Statue of Liberty

We started our Social Studies unit by looking at some of the famous landmarks around the world. Now, we're zooming in a little closer to home...we have been studying the famous landmarks around the United States. Did you know that the Statue of Liberty was actually put together from 300 parts? It's just like a puzzle! We also learned that it was a gift from France, it's made of copper, and it's located in New York.

What a Great Class!

Math Review

Our class has been doing a lot of math review... trying to dust off the summer cobwebs and giving Mrs. Slyter a good idea of where everyone is in their math skills.

On this day, we worked with counting and comparing buttons.

Then we wrote and illustrated simple addition equations. For example, "Mr. Bear had 5 buttons on his coat. He found 3 more to add. How many buttons does he have?" And, "Mama Bear only had 1 button, but she found 10 more! How many does she have now?"

We will continue to work on the mastery of number sense and problem solving.

Ben's Dream

We have been reading and comparing many of Chris Van Allsburg's books. It all started with the book, "Ben's Dream".

In the story a boy (Ben) falls asleep while studying for his geography test, and begins to dream. In his dream Ben floats by several famous landmarks across the world. We created a process grid with the landmarks, why it was special, and why it was built.

From there, groups worked together to create a flowchart - a map - showing the places Ben traveled in the story.

Now that we're familiar with many of the landmarks, it seems that we see them everywhere!

Whew! We have hit the ground running! I don't know about the kids, but I could've slept all weekend long! Being in 2nd grade is a lot of work! We've been busy, busy, busy... learning procedures and routines, and just remembering what it is like to sit in a classroom all day long... and it's been HOT in our room, too! The kids have been troopers through the warm weather.

I'm so impressed with the group of second graders that I'm teaching this year. We've already earned 9 classroom Cub ("Caught You Being Super") Awards! When we get to 10, we'll get a special treat. Also, many of the kids have already started collecting jewels on their clip for reaching outstanding on our behavior chart. It's wonderful seeing all of the good choices during the day!

Behavior Management

We work hard to do our best every single day. Our school rules apply in our classroom - be safe, be respectful, be responsible. I have added one more important rule... have a positive attitude! g 

It feels good to follow the classroom rules! If I see students going above and beyond the classroom rules to make positive choices, they will get to move up on our clip chart! They might also get a special reward like a Cub ticket, a piece of candy, or special certificate.

Not only do the students have a chance to earn a special "thank you" from Mrs. Slyter, but the group they sit with might be able to earn something special too!

Yuck! Not the best photo quality!

Classroom Clip Chart

We will be using a clip chart to monitor our choices in our classroom. The clip chart is divided into 6 colored sections and each day everyone will start on green - "Ready to Learn!"
Good choices will enable students to move up on the clip chart and poor choices will cause them to move down. Clips that are moved down can be moved back up as students improve their choices. If students make it to the pink section - "Outstanding!" - they will get to take a happy note home to their family. If they're outstanding three days in a row, they will get to add a jewel to their clip. I can't wait to see all of the sparkly clips on our clip chart!
If a student moves to the yellow ("slow down") or orange ("think about it") they may have to fill out a behavior reflection and/or a Lion ticket to take home for mom and dad to see and sign.
The goal of the clip chart is to improve student choices and help students understand how their choices may impact their learning as well as the learning of others. If you have any questions, please let me know!

Read-to-Self

Today we practiced the first two ways to read a book; Read the Pictures and Read the Words. We did this using the picture book Chester. What a funny book! I can't wait until we read Chester's Back!

We discussed what a "Good Fit Book" is. Mrs. Slyter compared the books to shoes... we wear different shoes for different events, and we definitely want them to fit "just right"! (Mrs. Slyter sure looked silly trying to clomp around in Mr. Slyter's big ole' Air Force boots!) The best way to get better at reading is to READ! And, we need to be reading books that are a good fit for each of us.

After we chose our good fit books, we brainstormed all of the things we needed to remember during "Read to Self".

Next came the best part... reading! We all chose our spots and got settled in for some "Read to Self".

Each day we will practice building our stamina... soon we'll all be reading our books for 20-25 minutes each day!!

More Chalk Art Photos

People are still talking about the beautiful art work on our sidewalk!

The First Week

Oh my word, we've hit the ground running! I have an awesome group of kids, and it looks like it's going to be a great year. I'm so excited!

The first two days have gone pretty smoothly. We've been doing a lot of work to get to know each other and start building our community. We're shaking out the summer cobwebs and doing our best to get back into a routine.

Today we learned about the 5 elements of design; dots, circles, and the three types of lines. (Straight, curved, angled.) We took advantage of the beautiful weather and displayed our learning outside with sidewalk chalk! We practiced lines, circles and dots... and then drew pictures using all of the elements of design.