Tamales, Summaries, and Algebraic Equations!!

Greetings Friends! Another busy day, but Ms. Worthley forgot the camera in school (DANG!), so will post pictures tomorrow! Pictures or not, it was a busy day in second grade! Students used their pre-writing from yesterday's writing workshop and crafted summaries of a wonderful story called Too Many Tamales. Students payed attention to write events in our summary in sequence with the events as they occurred in the story! Lots of concentration and thoughtful effort goes into a well written summary! Authors shared afterward, and gosh, was it hard to choose ONLY 2 summaries, there were so MANY!!!! And they were SO WONDERFUL!! WOW! Next it was on to quiet reading, and reviewing what makes a a good book choice for 15-20 minutes of sustained, quiet reading. Holiday books are still a very popular choice, and I have some super secret surprises in store for quiet reading tomorrow! Can't wait to share some of the fabulous reading gifts donated to our classroom by our very own Mrs. Cialek! Thank you Mrs. Cialek, for your generosity and kindness! Happy reading! Today was Cafe Sun day, and Tia treated us to a beautiful song in both German and English! Well done Tia, now that takes courage, practice, and talent!
In math we took what we've learned about place value and comparing numbers in equations to the next level!! Using symbols to compare equations... not just numbers! Equations take on many looks in second grade, and learning about it all is our goal! We looked at and solved equations with 2 or more addends on each side, and had to determine the missing symbol (<. >. or =). Lots of mathematical thinking and holding on to information (mental math)! Well done! Brady ushered in another wonderful math meeting, and then it was on to a brand new work board! Woohoo! The new work board is full of holiday inspired literacy challenges! Can't wait to get back to work tomorrow! Thursday is a library day, so bring in library books so you can borrow more tomorrow!

Dictionaries, Summaries, and Comparing Numbers!!

Greetings Friends! Joe got our day started with the Sandwiches song, ball behind the back greeting, and the teeny weeny double clothespin game. Well done Joe! In word study we reviewed our spelling rule, silent e, and how silent e changes short vowel sounds, and makes them long ("say their name")!! We practiced rhyme, phonics, and used our dictionaries to look up words! In writing workshop we worked with a wonderful story called Too Many Tamales to do some prewriting for tomorrow! Students listened to how Maria's family made tamales for their Christmas celebration, and how she's forced into a difficult confession about her mother's diamond ring. We used our story maps to help connect with the story, and will use our prewriting from today, to write our summaries tomorrow! Nice!!
In math, we reviewed place value with base 10 blocks and talked about the greater than (>), less than (<), and equal sign (=) to compare 3 digit numbers. Annie and Moby (brain pop) helped us remember to look at the digit in the highest place first when comparing numbers to help us with our thinking. After some practice it was time to get to work! After math Brady lead another super math meeting with money counting, calendar, weather graphing, and counting the days in school! Well done Brady! According to Brady, on a scale of 1-5 (5 being pretty great) it was another 5!! Way to go friends! Tomorrow is Wednesday, PE, sneakers please!

Silent e, and Weekend Stories!!

Welcome back from the weekend! Time to get busy! Makayla started us off with a great morning meeting! We sang Mister Sun, greeted friends with he koosh, and played the double clothespin game (quite a challenge today)!! Well done Makayla! Nest, it was off to spelling and word study with our new rule, silent e!! So powerful it can change vowel sounds just by hanging out at the end of words!! We sorted words according to their long vowel sound, while paying close attention to the silent e (and even used word wall words today too)! Cool!
Writing workshop was all about personal narratives... we call them "weekend stories" in second grade! Even though some friends thought they had "nothing to write about" they used effort, fortitude, and determination, to wring a story out of an uneventful weekend. After all, we write every day because research shows that (like with reading), practicing writing, every day, makes you a BETTER WRITER! So... we write! Good job friends!
In math we too what we've learned about place value, and 3 digit numbers, and compared numbers to each other using the greater than (>), less than (<), and equals (=) signs. We reviewed base 10 blocks to begin our thinking, and moved on to short notation of numbers to compare! In read aloud we read a new book donated to our class by Mrs. Cialek called The Snow Must Go ON! We talked about the play on words, and enjoyed this sweet story about the south pole (yes, equally as cold as the north pole, but with out all the "holiday" glory) and their effort to get some ATTENTION! Thank you Mrs. Cialek for giving us such a wonderful book! Great Monday friends! Tomorrow, PE... sneakers please!

FRIDAY... And It Was A Good One!!

Way to get the day started Lola! Oh Susana song was great (though I'm working on Rudolph), with the koosh greeting! Nice job! We did a great job on our buddy test in spelling, and it was on to writing workshop and dialogue journals. A unique way to use our writing to express thoughts, ideas, feelings, frustration, or even stories! Ms. W. modeled how writers participate in writing workshop, even when they think they don't have anything to write about. Writing every day is important practice, and will make every friend a better writer! Quiet reading was full of holiday stories, Harrison's browsing box books, and library books! Well done second grade! In math today we reviewed place value with 3 digit numbers. Using base 10 blocks, we wrote numbers up to 3 digits, and even stretched our thinking to write the number that would be next! Challenging! We will continue to practice place value, as this kind of practice is all about NUMBERS... thinking about numbers, how they work, and noticing patterns!
We finished Frindle today, and loved the ending! Nick Allen leaves one million dollars in a scholarship fund, and Mrs. Granger turns out to be super nice???? Who knew?! Great story!
Jake was our VIP today, and we ended the day with stories and memories that helped us learn even more about our awesome friend! No one tells a story with more enthusiasm or expression than Jake, and we loved every minute of pictures and listening to important moments in his life (and important people as well)! I don't know about you, but I could listen to Jake ALL DAY, and still WANT MORE!! Well done Jake! You are one very special kid. They broke the mold after you, my friend!
We wished our UMass student teacher well today, as she is off to bigger challenges in the graduate world of becoming a student and teacher! We loved having her, and students shared some thoughtful memories, and appreciation with Katelyn at the end of our day. Happy weekend! Sleep, rest, heal, and have some fun!!

What's Your Super Hero Power??

Excellent, rigorous, and productive day friends! Skyler started us off with the koosh toss greeting, Chicken Lips song, and teeny weeny double clothespin game! Great meeting Skyler! Very well done! Next we worked with our spelling rule, digraph (ng) and consonant blend (nk) and sorted our words according to meaning, context, and rhyming patterns! Next it was on to the word hunt! Teams of students read text to hunt for hidden digraph and consonant blend words, and it wasn't easy to find all those words! Quite a challenge! More with that tomorrow!
Writing workshop was quite exciting! Today our writing was to a prompt. Students learned how to respond to a prompt and how to stretch your writing into a story! The prompt asked.... what is your hidden super hero power, and what would you do with your special powers? Wow! We had some incredibly creative responses and very imaginative stories to share (thanks Joe and Tia)! Everyone was so involved with their writing, they were a little irritated when writing workshop ended (and that's the way we like it)!! Next, we were in for a treat at quiet reading time... our new friend Harrison chose to bring in some books to share with his friends at school. Not just any books, but the MOST PERFECT second grade book choices a kid could have! Thanks Harrison! A mix of holiday stories, Henry and Mudge, Magic Tree House, and Walter Wick... just to name a few! Outstanding!
In math we practiced story problems with another POW (problem of the week)!! Today it was all about 13 (of course) but students had to problem solve with 2 variables. There were many ways to solve our problem today, and friends worked it one, two, and sometimes even three different ways! WOW! So smart!!
We almost finished Frindle today, and pretty much agreed that main character Nick Allen is NOT a trouble maker, just a smart kid with lots of great ideas!! Even his teacher, Ms. Granger took the time to make sure Nick knows what a cool kid he is! Wow, teachers can be strict, and hard sometimes, and still even be... well... nice? Way to go Ms. Granger! Our story ends tomorrow with one very BIG surprise at the end!
Work board was great today, and meeting with reading groups went better than usual! Remember, it's very important to make good choices for your learning, EVEN when a teacher is not looking! Feed your brain with lots of thinking and challenge! Your brain will thank you back!! Great day! Fun Friday tomorrow... homework due.

Thank You Russell Family and Mark Snow!

How do you thank Lola's grandfather and local business owner Mark Snow for their exceedingly generous donation to Sunderland Elementary School in support of keeping the arts in school??? At an All School Sing, of course! Our generous benefactors hosted one fantastic golf tournament and donated all the proceeds to our little elementary school! WOW! Outstanding! Our deepest thanks and gratitude to not only our generous hosts, but to all who participated in what hopes to become an annual event! We are grateful, indeed, and believe in your support of art and music as an essential part of every student's education!! Next it was on to Cali's morning meeting! She helped us compare characters Paul and Prudence (from the story Don't Call Me Pruneface!) using a venn diagram! Two very different characters in many ways, though similar as well. Well done Cali! Great preparation for our work in writing workshop later when we craft our summaries! And that's exactly what we did! Using our pre-writing story maps from yesterday, we reviewed this very entertaining story, and wrote in our reading logs! So many students wrote such thoughtful summaries that it was hard to narrow down who would share at authors share today! In the end, four friends shared their work and talked about how pre-writing really helped us prepare for the work and thought needed for summary writing today! Very hard work friends, and very well done!!
The Holiday Books made their appearance today during quiet reading, and certainly peaked the interest of many readers! We talked about how different cultures share so many wonderful celebrations at this time of year, and can't wait to read about it!
In math, it was pocket day, and that's exactly what we did, but with a new twist! After recording the number of pockets and making our pocket-total predictions, it was up to us, to make friendly numbers and show our thinking! Students worked in teams to show how they added so many numbers, and how they made their adding easier with friendly numbers (numbers that work together). After all that work, we were ready to go back to our predictions and assess which prediction was closest! Lot's of work and mathematical thinking! Great teamwork as well! Another great day friends!
Library tomorrow... library books please!