What's In My Pocketbook?

One of the reading skills we have been working on is making inferences. This is definitely a skill they will continue to learn and develop, but it is crucial for them to start the practice now. I taught them a simple equation to remember when trying to make an inference! You use clues from the text + what we know = an inference. This equation is ingrained in their brain!  To practice inferences, we did an activity called What's In My Bag?  I pulled out several items from my pocketbook and they had to make inferences about me based on the items. Boy did they get a kick out of this!  Don't judge when you see the items that I pulled out!

 

 

 

 

We have been underway with our math unit, Numbers and Operations in Base Ten!  We have been focusing on hundreds, tens, and ones.  In class, we have been working to trade in 10 units (ones) for a rod (ten), 10 rods for 1 flat (a hundred) and so on!  In order to practice place value and expanded form (stretch the number out like an elastic), we used Cheeze-Its (as hundreds), thin pretzels (as tens) and cheerios (as ones). 

Throughout the year we will practice time and money. I try to incorporate these skills weekly in order to develop a deep understanding by the end of second grade. The students practiced time by playing "Bee on Time". I love this game because it really makes them stop and think about the hour and minute hand separately.

 

 

 

 

 

Everything is Awesome... Master Builders at Work!

The students have been working on sentence structure and what goes into making a good second grade sentence. We are working on getting into the habit of capitalizing and using correct punctuation. Also, we are learning about what a complete thought looks like (it has both a subject and a predicate). Many times, students will produce run on sentences because they do not understand where their thought ends. In order to practice sentence structure and complete thoughts, we used Mega Blok Legos to build sentences!

 

In math, we started our unit on Numbers and Operations in Base Ten.  One of the standards calls for the students to "mentally add/subtract 10 or 100 to a given number... In order to practice this skill, the students used a 10 less/10 more tracker on a hundreds chart.  We will continue to use this strategy with 3 digit numbers.

 

Punching Towards Progress

During Work on Writing, the students receive a punch card with writing choices. Each time we Work on Writing, they have you look at their punch card to see which activities they still have left to complete. With every punch (showing they completed the writing task), they are progressing towards their goal, which is to complete all of the tasks on their card. Once the card is complete, they receive a new one.  The reason the punch card was developed was to ensure that the students participate in many different types of writing throughout the week and so they challenge themselves with a writing activity that may not be the most comfortable choice for them every time they go to Work on Writing.  The writing choices are research, class journals, create a prompt, pick a poem, lists, and pick a prompt. Every month, the materials change for each choice so the students do not get bored and they can continue to grow as a writer.

To practice Math Common Core Standard 2.OA.4, (use addition to find the total number of objects arranged in rectangular arrays with up to 5 rows and up to 5 columns; write an equation to express the total as a sum of equal addends) we made Sticker Arrays! This was a big hit. So much so, that I heard huffs when the students at the Sticker Array center were asked to rotate to the next activity. I had to promise the children we will do this activity again!