Extreme field trip!

Thank you to all of the chaperones that joined us on this memorable field trip! You helped keep us safe and moving along. Our first stop was to Sally Corporation.

Part One: Sally Corporation Field Trip on PhotoPeach



Afterwards, we went on a tour of Jacksonville's City Hall and some of the students met Mayor Alvin Brown. He invited the students into his office and the press conference room for a tour. The children were thrilled that they got to sit in his chair!

Part Two: Meeting the Mayor on PhotoPeach



Our great adventures ended with lunch in Hemming Park and an awesome performance from XPogo.


Part Three: Hemming Park and Extreme Pogosticks on PhotoPeach

Special Guest

Today, we had a senior from Fletcher High School come to visit our class. She spent time teaching our students American Sign Language. The children learned to sign the alphabet, how to sign "I love you" and "turtle."  Some of the students even got to try signing their first name. All of our students were completely enthralled in learning how to sign. We are very grateful to have such wonderful, young role models come share their talents with our children. Ask your 

little one to share what they learned.  

The Butterflies Are Coming!

Today, we received 33 caterpillars for observation. Our students are so excited! Stay tuned for more pictures to come and watch our learning grow.

Dear Friend: Please Read Me

We recently began the Lucy Calkins Units of Study in Opinion Writing where students began the unit by writing letters to classmates about their favorite books. 

In the first bend of this unit:

• the students drafted letters about their favorite characters in a book, and
• included opinions with reasons and evidence from the text that supports their opinions. 

The second bend emphasized that students

• write "long and strong," 
• examine pictures in their books to help them form an opinion, and
• retell parts of the story to help the reader understand their opinion.

The letter written and shared by the student in the video below is an example of the magnificent and powerful results we have been witnessing thus far. Just listen to this persuasive letter about the story Dogarella by Maribeth Boelts. We bet that you will want to read it, too!

    

100th Day of School

Happy 100th Day!!!

 

   

We had so much fun at our Readers to Leaders celebration with Mrs. Phillips. Students were able to play BINGO for reaching their goal for the second nine weeks. Way to go readers!

Ordering Rectangles

Ordering Rectangles

Students were given a set of nine rectangles and asked to put them in order from biggest to smallest. When everyone finished, we discussed the order that was decided for each group. Most groups ordered the rectangles based on height. This is a misconception that most second grade students have at the beginning of this lesson.

Each group of students were given a set of color tiles. We told students to imagine that the rectangles were chocolate bars. If you were able to pick a chocolate bar, which one would you choose? None of the students picked the rectangle that they believed to be the biggest. Now that students had this image in their head, they were asked to put their rectangles in order from biggest to smallest again. Students used the tiles to cover each rectangle and counted how many tiles were on each rectangle.

You can find the area of the rectangle by covering it with tiles. Now we know rectangle G has the biggest area. Our students can divide rectangles into rows and columns of same-size squares. Way to go mathematicians!





 

Spotlight on Writing

 Wow! We are so impressed with our amazing writers. 

Our students have now completed Bend 1 for opinion writing. What does this mean? 

Students have learned to make their writing long and strong. We can do this by writing about a character we have fallen in love with, keeping our audience in mind, and using a checklist to edit our letters. When we uncover our opinions about books, we can study characters, favorite parts, and pictures.

Yesterday, our writers were sad Writer's Workshop had come to end. Can you believe that? They did not want to stop writing. Students learned that they will become stronger writers by picturing their audience and writing with that person in mind. For example, a friend wrote that I should read The Gingerbread Man because she knows that is my favorite cookie. How smart! Of course, I want to read a book that features my favorite cookie. Way to keep your reader in mind!

Ways we think about our reader: 

• We can include details we know the reader will enjoy.
• Retell interesting parts.
• Make sure not to give away the ending!

Don't forget to celebrate your little author!

Award ceremony/ Flag Raising

This Friday, we will be celebrating all of our students hard work for the second nine weeks. The award ceremony will begin as soon as our students return from flag raising. If you would like to join us for flag raising, you are more than welcome to do so. Flag raising will be cancelled if it is raining or it is too cold. If you get to our classroom and we are not there, then we are at flag raising.

We look forward to seeing you all on Friday.