Peek at My Week and a Freebie!

I am looking forward to this week at school, because I feel like we are really back in the groove after Spring Break!  We've applied a lot of what I learned from my visit to Village Tech, and I'm looking forward to seeing them achieve their goals.

Here's a look at what's going on in our classroom:

We are having an absolute blast with our poetry unit.  This week, I'm looking forward to seeing their personal growth as poets.  It's at about this time in our unit that I start to see tremendous growth, so I'm really ready for the school week to begin!  If you need additional resources for your poetry unit, click the image below!

We are still using our daily income cards to track what we've earned for each part of our day.  At the end of the week, we find the total amount we've earned and make a deposit into our bank accounts.  Then, we reflect on our work and set goals for next week.

For our Afternoon Meeting, we'll be using several greetings.  Most of the time, I'll invite the students to choose and give them options to choose from.

One of the choices will be this Measurement Match by Unique Teaching, which will help us review units.  Students will find the person with the matching card and greet them with a handshake.



We will also use my Multi-digit Addition Match Up activity.  Click the image for a FREEBIE!



We'll also use some of our old favorites, such as dice roll, hola, jambo, and the 1 minute greeting.

Enjoy the week, and be sure to check out what's going on with everyone else this week!  Many thanks to Mrs. Wills for hosting the link up!

The bugs are here!

It's an exciting time in second grade... Our ecosystems are set up, and our bugs are here!  My scholars were so excited to share their observations and show me all their discoveries that I forgot to snap a picture.  I had so much fun supporting them as they touched worms and snails for the first time.  One child was so nervous, and two of his friends coached him through the whole thing...

"It's ok.  You got this."

"You can do it!  Just tell your brain - I'm ok!  I got this.  Now close your eyes and take a big breath in and out."

"Ok!  Now open them, and do it!"

"AAAAH!  It's so slimy!"

Seriously... Best.  Day.  Ever.

And I don't even like bugs!
 

In other news, I had the pleasure of visiting Village Tech in Cedar Hill, TX last week, and I loved every moment of it!  The best part was that the students gave the tour.  They did a fantastic job, and I learned so much from hearing from them. 

My students were excited to learn about the way they continue trying until they get a skill, rather than focusing on completing a task.  This has really had an impact on us this week.  I'm always hearing, "I'm done!" immediately followed by, "Do you need feedback?"  On Monday, they didn't want to leave school until they had achieved their math goals.  My teacher heart soared! :)

Here's the chart we're using to remind us how to give effective feedback before we try our next iteration.

Of course we're continuing our work on poetry.  Is this poem awesome or what?  She wrote this beauty after 2 days of instruction!  I was so proud to see her taking out the math tools and using them to check her spelling and gather shape names.

 In one of our guided reading groups, we are working on noticing when we stop understanding and taking action!  This is an anchor chart we created to help us remember the conversation.

I hope you're enjoying your week as much as we are!

Peek at My Week & Poetry Unit

It's my favorite unit of the year in Writing Workshop... Poetry!  I just love seeing my young writers express themselves with poetry.  They have such great ideas and are able to create such brilliant poems.

We are using my poetry unit (click below to grab a copy), which I use and improve upon every year.  I learn so much from my students, so I change it and add to it based on what they teach me each year.

So far, we've used our sunglasses to look at the world through the eyes of a poet.  We remember that poets see the world differently, just like things look a little different when we put on our sunglasses.

They came up with some GREAT ideas for poems!  Please excuse our spelling... We never worry about it when we're just gathering ideas. After all, our lists are just for us! :)

This week, we'll continue learning about crafting poems and using repetition as part of the art of poetry.  Collaborative poetry writing is a new one lesson this year, and I'm really to try it.  This was a suggestion from one of my young writers, and I think it's going to be awesome! :)

Here's a little Peek at My Week!

I'm linking up with Mrs. Willis Kindergarten.  Be sure to stop by and check out everything going on in other classrooms around the country this week!  (Isn't it great to be able to learn from people across the country!?)