Our Second Grade Wax Museum

Conducting research, using multiple sources, presenting information orally and biographies are all important second grade concepts identified either by the new Common Core Standards or Ohio's new Social Studies Standards.  To teach these concepts in my classroom, I started by bringing in a wide variety of biographies at roughly a second grade reading level from my local library.  My students had a lot of fun choosing a person to learn more about.

I gave the class a week to read the book and complete a basic biography book report on what they read.  The following week, we went to the computer lab where each student used information from an electronic source to complete a "website review" of 3 new facts they learned about their person (most were able to use the encyclopedia found on Yahoo Kids).  After finishing our initial research, each student used their information to write a brief speech as though they were the person that they studied.  As a culminating activity, we dressed like that person and hosted a "wax museum."  Parents and other students were invited to come "push our buttons" and learn more about the life of a famous person. 

While teaching children this young how to conduct research is challenging, I am very proud of the end result.  The class did a great job and it was some of the best oral reading and writing I have seen my students do all year.  In my second year as a primary grades teacher, I have been surprised at the passion children have for nonfiction.  They were so excited to read to gain new information and their passion for learning has been evident in their work.

Classroom Newsletter: May 7, 2012

This Week

What became very evident to me in planning my lessons this week is that this school year is quickly coming to an end!  We have A LOT of school wide activities planned for the remaining weeks so please be sure to check your Crusader Comments.  This week is very busy as we perform our school musical.  I will not assign any homework on Thursday in preparation for our evening performance.     

 Reading/Phonics/Language

The two stories in our reading series this week are about collecting things.   Reading skills this week include using context clues and story element review. During language time we will review using quotation marks to signal dialogue.  A Unit 5 benchmark test is planned for Thursday

Math

We are starting our final chapter (11) this week.  Skills in this chapter that we are working on this week are making change and subtraction with borrowing.  We are also still working timed tests for basic subtraction facts.  There are still a number of students who need to improve upon their speed and accuracy.  If your child is still struggling, I highly recommend spending a few minutes each night reviewing basic subtraction facts using flashcards.

This Week’s Assignments

Reading worksheet due Friday

Math homework Monday-Wednesday

This Week’s Special events:

Tuesday: 9:30 evacuation drill

Wednesday: AM musical dress rehearsal

Thursday: 7:00 PM musical

Friday: 9:30 lockdown drill

Have a great week,

Mrs. O’Brien

mrsobrienclassconnect.blogspot.com

Classroom Newsletter: April 29, 2012

This Week

I am SO PROUD of all of the second graders and the great job they did at our wax museum!  Thank you parents for supporting me and your child with this assignment.  When we work together as a team we can accomplish great things!  The costumes and oral presentations turned out great!  Look on my blog, mrsobrienclassconnect.blogspot.com, later this week for photos, and hopefully video of the presentations. I am hoping to have it all online by Thursday evening.

Don’t forget to join us tomorrow evening for an important meeting about our May 21 overnight to camp.

Creative Writing

This week we are working on a special top secret project.  Please send in with your child a recipe.  I would prefer that the recipe you send in is something that your family enjoys eating together.  Please send in the recipe by this Friday.

 Reading/Phonics/Language

The two stories in our reading series this week are about clubs and clubhouses.  We will talk about clubhouses and write about what our dream clubhouse would be like.  Reading skills of the week include determining realism/fantasy, and story elements review.  Our sound of the week is the long e sound spelled “ie” and “ey” as in cookie and money. During grammar time we will review types of sentences and what is needed to make a complete sentence.

Math

We will finish chapter 10 with a test this Wednesday.  Review sheets went home today.  Later in the week we will talk about saving money at the bank.  

This Week’s Assignments

Reading worksheet due Friday

Math review sheet

Send in a favorite recipe by Friday

Have a great week,

Mrs. O’Brien

mrsobrienclassconnect.blogspot.com

Classroom Newsletter: April 22, 2012

This Week

Join us for our wax museum this Friday April 27 in the second grade classroom at 9:00 am.  We look forward to seeing you then!

Reading/Phonics/Language

This week we will review key concepts before taking our unit 5 skills test.  These include contractions, syllables, main idea and pronouns.

Reading comprehension questions are increasingly difficult on the skills tests.  It is expected that by this point in second grade your child is no longer a beginning reader.  Third graders are no longer learning to read, but rather reading to learn.  Any extra reading comprehension help you can give to your child will greatly benefit them in preparation for third grade.   It is amazing what kind of resources you can find to practice on the Internet.  I get a lot of ideas and resources from superteacherworksheets.com and apples4theteacher.com.      

Creative Writing:

This week we will put the finishing touches on our oral presentations for the wax museum.  Please help your child to prepare a simple costume for Friday.  I do not expect anyone to spend lots of money on a new outfit, simply get creative with what you have.  It is amazing what can be done with paper plates and brown paper grocery bags!

Math

We are continuing to take subtraction timed tests this week.  We will continue to work on chapter 10 which finishes by showing the relationship between money and place value.  Expect a math test early to mid- next week.

This Week’s Assignments

Prepare for Friday’s wax museum

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

Math homework Monday-Thursday

Reading comprehension worksheet was sent home on Friday. Return by this Friday.

Have a great week,

Mrs. O’Brien

mrsobrienclassconnect.blogspot.com

Printable Fiction/Nonfiction Posters

My second graders have a hard time remembering the difference between fiction and nonfiction.  The tendency for many of them is to say that a story is nonfiction when it is "not real."  Using "Google images" I made these posters to help them tell the difference.  Hopefully seeing the picture of a real mouse next to the word nonfiction will help them to remember that nonfiction stories are "real" or "true."

Classroom Newsletter: April 16, 2012

This Week

This week is a pretty “typical” week in our second grade classroom.  We are continuing to work on those skills that we need to master before entering third grade.

Reading/Language

Our stories of the week center around the theme of dinosaurs. At this point many of the skills we are working are not new, but still need work for mastery.  They include: identifying main idea, sequencing, comprehension, rhyming and contractions.  A new skill this week is the identification of antonyms (opposites).  This should be review from earlier schooling and will be touched on to refresh memories. Our sound of the week is the “ex” sound in words like “exercise”.    

Creative Writing:

This week we will use electronic sources and our book reports to create a brief oral presentation about our selected biography person. I will help students with the presentation in class and they may continue to work on it at home.  The directions to the project will be in the red homework folder.   Be thinking about how your child can dress like the person they are studying as we are planning a wax museum.  I do not expect new outfits to be purchased… a lot can be done with some creativity paper plates, yarn, grocery bags, etc. The tentative date for the wax museum, which friends and family are invited to, is still Friday April 27 at 9 am, though I have not confirmed this on the school calendar.  I will do my best to have this set in stone by the end of the week.  This is a new project for me so if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask!

Math

We are continuing to take subtraction timed tests this week.  We will also continue to work on our chapter 10 money unit.  This week we will learn how to count up to make change.    

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 Monday-Thursday

Work on wax museum oral reports at home.  Directions are in the red folder.  Think about your costume for the wax museum next week.

Have a great week,

Mrs. O’Brien

mrsobrienclassconnect.blogspot.com

Literature Circles for Second Grade

Over the last two weeks, I tried my first literature circles as a second grade teacher.  This can be a daunting task with younger kids, but with some research and pre-planning, I thought that it went pretty well.  One of the keys to its success was that I had kids practice all of the "jobs" beforehand with shorter stories in our reading series before tackling a chapter book in small groups.   With my small class of nine, I allowed the students to choose between two pre-selected Magic Tree House books. These worked great because they are short and were high interest reads.  I divided the tasks of the literature circles into five jobs which rotated on a daily basis.  My adorable models are showing off the necklaces I made to identify who had each job for the day. The jobs I assigned are as follows:

Word Wizard: I chose two words from each daily reading assignment and the Word Wizard had to use the dictionary to define the words.

Summarizer:  It was the job of this student to write a brief summary of the daily reading assignment.

Discussion Director: It was the job of this student to write down at least three interesting questions about the chapter to discuss within the reading group.  I found that at this age level, it was difficult for them to come up with more probing questions beyond, "what was the setting, characters, etc."  Next time, I will provide a list of sample questions to engage the students in deeper thinking.

Story Connector: This student had to think of how that chapter relates to something else they have read or done.  The purpose of this job is to connect what we are reading to other literature or real life experiences.  This was the only worksheet that I made myself and you are free to print it for your own personal use.  All other resources that I use come from copyrighted teaching resources.

Lastly, it was the job of the illustrator to draw a picture of what they think the selection might have looked like.

After the first night, I assigned two chapters per day.  I gave students plenty of time in class to finish their job.  The next day each student shared their work in the order listed above and was assigned a new task.  Before completing a job, the student had to read the daily assignment at least twice.  I had a copy of one of the books on CD and placed my struggling readers in this group. Over time, there is probably a lot of tweaking I will do to improve my literature circles, but the class had a great time with it and I feel it was a successful first attempt.