We had a great week in second grade! Students worked hard as we took some beginning of the year benchmark assessments in literacy and math. The results of these assessments will be used to help focus classroom instruction to ensure success for all students. In literacy this week, we continued to work on our Folktales and Fairy Tales unit and created finger puppets to help us retell the story of Henny Penny. Students also worked on creating sponge paint portraits of Henny Penny, both of which will be added to our literacy "pockets". This week we also read the story Chrysanthemum, by Kevin Henkes. In the story a small mouse named Chrysanthemum goes to school for the first time and the other students teased her for being named after a flower. After reading the story students created "word graphs" by choosing four words from the text and graphing how many times the word appeared throughout the book. Students also wrote about their own names and what names they would choose for themselves if they were given the opportunity to. We began working in literacy centers this week. Our most exciting and interesting center involved students working in teams using alphabet pasta to spell our weekly spelling words. They made a slight mess but had fun in the process! In math this week we began working with two-digit numbers and place value. Students explored the concept of tens and ones as we worked with manipulatives on the overhead. This week in science we focused on the structure of plants and learned some facts about seeds and plants during our "Plant Scavenger Hunt". 18 fact cards were hidden throughout the classroom. Students worked with partners to find the facts and use them to answer plant questions. Their answers to these questions will become their notes to study from when we have our first science test in a few weeks. This afternoon I had a meeting to attend and we were unable to have our weekly spelling test. This just means that students get an extra two days to practice our spelling words. Be prepared for a spelling test first thing Monday morning! Our Reading-Rewards logs are up and running and together we read a total of 743 minutes this week! I am in the process of adding parent emails to our account. If you wish to be notified when your child logs their reading please email me and I will add you to the list. Hope you all have a great weekend! ~Mrs. D
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The first week of school is done and was a great success! Our class is settling in nicely and students are making a smooth transition into second grade. One important thing we stressed this week was responsibility. As second graders we have more classroom responsibilities such as emptying our own mailboxes, making sure our work is finished on time, and becoming independent workers. These are skills that are often difficult for young students to master at first, however I feel that we will make great progress in this area this year! In literacy this week we began working on a unit on fairy tales and folktales. We read "Henny Penny" and created "pockets" that will store all our projects about this classic folktale. Today students brainstormed new friends for Henny Penny and created mini character books to add to their "pockets". In math this week we worked on some basic review of addition, subtraction, and odd and even numbers. Next week we will continue working with fairy tales and folktales, continue to review important math skills, and begin working on a science unit about plant life cycles. Today students came home with a blue paper containing instructions for our online reading log program. Students should be logging their reading twice a week for at least 15 minutes each time, though more reading is encouraged. If you are having difficulties accessing the website please let me know. You can always have your child write down his or her reading and we can log the time here at school. Remember, students only get credit (and RR miles) for their reading once it has been validated by an adult. Currently I am set up as the default person to validate all student reading. If you wish to receive an email notification of when your child logs reading time allowing you to validate their reading please let me know and I will be happy to set it up (all I need is your email address). Don't forget that there is no school on Monday September 3rd! Enjoy the long weekend and I'll see you on Tuesday! ~Mrs. D Photos from our week: Our students hard at work :-)The time has come to start a new school year! Today a copy of our seasonal classroom newsletter went home. Please take the time to look it over and contact me if you have any questions. Our weekly updates will be posted here so make sure to check back every Friday afternoon. I look forward to working with you as partners in your child's education! ~Mrs. D Today I sent home our quarterly newsletter. There was a typo on the first page where I put two dates for our September Open House. The correct date is September 19, 2012. Hope to see you all there!
-Mrs. D Don't forget... The awards assembly and Dempsey Donuts are this Thursday starting at 9:00! We have been working hard finishing up our stories and we are excited to share them with you. I hope you all can make it and come celebrate the achievements our students have made this year.
The stomach bug has been sweeping through our school this week. We had several students out on Monday and rather than beginning to work on new material, we took the opportunity to explore our creative sides. Katie brought in materials for everyone to make their own foam mask (a special thanks to Katie's aunt for donating them!). After students created their masks, they worked in small groups and used a graphic organizer to help them develop a short play. I videotaped their performances and used clips from each to create the iMovie trailer below. So without further ado, I give you The Masked Plays! ~ Mrs. D Welcome to our weekly update blog! I have been working on creating a professional educator's website as part of my masters program. It is still a work in progress, though it is finally up and running! In addition to the weekly emails, I will be posting classroom updates here. Feel free to leave comments and ask questions about our work.
Thanks for visiting! ~ Mrs. D |
AuthorMrs. Dempsey Archives
May 2013
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