Best Wishes

One of the things I love best about school is that you don’t always have to get it right the first time. If a lesson doesn’t take, you can teach it over in a slightly different way. If a child makes a mistake, you can set him up to try again - and again. School is all about “in progress” and “to be continued" and not so much about "done." We take the long view. With 179 days, it feels like time is on our side.

Until, suddenly, it isn't.

We are fast approaching the end of second grade. And it’s more than just a school calendar that tells me that we are nearly done. The plants that are part of our science experiment are overflowing their cups. Our math workbooks are full. Our markers have run dry and our crayons are broken. We are out of pink erasers. The squares on our carpet that once easily held 18 little bodies just aren’t big enough now.

I can tell that these second graders are ready for more. They are ready for things like writer’s notebooks, multiplication tables, Gmail, and cursive. I hear them sometimes talk of second grade in the past tense now. I see them peek into their third-grade neighbors’ classroom, intrigued. On our field trip to downtown Milwaukee yesterday, they charged around the city like big kids, fearless and full of adventure.

We have had a great time. Catapults, clocks, valentines and Secret Snowflakes. Thoughtful Logs, character riddles, maps, and math mountains. Book boxes, clay beads, goal cards, biomes, and every week, Stars and Wishes. We won a trophy together. We had some bumpy times, too, and learned, I hope, important life lessons about friendship, tolerance, and respect.

New to second grade this year, I’ve had plenty of times when I didn’t get it right the first time. The challenges of learning a new curriculum and other things were greater than I’d expected. I hope that what I lacked in know-how, I eventually made up for with hard work and heart. I will be forever grateful that I made the move from first to second grade. It is a joy to work with children who are so curious and capable. They amaze me.

Thank you for your kindness, your patience, and your willingness to help whenever I’ve asked - and even when I haven't. Thank you for reading this blog. Writing it has been my way to reflect; to take stock and put small moments from the classroom into a larger context; to think about next steps for the children. And there are always next steps. These children’s school stories, though done by one measure, are really just “to be continued.”

I wish them and all of you the very best.

Mark Your Calendars:

Mon., May 29 - Memorial Day. No school.

Wed., May 31 - First grade visit to second grade.

Thurs., June 1 - All-school field trip to Bayside Middle School to see the musical (AM).

Fri., June 2 - Stormonth Talent Show, K-2 performers (AM).

Sat., June 3 - PTO-sponsored Cupcake Run/Walk and Carnival. See you there!

Mon., June 5 - Stormonth Talent Show, Grades 3 and 4 performers (PM).

Tues., June 6 - Field Trip to the Boerner Botanical Gardens (AM). Keep those permission slip coming!

Wed., June 7 - Volunteer Breakfast (8 AM) and Year-End Assembly (9 AM); Poetry Cafe in our classroom, (2 PM).

Thurs., June 8 - Last day of school for students.

Fri., June 9 - Last day of school for teachers.

Why Poetry?

Why poetry?
Why?
Why sunsets?
Why trees?
Why birds?
Why seas?

This is an excerpt from a poem by Lee Bennett Hopkins that I shared with the boys and girls on our very first day of reading and writing poetry. I wanted to send a message then that poetry is special - so special that some people can't imagine a world without it. I told them that poetry brought together meaning and music and that the result could be powerful and exciting. They bought it! The boys and girls spent this week finding some amazing poems that touch their hearts and others that tickle their funny bones. And they have been writing poems that often do the same for me.

If poetry seems frivolous, think again. This week, I heard Wisconsin's poet laureate, Karla Houston, speak. She said,"When you write poetry, any other writing you do is the better for it" because it requires a precision and a tight sense of organization that are assets to any genre. And reading poetry, she said, stretches our minds, requiring us to see an old tree as a grandma or find beauty in a spider's web. Please plan to come and share some poetry with us at 2 PM on Wed., June 6, at our Poetry Cafe. 

In other parts of our days, the boys and girls are revisiting the topic of measurement in math. Science has been lively as we've watched our mealworms go through various stages, from larva to pupa to adult Darkling beetle. We'll be observing a second group of insects - milkweed bugs - move through the stages of eggs, nymphs, and adults. And we are growing Brassica plants, and noticing how plants, too, follow a life cycle.

What an honor to have another student from our class chosen as one of the Sensational Six at this week's all-school assembly. Congratulations, Tierney! Your class is proud of you.

Mark Your Calendars:

Wed., May 24 - MAP Test - Language (PM); early release day for students; Milwaukee landmark projects due. Thanks for helping your child with this at home.

Thurs., May 25 - Field trip (AM). Walking tour of downtown Milwaukee. Thank you for returning your permission slip and fee.

Mon., May 29 - Memorial Day. No school.

Thurs., June 1 - All-school field trip to Bayside Middle School to see the musical (AM).

Fri., June 2 - Stormonth Talent Show, K-2 performers (AM).

Sat., June 3 - PTO-sponsored Cupcake Run/Walk and Carnival. See you there!

Mon., June 5 - Stormonth Talent Show, Grades 3 and 4 performers (PM).

Tues., June 6 - Field Trip to the Boerner Botanical Gardens (AM).

Wed., June 7 - Volunteer Breakfast (8 AM) and Year-End Assembly (9 AM); Poetry Cafe in our classroom, (2 PM).

Thurs., June 8 - Last day of school for students.

Fri., June 9 - Last day of school for teachers.

Poetry, Please!

The children have seen themselves as authors for some time now. This week, they began to see themselves as poets, too - able to look closely and carefully at even ordinary things like a pencil sharpener or a crayon and to tell about them in new and unexpected ways. They are understanding that poetry is about the sounds of words, as well as the silences that poets create by breaking lines apart to trail down a page. The kind of poetry that the children are writing now is free verse. It does not have to rhyme; it does not need a certain number of syllables or lines. This is more about capturing ideas and presenting them in lyrical ways. After the very heavy work of nonfiction research and writing, poetry feels like a breath of fresh air.

At reading times, we've immersed ourselves in the poetry of others. The first days of the this new unit were spent simply reading from the large collection of poetry books now in our classroom library - sports poems, animal poems, weather poems, classic poems from the likes of Langston Hughes, Robert Frost, and Emily Dickinson,  poems from new and unfamiliar sources, and poems in different shapes and sizes. Next week, we'll begin to study more explicitly how poems are created and we'll delve into the deeper meanings of some poems.

As a celebration of our poetry units - and our year together - we would like to invite you to a Poetry Cafe at 2 PM on Wed., June 7. The boys and girls will present some of their favorite poems. We'll have treats - and memories - to share. Watch for an official invitation in your child's binder.

We started math this week with extension lessons on symmetry and perimeter. We made and measured paper kites to help solidify the concepts. Now, we have began the final unit in our Math Expressions curriculum. We've covered arrays and fractions so far.

We finished our science unit on solids and liquids this week with an experiment on the changing properties of matter. We investigated the effects of melting and freezing on ice, margarine, and chocolate chips. Now, we can devote our full attention to plants and insects. We got a jump start on this work, though. A couple of weeks ago we began observing mealworms. We are watching closely as these insects make their way through a metamorphosis that is very much like a butterfly's. Fascinating!

It was a real treat this week to meet Lester Laminack, a specialist in children's literacy who has written six picture books and numerous texts for teachers. His visit to Stormonth was sponsored by the PTO. Second-graders listened as he deconstructed a familiar book, pulling apart the words to reveal the important decisions the author had made. He left students with an inspiring message to live like readers and writers.

Mark Your Calendars:

Mon., May 15 - MAP Test - Math (AM)

Thurs., May 18 - Safety Day with the Fox Point Police Department (AM); I will be out of the classroom all day for a second-grade team meeting. Mrs. Maier will be the sub.

Fri. May 19 - Karenna's last day before leaving for China. Class mini-concert during Music (12:20-12;50 PM)

Wed., May 24 - MAP Test - Language (PM); early release day for students; Milwaukee landmark projects due.

Thurs., May 25 - Field trip (AM). Walking tour of downtown Milwaukee. If you haven't don't so already, please return your permission slip and fee.

Mon., May 29 - Memorial Day. No school.

Thurs., June 1 - All-school field trip to Bayside Middle School to see the musical (AM).

Fri., June 2 - Stormonth Talent Show, K-2 performers (AM).

Sat., June 3 - PTO-sponsored Cupcake Run/Walk and Carnival. See you there!

Mon., June 5 - Stormonth Talent Show, Grades 3 and 4 performers (PM).

Tues., June 6 - Field Trip to the Boerner Botanical Gardens (AM).

Wed., June 7 - Volunteer Breakfast (8 AM) and Year-End Assembly (9 AM); Poetry Cafe in our classroom, (2 PM).

Thurs., June 8 - Last day of school for students.

Fri., June 9 - Last day of school for teachers.

Depths of Knowledge

Creating a replica of a rain forest, tundra, or ocean using assorted craft supplies, stuffed animals, recyclables, and a big roll of duct tape may not seem like it would require deep thinking, but I would argue otherwise. As evidence I submit some of the "talk" I heard as the boys and girls worked on their biome projects this week:

• "What if we hung the fish at different levels to show the different ocean zones?"
• "We want to show what the rain forest was like before pollution started wrecking things."
• "We should put cattails here so the frogs could hide from predators."
• "The elf owl has to be in the cactus. That's the only place it builds its nest."
• "This is a temperate forest so the trees have to be leafy kind."
• "The permafrost looks good, but now how can we make the northern lights?"

Can you hear it, too? These boys and girls really know their stuff. In their own ways, they are taking the knowledge that they acquired through research and assimilated through extensive writing - and they are applying it in a fresh, new way.

An education scientist named Norman Webb created a system for categorizing academic tasks according to the level of thinking required to successfully complete them. He envisioned four levels of cognitive demand with the lowest being basic recall and the highest being what he calls "extended thinking." Webb used words such as connect, create, design, and prove to describe what "extended thinking" meant to him. It seems to  me that the  biome project work going on in the classroom this week meets his criteria. And the best part is that these second graders had a blast doing it!

Watch for your child's biome book to come home soon and with it a photo from his or her biome. I think that you, too, will be impressed by their hard work as readers and writers, their incredible use of imagination, - and their deep thinking.

In other subject areas this week, we completed our math unit on multi-digit addition and subtraction (with regrouping and ungrouping), we studied contractions, and we continued to investigate liquids and solids, particularly mixtures of each.

A word about class placements for next year. There has been a fair amount of confusion around the third-/fourth-grade multi-age class. I apologize for adding to that in my conversations with some of you at conferences. I simply had not been told what was going on. I hope that Karen Grimm-Nilsen's letter, which you should have received on Wednesday, helped to clarify things, including the makeup and operation of the MAC classes. I will meet with the other second-grade teachers next week to begin creating heterogeneous classes for third grade, including the MAC class. This is a very thoughtful process. We consider reading levels and math abilities. We look for students who would seem to connect well socially. We consider special needs of all kinds. If you have questions or concerns, please share them with me by Monday so that I can take these into account as we work to create groupings for next year.

Finally, it's been a wonderful Teacher Appreciation Week. Thank you to the PTO, all of you, and the children for filling this week for special treats and surprises. I feel extremely fortunate to be part of a district with such caring and supportive families.

Mark Your Calendars:

Wed., May 10 - MAP Test - Reading (AM); early release day for students

Thurs. May 11 - Visit with author Lester Laminack sponsored by the PTO

Fri., May 12 - PTO-sponsored Special Interest Day (PM)

Mon., May 15 - MAP Test - Math (AM)

Thurs., May 18 - Safety Day with the Fox Point Police Department (AM)

Fri. May 19 - Class mini-concert during Music (12:20-12;50 PM)

Wed., May 24 - MAP Test - Language (PM); early release day for students

Thurs., May 25 - Field trip. Walking tour of downtown Milwaukee. A letter and permission slip were sent home today.

Mon., May 29 - Memorial Day. No school.

Getting Over the Hurdles

This is a challenging time to be a second grader. A lot is expected of these boys and girls right now. They are  having to put into practice learning that's been building all year. They are writing research reports that are five chapters long! During reading times, they are poring over non-fiction books with complex vocabulary, structure, and themes in search of facts and ideas to support their writing. In math, they are trying to master the many steps involved in successfully adding and subtracting three-digit numbers. Even some of their specials are demanding. In music, they are learning to sing in rounds and in PE they are gearing up to run the mile. Phew!

Some days, it can feel really good to stretch in these ways. I can see the pride in the boys' and girls' eyes; hear it in their voices as they share their plans and their progress with each other. But some days - truth be told - it can be exhausting. As their teacher, I walk a fine line between patience and pushing them to persevere. In the end, I know that they will get over these hurdles - and they'll be better for it. Stronger, smarter, and more ready to take on third grade.

I have never been one to coast to the end of a school year. I like to keep the class busy and engaged. But once over our current hurdles, the last few weeks of second grade will have a less pressured feel, I think. A bit like a light at the end of a tunnel. Looking ahead in reading and writing, we'll turn our attention to the joys of poetry. In math, the boys and girls will be learning mostly about symmetry, fractions, and measurement. These math topics generally lend themselves to a more fun, hands-on approach. As our math load gets a little lighter, we'll have more time for science. We'll finish our work with solids and liquids and then investigate plants and insects. We'll have two great field trips - a walking tour of downtown Milwaukee on May 25 to compliment our social studies lessons and a visit to the Boerner Botanical Garden on June 6 that connects to our science work. I love the idea of wrapping up our time together as a class in these happy ways.

Thank you so much to the many families who helped to put books from this week's Stormonth Book Fair into our classroom library. The Book Fair profits and Coin Wars donations were divided equally among the staff. Add to that gift certificates that some families purchased and I received about $120 to spend on books like the popular Dogman and Owl Diaries series, as well as some interesting non-fiction titles. The class is thrilled!

Mark Your Calendars:

Thurs. May 11 - Visit with author Lester Laminack sponsored by the PTO

Fri., May 12 - PTO-sponsored Special Interest Day (PM)

Thurs., May 18 - Safety Day with the Fox Point Police Department (AM)

Fri. May 19 - Class mini-concert during Music (12:20-12;50 PM)

Wed., May 24 - Early release day for students

Thurs., May 25 - Field trip. Walking tour of downtown Milwaukee. A letter and permission slip will be sent home shortly.

Mon., May 29 - Memorial Day. No school.

Rethinking the 80/20 Split

If you're an average reader, about 80% of the reading you do each day is nonfiction. I found this statistic surprising at first. But when we consider nonfiction broadly and include catalogs, letters, emails, maps, recipes, directions, and online reviews and advertisements, along with more conventional nonfiction texts, it makes sense. Given that nonfiction reading occupies such a large part of our lives, it also makes sense for students to spend more time learning to  read nonfiction. Elementary school reading programs traditionally featured about 80% fiction to 20% nonfiction. That ratio is changing quickly and our classroom provides an example of how.

Nonfiction occupies about one-third of our classroom library - and our collection is growing. The boys and girls read a weekly news magazine. They are regularly exposed to content-area reading in social studies and science. They know how to use computers to tap into information on the Internet. And right now, we're midway through our second nonfiction reading unit. The children are immersed in reading about the biomes of the world. Biomes, especially their animals and plants, are high-interest topics. But our lessons aren't specific to these. Our focus is on gaining an understanding of nonfiction structures and features and a facility with the strategies that successful nonfiction readers use - knowledge and skills that can be transferred to all informational texts.

This week's lessons included a discussion of how readers have two voices: a speaking voice and a thinking voice. The speaking voice is the one that reads the words on a page. The thinking voice is the one inside your head that you use to process, ponder, and question. The message here is that nonfiction readers have big thinking jobs to do; that they are active, not passive. We also studied various text features such as headings, captions, and diagrams to see how readers use them in conjunction with text to make meaning.

Part of what makes this nonfiction reading unit so powerful is its alignment with nonfiction writing. As they read, the boys and girls are learning about note-taking, summarizing, and paraphrasing. They are taking the new information they read, making it their own, and then finding ways to teach others about it through their writing. This is a big step from teaching others about known topics like hockey, gymnastics, or how to ride a two-wheel bike. Each student is using a tabbed research notebook to collect facts and organize them by topics. These topic-based notes then get turned into the chapters of books.

In math this week, the children practiced the challenging work of triple-digit subtraction with ungrouping. We've used to the idea of looking at equations with a magnifying glass to see the tens in the hundreds and the ones in the tens. The boys and girls understand that ungrouping is another way of looking at a number. Its value doesn't change.

In science, our unit on the states of matter continues. We wrapped up a look at solids by building bridges and towers from various man-made solids. We looked at natural solids, too. Now, we're investigating different kinds of liquids and identifying properties such as transparency and viscosity. We're exploring the ways that liquids flow and pour and how they take the shapes of their containers.

Mark Your Calendars:

Tues. April 25 - Book Fair and Cake Walk

Fri., April 28 - Field trip to Nicolet High School to see "Alice in Wonderland." Thanks for returning permission slips and fees.

Fri., May 12 - PTO-sponsored Special Interest Day (PM)

Thurs., May 18 - Safety Day with the Fox Point Police Department (AM)

Thurs., May 25 - Field trip. Walking tour of downtown Milwaukee. A letter and permission slip will be sent home shortly.

Taking on the World

We are the Deep Divers, the Forest Friends, the Desert Experts, the Masters of the Rainforest! We are biome teams! Each team is researching one of the largest regions of world. These regions, or biomes, are complex communities of plants and animals that share certain similarities in climate and terrain. It's exciting work - maybe our greatest adventure yet in second grade. This new unit gives the boys and the girls the chance to show all that they've learned about information reading and writing so far. And it raises the bar.

We began by noticing the ways that writers organize informational text. Whether writing a book or a script for a video, nonfiction writers group their related ideas by broad categories, or topics, and this help readers to see connections and to learn. Determining which of the many ideas from the books in our biome bins are most important is another skill we've worked on this week. The boys and girls learned that asking "what" helps to establish the topic of a page or a section (as in "What's this all about?") and that asking "so what" helps to identify the main idea (as in "So what is the writer really trying to tell me about my topic?")

Laura Witkov, Stormonth's literacy coach, and I are co-planning and co-teaching this nonfiction unit. It is great fun for me to work with Laura in the classroom. She brings an expert's knowledge of elementary reading and writing and a willingness to try new things. Eventually, our nonfiction work will overtake Writing Workshop, as well as Reading Workshop. Each child will be producing a nonfiction book on his or her topic. And to bring out their more artistic talents, teams will create a mini-version of their biomes in the classroom. That's right! A rainforest, grassland, ocean, forest, fresh-water habitat, desert, and tundra right in Room 222!

In math, we're under way with a new unit that is mostly about three-digit addition and subtraction. Lessons this week set the foundation by reviewing important place-value concepts. We'll begin adding hundreds, tens, and ones next week. Subtracting from hundreds will begin the week after that.

We've started a new science unit, too. Called "Solids and Liquids," it takes another look at ideas about states of matter, which students first investigated last year. This week, after some hands-on exploration, they considered the various materials from which solids can made, identified the properties of these materials, and decided which might be best-suited for specific purposes, such as building bridges or towers. Then they got a chance to test their theories.

On Tuesday, Network Photography will be at Stormonth to take a photograph of the entire student body and staff. We'll be positioned on the playground in the shape of peace sign. To make this work, second graders are asked to wear white. The picture will be featured in the 2016-'17 yearbook. Thanks for your help with this. Peace to you!

Mark Your Calendars:

Mon., April 10 - We'll have our first of five shorts visits from a Junior Achievement representative.

Tues., April 11 - All-school photo shoot, 2:45 PM. Please dress your child in a white shirt.

Wed., April 12 - Early Release Day for students

Fri., April 14 - No school

Mon., April 17 - No school for students. Professional development day for teachers.

Tues. April 25 - Book Fair and Cake Walk, 5:30-7:00 PM

Fri., April 28 - Field trip to Nicolet High School to see "Alice in Wonderland." Look for the permission slip that was sent home today.