Indoor Recess

Yesterday was the first time we had an indoor recess long enough to get out the games from the game closet.  The children all played so nicely together and seemed to have a great time.  Here are some pictures of what we were doing as the rain came down.

Kash and Nathan made a cool design with the game Blokus.

Erika and Sophia were trying to figure out how to play the new figurative language game I ordered.  It looks like fun!

Dylan, Carl, Chase, and Gavin had a fierce game of chess going!

Ryan, Oliver, and Charlie practiced math facts with the game Shut the Box.

So did Anne and Charlotte!

Kinaree and Grace played my favorite game, Connect Four, while Avery and Claire drew at the short table.

Claire drew her name in block letters and colored it in.  What an artist!

Table Names

To foster community and to help the students learn to cooperate and compromise, they create table names and rules every time they are seated at new tables.  Last Friday, they came up with their names.  The rule is they need to have an animal and an adjective.  It's always fun to see what names they're able to agree upon.  Meet the first group of tables...

The Golden Eagles

The Clever Owls

The Most Clever, Slowest, Curious Flamingos

The Clever Kangaroos

Using Typing Pal

Today we spent some time in the classroom practicing our typing skills with Typing Pal.  It can be challenging for little hands to stay on home row, but with some coaching and reminders, the students did a great job!  Remember, the children are welcome to practice at home but we just ask that you watch their finger placement as they often put their fingers in the wrong places.  Today I told them about the bumps on the letters 'f' and 'j' and how they should always be able to feel those as they have their fingers on home row.  Here are a few pictures of our future typing experts.

Carl has perfect posture for typing!

The entire 'Clever Kangaroo' table is hard at work.

Sophia and Gavin learn the letters 'f' and 'j'.

Moby Max Math Facts

The lower school is excited to implement a new web-based curriculum called MobyMax for students to practice math facts.  MobyMax is tailored to your child's individual needs and will be used both at home and in the classroom.  Moby's features include:

-Placement tests that accurately identify where your child excels, and where his or her missing skills are

-Targeted instruction to fill in those missing skills

-Systematic review sessions that ensure that your child retains 100% of what he or she has learned

To access MobyMax from your home computer: 

Login steps for Student

1.  Please go to www.mobymax.com/signin

2.  Enter School Code: co1998

3.  Enter

Username: first namelastname

Password: second

You can also go to www.mobymax.com/co1998 and your child can enter his/her username and password.

To practice math facts, please click on Fact Master.

Once logged in, your child will be able to start immediately and begin improving his or her math facts recall. 

You can sign in as a parent as well by selecting "Parent" from the drop-down menu and entering your child's username and password.  You will be able to monitor your child's progress and even send messages to me.

For homework each week, students will be expected to practice math facts for 40 minutes.  We would like at least 20 of those minutes to be using MobyMax.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Our Class Puzzle

On Friday, after everyone had a chance to share his/her puzzle piece, the students worked as a team to put the class puzzle together.  The amount of encouraging words and teamwork we saw was outstanding and within a few minutes the students had completed the puzzle!  Here are a few pictures of their hard work and the finished product.

Everyone participated and made sure others felt included!

Here is our wonderful class (minus Avery who was not here) and our class puzzle!

Accessing Your Child's Blog

At the top of the page, you will find a tab called 'Student Blogs'.  When you click on that, you will find a list of the students' names.  Each child's name is linked to his/her blog.  Please let me know if you are unable to access your child's blog this way.

We are Bloggers!

Today the students made their first blog post.  To access your child's blog, you need to type in the web address which is your child's first name, the first letter of his/her last name, the words second grade and then .blogspot.com.  For example, mine would be: katiessecondgrade.blogspot.com.  I realize that is a bit confusing and I will soon post a link to each child's blog on this site, but wanted to give you the chance to see what they all did today!

A Fun Math Game

Playing games is a great way to reinforce math skills.  This week we learned a game called 'Name That Number'.  It's an easy game to play at home and helps students to not only practice their math facts, but also to think critically about different ways to make a number.  All you need is a deck of cards!  Instructions are below.

Name That Number!

1.  Flip 5 cards face up.  Leave the rest in a pile.

2.  Player 1 turns one card from the pile face up.  This is the 'target number'.

3.  Using the 5 cards that are already out, player 1 tries to make the 'target number' with adding and/or subtracting.

4.  If player 1 can do that, he/she explains it to player 2 and then takes all the cards involved.

5.  Make sure there are 5 cards out and one target number for player 2 to take his/her turn.

*If a player cannot make a target number, he/she passes to the other player.  If neither can make the number, pick a new target number.

Nathan tries to figure out how to make a target number of 5 while Erika watches.

Avery has a lot of 10s to deal with as she tries to make her target number of 5!

Grace checks Oliver's work as he thinks he has made the target number.

Neither Kinaree or Charlie could make the target number, so they put it back and got a new one.