<![CDATA[Mrs. Downing's 2nd Grade - Mrs. Downing's Blog]]>Thu, 20 Jun 2013 03:05:13 -0800Weebly<![CDATA[Senteo]]>Thu, 16 May 2013 04:12:48 GMThttp://mrsdowning2ndgrade.weebly.com/1/post/2013/05/senteo.htmlThe SENTEO clickers connect to our SMARTboard in class. Each student has an ID number that they sign in with. The students take a test or quiz that is displayed one question at a time on the board, and they input their answers with the clickers.

On Tuesday, the second graders took a quiz on triple digit subtraction, including subtracting across a zero. The quiz had multiple challenges in it. First, problems were displayed horizontally and had to be written on their own paper vertically. Then, many problems required double regrouping. Finally, the answer had to be entered with the clicker correctly. The second graders exceeded my expectations, and the class averaged 90%. I am so proud of how hard they have worked!
Picture
]]><![CDATA[A Very Busy Week]]>Fri, 10 May 2013 21:37:28 GMThttp://mrsdowning2ndgrade.weebly.com/1/post/2013/05/a-very-busy-week.htmlThis has been one of our busiest weeks yet! The second grade had a great time preparing for mass on Wednesday. They all did such a great job. We had a visiting student on Thursday and Friday. Thursday was our poetry party, and today we had an art literacy assembly.

We managed to get some other things done in class as well. We are working on making some maps of the world as we learn about the continents and oceans. We are also wrapping up triple digit subtraction, and we read the wonderful story, "Mice and Beans."

Things will slow down a bit next week, but we will have another visiting student on Monday and Tuesday. We will also have the Preschool-5th grade spring music concert on Friday.

In class, we will be talking about the Holy Spirit and Pentecost. In math, we will be learning how to subtract across zeroes and we will begin working on some measurement skills. We will also begin writing about a summer memory.

It looks like we have a great week ahead of us! Have a wonderful Mother's Day weekend!

~Mrs. Downing]]><![CDATA[May calendar math]]>Sun, 05 May 2013 01:57:49 GMThttp://mrsdowning2ndgrade.weebly.com/1/post/2013/05/may-calendar-math.htmlEvery month our calendar math routines change so that we get practice with a variety of different skills. This helps calendar time stay fresh and fun. As we turned our calendars to May this week, the second graders got a peek at what we'll be working on. Second graders will get a very basic introduction to prime and composite numbers. We will also work on making change with money. Finally, we will also be reviewing elapsed time.

Telling time was formally taught back in the first trimester, so second graders are in need of some review. As I've checked in with the class, it seems some are a little off when they count their minutes, but the basic understanding of how to read a clock is there. Please continue to have your second grader practice reading an analog clock at home!
Picture
]]><![CDATA[It's been awhile!]]>Fri, 03 May 2013 04:38:00 GMThttp://mrsdowning2ndgrade.weebly.com/1/post/2013/05/its-been-awhile1.htmlI'm so sorry it's been awhile since I've blogged. We have been so busy in the classroom! Pages will be updated shortly!

Poetry is taking up a lot of our time as I'm sure you're hearing. Second graders have written 7 different kinds of poems. I have saved them all and they are going to be compiled next week into a keepsake for each student. There has been some frustration because every time we write a poem the second graders want to take it home to share with others right away. The poems will be shared soon! I hope you can join us on Thursday, May 9th in the library for our poetry party. The second graders have done some amazing work!

-Mrs. Downing ]]><![CDATA[Math Journals for April 12th]]>Fri, 12 Apr 2013 22:24:14 GMThttp://mrsdowning2ndgrade.weebly.com/1/post/2013/04/math-journals-for-april-12th.htmlPicture
Our math journals are used during our calendar time as a way to ensure that second graders are actively involved in what we are practicing each day.  In April, we are practicing patterns, place value, telling time to the minute, and subtraction with regrouping.  We are also exploring perimeter.  Today, second graders made different rectangular arrays with 12 square tiles.  Then, they found the perimeter of each rectangle.  This has been the favorite activity of each second grader so far this month.  Ask your second grader to explain perimeter
]]><![CDATA[Monday, April 8, 2013]]>Mon, 08 Apr 2013 22:45:37 GMThttp://mrsdowning2ndgrade.weebly.com/1/post/2013/04/monday-april-8-2013.html    Mondays are always busy around here, but today seemed busier than usual.  We celebrated another April birthday, had our spelling pretest, learned our new vocabulary words, and listened to our new story for this week, "Pushing Up the Sky."  All of this before 10:00!
    This week in our religion class, we are focusing on the Eucharist in preparation for many of our second grader's First Eucharist celebration on Saturday!  We are very excited for this special day!
    Finally, some second graders have had an epiphany in math lately, but Clare said it best today.  As we were working on double digit subtraction, Clare said, "I guess all of those math facts my first grade teacher tried to teach me would come in handy right now."  I invite all second graders to share this revelation with the first graders!

Have a great week!

Mrs. Downing]]><![CDATA[Welcome back!]]>Tue, 02 Apr 2013 22:46:00 GMThttp://mrsdowning2ndgrade.weebly.com/1/post/2013/04/welcome-back.htmlI hope everyone had a fun and relaxing Spring Break and a joyous Easter.  It's great to be back!

The  most exciting news is that we will be welcoming Rachel to our class tomorrow!  Please help me in welcoming her and her family to our school community.

All of the pages on the site have been updated and som]]><![CDATA[A great week!]]>Sun, 17 Mar 2013 20:50:05 GMThttp://mrsdowning2ndgrade.weebly.com/1/post/2013/03/a-great-week.htmlWe really did have a great week in second grade! The best part was that EVERY second grader was present EVERY day! We celebrated by having an extra recess at the end of the day Friday, which happened to be a warm and beautiful afternoon.

We were busy this week. We started a BIG project in religion, we were wrapping up our weather unit, and we started adding three digit numbers.

One interesting thing that second graders noticed was that the numbers on our March calendar matched up with the numbers on our "How many days we've been in school" chart. For example, Monday, March 11th was the 111th day of school. This continued all week of course and it reinforced what we've been focusing on during our calendar time: looking for patterns in all numbers!

]]><![CDATA[Thursday, March 7, 2013]]>Fri, 08 Mar 2013 00:26:37 GMThttp://mrsdowning2ndgrade.weebly.com/1/post/2013/03/thursday-march-7-2013.htmlThank you for your patience!  I was finally able to update all of the pages on the website.  If you'd like to see what's specifically going on in each subject area, please check it out.  I've also added some links on a few pages.]]><![CDATA[It's been awhile]]>Wed, 06 Mar 2013 19:34:34 GMThttp://mrsdowning2ndgrade.weebly.com/1/post/2013/03/its-been-awhile.htmlIt's been awhile since I've posted, but that's mainly due to some technological issues I've been experiencing with the site. Pages will be updated as soon as I can get things going. We have been very busy in second grade! In fact, it's almost review week again. I can't believe how fast things are going.

I try to blog about what the second graders are finding most exciting these days, but right now, it's everything! From place value to 1000, to Read, Write, and Type, to persuasive writing, there's just so much learning going on. I'm exhausted thinking about it, and I'm guessing your second grader has been a little tired lately too. It's a good thing spring break is right around the corner!]]>