My Philosophy


I believe it is important to create a community where all learners feel safe, respected and have a sense of belonging. It is important to focus equally on the social, emotional and academic needs of students. I strive to meet children where they're at by differentiating instruction, choosing developmentally appropriate activities and providing a balance between teacher-directed and self-directed learning. I value play, the arts, movement, creativity and laughter as important and meaningful parts of the learning process for children.



Friday, November 4, 2011

Firefly Second Grade Gets A New Student!

 


Firefly Second Grade got a new student this week.  We're very excited to have him join our class. He moved here from St. Louis and speaks three languages!  Everyone has done a great job of welcoming him to our classroom.
Our November shares have been going very well.  It has been terrific to see all the different things everyone is thankful for.  It is clear everyone is being very thoughtful about their November shares.
Monday was a busy day with that ended with a Firefly "Harvest" party.  First and second graders were grouped together and moved from station to station to play games, make a craft and have a snack.  It was a great afternoon of fun for the entire Firefly Team!
Benjamin presented his Discovery Table project on Monday.  His project was about his Grandparents' summer camp.  He showed us pictures, talked about the history of the camp, shared what his favorite things are to do at camp and brought in some games from long ago his family still plays at their camp.  Benjamin did an amazing presentation and created interest in his project that lasted throughout the week. Way to go, Benjamin!
We began our new math unit this week and have been playing addition and subtraction games that teach us about probability.  We have been discovering which combinations are most likely to be pulled from a bag or rolled and are making conjectures about why certain combinations are more likely than others to be pulled from the bag or rolled.
We have continued to read Non-Fiction books during Readers Workshop and Writers Workshop and are working hard on our Specialist books during Writers Workshop.  Some of my friends have been so excited about their narrative writing that they are continuing to work on their narrative stories too.  We finished Unit 4 in Fundations today and completed our Unit 4 Assessment.  We will begin Unit 5 on Monday.
I'm looking forward to meeting with all of you next week for conferences.  Please make sure you visit the website to sign up for a date and time.  I am leaving it up to you to decide who comes to the conference.  If you would like it to be parent/teacher conference that is fine.  If you would like your child to attend with you, that is also OK.  Whatever works best for your family is what's important!
Have a great weekend.
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