Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!
On Friday, March 1 we honored timeless writer Dr. Seuss by inviting a couple of eighth graders in to read to us. A great big "Thank You" to Jenna Jameson and Kasidy Schaefer!
What we are Learning...
In Reading, we are continuing our theme of "Amazing Animals" - reading about fictional animal characters, as well as learning about the amazing characteristics of real animals. Students continue to not only develop decoding and other reading strategies, but students are also developing their thinking about reading. Being a good thinker while reading is what makes a person a good reader. While reading with your child, include a conversation about connections your child can make between the text (the story being read) and himself, another text, or the world. Also ask questions that cannot be answered with a simple "yes" or "no"; and may or may not be answered in the story itself. For example: "How do you think (the character) felt when (something happened)?" or "What would you do if...?" Another way to encourage thinking about the reading is to ask your child what they think the author meant by (a certain phrase, or figure of speech). Often times young readers just graze right past odd wording in a story, without giving it much thought. Challenge your child to be a thinker!
In math, students are still working with tens and ones; and deciding exactly what a story problem is asking and the best way to go about solving it. We have been focusing a lot on ways to get to 100; such as "If you have 54 marbles, how many more will you need to get to 100?" Students have been sharing some fabulous strategies around solving problems!
... and the Sea of Talk
I cannot say it enough -- one of the biggest messages that I want all students and parents to know is that it is much more important to go through a process of working through a problem, explaining your thinking, trying it a new way, supporting your thinking ... than to just get a right answer (or to just have a finished product completed). I can tell that a student is learning by using several methods, such as (but not limited to) observations of independent- partner- or small group- work, working one-on-one with a student, student responses in class discussions, practice worksheets, and of course end of unit and other assessments. So, for example, when playing a math game is one of the choices on the Math Menu for homework - don't get wrapped up in trying to make things exactly how you think I want you to play. If you need to (or want to) adapt the game - go right ahead! Or, while completing the Reading Log, you found that parent and child shared in the reading because the text was particularly challenging - that's perfectly fine! My message is simple: I just want our students to be sharing a math experience with another person at home; or experiencing reading in some way. No strings attached. This way of thinking holds true in other areas of second grade learning, as well. The more your child engages with others in discussions around their learning, the more your child will learn!
One of my favorite quotes comes from educationist James Britton:
"All learning floats on a sea of talk."
Happy learning, and happy talking!
