Friday, October 23rd

 Hello Weckie Families!!

Today completes our final full week of virtual learning on Zoom 😥😥. Next week brings big changes for all of our learners and our classroom family. While I did not apply to teach virtually, I also have not yet been told my grade-level and building placement... hopefully soon!! 

Monday through Wednesday next week will remain like normal virtual learning days on Zoom. The next several days after that will look very different. Thursday, October 29th, and the morning of Friday, October 30th will be spent with asynchronous learning. What does this mean? This means there will be NO Zoom on these days. Your child will still come onto their Google Classroom page and find a post of options of work tasks that they will need to complete on their own in our core subject areas. There may still be work needed posted to Seesaw as I will still be following along as I work to get my classroom at Dublin set up for a return to "in-person" learning. The tasks posted are not meant to replace a full day of learning and should not take your child hours to do!  You should be hearing from your "next" teacher around October 30th. We are hearing we will see class lists around October 29th. 

Looking ahead, the tentative schedule for the first week of November includes:

• Monday, November 2nd: We will meet on Zoom from 9-10am to do a closing type activity with our original class. The remainder of the day will be spent with asynchronous learning from our Google Classroom Page.
• Tuesday, November 3rd: No School for Election Day
• Wednesday, November 4th: (Kindergarten returns to In-Person Learning) Grades 1-5 Welcome on Zoom with your new 2nd Grade Teacher 9-10am.  Then the rest of the day will be spent with asynchronous learning from your new teacher - whether in person or virtual.
• Thursday, November 5th: In Person Learning/Virtual Our Path Learning resumes 9-4. If you are choosing in-person learning, last names A-L will attend school on this date. Last names M-Z will find asynchronous learning posted on your Google Classroom page. All Our Path Students will have a normal school day on Zoom.
• Friday, November 6th: In Person Learning resumes 9-3 for students with last names M-Z, while students with last names A-L will find asynchronous learning posted on your Google Classroom page. All Our Path students will have a normal day on Zoom.

This is the most up to date information we have been given about our return to learn. My hope of all hopes is to be placed back at Dublin, in 2nd grade with ALL of our children who are picking to return in-person. And just a reminder, if you are choosing to keep your child virtual, please know that I am just an email or call (room phone: 248.956.3864) away! I always say, "Once a Weckie, always a Weckie". I'm still going to want updates on how your child is doing, available for questions or help in any way and hope to get some Zooms going with your kids from home when we figure out our schedule and hopefully tie them into your lunch break time! 

This week we wrapped up many of our first units... Math, Writers' Workshop, Readers' Workshop and we are close in Phonics... Here's what we have been up to!

Phonics

This week in phonics we have really focused in on CAPITAL letters. We have been talking about: when to use capital letters, when to use lowercase letters, and adding specific details into our writing that uses capital letters. We have been focusing on the chart in our Writing Folders titled "What gets a capital letter?" This is HUGE for our second graders as they learn to write predominantly in lowercase letters with proper use of capitals along the way.

Readers' Workshop 

Our Readers' have been digging deeper discovering all of the lessons, big and small, that we can learn from reading fiction books. While it is obvious when reading non-fiction that we are learning about a specific topic, looking deeper in to our fiction texts for an author's message or lesson is a wonderful skill to sharpen for our young readers! We have read several Kevin Henkes books over the last two weeks and each book gave us an important lesson we could all relate to and learn from. Then we moved onto the Piggie and Elephant books by Mo Willems which are often set around one or both of the characters learning a lesson. We have had rich discussions about these lessons and the similarities between some books about the topic or the lesson learned.

Writers' Workshop

Our Writers' threw a celebration this week for their published writing pieces!! It was wonderful to hear them all sharing their work across several breakout rooms on Monday. Then each child posted their writing onto Flipgrid and read their work to us. We all got to leave comments to each other on their writing work. It was a great way to wrap-up our Small Moments Unit! The remainder of the week, we used Writing time like a free choice writing time where the kids could write about any topic, fiction or non-fiction. They seemed pretty eager to have a choice in what they wrote about this second half of the week!

*Breakout Groups to share and celebrate our writing!*

Math Workshop

This week in math we began our second unit! We spent time with addition strategies including - using what we know about double tens frames to help us add, using doubles facts and adding up to a friendly 10. We introduced two games this week that would be great additions to game night at your own house! We learned how to play "Spinning for Money" and "Fishing for 10s". Both can be found on Google Classroom posts from this week - Tuesday and Thursday!

Social Studies

This week in Social Studies we began wrapping up our unit on our local community by creating a circle book showing our readers how in their own small circle is their family/house, then the next circle (a little bit larger) shows your house in a neighborhood, then branching out further to your neighborhood in a city, then your city in a state and our state in a country! Please be sure to ask your child to see their books, they looked FANTASTIC!

*Community Book Share for Social Studies*

A few final words...

This will probably be my final news blog post with our current class list. My heart is SO happy for all that we have accomplished in our time together these last 10 weeks!! Our kids are truly becoming tech wizards and have amazed me with all that they have learned and even taught me about technology. My heart will be SO sad to say goodbye in the coming days... Even virtually we have all really developed quite the bond and relationship! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for ALL that you have done to help your child to be successful with our virtual learning. Whichever path you have chosen moving forward, please know I understand and support your decision.  I look forward to the day when I can see and meet each child in person and give them a giant squeeze!!  Jen Weckstein😀

Friday, October 16, 2020

 Happy Friday Weckie Families!!

It has been an outstanding week of learning and fun in our virtual classroom! Students have been uploading lots of their work on Seesaw and Mrs. Weckstein is approving things as fast as she can (a super problem to have).  Please make sure to drop in on your child's Seesaw page to leave compliments!

Phonics

In Phonics this week we have spent a TON of time with our 85 SNAP words. These are those words we want our students to be able to read and write in a SNAP. Each day we have focused on a different strategy students can use to help them learn and memorize these words. We have invented our own sayings and songs, practiced writing them different ways like rainbow writing and typing on Google docs. We even ended the week with a fun game of SNAP-O (think BINGO with SNAP words).  We will continue to encourage our students to use these words in their writing to help build their familiarity and to help build their correct spelling.

Readers' Workshop

We have continued our discussion around re-reading books to learn more! We found that when we re-read we can learn more about our characters and in particular their feelings. We talked about how after reading a story we can talk about how a character might change over the course of the story, but you really notice it when you go back and re-read because you already know the outcome. We also talked about how re-reading a book helps us to know how a character should sound so we can read fluently to sound like the characters! We spent time practicing our reading to sound fluent by looking for clues: punctuation, bold or italic print, dialogue (quotation marks) and what we already know about a character or the outcome of the story! The idea is to read with a smooth voice and use  BIG voice!

Writers' Workshop

In Writers' Workshop we are wrapping up our first unit on writing small moments! Students have been working this week to edit and revise their work. They have gone back to their writing to set goals for the future of their writing to see how they can improve and grow in their work! We have spent time talking about capital letters, compound words and how to fix up and fancy our writing! On Monday we will do a celebratory share of our published piece so please make sure your child has this handy and ready to go!

Math Workshop

In Math this week we have slowed down to wrap up our first unit. Students explored with Math Stations and games this week to review concepts like: number sense, skip counting patterns, basic addition, number grid work and more! We will not be giving the Unit 1 test now, however students may take this test once school resumes in person/on our path so that teachers can see what skills students have gained from the first unit and move forward with our learners.

Social Studies

In Social Studies this week we learned about human and natural features in a community. We watched a short video reviewing the concepts before we went outside exploring around Mrs. Weckstein's house and then students went out around their learning spaces. We created a t-chart with feature that we found outdoors and shared them in breakout groups once we returned!

Friday, October 9, 2020

 Hello Weckie Parents and Families!!

Thank you for taking the time to check out our News Blog! We have had another stellar week in our virtual second grade classroom. I love how eager the kids are to sign on in the morning, how excited they are to talk and share new ideas and how at the end of the day I have many that simply do not want to leave the Zoom! It's amazing what a tight group we have become, even virtually. Thank you for taking the time to help your children log in and out of various websites, learn to use new apps and focus during the day. I know that some days are easier than others and please remember, it's the same in person too!  We all just have those days... both good and rough!

This week we concluded our iReady Diagnostics in both reading and math. A few students still need to finish the math diagnostic, which we can easily work on next week. I will be reaching out soon with information on scoring. We are on hold right now waiting to hear from the District about cut scores for Reading and if that will stay the same as prior years or be adjusted this year. Then I will send out emails with all scoring information as well as information about how to decode your child's score and the data provided.

We ended our week with our first, Room 204 2020 Zoom Talent Show! Oh my goodness, what a stitch!! We saw talents from nearly everyone... it was a blast!! Be sure to ask your child about their talent that they shared today :-)... I also apologize if anyone tries balancing a spoon on their nose in the coming future at your home (my fancy talent).

Phonics

In Phonics this week we have been looking at bloopers in our own reading when we come upon tricky words with an "r" controlled vowel. This means the vowel falling before or after the letter "r" in a word. We have practiced ways we can try to solve these tricky words like reading a word a few different ways and picking the one that sounds right! Additionally we spent time working on our SNAP words. Remember, these are on a list in your child's writing folder. These are the words that by the end of second grade we want our students to be able to read fluently (in a snap) and spell correctly in their writing work. Please get creative at home with these words... flashcards, spelling the words with play-dough, writing them in shaving cream, writing them with different colored markers, finding them in books, anything we can do to help familiarize our students with these words will help them in the long run!

Readers' Workshop

Our Readers' have been digging deeper with the characters in their stories. We have spent a ton of time this week re-reading familiar books with beloved characters to learn more about the relationships between the characters and what they can teach us as readers. We have also spent time working in breakout groups with partners talking about our reading and sharing some books with each other. Partner time remains a popular choice amongst the kids as I often find I need to remind them to remain on task and on topic! 

I am still continuing my work on DRA testing with individual readers. Please know this does take time on a normal basis and having the kids out of formal schooling with formal testing for so long has made this process just a tad bit longer! Each time a child completes a DRA with me this takes on average 15-20 minutes. So many of our students have really grown as readers' since their last formal assessment in January, that it is taking time to find their independent levels and thus they are needing 2, 3 or even 4 meetings with me and a new book. Multiply that with 25 kids and you get the idea. The positive is getting awesome data on their reading and information that I can use to set their "Just-Right" books on Literacy Footprints, organize reading partnerships with like ability students and form small groups for instruction.

Writers' Workshop

In Writers' Workshop everyone should be working on a small moment writing piece. This is where we get to write about a time we did something or experienced something new. The kids have been working on adding voice to their writing this week which has been a time to go back to old pieces and revise to make them better. We have been talking about ways authors can "make people move" in their writing and ways authors can "make people talk" in their writing. Often times we read books that are so clear in detail we can picture exactly what is happening. We are working on getting our writers' to create experiences in their writing that would create that same kind of feeling for their audience.

Math Workshop

Our work in Math this week has focused around number sense: being able to count by 2s, 5s, and 10s as well as knowing when a number is even or odd (and how you know it is even or odd). These are both skills that are very important in second grade! We will be spending a lot of time this year practicing these patterns and explaining the thought process behind our work. This can be tricky for kids as they want to say: I did it in my head OR I just knew the answer. Digging deeper with the thinking behind the math is critical to building our number sense. Please make sure you are checking Seesaw this week for a math journal post. I am still needing to see many students who need to turn in math journal pages 7 and 8 for me to review. Thank you!

Social Studies / SEL

Our community work has continued this week! We have continued our discussion about groups we are a part of in our community and did a writing piece where we had to tell the group we were involved with and how we helped in the group. Students had a chance to share their writing and illustrations in a breakout group. Then we created a mini-book all about our community. Students got to label their book with the community they call home, draw a picture of where they live, talk about where their family likes to shop, where they family likes to go for fun and what they like best in their community. Be sure to ask your children about their mini-books! Some may still need help stapling or clipping their book together.

Important Updates

There is information coming out about a parent meeting being held by the district on Tuesday, October 13th at 7pm about the Return to Learn Plan. I know this continues to be in the hearts and minds of many, including myself as a parent first and a teacher second. Please make sure to plan for 7pm on the 13th for a district meeting. Like many of you, I am hoping this will be our best source of information about plans for what school may look like, how class lists may change and what we can expect moving forward. They should also be taking questions from the parents (you will have to submit prior) and included a link to this form in the most recent email from Judy Evola. All information will be posted on the district website. At this time we are not sure what our class sizes will look like, who in person teachers will be verses who will remain virtual and it seems to be a constantly changing situation. Trust me, I wish I knew more. I have come to love these 25 kids and wish nothing more to just snap my fingers, return to normal days and see them in school on Monday with no threat of germs or illness!! Please know we will work together on this to make a plan that is best for your family in this very difficult time. I would also suggest keeping a close eye on the WLCSD website as well as email communications from Judy Evola. 

Friday, October 2nd

 Happy Friday Families!!

It has been another great week in our virtual learning environment! This week many of our students completed their iReady Diagnostic in Reading. I will be looking over the results and figuring out a way to send those home electronically in the next week! We are still under the impression that our cut scores from last year remain the same in second grade. Students with an iReady score falling below the cut score in Reading will be eligible to receive special intervention time with our reading specialist and will be placed onto an Individualized Reading Improvement Plan (IRIP). We will set up a time in the next few weeks to meet over Zoom if your child has qualified for this intervention.

Phonics

This week in Phonics we only had one lesson. We took a look on Thursday at the many sounds of -ear in words. Students were sent off to use books or any other source of print around their learning location to look for words with an “-ear” in them. Then we came back to the group and shared to see which sounded the same and which sounded different. We all agreed that it can be tricky to figure out what sound the -ear makes in new words!

Readers’ Workshop

In Readers’ Workshop this week we took a look back at a familiar book and did some work digging deeper. Re-reading a story can be so beneficial for digging deeper about a main character and noticing things about them you may not have noticed originally. Rereading also helps us to notice how the sequence of the story is constructed and how one page lends itself to the next page. Readers’ had time to re-read a familiar book and go back to notice if they found anything new or interesting the second time around!

Please remember that our Literacy Footprints website is up and running. Each child has their own custom book shelf on this awesome web page filled with books at their just-right reading level. As I continue to read with each child, I modify the levels of books that they are presented with on Literacy Footprints - it’s simply amazing! Next week I will begin assigning books for your child to read on here, usually 2-3 a week. There is a link daily to Literacy Footprints on our Class Bitmoji on our Google Classroom post. To login simply type for the class code: Dublin204 and then each child’s password is: 1234. This is a great site you can also bookmark for your child on their internet browser.  https://www.literacyfootprints.com/digital/login 

Writers’ Workshop

This week in Writers’ Workshop we celebrated our hard work these last few weeks in writing with a big share! We went to breakout sessions to share our writing, and then each child shared a writing piece for our class on Flipgrid! The kids had to make a video reading their piece and then could leave compliment videos back to their friends. Please make sure your child has uploaded a photo of their finished work to our Seesaw journal. A completed writing piece was posted as an activity last Friday but many are still missing this post. I want to be able to see their writing and monitor their progress as a writer. On Friday we wrapped up the week filling in our “Heart of a Writer” page with different things that are important to us so we can always return to this heart for writing idea inspiration!

A sneak peek from our Flip Grid Share (above) and our Breakout Session Share (below).

Math Workshop

In Math Workshop this week we have been working with combinations of 10. We introduced the game “Fishing for 10” and this is something you can be playing at home with your child! You will need a deck of numbered cards 0-10 (a couple copies of each number). Each player is dealt 5 cards and the rest remain face down in the middle. The objective is to use your cards to make combinations of 10. Just like “Go Fish” you ask each other for numbered cards you need to make 10 and when your partner does not have the card, you fish for a new card. The person with the most combinations of 10 wins!

We also spent time this week starting to discuss coins! Coins are tricky for second graders but something we need them to learn! Please make sure you have a coin baggie for them nearby with: 8 quarters, 12 dimes, 10 nickels and 20 pennies. We will use these throughout the year to work on coin practice. 

Second Step

This week in our Social Emotional Learning we spent time talking about “Self-Talk” and how we can use self-talk when faced with distractions during our learning. The kids had great ideas to share as we talked about ways to solve tricky situations when someone is distracting us from our learning. We were torn whether we have more distractions at school or at home right now with our learning! It’s definitely a great time to use self-talk to help keep ourselves on task and focused during the school day virtually. Self talk might look totally different in the classroom with the temptation to be distracted by our classmates.