Rachel's Reflections: Day One of 2nd Grade!!!

Oh boy, did the day fly by! I was so impressed to find that all 20 of my little second graders were here today for the first day of school!

We started the day with some procedural stuff. I did the A & Q that I learned from Amy Krouse Rosenthal. The kids were amazed that I have 4 dogs, 4 kids, and one cat. When I gave them the answer "I have one, it is a boy." one student said "A husband?" Tooooooo funny! But, yes, one husband works too. I meant my cat. Any ways......then we worked to create a our clip chart as it is required at the school. I decided that if this is a system that they are to use and hold themselves to, then THEY should be the ones to create it! This is what they came up with.

They worked really fast coming up with the terms for "clipping up", but the "clipping down" parts took a little more thought.

I have to tell you that when we got to the bottom of the chart, I was shocked at the number of students who wanted it to say call parents. I simply explained to them that I didn't want to call their parents only to tell them about bad choices. In fact, I told them that I look forward to calling their parents with praises for great learning! They were shocked. Therefore, the "Let's Talk" part is the bottom of the chart because they decided that it would be time to talk with me so that I can help them make a better choice. Of course, they all vowed to NEVER have to clip down. No down clippers today! They all CLIPPED UP!!!

Next, we moved on to Math! I was STOKED! I asked the question (credit to Greg Tang here)....Tell me what goes with 8. I was surprised to see that it took A LOT of discussion for them to understand that 2 goes with ten, 7 goes with 3, 9 goes with 1 and so on. We talked about all the ways to make ten and looked at the configurations on ten frames. We did a little subitizing fast flash too. Then it was time to see them apply what we talked about. All students were given a label to wear with a number on it. The game was to find their friend and make ten.

They got it! It was fun to hear them...."I need a friend number 8!". After a few rounds of this I gave them a challenge. Since we talked about how our friend is ten and how it is super easy to work with ten, I challenge them to make groups of 20.

These kids are amazing! I even captured all of the combinations of numbers they made!

We also talked about Math in Our World, which I found to my surprise that they think it is all about worksheets and calculators. I told them that when I look around I see math when I see shapes on houses like the windows and doors. It's all GEOMETRY! They were able to come up with two ways they see math in our world, and I told them to look around tonight so we can revisit it in the morning. I can't wait to hear what they saw!!!!

Oh boy, math was fun today. (I did have one little one tell me she didn't like what we were doing, she wanted worksheets.....CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?!? It saddens me that students are so ingrained with that concept.....just saying!)

We also focused on 2.RL.1 today...WWWWWH? Here is a chart we made together after reading The Kissing Hand on the iPad!

We also read another story and worked on an awesome foldable I learned from Dr. Jean this summer in Vegas!

Here is our chart that came out of our discussion of fiction and nonfiction! These are the words they came up with.

So.....I am sure that by now you can tell that the first day of second grade was super FABULOUS! Bonus of the day was my two dear friends, Andrea and Azure, bringing me lunch AND flowers! I felt so special! I am going to be sure to pay it forward.