Week 4
Hello families of Mr. Mulligan's 2nd grade! I hope you have had a great transition back into school. Our first week was a wonderful success. I feel like we didn't even track off with the way the students came right in and started where we left off!
This week in Reading, we began our brand new reader's workshop from our curriculum Lucy Calkins. This program has been so engaging and positive with the students this week. Every day we have a different target/goal. Students are being pushed to grow their stamina during reading time. I keep telling the kids "it is not about how high your reading level is, but it's about how STRONG your reading skills are at your level. Often, students want to read higher level books even when it is not their level. Chapter books are the “cool thing” to read. It is my goal to make sure that no matter what their level is students feel confident and proud of their reading level. We will work together to make sure their reading level becomes stronger and stronger. With that, the higher levels will come naturally! We focused on creating goals for our reading block. These goals were page numbers they hoped to read or the number of times they read their books. Furthermore, we focused on performing sneak peeks before we read our books by analyzing the cover, summary on the back and the pictures inside. After this, the students could determine or predict HOW they should read the text. For example, does this book require a happy, sad, anxious, evil villain/super hero emotion?
In writing, students have been focusing more on their small moments. They created circle maps with a variety of ideas for stories they could zoom in on for maximum detail. The students also focused on the five senses that related to their story to add as much detail they can. On Monday, students will start creating books. They will create 4 or 5 rough draft books then pick 1 they want to make their master copy.
In Math, we created number lines to help us create combinations to 20. Students are counting by fives, tens, and ones to help them create their equations. Introducing work station games is coming into play as well as students are given opportunities for more kinesthetic opportunities to show and practice their learning with this concept. Check out our Class Dojo Story on your app today to see two superstar students demonstrate and explain our math concepts and resources.
Speaking of Class Dojo Story, I am beginning to update our Class Dojo Storyboard every single day now with pictures and videos of classroom learning and celebrations. Please make sure to check out the fun every day! In the near future, I will be having students upload items to their digital portfolio for your viewing.
Our FUN RUN is next Friday. Fun Run information was sent home today. If you are wanting to participate in the fun, read over all the information in the packet. Please email me if you have any questions!
We have a brand new addition to our 2nd grade team. Jeanine Laurie is our new Academic Technician. She will be helping 2nd grade in all classrooms. She will be providing opportunities for support or challenge sessions for students. We are so lucky to have a new teacher to help our grade out like this and cannot wait to grow with her help!
