Our 1st week of summer!

We are almost finished our first week of vacation.  I hope everyone has started their Thinkstretch books.  I have finish my first book, The Mouse and the Motorcycle.  This will be a read aloud for story time.  I  have been busy with meetings and workshops.  I have learn some new tricks I can not wait to use in the classroom.  I will start learning to use the IPAD better since we will each have on and we will be able to use it all day.  Have fun enjoy your summer and don't let your brain drain.

ThinkStretch Summer Learning!!

Yesterday ThinkStretch Summer Learning workbooks were sent home.  Please encourage your child to do a little each day to stop the summer brain drain.  Click below to a link to the ThinkStretch website.  There are some great free activities!!

Thinkstretch Summer Learning

Awards Day!

As our year is ending we celebrated our accomplishments at our year end awards yesterday!Check out our Tweet!

Scholastic News Weekly Reader

It is no secret that our class loves Friday because that is Scholastic News Weekly Reader!!  We love the interactive aspect of Scholastic News Weekly Reader online.  After searching for text features and new vocabulary, we watch the video and make a few notes about what we know already and what we want to know.  Now is the fun part we let the interactive magazine read to us!  Now it is time to get out the highlighters and do the second read that is more detailed.  Now we are trying to find the main idea and at least 3 details.  We also try to answer what we wanted to learn.  This leads us to some great discussion and google searches to find out more.

Here is the link to the interactive Scholastic News

The students know how to go back and search the back issues and reread.  Please encourage your child to go back and share their favorites with you.  Play the games, discuss the vocabulary and enjoy the videos.  Scholastic News Weekly Reader also has an app for mobile devices and it is FREE!  The app has most of the same features as the web version.  We will move up to the 3rd grade version next fall.   

Watch Again and Discover a New Favorite

One of the most engaging video's I have found especially for Social Studies has been Horrible Histories by Scholastic.  The kids love these cartoons and are so engaged in the story that they do not realize that they are learning important information.  So since we are finishing up our second grade year with China and Egypt.  Here are the links to the videos on you tube.

Egypt  

China 


Remember that both of these links are two episodes of Horrible Histories and that Egypt and China are both the second episode on the video.  If you like the kids from Horrible Histories, then I think you will enjoy the Time Warp Trio.  Click the links below to check them out.

Time Warp Trio china playlist 

Time Warp Trio ancient Egypt 

I think you will enjoy these videos. Try to make a list of all the important facts you have learned.

Keeping in touch

I have created a Google Doc to help us all keep in touch.  I would like to have everyone's email and current contact information.  This will help me to make sure the school office has everyone's current information.  Notices are sent out during the summer and we want everyone to stay in the loop.  To enter your information on the Google Doc  click  Here .  Remember if your information changes you can go back and edit your information.

I have also added the form  "What are we reading?"  When you finish reading a book, go to the form enter the title, the author and whether you would recommend the book to a friend.  When we return to school in the fall we will print out of form and see what everyone read.  Click here  to access the form.  We can also use this form to see who can out read Mrs. Power!!

 

Photo Peach of our field trip

The Second grade classes travel to the Booker T. Washington National Park on May 7, 2015.  After  trying to collect the best pictures that were taken that day.  I have created a Photo Peach slide show of our great day.  We learned a great deal about life long ago and the life of Booker T. Washington.

Booker T. Field Trip Slide Show

This will be really fun to look back on next year at the end of school to see how much we have all changed.  In future I will have the students make the slide show and add the captions.  I really like this tool and plan to use it a great deal next year.  It will be a great video yearbook of our class.

Looping???

Now that the shock of changing grades has worn off and I have begun to look at it as adventure.  I started to do a little research on Looping.  Since I will be teaching the same kids for 3rd grade I am excited about having another year to get to know them.  Now that we know routines and how our classroom runs our first days in August we will be able to go straight to work. I found the following article that the link below will take you to.

http://www.ascd.org/publications/newsletters/education-update/mar98/vol40/num02/Looping.aspx 


I found this article very informative.  It also addresses many of the concerns parents have about looping.  Even though the teacher in the article looped with her 1st graders to 2nd grade.  The article was very helpful in giving me the insight of the many benefits of our class staying together.  Especially the portion on high stakes decisions.  Since we will be preparing for the VA SOL Test, this being comfortable with each other and the fact that I already know where they are will help to better prepare them for state testing.  

Summer Activities to keep on learning

https://www.dropbox.com/home/Summer%20Learning

Summer is a time to relax and enjoy a break from our busy and hectic school days.  However, many students lose up to 2 months of learning during the summer break.  With that in mind I have started a summer learning file on dropbox which can be accessed and used at home to keep a young mind sharp.
I will continue to add to this file throughout the summer as I find more activities to get us ready for the challenges of 3rd grade.

In this file you will find Science experiments that can be done at home with materials that most of us have lying around the house.  These are great activities for a rainy day.  Encourage your child to explain his/her observations, predictions and results.  Also in this file is a multiplication BUMP Game.  Bump is a much loved game in the classroom and all the students are shrewd players.  Have your child teach you how to play and begin working on your multiplication facts.  There is also a summer packet that includes writing, reading, Task cards for different activities and recording of summer temperatures.  Please encourage your child to try some of these activities.  

Summer Learning Board

I am started to get excited about summer.  That does not mean we take two months off from learning.  I have created a pinterest board of Summer learning activities that will keep our minds sharp for our new adventures in third grade.

Most of the activities involve using things we all have around the house.  I love little or no cost fun.  I have included a few dice and card games to help with math and problem solving skills.  Since dice and card games are favorites in room 13. Those who have chosen to keep a summer journal, write about any activities that you do.  I would love to hear about all the activities you tried when we are back together in August.  Don't forget to let me know which ones that were not fun or didn't work.   Just like we talk about in class we need to know the good and the bad, so we can improve next time.

https://www.pinterest.com/carla6481/ 

 

The Goodreads App.

One of my favorite apps and sites to use on my tablet is Goodreads.  I use this to find new books to read for pleasure.  I like that you can connect with friends and see what they are reading.  The site also allows you to rate books and add them to your list.  The adding them to your list is a great feature, I tend to forget the author's name or not remember the whole title.  By adding to my reading list I can go back to the list time and time again.  I found several new authors on this site. 

I discovered that children's books were also listed on the site.  I have created a Cpower profile for myself as teacher. This is my third grade friendly reading list, which I will be reading from.  I can list the site and have my parents and students add me as a friend.  This will enable us to see what we are all reading this summer.  I have created a list of possible books so that my parents have some titles to get them started on their summer reading.  I hope that since that I will be teaching many of the same students next year this will help keep us connected over the summer.


https://www.goodreads.com/
 

My Portaportal

One of the things online that I have been working on for a few years actually is my portaportal.  I am continually adding and subtracting websites that I use in the classroom.  This portaportal has been a wonderful way to share the sites with parents.  The students love teaching their parents how to log on.  It has been a great addition to my home/school connection.

I have also shared the portaportal with colleagues and a close friend who teaches in another state. I have a friend who teaches special education of older students who uses my portaportal on a regular basis. This has been the easiest way to share sites with my kids and parents.  



http://guest.portaportal.com/powerclass