In my opinion, 2nd grade is the best! Here you will find students having discussions about their learning, problem solving, and exploring different things using a hands-on approach. When students walk into the classroom each morning, they will be greeted and then they will begin some morning responsibilities. They will have time to take care of their materials and bodies. Calming music is typically playing as they work on their morning responsibilities, which include a number of the day routine- where they are working on varying math concepts, word work activities, or gathering materials for their projects that they work on in our classroom’s Maker Space. After morning responsibilities, second graders gather together on the carpet for a morning meeting. Right after the morning meeting, students will receive a quick reading lesson and then it’s off for Reader’s Workshop. During the reader’s workshop, you may see students reading independently around the room, working with teachers, having book talks, or meeting in small groups. Students are reading real books that they choose from our diverse classroom library. They gather all their materials in their book boxes and off to reading they go. Even though most second graders are great readers, at the end of the reader’s workshop, students get to eat a healthy snack and curl up and listen to a read aloud! It is a sweet time of the day. After read aloud, you’ll catch second graders working with words and word patterns during our word study time. After word study there’s a chunk of time for recess and lunch. Recess is typically outside on our amazing playground area where the kids can run around, socialize, and play! It is followed by lunch. After lunch, second graders come back to class ready to take on the task as mathematicians during our math workshop time. Typically, during math workshop you will see a quick lesson and number talk. Followed by students engaging in hands- on problem solving, math talk, and strategy work in smaller groups. You could even catch them playing some math games together! Writer’s workshop is a special time of day. It is quiet and calm and students work on writing for a purpose, whether that be making books, writing brochures, or doing research. We work to create lasting pieces by publishing our work and sharing it with the other authors in our community. We even invite the parents to our author’s celebrations. Second graders learn about different science and social studies concepts, as well as work through the social justice standards through integration of other subjects and hands-on experiences. We finish the day in the classroom with a pack up/wrap up which includes a closing circle and discuss happenings throughout the day, give shout outs, discuss any homework, etc, and then we get ready for our specialist classes. Our specialist classes are art, music, PE, movement, and FEAST. Second grade is wonderful and it’s packed with lots of learning and love.