Laptops and Google Docs

Students chose their best personal narrative and began typing them into a Google doc. Students learned how to log into our network at school and set up their own Google account. They do not have email accounts, just the ability to access their Google drive, create and save documents. Eventually we  will learn how to share docs with each other and with parents. 

Special Visitor!

Kaiden's dad happen to be working with some big equipment across the street from school this week. The kids were glued to the window during snack time to watch the machinery. We gave him a call and invited him to drive over his bobcat and let Kaiden teach us a thing or two about how it works...yes, Kaiden is a skilled bobcat driver! Students always make the best teachers! Thank you Kaiden and Jamie!!

Giant Vermont Map

We had a special invitation from our 4th grade buddy classroom to explore a giant Vermont map.  We crawled around the state, found Shelburne and tried to each stand in a different town.

Zones of Regulation

Our guidance counsel, Katie Tyler, visits our classroom once a week with a focus on learning the "zones of regulation."  We have learned the names and characteristics of the emotions we may feel.  We have also learned a way to categorize these emotions, into "zones":
blue -feeling sad or tired
green-ready to learn, calm and happy
yellow-silly, loss of some control, frustrated
red-out of control, angry, mad

Measuring During Math

We have been measuring the perimeter of shapes using Unifix cubes.  We have also made our own measuring tools to take measurements of objects in our classroom.

Author Dav Pilkey Visits

Our class now has an original drawing by author and illustrator, Dav Pilkey.  The illustration shows Mr. Krupp, the principal, in the Captain Underpants series.  Our student won this illustration for our class by correctly identifying the name of the principal.  She also won a signed copy of a book from the series.

Global Read Aloud

Children around the world are reading and discussing The Year of Billy Miller, by Kevin Henkes.

It is the story of a second grade boy with experiences, worries and adventures that we can all relate to.

Last week we had a "Google Hangout" with another 2nd grade class from Lufkin, Texas to talk about the book! It was so exciting! We spent the first few minutes giving each other clues so that we could guess where they were from. (Their southern accents helped a bit!) Then we asked each other questions to learn more about their class and school activities. We shared our favorite parts of the book so far and made some predictions about what we think will happen next. 

After the "hangout" we went to Google Earth and saw a street view of their school in Texas! The world got a little smaller for us that day! The Global Read Aloud is a wonderful springboard for developing digital citizenship and a sense of global community. We plan to have at least one more hangout with our new friends and share some writing as well.

"Good writing is clear thinking made visible."

Our tiny notebooks are filling up with story ideas and students have been working hard on their first drafts. We are learning how to plan a story's organization and focus in on one small moment. Last week we looked closely and described some unique seashells...this lead to students choosing one part of their own story to describe in rich detail.

7th Grade Helpers

Last week we welcomed Sydney and Lucy to our classroom. These amazing 7th graders will be helping our class during math on Wednesdays and Fridays. They jumped right in, supporting students during work stations and a measuring activity. We are lucky to have these enthusiastic and thoughtful helpers!

                 

Morning Writing

After hanging up backpacks, saying hi to classmates and checking in, we settle down for a quieter morning reading and writing activity.  Half of the children respond to a writing prompt while the other half read.  Then the next day the children switch these choices.  Here we are sharing our writing responses.

Number Corner

Each morning we practice math skills through a routine that is called Number Corner.  The themes of Number Corner change monthly.  One part of last month's Number Corner was to collect time, specifically 60 minutes a day for 24 days, to represent the 24 hours in a day.  (See the vertical chart to the left of the clocks.) Before we started collecting, we estimated how many minutes are in a day.  As the month progressed we revised and eliminated some estimates.  When we had collected 60 minutes on the 12th hour, a student explained how we could use that estimate to figure out how many minutes we would have on the 24th hour.  (See the pink writing on the white board.)  Just recently we had collected 960 minutes and we had to add 60 more minutes.  What a challenge!  We have popsicle sticks bundled in groups of 10 to help us count 60 more.  One of the children showed us on the white board what she did to figure out this problem.  (See the picture below.)

Classroom Helpers

We have two new helpers in our classroom.  Emilie, is a sophomore at UVM, who is learning to be a teacher.  As part of her education courses, she comes to our classroom on Thursday mornings.  We appreciate her help and interest in our class.

Avery is our 8th grade volunteer who visits our classroom on Thursday afternoons. She was once a 1st and 2nd grade student in our class.  It's fun having her back as an older student helper.