Happy September!
We had a busy few days in second grade last week.  The first few days and really the first few weeks are spent on setting up our structures and routines for the school year.  The students come from seventeen different home environments and at least four different first grade settings so it takes patience and hard work to learn how to work as a team and to learn just what is expected in second grade.  
We have a 90 literacy block each morning when the students meet with me for reading group for about 20 minutes.  This means they have to clearly understand the expectations for their work in the other centers during the other 70+ minutes.  Fortunately we have other adults in the room for part of the block but the real responsibility is on the student.  I want to be sure they have the best chance for success by clearly explaining how each piece of the literacy should look and what the work expectation is.  We will revisit this throughout the year.  Once the students have been introduced to the work of the literacy block I will send home a brief summary of the centers so that you know what the expectations are.  There is a lot done during this block and I will send home samples of their work every few weeks for you to see.
In the afternoon we have a 60 minute mathematics block which will often extend past the 60 minutes.  This block is divided into smaller parts.  We always start with quick warm up of a variety of mathematics problems.  This gives me a quick assessment of where they are on a wide range of skills not just the focus skills of a unit.  Most days we have a problem solving warm up as well.  These take some think time and require a written response explaining how the student to explain how he/she knows his/her answer is correct.  I will often pair students up to explain to a peer how they know their answer is correct. Students should be talking about mathematics as much as they are talking about books etc..  Then we work on the focus skill for the day's lesson.  If there is adult support in the room I will often break the work into centers and the students rotate, working in small groups.  If additional adults are not available I will teach the focus skill and then the students will work on that skill.  We will vary from whole group to pairs, we might work with manipulatives or play a game.  Most days end with an Exit Slip.  This is a problem or two for them to solve using the focus skill.  This provides me with another quick assessment this time for the specific skill we are working on.
This year we are implementing Lucy Calkins Writer's Workshop.  Lucy Calkins is a leader in the field of student writing and I am very excited to put her methods to work.  I have used many of the pieces of her programs in the past but this will be the first time I use it start to finish.  As with anything new I am learning as I go but I know of a couple of changes you will see in Writing.  Your child may bring home an idea notebook.  The first lesson we will be doing is how to come up with ideas to write narrative stories.  One strategy in this process is to keep a notebook to go back to anytime you are stuck.  If your child brings home his/her idea notebook encourage him/her to put it immediately back in the red folder so that it comes back to school.  Another piece that is new for all of us is that Ms. Calkins encourages us to have the students write in one color ink and edit in another color.  This is to encourage students to let the ideas flow and not spend their time erasing and trying to make a first draft perfect.  I have been a teacher long enough to expect that some children will love this and others will feel uncomfortable when they are told they can't erase.  We will work through this and I will support them and I ask you to encourage them to give it a good try.
This blog is long as it is my first.  Most won't be this long.  I will try to do a weekly blog in September as we settle in.  After that I will try every few weeks and I encourage you to e-mail ANYTIME you have a question/concern or you want to share something wonderful.