Homemade Magnetic "Boggle" Board: An Anytime Word Work Center

I have seen a lot of great ideas on Pinterest for homemade "Boggle" boards and repurposed cookie sheets.  I decided to combine the ideas to create my own magnetic set.  I had a parent donate a well-used cookie sheet and I spray painted it with glossy paint.  I made my own set of letters and reinforced the backs with cardstock.  After laminating the letters, I fastened a small square of magnetic tape to the back of each one.  I fastened the cookie sheet to a metal storage cabinet in my classroom using 4 strong magnets.  When a student wants to complete the center, they may either sit next to the cabinet to write down the words they find on their "Boggle Answer Sheet," or they may take the board to their desk to complete.  At the beginning of each week, I mix up the letters so that a new game can be played.  This is the second week I have used the board in my classroom and so far, my second graders really enjoy it.    

Thank You Secret Pal!

I would just like to say a very special "thank you" to my secret pal who had this beautiful purple cake waiting for me on my desk Friday morning in honor of my half birthday.  Each staff member at Solomon has a family that sponsors them as their secret pal.  Secret Pals leave special treats for us throughout the year.  We have such wonderful and caring parents and students and this was such a fun surprise for my whole class.  Needless to say, they were very eager to help me eat this tasty snack. I have truly enjoyed all of my fun surprises this year, many of them in my favorite color purple.  It is truly a blessing to work with people who truly appreciate and support what we do to educate kids! 

Classroom Newsletter: February 27, 2012

This Week

Do not forget that this is a shortened week due to parent teacher conferences.  There will be an early dismissal on Thursday and no school on Friday.  If you have not signed up yet and would like to meet with me, please call or return your pink form to set up a time.  If you are unable to make it but would like a phone conference, please let me know.   I look forward to meeting with all of you to discuss your wonderful children! 

Looking ahead to March, we have a very busy month planned.  Wednesday March 7 is Grandfriend’s Day.  A grandfriend is a grandparent, or other special friend/relative.  We would like our grandfriends to join us for chapel at 8:30 and stay for refreshments and the book fair until 10:00 am.  At that time, we will say “goodbye” to our grandfriends and continue with a normal school day.

Don’t forget to help out with our preparations for the March 18^th open house.  Our interviews, posters, etc. are due Friday March 9^th so that I can add items where needed.   

Reading/Creative Writing

This week we are reading stories about outer space.  We will focus on identifying the main idea and review glossary usage.  During creative writing time, we are starting a short poetry unit.  We will look at examples of other poems and produce some of our own.  This week we will work on poems with similies and list poems.  

Phonics/Language

Our topic of the week is pronouns.  The sound of the week is the short u sound spelled “ou” as in “cousin”.

Math

We are continuing to take addition timed tests this week.  Everyone has made tremendous improvements, but some students would still benefit from additional practice at home. It is expected that all second graders know their basic addition facts quickly and accurately. Last week we started a new unit on fractions.  This seemed to be a new concept to most students.  Be sure to check your child’s homework as they may need extra help with this new concept.

This Week’s Assignments

 It has been awhile since I have received reading logs from some students.  Keep turning those in for stickers!

Math homework Tue-Thursday

NO reading homework until after Mrs. Schultze’s projects are due

Have a great week,

Mrs. O’Brien

mrsobrienclassconnect.blogspot.com

Classroom Newsletter February 21, 2012

This Week

I hope that everyone had an enjoyable President’s Day weekend.  This week marks the beginning of the season of Lent.  Join us Wednesday at 8:30 for a special Ash Wednesday chapel service lead by Pastor Henry.  Last week, you should have received a letter from me about how to help with our open house in honor of the 150^th anniversary.  Please help your child choose a project to contribute to our 1980’s theme.  I am still in need of pictures of Solomon students from the 1980s.  Let me know if you have any I can borrow.

Reading/Creative Writing

This week we are finishing unit four.  We will tie up some loose ends and review some of the more difficult concepts.  Skills we are working on this week include realism and fantasy, sequencing and main idea/details.  In preparation for next week’s parent teacher conferences we will have an oral reading assessment on Thursday and a unit test on Thursday.

Phonics/Language

This week we are reviewing adjectives.  Our sound of the week is the “kn” and “mb” sound.  We will review that the k and b are silent letters.

Math

We are starting a new chapter on fractions.  We will review what a fraction is and explore fractions as parts of a whole and parts of a collection.

This Week’s Assignments

 It has been awhile since I have received reading logs from some students.  Keep turning those in for stickers!

Math homework Tue-Thursday

Cause and effect worksheet due Friday

Have a great week,

Mrs. O’Brien

mrsobrienclassconnect.blogspot.com

Conversation Station: An Anytime Oral Language Activity

 I am always looking for new centers and activities that my students can use any time they need extra work.  Recently, I tweaked an idea from my reading series and made a "conversation station".  The center is meant for two students to complete together to build oral language skills.  

The container is an empty wipes canister that I covered with fancy duct tape. Inside, I made 50 laminated conversation cards with questions from Gregory Stock's The Kid's Book of Questions.  Each question is meant to require more than a one word answer and generally requires some critical thinking, (ie "what would you do if everyone in your family forgot your birthday?").




When completing the center, students should take turns asking and answering the questions.  It is not meant to be completed in one sitting, but students can work together as long as they want (provided that all of their other work is finished).  The beuaty of this center is that it can be repeated multiple times and still be a new experience every time the child has a new partner. I have been using it for two weeks now and it is a big hit because kids always love the chance to talk in class.

This idea could be easily adapted to become a creative writing station.

Our First Live Video Chat

My class with Ms. Fenny

In one of our recent Weekly Reader articles, my class learned about the celebrations and traditions of Chinese New Year. Fenny, one of my very dear friends and a Chinese-Indonesian, celebrates this holiday. Using Skype, we were able to chat with her from her home in Springboro, Ohio and learn more about how her family celebrates. 

Ms. Fenny on Skype

Prior to the chat, each student wrote two questions that they wanted to ask Ms. Fenny. Some of them were specifically about Chinese New Year, while others were about what life was like growing up in Indonesia. We learned about the foods, they like to eat and she even showed us red envelopes used to pass out money as gifts; just like ones in the article.

My favorite part of talking with Fenny is that she does such a great job of sending the message to kids not to take for granted all of the freedoms and opportunity that we have as citizens of the United States. After the chat we worked together to complete a Venn diagram to compare life in Indonesia to life in the United States. Each student then wrote a paragraph with the sentence starter, "If I went to Indonesia I would...".
I love finding new ways to connect reading to live people and events. I have learned so much from having Fenny as a friend and I was really glad that I had the opportunity to share that with my students. 

Classroom Newsletter: February 13, 2012

This Week

We will celebrate Valentine’s Day with the first grade Tuesday morning.  It has always been my classroom tradition to have an ice cream sundae party as it is a nice treat in the middle of winter.  Mrs. Schultze and I will provide the toppings and if you are able, we have asked for a $1 donation to help offset the cost. Your child may bring a decorated box for his or her valentines, otherwise we will provide a baggie for all of their treats.   

Reading/Creative Writing

Last week during creative writing time, we began writing persuasive essays.  Since we are using the “OREO” method (opinion, reason, explain, opinion), the topic is “which snack should Mrs. O’Brien bring to share with the class. We have talked about writing to the audience (Mrs. O’Brien) and factors that would persuade me to choose one snack over another (cost, convenience, taste).  We discussed that writing to persuade is like writing to win an argument.  Once our work is finished, we will read them to the class and vote on which one is the most persuasive (students cannot vote for their own).  I will then bring in the winning snack to share with the class.

During reading this week we will focus on identifying cause and effect in literature.  Our class story this week is usually a favorite, Missing: Stuffed Rabbit. We will continue to work on summarizing and connecting story to story and story to personal events.

Phonics/Language

I have been working hard to enhance our classroom with hands on graphic organizers, and language activities.  Last week, I added a new “conversation station” to improve oral language fluency.  This week’s new addition is a homemade Boggle board.  Ask your child how to play our newest making words game.

Our sound of the week is the “aw” and “ough” sound.  We will learn how to use adverbs.

Math

There will be a test over chapter 7 on Wednesday.  Review sheets were sent home today and our next chapter is fractions.  We are continuing to work on addition timed tests.  I have seen a great deal of improvement in most students, however, I still highly recommend regular flashcard practice.  You can find printable flashcards on the apples4theteacher website. It is important that students are able to work at a rapid pace to identify these basic facts as they are necessary to understand multiplication facts in third grade.

This Week’s Assignments

 Reading story due Friday

Keep working on those reading logs!

Math review sheet due Wed (turn in on Tue. for a bonus point)

Math homework on Thursday

Have a great week,

Mrs. O’Brien

mrsobrienclassconnect.blogspot.com

Classroom Newsletter: February 6, 2012

This Week

I am so proud of our second graders and the wonderful job they did leading chapel!  If you were not able to attend the service, you may view the message from my blog, mrsobrienclassconnect.blogspot.com or on youtube (Search for Solomon second grade Ten Commandments chapel). To be able to understand the Ten Commandments, explain them in their own words and act them out is nothing short of remarkable.  Well done!   We also had a lot of fun last week playing games and eating snacks in honor of hundreds day.  It was a fun filled week! You should find a note in your child’s folder today in regards to Valentine’s Day. We will celebrate with the first graders by passing out valentines and enjoying an ice cream sundae bar.  If your child would like to bring in a decorated valentine box, they may do so.  Otherwise, we will provide baggies for all of their “loot”.  This week is a pretty “typical” week as we learn and grow together.  

Reading/Creative Writing

This week we will read Paul Goes to the Ball and The Rooster Who Went to His Uncle’s Wedding.  We will continue to work on summarizing and connecting the stories to past experiences.  We will also review the concept of “theme” or the moral to the story.  On Friday, we will take our third reading benchmark test.  These will continue to be more challenging as there is very little the teacher is allowed to read to the class.  At this point in the school year, it is very important for second graders to become independent readers as it is expected in third grade.

Phonics/Language

Our sound of the week is the “a, au, al” sound. We are also reviewing adjectives and learning about comparative adjectives.

Math

This week we will complete a number of math explorations and data collections.  The terms “range” and “median” will be introduced.  Overall, math addition timed tests are going well.  Keep practicing those flashcards to improve fluency.

This Week’s Assignments

Short story with worksheet went home last Fri. Due this Fri.

Keep working on those reading logs!

Math homework Monday-Thursday

Have a great week,

Mrs. O’Brien

mrsobrienclassconnect.blogspot.com

Solomon Lutheran 2nd Grade: The Ten Commandments

I am so proud of my class and the wonderful job they did leading the worship service on Wednesday! These young people read about the Ten Commandments and then acted them out in their own words. This class is a great example of what can be accomplished with teamwork and a positive attitude. Well done second graders!