Goodbye!

June 21, 2011

My Dear Children,

I'm sure you are all reading up a storm and have found a way to keep track of all your summer adventures in writing! If you have the chance to get on your school email please drop me a line and fill me in on what's new in your life. I'll make sure to respond!!

You are all remarkable individuals and together we were the best class I have ever had in 21 years of teaching. I can hardly wait to hear about all the fabulous things you will be doing as 3rd graders.

In everything you do remember to put your best foot forward and take it to . . .
INFINITY AND BEYOND!!

With Love,
Ms. Rogers

Synergy Poetry Jam

After weeks of preparation; devouring words, making lists, creating poetry, reading and rereading poems and songs . . . the children performed beautifully. I couldn't have been more proud were they my own munchkins! They all enjoyed themselves and loved being in the "spotlight". Thank you to everyone for coming out and supporting our children and sharing delicious desserts and conversation. We all had a wonderful evening.

Cinquain

Yellow mane like lions,
Bees like to drink the nectar,
Turns white, blows away.

We have been having loads of fun creating cinquain poetry. The children are quite clever and have a deeper appreciation for all the work we have done in Fundations with the 6 different syllable types. Yeah!!

Poetry

We are all enjoying our study of poetry in both readers and writers workshops. Our new "Word Collection" books have lists of words in a variety of categories; onomatopoeias, feelings & emotions,
alliteration, color, spicy words, sensory, similes, and rhymes. These lists come in handy when we need to revise our work and can't think of a new word. It has also taught us how to be purposeful in our writing of poetry as well as recognize when other poets have used different features so that we can gain a better meaning for what the poem is all about.
Everyone is hard at work reciting their poems, using eye contact to connect with their audience, using their voices to emphasize different parts of a poem, and try to turn a simple reading into a grand performance. Each day we set aside time to practice our performances and receive constructive criticism from our very tough audience.
Check out this color poem written by the entire class . . .

Green
Green is grass growing
in the summer.
Green is the whoosh of
the wind in the forest.
Green is the spinach that
gives us muscles.
Green is the feel of a
leaf in spring.
Green is the color that
protects nature.

To read more color poems by individual students you'll have to come into the classroom and check out our "poetree".

Pajama Day

We were all quite comfy cozy in our pajamas. Everyone agreed that our morning routines at home would be much simpler if we didn't have to plan what we wear. Can you say uniforms?!

Math Thinking & Questioning

Whether you are helping your child with math homework, playing a board game, or driving down the highway on your next vacation destination questioning your child about their thinking will help them arrive at a solution and advance their problem solving skills. Here are some tried and true questioning techniques that will allow your child to do the thinking.

What do you understand in this problem? (What do you know?)
What are you trying to find out?
Have him tell what he did and why he did it. Did that help you find the solution?
What else could you try?
How can you prove that you are correct?
Can you create a new problem that is like this one?"

You needn't limit yourself to math when using these techniques. Ask your child to justify their thinking in any situation. For example; after having put jello up their nose don't ask why rather ask him/her to justify their thinking. You will be surprised by the responses you hear!

World Wide Research

Many thanks to all the fabulous parents who helped create such delicious and interesting foods from around the world. Each and every child delighted in telling the class all about their dish. I have never seen such brave taste testers.
The children worked very diligently on their individual books, gathering information about their chosen country, and writing the facts without simply copying from the website. Map making quickly became their favorite activity. We learned how to use an overhead projector as well as a bright sunny window to help trace the boundaries of a continent or country.
As the project drew to a close and we began organizing the pages it became apparent to them that a table of contents was in order. Quickly followed by the need for an "about the author" page, which was written in 3rd person because several children noticed that published books sounded as if someone else wrote about the author! Very perceptive, don't you agree!!

Reading Buddies

For the past 2 weeks the 1st and 2nd graders have paired up and shared their just right books together. The second graders were given the task of showing the younger students just what really great independent reading looks like and sounds like. Tomorrow we end with a celebration of sharing and growth as readers. Hopefully the younger children will have felt what it's like to sustain themselves over a period of time while engaged in reading.

The second graders have also been reading the text from our Culture Grams software to a first grader in order to find out new information on the world we live in. Each pair traveled the cyber world and then chose a continent to focus on and eventually narrowed that down to a country. Everyone is hard at work gathering information to present at our World Wide Breakfast!