Please Stay Still…

As many of you are aware, we were lucky to have, Chip Wood,  co-founder of Northeast Foundation for Children and also known for his work with a Responsive Classroom, spend the passed 2 days visiting our school. Chip took the time to observe our classrooms, talk with teachers and gain a true sense of our school community. Yesterday, while listening at Chip’s workshop, he said one thing that stood out in my mind, “The best way to listen is to be still.” I thought about this and decided to bring it up with the class today. We had a wonderful discussion about how the smallest thing such as, scribbling in a notebook or picking at the bottom of your shoe, could be a distraction to yourself and others trying to listen. We also talked about how feels when you have something important to say and no one seems to be listening. We then tried an experiment directly after. The students brought poems that they had been working on to the rug to share. We challenged ourselves to stay still and look at the person who was sharing his/her poem. With a few reminders, all 16 students and myself, remained still throughout the poetry share. It was quite a remarkable difference. I asked the kids how that felt to share with this “stillness.” They were overjoyed and explained how “awesome” it felt to know everyone was listening. It was wonderful to watch each child light up after knowing his/her voice was heard. I hope to continue and build on this discussion in 2L this year.

All About Writing

2L is in the midst of some serious writing. During writing workshop we are learning about the ingredients of a poem. We have practiced looking at special treasures through “fresh new eyes.” This is the first ingredient. We have read poems from some famous authors  and studied how they have looked at objects in new and exciting ways. In Zoe Ryder’s, “The Pencil Sharpener,” Zoe imagines a pencil sharpener filled with tiny bees, sharpening the point on her pencil. The second ingredient is adding line breaks to make the words sound like music. In these lessons, the students are practicing adding line breaks in their poems to give the words a rhythm and flow. Students are enjoying using their imaginations and sharing their poetry with each other.

We have also been studying the layers of a paragraph. We’ve been looking at paragraphs as sandwiches. The top piece of bread is the “topic sentence.” Next, we have the lettuce, meat and cheese layers, which make up the three detail sentences. The bottom layer of bread is our closing sentence. Today we began discussing persuasive writing and creating persuasive paragraphs for our invention brochures. The students had an impressive start to these paragraphs and are excited to share them at the upcoming Invention Convention!

Kindness is Cooler…

Last week we read a poem called “New Years Resolution.” It sparked a conversation about making a resolution and meaning it and how we could work to be more kind in our classroom. Each of us then thought about what we could work on as individuals and wrote them down on hearts as our “Classroom Kindness Resolutions.”  We posted them up on our “Acts of Kindness Wall,” and are making an effort to make our classroom and even kinder place.

During Mr. Caron’s challenge today, we worked with a GIANT tangram. Mr. Caron showed us a shape and we then each were given 30 seconds to spend moving the tangram pieces around, trying to re-create the shape. We worked together nicely, using our words and helping each other out when needed. We solved 3 puzzles together in just a short time with everyone’s participation. Way to go 2L!

Reading Like Writers

As part of our writing workshop, we’ve been reading lots of picture books and looking at the different techniques used by illustrators. We read Lyle, Lyle Crocodile to examine illustrations done in water color and outlined in sharpie. In Eric Carle’s, The Tiny Seed, we studied his bright and colorful tissue paper collages. Cynthia Rylant uses colored pencil with short strokes in, The Relatives Came. Finally, we looked at the charcoal with a splash of paint sketches done in, Olivia, written by Ian Falconer. Today we set up a writers/artist workshop in the art room where the kids got to spend some time testing out the different media that we’ve been discussing. After testing all 4 types, the students then decided which type of illustration would work best for their next piece they are beginning to publish. Here are a few pictures from our writers/artist workshop.

Great Day by All

Yesterday’s trip to the Boston Children’s Museum was fabulous! The kids were great, the activities were perfect and everyone truly enjoyed themselves. The highlights seemed to be the climbing structure, bubble room and raceways challenge. During the challenge the kids were able to use the knowledge they have been gaining in the classroom and transfer it over to the roller-coaster challenge. It was really amazing to hear the kids using terms like momentum, speed and friction. The were focused and continued to test their tracks until their marbles reached the finishing cup. I was able to witness lots of teamwork and perseverance.

Click on the link below to get a taste of the fun being had by all!  

museum – music video

Classroom Happenings

Guest Readers

What an exciting time of year! We have a lot happening in our room and the holiday spirit is in the air. We are having a blast listening to the many different holiday read-alouds being shared by many parents. Thank you to all for volunteering. It’s always nice to hear another voice besides my own. 

Writing

In writing we have some amazing stories in creation. Some students are working on stretching the truth from their own lives, while others are creating completely fabulous fiction stories. We are learning about how to make our writing like the writing of authors we read. We are watching our word choice and using “sparkly words.” Some students are playing with their words like the fun series, Geronimo Stilton. Many of are using that special number 3 and writing things in threes, while also attempting to use some interesting language like similes, metaphors and alliterations. At the same time we are all working on planning our stories out ahead of time so we have a clear path before we begin writing. The ideas are wonderful ranging from Santa loosing his mind to stories of princesses and scary old men appearing in the woods. It’s been a whole lot of fun! 

Reading

In reading we’ve been focussing on questioning. While reading “Toys Go Out” and now “Toys Come Home” we are keeping track of our questions before, during and after we read. We are also checking to see which questions get answered as we read. We are learning that asking questions while we read is helping us to pay attention to the story while we listen carefully for answers to our important question. Next week we will begin to talk about the difference between thick and thin questions. 

Math

During math we have been having fun answering different survey questions and making graphs from the data we collect. Thus far, the students have been practicing making bar graphs and line plots. They are excited to create these graphs in their new math graph notebooks and writing observations about the data we collect. Over the next few weeks we will continue to work on graphing and learn about picto graphs and Venn Diagrams. As always, we are keeping up with our problem solving at the same time! 

Science

As we prepare to head to the Childrens’ Museum, we are studying Balance and Motion. This great unit has many hands on activities that the children are loving. We have discussed different scientific terms such as friction, force, spinning and many more. The children have built mobiles, tops, zoomers and practiced balancing different objects using counter weights. This will help the students during the raceways challenge at the museum. 

Social Emotional

As a class we continue to read “Toys Come Home” and discuss empathy through these 3 lovable toys. We are also working on Acts of Kindness as well. We are noticing what kind things others are doing and posting them up on our “Acts of Kindness Wall.” We are hoping to make it to at least 100 and if so, celebrating in some way. Keep up the great work 2L!

Bittersweet

Finally, we have some bittersweet news. As of Monday Ms. Sherman will no longer be working in our classroom. She will be covering for the 3rd grade teacher, Ms. Coronado, while she is out on maternity leave. We are sad she won’t be in our room but very happy for Ms. Sherman, as it is a great opportunity for her!! Yay Ms. Sherman:)

Barnes and Noble Schedule

December 6th  –READERS’ THEATRE PERFORMANCES

BARNES AND NOBLE Portsmouth

In the Children’s Area down back:

5:00  2L  Title: Book! Book! Book!
5:20 2L  Title: Dinosnores
5:40 3C  Title: School Picture Day
6:00 3C Title: Recess Queen
6:20 3E Title: Mudball
6:40 3E Title: Old Cricket
7:00  3M Title: Great Fuzz Frenzy

Great Evening to do your holiday shopping as all purchases will benefit our school!

Teaching Empathy Through “Toys Go Out”

We are currently reading the book, Toys Go Out, by Emily Jenkins. Through these 6 short stories, 3 lovable toys, Stingray, Lumphy the Buffalo, and Plastic, the bouncy ball, teach us about feelings, having empathy and how to treat others. The children and I are falling in love with these little guys while also having wonderful conversations after each story about how we can connect people’s feeling and emotions to the feelings and emotions of these toys. This morning we talked about differences and how boring the world would be if we all appeared the same. We also discussed how it is important to be beautiful on the inside. We are all really enjoying this book and it’s often hard to put it down and move on!

Fiction Roller Coast Story – Zach

In writing I am working on a fiction story about a roller coaster breaking with Jack, Joe, Peyton and me riding it. Someone has this big bucket of hot lava and he pours it on the track and the track breaks. They had to get a spider to make a web for the roller coaster to bounce of it. Yesterday we talked about a good lead. A lead is when the story starts off with a little detail without giving away the story to the reader wants to keep on reading. I am trying to start off my story with a good lead. 

Gabriella’s Fancy Blog

In writing workshop we are working fiction writing. Yesterday we learned about the rule of 3. It’s when do things in 3′s, like three words to describe a character, or 3 best friends. I am writing about an evil knight named Evil, who tries to capture a princess. I am in the middle of it.