Maps of What Matters

One map that is placed in our writer's notebooks is a map showing what matters to us.  I give the kids options of a heart map or a bone map.  They did a great job of really thinking about what matters to them.  Here are just a few...

Bone map by Ashton

Heart map by Josephine

Heart map by Brittany

Heart map by Leah

Heart map by Hannah

Heart map by Grant

Sticky Notes

While I am conferring with students, questions are bound to rise.  What do we do?  Well, as you can see, Wyatt was able to write his question and let me read it when I have time.  No interruptions, students get real writing practice, AND I am able to assess their writing as well.  Way to go, writers!

What in the world???

This was found in my front yard and I have no idea what it is, but I brought them in for my students to observe them.  Quite interesting!  And yes, parents, they did wash their hands with soap and water afterwards!  

Working in groups

The other day I had students join together to share their stories.  I was quite impressed.  They stayed in their area, spoke with voice levels and stayed on task.  Here are a few shots of them sharing.

Working on our self-portraits

Looking through books because we finished our project earlier...

Here we are working hard...I'll be taking pictures of some of our portraits.  The students have worked very hard and have done a great job of following directions!!!

Passed out socks (our erasers) to the students...did a fantastic job following the chart!

Overhead shot...so cool!  

New Addition

 Last year, I had my desk removed and had a table brought in instead.  My thinking behind this?  My desk was just a place to store stuff and I often would meet with students and wanted to have a place where they could work too.

Using my brain, I decided to visit a local furniture store looking for used tables that I could buy and maybe refinish or paint if needed.  One of the owners had me look at a table that was determined "defective" due to the tile not meeting straight on with the wood.  Bad for them, great for me!  Lo and behold, this beautiful table was brought in Friday night and I can't wait for the class to see the new table Monday morning.  It also has a leaf which is being stored in my attic.

I am hoping to locate some bar stools (the table's a little higher and now my teacher chair doesn't quite work) and then students can also work at the table!

What do you think?

Reading is all around us!

What my students created when I asked who they see reading, where, and what..

Workshop Schedule

Today for writing workshop, I showed the students who workshop is for...them!  Right away you could hear comments of how much time they get.  I hope that by displaying this poster in our room, they'll remember to focus when they need to and be thankful for their work time.

Red writing is me, green is for the class, and purple is together.

First Day

One day finished...179 to go!  Overall, it was an amazing day!  Students are already beginning to use their words to solve problems and are learning how to help each other.  I am pretty impressed with what I've seen so far.

I'm also excited to begin a year right away with students using the technology to communicate and learn with others.

And the students were REALLY excited when they learned there were no rules in our classroom...we have expectations!  To the parents who read this blog, hopefully they could recite them at home!

Eager to see what students notice about their classmates' names tomorrow!  Photos will be posted!!!

Our Classroom...rearranged

While this is a new classroom for most of you, it was not always this way.  I am hoping that by having our room arranged this way, you will get the most out of second grade!

I changed the background of the closet doors to black, trying to make it all color-coordinated.  I also have a table in there because we have 3.5 sections this year.  What, you say?  As of today, I have 20 in the morning for reading/writing and then 26 in the afternoon for math, science, and social studies.  I will rotate kids in and out who get to sit at the table.  

We have new computer counters which are currently serving as some hide some stuff under them.  I also bought two new stools from Ikea...love that place!  The black bins will be scattered throughout the room to hold book bins.

Currently, a working with words station.  Underneath is a container with sorted magnetic families.  I am planning on differentiating my words instruction by letting kids know which boxes they can work through.  We will create "I Can..." lists for each station.  The other side of this easel is a chalkboard and also a roll of paper.  Excited for the possibilities!

Our class library!!!!!!  I rearranged some baskets today.  Moved the chapter books all onto certain shelves and need to revisit all of the bins.  Notice the great chairs there?  They were painted from my favorite book, Beware of the Frog, and were a prize for the slice of life challenge.  Excited about letting the kids use them for buddy reading and for their own reading time!

My new desk!!!!  To the right is our tray of writing paper choices.

Our writing choices.

Our meeting and sharing area.  Meeting in a group, sharing in a circle.  And yes, the rug is from Ikea!  :)

Where I will host small group instruction.  Plus, students will now not argue over who sits on the bench for our morning meeting.  

Currently housing various items needed for work in our classroom.  The pile of paper will move soon...just not sure where yet.  Organization is the key...

Feel free to offer any critiques or questions...and yes, if you think it's the most amazing classroom, you can tell me that too.  ;)

Twitter

You can also find us on Twitter...we're BloggingBees.  Twitter has been a great way for us to connect to other classes and to share our learning.

Welcome!

Welcome to our blog!  Our hive will soon be up and running to share with you our learning and growth as readers, writers, mathematicians, and everything else we are.

Come back often!