I'm a Hard, Hard Worker Every Day!

I am always amazed at how awesome second graders are and this year's group is no exception.  13 of the most thoughtful, hard working, funny little people have embarked on a new learning adventure with me and words can't describe how excited I am to be traveling along with them.

We spent the week getting to know each other and learning the routines of the classroom.  We made monster glyphs, reviewed 3 reading strategies: Check for Understanding, Read "Good-Fit" Books and Re-read Favorite Books.  We jumped right into building our reading stamina too and are already at 7 minutes for the whole group!  

In science we began our study of insects.  This week we focused on asking questions and reading pictures to find information (another helpful reading strategy!).

Here are some photos of us working hard this week!  Please comment and tell us what you think.

Building our reading stamina!!!

Why monster glyphs?  Glyphs are a mathematical tool that teaches students to glean information from a picture.  These glyphs tell what our favorite season is, how many siblings we have, favorite school subject and whether we are boys or girls.

We created "scribble art" this week and then looked for pictures in our scribbles.  It isn't always easy to find a picture in those scribbles!  We connected this idea to writing...sometimes it looks like scribbles, but if we examine it closely we will find that small treasure we want to write about! This students found a snail in his scribbles and painted a background for it.

In math we learned two new vocabulary words: alike and different.  We spent the week sorting frogs, bugs, unifix cubes and people into groups that were "alike" and "different."

Question of the day: What can you learn about insects from reading this picture?  Reinforces the idea that there are 3 ways to read a book: read the pictures, read the words and retell the story.