Caught Reading!

Last week, Ms. Casida, our amazing assistant principal, stopped by during our Daily 5 time.  We were immersed in Read to Self and she laid down on the carpet and started reading as well.  We have launched Read to Self, Working on Writing (soon to add blogging), and Read to Someone.  This week we will begin Word Study.  We are developing stamina and are well on the way to developing lifelong independent literacy skills!

Summarizing Texts

We are currently focusing on summarizing what we have read. Summarizing is taking selections of text and reducing them to their bare essentials: the gist, the key ideas, and the main points that are worth noting and remembering. When students summarize, they are taking sections of the book and pulling out important information and sharing it in our own words (rather than copying it out of the book.)  

As readers, it is important that we summarize what we read so we can remember, organize, and understand the importance of the text we are reading.  This strategy can be a bit challenging to second graders as they learn to identify the most important details to include in their summarization.  

We will begin by learning how to retell stories.  We will do so by breaking down fiction books into "beginning," "middle," and "end" (B-M-E), identifying the most important details in each section.    We will be utilizing a Flow Map (Thinking Maps.)  

I am sending home a Parent Pipeline today (September 10th) with more information about this strategy.  

Homework

Clipart from Discovery Education

Homework.  Some of us love it...some of us not so much.  Most of our school work will be completed at school.  There may be times when your child has not completed work at school and they may need to take it home to complete.  If that is the case, you will be notified via the daily calendar in the Polser folder.  

Very rarely, maybe once or twice this year, the grade level will have a project your child will complete at home.  You will be notified of that in advance.  

Other than that, I do not have a required homework policy.  I advocate and celebrate self-directed learning at home.  I do have some suggestions for you and your child to consider as you plan extra practice Monday-Thrusday.  Again, these are suggestions.  I am sure you and your child will have even better ideas.  

Spelling:
Every week that we are in school on a Monday, your child will bring home a collection for words for spelling practice at home.  Feel free to practice these any way you would like.  I will send home some suggestions of research-based ways to study that have proven to be effective.  I have also created a Spelling City online website on which your child may practice their words. Your child does not need to bring anything back to school saying they practiced.  I will know if they have practiced when we have our weekly spelling checks on Friday, but more importantly your child will know.  


Reading:
Good readers read both in and outside of school.  They read many things--books, magazines, newspapers, even comic books.  They read about topics that interest them.  I suggest that your child read (or better yet, you read with them) for at least 20 minutes every day. Your child will have a book in their Polser folder that is on their reading level starting the week of September 16th. (We are still currently conducting reading assessments.) Your child may choose to read the book I provide or any other reading material that is of interest to them.  

I would love hear about great books your child is reading.  There are many ways your child could share this with me such as tweeting or emailing me (with parent supervision), drawing a picture or writing about their favorite books, recording themselves reading using free creations apps such as Audio Boo, creating a book trailer using a free creation app such as Educreations, or even just having a good old fashioned face-to-face conversation with me.  I do not require that your child keep a reading log or even do any of the previously mentioned things.  I will know if your child is investing time at home reading when I listen to him/her read at school, but more importantly, your child will know.   

Math:
Mathematicians practice and apply their skills both inside and outside of school. I suggest that your child spend some time each week reviewing what they have learned in math.  Your child will have online access to FASTTMath at home so they can practice their facts soon.  (I am waiting for the district to finish setting this up for the current school year.)    I will send home a review sheet on Tuesday that covers concepts we learned the previous week.  Your child may return this sheet if he/she would like me to see it or if they have any questions. I do not require this to be turned in.  I will know if your child is investing time practicing math concepts at home when we are solving problems at school, but more importantly, your child will know.  

Happy learning!

Our Shelfari

One of the wonderful things about teaching today is the ability for classrooms to share their learning on a global level. We have a Shelfari and you can see what books we have read during the school year. I have embedded a widget on this blog which shows this shelf (look to the right.)  We try to write a quick review about each book we read so you can check out our thoughts and ideas. You can also visit our self online and follow us if you have a Shelfari account.  If you see we have posted a book and you would like to know more about it, please contact us via Twitter @2ndGrSuperstars.  We will also begin creating video book reviews as the year progresses.  

We love reading and having an authentic audience to share our reading with makes it even more fun!  

Happy reading!

Connecting With our Class Through Social Media

There are a variety of ways you can connect with our class using social media. Select the one(s) that work best for you.  

Blogger:  Our class blog account

The purpose of our class blog is to provide a more in depth look at the learning in our classroom.  Posts will be updates at least once a week.  For parents, this will take the place of a weekly printed newsletter (parents may request a printed copy of blog posts if they do not have internet access.)  Pictures of students and student work will be posted (with parent permission).  We hope other teachers and classrooms will collaborate with us on our learning.  Comments on our posts are welcome.  Readers will be able to link to all other social media through our class blog. 

Twitter: @2ndGrSuperstars

We will be using Twitter on a daily basis to connect and learn with others.  We will connect with other classrooms and individuals.  Parents are welcome to follow us and share their expertise.  

Facebook:  Like our Facebook Page

  The updates will not be as current as our Twitter page.  They will also be different in nature.  Facebook is a place we will post reminders about special events and periodically post pictures.  If you are a Facebook user, you may want to like our page.  Our posts will show up in your news feed.   

Coming Soon!

Kidblog: Student Blogs 

Students, with parent permission, will have the opportunity to maintain their own individual blogs.  We are currently working on paper blogs in class to learn more about the blogging process.  We will be launching our individual blogs within the first nine weeks.  

Checking for Understanding

We are discussing the comprehension strategy Check for Understanding.  

Check for understanding is an important strategy because good readers stop frequently to check for understanding or to ask who and what.  A Parent Pipeline with more information about this strategy was sent home in our Tuesday News Day folders today (September 3, 2013)


How can you help your child with this strategy at home?

1. When reading to your child, stop periodically and say, “Let’s see if we remember what I just read. Think about who the story was about and what happened.” Do this 3 or 4 times throughout the story.
   
2. When reading to your child, stop and have them practice checking for understanding by saying, “I heard you say...”
   
3. Ask your child the following questions:
   
   • Who did you just read about?
     
   • What just happened?
     
   • Was your brain talking to you while you read?
     
   • Do you understand what was read?
     
   • What do you do if you don’t remember? 
     
     
     

Daily 5/CAFE

Our Language Arts block is built around the Daily 5, a structure that helps students develop the daily habit of reading, writing, and working independently that will lead to a lifelong literacy independence.  

Daily 5 consists of five tasks are are introduced individually.  

1. Read to Self
2. Read to Someone
3. Work on Writing 
4. Word Work
5. Listen to Reading

Each task is modeled and supported by teachers throughout the launching process.  It is not something that is implemented in a week or two, instead our implementation process will continue throughout the five to six weeks.   We are learning what each task looks like, sounds like, and feels like and together discuss the student and teacher expectations during each task.  Most important, we learn why each task is important and how it helps us become lifelong readers and writers.   Students will work on building "stamina" until they successfully achieve independence.  Once we have established increased independence, I can begin pulling reading groups and working one-on-one with students.  

Where Daily 5 gives us the structure for our Language Arts block, CAFE provides us with the strategies we will use to develop our reading skills.  

Comprehension (I understand what I read)

Accuracy (I can read the words)

Fluency (I can read accurately, with expression, and understand what I read.)

Expand Vocabulary (I know, use, and find interesting words.)

We will continue to post about our progress and will begin posting pictures next week once we have all the parent consent forms.