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I was browsing around, trying to find some websites about second grade and I came across this website that has many blogs or websites for second grade. Within each of the websites that are linked to the site, there are creative ideas, tips, and ways that parents can get on and see what is happening or will happen in the year. I think that having a website for the classroom is neat because it gives parents a better way to comunicate with the teacher.

Recess!

Recently when I was observing Mrs.Thompson's class, they had recess while I was there. With this time I got to see a whole different side of the students. I saw who were friends within the class, who played with who and what they did when they were playing together. This gave me a whole differnt outlook because it allowed me to see more of what kind of a person they were, rather than just sitting in a desk. I found that a very interesting activty to observe in, but I learned so much from that.

Standards

With doing some research I came across a website that has the standards on them that must be taught in the classroom. This is a very neat websiter because there are standrads in there for all grades from pre-k to sixth grade. Also along with teh standards are ideas and ways to teach them.
http://www.internet4classrooms.com/skills_2nd.htm

Teachers Club

Today I was looking around on the internet for some ideas on second grade and I came acoss this website that is the second grade teachers club. In this website it has ideas, pictures, links, and questions. You can talk to too different teachers about questions or ideas that you have in the classroom and also help those who do have questions in the classroom. The website for this link is:

http://secondgradeteachers.multiply.com/

Reading

Today as I was thinking of some of the more important parts of school, I thought of reading. reading is the one subject that is hard for most students to understand or to be able to grasp. I googled different ways to see what would be ways to get students to want to do more reading and I came across some ideas:
1.Let the students have rewards when they are finished reading the book. This way they have ways to pucth themselves.
2.Set goals for the students, so once again they have to push themselves to the limit to get the reading done.
3.Have the different days set as something special.exaples: Monday's are munchie Mondays where they can bring in food to eat while reading, Wednesday's are "Winter Wednesday's" which mean that the students can bring in a stuffed animal or blanket to read with. I got these off of Mrs. Thompson and I believe that they work great in getting students to read!

Stars!

Today I went to Mrs. Thompson's class. In today's class it was a normal day. When I first arrived there today, Mrs. Thompson was having a meeting with anotehr second grade teacher. When it was time for the class to come back to the room she had me go down and get them to lead them back.This gave me a chance to go and do it on my own. It was very smoothly because they know who I am. When we got back they went to the reading corner and finshed their book. After this it was time for them to swith classes. Mrs. Cutnaw's class came to Mrs. Thompson's today and they learned about stars and constellations. This took them the whole thirty mintues because it was Mrs. Tompson's first day with them. After they switched back the class went right into T.A.B.. Then it was the end of the day.

Second Grader Thinks?

When doing research on how second graders think, I found a very interesting website on the way that students think and why they do. Below are some of the key things or ways that a "typical" second grader will think:

A second grader can understand and manipulate symbols related to concrete objects. They can understand, for example, that a plus sign means addition and can use them when appropriate.
Second graders are becoming logical. Although there are still moments when they jump to conclusions, you'll be able to understand even their wackiest thoughts.
Reverse thinking should no longer be an issue. Although a child may have a tough time retracing his mental steps, he should be able to remember how he came to his conclusion.
Second graders are still a little egocentric, but much less so than they were previously. They believe everyone sees the world as they see it, but they can finally understand other people's points of view.
Second graders are able to tell if there is a difference in number, length and volume when comparing two objects. Older second graders should also understand substance. For example, if they are shown clay and then watch someone break it up into little pieces and then put the pieces back together, a second grader will know that it's still the same amount of clay.