Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Updates via Email

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PS: If you subscribed last year - you have to subscribe again. Subscribers to "Miss Snyder's Blog" didn't carry over to "Mrs. Burns' Blog". Sorry! :)

Sunday, September 7, 2014

We Are Readers!

This week we opened up parts of our Book Nook, looked in our book bins, and enjoyed reading together.

Then we began Read to Self (reading independently). We brainstormed what kids would be doing during Read to Self and what teachers would be doing. We also practiced choosing where to sit while reading.

Our big focus in reading right now is building stamina. This week we discussed what stamina is and timed our reading to check our stamina. On Friday, we read for 22 minutes without getting tired or giving up! Ask your child more about the process of building stamina (When do we stop the timer? What is the expectation during Read to Self? How do you read your books? What books are in your book bin?)
What does Read to Self look like and sound like? Check out the videos below...

Math Workshop

We started our Math Workshop this week! During Math Workshop, we choose from various activities  and work toward a common math goal. This week we were exploring with materials and practicing the Math Workshop Routine. After each math class, we reflected and created some Math Workshop "Norms" (or rules).

There's More to Explore....

This week we explored with a lot of materials! We used math materials, scrap paper, stuffed animals, and more! Ask your child - what was his/her favorite material this week?

Creating Our Rules

Last week we read The North Star, by Peter Reynolds, to inspire us to take our own paths and not just follow the path everyone else takes. Then we created stars to represent our hopes and dreams for the school year.

After deciding what our hopes or dreams were for the year, we decided we needed to make some class rules to ensure we could each achieve our goal.

Our first list of rules was realllllyyyy long. A bit too long. So then we realized that each rule fit into a category: how we treat ourselves, how we treat others, and how we treat the materials. We quickly got to work sorting the rules and then these smart second graders came up with these three big rules:
After we all signed our names - agreeing that we'd follow the rules - we worked in teams to make posters. Our posters showed what these rules look like, sound like, and feel like throughout our day.


Ask your child - what is his/her hope or dream for the year? What does each class rule really mean?

Monday, September 1, 2014

First Week!

We had an outstanding first week back at school! We played games, explored the classroom, and saw old friends! We explored with materials, shared new things we had discovered about them, and discussed how we wanted to take care of them. Check out the pictures below and ask your second grader about our first week adventures!



Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Back to School Get Together


Join us for a Back-to-School Get-Together!


Thursday, August 14th between 4:30-5:30 pm

Drop by when you can and stay as long as you want!


Come and enjoy the first time we're back together .... as SECOND GRADERS!

Catch up with old friends, meet new friends, and have fun!


See you there!!! :)