Marble Tracks... Completed!

We worked hard the past two weeks to apply what we learned about forces and motion to our Marble Tracks!  Check out our completed tracks!

Thank you for all the donations of cardboard rolls and masking tape!  See a previous post, here, to see what we learned while making our tracks!

Two Digit Addition Strategies

In second grade, students are expected to solve two digit addition and subtraction problems. This week, we have been focusing on adding up to four two-digit numbers using place value and properties of addition.  So what exactly does that mean?

• Place value strategies: Splitting a number into tens and ones (decomposing) and adding the tens together, the ones together, and then adding your two sums to get your total.  In later grades, this is called partial sums.  Many of you have seen this strategy on our Educreations.

• Properties of addition: We use the commutative and associative properties of addition (though not by name,) to decide what order to add two or more numbers.  We worked on many addition shortcuts at the beginning of the year, so when adding the numbers  

6 + 4 + 6

students might decide to add 6 + 4 first, because those are making ten pairs, OR add 6 + 6 first, because those are doubles students should have memorized.  This freedom allows students to answer problems more quickly by avoiding math facts that are more difficult.

Take a look at our recent Educreations to see how we are doing solving four two-digit addition problems.  One of the biggest obstacles students face is not solving a multi-step addition problem, but getting their basic math facts right!

Informational Writing

We are gearing up for our Expert Projects- projects where students write about a topic they know a lot about!  This is a great unit for students to practice their informational writing skills.  In second grade, students are expected to write informational paragraphs introducing the topic, with facts and details (at least 3!) and with a concluding statement or section.  Here is our anchor chart to help us remember how to write a paragraph!

In addition to practicing our informational writing skills, we will be revising and editing our work (with peer and teacher assistance) and focusing on our writing goals during these projects.  We can't wait to show off all of our expertise!

Parent Experts!

Thank you to all our parents who volunteered to come in and share their expertise with us! We learned so much and had a ton of fun.  Here are some priceless pictures from the last weeks.

Mrs. Bohn teaches us yoga!

Senor Sturtz taught us spanish!

Mrs. Martin-Shaheen taught us how to sew!

Mr. Wallen taught us about playing the trumpet!

Mr. Willis teaches us about being a Marine

These presentations helped us realize that everybody can be an expert about something! Thank you to our parent experts for taking the time to come in and share their expertise!

Teaching Independence

One of the most important parts of my job as a second grade teacher is teaching independence to 7 and 8 year-olds.  This can be difficult at times, but independence is such an important virtue.  Here are some ways you can help bridge the home-school gap and help your child learn independence this year:

• When your child asks for help spelling a word, don't give it to them right away!  Instead, ask "What sounds do you hear in the word?  Do you hear any words you know how to spell inside that word?  Where might you find that word in our house?"  Encourage your child to build strategies for spelling words that don't rely on you- but rather on their own initiative and problem-solving.  If they spell the word close to correctly (or even in a way that makes sense phonetically) praise their attempt.  You don't even always have to correct their mistakes, which can negate the effort they put into spelling the word independently.
• That goes for any school work! If a child needs help on math, ask "What would you do first? Can you start the problem? Which part is tricky for you?"  The more you ask your child to explore the roadblock s/he is encountering, the more you encourage your child to reflect on the difficulties they are facing, and find a way around it.  In fact, usually this method will help students realize they CAN solve the problem on their own!
• If a student is frustrated or upset, I always ask what the problem is, and then ask the student "How could you go about solving this problem?"  Asking the student to take ownership for tackling the problem instills a sense of efficacy in the student.  The last thing I want to do is take over and solve the problem for them, unless teacher intervention really is necessary.  Let them try two or three attempts before jumping in and suggesting your own. And always make your child do most of the work to solve.
• Wait for your child to ASK for help before you jump in.  And that doesn't mean stating that they are stuck.  When students TELL me "I don't know how to sign onto Scootpad" I might respond, "hmmm... that is a problem.  Well, thanks for sharing that with me."  I encourage students to learn that I will always help them find a solution if they ASK for it.  Besides just being polite to ask, it lets students know that I will not swoop in and solve all their problems, that I expect them to (and believe they can) try to solve the problem on their own.
• Let your child be the authority on school! If you have a question about your child's classwork or assignments, ask your child first. This lets them feel a sense of responsibility for assignments or information that is communicated.  If they are unsure, a probing question such as "Well, how do you normally do this?" or "What would your teacher tell you if you asked this question?" can draw out more information.  Then let your child know you appreciate his or her aid in solving your problem!
• Let them fail.  It's okay if your child tries a strategy that you know is doomed to fail.  As the saying goes, we learn more from our mistakes. Protecting them from failure costs them valuable learning experiences-at an age where mistakes are not all that fatal.  Once they fail, tell them "That was a good try," and give a few suggestions.

These are just a few tips to teach independence.  Remember, you can't just expect your child to be an independent learner... but you also can't just do it all for them!  Teaching independence is huge at this age, and any work you put in now will have a huge impact on their future learning!

Great Questions for Independence:

• How would you normally do this?  What would you do first?  
• Can you try a strategy, and then ask for help if you still need it?
• What can you do to help solve this problem on your own?
• What parts are hard?  What parts are easy?

Student Led Conferences & Educreations

Thank you to all our families who participated in Student-Led conferences!  We practiced so hard and did some really great reflection that will help to steer our growth goals as we head into the second half of the year.  Whether at home or at school, I had many great compliments on how well the conferences went.  Thank you for giving your student this opportunity to share the wonderful things he or she is doing in class.

Many parents remarked on how neat the Educreations presentations were.  Educreations is a great app you can download on your Ipad to create whiteboard presentations with voice-overs.  We have been using them to show what we know how to do in math and in reading.

As we continue to use this app to record ourselves, you can check out your child's work by going to www.educreations.com and asking your child to sign in using his or her lunch number and the password hte105.

Thank you for making this such a valuable reflection and learning opportunity for our class!

1,000 cm Marble Tracks & Learning Points

We have officially begun building our marble tracks!  After working hard these past few weeks to learn force concepts and measurement skills, our class was so excited to start.  Thank you for sending in the wrapping paper rolls, paper towel rolls, masking tape, and other supplies.  Below is a picture of our first day- not as messy as I had thought we would be.

Our class begins the great marble track project!

This project is a great culmination to our learning.  In second grade, we learn that a force is a push or a pull, and explore how an object starts and stops moving, changes direction, and changes speed.  We explore the concepts of gravity, friction, and momentum and their practical application, but are not responsible for remembering the terms and their definitions.  All of these concepts are applied to our marble tracks.

In measurement, we studied the difference between the us standard units (inch, foot, yard) and metric units (millimeter, centimeter, meter) and developed a comfort distinguishing between them.  We established reference points to help us remember about how long each unit is.  Finally, we practiced using a ruler correctly to measure in both inches and centimeters.  We also used this as an opportunity to problem solve- what if an object is longer than our ruler? How might we find out how long it is?

In addition to providing us an opportunity to practice the skills and apply the concepts we have been learning in math and science, these projects are a great illustration of the design process and trial and error.  The amount of failure we encounter with these projects is staggering- every new twist or turn or ramp has to be tested, redesigned, tested again, and on and on.  I love seeing how resilient and motivated the students are to continue trying again and again.  They also must make their track structurally sound- sturdy enough to move every day.  Finally, students are learning valuable lessons on teamwork.

We hope to finish out tracks by Friday, February 21st, and I will keep families informed of a "publishing" celebration for these projects :)