Our First Week Together

Our school year began by learning virtually and building our class culture from behind a computer screen.  After nine weeks of virtual learning and then two weeks of slowly entering back into the building in a small group setting, we finally got to have our entire class together under the same roof!  Last week was such an incredible week!! Regardless of the masks and other new safety protocols, our class couldn't be happier to finally be learning together in person and in our school building! 

This week was a busy one, indeed!  In honor of the recent elections in our country, we decided to have a class election to name a Class President and a Class Vice President.  We talked about what makes good leaders and what responsibilities a president and vice president would have. Many of our students expressed interest in "running" for this role so we decided to have new elections each month.  We want to give as many children a chance as possible throughout the school year. After having the chance to write and give speeches about why they should be voted on, our students made campaign posters and voted on our class leaders.  With joy on their faces and squeals in their voices, Jaklyn and Charlotte were named this month's president and vice president.  How exciting!! Way to go, girls!!

During Math this week, we dove into Place Value and focused on the value of the digits in the hundreds, tens and ones places. We built numbers using base ten blocks and wrote numbers in standard form, word form and expanded form. Using base ten blocks, we built robots and other creatures as well as did a fun Class Number Walk.  We also played an awesome partner game called "Make 100" (the closest person to 100 after adding three 2 digit numbers, WINS!) We all learned so much in Math this week while have a wonderful time together!

In Literacy, we reviewed sequencing, character response and visualization. We really enjoyed practicing our skill of sequencing while we sequenced how to eat an oreo (we even got to EAT two oreos... YUM!).  We spent a lot of time this week talking about the importance of using our sense of hearing to help build a picture in our brains of what is happening in our stories. We learned how bats use their hearing to help them (with echolocation) and found out how some blind people do the same. We practiced visualizing by listening to a story without looking at pictures, while drawing on paper what we saw in our brains. 

We practiced Read to Self, started working on an informational writing piece, learned on iStation and worked hard on some Word Work activities to practice our Letterland words for the week. We were busy all week long!

On Friday, we enjoyed our lunch outside on the grassy area near the playground.  We social distanced so we could eat safely while talking to our friends. The weather was perfect and we loved every minute of being outside!

2nd Grade Rocks!!