Perfect Timing

Second graders are at a just-right age to learn about telling time. Math lessons about half-hour, quarter-to, and quarter-after times were a snap this week, and even telling time by five-minute increments seemed easy.

I've taught time to younger students. Our district's previous math program covered time as part of the first-grade curriculum - and it was torturous. But Math Expressions rightly puts time in second grade. Seven- and eight-year-olds are ready for this kind of instruction and eager to apply what they've learned to everyday situations in the classroom, and at home, too, I expect. Be sure to give them lots of chances to keep practicing.

In Writing Workshop this week, the boys and girls discovered that learning more science can make their lab reports stronger. Through books and online resources, they got an introduction to physics. They learned about force, motion, friction, and gravity. Understanding a bit about these scientific terms and ideas helped illuminate their writing. They found connections between their new learning and the experiments they had conducted earlier. Then, they tried to share these connections by going back to what they'd written in their lab reports to add explanations. Instead of telling just the "what" and "how" of an experiment, they began to get at the "why."

In Reading Workshop, our pursuit of deeper comprehension had us looking closely at figurative language this week. The very language that can make books such as joy to read - similes, metaphors, puns, idioms and the like - can also be obstacles to understanding. We considered expressions such as "her heart sank," "they drifted off to sleep," "he pawed through the cupboard," and "the angry, bruised sky" - all from books that the children have been reading. With each one of these phrases and more, we worked hard to understand what the author was really trying to say.

The wind storm and power outage on Wednesday were the big news of our week, of course. I was proud of the way the boys and girls took it all in stride. The class was in specials when the lights flickered a time or two and then went out. The boys and girls stayed calm and went right on with their work. Mrs. Wachs gave them a BUG for the way they reacted so responsibly. Back in the classroom, with the sunlight pouring in our windows, they carried on with a regular math lesson until it was time to go home.

Missing out on conferences was the big downside to Wednesday's events. Many of you will need to choose new conference times, and that's not easy with busy family schedules. Please know that I'll do my best to find to find times that work for you, I do have some availability on all of the official days, but I am willing to meet outside these days, as well.

Mark Your Calendars:

Mon., Mar. 13 - Jump rope for Heart event during specials

Tues., Mar. 14 - Assembly - Irish dancers (10:30-11:00 AM)

Wed., Mar. 15 - Parent-teacher conferences (4:00-6:30 PM)

Thurs., Mar. 16 - Parent-teacher conferences (4:00-8:00 PM)

Fri., Mar. 17 - No new blog post today since I will busy with conferences on Thursday night.

Wed., Mar. 22 - Early Release Day for students; parent-teacher conferences (3:00-7:00 PM)

Fri., Mar. 24 - Last day before Spring Break