November 11, 2019 Update

Hello Weckie Parents!!

It's hard to believe we are already a week into November... these days are FLYING by!! We have been having lots of exciting events in Second Grade and there is SO much to tell you about... Let's go!!

Halloween 2019
Halloween was a pretty epic half day to be a second grader in 204! Our awesome parent volunteers put together a fantastic morning party for our costumed kids! They had so much doing crafts, decorating cupcakes, playing games and guessing the amount of fun Halloween objects in containers. Thank you to EVERYONE who helped make our party so great or who came and attended to help!!

Readers' Workshop
In Readers' Workshop this week we have wrapped up our very first unit of study, "Second Grade Reading Growth Spurt" from the Lucy Calkins series for Readers' Workshop. Mini-lessons have included:

• I can notice how an author creates a powerful text.
• I can notice powerful author's craft and try it in my writing.
• I can notice different kinds of author's craft (i.e. flashbacks, circle back, repeating lines, similes, onomatopoeia, etc.)
• I can tackle tricky vowel sounds by reading them more than one way (long and short vowels)
• I can say words and figure out what they mean. 
• I can check myself by fixing my mistakes when my reading doesn't make sense.
• I can identify how the author made the whole story click.
• I can determine what the author wanted to teach me from the story.
• I can celebrate how much I have grown as a reader!

The underlying theme throughout the unit was that "Readers' Grow Like Beanstalks in 2nd Grade!" We now have a giant beanstalk in our hallway that our Readers' have each added a leaf onto, which they have done some writing, reflecting on their growth and learning in this first unit! We celebrated our hard work with a few tasty baked goods and drinks (again, thank you to the parents who so graciously baked and donated goodies!!)


Writers' Workshop
In Writers' Workshop we have just wrapped up our first unit of writing! Our young authors have been working long and hard on their small moment narrative texts: a time when I did something! We spent the last couple weeks of the unit deep in studying mentor texts for writing craft, editing and revising. Mini-lesson topics included:

• I can choose careful words to fit my writing
• I can edit/revise my story to make it more readable for my audience
• I can try new craft moves from any author of my choice
• I can be bold in trying new ideas if it doesn't work out
• I can make sure my story has a solid ending - either a flashback, lesson learned or recap of my small moment piece

Last Friday we had two different writing celebrations! First we split our class into thirds. One third remained in our room, one third went to Mrs. LaBlanc's second grade and one third went to Mrs. Brown's second grade. In the same fashion, they each sent 1/3 of their authors to our room. We did a three way share in our classroom which was pretty awesome! It was fun to meet new second graders and reunite with old friends to share our written work.

THEN, we came back to our room and did a Compliment Sprinkling activity! We put our written narratives out at our table spots along with a donut paper that needed "sprinkled compliments" to make it complete! We spent a good 20 minutes reading each other's small moments and sprinkling compliments! The kids loved looking at all of their compliments from their classmates!!

Science!
Our Botanists are LOVING our new plants unit!! Thank you to everyone who sent in plant clippings so that we can begin the process of growing new plants from these existing plants! We currently have a green house going in our classroom! We are growing: brassica, grass, alfalfa, pumpkins AND all of the clippings that you have sent in (ivy, wandering jew, coleus, spearmint and more) We will be spending time the next few weeks learning all about plants, plant parts, plant needs and doing experiments with these plants! More to come...

October 4, 2019

Hello Weckie Families!

Thanks for coming to check out all of the great learning we are doing in second grade!! We have been busy!! The first few weeks is always called "the Honeymoon" as everyone adjusts and we have a lot of fun getting to know each other and getting to work with each other. We are now in those few weeks after the "Honeymoon" where the kids are now settling nicely into a routine! We are noticing an increase in illnesses, as to be expected with the weather changes as well as an uptick in incidents with students bickering and miscommunications with one another. Over the summer I was trained in Restorative Practices and these have been huge in handling conflicts in the classroom already this year!! Below you will see the questions I ask (and stick to) when handling conflicts. Sometimes we will settle things in a small conference, other times with a bigger group and lastly with the whole class if something impacts everyone. I highly suggest you even trying this out at home with your own kids - mine is already learning quickly from this!!

iReady Update:
We are currently in the midst of iReady testing for this fall marking period. Almost all students have completed the reading portion and are now into the math portion. We work on iReady a couple of days a week, for about 25-30 minutes at a time. This seems to really help the kids focus and do their best, rather than sitting on the computer for one long period of time. I will be sending out feedback to parents as soon as we complete both the reading and math portions. I will also be contacting parents with students who have qualified for an IRIP (individualized reading instruction plan) based on their scoring.

Math Workshop:
In Math workshop we have been digging deeper with numbers and number patterns. Mini-lessons have focused on:

• Comparing numbers using greater than, less than and equals to
• Counting coins (and noticing patterns when counting by 5s, 10s and 25s)
• Counting one, ten and one hundred dollar bills
• Making combinations of ten
• Using double ten frames in Quick Looks
• Skip Counting Patterns (2s, 5s and 10s)

We have also been learning through math games like: Fishing for 10s, Addition Top-It, Spinning for Money and the Exchange Game. 

Homelinks have also begun coming home this week for Math. Please remember these are optional. They are a great way to review the math we are doing at school at home with your child but are not mandatory. Hopefully by the end of this week/beginning of next week your child's Unit 1 Assessment will also be coming home. Please use this to review all of your child's learning and celebrate all that they are able to do in math! You can also use this to review any concepts they may have gotten confused with as our math will continually build upon each unit and the concepts taught.

Lastly, we always end our week with a review day on Friday for math! We take time to revisit math games from the week as well as explore on EDM4 Online (online math games your child can be playing at home - their log in information is on their yellow folders) as well as doing hands on activities at Math Stations. This is always a popular way to end the week and review math topics covered!

Readers' Workshop:

In Readers' Workshop we are really digging deeper in fine-tuning our workshop routines and reading stamina when reading independently! Students have been working on focusing during our mini-lesson, then taking the skill taught and applying it to their own reading independently and with partners. During partner reading we have spent a lot of time modeling what good partners do and what good partners look like. We have talked about all of the different ways partners work together.

Mini-Lesson topics have included:

• I can practice sight words to help me have more snap words.
• I can understand when to pause and retell parts in my book.
• I can problem solve steps to read longer and stronger (stamina).
• I can use post-it notes to mark places in my book where I have left off.
• I can use post-it notes to mark places in my book to talk or think about.
• I can use everything I know to figure out tricky words.
• I can use figure out the two parts of a compound word.

Writers' Workshop:

In Writers' Workshop we are deep into our small moments narrative writing unit! We are currently working on building our stamina during writing time while ignoring distractions. 

Mini-Lesson topics have included:

• I can make a plan for my small moment.
• I can stretch out my tiny topic into a story.
• I can elaborate with feelings or actions.
• I can magnify my small moment with details.
• I can fix my ending to make my story better.
• I can edit my ending to make my story read more clearly.
• I can re-read to make sure my writing makes sense. I can add periods where needed.

Reporters/Main Moose:

We have begun with our daily news reporters and weekly Main Moose! I try really hard to send these out in a timely manner so that your child will have time to prepare. We have already had some great reporters and we are enjoying getting to know our first Main Moose better this week! :-) 

Enjoy this fall feeling weekend!! Thanks for taking time to read about our learning and our fun in 204. :-) Mrs. Weckstein

The first few weeks of 2nd Grade!

Hello Weckie Parents!

Thank you for taking the time to read our classroom blog! I will try to post every couple of weeks with lots of updates on learning and announcements from our classroom. We are REALLY enjoying the "Get-To-Know-You" phase of the beginning of the school year and off to an AWESOME start!!

Thank you to everyone who came to Curriculum Night this past Monday night! If you were unable to attend, important papers came home with your child the next day from our meeting. Please make sure to fill out the Parent Volunteer Forms (green) as soon as possible if you would like to help in our classroom with prep, kids or parties! I'll be reaching out to parents in the next week or so now that we have our official schedule created for each day. 

One final detail - if you were not at Curriculum Night, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE sign up for our Remind App text messages/emails! I will use this app frequently to communicate things when I can that are of necessary importance for parents. Lots of reminders and information will be sent via Remind. To join our class, please follow the directions in the picture below. If you have the App, you can also search for "Weckies 2019-2020" to join our class. THANK YOU! (And if you need help, please email me at JenniferPhillips@wlcsd.org and I'll be glad to help get you on board :-)).

Readers' Workshop
In RW we are just beginning our launching unit in the Lucy Calkins Readers Workshop series! Mini-Lessons have focused on the following learning targets:

• I can talk about what I'm expected to do in RW (Looks like/Sounds like)
• I can choose a just-right spot to read
• I can identify the qualities of a: wow reader, so-so reader and an oops reader
• I can choose what and how I will read as a second grader
• I can choose what and how I will read will with my partner
• I can take a sneak peek to help me decide how to read my book
• I can practice my sneak peek with a new text
• I can record information about my books into a Book Log

Our Readers' are learning their roles and routines for workshop when we are in a mini-lesson, independently reading and reading with partners. Right now our kids are paired up with readers in partnerships who are reading JUST like them! Each partnership also took time this week to pick their comfy reading spot that they'll use to read together and we brainstormed all of the ways partners can work together. 

Writers' Workshop

In WW we are also off to a strong start... we have a room full of great writers!! We really try to emphasize the importance of reading and writing daily and the kids in this class seem to LOVE writing (which is really great!!). Our mini-lessons have focused on the following learning targets:

• I can use the supplies in my classroom to help me do my best written work
• I can talk about what I'm expected to do in WW (Looks like/Sounds like)
• I can write a story about a moment in my life
• I can plan my story by tapping each page and telling each part
• I can think of the main part of my story and tell it bit by bit
• I can write my story with characters thoughts and feelings
• I can copy a writing technique from a favorite author

Math Workshop

In Math Workshop we have done math in a workshop format and we have also done exploratory math stations! In Math we have explored with pattern blocks, geoboards, base-10 blocks and the contents of our math toolkits (tape measure, calculator, money, counting chips and math cards). We have worked with counting on number lines, counting coins (we need practice with this), and filling in number grids (we used number scrolls to go from 1 to 1200!). We have also learned to play a few games like: The Number Line Squeeze and Addition Top-It. Our students especially love the math games to reinforce concepts taught in the lessons. 

Word Study

In Word Study we have begun looking at vowels and the many sounds that they can make (long and short) and how as a reader we can decode which sound to make. We have also talked about onsets and rimes and how when we know a familiar pattern at the end of  a word, it helps us to read other words! Students have worked with partners to do word lists where they have had to put together word parts to make a complete word (a real word).

Birthday board is up - and of course a class favorite!

Everyone has signed our promise - we are ready to be SUPERSTARS!

Each child will be featured this year on our Main Moose board - Mrs. Weckstein has started our year of features!

WELCOME TO SECOND GRADE!!!

Hey there Weckies and Weckie Families!!

Welcome to our little place on the Internet where I'll be sharing all sorts of cool information this year about our growth and learning in second grade. I am sitting in a very quiet, very clean and very exciting classroom eagerly anticipating your arrival on Monday, August 26th from 3-4pm for our Meet and Greet, and especially excited about our first day of school together on Tuesday, August 27th! I am ready for the room to be filled with noise - a good noise! Curiosity, excitement, laughter, friends re-aquainting and new friendships being formed! This is going to be your BEST YEAR yet!!

Now that you have found our Blog, make sure to follow the page or bookmark this page (on the right hand side) so you'll be up to date on all the latest learning and growth in second grade! I try to do two newsletters a month and frequently post more often on Twitter where you can find us: @WeAreTheWeckies . Feel free to scroll back too and see what we were up to last year as you get excited for this coming year!!

It has been an excitement and adventuresome summer for our family, as well as one of great patience and faith!! We added a new Weckie to our family in April, as Ellery Bea was born on April 14th! Mrs. Weckstein actually stopped teaching mid-March in preparation for the new baby. As the summer went on and we adjusted well to being a family of four, we went on many adventures and created so many wonderful memories! Midway through our summer, our 9lb pup, Max, sustained a spinal injury - one which we are likely to never know what caused it. He underwent emergency surgery and is paralyzed from the middle of his back through his hind legs. This has been hard on our family as Max is only 6 and was Mrs. Weckstein's running coach (seriously, this dog would run 3, 4, 5 miles with me and still have energy while I would be spent!!) Needless to say, we have had to have a lot of patience with him this summer as he spent nearly 5 days in the animal hospital and has returned home needing special care as well as PT. We are cautiously optimistic that with the right PT therapy he will regain the ability to walk, but we have also been told he would be a wonderful dog for a shiny set of wheels if needed (for mobility). Yikes!! So the second half of the summer was spent close to home and a lot of attention was given to the pup, who remains spunky, energetic and very eager to MOVE again! Below you'll see just a few snapshots of our summer vacation. :-)

The newest Weckie, Ellery Bea!

The Weckstein's

Max

One of many adventures with Liam

SeaLife day

Skye

Friday, March 8th

We had a wonderful field trip to Walled Lake Outdoor Center!  We loved the learning connected to our 2nd grade science units. Here a some of the photos from our trip:

Upcoming Dates

• March 12th: Spring Picture Day
• March 13th: Dublin Family Pizza Night/Bond Talk (join us at 6:30 for pizza, then students will be rounded up for a movie in the cafeteria while parents learn more about the upcoming Walled Lake School Bond.) This bond directly effects all Walled Lake Schools, but especially Dublin!!  
• March 18th: Dublin Family Literacy Night
• March 18th-21st: Dublin Spring Book Fair (late evening is on the 21st)
• March 29th: Last Day before Spring Break...2nd grade will have a read-in:) (more info to come home soon)
• April 1st-5th: Spring Break
• April 10th: Dublin Science Night

Reader's Workshop

Our 2nd graders were excited with our Book Series Unit.  It was great fun and satisfaction to introduce my students to different series.  They were able to share the experience of these series with small book clubs.  As we started our newest unit this week on Non-fiction Reading, I had to bargain with many that I would allow time for them to continue some of the book series as well! With the launch of Non-Fiction Reading, we have held off on reading groups this week so the kids could be doing their Non-Fiction work. Groups will resume next week! :-)

Here are some of our learning targets from Series Books:

• I can name and notice book series in our classroom library.
• I can carry all that I know about a series with me as I read.
• I can predict what will happen to a character in a series.
• I can record my noticings about my character to share with my partner.
• I can choose a book club that is just right for me.
• I can look for predictable patterns in my book series.
• I can notice when the character acts out of the ordinary.
• I can stop and reflect on my character's actions.
• I can compare and contrast different strategies.

These are from our newest unit on Non-fiction Reading:

• I can identify N-F text features that help me find information quickly.
• I can identify N-F text features that help expand my learning.
• I can notice how N-F books can be laid out differently.

Writer's Workshop

Our students are becoming letter writing experts!  We spent quite a bit of time writing letters to others about books we were reading.  From here we moved onto writing book award nominations.  They LOVED this!  We will be displaying book covers and awards on our doors for Dublin's Family Reading Night.  We hope you'll make it in to check them out.

Our next unit is similar to the last...we're entering our Opinion Writing Unit.  In this unit we learn to write reviews.  Students will be writing about favorite toys, restaurants, games etc. 

Math Workshop

Our Unit 5 focused on addition and subtraction with double digit addition. We are currently in Unit 6 (Number Operations and Number Stories). In both units we taught various non-traditional ways of solving these problems, such as using base-10 blocks, open number-lines, and partial sums.  In the near future we will begin to teach students double-digit addition with regrouping.

Math topics covered included:

• Representing data using tally charts (tables), bar graphs and pictographs and being able to read and understand the data represented
• Comparison Number Stories (Using Quantity Charts to help organize our numbers)
• Interpreting Number Stories (which chart to  use: part-part-total, change to more or quantity charts) 
• Solving Two-Step Number Stories and Writing Two-Step Number Stories
• Brainstorming addition strategies (counting up, making friendly numbers, combining 100s, 10s, and 1s)
• Partial Sums for Addition (adding the hundreds, then the tens, then the ones... more to come on this new strategy)

Science

Our second and last science Foss Kit Unit on Air and Weather began a few weeks ago.  We are exploring air in many ways.  Hopefully your child brought home his/her bag of small items to show how they interacted with air (feather, paper, balloon, straw). S/he may also have shared how we were able to show that air takes up space with our under water exploration. Our last investigation demonstrated pressure caused by air.  We will soon be learning more about air related to weather.