We're off to a great start!  What a fun group of students I have in Room 6 this year!  Our first couple of days were spent getting to know each other and learning some of the classroom routines.  We will continue working on these objectives in the next couple of weeks, but also "diving right in" to our second grade curriculum.

We use the Storytown reading program to teach our English/Language Arts curriculum.  We will also spend time in Reader's and Writer's Workshops.  These workshop times allow all students to spend time working at their own level and their own rate on specific reading and writing skills that have been taught.

Math curriculum is taught using the Everyday Math program.  I supplement this program with games that I have "borrowed" from other programs, as well as games that I have developed myself to practice skills.  Our plan is to begin a "Math Switch" with a few of the other second grade classes in our school.  We won't begin this until we begin unit 2, sometime in the next several weeks.  When we do Math Switch, we will first pre-test all students on the skills that will be presented in the unit that we are about to begin.  Based on the pre-test scores, students will be divided into groups based on their particular needs.  Children with similar needs and strengths will be grouped together for the duration of that unit, meaning that the children from Room 6 will be spread out among other classrooms to be taught by other teachers during our daily Math period.  We plan to do Math Switch four days per week, and keep students in their regular class for the fifth day so that teachers can continually monitor progress of their own students.  At the end of the unit, a post-test will be given (as it was last year in first grade).  The Switch process will begin again the for the next unit with another pre-test.

This "Switching" has been done with great success over the last few years, as it allows teachers to teach the unit concepts at the pace that is most effective for the group.  Those students who have mastered the concepts already will be given opportunities to extend their learning, and those who need more work or practice with the basics of a concept will be given the opportunity to do so.  It's really a great opportunity for our students!

In Science, we will be "diving in" to our ocean study.  Through multi-media tools, students will be learning about the characteristics of different zones of the ocean as well as conducting some research about the animals that live in each one.  We have a few experiments and projects planned, and it promises to be an exciting unit!