Counselor Lesson

Today we had our counselor come and chat with us. I feel so lucky to have such a wonderful school counselor. She is one of those people who seems like she has birdies come help her get dressed in the morning. She is so bright and cheerful.




Today we talked about conflict. I'm always talking about how I want my classroom to be a family. The truth is, families fight! My students and I are together for seven hours every day. It is normal that we will have conflict. I want to make sure that we are utilizing different skills in dealing with conflict.
We use the "I Message" on my campus and it is very helpful. I think the world would be a much more peaceful place if we all used the I Message!

For example:
If a kiddo is on the playground and no one is playing with her, she can go to a friend and say
"I feel sad when no one plays with me and I wish you would include me."
Then the person she is talking to says, "You feel sad when no one plays with you. Next time I will include you. I'm sorry."

I will be modeling the I Message with my kiddos by telling them, "I feel frustrated when my students are talking while I am talking. I need them to be respectful listeners."
Then they can tell me, "You feel frustrated when we are talking while you're talking. Next time we will be respectful listeners. We're sorry."


I Message "I feel upset and sad when you rip apart my dress. I wish you would respect my personal space."
Empathetic Response "You feel upset and sad when we rip apart your dress. Next time we will help you get ready for the ball. We're sorry."

We also talked about strategies to calm down.
My favorite is Deep Breathing. Mrs. Hougham tells the kiddos, smell the roses (breathe in) and blow the coco (breathe out).

My I Message poster is proudly in my room and I will tell kiddos with conflict to go over to that area to discuss. My school also utilizes fifth grade mediators.

One of my students told me, "Miss Dower, I feel happy when you hug me. I wish you would hug me all the time!"
That was a perfect way to end the day!

I Wonder

My school district is promoting kindness through a wonderful book. It's a New York Times best seller called, "I Wonder," by R.J. Palacio.
To read more about the program, check out the link.

The publisher describes the book, "August (Auggie) Pullman was born with a facial deformity that prevented him from going to a mainstream school—until now. He's about to start 5th grade at Beecher Prep, and if you've ever been the new kid then you know how hard that can be. The thing is Auggie's just an ordinary kid, with an extraordinary face. But can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, despite appearances?"

Through out the book there are many different precepts.

1. "When given the choice between being right or being kind, choose kind."   —Dr. Wayne Dyer
2. "Your deeds are your monuments."   —Inscription on ancient Egyptian tomb
3. "Have no friends not equal to yourself."   —Confucius
4. "Fortune favors the bold."   —Virgil
5. "No man is an island, entire of itself."   —John Donne
6. "It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers."   —James Thurber
7. "Kind words do not cost much. Yet they accomplish much."   —Blaise Pascal
8. "What is beautiful is good, and who is good will soon be beautiful."   —Sappho
9. "Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you ever can."   —John Wesley
10. "Just follow the day and reach for the sun."   —The Polyphonic Spree
11. "Everyone deserves a standing ovation because we all overcometh the world."   —Auggie Pullman

 I am going to start reading this book out loud. It is a long book, but I think it'll be worth it. I am all about teaching my students to be kind, loving, bucket-fillers. My goals for teaching second grade are always for my kids to love learning, and to love and respect other people.
I feel so lucky that I'm in a job where I can influence little people to be GOOD people!

Math

I love teaching fact families. Three numbers that make a family!

For example 3, 4, and 7. 

3+4=7

4+3=7

7-3=4

7-4=3

We made our fact family neighborhood. Some of the kiddos that finished early made us trees!

We're also continuing to talk about doubles. (Click the link to go to my pack on teacherspayteachers)
A great thing about doubles is that they can help us learn our doubles plus one!
If someone asks me what is 6+7? I will say in my head "I know that six plus six equals twelve (that's swell) so I know that six plus six plus one more is thirteen!"

Here is a video of my wonderful class singing the doubles song.

We're still working on the automaticity of it but we're getting there!!

Also...

Shameless plug in...

We love using our whiteboards. We love our whiteboard markers.

We run out of ink very quickly.

If anyone has it in their heart to donate money or markers.. that would be WONDERFUL!

Changing Matter

Today in science we talked about changing matter.

First we did a science experiment.
What would happen if we sprayed water on construction paper.
How could we get that water off?
What happened to the water when we blow dried it?

We talked about the water EVAPORATING when HOT GAS (blow drier) was added.

Then I gave one piece of construction paper to every pair of kids. Their directions were to change it AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE.

Raghav and Olivia made theirs into a face (including a bucket on top.) They love their bucket filler knowledge. :) 

Aakash and Ryland made theirs into a sword. 

We talked about how they changed their paper into a 3D object.

Cursive

When I was told that at Spicewood, I need to teach my second graders cursive... I was not happy.
Cursive!? Cursive! No one uses cursive any more. I have a friend who had to ask her new husband how to sign her new last name.

However, my vice principal told me that there are many benefits to teach young children cursive, so like any good teacher... I googled it.

Now I have to say, I am becoming a believer.

I read an article in psychologytoday by a Ph.D who said, "Learning to write by hand has these same features, plus of course there is a thinking element involved that does not occur with simple throw and catch movements. The thinking level is magnified in cursive because the specific hand-eye coordination requirements are different for every letter in the alphabet. Moreover, in handwriting the movements are continuously variable, which is much more mentally demanding than making single strokes, as in printing A, E, F, H, and so on. Even so, because cursive letters are more distinct than printed letters, children may learn to read more easily, especially dyslexics. "

and


"Yet scientists are discovering that learning cursive is an important tool for cognitive development, particularly in training the brain to learn “functional specialization,”[2] that is capacity for optimal efficiency. In the case of learning cursive writing, the brain develops functional specialization that integrates both sensation, movement control, and thinking. Brain imaging studies reveal that multiple areas of brain become co-activated during learning of cursive writing of pseudo-letters, as opposed to typing or just visual practice."



 My school uses Handwriting Without Tears.



However, there are some great FREE resources online.
Such as http://www.k5learning.com/cursive-writing-worksheets/cursive-alphabet

Class Picture

My adorable kiddos... and me (just barely taller than them!)

Oobleck!

We love Oobleck!

Prepped the desks

Made the oobleck

Got into groups

Started learning

Played pass the oobleck

Got our hands really dirty!

Filled out the worksheet

Wrote poems

Experimented some more

It was so much fun and I heard the kiddos making some wonderful connections about matter, solids, and liquids. :)