Recap of our Christmas Festivities....

With all the craziness that Christmas brings..I apologize for my lack of updates!  We had a wonderful Christmas season together in our classroom.   Starting with our amazing performance of Rudolph at the Christmas Program.

In our classroom, we truly got into the spirit of Christmas by having our very own gift exchange.  As a teacher, this can always be a slightly nerve-racking activity.  I was so impressed by the show of gratitude the children showed towards eachother.  There were shouts of "Thank You!"  and hugs all around!

The Top Ten Reasons Why We LOVE our Smartboard!

Last year our school was very lucky to recieve Smartboards through a technology grant funded by the federal government.  Words cannot describe how the smartboards have enhanced the learning process and aided me in reaching the variety of learning styles within my classroom.  And best of all, the kids love it!  Here are ten reasons why we love having a smartboard in our classroom.  Feel free to stop in and play around with it,  your child would love to be your teacher!

10. The smartboard is a colorful and interactive hands-on tool. Research indicates that students respond to displays where color is employed and learn most by doing.

9. Anything you can do on a computer, you can do on the smartboard!  Your hand acts as the mouse.  This means the possibilities of what we can do together as a large group is endless!

8. The smartboard is neat.  You write with a computerized pen, and erase with a marker.  Check out this video of Julia demonstrating a math problem on the whiteboard.

7.  It is almost indestructible!  One of our sight word review games lets the children actually throw balls at the board to reveal the answers.

6. The smartboard creates the teachers lesson a two-sided experience.  Instead of just listening to the teacher talk, the students are up, moving and interacting with the concepts through the board.  Below is an example of some students showing their classmates how to make .64 cents.

5. Through a website called smart exchange, the teacher is offered thousands of interactive lessons that meet the K-12 standards across all subjects.  Talk about optomizing a students experience in the classroom!

4. This thing is a kid magnet.  It is not rare for every hand to shoot up in the room when asked for a volunteer to demonstrate a concept on the board.

3. SMARTboards are becoming the classroom of tommorow.  While textbooks have to be replaced, the SMARTboards can be continually updated to change with time.

2. New research shows that kids learn more through animation, something the smartboard is full of!

1.  Smartboards help get kids excited about learning! The games and activities available are endless.

It has been awhile since our last post!  With all the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, blogging got pushed to the shelf for awhile.  But we are back in full swing, ready for the new year!   Here is a peek at what we have been up to:

Math
We started a unit on Geometry.  We learned about 3-D shapes and symmetry.   This is a perfect time of year to learn about symmetry with all the snowflakes around.  Here are some second graders working hard at creating a symmetrical snowflake:

Writing
Second graders are super excited about our letter writing unit.  We have a post office center set up in our classroom, complete with stationary, enevelopes and stamps.  We learned all about the proper way to write a friendly letter and how to address an enevelope.  The best part of our letter writing unit is.......our pen pals!  We wrote to second graders at Miltona School in Carlos, MN. 

We have also started one of my most favorite teaching units: persuasive writing.   As a class, we have immersed ourselves in text where the author is seeking to change the audiences view point by writing a "message" within the story.  The students have each been brainstorming about things in their own life and the world around them, that they want changed.  Stay tuned for some great updates on this unit!
Here are some of the kids writing about changes, and then sharing their ideas with friends...