Grandparents Day!

Even though it was a short week, we packed a lot of things in it!  On Tuesday, students were "PALS Testing", which is a formal test to assess student reading level.  We will be grouping students, and Title I and Reading Lab will start being part of our reading rotation on September 16th.  I will be sending home results of the tests this coming week.

Wednesday, students got to meet "Miss Jenny" who helps us with the 2nd grade gardens. This is a project started several years ago, with the help of our local 4H.  Students help plant, grow, tend, and eat the vegetables we grow in the gardens!  They even use some of it in the cafeteria for salads and meals!  Twice a year, students have "tasting parties," where they get to taste what they grew.  Some of our fall plants include spinach, kale, broccoli, and lettuce.

We showed off our garden to our grandparents today.  Students were so proud of their plants!  We work with Miss Jenny every other Wednesday, so our next date for the garden is September 18th. 

Friday was Grandparents Day.  Students had fun meeting with the visiting grandparents in the cafeteria during our resource time for a special project.  Then, after a visit to the garden, we made our way back to the classroom to word searches and a "mystery word" activity, where students had to find words hidden in the letters for "Grandparents Day."

A sneak peek in our room:
Last week, it was our BUILD Centers for Math.  This week, it's our "Genius Ladder."  This great writing tool is one of the suggested activities from Whole Brain Teaching.  We start with a "blah" sentence ("The class talks.").  Then, moving up the ladder, we give it a little "spice" with some adjectives and adverbs, then expand with an "extender."  Finally, we make it up to "Genius Paragraph," where we tell a brief story, based on that "blah sentence."

For right now, we're doing it as a whole class.  Our next step will be to start adding it to our writing journals.  This is a great way to help students learn how to add details to their writing.  I am so excited to be starting this program this year!