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This week was full of math exploration, looking at patterns and making connections. We continued with Daily 5, Read to Self and Word Work, and introduced Words Their Way. Students are becoming used to our classroom routines, even though we continue to tweak a few things, especially our morning routine.
To help with organization, students will bring home a 'Take Home' folder, probably starting on Wednesday. This folder should go back and forth between and home and school each day. This folder will have two sides: 'Keep at Home' and 'Return to School'. The 'Keep at Home' side may have work your child has finished at school or notes from school, which may stay at home. 'Return to School' will have things that need to be brought back to school, such as permission slips and other forms. There will also be a place for the children to keep their Home Reader so that I can easily look through this occasionally. Hopefully having everything in one place will help the students be responsible and keep track of things that need to be brought back to school. Please let me know if you have any questions. At the end of the day on Friday, we discussed the various activities and learning engagements throughout the week. Here are some of their thoughts: "We did the Fun Run. I thought that it was fun!" - Tudor "I was running and in the middle I was getting tired and exhausted. I had fun!" - Marin "Today we learned about sorting the words." - Joe "It was fun in the Fun Run, but I was a little tired and half exhausted, but I kept running!" - Advay "When I was running, I got tired but then I saw my cousin there, and she marked my card. I was also exhausted." - Lizzie "When I was running, my body hurt but I was still running. I had 8 tally marks." - Alik "I learned that mosquitos are the most dangerous animal on Earth. I learned it from the Dangerous Animal book." - Odemar "We found out 21 ways to make 20 with 2 numbers." - Carmella (when adding) "I liked when we were at the Fun Run and I liked it when I did my first one, because that was when I was not at all sweaty. Then after 11 rounds I started to get very sweaty and have a headache, but I still kept on running until it was over." - Emilia "We did Daily 5, but we read a couple books. We did it for 15 minutes." - Marin "I learned how to Read to Self quietly" - Advay "I like when we do Daily 5, because I like to read. I learned about sharks when I was reading. I learned that they didn't have bones." - Carmella "I liked in the Fun Run that my father was supporting my brother. He would stay there and hold a spot for my brother, so he didn't need to stop. My brother has 14 and I have 16." - James
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This week has been full of different inquiry activities. Students participated in a non-verbal task as an introduction into our first unit: Who We Are. Students were asked to build a house or some sort of structure, working together with their table group. However, students could not speak!Afterwards, students reflect on how they felt, explaining why they felt that way, and offered a suggestion for how they might change the activity if they did it again. "Instead of talking we would sing. We would make a park instead of a house." "I felt happy, because I was excited to make it. If I did this activity again, I would let them talk." "I felt frustrated, because of when I made the floor. I would put the glue on the tape next time." "I felt weird, because how could we make a house with all the sticks?" "I felt sad, because it's hard to make it." "I felt happy, because I never build with sticks. If I did this activity again, we can speak." "I felt frustrated, because it kept coming off! I was angry too. I was angry at the lollypop sticks! I would use more materials and I would use more sticky tape!!!!" "I was happy, because we were using teamwork to make something." On Wednesday, students worked together to try the activity again, but this time they were allowed to talk to each other. When we reflected on the task, some students said: "I felt happy, because we can talk now and I know now which part of the house to do." "I felt happy, because we were working as a big team." "I felt frustrated, because it was hard to fix it together, because I was using glue. I thought if I used sticky tape it would have worked." "I felt mad, because it was a sticky situation and it was breaking apart." "I felt annoyed, because everybody was talking." In the end, we came to the conclusion that sometimes talking is helpful, but sometimes it is not. Sometimes not talking is helpful, but sometimes it is not. Students also explained that if you are talking, it needs to be about the job or task being completed, otherwise it's not helpful. Students also completed a Words Their Way spelling assessment and will be starting spelling next week. More information to come. Home reading books went home on Friday. Students have a Home Reading Journal in which they can keep track of their nightly reading. Parents or students can write a comment about the book, and I will be checking these periodically. Students are free to exchange home reading books as they wish throughout the week from a specific selection of 'just right books', but are encouraged to do so at least once or twice per week. We will soon have some zippered bags with which the students will use to bring their books and papers home. We spent some time learning a few of the parts of Daily 5. Ask your child what they need to do during 'Read to Self' each day. We practiced the routines and are working on building our stamina. Students also made bookmarks to help them pick 'good fit books' based on their purpose, interest, comprehension and knowledge of the words. We have also been working hard at retelling stories - both orally and acting them out. Students worked together in groups to retell 'The Little Red Hen' and did a fantastic job of telling the story in order, adding extra detail and using expression. In math, students explored shape manipulatives, and used them to cover other larger shapes in different ways. We also explored the relationship between the 100s chart and number line. We will be investigating more into numbers and developing a strong number sense, including place value, in the coming weeks. I wish you all a fun and relaxing weekend. Ms. Luttrell
We have just finished our first week of Grade 2. Everyone has spent time learning routines and getting to know each other. I have been very impressed with how kind students are to one another and how helpful everyone has been.
Welcome to Grade 2.1! My name is Meghan Luttrell, and I have been teaching for 7 years. I am originally from Portland, Oregon, but have spent the past five years teaching Grade 1 in Germany. After five years in Frankfurt, I was ready for a change. When I'm not teaching, I can be found cooking, reading, traveling, working out at Crossfit, cycling and most importantly, eating! I can't wait to meet my students and look forward to a fantastic year together.
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AuthorWe are 7 and 8 year old students who live in Singapore. Our teacher, Ms. Luttrell, will be helping us write blog posts throughout the year! Archives
June 2016
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