The Weber Weekly

WOW!  We had such a great week of learning in second grade.  I am so incredibly proud of all the children and how hard they've been working.  Here are some of the highlights from the week:

• The kids have become experts at a couple of math fact games.  One of the games, Top It, can be played with any deck of cards.  Ask your child how to play and then challenge him/her this weekend.  What a great way to build math "fact power"!
• Have you heard about "stamina"?  Ask your child about it!  You will be surprised at how much he/she is learning about becoming independent.  We've been building our stamina during "Read to Self" and "Work on Writing".  We practice each day in short intervals in order to prepare for guided reading centers.  To help your child understand the meaning of stamina (doing a task for an extended period of time without getting tired or giving up), I connect it to riding a bike:  "When you first learned how to ride your bike, you could only ride for a very short distance before you fell off or tired out.  Each time you got back on your bike, you were able to get a little better and ride a little further.  Now because you've been riding your bike for months or maybe even years, you are able to ride for a long time.  Perhaps you can ride through your entire neighborhood without feeling tired; that's because you've built your stamina."  In the same way your child built stamina for bike riding, we will also build stamina for tasks at school.  I do not expect your second grader to be able to sit and read or write for twenty minutes at a time.  Instead, we practice in short intervals.  We brainstormed everything we believed our classroom would look and feel like during independent reading and then set a goal of three minutes.  While the kids are practicing, I stay at the guided reading table (where I will be when they are doing their centers), and I do not interfere.  It's so important that they learn how to be independent; I've told them repeatedly that once we start centers, I will not be able to stop working with my group to remind someone to be quiet or to get back to work.  They are held accountable and monitor their own behavior!  The second someone is not following the expected behavior, I ring a bell to signal everyone back to our meeting spot.  We then talk about any celebrations as well as problems we need to fix before we practice again.  Ask your child why we do this and he/she will be able to tell you...we don't want to train our brains the incorrect way.  The kids are really taking ownership of their own behavior and learning; it's such an incredible sight to see!!  (Phew!  If you're still reading this, thank you for listening to my rambling!  Please have your child whisper to me on Tuesday morning that they deserve a large fuzzy!!)
• We have learned about citizenship and different types of communities during social studies.  We're focusing on responsibility and how to be an active member of our classroom community by following the rules.  

I hope you and your child enjoy the long weekend!  I can't wait to see all the kiddos on Tuesday!!  :)