Second Grade Area Review

https://www.khanacademy.org/math/pre-algebra/measurement/area-basics/v/introduction-to-area-and-unit-squares

Prioritizing New Facts and Generative Grammar! Plus Bonus Audio!

This week we have been meeting in new book groups.  Some 2nd Graders read into Into the Ocean by Brenda Z. Guiberson.  To keep track of what they were learning from this fascinating book, the kids used sticky notes to write down interesting new facts. Then as a group we talked about which of those facts were most interesting.  Each student had a different criterion for what made their facts more important. Some thought facts relating to how turtles are endangered were the most noteworthy while others prioritized information about their life cycle.  Above, Owen shares his thoughts on the facts he chose to highlight.

We are also doing a quick poetry study and have had so much fun creating our versions of Sheila Hamanaka's book I Look Like a Girl.  The book has a repeated line structure that we are using  to build our own poems.  After we get some basic lines down, we will go back and revise them.  What's most interesting is how our young writers are extending their simple sentences with participle phrases.  For instance, Adam, whose poem you can listen to below, takes his line "I look like a boy but really I'm a coral reef," and turns it into "I look like a boy but really I'm a coral reef bursting with life."


If you are interested in some of the teaching theory behind this kind of approach to writing,  there is some interesting research from the National Writing Project about the use of prominent feature analysis.  This is basically looking at effective writing and teasing apart the specific grammatical strategies a writer uses to build their piece.  Dry as it sounds, this is kind of revolutionary: it helped me see that grammar and writing are most effectively taught as a set of tools to use and not as a set of rules to follow.  Poetry is an especially effective way to expose kids to grammatical tools and have them practice in a highly motivating context. So, with this poem, we are looking at one kind of free modifier (that "bursting with life" part of Adam's line) and how it helps us complicate and stretch a simple declarative sentence. Of course, our young writers are focused on creating their poem (not on the technical application of final free modifiers to create structural complexity on the sentence level), but it is the borrowed structure that allows them to put it all together.  Fascinating to watch it happen!

This Week's News Brought to You by Stacie

We are lucky to have a guest blogger this week. Stacie was waiting for her sister to be done with band practice and was kind enough to help me write this post.  Take it away, Stacie!

Click here for audio of Stacie reading the news.

In class we have been learning about birds.  We went for a walk around the school to see what birds we could find.  We saw crows, a blue jay, two fox sparrows getting twigs for a nest.  The best was the hummingbird.  It was on the very top of a tree. I looked away and it was gone.  We looked it up in the guide and we think it was an Anna's hummingbird.

We posted all of what we saw to the Great Backyard Bird Count.  We send the information to scientists who can use the information to understand birds all around the world. 

We are learning about how weather works and how climate change will affect animal habitats.  Today our teacher printed off vocabulary words that go with that.  We had to match the terms to the definition and an example picture.  We worked as a group and found people who had the pieces that fit with ours.

In Writing we were practicing writing our memoirs which is our memories.  We worked on thinking back and staying focused on our writing.  I was writing about my Dad's birthday on Saturday.  We went to a snow mountain and we played snow baseball with a guy who built an igloo. 

We third graders are practicing multiplication with Mrs. Zimmerman. Sometimes we do time tests.  Good bye, I'm leaving you  now.

 

 

Links for Bird Watching and Migration Research

Check out this website for information on birds.  Look for birds that we might see tomorrow when we go out for the backyard bird count.

all about birds


Here is some information about the Great Backyard Bird Count.


This afternoon we will use this website to learn about animal migration and plant cycles.

You will choose either a plant or an animal to research.  Get ready to take some notes to add to our posters.

Telling Time Links

Second graders, please use these links to practice telling time!
Watch the Youtube video first and then try the Khan Academy activities.

Youtube Video

Khan Academy

Origami Con 2015

Thanks to all the family members who were able to attend our Origami Conference last Friday.  It was so fascinating to watch the students take the reins.  I learned so much about them as learners.  This process was intended to ease them into a process of self-directed inquiry and practice.  Origami is a fascinating art and is meaningful on its own but my larger goal was for students to build the skills that will let them chase down their own questions.  I want my students to keep their curiosity shining brightly.

Last year I was lucky enough to present at a conference with Dr. Susan Engel who studies curiosity and learning.  One key facet of her work is on how many questions kids ask during the day.  Notably that number shrinks as kids get older.  One of the obvious conclusions from the data she presents is that school is the chief reason the number of questions drops off.  Now, I am absolutely part of this problem/process. I can't count the number of times a day I say "Great question, but we're not talking about that right now."  But, I live with the goal of making my class where there is time to "talk about that." 

Field Trips and Origami

On Wednesday, we are heading downtown for the Youth Philharmonic performance.  Today we talked about what the kids can expect on the trip and what it might feel like when we're there.  We talked about audience expectations with Ms. Tori, our librarian, who always delivered a brilliant performance of proper audience etiquette (she's an actor after all!).  If you have not yet turned in a permission slip, please get in tomorrow.  Unfortunately, we have limited slots for chaperones, so if I have not contacted you about coming along, we are unable to have you join us.

We are exploring something new in class, self-directed learning time.  Kids are going to be pursuing topics of their own interest.  To get smarter about learning on our own, we starting with how to use digital tools to guide us.  Youtube is a fantastic resource, but you have to know how to use it so that you don't get lost or distracted.  I asked kids to find an easy origami tutorial that they could master after a little practice.  The results so far are astounding.  They have progressed to steadily more challenging tutorials.  And along the way they are getting lots of practice with some key skills for using online tutorials - pausing videos to try something out, rewinding to get it right, and seeking help from experts (that is, getting help from your friend who's got it down).  It is so fun to watch the knowledge spread organically.  We be using the skills to pursue deeper topics of inquiry.