WIN Block: Addition and Subtraction Strategies

This week during WIN Block we have been focusing on addition and subtracting strategies that will help us have 'fact power' and fluently add and subtract to 20. We have learned these strategies through songs, games, and chants.

Maggie plays Double Dash to work on doubles facts.

Lucien and Drew team up to work on double facts.

This song is a class favorite...

Global Read Aloud: The Year of Billy Miller

Our class is participating in this year's Global Read Aloud with the realistic fiction text The Year of Billy Miller by Kevin Henkes. We can't wait to Skype and chat with other classes around the world about our predictions, connections and inferences. We have already responded to Mrs. Jordan's grade three blog post about a connection we had to Chapter 1, and replied to a Padlet prediction with other grade two and three classes from around the United States! It is so fun to share our reading and thinking with others!

Padlet Prediction

Assembly G.R.I.T. Video

Hi Parents! Our second grade team will be doing a performance on October 21st in front of the whole school singing this song about resilience! Your children brought home the lyrics yesterday. We will be practicing in the classroom, as well as with Ms. Swanson in Music Class. Any practice at home is appreciated! Thank you!

New Incentive Plan

Our class has been struggling during transition times throughout the school day- putting materials away from the workshop and moving around the classroom in a timely manner. During class meeting on Monday we made a goal for ourselves that we will work on listening to our teachers and following directions the first time they are asked during these unstructured transition times.

We have started a new incentive plan in our classroom where either I, Mrs. Hutt, or Mrs. Serino will provide positive reinforcement with a 'golden ticket' each time we see a child following directions and listening to the teacher's directions during transition times. If a child receives a ticket, they write their name on it and put the ticket in a bucket for a daily drawing. At the end of each day, I will pick one ticket and reward the student's good behavior with either a phone call, email, or positive note home. 

When we come together for class meeting again in two weeks, we will reflect on our goal. Your students are doing a great job with this plan and we already see big improvements in just two days!

Our Classroom Assistants

I wanted to introduce you to our two wonderful classroom assistants that are in and out of our classroom throughout the school day! I am so lucky to have the support of these two teachers. They have given me such a warm welcome to Steward and helped to make my transition that much smoother!

Both Mrs. Hutt and Mrs. Serino help me to implement the Workshop Model in math, reading, and writing. They are very familiar with our classroom rules, structure, and routines.  If you are ever in to volunteer or visit our classroom, you will see these smiling faces!

Mrs. Hutt and Mrs. Serino

Writer's Workshop: Pumpkin Personification Poems

Last week in Writer’s Workshop we started our first Picturing Writing project. We started a 'Pumpkin Personification Poem' where we gave a jack-o-lantern human qualities. Using the Picturing Writing approach, students drew and painted a picture on special watercolor paper, and then used this visual to write poetry. Early in the week we created a colorful picture of a jack-o-lantern on an autumn night. We read and shared professional author's words to help influence our writing, and we brainstormed strong verbs, adjectives, and color words to describe what our jack-o-lantern could see, hear, taste, smell and feel on a graphic organizer. 

Paintings, graphic organizers, and manipulatives are great visual and kinesthetic tools to help motivate students and incorporate multiple intelligences in the classroom. The students really enjoyed this approach! This hands-on method was also a great way to encourage the use of rich, descriptive language. The poems are beautiful and will be on display in our classroom until Halloween.

If you are interested in learning more about this writing approach, feel free to visit their website: Picturing Writing