My Classroom
I am currently teaching second grade at Deerfield Elementary. I have been in a second-grade classroom for the past 5 years. In my classroom, we learn so many different concepts and strategies in reading, math, writing, social studies, and science. Second grade is such a fun year!
In my classroom, I strive to create a learning environment where all my students can explore, create, collaborate, and reflect. Check out the pictures below which include a more in-depth description of certain aspects of my classroom!
Classroom Layout
My classroom is designed to help support student learning. In order to promote collaboration, students' desks are put into table groups. Working with second grade students, I know that they need to move around. Therefore, I allow my students to freely move around the classroom throughout the day so that they are not stuck in their seats. Students take pride in their work by hanging it all around our classroom. We are fortunate to have a small computer room that helps support the use of technology with different subjects.
Students get to display their hard work around the classroom!
Flexible seating during reading and writing time allows students to move about and stretch out around the classroom!
Student library where they can choose books by different series, authors, genre, and reading level.
Anchor charts are posted around the room to help remind students of different strategies we are learning in all subjects!
A computer room that hosts computers and iPads to support technology use in the classroom.
Desks are organized in tables in order to promote collaboration, table talk, and sharing ideas.
Online Classroom
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The 2020/2021 school year was very different than what we are normally used to. Students, teachers, and parents all had to adapt to a new learning environment. Clicking the link below, will lead you to our 2nd grade website that shares the layout of my 2nd grade online classroom that all my students had access to. You will find interactive activities, daily agenda, which linked 'live' teaching times, asynchronous lessons through Google Classroom and Seesaw, as well as information and updates for parents!
Creating and Exploring
It is very important to fuel students' passion and love for learning. Allowing students to explore and create helps them dive deeper into topics they might be interested in. In my classroom, I promote hands-on learning using different materials and manipulatives in order to help my students become more engaged. The projects shown below are tailored toward having my students explore their own curiosities and encourages them to ask questions.
Students creating a bird feeder to put outside our classroom, so that we can study the different birds that come.
Using different hands on activities to help support understanding.
Students recording themselves using the Seesaw app in order to create a poem for their parents.
Students creating different boats to understand the concept that some items are more buoyant than others.
Exploring the benefits of plants on top of the Ford Rouge Plant.
Trying to figure out if Oobleck is a solid or a liquid!
Collaborating
Collaborating with other students is critical in order for students to develop important social skills and help strengthen their ability to communicate these ideas with their peers. When students bounce ideas off of one other, these ideas and concepts grow dramatically when combined with those ideas of another student. This provides a unique and productive learning experience that proves extremely useful in all aspects of life.
Students sharing their different perspectives to help each other in their opinion writing.
Surveying different classmates to help create different graphs and charts.
Students working together to start their communities project.
Sharing each other's writing and editing using our writing rubric.
Students create an assembly line before heading to the Ford Rouge Plant.
Helping support each other with subtraction during math time.
Reflection
At the end of each lesson in my classroom, I encourage my students to reflect on the material being taught. This may include reflecting in small groups by talking about what their strengths and weakness are. Alternatively, the students might reflect on their own by filling out a self-assessment or by rating themselves. By having the students reflect on their learning after each lesson, this allows them to recognize their weaknesses in order to focus on those areas during future lessons. It also provides me with the opportunity to identify which students are struggling so that I can focus on these students during future lessons.
Students self-assess themselves based on our "I can..." statements. This helps them focus on their strengths and weaknesses while also allowing me to check their understanding based on their "show what you know!" response.
We use a quick 1-4 (1-I don't get it to 4-I can teach it!) check in after newly learned concepts.
Students self-reflect on their reading skills and focus on concepts they feel that they are struggling with.
*All photographs were taken by me and with permission