Writing Project and "Left Overs" in Math!

What an absolutely beautiful Thursday... in EVERY WAY! Niko got us started with morning meeting and the clothespin game! We spent much of our morning on a literacy project writing letters and posters around our big night.... OPEN HOUSE! First, we designed posters to thank all the sponsors of our amazing (FREE) dinner preceding Open House. We also wrote letters too! One group letter to the sponsors, and individual letters to our parents, telling them what to look at during Open House! The writing and creating was awesome, and the cooperation and turn taking was even better! Learning how to work together in teams can sure yield some amazing results! In math we stretched our learning with odd and even numbers and talked about "pairs" and "left overs". Deter REALLY stretched our thinking when he said "When you add two odd numbers together, you will always get an even number"! PROFOUND! We tested his theory about 6 or 7 times, and each time, his theory proved true! Way to go Deter! Open House was a huge success, and everyone loved your letter and posters! Thanks to everyone who came out tonight! Especially Mr. Jarzembowski! Way to represent and show you care Mr. Jarzembowski! 2W is truly a special place to learn and grow this year... many great friends, and we're just getting started!

Odd and Even Numbers, and COMPLETE SENTENCES!!!

So, as you can see... I feel pretty strongly about, not only odd and even numbers, but writing out our thoughts (answers) in COMPLETE SENTENCES!!! Taking words out of the question and using them in your answer is always a good strategy if you don't know how to start. But everyone agreed today, complete sentences sound better, look better, and have more information than a one or two word answer!!! So, yah... you see where I'm coming from when it comes to written expression and writing... MORE PLEASE!! If you can tell me you know... show me you know! Wow.. I can get pretty worked up when it comes to writing workshop! Everyone's a writer in 2W, and the beauty is that we all express and write differently! We will find our "voice" this year, and use it in all our writing! OK... on to other parts of our day... in math we introduced odd and even numbers with Brainpop Jr. After, we used our learning about place value to look at numbers and determine if they are an odd or even number. The one's place is the most important place to look when figuring out if a number is odd or even. We learned a new song too, to help us remember odd numbers! Some of us even took the microphone and lead the class in our new math song! Brave, important, and fun!! Making odd and even trains also helped us introduce this idea that every number is either odd or even. Tomorrow we will stretch our learning with odd and even numbers and use vocabulary like "pairs", and "left overs". We also celebrated "wacky word Wednesday" again with Ms. McCarthy, and her awesome new game called ZONK! Using our phonics skills to read, say, decode, and count spelling words... does it get any better than that? Fernando had one great math meeting and after we listened to Amazing Grace, a wonderful story about a girl with limitless imagination and how she bravely takes on the lead role in the school play! We officially finished our first work board, and will begin a new one on Thursday! Well done! We reminded ourselves how to work "independently" and what it means to "pick a good work spot", and be an efficient worker! And, boy... are we getting there! I think "buddy reading" might be our favorite literacy activity, and boy, are we GOOD at it!! Great job friends! Library tomorrow, remember your books so you can borrow new ones!

Handwriting, Riddles, and Weekend Stories!

Howdy Friends! Our Monday started with "catch up" day on work board... finishing all the jobs we were unable to complete during previous mornings. Many students are able to complete a day's worth of work board jobs, but many meet in reading groups, that's why we have "catch up" day! And we don't want to miss ONE THING when it comes to work board! We reviewed our doubles facts and wrote our clever doubles riddles! What would happen if you put 3 heart balloons into the magic pot? You can find out when you come read our Book Of Riddles on Thursday night... Open House! PTO and many local business and civics groups are treating every SES family to dinner starting at 5:00, right here at school! After a tasty dinner, you can visit classrooms and see what we've been up to for the last couple of weeks! Hope to see you! In writing workshop we began by reviewing what makes a good writer... what do good writers do? We started with handwriting practice, and stressed how important it is to make capital letters TALL!!! Remembering when to use a capital letter is also important! Sitting like a writer, using your helping hand, and doing your best... very important! Next, it was on to weekend stories (personal narratives) and writing about our weekend... whether it was wild and crazy, or slow and relaxing! Every writer has a story to tell, and that's what writers workshop is all about! See y'all tomorrow friends... PE, sneakers please.

Addends, Doubles, and One Tiny Clothespin!

Georgia jumped in, last minute, and lead the morning meeting! Nice Georgia! She also picked the tiniest clothespin for our game! Yikes! Work board kept everyone focused while reading groups met with teachers, and we had our first buddy test in word study too. We reviewed place value (ones and tens) and doubles! We also learned a new rule today too... addend! What's special about the addends in a doubles fact?? They're both the same, of course! We read a story about Mr. and Mrs. Hacktack and their magic pot! We will use the inspiration from this story to write some of our own doubles riddles on Monday! Have a great weekend everyone! See you bright and early Monday morning!

Awww Shucks!! Farm to Table!

Long day... and it's late, but I wanted to sneak a quick snapshot of our busy Thursday! Maddy started with our morning meeting, followed by work board... officially one of our favorite parts of the day!! In math we learned about doubles and what makes math facts with doubles special! Learning doubles can really help with math fluency and mathematical thinking! Learn 'em and know 'em... that's our motto! While our field trip may have been postponed due to bad weather, Farmer Mike still provided SES with fresh picked corn to shuck today! Students gathered outside today and shucked some fresh picked corn that will be served at lunch tomorrow! LOVE farm to table connections, and thanks to Farmer Mike! In the afternoon, Ms. W had grade level meetings, but that didn't stop writing workshop one bit! Students wrote in their monthly writing journals and were completely IN CHARGE of their writing! Well done writers! Get to bed early so you're well rested for fun Friday and any surprises we may encounter!