weather.  It is helpful if your child has some sort of boots for recess on those days. Thank you.

“Chalk Talk”

February5

Today in second grade we read, The Terrible Things by Eve Bunting and discussed what was fair and what our responsibilities are when there is conflict and unfairness around us.  After some discussion, students used a reflection tool called “Chalk Talk.” Students used markers and paper rather than chalk to write down their ideas and thoughts about the book and our central idea.  They were not allowed to talk, just write.  Students practiced all of the 12 IB attitudes during this activity: appreciation, independence, integrity, commitment, curiosity, cooperation, confidence, empathy, enthusiasm, respect, and tolerance. This activity took about 10-15 minutes.

Here are some pictures of the activity and the final outcomes from our fabulous group of second graders.

Marshmallow Math

January10

Today we created 3-dimensional shapes using toothpicks and marshmallows.  Oh, what FUN! Students worked with a partner to create different types of pyramids; triangular pyramid, rectangular pyramid, pentagonal pyramid, and hexagonal pyramid. Ask you child what the difference is (he/should be able to tell you that it has to do with the shape of the base. While creating the shapes, students were also identifying the different parts of the pyramid; base, faces, edges, and the apex or vertex.  We came together as a group to discuss the connection between the number of each of these and look for patterns. Discuss with your child what he/she discovered.

Happy New Year

January9

Welcome back!

I trust that everyone had an enjoyable vacation. I definitely did, but am glad to get back to routine and see all the children!  I would like to welcome Erin Marquis to our class!  Miss Marquis is a student teacher from Southern New Hampshire University and will be with us until early May.  This week, she has been learning our schedule and working with the students in small groups.

Recess

It is winter in Boscawen and students must have appropriate clothes to play outside in the snow.  Please make sure that your child has a winter coat, snow pants, hat and mittens or gloves.  They will not be allowed outside without these.  Even when they borrow from the nurse, it takes a considerable amount of extra time to go get them and return them during instructional time.

International Baccalaureate

Theme: Sharing the Planet

Central Idea: Peaceful conflict resolution leads to better quality of human life.

Key Concepts: Change, Perspective, Responsibility

Lines of Inquiry:

  • Causes of conflict
  • Ways people create change in societies
  • How we live and work together peacefully

In the first 2 weeks, students will be inquiring about different types of conflicts and what causes them. Then we will be learning about some different conflicts in history and how they have created change (example: Civil Rights movement). We will finish out unit discussing ways to solve conflicts peacefully. We will begin adding important events from history to our class time line.

Reading

Students continue to work on choosing “just-right” books to read independently. They are also in reading groups. The books that we are reading right now are connected to our new IB planner, Sharing the Planet. Some of the titles are: The Drinking Gourd, Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King Jr., Ruby Bridges, My True Story, and Clara and the Freedom Quilt. Ask your child which book he or she is reading in class.

Writing

We are writing some fictional stories that are realistic. Stories should becoming more complex and longer. At this point, all stories should have a beginning, middle, and end, as well as a problem and solution. Students are including dialogue and more description when writing to help “paint a picture” in the reader’s mind. Remind and encourage your child to put effort into his or her spelling using sound-spelling strategies.

Math

We are learning about geometry and geometry concepts this month. This week we have been working with lines, line segments, parallel lines, and 3-dimensional shapes. Students used a straightedge to connect end points and construct polygons with and without parallel lines. Tuesday, students worked with partners to compare and contrast various quadrangles.  Wednesday, students worked in small groups creating polygons with their bodies. They learned that a hemisphere is 1/2 of a sphere and that we live in the Northern Hemishpere. Other important vocabulary words were vertex, vertices, faces, base, and edges. Checkout the pictures of the body shapes!

Activity idea for ongoing learning: Look for items at home that resemble 3-dimensional shapes and ask your child to identify the shape, edges, faces, base, and edges.

3-D Shapes: cylinder, cone, rectangular prism, pyramid, sphere, hexagonal prism, and triangular prism

 

 

 

 

1st Trimester Portfolio Share

December12

Tonight is our first trimester portfolio share from 5-6:30.  Many students are expected to be bringing their parents tonight and are looking forward to showing off their progress so far in 2nd grade.  They have been looking over their goals and work to be sure to point out what they are most proud of.  This is also a practice for the end-of-year student-led conference and portfolio share.

Hope to see you all tonight!

Thanksgiving Day Food Drive

November16

As part of our “How We Organize Ourselves” planner, students planned a system to collect food for local food.  We sorted all the food and were able to donate a total of 139 canned food items and 50 box/dry food items to the Boscawen church pantry.  Wow!!! that is 189 items total!!.  They were creating over 140 Thanksgiving Day food boxes for local families and were very appreciative of our efforts.  Some of the food will go directly to the pantry which is located next to the church and is open week days 11-12 and 3-6. They also have a clothes closet upstairs in the church and medical supplies that they lend out for people in need.  They are always accepting donations if you find yourself cleaning out and don’t know what to do with some things.

Thank you to all of the families and individuals that helped us make this donation!  We appreciate you!

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