Monday, December 17th, 2012

Today has been such a nice, refreshing way to get back to some feeling of normal. I have so enjoyed being with my "kiddos" again today. Thank you for sharing them with me!

This week's IA: PE
IA after break: Art

Reader's Workshop
We had the great opportunity to learn from our 6th graders last week. A group from Ms. Lisa's Crew came in and modeled what a Literature Discussion group looks like. We were all able to sit and listen as they discussed a question they had about the book, Jumanji. The big things we noticed about the discussion were that they stayed focused and didn't talk about anything but the book and they didn't talk over each other. They took turns and listened respectfully. We also noticed that they came prepared with their thoughts written down. Because of this modeling, we are now better able to talk about our thinking about the books we read. Thank you Ms. Lisa's 6th graders!

Writer's Workshop
On Friday, Ross Swirling, the lead singer and lyric writer for my husband's band, was our guest speaker. He taught us about why writing is important, why he writes, the process he uses to write poems and songs, and all about revising and editing in the "real world" of punk rock music. :) The kids had a blast learning from Ross and we have so many tips we can apply to our writing, especially as we learn to write poetry.

On Wednesday, many of you came in to share your child's published writing. I saw many smiles and heard many laughs as we shared our persuasive letters. This shows how much voice we had in our letters. Thanks so everyone who was able to make it. I will send home copies of the childrens' letters. Their originals will go in their portfolios.

Monday, December 10, 2012

I apologize for net getting this out yesterday. 

This week's IA: Music

Next week's IA: PE

Reader's Workshop

We are still reading and thinking about Chris VanAllsburg books. While we read, we are paying attention to words that are unfamiliar to us. Yesterday, we learned three new vocabulary words from the book, Jumanji. These words were monsoon, stampede, and slouch. We wrote these words in our reading journals, decided if they were nouns, verbs, or adjectives, wrote a definition of each, and drew a picture to go with the words. I am encouraging students to look for these words everywhere; in books, outside, on tv or the computer, and listen for or use these in their daily speaking and writing. It would be great if families could encourage this at home as well. Vocabulary can be a huge roadblock for students when it comes to comprehending what they are reading. 

Writer's Workshop

We have finished up publishing our persuasive letters. We are very much looking forward to sharing these with you on Wednesday at 11:00. Hopefully many of you can make it in for this time. Let me know if you have any questions. 

Math

Addition and subtraction are two big areas of math in second grade. I've been working with students to become "Fact Power Superheroes." They know that this means they need to memorize their addition facts. Currently, we are learning different strategies for adding two-digit and three-digit numbers. This can be tricky, especially if students aren't proficient with basic addition facts. One way to help with this, is to practice with flash cards at home. Students should have fact triangles at home that were in one of their Home Links. 

Expedition

We have finally completed compiling and graphing the data we collected at the Starlighting. This year, for the first time, students used a program on the computers to create these graphs! We will be going to the Castle Rock Chamber of Commerce to present our graphs and findings to the Executive Board sometime in January. I will also post these graphs on Kidblog so you can see and comment on them. It would be great if you would share these graphs with extended family and friends so students have a large audience for their work. 

Monday, December 3rd, 2012

Can it really be December already?

This week's IA: Art
Next week's IA: Music

*Please remember that we have field work to the Denver Art Museum this Wednesday. Students need to be here no later than 8:30 on Wednesday. All students need a water bottle, snack, and sack lunch in their backpacks for this field work. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Reader's Workshop
Readers use many strategies to make sense of what they're reading. Just a few of these strategies are; asking questions, determining importance, and inferring. We are currently doing a Chris VanAllsburg author study to practice all of these things. He is one of my favorite authors. His books are so thought provoking and lead to such rich discussions. You may be familiar with some of his books. The Polar Express and Jumanji are just two of his many titles. I would encourage families to check out some of his other books as well.

Since we're having all these wonderful conversations about what we read, we've decided to start blogging about our thinking. Be sure to check out our Kidblog site and see what we're thinking!
http://kidblog.org/MsHannis2012-2013Crew/wp-login.php?redirect_to=http%3A%2F%2Fkidblog.org%2FMsHannis2012-2013Crew%2Fwp-admin%2Findex.php&reauth=1

Students respond to a question during reading group

Writer's Workshop
We are using the genre of persuasive letters to learn about the craft of writing right now. Currently, we are revising our letters to make sure they are organized in a way that makes them easy to follow. We're also looking at the voice in our letters. We want to make sure it sounds like we are having a conversation with our readers. Be sure to look for these things when we share our letters with you.

Math
One of the skills we are practicing in math right now is measurement. I am reminding students how important it is to make sure the ruler is in the correct position before measuring. It is a common mistake for students to place their ruler at the end, rather than at the zero mark. Talk to your child about why it is important to measure correctly.

Expedition
To learn further about our case study big ideas about community, we will be doing some field work at the Denver Art Museum. We will look at how different artists interpreted community through their art.