At EVCS, we follow the Responsive Classroom First Six Weeks of School. It's a great way of thinking about how students best thrive in a learning environment and how to set clear expectations for all of the many procedures and routines that will soon become second-nature to our second graders.
Today we did a lot. We had a Morning Meeting first, where we greeted one another and read our daily schedule. Next, we went to the new dance studio with Ana. After our first dance class, we took a tour of the school. We saw the office, the bathrooms, the water fountains, the art studio, and the other EVCS classrooms. After our tour, it was time to explore our crayons, markers, and colored pencils. We experienced how we share them in our classroom and how we take care of them too. Every marker had its cap back on its top before our next transition! We then headed down to recess and lunch. This year, as second graders, we get to play before we eat.
We then had Quiet Time. Quiet Time is a 10-15 minute period of time right after lunch that allows students to work independently or rest in silence. After that, we read a story together and had our first chance to talk to one another about a book. We read First Day Jitters, a book about a nervous morning before the first day of school - with a twist ending! After that, we got into math. In our first math unit, we will be using pattern blocks to explore equivalence, geometry, and area. Today we got a chance to simply explore these math tools - we charted lots of noticings at the end of our exploration time. Some were thick, some thin. Some were hard, others made of foam. We notice right away that when we ran out of a yellow hexagon shape, we could make the same shape using rhombuses, triangles, or trapezoids. We also made some beautiful works of art! We practiced our sharing strategies some more during this time, learned our clean-up procedures for math tools, and had some fun too. After math, we played a new game together, sang a new song, and packed up for home!
The time flew by! I can't wait for tomorrow!
- Liz
