A Day in 2nd Grade!

Welcome to 2nd grade! We have a jam-packed day but we always find room for some fun. 

 8:55-9:10- Arrive + Morning Journals

At 8:30 students are allowed to go from carpool, buses etc. and grab breakfast. They then eat and wait until the first bell rings. Before entering our room all backpacks and jackets are put away and students know to come in quietly, drop off their homework folders in the turn in bin and get started working. I get to stay at the door and greet them all individually as they come in, this is one of my favorite parts of the day! It really can set the tone and mood for the littles. On the smart board I have a morning message and a prompt for each day. 

Below is an example of what would be on the board for students to read and write about. This particular week we were reading a story in out Journeys book about how to make a kite, so this tied into our learning! 

 

9:10-9:25- Morning Meeting

Once students start finishing, they are given the chance to either draw a picture to their writing or come to the carpet and practice sight word cards with a partner. They know that once they see me coming to the carpet that they need to clean up and find their spot. 

Yes, I display a morning message on the smart board, but I also do a WEEKLY morning message that we edit daily as a class. This is honestly one of my favorite things and incorporates so many skills! The kids love it, and by about Christmas time students can "be the teacher" and run this on their own. It's AMAZING! I started this my first year teaching (now I'm in year 4!), and it's just something I can't get rid of and refuse to switch to using technology. I originally found it from Fabulous in First, and modify it to fit the needs of my class. 

Source; Fabulous in First

Every Friday after school, I write a message on anchor chart paper in preparation for the coming week. I purposely spell things wrong, misuse punctuation, leave blanks, and incorporate spelling words and/or chunks for the following week. Using a weekly message saves SO MUCH TIME and it also gives students practice with editing and revising, as well as models the friendly letter template. {insert all the heart eyes here because I love it so much}

Here is the weekly breakdown:

Monday- fix all the mistakes (I use sticky notes or white tape to cover up and write overtop with a marker) 

Tuesday- circle/identify capital letters

Wednesday- circle/identify punctuation marks

Thursday- circle/identify weekly spelling words and/or chunks (to start out we do sight words) 

Friday- {THE BEST DAY} we circle the heading, greeting, body, and closing of the letter. Students take turns and its a BIG, I mean BIG deal who gets chosen to circle the body. 

9:25-10:10- Shared Reading

At our school we use the Journeys Reading program and we have copies of the text for each student. For this block of time we pass out a text to everyone and I work of the weekly skill with them as we read aloud, work with buddies, and learn all about the stories for the week. 

10:15-11:00- Special Area

Students rotate daily to 4 different special areas. Library, P.E. Arts/Humanities, and Computers. 

11:05-12:10- Reading Workshop/Centers 

{DISCLAIMER: I love, love, love teaching reading and guided reading. It is my happy place} 

I won't elaborate too much on how I run centers, if you'd like to learn more, 

check out my post here. 

12:15-12:40- Lunch

AKA the only time I get to {MAYBE} sit down and if I'm lucky I get to go to the bathroom!

12:45-1:00- Writing 

Journeys has a writing pacing guide and supplemental resources that are GREAT for writing! We do a lot of modeling, peer editing and sharing, as well as small group work on specific skills. 

1:00- 2:30- Math RTI + Workshop

I've grown to love this time of day! Mostly because I switched things up last year and did all small group Guided Math. You can read all about how it works here. 

Some friends are pulled out of the classroom for RTI with interventionists for 30 minutes daily. When they are finished they come back and jump right into their group work/center. 

Rotation board found here

2:35-2:55- Wellness 

FINALLY play time! 

3:00-3:30- Science/Social Studies Centers

These are something new I tried this year. The group I had learned best in small group, and honestly I think it was the best thing we could have done, they LOVED it! {do you see a trend? we love workshop/centers} 

I have a file with a timer that I put on the smart board that shows the day, and where each color group goes for their center for that particular day. Because our time is short, only 30 minutes, students spend 15 minutes at their assigned center and then two groups spend 15 minutes with me going over a skill or conducting an experiment in small groups. When the timer goes off we switch and I meet wth the last two groups. {BLOG POST ON ALL THIS COMING SOON} 

 We use FOSS resources for science as well as Lakeshore Learning centers for both Social Studies and Science. The reading/vocabulary center is always buddy reading from our library on specific content, and friends work to complete a response sheet together. 

3:35-3:45- Pack up + Closing meeting

When it is time to go, students go out and get their things and record their Class Dojo Points on their daily calendar. They are responsible for packing their things, completing their classroom job, and getting to the carpet as soon as they can. Once everyone is ready, we discuss how our day went, what we did great and what we may need to work on tomorrow. I write these down on my art cart/board and we use them as reminders for the next day. If there is time left, we read a few pages from Magic Tree House. It is always a crowd favorite!! 

3:45- Dismissal 

We do dismissal a little different then other schools, or at least different then others that I have worked at and been to. But I like it this way! 

Walkers/bike riders are called first. I wait at the door and ALL of my friends are hugged and loved prior to leaving. Following that the car riders are dismissed and again,  I hug each one as they leave! Last the kids who are left are bus riders. They line up in order of bus "color". Our buses always {well almost always} pull into the lot in the same order so they are easy to find. I then walk all of my friends out to each of their buses, and you guessed it... Each of them gets a hug before they leave too! The extra little details I learn and personal connections I get to make as they leave are so special. The extra few minutes do take time, but they make a difference! 

WOW! You made it through our day! I hope you enjoyed second grade. Feel free to comment if you have questions or email if needed. I would love to hear how your day goes with your friends! 

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Math Workshop with Engage NY!

Do you teach whole group math? Feel like you're not reaching all of your students? Can't find a way to make your schools math program fit with students needs? 

*HERE IS YOUR SIGN* 

Try small group math workshop! I promise it will change your life as a teacher, your students learning, and your sanity. Last year, I was drowning in a new program, Engage NY (Eureka Math) that we are required to use trying to fit in everything (really who isn't), meeting my students needs, and effectively delivering and teaching the material. I was struggling BIG TIME. 

This is the view from my small group table.

After Spring Break last year, I was determined to find something that would work for us. I searched and searched and finally decided to go for it. So I ditched the whole group math. Yep, I got rid of it and changed everything. I pre-assessed my kids and grouped them based on the current strategy/standard based on their needs and followed and tweaked the set up from The Clutter Free Classroom to meet the needs for my students and our program. 

Immediately I went saw the benefits. I was seeing my kids daily, giving them the small group instruction they needed, and authentically DIFFERENTIATING for my students. After seeing engagement increase, kids love for math come to life, and scores increase, I knew I was hooked. This year, my entire team is using this and it has been so great that other teams are now trying it out! SO EXCITING! 

Here is how things work in my room. 

We have an hour and a half for math and always start our time together with a Word Problem of the Day. 

On the SMARTboard I have a file of all of the "Application" problems that I created form Engage NY. 

If you are interested in this file please contact me :) 

 I read the problem aloud, we circle important numbers together, underline the question that we are being asked, and then my littles get to work!  

Each student has their own sock and dry erase marker, and this automatically makes word problems FUN! If you haven't seen the eyes of a 7 year old light up when you tell them the CAN write on tables, you're missing out. Its pure joy. 

After students get the chance to solve the problem on their own and I have walked around to quickly assess, we go over it together and students can edit their answers if needed. Then I give one student a clorox wipe and we are good to go! 

TIPS:

1. Invest in lots TONS of clorox wipes. 

2. Label dry erase markers with students number (or name). I just quickly made plain white Avery labels with there numbers. That way if they're lost or fall out of their seat pocket or sock, they can find their home. 

After our Word Problem of the Day, students go to their first center. Below is what the rotation looks like (link above to rotation board) Students are divided in to four color groups based on their pre-assessment unit data. There are four centers within our rotation. 

M = Math Facts

A = At Your Seat

T = Teacher's Choice/Table

H = Hands on Activities

Below each color group, I have mini dry erase boards that I got at Walgreens. These have students names on them who are in each color group. Now if you notice really, really, small, I have a letter in the top right corner on the boards. This is so I know the level of their groups. 

Example: Middle High (pink), High (orange), Middle Low (purple), and Low (black). 

There is a rhyme and reason to why each group is labeled that way. 

For example my HIGH/ORANGE group starts At Your Seat first. This is because they do not need as much support from me to complete assignments. My LOW group misses majority of Hands on Activities daily because they are pulled for interventions. Then, they come to my table where we become mathematicians together! Following every group (minus orange) every student sees the concept and strategy at my table followed by then practicing on their own at their seat. 

With our schedule each center is roughly 20 minutes before rotating. 

Now since we use Engage NY, our principal had these workbooks made for us. They're super simple. Pink cover, with spiral bound copies of the "Problem Sets", "homework" and "exit tickets" pulled from the Engage NY modules. In second grade we have 8 modules with the program, so students have 8 different books. Though, they only have one book at a time! I send home old ones once we finish for extra practice! 

These books have saved us SO MUCH from drowning in paper daily! 

For your entertainment, we will be following the Purple groups schedule

At my table, I go over the lesson "Problem set pages" from Engage NY. We quickly review what we worked on the day before, and then get to work diving into the new information. Some days we use our green dry erase dots to warm up with quick math facts, or we do the "sprints" from the program, which are also in their "Pink books". Then we usually work the first problem set page together, and I guide them, if needed, through the second problem set page while they are at my table. 

If you use Engage NY, you'll notice that the problem sets and the homework and exit tickets are very similar. So it ensiles confidence in me and my kids by completing these pages together and then sending them to their seat to try on their own. For planning purposes, my team and I pre-plan what "lesson number" to teach daily. For example, this week we are on Module 7 lessons 1-5. 

Most days I dry on my table too, to review concepts and strategies we need to succeed! 

After 20 minutes, my timer goes off and students know to clean up and freeze where they are. They then move to their next center. Most students memorize where they go next so there is not much commotion in our transitions. but TRUST me… this took lots, and lots of practice and patience. 

Next this purple group, moves to their seats. Although, in my room they are allowed to sit wherever is best for them to learn, whether that be at their seat, someone else's seat, the floor, a pillow etc. I don't care, as long as they are working and doing their best. 

"At Your Seat" students are working on the "homework" and "exit ticket" pages within the daily lesson. This little one chose to sit at her seat so she could use her marker/sock on her table to help! This made my teacher heart happy. 

Following, another 20 minutes the students travel to "Math Facts". Our school has purchased Reflex Math. If you haven't used this it is AMAZING, and I mean AMAZING! The gains I have seen from my students is absolutely astounding. The best part is that students LOVE playing. They're basically playing video games with math facts. Trust me, look it up if you don't know what it is. I could talk about this program for daysssssssssssss! 

I only have four computers, but Relfex also has an app that 2 students within the groups get on to play also. 

Now if you don't have Reflex Math or a program of the sort THATS OKAY! I started out using simple flash cards that they could do with a partner. This is also a good time you could incorporate an hour glass timer and have students work on the "sprints" from Engage NY. 

Now on to my last center! Students get to go to an overall favorite, "Hands on Activities". This is always a game that students can play on their own or with a partner. I differentiate and give lots of choice here. On my carpet I have about 5-6 choices varying in level that kids can chose from. They differ from current skill to skills that we have already mastered. 

Personally, I LOVE the Lakeshore Math Folder Games. The directions are easy to follow, games are engaging, and each clean up and storage. The folders are also standards based so I can easily pull what 

I need. 

We also love the fun review of place value from The Brown Bag Teachers Math Centers, and math fact fun stacking cups that I made from tiny dixie cups. 

Once students have seen every center, time is up! At this point, I have seen every group, completed the "problem set" pages with them, assessed who is getting it, who needs reteaching, and what to work on for tomorrow. My students names can move frequently from one group to another, hence why they're on dry erase boards - best thing ever! Flexible grouping has been the best at individually meeting students needs. 

As a tried and true literacy loving teacher, math was hard, and I mean unbearably hard for me to get excited about.. BUT with math workshop and centers, I genuinely feel like I love math almost as much as reading now.. and trust me that's a lot of love I have for literacy time. 

Thank you for reading! Feel free to contact me with any questions or successes. I would love to see and hear how you implement a math program into your day.

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