Positive Behavior Support
After successfully completing the first few weeks of school, our second grade class is just about into the routine of things. Center Drive School has adopted a "Voice Scale" and "Core Values" as a school wide approach to promoting positive behaviors. The system-wide Voice Scale goes like this:
0 - No Talking
1 - Whisper Voice
2 - Inside Voice
3 - Playground Voice
It is so nice to be able to remind students to use a "Number 1 Voice", for example, and it means the same thing to all. Not only is the Voice Scale useful in the classroom, but common areas, such as the hallway, have posters that state what voice you should use and what the behavioral expectations are.
Our Core Values are discussed, modeled, and expected school-wide as well. These values can be applied to all aspects of our school day. Current Core Values are:
Respect
Responsibility
Kindness
Honesty
Math, Reading, & More
We are starting to get into our Math program. Much of what we are doing in September is review from last year. One of the biggest skills to work on in math, and across all areas of learning, is how to work in a cooperative group. Students will learn this year the importance of sharing ideas and strategies, explaining and backing up their thinking to others, collaborating with others, and being invested in the success of others. These group skills will prepare our students for a lifetime. In our class, we are all teachers and we are all learners.
In Reading Workshop, we have just started using our "Work Board", which means Guided Reading (small group reading with me) and Centers. The reading centers that your student visits throughout the week are filled with a variety of literacy activities that support and enhance skills such as phonics, spelling, poetry, writing, and of course more reading. In Writing Workshop, we are using mentor stories to help us understand how to write a personal story that tells the reader a lot about the character. We have all at least started writing a personal story about ourselves; some of us have finished. We also have been discussing ways to come up with ideas when we don't know what to write about. Most recently we have created our own "Idea Maps" to keep inside our Writing Folder.
We continue to study Life Cycles as we observe our own monarch caterpillars and butterflies, read nonfiction texts, and use the Promethean Board for interactive work and videos. In Social Studies, we are still discussing Rights and Responsibilities. We have learned that a right is what everyone deserves so that we live in a fair world. Our responsibilities are our jobs we must do to make sure that we, and others, can have our rights. An example of our discussions includes: "We have the right to learn, so it is our responsibility to...do our best, ...listen when others are talking,...be prepared for class." Much of this topic ties in nicely with our school's Core Values.
Lots of Adults
There are several adults who are in and out of our room each day. Some names and faces that will become familiar to you are: Mr. Davis (mostly mornings), Miss Crandlemire (mostly afternoon), Mr. Dale (math), and Mrs. Webb (reading). Sometimes you may see different writing on your student's papers if another teacher is helping me out, but I will always go over them before handing them back. The more adult hands in the room, the more individual attention your child is receiving.
