Writing, Centers, and Our First Project!

It's been a fantastic August; I can hardly believe we've been in school a whole month already! The transition to second grade and a new school building has been an adventure but I think we're all finally settled. Here are a few of our fantastic ELA centers in action:

We got our classroom iPads and learned how to take care of them while exploring our new apps! 

We also started visual art class with the amazing Ms. Bradford!

We read our first nonfiction unit story of the year, "Exploring Space," learned about main idea and details, and tried our hands at expository informative writing. These kids amaze me everyday!

For this story we also incorporated some visual art experiences by creating sentences and murals to define our amazing words for the week. Each group of students had two words to incorporate into a sentence and picture. Here are some of the collaborating groups in action: 

We also had our first drama/theater class. The director, Ms. Fleischman, focused on projection and expression while reinforcing the importance of listening to directions through Shel Silverstein poems. Can't you just see the emotion expressed with each child's face and body language? 

Our first class project was a "Me Project" in which the students designed a mini-me and presented it to the class. Students were to focus on what made them unique. The listening audience was to compare and contrast what similar interests they shared with the presenting students.

Download project instructions HERE. 

We've had a blast so far and can't wait to share more of our learning!

 

School is in Session!

We've had a great first two weeks of school! We started in a classroom that wasn't quite unpacked from the move to our new building, but you wouldn't know it by the looks on the students' faces.

They are so excited to be in our fresh, newly renovated school! On the first day we learned procedures for being the best learners possible through Whole Brain Teaching rules and gestures. The kids love learning with actions. We also learned our class responsibilities and were assigned jobs to help our community of learners.

Our new elementary music teacher, Ms. Staples, came into our classroom to read and sing rhythm stories. 

The students learned their numbers and practiced lunch time procedures.

The first Friday of school our new playground opened up. 

We practiced math, had an introductory lesson in our interactive math journals, and used our reading books to learn about theme and compare/contrast two poems.

I can't wait to share more second grade adventures in our new school.

School Under Construction

I'm so lucky to have a job I love at a school I absolutely adore! We got a newly renovated school building this year with a new state of the art theater. Due to the renovation construction, teachers and staff were not able to go into the school until one week before school started. That gave me 7 days (not including pre-service prof. development hours) to unpack Kindergarten classroom boxes and organize a new second grade classroom, not to mention parent orientation was just 2 days after staff could enter the building. So, here is what my classroom looked like the day I could come in and work:

 Here is what it looked like by the end of day 1 (a little progress):

On orientation night, things started coming together--thanks to some awesome helpers!

Finally, by the first day of school, it was looking like a real classroom!

Here are some of the ELA centers we used this week

I love those freebie bin labels from Sunny Days!

In addition to the new school renovation, we are also getting a brand new theater! We've been anxiously watching the theater construction through our window. Here is the progress so far:

So much for a room with a view!

The theater is expected to be done by March. Everyone is so excited to be able to watch productions and be on stage in this magnificent structure! I'll keep you updated.