Inauguration Day 2009

Inauguration day was one for the record books in Vista.  We spent the entire day celebrating, creating, and watching history in the making.  It is said that children need to learn 40 new vocabulary words a week at this point in their development . . . I believe we learned 40 on January 20th alone.  Check out this Flip video movie for a brief look at our day.    

Cream Cheese, Bagels, & Lox

How do you help 19 first graders distinguish between lox and locks? We had a cream cheese, bagels, and lox party! Everyone knew the difference between lox and locks after eating smoked salmon. I was most impressed with the number of children who were willing to try something they had never eaten before and how many really liked the strong flavor.

New Units of Study

Happy New Year

We are fast at work on many new units of study. In Writers Workshop the children have been introduced to COPS (capitalization, organization, punctuation, and spelling). This week we focused on two parts of punctuation; sentence enders (. ! ? . . . ) and middle of sentence (, - " "). Next week we will venture into the land of organization which primarily focuses on handwriting and spacing, both huge topics when you really break each one down.

In Readers Workshop we are beginning to read and discuss books in a series. This week we have discussed how to determine the main character and then get to know them by determining their strengths and weaknesses as a person. Next week we will begin to look at the secondary characters since they reappear in the series and using what we know about them and get a voice in our heads for these characters.

Our new theme unit of study is entitled World of Difference. Williston Schools has adopted the curriculum from the Anti Defamation League - World of Difference Institute (http://www.adl.org/education/edu_awod/default.asp) and our lessons seek to help participants: recognize bias and the harm it inflicts on individuals and society; explore the value of diversity; improve intergroup relations. Currently we are having a lot of fun with our names! Our 2nd grade mathematicians are focusing on whole-number operations. We are bumping up our strategies for solving addition and subtraction problems by using two 3 digit numbers and beginning regrouping for subtraction. We will begin multiplication, a right of passage for these folks, by introducing array models. Every day is packed full of fun and learning!

Have you ever heard of a wordle? Very soon we'll be creating wordles using stories that we write. Here is a wordle using all the words in this blog! The biggest words are those that are used more often. Click on the image to enlarge it and find out which word we use the most.

Bunnies and Pigeon

Hello Friends,

I hope you are all getting outside to play in the snow; sliding, skiing, and making forts and snowmen. I found this delightful story about two unlikely animal friends. It makes me think that if creatures can be this compassionate than just imagine what we humans are capable of doing for each other. Click on this link and enjoy - Bunnies and Pigeon .

I would love to hear what you are up to during the vacation. Comment and fill me in please:) Make sure to check back regularly for more interesting tidbits!

Gingerbread Houses

The children had a grand time constructing their gingerbread houses this morning. Their creativity was limitless and uniquely individual. The houses could be found with recycling centers, porches, decks, breakfast nooks, bear caves, walkways, flags, antenna, fencing, sleighs, snowmen, and much more. The volunteers are to be commended for their patience and steadfastness. Many a sidewall was reconstructed and saved by their quick hands. Thanks to everyone for sending in the candy treats and royal icing so that we could make this happen for our children. Have a warm and merry everything!

Origami Cubes

The 2nd grade mathematicians created cubes from 6 pieces of paper folded just so. The language used while folding the paper parralelled the geometry unit we just completed. There were a lot of tongues hanging out, patience was tested, and they all agreed it was the most fun they had ever had while doing math!

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