Week 2 in Review ~ Chrysanthemum, Math, "Me" Projects, and Reading CAFE

Well I think it's safe to say everyone is feeling comfortable and right at home in room 8!  I love to see new and old relationships blossom as the students work hard and have fun together.   This week we have definitely started to press on the gas peddle just a bit as we have been busy bees!  Here is our week in review...

 Our anchor text this week has been Chrysanthemum, by Kevin Henkes.  We have used this sweet book for several lessons including, story structure and story retelling.  I planned to do a syllable sort, and make posters charting what makes us wilt and bloom, but we didn't quite get that far ( I have to remind myself it's only day 7 ;), I also planned to snap pictures of the kiddos work to show you...but...I  forgot.  Thank goodness for tomorrows!

In math we have been building on many foundational skills.  We have been working with the hundred number chart, telling time to the hour, attributes of pattern blocks, repeating patterns, and word problems.  We even had our first math test AND our first round of math centers!

I am completely enjoying learning all about my new room 8 family!  This week the kiddos shared their All About Me posters, made their own special name book, created adorable self portraits, and wrote a paragraph telling all about themselves.  Can't wait for you to see their work at Back to School Night on the 11th.

We have officially launched our Reading CAFE!  And I think we are all super excited about it!  Something I love about second graders is how hungry they are to become skilled readers.  CAFE is an acronym for Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, and Expand Vocabulary.   I will be systematically and explicitly teaching the students many important strategies needed to be a skilled reader, we will set goals, and practice, practice, practice!  We have done three lessons so far, Check for Understanding (comprehension), Go Back and Reread (comprehension), and Voracious Reading (fluency).  We have also been learning how we do "Read to Self" in our classroom.  Our reading stamina is already up to 11 minutes and 40 seconds!

Thanks for hanging in there for such a long post!  I have been talking (writing in this case) so much these days, there is just so much information to get out there these first dew weeks.

Here is this week's FLIP.

Happy Sunday!