We Are Proud!

We have been working on our writing a lot in Second grade.  We have a few things that you will be sure to check out at conferences.

First we have our Monster Descriptions.  We read a few books about monsters and talked about making our monsters our very own.  Next, we created and drew our monsters. Then we did a prewriting about our monster that included important details about our monster.  Next, we did a rough draft and learned about using writing paper.  We also learned about editing marks.  Last, we edited our papers and write our final copy.

We also have written a few class books based on books we have read and some conversations and discussions.  They turned out great and show our hard work.

Kevin Henkes

We have been reading books by Kevin Henkes.  He is a very popular author of many books including his books that use mice as the main characters, books that help children understand and process emotional times in life and his chapter books. 

We love his books about Lilly!  She is so funny and does many things that we might feel like doing, but know that we shouldn't.  Last week, we learned how to draw her.  We are enjoying drawing a setting for her to be in and accessories for her to carry or hold.

Kevin Henkes will be at the Roseville Barnes and Noble on Thursday, October 15th at 7:00 p.m.  This event is open to the public.  You can read more about this event here or at the Kevin Henkes website here.

Visualizing

In this Literacy theme we are learning about the power and importance of visualizing as we read or listen to stories. 

Today, we practiced visualizing as we listened to  The Salamander Room  by Anne Mazer.  It is a wonderful story for practicing this skill.  We listened to small sections of the story and drew what the author described.  When the book was over, we visualized what happened at the very end and what we thought it would look like.  It was lots of fun!  Ask your child about the story.  You can watch a video of it here.

Tuesday

What a fun few days we have had in our classroom! 

Yesterday we learned all about selecting good fit books.    I brought in a few pairs of shoes to make the lesson seem real for the students.  We talked about how when we are selecting books to read we need to think about 1) the purpose for reading  2) our interest in the book  3) how well we understand the book and know the words.  Just like picking shoes, we need to pick books that fit us, not our friends or desk partners and we need to pick books that match our purpose, which is ultimately become better readers.  If we are consistently picking books that are too easy or too hard we really will not become better readers.

Today we started writing about our monsters.  We talked about editing marks.  Here is a sample of what we corrected together.  I will be editing student work in order to have our best work be on display in the hall.

We started reading books by Kevin Henkes.  See if your child can tell you about these three and the similarities and themes in each one.

At long last our math journals arrived!  Today was our first chance to break them in.  We love them!

The Last Few Days

We have been very busy this week!  Here is a brief review:

Wednesday -

• We read A Chair For My Mother and practiced making connections.  This is an important skill for understanding what we read.  
• We also read from the Frog and Toad books.  We LOVE these books!  
• We practiced our Word Work (Spelling) and practiced Read to Self.  We are able to be very focussed while we are reading.

Thursday -

• We read Asha in the Attic with a partner.  It was our first time reading with a partner, so we spent some time talking about expectations and helping, not telling.
• We took our first Math test and computation test.  We talked about doing our best, even when it feels hard.  
• We went to the Library and heard Too Many Toys.  This book is a favorite of Ms. Zbacnik's.  Ask your child if they can retell the story to you.

Friday -

• We had a new student join our class this morning. 
• We read I Need My Monster  and My Creature and started our monster writing project.  Ask your child about their creation.
• We got to use iPads to play math games at the end of the day!

Buddy Reading!

Reading together!

Math games on the iPad.

Author Visit

This morning we were lucky enough to have children's author Salina Yoon come and speak to us.  She has authored and illustrated over 150 books.  We are most familiar with her books about Penguin and character who has many friends and adventures.

She came to the United States from Korea with her family when she was only 4 years old.  She grew up in California where she still lives today.  She loves being an author illustrator for three reasons.  See if your child can tell you one of them.  (She gets to work in her pajamas, she gets to create characters and her books go all over the world and are read by many children.)

She read us Penguin's Big Adventure and showed us how she draws Penguin.  We were able to see her draw a few versions of Penguin. 

Penguin!

Salina Yoon - Thank you and Goodbye!

Today we . . .

Flag carrier - D.

Today we did many fun things!  Here is a quick review of the highlights:

• We had our first assembly of the year - The Flag and Constitution Assembly  It was loaded with activity and learning.  We learned about the flag, constitution of the United States and even got to sing Happy Birthday to the constitution.  We heard from our new superintendent, Dr. Sicoli and BLAZE made an appearance.  We said the Brimhall pledge and sang the Brimhall Rouser!  Ask your child about the special sign language we learned before the assembly that we will use throughout the year.

• After the assembly we had our first Bus Class meeting.  We met with our bus group and a set of teachers.  Each class did the same activities.  Ask your child what they did with his/her bus class. 

• We also had the chance to do a fun retelling activity with Mrs. Biros and our story Asha in the Attic.  We have read this story twice this week.  Ask you child about the story and the retelling activity.

• At the end of the morning we wrote a paragraph in our symbol book about the flag of the United States.  It was hard work, but we managed to get it done, almost.  : ) 

• This afternoon, we played a game of Broken Calculator.  In this game, we had to make a total, like 17, but the 7 key is broken.  It was fun to work with a partner.

BLAZE and Mr. DePrez!

Bus 29, now 15 with the Second grade teachers.

Mrs. Biros leads the class.

Symbol book writing time.