We have been in school for seven weeks now and I am being to know my 30 students. I am learning their strengths and the areas in which I can help them learn and grow. This is the largest class I have ever had and I am doing my best to meet their needs. The academic expectations in second grade can be difficult for some but most students love the challenge. We are working on developing a growth mindset. Students know that when tasks are difficult their brains are growing! They may not be not be able to do it now but that just mean they can't do it yet - not that they will never be able to do it. It truly is a transformative way for students to think about their learning.
It is hard to believe we have been in school for 3 weeks already! I am working hard to get to know all of these fabulous students and how I can best serve them as their teacher. Thank you to all the parents who filled out the survey to give me some insight into your child.
Routines are being established and we are working hard to build a safe learning environment where mistakes are viewed as learning opportunities. Second grade is a fun year where we will learn and grow to be wonderful readers, writers and mathematicians. I am looking forward to an amazing year! Students are working hard as they learn to tell time. This can often be a difficult task for a second grader. Please take some time to practice with your child on an analog clock if you can. Unfortunately the snow days interfered with the district report card day. Because of the unplanned time off, report cards will not come out until next week. I am sorry for the delay. I hope you all enjoyed the snow with your families. Report Cards December 6th is a grading day for elementary school. As teachers, we take this time to complete student report cards from the data we have gathered since the beginning of the year. These should come home with students next week on December 11th. If you have any questions please be sure to let me know. It is exciting to see the progress they have made since the beginning of the year! Reading We are starting a new unit on visualizing this month in reading. The Daily Cafe site describes the importance of visualizing: "When students listen to or read text, they can create pictures in their mind or make a mind movie. When readers visualize what is happening in the story, they remember more of what they read or hear." We will read a variety of books this month. Students will have a chance to illustrate and write about what they visualize. They are excited about the work they are doing and how it can help them to comprehend what they are reading.
The math unit we will do this week is considered a mini unit – it has only 3 lessons and a short unit test. During this unit students will learn about the properties of squares, triangles, quadrilaterals and parallelograms. We will also be working on perimeter. Look for the parent letter that is coming home on Monday.
We are working on solving story problems in unit 3 of math. Students are being asked to solve the problem and show their work - that includes an equation, a drawing and a label. Wow, that seems like a lot for a second grader but they can do it!
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AuthorMy name is Colette Trotter and this is my 28th year in the Springfield School District. I am happy to be teaching at Two Rivers-Dos Ríos with a wonderful team of second grade teachers. Archives
September 2017
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