Although had a wet start to the school year, we definitely have a bright group of kids in our class this year! Below are some photos showing some of the events from our first week of second grade.
Rain or shine, these 2nd graders were ready for their first day of school!
Everyone eagerly opened, sorted, and organized their school supplies, and soon we were up and running!
Our first class photo of the year! I already love those smiles.
Students played "Seesaw Go!" with a classmate. Using iPads, the children scanned QR codes placed around the classroom where they could listen to facts about key places in our class including where we hang our backpacks, where we store our devices, etc. This was a fun way for the kids to get familiar with our classroom and each other!
I snapped these happy smiles as we were lining up at the end of an afternoon recess. It is so much fun to see the children run and play freely during these break times throughout the day, so they can refocus their attention on their schoolwork when we get back inside. They were happy to find their friends from other classes that were outdoors, too! :)
These are our official Day #1 pictures! 2nd grade has begun!
We gathered as a whole school in the commons for an assembly on Wednesday. We learned about the new "Lending Library" that Dryden students helped to build and organize, shared a story about how individual things often come together in a wonderful way to make something amazing, and of course we sang the Dryden school song. What a great way to kick off the school year!
Another opportunity for the children to get to know each other... People Bingo! The kids moved around the room finding out cool facts such as who was born in another state, who has 8 letters in their name, who is afraid of spiders, and who can speak another language! There was a buzz in the air as the children chatted and learned about each other!
Mrs. Kovacic is our new LMC director. She was visiting classrooms this week to get to know everyone! Mrs. Kovacic read a story to our class and got us excited about reading and visiting the library this year!
The children will have several subscriptions to online resources to offer them additional practice of skills we'll be working on this year. They learned how to log in to their Xtramath.org (math facts) and IXL (math concepts) accounts this week. Those log-ins and passwords went home, and you are welcome to use them for daily practice, too! Coming up we will log in to our Zearn (more math!) and RAZ (reading practice) accounts. The children will also be signing in to their Seesaw account this week- a note will be sent home letting you know how to connect to your child's online learning journal!
Online practice is efficient and useful, but NOTHING replaces reading an actual, real-life BOOK! The children were easily able to choose a book they found interesting and then found a cozy spot to settle in to do some independent reading. Reading assessments (fluency and comprehension) will begin the week of September 4th. Goal setting parent/teacher conferences are set to take place in
October this year (in place of the usual November conference), where data from our initial assessments will be shared and discussed with parents.
We jumped right into our Schoolwide reading curriculum this week. Our lessons led us to think about ourselves as readers. We thought about books we enjoy, books we don't really prefer, and where and how we enjoy reading. Self-reflection takes the children's thinking and learning to a much deeper, more personal level. The children took some time to decorate the cover of their reading binders using words, phrases, and pictures that describe them. Hopefully, these covers will inspire and remind them of all the wonderful things we can learn and read about this year!
We had a terrific first week of school! The children brought home their first book order forms of the year. Feel free to look through it to choose and order some interesting reading material that will also inspire your child to read this year! OR.. just thumb through it to get some really good ideas and then head over to the Arlington Heights Memorial Library to borrow them! :)
Thanks to everyone for returning their parent/student inventories so promptly and thoroughly. I feel as though I am well on my way to getting to know the children! I'm looking forward to seeing parents this Thursday evening in our classroom for Dryden's Curriculum night, where I will be sharing more information about what we will be learning this year.
Enjoy the beautiful weekend!
:)
