Back to School Night

Our annual Back to School Night was a huge success!  Thank you to all the families who came out.  It's important to show your child you support their education by coming and being involved in these special nights.  We had an amazing turn out with a standing room only class during the 1st session.  Our 2nd session was more intimate as 1 family was here, but that was because so many came to the 1st presentation!

It was great seeing all the excited kids and their parents.  Please remember, if you have any questions about any of the information, I am always available to help ease concerns.

Impressive Insight

The beginning of the school year is always filled with nervous energy as we wonder what the class will be like and how much work will need to be done this year to prepare the kids for the next grade.  The work is nothing to be afraid of, but some years need more preparation than others!  As most teachers do, I always begin my year with key books I read aloud.  I am typically an over-the-top reader changing my voices and expressions to match the action in the book.  I LOVE reading to kids and sparking their desire to read more (and hopefully with the same expression!)  I tend to begin this way because I want the kids to see reading can be fun and they should not be embarrassed to hold back.  They should be reading the same exact way!

After I finished reading my 3rd or 4th book, I asked the class, "Does anyone notice anything about my reading?"  The obvious response is always that I change my voice a lot.  This year I received a response that threw me for a loop!  One student made the connection that all my books were chosen to teach them how to behave in the classroom and at school.  I absolutely LOVED that response!  I have never had a student make that connection, but this year it was pointed out I have a purpose and theme for the books I read.  This tells me I have a group of kiddos that will be making deeper connections than other groups in the past have made!

Here's to an amazing year with kids who are ready to think outside the box!

Meet the Teacher Night

Thank you to all those who were able to come out to my first "Meet the Teacher" night last night!  This is something I have been thinking about doing for a couple years now and just finally decided to make it happen this year.  I'm so glad it was a huge hit for those families that were able to come.  Hopefully it will put some minds at ease and allow them to sleep a little easier tonight as they prepare for their first day of school tomorrow!

As the new year begins to prepare, I'm excited for all the new things I have planned for this group of kids!  It is going to be an amazing year and I look forward to working with all of your children.  Please remember, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to e-mail.  I would say call, but as many of you know our phone system is very outdated and it is not a sure thing I will get your phone call and/or voicemail, so e-mail is the best way to ensure I get your message!

Hope you are excited about the new year as well and we will see everyone tomorrow morning, bright and early!

Loving Geometry with the iPads!

This year we have a class set of iPads for the first time ever.  The implementation has been rough as I'm treading through this on my own and although I have great ideas, I have to remember to teach the kids and not just make playing on the iPads our focus of 2nd grade!  We have been working on Geometry in math for a couple weeks and this is my WORST subject.  Even at the 2nd grade level I struggle knowing shape attributes and qualifications ~ oh it's making my head hurt just typing about it.

Years ago I gave up on geoboards due to flying rubber bands (both by accident and on purpose!)  Of course geoboards are great for Geometry as they allow the kids to actively interact with shapes and change them giving them the opportunity to see how shapes can change by a few alterations.

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to join the middle grade teachers on our new mobile device management system.  I can actually grab an app on my laptop and send it out to all my class iPads with just a few mouse clicks ~ it's amazing!

I wanted to play with the new system management tool and kids needed to work on Geometry skills.  AHA moment!  Need a Geoboard app!  I jumped on the app store found a freebie (I like free!) and placed it in the program and sent it to the iPads.  It worked great, on the first few.  After that I became impatient and began helping the process along.

But, as I type this up, the kids are actively engaged with the Geoboard app!  I have them practicing just manipulating the "rubber bands" and making things.  Tomorrow I'll break out the task cards that have been collecting dust for years and we'll begin the challenge of creating the different shapes.  We'll also get to read The Greedy Triangle and change the shapes as we go through the story.

I love technology at times like these ~ no more worries of somebody putting an eye out with a wild rubber band in the name of Geometry :)

Sample Geoboard Fun!

Fun Project Yesterday

Yesterday we had so much fun with a math scavenger hunt using QR codes!  This was a great activity that got kids up and moving, using their math skills, and using iPads ~ it was a lot of fun and kept the kids actively engaged and motivated for a while!

I found this great idea on Teachers Pay Teachers (of course I got the free version because I'm too cheap to pay!)  Kids started with a START card where they scanned the QR code and found a math problem.  They had to solve the math problem to find the next number ~ the sum of the 3 digit addition problem took them to the 2nd card to scan and find a new math problem to find the next card.  It was great seeing the kids so excited to do math and find the last card to discover a "secret message."

Here are some pictures of the kids working away. . .