Second Grade Rocks! 🌈

This year, second graders were able to share their expertise as they penned their own procedural How-To books. We all learned so much from each other!

This week we learned all about synonyms and created some synonym rolls of our own! Of course, we had to taste real cinnamon rolls when we were finished.  Synonym rolls…just like grammar used to make! 😉

The class wrote personalized holiday cards to residents at Casa Dorinda. Each student learned about the interests of their new friend and composed a sweet note that we had delivered over the holidays! Thank you to Ms. Svedlund for creating such a meaningful project for our students. 🥰

Second-grade morning meetings are a time to connect and check in with each other. We often gather during this time to share various problem-solving strategies so we can be great friends and classmates. Through games, partner activities, and discussions we have learned about classroom responsibilities, inclusivity, honesty, flexibility, people who make a difference, kindness, rule-following, hopes and dreams, and personal responsibility. Reflecting on the importance of these qualities and sharing examples in our own lives help us to be the best we can be!

 

Every Monday, our class begins the week with a morning meeting where we come together to greet each other and discuss important topics. During this time, students develop their social and emotional skills which prepare them for learning and interacting with each other both in the classroom and on the playground.

We have highlighted many important skills and worked together to share advice, role-play, and make important personal connections. Some recent topics of discussion include conflict resolution, honesty/cheating, teamwork, flexibility, and being an upstander.

 

We also announce our new weekly jobs from our Helping is a Hoot job chart. Students are eager to demonstrate their responsibility and begin new tasks by assisting with attendance, collecting homework, announcing the date, selecting our daily choices, watering class plants, and more!

As we close out the week, our class engages in guided mindfulness lessons with the goal of calming our minds, focusing our attention, and connecting with the world around us. We also write in gratitude journals. Students are able to show thanks for people, places, and experiences as well as improve their writing and speaking skills. Through reflection, students can build resilience, gain new coping skills, and increase overall happiness.

Click here to see the class using mindfulness with Mind Yeti 

 

This week, Laguna Blanca Lower School was visited by a bear prior to the start of our school day! Excitement was in the air when we discovered that our furry visitor had left paw prints as he climbed over the fence by the art room. This visit inspired some creative writing in our morning journals. Second graders offered positive comments and compliments after listening to each other share their interpretations about why a bear might choose to come to school.

The story of The Invisible String became a springboard for our heart map project. Second graders will refer to our heart maps for writing inspiration throughout the year. 💗

Second graders are building our classroom community and enjoying sharing fun facts all about themselves.

I am so excited to begin another wonderful year in second grade at Laguna Blanca. Enjoy a classroom tour! 🌈

Classroom Tour

This week, the second grade presented at Tecolote Tuesday, our weekly all-school gathering. The topic was “random acts of kindness” and we had a lot to share on the subject. Students wrote about favorite acts of kindness and we compiled our ideas into a book. We then recorded ourselves reading our examples which Mrs. Downing compiled into a video. Prior to sharing the video with others at Tecolote Tuesday, Jacob and Kora explained how we use our class kindness jar to recognize and thank those in our school community who spread kindness on a daily basis. Enjoy the linked video below.

Random Acts of Kindness