Sneak Peek!!

Wow! It's official... we have landed in our new room, and it's awesome! All the major furniture has been relocated and placed right where it belongs! Now, I don't know if David Grace is a magician, or a Rock Star, or all of the above... but our new room is fantastic! We're awaiting our new white board (with "smart" technology) for the front of the room, but other than that... we're good to GO!! I hope you like our new room as much as I do! It might take some getting used to, and we may inadvertently walk into Horizons the first few days... but we'll get used to it! Knowing this move serves the needs of all of our students at SES, and knowing that we have a school that prioritizes student need... and meets that need (with care and grace and thought and collaboration) is pretty spectacular! Kudos to everyone who made this move go as smoothly as it has gone! Makes me proud (as if I wasn't already) to work where I do.... the best lil' country school that meets and exceeds the highest of standards... and has fun doing it! Working together, with a sense of community, cooperation, and purpose! Lots of learning... done right! Well done SES... WELL DONE!

Out With the Old... In With the New!

Happy Holidays Everyone! By now, you all know about our big move over the winter vacation! We've packed what we can, and will arrive to a new year, and a new classroom! We'll be right next door, same routines, same rules, same friends and everyday learning... just one notch to the West! Our new room will be just like our old room, all our stuff, all our tools and furniture... all in a new spot! We will miss our smart-board, that's for sure... best learning tool EVER!! Everything else will come with us! A new beginning for 2W and a lot more learning in the coming year!! Can't wait to see you all and wishing you a happy, healthy, wonderful winter vacation!

More Writers... More Celebrations!!

Another busy, wintery, beautiful day in second grade! We got started right away with our second day of writers reading their stories! Invited guests were treated to many personal narratives, all unique and all about a small moment in the lives of these second grade writers! Very personal indeed, and each story was full of craft moves and powerful language! Students worked extremely hard revising and editing their stories, and getting ready for today's celebration! Well done 2W! Very proud moment for your teacher, as well as all our invited guests! We had a little time left this morning, so we decided to fill it with one of our favorite math games... I Have, Who Has? Using our skills in place value and greater than/less than, we compared numbers with cards and partners! Working together is a big part of playing math games, and cooperating with your partner really pays off! We always love having time to play math games, especially like this game! Hard but fun! Just the way we like it!

Snow Day!

Snow day today! Enjoy! Join us tomorrow morning, instead, for our Writing Celebration! Everything we had planned for today will take place tomorrow morning at 8:45 (right after we take morning attendance and students check in)! If you planned on joining us this morning, we moved it all to Wednesday! See you then!

Author's Celebration!!

First we started with our math meeting, compliments of Robert and his calendar and place value skills!! Well done Robert! After that we learned more about money and added a new coin into our counting skills, the half dollar! Caroline's morning meeting quickly followed with a rousing rendition of Chicken Lips, and the sparkle game! Outstanding job Caroline! Then, it was really all about writing, authors, and celebrating our personal narrative stories! Students worked relentlessly on their small moment stories, generating ideas, paying close attention to using mentor text (thanks to Jane Yolen, and our resident mentor authors, Ethan and Chan-Hee), and revising stories with lots of editing! A process that takes time, attention, stamina, perseverance, and a lot of effort! And, what a great day it was! Authors read their stories to guests like parents, principals, and each other! We were able to share and appreciate so many small moments, carefully written by all of our second grade authors! No two moments were quite the same, accept that all writers included skillful craft moves in elaborating on their stories! Powerful language evoking strong emotion was also a common theme, as writers worked very hard on "hooking" their readers in the beginnings and leaving emotion and power in their endings! You know... the kind of story that leave an impression on the reader! Needless to say, I could not be more proud of this writing community! So supportive of each other as writers, and producing some spectacular stories! We will repeat this author's celebration tomorrow... BECAUSE IT WAS THAT GOOD!!! And, anyone who missed it will have to come and listen to these amazing second grade writers and see for yourself! Don't miss it!

Money and Meetings!!

Happy Thursday Thinkers! Another busy day starting with Ethan's math meeting! We all couldn't help but notice that Ethan's super-power might just be running an effective, pragmatic, super efficient math meeting! Well done Ethan! In math we began our unit on money and started with a coin investigation! Working with partners, we took a close look... and I mean, a real close look... at quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies! We payed close attention to what they are worth, their size, coin attributes, and tried to share everything we might know about coins. We recorded our observations (like scientists) and shared what we noticed! Well done friends! Kelsey also ran one spectacular math meeting, and decided to include reflections on our observations in math! She generated her very own morning message... all by herself! I quickly realized, after a nano-second, that Kelsey was running this meeting all on her own!! And that's just the way we like it! What a democratic, independent leader she was, choosing friends fairly, helping those that needed help, and keeping her meeting on task, and moving right along! Well done Kelsey! Ben decided to show off his holiday spirit as he bundled up for recess today, and we're glad he did, because he brought a smile to every face that saw him! Awesome Ben! In writing workshop we continued to revise and edit our final drafts of our personal narratives as we prepare for our Author's Tea next week! Our writing goals this week have been clear: illustrate, revise, edit our final copy, give our piece of writing a title and appealing cover, and complete our "all about the author" page! We're so close to the finish line with this writing unit, and we CAN'T WAIT to share our small moment stories with our audience on Monday and Tuesday! Don't miss this special event which will showcase local authors from 2W, showing off their craft moves and writing development as they share important moments in their lives! I could not be more proud of this writing community!